GARLIC-MUSHROOM RISOTTO AND ONION-BROCCOLI CALZONE

A "Forever Friends" Hope award was waiting for me from a dear friend Happy cook!:)


Thank you Happy cook from "Kitchen Treasures" for this beautiful award. You have been a great friend to me. I am honored to receive this from you!:)
I would like to pass this award to Latha N and Lakshmi of "The YUM blog". You both are much more than friends to me, thank you for that girls! Enjoy!:)
Let me also thank some of my blogger friends who emailed me last 2 weeks and also who commented here as well. You know who you are and I appreciate your words of encouragement,support and understanding. You do make me feel good to know that you are my true well wishers. Thank you very much!:)




Here are two traditional Italian dishes, Risotto and Calzone I made last week. Both are delicious dishes, adaptable to both vegetarian and non-vegetarian choices and meat Calzones are my kids' favorite! Who doesn't like hand held Pizza on the go?!:D

Garlic-Mushroom Risotto:
Risotto, a traditional Italian dish which is made with Arborio or any short grained Risotto rice, similar to our own Bisibele Bhath in texture except not cooked with lentils. Rice combined with different vegetables and meat, Risotto is an easy dish to make. Although it takes a little time to stir to get that perfect Risotto dish, it's well worth the effort. When done, Risotto should be creamy in texture. By the time I took this photo, it had absorbed most of the stock which made it look a bit dry. I had to add little more stock to it and reheat later, it's a delicious dish!:)




Sunita from "Sunita's World" blog has chosen "Garlic" as her choice this month for her "Think spice..Think.." event. Garlic flavored Mushroom Risotto is my contribution to this event. Thanks Sunita!:)



You need:
1 1/2 cup Arborio or any short grained Risotto rice,
1 cups chopped Portabella or Baby Bella or Porcini Mushrooms,or any combination of Mushrooms you like ,dry and fresh,
4 or more cups of chicken or Vegetable stock (or water),
3 tbsp Butter,
1 onion, finely chopped,
3 Garlic, minced or 1 tsp Garlic powder,
3-4 slices of Dried Tomato slices, chopped,
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated,
few gratings of Nutmeg,
salt and pepper,
2 tbsp fresh Parsley, a sprig to garnish.
To make it:
1. If you are using dried mushroom, soak it for an hr in hot water, squeeze dry (you can save the drained water to add to make up the stock if you like) and chop. Chop the fresh Mushrooms and keep aside. Heat the vegetable stock to simmer.
2. In a heavy bottomed pan, melt butter.Add onion, saute until soft but not brown.Add garlic, stir for a mins. Add all the mushrooms,chopped Tomato slices fry for 2 mins. Pour in rice,mix well to coat with butter. Add salt,pepper to taste.
3. Now add a ladleful of stock at a time to the pan, stir and let it absorb the liqui. Keep adding the stock in this way until rice is cooked and not very dry. When done it should have a creamy texture, add more stock than given here to get that texture. Add nutmeg, parsley and half of the Parmesan cheese, mix and garnish with a sprig of fresh Parsley and rest of the Parmesan gratings on top to serve.

Onion-Broccoli-Feta Calzone and Ham-cheese Calzone:
Calzone, which means "Pant legs or trouser" in Italian, is another "fold over" Pizza which I am sure most kids and adults love. You can make Pizza dough at home or use store bought dough,roll out and stuff with either vegetables or meat with cheese inside to bake them. They do make a hearty meal. Enjoy!:)



JFI aka "Jihva for Ingredients" is started by Indira of Mahanandi blog and it's Radhi from "Radhi's Kitchen" who is hosting this month and she has chosen the quintessential "Onion". We can literally cook anything under the Sun with those onions, can't we? I chose to make delicious sweet Videlia onion, Broccoli and Feta cheese Calzone and Ham and Provolone cheese Calzone. Enjoy Radhi!:)

To make it:

You need: Pizza Dough, vegetables or/and meat of your choice, 1/4 cup of Tomato sauce or Pizza sauce (optional), salt, pepper, red chilli flakes and your choice of cheese and herbs.Egg wash or milk to brush.
To make dough:
1. Dissolve 1 tbsp Yeast in 1 cup warm water(110F), 1 tsp sugar. Let it foam.
2. When foamy, add to 3 cups of plain flour or white or whole wheat bread flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp olive oil, and mix and knead to make a soft dough. Add more water if you need it. Easy to make if you use KitchenAid dough hook. If you want herbed dough, add 1 tsp Italian herb mix before kneading. Cover the bowl with damp towel and let it double in a warm place for 1-2 hrs.
To make the vegetarian stuffing:
1. Heat 1 tbsp butter in a pan, add 1 onion sliced thin, 1 garlic sliced, saute until soft. Add 1 10oz bag of thawed and microwaved until cooked Broccoli,salt, few chilli flakes and pepper.
2. Saute until dry and let it cool. Add 1/2 cup Feta cheese(I like Feta with Broccoli although Feta is not a traditional Italian cheese) or any cheese, 1/2 tsp Italian herb mix you like. Mix gently.
For meat stuffing: Roughly chop Ham, Pepperoni or any Sausage you have, mix with salt, pepper, Provolone and cheddar or Jack cheese and 1/2 tsp Oregano. Set aside.
To make Calzone:
1. Punch down the dough, divide into 4 pieces,knead. Take each Pizza dough balls, roll out into 6" circles, place some stuffing of your choice in the center, drizzle 1 tbsp of Tomato sauce(like Ragu)if you like and fold over to make a half circle and pinch the edges to seal each of the Calzone. Make few tiny holes on top of the dough for the steam to escape while baking.
2. You can use Egg wash on top or brush some milk or olive oil to make it look good and shiny but not necessary. I like the rustic look of the Calzones without the egg wash!:)
4. When all of them are ready, put them on a non-stick baking sheet. Cover until the oven heats up.
Preheat the oven to 400F.
5. Put the baking sheet inside and bake for 18 to 25 mins, until crust is golden outside.Don't over bake.

Serve with a salad for a delicious and hearty meal!:)

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Now, few pics of "Half Snow day" in NC!:D
Usually, it doesn't snow every year in NC or where I live in NC. We had about 2" snow last Saturday in the afternoon and it was fun lighting the logs in the fireplace, be warm, watch movies and of course eat snacks.Kids and our little Bichon parked themselves in front of the fireplace and had a great time. Now the Sun is back, all the snow has melted and we are back to normal already!!

Books I have read so far:
1. "Pomegranate Soup" by Marsha Mehran,
2. "Memoirs of a lost Egypt" by Colette Rossant,
3. "Mango Season" by Amulya Malladi.

All these books come with authors' memoirs of their home countries (Iran, Egypt and Hyderabad) along with few recipes too. Yes, I will be cooking some of those recipes in my future posts! I will list more as I read them.
I also watched few old black and White and color English movies which are sitting in my shelf for a long time now. Alfred Hitchcock's movies like "Birds" "Psycho", musicals with Fred and Ginger like "Swing Time" and (French) foreign language film "Indo Chine" are my favorites!
Lastly, I published my last post on the 14th here and 10 days later I am publishing this post today. I am proud of myself that I am able to keep my new year resolutions I made so far and am balancing everything now! YAY for me!:D

Have a great time Y'all and enjoy the weekend!:)