Osso Bucco Crostinis

I wasn't very pleased with last night's gnocchi, so I decided to shake things up by spreading some osso bucco shreds on toasted French baguette slices that I had frozen a few days ago. Let it thaw at room temperature for 10 minutes before toasting. Braises always taste better the next day; the meat literally melted onto my tongue as I devoured the crostini's piece by piece. It was almost as good as eating homemade chicken pate or pork rillette at the Mak's.

Crispy Rice Pilaf Cakes

With the leftover yogurt-herb mixture from fish tacos night, I decided to make some crispy rice pilaf cakes to go with the salmon fillets. I like making these because the individual cakes get very crispy and everyone gets just the right amount of crust. I also like the tanginess of the Greek yogurt (but then again, I'm a sucker for anything smothered in Greek yogurt).

2 cups long-grain rice, such as jasmine or basmati

1 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1/2 cup Greek yogurt (or whole-milk plain yogurt)

1 tablespoon oil for frying

For Rice:

Cook rice, following instructions on package OR use a rice cooker (which is what I did. It makes life so much easier). Allow cooked rice to cool for at least 20 minutes.

For Cakes:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Whisk eggs with yogurt until smooth. Stir in rice and season with salt to taste.

Heat oil in nonstick, oven-proof pan. When hot, add 1/2 cup scoops of rice and cook over medium heat until the bottoms brown, about 6 minutes. Repeat process until all rice cakes cooked.

Place pan into oven and bake for 10 minutes. The bottoms of the rice cakes should be golden brown. Serve immediately with salmon, other fish or or seared scallops.

Searing Salmon

I still had some leftover mango salsa from last night's dinner, so I went to the fish monger to buy some salmon fillets to sear and top with the salsa. I added leftover strawberries and another half a cucumber in the fridge to the salsa, and did a simple salt and pepper seasoning before searing the fish. This is a great way to get the skin all crispy and the salmon was perfectly cooked:

Salt and Pepper both sides of the salmon.

Heat a skillet on medium-high heat. When hot, place salmon, skin side down, onto the pan. Sear salmon for 6 minutes, until a nice golden-brown crust begins to form.

Then turn down heat to low, cover the pan with a lid or heavy foil, and cook an additional 6 minutes until it's almost completely cooked except for a little rare spot in the thickest middle part of the fillet.

Turn off the heat, flip each fillet over and let the fillets sit for about 3 minutes.

Remove fillets and place each on a dinner plate, crispy side up. Serve with mango salsa and rice cakes (see next posting).
I was so hungry that I forgot to take a photo until it was almost all gone.

Risotto Balls with Manchego

Ah, the joys of leftovers. Risotto never really tastes good the next day; it's sticky, glutinous and wet and no longer retains that creamy consistency from the night before. But frying them in a batter of flour, eggs and bread crumbs creates a crisp shell that insulates and warms the rice, rendering it soft and creamy. It's great as an appetizer and accompanied with a dipping sauce.The burst of melted cheese only heightens the sticky-hand-mess experience. Kari, here's to the old days!

2-3 cups overnight Risotto (in this case, Mushroom and Pancetta)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup bread crumbs, preferably homemade, or use Panko

1 large egg, beaten

Manchego, Gruyere and/or Comte cheese, sliced into 12 rectangles an inch long

Oil, for frying

Spoon risotto into your hand and cup it so that it's the length of your index finger, about 1.5-2 inches. Stuff cheese into it and shape it into a oval ball.

Dip it in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs and set aside. Repeat until you finish all the risotto, adding more flour, egg or breadcrumbs if necessary.

In a deep pan, fill oil up so that it reaches 1/2 inch up the side of the pan. Heat over medium-high heat till hot and ready to fry.

With a slotted spoon, slowly slide in risotto balls into hot oil and fry till golden brown and crispy, about 3-5 minutes per side. Adjust heat so that it does not burn the risotto balls. Do not crowd risotto balls; fry in batches.

Remove risotto balls from oil and place on paper towels to soak up excess oil. Serve on its own or with homemade aioli.

Baked Polenta Lasagna

I really enjoy eating polenta, but making it is a hit or miss for me. On occasion I will fuck up royally, with the polenta being too sticky or uncooked. When that happens, I usually pour the polenta mixture into pans to refrigerate, and either make polenta fries or polenta lasagna the next day once they've solidified. With this recipe, I used left over bolognese sauce and polenta to make this "lasagna." Everything's precooked, so you can just freeze it and stick it in the oven when you need to quickly whip up something for a 20-minute meal or impromptu dinner party.

Baked Polenta with Bolognese Meat Sauce (adapted from Marcella Hazan)

Béchamel Sauce:

2 cups milk, heated
4T butter
3T flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, grated

Melt butter in pan. Once melted, take pan off heat, add flour, place back on heat and whisk for 2 minutes.

Add simmering milk and salt, and continue to whisk. Bring it to boil to thicken sauce, then simmer once it hits boiling point. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg, then remove from heat.

Polenta:

7 cups water

1tablespoon salt

12/3cups coarse-grained Italian yellow cornmeal

Bring water to a boil in heavy pot

Add salt and with water boiling, add polenta in thin stream, letting fistfuls run through nearly closed fingers. While adding polenta, you must stir it with a whisk simultaneously, ensuring water is always boiling

Stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes, then cover pot and adjust heat so water bubbles at a lively simmer but not at a full boil. After 10 minutes, uncover, stir again, cover and cook another 10 minutes, stir once more, and in 10 minutes repeat procedure. 45 minutes will have lapsed. It will come together in a soft creamy mass. just before taking it off, stir it vigorously for about 1 minutes, loosening it from pot. Turn it out of the pot into a moistened bowl.

Instant Polenta:

6 1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon salt

2 cups important Italian instant polenta flour

Bring water to boil

Add salt, and once it begins to boil add polenta in thin stream. Stir with a whisk for 1 minute, then cover pot and cook for 15 minutes or according to instructions. Stir vigorously before taking off pot from heat.

Polenta Lasagna:

Lasagna Pan

2 C Bolognese Sauce

2/3C freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preheat oven to 450C.

Make Béchamel sauce.

Slice polenta into layers 1/2inch thick.

Smear lasagna pan with butter. Cover with layer of polenta, patching with more polenta and filling in gaps, combine meat sauce and béchamel, spread some over polenta, then sprinkle cheese. Cover with another layer of polenta, repeating entire procedure and leaving just enough of the béchamel and meat sauce mixture and grated cheese for a light topping over the next and final layer of polenta.

Bake on uppermost rack in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown crust forms on top. Remove from oven and allow it to settle before serving.