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recipes

Risotto Coi Bruscandoli

By Sheetar 18 April 2011 7 February 2012

Ri-What Co Who? That’s Italian for Rice with Hop Shoots (Bruscandoli). My husband and I brew our own beer, so we started growing hops (Fuggle and Hellertau) in the back yard. Just three short years later, they’ve grown beyond their boxed-in home and have started invading the lawn. This means lots of pruning since you’re supposed to only have three vines per rhizome to ensure a good harvest. Once they start shooting up in the spring, they grow quickly – sometimes 3+ inches per day. Today, I walked out to find that there were shoots already reaching over a foot high, and it was time to thin the hop-herd. Someone in our homebrew club had mentioned that the young, tender shoots can be used in cooking much like asparagus. Google to the rumor-rescue, and it’s true! In fact, it’s a very common Italian dish (specifically around Venice), and those young hop shoots (Bruscandoli) can be found at markets throughout the spring. I managed to find authentic Italian recipes using Bruscandoli on the website for the Commune di Berra (near Venice). I printed out the recipe for Risotto coi Bruscandoli and set to translate it. What follows below is an Americanized version of the recipe with both the original measurements and the (roughly) American equivalent. It’s pretty easy to make, and don’t worry about having a whole 300 grams of hop shoots – I only had about 125g, and it was plenty! The recipe calls for a white wine, but I served mine with a delightful hoppy beer – Terrapin’s Rye Pale Ale.

Risotto coi Bruscandoli Adapted from recipe here	Print

Ingredients:
1.5 cup (300 g) Arborio Rice	4 cup (1 liter) Vegetable Broth
3 cup (300 g) Bruscandoli (Hop Shoots) use only the tender tips, break off hard ends	1/2 cup (50 g) grated parmesan cheese
1 Onion – minced	2 tbsp Olive Oil
4 tbsp (60 g) Butter (unsalted)	Salt/Pepper/Parsley to taste

Instructions:
Chop the onion and Bruscandoli finely Add chopped onion and Bruscandoli to pan with olive oil and sautÃ© for about 10 minutes at medium heat Season with salt and add rice, stirring for 5 minutes Start to pour in broth, about a half cup at a time, stirring frequently, until the liquid is mostly absorbed by the rice before adding the next half cup of broth – mixture should still be wet, and not dry/sticky once the liquid is absorbed Remove from heat, add the remaining butter, cheese, pepper, and parsley to taste and stir together well Serve with your favorite hoppy beer! Serves about four

One Local Summer, recipes

One Local Summer – Week 22

By Sheetar 11 October 2010 7 February 2012

The husband decided that we ought to use up some ground bison and make his own special on-the-fly version of Italian Wedding Soup. This was a collaborative effort, and what we came up with is absolutely incredible. It’s far from traditional, but it was incredibly delicious and definitely something that will be made again. We had made chicken wings the night prior (boil wings, then throw on grill to crisp) so we had the chicken stock on hand already. Other than that, the recipe is below, feel free to print, use, and enjoy!

Italian Wedding Soup:
Bison – Backyard Bison
Red Onions – Maysie’s Farm
Garlic – Maysie’s Farm
Egg – Mt View Organics
Bread – LeBoon’s Homemade
Cilantro, Sage, Basil – My Garden
Carrots – Maysie’s Farm
Potatoes – Smith’s Produce
Chicken Broth – Boiled down from Mt View Organics wings (Tuesday Night’s dinner!)
Non-Local – Salt

Italian Wedding Soup	Print

Ingredients – Meatballs	Ingredients – Soup
1 lb ground bison	10 cups Chicken Broth (from 2lbs chicken, boiled)
2 cloves garlic, minced	2 Small Red Onions, Diced
1 egg	2 Carrots, sliced
1 slice Italian Bread, crumbled	8 Small Potatoes, cubed
Cilantro, Sage, Basil to taste	1 tsp Salt
	12 large leaves of Spinach, chopped

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Break egg into bowl, add bison, garlic, crumbled bread, and spices, mix together well with hands. Roll into 1″ round meatballs, place on greased cookie tray and bake in oven for 20 minutes. Heat broth on medium-high in large stock pot. add onions, carrots, potatoes, and salt and simmer while meatballs are cooking. Add meatballs to pot and simmer for 15 minutes. Add spinach and simmer until wilted. Top with your favorite grated cheese and enjoy! Makes approximately 14 1-cup servings

recipes

Torta di Mele

By Sheetar 19 September 2009 7 February 2012

Last week, Abbie and I went to the Hopewell Furnace and found that they had a small apple orchard open for apple picking. We picked about 5lbs of apples which have been sitting on my kitchen table, waiting for inspiration. Today, inspiration struck. During my last year of college, I spent a semester abroad, in Italy, and lived with a wonderful host family. Every morning for breakfast, there would be hot espresso, warm milk, and this delicious Torta di Mele or Apple Cake. I quickly fell in love with the cake and requested that my host mother walk me through making the cake so that I could write down the recipe and bring it home with me. Her recipe uses olive oil (I’d suggest a ‘Lite’ olive oil instead of the more flavorful Extra Virgin variety) in place of butter and while we use baking powder, she used, “lievito per dolci.” There doesn’t seem to be a difference between the two and I’m not sure if the chemical composition is the same, but it rises and tastes exactly as I remember. For apples, feel free to use whichever type you like, though a tart, firm apple such as the Gala or Granny Smith seems to work best.

Torta di Mele (Apple Cake)	Print

Ingredients:
2 Eggs	300 g (2.25 cup) All-Purpose Flour
200 g (1 cup) Sugar	1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 cup Olive Oil	4 Apples, peeled and sliced thinly
1 cup Milk	1 tbsp Confectioners Sugar (optional)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F.Break eggs into a mixing bowl and add sugar. Add oil and milk and slowly add flour. Mix together until smooth, and be careful not to over-mix. Add baking powder and mix in well. Pour mixture into an 8×10 baking pan and layer apples on top or press under batter. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle confectioner’s sugar on top while still warm. Serves up to 16.