Italy Part 7

Let's face it. Cooking my way through Italy has provided a food surplus in the Lazar apartment. In fact, last week I decided to slow this journey down a bit because we had too many leftovers for our modest refrigerator to handle; for example, you'd have to fumble around for 5 minutes just to find the cream cheese, and then, where are the bagels hiding? Not to mention, I am worried about the health of our refrigerator at the moment. Our milk has started souring early, our beers are not frosty, and my thermometer, which I placed on the top shelf, displays a needle that hovers around 50 (it should be below 41 degrees thank you)! This is a bit discerning for me - a gal who loves leftovers. For example, I think I've been eating that Chicken cacciatora (from last Friday) daily since Joe's work schedule keeps him from home for most of the day and then sends him home with a meal from the hospital cafeteria. Leftovers provide for a glamorous meal after pressing a few buttons on the microwave. 

I was reminded of my love for leftovers last night when Joe and I returned mid-afternoon from Summit Valley after completing our first "14er." Actually, we did two, climbing to the top of Gray's Peak first followed by Torrey's Peak since they stand a little less than a mile apart from each other. If you have not heard of a fourteener (you are probably not from Colorado... ah hem, as we were totally foreign to the concept), it is a mountaineering term used to describe a mountain that exceeds 14,000 feet above sea level. Long story short, you get really hungry after a climbing around the Rockies! We refueled at the top of Torrey's before the descent. With a view like that, I'll never forget that peanut butter sandwich. Then, we stopped for coffee in Georgetown, an old mining mountain town off of I-70, to regain our strength and reflect on the morning (it was only noon since we started up the mountain a little past 6:00 AM).  I had my best intentions to whip up some Pizza rustica dinner, but I didn't have the energy. As Joe passed out into a peaceful slumber, I heated up a magnificent meal from my supply of leftovers! This included the cacciatora (hehe) with a hardy side of Mushroom risotto.

Torrey's Peak, the second of summit of the morning.

Mushroom riscotto (p. 117)
This is probably one of my new Italian favorites. I made it as simple weekday meal and was surprised as how short the cooking time was. The only downside is that you have a lot of dishes to clean up, as it requires three stove tops to be cooking various components of the dish at the same time: the broth requires simmering with the steeped mushroom water (prepared from hydrating dried porini mushrooms), the mushrooms need to be sautéed with garlic, vermouth and a butter-olive oil combination, and lastly the rice and onions need constant stirring over heat while gradually folding in the mushrooms and broth. The final result is a creamy rice mush, but the rice is slightly chewy. Al dente I would say! The final step requires stirring in another pat of butter and a few handfuls of grated parmesan cheese. Plop a few scoops onto a plate and serve while its still steaming. The interesting part of risotto, from what I read, is that although it is served piping hot, Italians actually prefer to eat theirs after it has cooled a bit. To speed this process, it is commonly spread to the edges of the plate and then consumed from the edges to the center. I guess it allows the flavors to develop more. Also, did you know that you acquire the strongest flavors of a food or beverage at room temperature?  This risotto is really worth a short wait for maximum flavor extraction.

The hot, creamy Mushroom risotto straight from the stove.
Garnish with fresh oregano if you wish, but don't dive in yet! 

Eat like an Italian and play with your risotto before eating.
Here, I spread my risotto to the edges of the plate to increase
the surface area, speeding the cooling process.
And as I noted above, this dish makes excellent leftovers!