Spring Risotto with Baked Swai

At the store there is an initiative called “Live Healthy Hy-Vee” and it encourages the employees to make little changes here and there to improve health.  As part of the incentives an employee is required to participate in two ‘events’ that focus on health in some form or another.  Today that form takes the shape of attending a class I host about cooking lighter.

With the lackluster winter we have had and spring just around the corner I thought I would put together a nice dish that has the feel of that heartiness we all crave right now (in the risotto) but is prepared so as to be light and inspire the feelings of spring.  The following recipe is the result of making a few adjustments here and there from my normal risotto to achieve this.

Sweet basil sweet potato gnocchi

This weekend my wife and I took out for St. Louis.  Elvis Costello was performing at the Pageant and since I am a huge fan (she likes him too) we knew we had to.  I’m not too sure how often he comes to little ol’ Missouri so I jumped at the opportunity.  The show was great, he had go-go dancers and a ‘spinning songbook’ - from which he played whatever song the dial landed on.



Saturday we plunked around the business district, and since we were with her parents, we got a free ride to some of their favorite places.  One in particular was a little shop called the Wine Merchant.  Little isnt exactly the right way to describe this place; from the outside it was quite unassuming but once you walk through the doors a plethora of wine and spirits awaits you.  Not only that but a great selection of artisan cheeses and boutique snacks accompany the libations.  I was awed by the selection and excited to just roam around, but the thing that caught my eye was something as we left.  

St. Louis publishes a food magazine for the area called FEAST and I snagged one as we walked out the door.  In it were some great vegetarian ideas (among other great recipes) one of which being a sweet potato gnocchi with mushroom bolognese and I knew it was my mission to recreate this.

Angel hair pasta

This weekend saw Samantha and I down in the southern part of Missouri on the Meramec river with some friends for a little float trip.  Saturday I got up early and whipped together some buttermilk biscuits from Ad-Hoc at Home and made a little Italian sausage gravy to smother them with.

Braised 'Country Style' Pork Ribs with Bulgur

This week I started out with a dish that can work this time of year but is really good for later in the year.  I was really craving it so here we are.

The braising involves the oven being on for around 3 hours (which is why its better for later months) but it was a bit cooler so I went with it.

First we start out with the country style, bone-in ribs

Curtis Stone

Last week I took a break to catch up on some things around the house and within my family.  May and the first weekend in June were quite busy.  In fact the 5th and 6th of June saw me take a trip up to Iowa to cook for my company and see the launch of Curtis Stone.

I was chosen to be one of 15 chefs to ‘demo’ one of Curtis’ recipes for the attendees and to showcase what it is my position does here at the store.  
We (myself and another chef) were in charge of the vegetable fritter station.  It consisted of carrots, zucchini, onion and potatoes tossed with some egg and milk.  Then we just heated a pan with a bit of oil and set small portions in the pan.  I would say we used about ¼ cup worth of veggie mix for each fritter.  
Let the fritters cooks for 4-6 minutes (over medium heat) on each side then serve.  We also served a sour cream and dill sauce as a garnish.  It was a easy as stirring a bit of dill into the sour cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.  The sauce melts a bit over the top of the fritter very nicely and adds a creaminess that contrasts the crunch of the vegetables.
We had to set up a table at the show to merchandise along with our samples.....

 (thats me tucked away on the right - my fellow chef AL was a big hit too)

Curtis Stone cut outs were everywhere as well....

The really cool part of the event was when I was informed I would be down on the floor to watch Curtis demo on of his recipes.  Not only did I get to see him up close and personal (if you will) but he brought one of our VP’s on stage and Shaun Johnson as well.
This honestly is my version of going to a concert where my favorite band is playing and getting to be a the fence in the front row and take it all in.  I kind of geek out when it comes to people in the food industry and watching them work.  It amazes me, its like watching a great artist paint and I was in ‘hog heaven’
I was able to sneak a couple pictures of the three on the stage....

Curtis has such a great presence and is very easy to follow and seems like he is one of your buddies just whipping together a meal in your home.  I think this is something that makes his draw so strong.  He is very personable and doesnt seem to carry an aire of ‘greater than thou’.  
Anyway Shaun and the VP (Jon) did there cooking and it was up to us on the floor to sample and decide which was better.
In the end they both ended up really well, although the noodles from Jon were a bit clumped together due to his plopping them down on the plate.  But it was really just a fun way to interact with the crowd and poke a little fun at on of the head honchos.

After the show I drove back with our meat service manager and we schemed up a bunch of ideas for promoting Curtis Stone and for some other exciting things that will be coming down the line very soon.

 

Risotto!!

Tonight when Sam and I got home from work we found Sadye limping pretty noticeably.  She was favoring one of her legs really bad and acting very sluggish - that with the hairball we found on the floor lead us to the animal hospital to get her checked out.  (sorry for the gross ness, I promise its all up and up from here)
I had planned on making dinner right away when we got home but an hour or so later I resumed my original plan.  Yesterday I picked up some basil, some really fat asparagus and a little tilapia.  Risotto is one of Sam's favorite dishes to eat and by far my favorite to make - so its a win win.
I started with some diced onion and arborio rice....

apple streusel

This week we have been battling severe weather, so after the tornado warnings and getting sadye (our dog) to come out from under the covers I decided to make another tasty dessert.  I have a step by step baking book so I strolled through it for a bit and decided upon the apple streusel because it seemed not to be too sweet and relatively simple.

I will map out what to do below so all you need are the things in this photo...