Tag: vino

The Real McCoy – Shrimp Risotto

I was a bit tired and in a rather foul mood when I wrote yesterday’s blog – I’m still in a foul mood (when am I not?), but I’m feeling slightly better about life today.  Having a glass of vino and preparing to make the chicken piccata that I intended to make yesterday…

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If you’ve never seen the clip from ‘Beavis and Butthead Do America’ where Beavis goes insane on an airplane and screams “piccata for my bung-hole,” please do both of us a favor and go watch it now.

I felt ugly all day today in my button up shirt and slacks (typical) so I came home and put on the tightest black dress I own and proceeded to pour a glass of wine for some inspiration before I commence on the meal I’m about to make. I don’t feel like myself when I’m at work wearing a shirt buttoned up to my thyroid.

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Currently in my natural state – all black everything, covered in cat fur, hair up with fly-aways, drinking wine… 

Anyhow, here is the recipe for my shrimp risotto… I recommend making this dish if you really want to blow someone’s taste buds. My boyfriend is from Venice and said it’s the best risotto he’s ever had – better than any restaurant.  That’s like the best compliment someone could give me other than telling me they like my writing or art work.

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So fucking good… you won’t be able to resist or to stop… I know I sure couldn’t.

INGREDIENTS: 

  • 1 lb. of raw shrimp (frozen or fresh – as long as they haven’t been cooked yet!)
  • 1 box (32 oz.) of seafood stock
  • 2 cups of uncooked Arborio rice
  • 1 1/2 cup of white wine (any will do as long as it’s not too sweet)
  • 5 cloves of garlic, finely minced
  • a few sprigs of fresh thyme, finely chopped
  • 1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/3 cup half and half (light cream)
  • 4 Tbs. butter
  • 3 Tbs. olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp of granulated onion or onion powder
  • 1 bay leaf (dried or fresh)
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • fresh parsley to garnish

DIRECTIONS:

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  • If the shrimp are frozen, thaw them under warm, running water in a strainer
  • Whether or not shrimp are fresh or frozen, peel them and then cut them into halves or thirds depending on size, and set aside in a bowl

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  • In a large wok or deep saucepan, heat the olive oil over low heat and add in the minced garlic
  • Cook garlic over very low heat (being careful not to burn it) for about 1-2 minutes
  • Add in the rice (yes – the secret to good risotto is slightly cooking the dry rice in the olive oil for a couple of minutes without liquid… I don’t know why, but it adds a depth of flavor)
  • Continue to stir and cook the rice over a low heat until it’s completely covered in the oil and begins to become ever-so-translucent in color
  • Raise the heat to medium and add in the white wine (I like to turn up the heat of the burner before adding the wine so that it makes that nice ‘SSSSSsssssss!!!’ sound when it his the hot pan)
  • Risotto is a dish that has to be stirred pretty much continuously – you can’t really step away from more than 30 seconds, so START STIRRING BIOTCH… and don’t stop!
  • As the liquid is absorbed by the rice, add in roughly 1 cup of seafood stock at a time, and keep gently stirring until it’s been absorbed
  • After you’ve added the first cup of seafood and the rice is moist, add in the bay leaf, chopped thyme, and other seasonings (onion powder, basil, oregano, nutmeg, salt and pepper)

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  • Keep adding cup after cup of stock, until you’ve used up the entire contents of the box of stock… by this point, rice should be pretty tender, but neither dry nor too saturated in liquid
  • Add in the half and half (or cream) and continue to stir
  • Stir in the grated Parmesan cheese
  • Add in the raw shrimp and gently stir
  • Continue cooking over low heat, until shrimp turn orange (this means they’re cooked through!)
  • Add in the butter and turn off the heat… stir until butter is melted and incorporated thoroughly
  • Add more salt/pepper to desired taste (if necessary)
  • Remove the bay leaf, and serve on a plate – garnish with fresh parsley and voila!

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OK – I’m going to make chicken PICCATA PICCATA! now (hopefully you’ve watched the Beavis clip so you get it).  Chicken piccata will be in my next post …. hopefully it doesn’t take me two weeks to write :p

PS… Tuna comes home next week:

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I really hope a second cat is good for Peeps and keeps him company and they end up loving and playing with each other…. knowing my luck, Peeper will become psychotic and piss all over the house or try to attack the kitten.  In this case, I don’t know what I will do.

Wine, Wine, and Cacio e Pepe

I was home ‘alone’ last week, and alternated between eating healthy and abstaining from wine on the nights I was actually all alone, to cooking gnocchi in cheese sauce or frying eggplant Parmesan and guzzling down the nectar of the gods in copious quantities on the nights I was with friends. There really is no in between for me…. abstinence or gluttony, all or nothing, feast or famine… give me life or give me death!


The random and “healthy” sh*t I eat when I’m alone and have no one to cook for ^ – I alternate between salads, blocks of tofu, homemade veggie soup, or weird shit I concoct using whatever I find in the cupboards. It brings me back to the days of almost starving to death while working as a waitress and having no money…good times.  And yes, I take my meals in the bath tub sometimes…. 

Regarding my previous post on learning the art of driving stick-shift, I failed miserably at my mission and will be requiring a lot more practice. I thought I could handle jostling my boyfriend’s car around the local streets all week in accordance with NYC street-cleaning/parking regulations. However, I failed to even work up enough ballz to attempt to move the car, and had to enlist the help of my brother-in-law to move it into the parking garage. I thought I could handle it, but freaked out when I thought about accidentally flooring it with the clutch and gas, and hitting a car parked to the front or back, or stalling out in the middle of the street or intersection. I guess learning to master stick will be another goal for me in 2019.

We finally got some winter weather in NYC, although not the snow that was predicted earlier in the week – just bitter temperatures. My family (upstate) got around 18″ of the snow over the course of Saturday and Sunday. Naturally, after setting my sites on a weekend filled with glorious walks in the snow and an opportunity to camp out at home, the carpet was ripped out from under me, and temperatures were in the 40s. The weather channel predicted significant snowfall in NYC up until Friday, when the forecast suddenly called for rain. It rained all night on Saturday, and then by late Sunday night, temperatures plummeted to single-degrees.

I almost lost my favorite hat (pictured above ^^^) on Monday, when I had way too much fun at a friend’s birthday brunch party… (i.e. way too much to drink) and walked out into the 6 degree night without my hat to get into the Uber. Thankfully the restaurant had my hat when I called the next day… a true miracle. Only I would lose my warmest and most valuable hat on the coldest night of the year…. I am a mess. I guess this was karma for the fact that another friend and I accidentally took someone else’s hat by mistake on our Saturday night escapades… oopsie 😉

CACIO E PEPE

After my boyfriend finally returned home from Italy, I decided to make a nice pasta dish to celebrate: cacio e pepe. A classic Roman staple, this is a simple dish, using only a few ingredients, but perfect comfort food and maximum taste for a winter day.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 box thick spaghetti (or bucatini, or linguini… whatever floats your boat)
  • Salt (to season boiling pasta water)
  • 2 tsp freshly ground black Pepper
  • 4 Tbs. Butter
  • 4 Tbs. olive oil
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano (more if desired)
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (more if desired)

DIRECTIONS:

  • Heat large pot of well-salted water over high heat (bring to a boil); in the meantime;
  • Melt butter over low heat, in a LARGE saucepan
  • Add freshly ground black pepper to butter, and continue to cook over lowest possible heat…. do not burn the butter!
  • Once water is at a heavy boil, add in pasta and cook until al dente (pasta box should provide cook times for al dente and fully done)
  • Stir pasta occasionally to prevent it from clumping together,
  • Once pasta is al dente, turn off heat, and using a measuring cup or ladle, spoon about 1/3 cup of pasta water from pot and add into the saucepan with the butter and pepper
  • Set aside additional pasta water – you may need a bit more later…
  • Drain the pasta and add the drained pasta into the pan with the sauce continuing to cook over low heat and stirring continuously
  • Add in (or if you’re like me, grate in directly) the cheese…. it is important the cheese is distributed evenly or it will also clump
  • Keep stirring and cooking over low heat, until moisture is absorbed by pasta and cheese integrates into sauce
  • Stir in olive oil, add more cheese or water as necessary… the sauce should be rich and fairly thick but still viscous
  • Grate more cheese over pasta when serving!