the one upper: amaretto rice pudding

Amaretto rice pudding with raspberry coulis

I have never made rice pudding before. In fact, I had never had it before the fundraiser dinner. I'm a huge fan of tapioca pudding, and figured I could try to make rice pudding since I have a huge 25 pound bag of rice in my possession. I browsed around and wanted a special recipe, and spied a lemon and almond rice pudding recipe from food network a la Giada de Laurentiis.  I have made ample changes and here is my version! I served my rice pudding with vanilla yogurt (instead of whipped cream, to be a tad bit healthier) and homemade raspberry coulis (recipe also below!).

Amaretto Rice Pudding

6 cups whole milk

2 cups water

1 cup cal-rose/ sushi rice: washed and drained

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup amaretto liqueur

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (pure!)

1/2 cup milk of your choice

1. Mix together the milk and water in large pot, non-stick is preferred. I'm sure this is like 2% or something, but this is how I did it (probably because it's what I had on hand). I'm sure it'll work with any kind of milk as long as you use 8 cups of liquid for the 1 cup of rice. Turn on the flame to medium. Add rice, sugar, and salt right away (do not wait till milk simmers). STIR this mixture, like you mean it. Give it a chance to heat up.

2. As soon as it starts to look like it will boil, turn down the heat to medium low or low: whichever it takes to get a simmer. This will take a while, expect to periodically check in on the mixture and stir it for the next 35 minutes.

3. Check that mixture is thick and rice is almost done. The goal is rice pudding that isn't hard but not mush either. The best thing to do is taste it and see how you like it, remember it'll cook for another 10 minutes so it should be slightly more done than what you'd want.

 4. Stir in amaretto and vanilla extract. Allow mixture to cook with amaretto for 10 more minutes. Check when time is up to see if you like the consistency. If not, give it a few more minutes.  Once its the way you like it, turn off the flame and remove the vessel from the burner. Stir in the milk. 

5. Refrigerate the rice pudding for at least 4 hours. Look below for suggestions and some notes.

serve with:

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted according to directions on package

vanilla yogurt if desired

raspberry coulis! recipe below! so simple!

Raspberry Coulis

1 14 ounce bag of frozen raspberries (This is what I used to make it, I'll update when I try with fresh)

3 tablespoons sugar (up to 1/4 cup if you really want it to be sweet: but give the raspberry tartness a chance!)

juice of one lemon

1/2 teaspoon of flour

2 tablespoons orange juice

1. Put raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice into a small pot and let it come to a boil. Let it boil away until raspberries break down.

2. Mix the flour with the OJ, this will be a slurry used to thicken the coulis. If you want a runny sauce, omit these ingredients and this step. Pour the slurry into the raspberries and mix around; let it come back to a boil.

3. Remove sauce from heat. Blend if desired, but it's nice when it's chunky too!

notes: if you want a fresh acidity to the rice pudding, you can also stir in the juice of 2 lemons when you add the amaretto. I'd suggest you try to make the recipes once without it first since the lemon can be kinda strong.

This was the ultimate one upper. All the attendees said they enjoyed it, so try it for yourself!

There you go, you have 5 out of 5 courses! Don't worry I've been cooking up a storm so more recipes to come soon.

EAT EAT EAT

<3 HK

main meat course: lemon herbed chicken

close up of the baked chicken, thank you skyler

So, I've taken a hiatus from baking chicken, which is usually a staple in my college kid cuisine repertoire. But, after making this for the fundraising dinner, I'm inspired to prepare food like this again. I have plenty of baked chick recipes, so you just wait!

Lemon Herbed Chicken
marinade:
1 bunch of flat leaf parsley, avoiding stems, chop finely; should equal about 6 tablespoons
6 cloves of garlic finely minced
2 sprigs of rosemary, remove stem and mince up rosemary
2 lemons, juice them then slice them up (save slices for when you actually bake the chicken)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
ok, the chicken. you can use this on a whole chicken, or boneless, or bone in. this is what we used for the dinner: 6 legs and 6 thighs, bone-in with skin on. 

1. mix the parsley, garlic, rosemary, lemon juice, and olive oil. it should be pretty pasty and not so...wet if that makes sense.
2. rub this mixture on to the chicken. best thing for enhanced flavor is to put this stuff under the skin, making direct contact with the meat.
3. let the chicken absorb the flavors, and leave it for a few hours, overnight if possible
4. when you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, then prepare the pan you are using by lining it with foil.
5. place onions and lemon slices at bottom of pan and place chicken on top of this. drizzle some olive oil on top of chicken to help the skin brown. cover chicken with foil and bake for 30 minutes. then remove foil, increase heat to 450 and bake till skin is browned (maybe 15 minutes, but may vary depending on your preference and oven settings).
6. you can check doneness by cutting into a piece and making sure juices run clear. yum. let the chicken cool for a few minutes and serve with the yummy soft onions.

there it is, the main course. woot woot
yay
HK

crowd pleaser: potato and squash gratin

This gratin was a real crowd pleaser. Chris found the recipe for potato, squash and goat cheese gratin from kitchn. I modified it only a tad- here goes!

Potato and Squash Gratin
6-8 red potatoes, depending on how big they are, to get a 50/50 ratio to squash
2 yellow squash
4 ounces goat cheese
1/4- 1/2 cup whole milk
salt and pepper
olive oil
parmesan cheese or breadcrumbs for top

1. wash and dry the potatoes and squash. slice them using a mandoline. aim for 50/50 ratio.
2. put mixture in large mixing bowl, and toss around with olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste
3. layer this mixture on the bottom of the casserole or baking pan you hope you use. aim for a thin layer about two slices thick. put dots of goat cheese throughout. repeat and end with a layer of the squash and potato.
4. this can be made up to a night in advance, so when you are ready to bake preheat the oven to 400 degree. pour up to 1/2 cup of whole milk over the top, depending how deep your dish is: you should have enough milk to almost cover the layers. sprinkle the breadcrumbs or cheese (or a mixture of the two) on top in a thin but substantial layer. cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. remove foil and bake till top is crusty and brown!
5. let cool for a bit then serve. SUCH A GOOD LEFTOVER

enjoy this. I even used goat cheese, and for those of you who don't know I hardly EVER eat cheese fancier than mozzarella!

Chris serving up the gratin!

chilled tomato avocado soup

So, this was actually the appetizer for the fundraising dinner. It was inspired by the cold avocado and tomato soup recipe from the June 1993 issue of Bon Appetit that I found on Epicurious. here we go.

Chilled Tomato and Avocado Soup
1 lb ripe roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 cup roasted red peppers (the kind that come in a jar in that mysterious liquid)
2 teaspoons sugar (I used turbinado)
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 large cucumber, roughly chopped
1 ripe avocado
salt and pepper to taste
4 cloves garlic
avocado slices for GARNISH if desired

This is simple:
1. add all ingredients (except garnish you silly goose) to blender. blend till smooth! make sure you taste it before you serve it. chill if necessary
Notes: the original version of this recipe is really thick and this is a thinned out version. if it's still too thick for you, add more cucumbers and chicken stock! if making for vegetarians, use vegetable stock.

yes! you are 40% to a 5 course meal. see what I did there?
<3 HK

fundraising dinner recipes are here

The recipes are finally here! so, just in case you didn't know I hosted a fundraising dinner with my Dance Marathon partner to raise the money we needed to dance. special thanks to everyone who participated by donating and/or coming to the dinner! yay.

It was a five course dinner and the accompanying recipes will come one at a time. We will begin with the quinoa garbanzo salad!! it was modified from a recipe I found on epicurious from the july 2010 issue of bon appetit.

Garbanzo Bean and Spinach Quinoa Salad
1 1/2 cups of uncooked quinoa, washed then drained
3 cups baby spinach leaves, washed and thoroughly dried
1 LARGE can of garbanzo beans, about 24 ounces, rinsed and drained
2 cucumbers, partially peeled, quartered and diced
2 medium tomatoes, chopped (or 1 pint halved cherry/grape tomatoes if you like these better)
1 cup mint leaves

dressing:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons paprika
pinch salt
pinch black pepper
1/8-1/4 cup olive oil, depending how tart you like your dressing

1. cook the quinoa according to directions on package; usually 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water/liquid, let boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. season the water if not using a fancy liquid like stock. let the quinoa drain well
2. mix all salad ingredients together, add cooled quinoa; DON'T ADD MINT YET
3. make the dressing by combining first 4 ingredients, then slowly drizzle in oil to make cute emulsion. I don't like so much oil in my dressing so I do twice the amount of vinegar to oil.
4. pour dressing over salad mixture and add the mint RIGHT BEFORE SERVING or else it will be black and wilty which is gross.

enjoy and more recipes to come.

<3 HK