Risotto Recipe with Variations

Servings: 6

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 teaspoon red chili flakes

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 cups short-grain rice, Arborio

1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper, chopped

1/2 cup dry vermouth

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Heat oil and add onion and sauté until soft.

Add rice, red chili flakes and black pepper. Sauté over med. high heat until all rice is coated with oil.

Add vermouth and stir until absorbed.

Add chicken broth 1 cup at a time until the rice absorbs liquid. (Have extra water ready in case you need it.) Cook until rice is tender, stirring constantly.

Add parsley and Parmesan cheese, and fold in.

Per Serving : 418 Calories; 12g Fat (27.8% calories from fat); 13g Protein; 57g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber;

10mg Cholesterol; 765mg Sodium. Exchanges: 3 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 1 1/2 Fat.

Variations:

Add any or all of the following items: 

sauteed mushrooms (if you use dried, reconstituted mushrooms, include some of the broth)

roasted carrots and sweet potatoes, finely chopped

Sauteed red peppers, finely chopped

2010 Chef Challenge at Schaefer's

On October 14 I was privileged to be the emcee at the Second Annual Chef Challenge, held at Schaefer's in Lincoln. Here I am interviewing Ron Romero, president of Schaefer's.

The Chef's Challenge featured Nebraska local foods and chefs-in-training at three Nebraska culinary schools: The University of Nebraska, Southeast Community College and Metro Community College. A team of three chefs from each school had one hour to prepare a meal. They were judged on teamwork, sanitation, organization, flavor and presentation.

The University of Nebraska chefs worked in the Electrolux kitchen. They prepared a Midwestern Style Asian Breakfast, consisting of Korean style steak and eggs with carmelized onions and mushroom sauce, along with a green salad. They came in third in the competition.








The Southeast Community College chefs prepared their meal in the Jenn-Air kitchen. They prepared seared skirt steak drizzled with brown butter, sweet potato agnolotti and glazed autumn vegetables, along with apples and bears sauteed in buttery belle de brillet syrup accompanied with candied pecans and whip cream. They received the second place award in the competition.

The Metro Community College chefs prepared an appealing meal made up of several small dishes, using the Viking kitchen. I was particularly impressed with how immaculate they kept their work place. It's definitely an example of "mise en place" (French for "everything in its place.") The judges were impressed with all aspects of their cooking, so awarded them the first place trophy, in spite of the fact that they went a couple minutes over time.

While waiting for the chefs to finish, spectators enjoyed samples prepared by chefs from the three schools, using the KitchenAid kitchen. The samples used locally grown food, provided by Open Harvest Cooperative Grocery.

A special thank you to our judges: Brian Everman, Corporate Chef at Lincoln Poultry; Brook Bion Dell, Chef at Irma's Bistro in Creighton University; and Patrick Durkin, Executive Chef at the Nebraska Club.





Click here for more photos of the Chef Challenge.

Judy's Beef Fajitas Recipe

You can also use chicken or pork in these fajitas.
Servings: 6

Rub:

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon Chef Judy seasoning

Filling:
2 pounds flank steak
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
3 bell peppers, mixed, red, yellow and green, sliced thin
1 onion, sliced thin
2 garlic cloves, chopped
cilantro sprigs, as needed for garnish

Trim the fat from the flank steak. Pat the steak dry and cut the steak into two or three pieces if necessary. Rub the steaks with seasoning.

Grill the steak on a hot grill to the desired doneness. Remove the steak and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

Add the oil to a heavy sauté pan. Heat the pan until very hot and sauté the peppers, onion and garlic just until they begin to soften.

Slice the steak against the grain into thin slices. Arrange the steak and pepper mixture on very hot cast-iron platters and garnish with the cilantro. The platters should be sizzling as they are presented to the table.

Serve the fajitas accompanied by warm flour or corn tortillas, fresh salsa, sour cream, and guacamole.

Per Serving : 352 Calories; 23g Fat (58.8% calories from fat); 30g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 77mg Cholesterol; 107mg Sodium. Exchanges: 4 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 2 Fat.

French Onion Soup Pizza Recipe

Servings: 6

CRUST
2/3 cup water (70º to 80ºF)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turbinado sugar
1 cup bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
olive oil spray
3 tablespoons corn meal (1 tablespoon for the dough and 2 for the surface when rolling out dough)

TOPPING
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
9 ounces pancetta, chopped
2 large onions, sliced 1/8-inch thick
9 ounces gruyere cheese, grated
4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated

To make crust: In a glass bowl mix water, yeast, olive oil and sugar. Place all dry ingredients in the work bowl of your KitchenAid with dough hook. With #2 speed slowly add water mixture down the side of the bowl. If dough is too wet, add more flour. Run the KitchenAid 8 minutes longer. Remove dough hook. Spray dough with olive oil, cover and let proof until it has doubled in size or measure all ingredients into bread machine pan in the order suggested by manufacturer. Process on dough/manual cycle.

When cycle is complete, remove dough to a surface lightly dusted with cornmeal. If necessary, knead in additional flour to make dough easy to handle. Roll or press dough cut into 3 pieces. Cover; let rest 30 minutes. Roll out each roll out and spray oil on both sides, place in 400 degree pre heated oven for 10 minutes. In a large skillet heat to med high, spray with olive oil, add pancetta and sauté 2 min. Add sliced onion and sauté on med until onion are golden and caramelized. Spread mixture on pizza crust, top with shedder Wisconsin Gruyere and parmesan cheese. Bake in a preheated over at 350 degrees for 20 min. Let rest 10 min before slicing.

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 560 Calories; 33g Fat (52.6% calories from fat); 37g Protein; 29g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 91mg Cholesterol; 1822mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 4 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 3 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Cheeseburger Pizza Recipe

Servings: 6

CRUST
2/3 cup water (70º to 80ºF)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turbinado sugar
1 cup bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
olive oil spray
3 tablespoons cornmeal (1 tablespoon for the dough and 2 for the surface when rolling out dough)

TOPPING
1/2 pound ground sirloin
1 tablespoon Chef Judy Spicy seasoning
4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded

To make crust: In a glass bowl mix water, yeast, olive oil and sugar. Place all dry ingredients in the work bowl of your KitchenAid with dough hook. With #2 speed slowly add water mixture down the side of the bowl. If dough seems too wet after 2 minutes add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time. Run the machine about 8 minutes longer. Remove dough hook. Spray dough with olive oil, cover and let proof until it has doubled in size or measure all ingredients into bread machine pan in the order suggested by manufacturer. Process on dough/manual cycle. When cycle is complete, remove dough to a surface lightly dusted with cornmeal.. If necessary, knead in additional flour to make dough easy to handle. Roll or press dough cut into 3 pieces. Cover; let rest 30 minutes.

Roll out each roll piece and spray oil on both sides. Place in 400 degree preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Heat skillet to med heat and spray lightly with oil. Add hamburger, seasoning and saute until done.
Spread hamburger mixture on pizza crust, top with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake in a preheated over at 350 degrees for 20 min. Let rest 10 min before slicing.

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 326 Calories; 18g Fat (49.2% calories from fat); 16g Protein; 25g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 46mg Cholesterol; 322mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Our Holland America Culinary Cruise to Alaska

I had an amazing time on my recent culinary cruise to Alaska. There were 22 of us in the group. It was a fantastic group of people.

Dinner in Seattle

The night before the cruise, some of us stayed at the Vintage Park Hotel in Seattle. Ten of us had dinner together at Tulio, the hotel restaurant, an incredible Italian restaurant that made everything from scratch. The next morning, after a gorgeous sit-down breakfast, we enjoyed a walking tour of Seattle, then took the shuttle to the ship. It was the beginning of seven wonderful days.

Everyone in the group wanted to eat together, so we had dinner together every evening at 8 p.m. Holland America did an outstanding job on the food, and the staff was wonderful. We also got a private kitchen tour, which was really interesting and it showed us all the thinking and preparation that goes into cooking for a cruise line.

Dinner on the ship

I did two cooking demos on the ship. Sean Carmichael, who won a free cruise in the recipe contest, worked with me. We worked well together, had great rapport, and immediately felt comfortable with each other. For the first demo, we made roasted shrimp with a mayonnaise caper sauce base, seared scallops with a jalapeno lime sauce, and new potatoes with fresh lemon and olive oil. For the second demo we made halibut wrapped in prosciutto, poached salmon with a caper sauce, and risotto.


The sommelier (wine expert) on the ship did a private wine tasting for our group. We tasted five different wines, including a lovely French champagne. He also did some food and wine pairings. 

We enjoyed three stops: Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka. Glacier Bay was stunning. Alaska is really an amazing place so full of history and breathtakingly beautiful.

With the sommelier

Everyone on the tour had such a great time that we already started talking about next year’s cruise. I’m thinking of the Panama Canal or the New England Coast. Keep watching the blog for updates.

Click here to see more pictures from the cruise.

Cooking Demo