Spelunking in the Kitchen

7-27-11

Thought for the day: Cooking is a daring adventure or nothing.

I opened the door to the dark, overflowing refrigerator and announced, “I’m going in.” After taking out over half of the residents incognito, the blueberries escaped. They had fun rolling to freedom, the wee rascals, while I, blueberry rustler, quickly gave up my role as brave excavator in search of precious grated cheese for an historical meal.

The truth is, I was just an irritated, hectic cook looking for the asiago cheese in my unlit, jam-packed refrigerator, wishing I could blame someone else for this state of affairs and didn’t have time to chase down blueberries, let alone check through the contents of all the old containers I pulled out. I only embellish and glorify the story now because when it was over and I got up off my knees with a crack, crack, Gina, who watched from the counter said, “That was an adventure.”

Like Helen Keller said, “Life is a daring adventure or nothing,” even if it is spelunking in your own dark refrigerator.

I’m grateful for friends who sit at my kitchen counter popping blueberries in their mouths, spin me around, take off my blindfold, and allow me to see I’ve pinned the tail on my own ass.

Thanks, Gina, for eating my food and moaning.

Mushroom and Butternut Squash Risotto

1 cup Arborio rice
1 ½ c. chicken or vegetable stock
1-2 T. olive oil
½ a large onion—I like Vidalia or sweet onions best
2 large cloves of garlic thinly sliced or pressed
1 T. of sage (dried is okay in a pinch)
1 T. of chopped fresh oregano (dried is okay too)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 small butternut squash peeled and cubed (Sometimes you can get lucky at the produce department and find it already cut for you. But I figure, if I’m going to all the trouble of cooking a tasty meal, holding in a few more vitamins and a lot more freshness is worth the effort of peeling and cutting it up myself.)
3-4 good sized Portobello mushrooms cut in triangle chunks like a clock—holds in the juice better than sliced. I used 3 but longed for more.
¼ c. grated parmesan or asiago cheese.

Cook onion and garlic in olive oil for about 4-5 minutes in a skillet. Add the squash and at least ¼ cup of stock and cover over medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 7 minutes.

Cook the rice with the remaining stock and enough water to make two cups of liquid. If you want to use all stock, hey, it’s your kitchen, cookie.

Add the mushrooms to the squash and onion treat and toss ‘em around till they seem like they’ve been there forever. Cover and cook on low to medium heat for a couple of minutes until everything is just as soft or hard as you like. Add the rice and the grated cheese, if you can find it, and stir and serve. In the words of Gina, “Mmm.”