Lemon Sole with Spring Risotto and Pesto

My friend Alison turned 30 over the weekend, which was certainly a cause to celebrate! The official birthday festivities took place on Saturday, but I was quite honored when she asked if I would cook her dinner on Sunday evening for her actual birthday. So what does one make for such an event? Something special yet easy so that I could socialize with Alison and our friend Carrie, who also joined us, while preparing dinner.

I still have risotto on my mind after making my Parmesan Risotto with Leeks and Mushrooms dish. (I also still have a very large bag of Arborio rice—used to make risotto—that needs to be used up!) So I decided to make this a part of my dish and top it off with a fish fillet.

The risotto I made was similar to my Parmesan Risotto with Leeks and Mushrooms dish, except that I replaced the mushrooms with asparagus. This added a Spring flair to the risotto, which was perfect for an April birthday. I also did not include the cream in order to make the risotto less rich.

For the fish, I chose a lemon sole fillet since this fish is light in flavor and would not fight for attention with the risotto. I think tilapia or halibut would also work with this dish for the same reasons.

Meanwhile, I still needed something that would help the dish really pop. So I decided on a pesto to top it off, but didn’t want the conventional basil and pine nut basil. Instead I chose to use watercress due to its bold flavor and walnuts because, well, I like them. I also toasted the walnuts before adding them to the food processor, which really enhanced the flavor.

Okay, so here is the recipe for 3 servings. Note that you can make the pesto ahead of time and set it aside.

Watercress and Toasted Walnut Pesto

• ½ cup of walnuts halves, lightly toasted
• ½ clove of garlic
• ½ cup of watercress leaves
• ¼ - ½ cup extra virgin olive oil (amount depends on the pesto consistency you desire)
• Salt to taste

1. Add the toasted walnuts and garlic to the food processor and pulse until roughly chopped.
2. Add watercress and mix until ingredients are pureed.
3. Slowly add olive oil until the pesto reaches the desired consistency.
4. Add salt to taste.

Spring Risotto

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp and 2 tbsp olive oil
• 15 asparagus stalks, rough ends removed
• 1 medium leek, chopped and rinsed (remember, you only use the white and light green part of the leek)
• ¾ cup Arborio rice
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• ¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (the green can kind is prohibited!!!)

1. In a large pot, bring chicken broth to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to the lowest setting to keep broth warm and cover.
2. While broth is heating up, add 1 tsp of olive oil to a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add asparagus stalks and cook until asparagus is bright green. This should take a few minutes.
3. Remove asparagus and place aside. Cut into 1 inch pieces once cooled.
4. Now add the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil and the chopped leaks to the large sauté pan. Sauté the leeks until they just begin to brown.
5. Add the Arborio rice and mix until the rice is glistening with the oil.
6. Pour in the wine and mix until absorbed.
7. Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth and mix until the rice again absorbs the liquid and reaches a thick, creamy consistency. Continue this process, pouring only 1/2 cup of broth at a time, until the rice is tender. This should take about 20 minutes. Also note, that the amount of broth needed will vary so you may not use all 4 cups. If you need more liquid, water will be just fine.
8. Add the parmesan cheese and chopped asparagus and mix together.

Lemon Sole Fish Fillet

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup flour
• 3 lemon sole fillets

1. Lightly oil the fish fillets with about 1 tbsp of olive oil.
2. Cover fillets with flour and shake excess off (be careful, lemon sole is fragile).
3. In a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, add remaining tbsp of olive oil. Add fish fillets and cook on both sides until opaque. This will take about 2-3 minutes on each side. (My skillet was too small for all three fillets, so I just cooked them one at a time.)
4. Place risotto onto serving plate, top with fish fillet, and add a large dollop of pesto.

Hope you enjoy this dish!

Parmesan Risotto with Leeks and Mushrooms

Having grown up in Alabama, I never really knew what risotto was until I moved to New York. Ever since coming across this Italian staple, this dish has intrigued me—the texture, the flavor, and most of all, the technique for making it. For this last reason, I have always shied away from preparing it myself.

Well, it was time to conquer my fear and try it myself. When learning how to make something new, I resort to the internet. So yesterday I read through about 20 recipes for risotto. In the end, I learned that risotto is not hard to make, but it does require some consistent tending to.

Once I figured out the basic techniques, it was time to figure out what I wanted in my risotto. I was looking for subtle flavors that together would build a strong flavor. Okay…leeks. I love these onion-like vegetables yet I have not cooked with them in quite a while. What else... Cheese, Parmesan to be exact. I wanted the texture to be especially smooth and creamy, and this cheese would help me accomplish this task. Lastly, mushrooms. I wanted to add a meaty substance without using meat so these did the trick. I also decided to cook the risotto with some white wine to add a nice twist.

The final product was quite good, but also very rich. I used ¼ cup of half and half, which I had in my refrigerator and needed to use up. I think the recipe can do without this step if you want to make it less rich. I also used ½ pound of thinly sliced cremini mushrooms, which I think was too much. Therefore, in the recipe below I am lowering the amount and also recommending that you cut the slices into quarters to help the mushrooms blend in better. If you want to use this risotto as a side dish, you might want to eliminate the mushrooms altogether as the leeks and cheese on their own make for a really nice companion to a main dish.

Okay, here is the recipe for about 2-3 main dish servings (5 or 6 side servings):

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large leek, white and pale green part sliced lengthwise, then chopped across (don’t forget to rinse the chopped pieces)
• 1/3 lb cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced then quartered
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• ¾ cup dry white wine
• ¾ cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup half and half cream (optional)
• Chopped parsley to garnish

1. In a covered pot, bring chicken broth to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to a low setting.
2. As broth is heating up, add 2 tbsp olive oil and leeks to a large sauté pan over medium heat. Sauté leeks until they just begin to brown.
3. At the same time, in another sauté pan over medium to medium low heat, add remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil and mushrooms. Cook until tender. Once cooked, put mushrooms aside.
4. When the leeks are ready, add the Arborio rice and mix until the rice is glistening with the olive oil.
5. Pour wine into the leeks and rice mixture and stir constantly until absorbed (the mixture will be thick and creamy).
6. Add 1/2 cup of broth and mix until the rice again absorbs the liquid and reaches a thick, creamy consistency. Continue this process, pouring only 1/2 cup of broth at a time, until the rice is tender. This should take about 20 minutes. Also note, that the amount of broth needed will vary so you may not use all 4 cups. If you need more liquid, water will be just fine.
7. Mix in cheese, cream, and mushrooms.
8. Serve, garnished with chopped parsley.

Enjoy!

Salmon with Creamed Leeks

Ever since I made Martha Stewart’s Chicken and Leeks with Crème Fraiche dish, I have been craving more dishes with leeks. So I came up with this salmon dish to satisfy my leeks craving, and I must say it certainly did the trick! The idea is similar to Martha’s, but the flavors are a bit lighter. I must point out that this is definitely one of my favorite dishes that I have made!

So here is how I made it (per 1 serving):

• 1 Leek
• 1 1/2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1/3 lb Salmon filet
• 1 Lemon slice
• 1 Shallot, chopped
• 1/3 cup White wine
• ¼ cup Crème fraiche
• ¼ tsp Lemon zest
• Salt and pepper

1. Turn oven on to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Trim the dark green part off of the leeks leaving only the white and light green leaves. Also trim off the other end’s roots. Cut the leek in half length-wise. Then cut width-wise into centimeter-wide pieces. Place these pieces into a colander or strainer and rinse under water to rid all dirt. Shake excess water off of leeks.
3. Place leeks into an oven proof omelet pan (8” or larger) and toss with 1 tbsp olive oil.
4. Place pan in oven and roast leeks for about 20 minutes. This may take longer for more than one serving. The leeks are ready once they begin to brown.
5. As leeks are roasting, place salmon on a tin foil sheet that is large enough to wrap the fish. Rub remaining olive oil onto fish and surrounding tin foil that will touch the fish once wrapped (including underneath the fish). Place the lemon slice on top of the filet and finish it with some salt and pepper. Now loosely wrap the salmon with the tin foil like a package. Place the wrapped salmon in the middle of a baking sheet.
6. Place salmon in oven and let cook for about 12 minutes. Generally, it should bake 35-40 minutes per pound of fish. When the fish is cooked, carefully un-wrap the tin foil and discard the lemon slice.
7. The leeks will likely finish roasting around when the fish is finished baking. Once the leeks begin browning, remove them from the oven and place the pan on the stove over medium heat. Add the chopped shallot and sauté for 1-2 minutes.
8. Add the wine to the leeks and let reduce to half. Then mix in the crème fraiche and lemon zest. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Place the salmon filet on serving dish and top off with the leeks.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Leeks with Crème Fraiche

Wow, this is one of the best chicken dishes I have made in a while—it is even up there with Ina Garten’s Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic! And y’all know I love cooking with crème fraiche—it makes me feel so sophisticated. Plus the use of the hard apple cider combined with the leeks is unbelievably good and also an interesting combination that I had not had before. In fact, this was also the first time I had cooked with leeks—I had no idea what a fabulous ingredient they are!

If you are not familiar with leeks, they are in between a scallion and an onion in flavor and texture. What I loved about them is that they are a bit milder than onions and hold up better in cooking so that you can actually make them as a side dish all on their own. Why do we not cook more with this awesome item?

So here is the recipe adapted from Martha Stewart. The original recipe is for 4 servings, but since I was cooking this dish for just me and my friend, Carrie, the recipe below is how I made it for 2 servings:

Ingredients

• 2 Chicken breasts on the bone (I swear chicken on the bone is always so much more moist and tastier when cooked)
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 leeks, white and pale-green parts only, cut crosswise into 3-inch pieces and halved lengthwise, rinsed well (See Note 1)
• ¾ cup good-quality hard apple cider (See Note 2)
• ½ tbsp coarsely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• ¼ rounded cup of crème fraiche

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Melt butter and oil in a large sauté pan (I used my 5 quart sauté pan) or enameled cast-iron Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just bubbling.
2. Add the chicken pieces, skin sides down; cook, turning once, until golden, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken pieces to a plate and remove pot from heat; let cool slightly.
3. Return pot to medium-low heat, and add leeks. Cook, stirring frequently, until leeks begin to soften and are pale golden, about 3 minutes.
4. Add hard cider and thyme. Move leeks to edges of pot, and add all the chicken pieces to pot, skin sides down. Arrange leeks over chicken. Cover, and cook 15 minutes (if liquid is bubbling rapidly, reduce heat to low). Turn chicken pieces, and cook until breasts are cooked through, about 5 minutes more.
5. Transfer the chicken to the serving dishes leaving the juices behind. Remove leeks from pot, and arrange the leeks around the chicken.
6. Return pot to medium heat. Cook, uncovered, until liquid has reduced by about half (to about 1/2 cup), 8 to 10 minutes. (When I came to this step, the liquid was already cooked down. So I skipped this step and actually had to add a few tablespoons of cider so that there was about ½ cup of liquid in the pan. If you need to add cider like I did, let it cook slightly to rid the alcohol.)
7. Reduce heat to medium-low. Whisk in the crème fraîche and parsley. Ladle pan sauce over chicken and leeks. Serve immediately.

The final product with be one of the best chicken dishes you have ever eaten—super moist, delicious, and a unique combination of flavors.

Enjoy!

Notes:

1. Before I made this dish, Carrie warned me that leeks are super dirty. I was a little confused looking at the leeks though because they look perfectly clean. However, Carrie was right—the dirt is all inside the leek within the layers. So be sure you get all the dirt out! I found it was best to first cut the leeks as directed above, separate the pieces’ layers, and then run the leeks’ pieces under water.
2. As the original recipe notes, you can substitute hard cider with dry white wine, but I do strongly suggest using hard cider if possible. The flavor it gives is just too good! You can find hard cider at your grocery store in the beer section.