fauren

Stop Cutting Up My Friends

I'm a recent newcomer to Mark Bittman, but I've quickly become a fan. While I was home in Massachusetts this past weekend, my dad turned to The Best Recipes in the World on the local PBS station for some background entertainment while we engaged in one of our many heated Scrabble battles (yes, we are one of those families). But soon enough, the game took a back seat to watching Bittman, who devoted an entire episode to what's generally referred to as the best restaurant in the world: El Bulli.

I first heard of El Bulli when I read Clotilde's amazing account of her six-hour dinner there over at Chocolate & Zucchini. I don't think I'd even heard the term molecular gastronomy yet, but there it was in all its glory. And on Saturday evening, I watched in amazement as Bittman learned from chef Ferrán Adriá how he makes his spherical olives and Parmesan "air."

I have to say, I'm a real sucker for Bittman's everyman personality. Even when he stands next to and converses with some of the best chefs in the world, there's something about him that makes me think he could show up at my apartment at any moment and start raiding my fridge. His cooking videos on the New York Times website are casual and refreshingly unpolished, and as if I needed further incentive to enjoy those anti-Food Network stylings, the New York Times posted one of his quirkiest videos to date today.

May I take a moment to share with you roasted tomato soup, featuring Mark Bittman and a very special friend. What I would give to sit down for dinner with this guy.

Silver Spoon Strawberry Risotto

I decided on Saturday to finally purchase The Silver Spoon, the storied Italian cookbook that was translated into English for the first time last year.  If nothing else, it's very pretty.

When I got home from the bookstore, I opened it up to browse some of the recipes.  The very first recipe I laid eyes on was for strawberry risotto, something that struck me as both strange and serendipitous; strange simply because I'd never encountered a savory dish featuring strawberries before, and serendipitous because I'd just purchased some beautiful Tristar strawberries from Fantasy Fruit Farm at the farmer's market in Tompkins Square Park (corner of Avenue A and East 7th Street, New York), which takes place every Sunday.  It was a clear sign that the risotto should be my first attempted Silver Spoon recipe, so this afternoon I headed over to my neighborhood supermarket to purchase the remaining ingredients for the dish. 

First, a couple of liberties I took: 

• I substituted short-grain brown rice for a standard white risotto rice.  I may have sacrificed some of the creaminess as a result, but brown rice is a bit more nutritious (it has more fiber and nutrients than white rice, and it has a lower glycemic index). 

• I used 3/4 of a cup fewer strawberries than the recipe called for because the flavor of the Tristars was so robust.  I also did not completely hull them; they were so ripe that removing the caps was all that was necessary.

• Rather than using the full 7 tablespoons of butter the recipe called for, I used only two and substituted extra virgin olive oil for the rest.

I also debated about the cup of light cream that finishes off the recipe.  It seemed a bit like cheating for the right texture, but admittedly I couldn't resist the idea of an entrée that managed to have both strawberries and cream in it.

The risotto took just over an hour to make from prep to dinner time.  Aside from the constant stirring required of any risotto, it was very little work for a meal with a surprisingly complex flavor.

I was more than happy with my first bite.

The flavor of the strawberries had mellowed considerably, making room for the savory ingredients, and the cream added a delightful richness that I'm sure I would have missed if I'd decided against using it.  As a result, each bite had a nice trajectory from tart to buttery to nutty.

The garnish is more of my Anise Hyssop.  It worked very well here, too.