GCC: Menu 21 - Mushroom Risotto

February 20, 2011 by Monica in Cooking Club, Dinner, Gutsy Cooks Club, Main Courses

This weeks gutsy cook choice was a favorite of mine – Risotto, in this case with mushrooms.

Most people fear risotto, they think that its complicated and risky. Requiring constant, slow stirring, attention to detail and patience. With no short cuts allowed. Even for a season cook the pressure to turn a great risotto dish may be too much.

You may think that being Italian I cooked this dish many time. Not so, the first time I ever made risotto was last year. As part of a Daring Cook Challenge. Since then, I have made it so many times and can tell you, there is no need to panic. Risotto is not that difficult, in fact, it is one of the easiest dishes to make, but like anything in the kitchen, the trick is organization before hand. Risotto is all about technique. Once you master it, you will be whipping it up and experimenting with countless seasonal flavors.

GCC: Menu 18 - Chicken Croquettes

January 31, 2011 by Monica in Appletizers & Snacks, Chicken, Cookbooks, Cooking Club, Entertaining, Gutsy Cooks Club

The Gutsy Cook menu this week included a favorite of mine: Chicken croquettes or as they are called in Spain “Croquetas de pollo”. Because, while most of Latin American has their own version of this dish. The Spaniards version is the core of all the what-to-be croquetas.

These little dreamy morsels are eaten all over the country. They are served in chic wine bar, in Tabernas, expensive restaurants, in cheap dives and they are all mouth-watering good.

I mean, how – unless you’re a poultry-hater — can you not fall for something that’s crisp outside, creamily inside and you can eat with your fingers?

I totally love them.

FFwD: Chicken B'stilla

January 28, 2011 by Monica in Chicken, Cookbooks, Cooking Club, FFwD, Main Courses

This is one of those recipes that I been waiting to make from Dorie’s book, so when I saw it go up as the choices for our January FFwD group, I did a happy little dance.

Dorie gives us a quick historical lesson on the dish by telling us that this dish is one of the legendary dishes of Morocco that the French has adapted and made their own. Upon further investigation on my part, some say that Arabs brought it to Morocco from the Middle East, and some even venture to say that because of the delicate pastry sheets that incase it, specifically from Persia. This dish has been around! But whoever took the first crack at this dish; it is known today as typical of Morocco and highly regarded as a national dish of that country.

This elaborate meat pie is traditionally made with pigeon or squab, since squabs are often hard to get, chicken is more often use as the substitute. Another substitute is using the phyllo sheets as the blanket that covers this entire filling. In morocco they use a combination of crisp layers of the crepe-like warka dough, also known as Feuilles de brick, which is a thinner cousin of the phyllo dough. In some cases you can find them in Middle Eastern markets or simple buy it online via amazon.com.