Eggplant Risotto

When I smell risotto it brings me back to Italy. When I eat risotto I feel luxurious. When I make risotto I feel like I can master anything. Well, that may not be true, but I do feel rather accomplished. It is a tedious, loving journey to take a pot of rice to a creamy, delicious dinner, but it is well worth it.

This is one of my favorite risottos. Yotam Ottolenghi masterfully pairs both burnt and fried eggplant to create a perfect dish. And as I have said before in my Chicken Stock post, Mr. Ottolenghi believes stock “will make it or break it.” It holds especially true when it comes to risotto. You don’t want to spend all of this time on your risotto only to have it ruined by store-bought vegetable stock. So, please, trust me, make a stock this one time. You will by super stoked.

"Potholes" Sundae

Inspired by the best sundae I have ever had....

Now, I usually don't get so excited for ice cream sundaes. They are usually too big and end up being ice cream soup. But this sundae changed it for me. It was just the right size and the right blend of all of the best sundae yumminess.

The Baked Brownie

Every time I have made brownies from scratch, they have been crumbly, cakey, and dry. Brownies are not supposed to be crumbly, caky, and dry. That’s not how they come out of the box. Out of the box, they are fudgy, chewy, and chocolately. 

Salmon Eggs Benedict

Eggs benedict is the quintessential Sunday brunch meal. I never ordered it because I am not a fan of the Canadian bacon. But in a little beach cafe in Sydney, Australia, they serve eggs benedict with smoked salmon instead, where the inspiration for this dish came. 

Now the first time I decided to tackle eggs benedict I was staying over at my parent’s house with Ryan. My mom and I got out all of her recipe books with hollandaise sauce in them and spread them all over the table.  We tried to comparing the minute details for 15 different recipes (I think we chose one by eenie, meenie, miney, mo). The next morning there were 4 of us crowded around the stove using 3 burners all working on a different component of the meal. Let’s just call it organized chaos.

Salmon with Sweet Corn Salsa

Of the many things I have discovered about living in my apartment, one of my favorite’s, is my proximity to Whole Foods…(it may be my bank account’s least favorite). I can literally run there, grab the cinnamon I was missing for zucchini bread or brioche buns for sloppy joes, check out, and run back in less than thirty minutes. I save the environment some emissions and my butt gets a much needed break from the couch and Bravo marathons...that I have to record while I am gone because I am already too sucked in.

Lucky for my bank account, Whole Foods has some amazing Friday sales. This week...Wild Fresh Alaskan Coho Salmon. YUM! I got my inspiration from a recipe they posted on their website. It was the perfect combinations of flavors for this melt in your mouth fish.

Grill corn.

Cool corn.