Smoked Salmon Risotto with Crème Fraîche

Smoked Salmon Risotto with Crème Fraîche
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Today’s Smoked Salmon Risotto with Crème Fraîche is what I affectionately refer to as “brunch meets risotto”. Although, I can’t help but see problems with that moniker. For one, smoke salmon is too good to only be allocated to morning meals. And, although this dish was inspired by bagel and lox it contains no cream cheese and is devoid of everything bagel spice. So can I, in good conscience, call this brunch? Especially since I ate this for dinner? Does anyone care? I’m guessing not, but now you know these are the sorts of things that rattle around in my brain all day. I’m a “unique” individual, let’s leave it at that.

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Vindaloo Braised Lamb Shanks with Spiced Yogurt Risotto

Vindaloo Braised Lamb Shanks with Spiced Yogurt Risotto
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Looking to make something a little different this Easter? I’ve got a dish for you. These Vindaloo Braised Lamb Shanks feature lamb coated in a sauce inspired by the Goan classic slowed cooked for 3 hours until the meat is fall-apart tender. The lamb is served on a bed of creamy risotto studded with sweet peas and toasted cumin seeds and finished with a hefty dollop of Greek yogurt. Finally, the dish is garnished with julienned cucumber, mint, micro-greens, and thinly sliced red chiles. This meal is a nod to the traditional leg of lamb dinner and two Indian classics – vindaloo and raita. You can scale this meal up or down as your guest list demands and most of the actual cooking is blissfully hands-off. Sound good? Good. Let’s get into it.

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White Bean Chili Fries

White Bean Chili Fries
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French fries are beach food. At least, that’s how I see them. You might think of them as diner food or drive-through food or carnival food. But to me, they’re beach food. I used to get them, doused in vinegar of course, from beachside canteens in my youth. To this day, I can’t set foot on a patch of sand without craving fries. The craving only intensifies post-swim. These days, I’m not clocking much beach time. I’ve mostly been working on my snow shoveling technique. But I can’t help but fantasize about the warmer seasons to come. And it was during one of these daydreams that these White Bean Chili Fries wandered into my head.

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Oven-Fried Tofu Bowls with Gochujang Sauce

Oven-Fried Tofu Bowls
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After the decadence of my previous post, I felt like we could do with a big bowl of veggies and some faux-fried bit of protein. After all, one cannot subsist on fried burrata alone. But although my brain is happy to load up on some vitamin D and C via bright and fresh produce, my palette is not always down with this plan. I’ve been craving fried food hard. And it’s not that surprising. It’s a well-established pattern. Once I reach the middle of February, my mind turns to chocolate, candy, and fried foods. I think it’s all Valentine’s Day’s doing, personally. But I consider today’s Oven-Fried Tofu Bowls to be an antidote to these less-than-virtuous cravings. It’s a compromise in a bowl, but I promise it tastes a lot better than that sounds.

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