February's Go Local Magazine

Go Local Magazine is a local lifestyle magazine showcasing life around the Massachusetts/Connecticut line. Its mission is to improve the community by promoting the region (which includes Stafford Springs, Somers, Enfield and Suffield, CT; and Hampden, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow and Agawam, MA) as a destination to live, play, shop and eat, and to showcase the citizens who make it great. 

One of our recipes is being featured in the current (February 2016) issue. You can get a free copy at many businesses around these towns (go here for a list) or check it out online (here). Find it on page 19!

Savory Maple and Sweet Potato Risotto

We love real maple syrup to such a degree that we have never allowed the fake stuff into our home, and when venturing out to a restaurant for breakfast, Amy will bring a small container of her cousins' syrup with her. Yes, it's that important. We even used it in a brownie recipe once. So why not in a savory one-pot dinner dish?

We repurposed an old risotto recipe of ours to make it easier. So easy, in fact, that it can be make in one pot. And this recipe, now, has it all: deliciously creamy rice, slightly caramelized chunks of sweet potato, soft onions, an herby savoriness that comes from fresh rosemary, and a delightful hint of sweetness from - you guessed it! - real maple syrup.

As for using maple syrup in a risotto dish? That's just our way to...

We, and the neighbors we shared it with, loved this dish so much we thought we needed to enter it into Pure Canada Maple's "Think Outside the Griddle" contest.

The recipe, as always, is below. Like we said, it's a one-pot wonder, and here's the best thing - it makes lots of risotto. And we have a great idea for the leftovers - make arancini the next day! To do that, just take the chilled leftover risotto, form it into small balls, roll the balls in Italian breadcrumbs and fry in a skillet filled about 1/4-inch of the way up with vegetable oil. Serve with a nice green salad to make another meal!

Savory Maple and Sweet Potato Risotto

Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable broth 

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups (about 1 large) peeled, diced sweet potato

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup arborio rice

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

salt and white pepper to taste

1/4 cup real maple syrup

Place the vegetable broth into a saucepan and place over medium-low heat to become warm. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced sweet potato and a pinch of salt and cook until sweet potato starts to brown. Add onions and continue to cook until the onions become translucent. Add the butter and allow it to melt. Pour in the rice and continue to cook, stirring, until rice starts to toast. Add the warm vegetable broth to the rice one ladle at a time, stirring constantly, and waiting until all the broth is absorbed by the rice before adding more. This could take up to one-half hour. When the broth is gone and the rice is done (not too firm, not too mushy), stir in the chopped rosemary and season with salt and white pepper to taste. Turn off the heat, then add the maple syrup, stirring gently so that everything is well combined, then serve and enjoy!

Sweet Potato and Kale "Souper" Food

We were going to make colcannon. With St. Patrick's Day around the corner, it seemed like a good idea to try something truly Irish. But, no offense to Ireland, mashed potatoes with some onions and greens seemed, well, boring. So we headed in an entirely different direction. We bought one big sweet potato and a head of kale and decided to make a "souper" soup.

What makes it "souper?" That's an easy one to answer. Sweet potatoes and kale are two of the most nutritious foods in the world – packed with vitamins, antioxidants, and dietary fiber. They have health benefits for cancer prevention, anti-inflammatory properties, can lower blood sugar and cholesterol, and are great for digestive health. They are also both high in Vitamin C so they boost the immune system. 

This simple soup was a cinch to make. It has only a handful of ingredients, and could easily be made vegetarian- or even vegan-friendly by using olive oil and vegetable broth instead of butter and chicken broth. It was really tasty and made us feel good about eating these super foods. 

And what about St. Patty's Day? Maybe our "Souper" soup isn't an Irish recipe, but it has the right colors, doesn't it?

Sweet Potato and Kale "Souper" Food

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil, divided
1 large sweet potato, diced (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 small onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 cups chicken broth (substitute vegetable broth if you like)
2 1/4 cups water, divided
1 head of kale, chopped (about 6 cups)
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

In a large soup pot, over medium heat, melt one tablespoon of butter. Add the diced sweet potato, chopped onion, salt and pepper. Stir until onions start to soften, then cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add broth and 2 cups of water, then bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are tender. In a separate pot, add the remaining 1/4 cup of water and tablespoon of butter. Bring to a low boil then add the kale and thyme leaves. Cover and cook for five minutes, stirring once about half way through. Using an immersion blender, blend the sweet potato mixture until smooth. Add the cooked kale and thyme to the sweet potato mixture and stir to combine. Serve hot.

Cajun Clams

One food Amy missed while living in New Orleans is clams. While NOLA was an amazing place for seafood, they didn't serve clams. Oysters? Sure. Shrimp? Tons of 'em. Crawfish? Catfish? Crab? Check, check and check. But clams? Nowhere to be found. Back in Connecticut, however, clams are common and we're glad for that. Last week, we bought some steamers and littlenecks and made them, Cajun style.

Our NOLA-fied inspiration was two gorgeous links of andouille sausage Amy's mom bought us from Pekarski's Sausage in South Deerfield, Massachusetts (they don't have a website, but you can read about Pekarski's here). The other ingredients we chose because they enhance the fabulous flavors found in andouille, are typical ingredients in Cajun-style cooking, and/or they add a touch of pretty color to the dish. For our liquid, we used a pale ale, but only because we can't find Abita Turbodog here in New England. If it's not one thing, it's another!

Ingredients:

2 links andouille sausage

1 pound steamer clams

1 pound littleneck clams

1 cup chopped Vidalia onion

1 small yellow bell pepper, roasted, then chopped

1 cup chopped tomato

1 cup chopped sweet potato

1 bottle of pale ale

small bunch chives (chopped) for garnish

Brown the sausage over high heat on all sides, then cut it into rounds. Place the sausage and remaining ingredients (except chives) in a large pot and cook, covered, over high heat for 10-15 minutes, until clams open. Garnish with chopped chives and serve with crusty French bread and ice cold beer. 

Meatless Monday: Vegan Sweet Potato Chipotle Bisque with Cilantro Oil

While it's true the clocks and the calendar have "sprung ahead," there remains a wintry chill in the air. We figure we have a couple more chances to create soup recipes before soup season is "over." This warm and satisfying bisque is a treat with no dairy and very little fat. It makes a striking statement of flavor when accompanied with fresh, springy cilantro oil. We recently served this at a party in stylish shot glasses to the amusement of our friends who loved the "soup shots!" concept.

For the Bisque:

Ingredients:

4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and rough chopped

2 large yellow onions, rough chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 quarts water or vegetable stock

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped

Salt and white pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, place sweet potatoes, onions and garlic. Cover with water or stock, and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and allow potatoes to cook until very soft, about 20 minutes. Add cinnamon, cumin and chipotle pepper. Puree with an immersion blender, a regular blender or food processor. (Note: If you use a regular blender or food processor, beware not to fill the blender to the top with hot soup, as that heat could cause the lid to blow off and splatter hot soup all over you and the kitchen. Therefore, it is best to work in batches, 1/2 a blender at a time and hold the lid down). Season the soup to taste, with salt and white pepper. If the soup is too thick, add more hot water to achieve desired consistency. It should coat the back of a spoon. Serve in a bowl topped with a drizzle of cilantro oil (recipe below).

For the Cilantro Oil:

Ingredients:

1 bunch cilantro, stems and leaves, rinsed and free of dirt

1 clove of garlic

1 cup light olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

Place all the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth. As the oil sits, it may separate, with the cilantro going to the bottom. If this happens, just shake it up. Place in squeeze bottle or just drizzle with a spoon on top of the soup.

Meatless Monday: Sweet Potato Risotto with Spicy Maple Glazed Walnuts *Award-Winning*

Amy writes:

There are moments, albeit few and far between, in every home cook's life when she is pretty impressed with herself. I had one such moment tonight with this week's Meatless Monday recipe "Sweet Potato Risotto with Spicy Maple Glazed Walnuts."

Let me give some important background details. To start with, "meatless" has never really been my thing. I love meat. Of all kinds. But I know that a healthy diet must be balanced, and I know I need to try new things, and I know that going meatless once a week isn't going to kill me (quite the opposite, actually, right?).

Then there's risotto. Regardless of the fact that I once took a cooking class in Rome and have always felt that Italian cooking was one of my "things," I had never made a risotto until I met Chris. Chris taught me the art of making risotto. Or maybe he taught me the skill of having the patience to make risotto. Or maybe he just always makes the risotto when we want to have it at home. Or maybe it's a mixture of all three of these. 

Finally, the sweet potato. It's only within the past couple of years that I've become a fan of this interesting tuber that to me seems so unlike its distant relative the "actual" potato. My mom never made it for me when I was a kid, and it became one of those things I was convinced I didn't like because, frankly, I had never really tried it. Chris loves the things, and kept nagging me to try them, and to cook them. Then last year, we made these amazing little Sweet Potato and Pancetta Gratins, and I was pretty much hooked.

Which brings me to the point that I've been thinking about risotto and Meatless Monday and sweet potatoes for about a week, and this recipe is the end result. It was ready to be served about five minutes after Chris walked in the door, home late from work. He took a bite and I waited. Then, the verdict: "This is one of the best risottos I have ever had." He asked what I did and we picked it apart as if we were our own judges on Top Chef. Sweetness? It has it - from roasted sweet potatoes and hints of maple syrup. Spiciness? Also there - a bit of cayenne in the walnuts puts some heat on the tongue that along with the cinnamon gives warmth and depth to the dish. Herbs? Can I ever make anything without them? I thought rosemary would go nicely with the other flavors, and I was right! And what about textures? Indeed - creamy risotto, crunchy walnuts, soft onions. It's one of the best risottos we've ever had.

Tonight, I guess, the student has become the teacher. And I remain pretty impressed with myself.

For the spicy maple glazed walnuts:

Ingredients:

1 cup roughly chopped walnuts

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

4 tablespoons real maple syrup

Place the walnuts in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the salt, cayenne, cinnamon and pepper and cook 1 minute or so until spices become fragrant and nuts begin to toast. Add the maple syrup and swirl the walnuts in the pan until they are well coated with the spices and syrup. Pour onto a cookie sheet and set aside to cool.

Start with chopped walnuts

Add spices

Add maple syrup

For the risotto:

Ingredients:

4 cups (about 2 medium) peeled, diced sweet potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

6 cups vegetable broth

1 tablespoon butter

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup carnaroli rice

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

salt and white pepper to taste

1/4 cup real maple syrup

Heat the oven to 400 degress. Spread the diced sweet potatoes in one layer in a glass baking pan and drizzle with one tablespoon of olive oil. Toss to coat and roast for 1/2 hour. Meanwhile, pour the vegetable broth into a saucepan and place over medium-low heat to become warm. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and a pinch of salt and cook until onions become translucent. Add the rice and continue to cook until rice starts to toast. Add the warm vegetable broth to the rice one ladle at a time, stirring constantly, and waiting until all the broth is absorbed by the rice before adding more. This could take up to one-half hour. When the broth is gone and the rice is done (not too firm, not too mushy), stir in the chopped rosemary and season with salt and white pepper to taste. Fold in the roasted sweet potato pieces and spiced walnuts, then turn off heat. Add the maple syrup, stir so that everything is well combined, serve and enjoy!

The star ingredient

Sweat chopped onions in olive oil and butter

Add the rice and cook to toast

Patiently add broth one ladle at a time until all liquid is absorbed