Bacon & Eggs Risotto

We’ve been basking in gorgeous 70-degree weather for the past couple of days in Boston, and I’ve been enjoying everything that comes with it: drinks outside on a sunny patio, the return of Boston’s bike share program, and commuting to school along the Charles river. But the weather’s dipped back down to the mid-40s and I’m back to wearing scarves and my winter coat. Yesterday was overcast, gloomy, and grey. So while it’s still appropriate to put together a wintry, comforting risotto, I wanted to share this with you.

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Crispy honey & wine roasted Brussels sprouts

A few weeks ago, my sister sent me a (late-night) text message asking me to come up with a recipe for crispy honey or teriyaki Brussels sprouts. Happily, about a week before that, I’d had dinner with a friend at a restaurant downtown which had crispy sprouts on its menu. They paired theirs with a savory, bleu-cheesy sauce that was actually quite good, but what I really learned from them was how to make Brussels sprouts crispy. When my order arrived, the Brussels sprouts were tiny, tender, and perfectly cooked, but these little cores came surrounding in a bowl of their own leaves, oven-roasted and crisped to a deep, delicate brown. Peeling the individual leaves off the Brussels sprouts and roasting them with their inner cores seems to be the trick to adding a little bit of crunchiness. I think this is the thing my sister’s hankering for, so I hope it works.

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Black Bean, Sweet Potato, and Chipotle Quesadilla

Black beans, roasted sweet potato, and just the right amount of cheese come together for these crispy, filling quesadillas
Black beans, roasted sweet potato, and just the right amount of cheese come together for these crispy, filling quesadillas
Black beans, roasted sweet potato, and just the right amount of cheese come together for these crispy, filling quesadillas

Even though I’d like to think that working & studying at home leaves plenty of time to cook creative, hot lunches, I usually fall back on a reliable favorite: a lightly-toasted quesadilla. This version is an incredibly satisfying vegetarian substitute for the classic chicken and cheese combination. Don’t be too skeptical about the sweet potato + black bean combination, it actually works quite well. Sauteing the beans with some chopped onion and ground cumin lend the quesadillas a characteristic southwestern flavor, and pairing beans, sweet potatoes, and whole wheat tortillas results in a super-filling (fiber-rich) lunch.

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Chinese Chicken Salad

 

Back when I was interning at Cook’s Illustrated last summer, this was one of my favorite dishes to test out in the kitchens. The test cooks would make batch after batch, making revisions and listening to our feedback as the process went along. The romaine and cabbage make this a colorful winter salad, but the secret really is their dressing. A a base blend of soy sauce, orange juice, vinegar, ginger, and chili-garlic sauce is whisked together and used to poach the chicken. The base is then used to make the dressing for the salad. Since the recipe was published earlier this year, I’ve made this salad many, many times, eating it for dinner, packaging it up for lunches with a small tupperware . I’ve made a few adjustments to the original recipe, though not many. The original recipe can be found here, at the Cook’s Country website, the sister publication to Cook’s Illustrated.First, I omitted the oranges; even while sampling this in the test kitchen, I always preferred the salads without the orange segments. I find the chopped salad and pepper combination comes together more evenly without them. Instead, using 1/4 cup of orange juice in the dressing/marinade base works just perfectly. I also prefer chicken thighs to breasts. They have a bit more fat, but they’re incredibly flavorful and moist. Instead of shredding the chicken, I used a butcher’s knife to carve the thighs into slices, and then chop the slices into evenly-sized chunks.

Some advice on making this salad: Using low sodium soy sauce is a must. With the regular versions, the saltiness can be overwhelming. Just a Tablespoon is a sodium bomb. Also, cutting all the ingredients into evenly-sized pieces will help ensure each bite of the salad has the perfect array of veggies and fixins. The first time I made this, both the bell peppers and the peanuts were too roughly chopped. Spending the extra time on finely chopping, especially with the peanuts, makes scooping these ingredients onto your fork a less unwieldy task.

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