Sushi Bowls with Marinated Tuna

Delicious, marinated tuna on top of a bed of sticky rice.  Sushi bowls!  So easy to make with barely any cooking required.  Here's how to make them:

Plain, Basic Risotto

This is my recipe for a very plain and basic risotto.  Once you've made this, you can turn it into any kind of risotto you want.  Just prepare your preferred ingredients in a separate pan, and when the risotto is done, stir them in.  Simple!  Here's how to make it:

What you'll need:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, small dice

1 clove of garlic, minced

2 cups Arborio rice

8 cups chicken stock, heated

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp unsalted butter

Salt, as needed

Start by heating your chicken stock in a small pot.  You probably won't use all of it but it's better to have too much than too little.  When it's warm, set aside on low.

Heat a large pan over medium heat.  Coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil.  When the oil is hot, add the onion and season generously with salt.  Cook until the onion become translucent and tender.  Add the garlic and cook a minute more.

Add the Arborio rice and stir until all the rice is coated in oil.  Season once again with salt.  Add the white wine and stir until wine has been absorbed.

Start slowly adding the chicken stock to the rice, about a cup at a time.  Stir until the stock is absorbed and repeat this process until the rice is creamy and tender, stirring constantly.  Make sure you taste the rice to check its tenderness.  

When it is to your liking, add the butter and stir vigorously until melted.  Stir in the Parmesan cheese, taste for seasoning, and it's done!  Now you can add your choice of ingredients.

Mushroom Risotto

This is a very earthy and flavorful risotto, perfect for a cold night. Risotto is one of my favorite things to make because it is so versatile.  All you need is a basic risotto recipe, then you can add anything you want.  For this recipe, I went with mushrooms!  Risotto is actually a technique for cooking rice, that's where the dish gets its name.  The holidays are coming up and this would be a perfect dish to make!  Here's how to make it:

Baked Jambalaya

Jambalaya is up there with my top 5 favorite foods.  I love one pot meals and meals that you can eat for a week.  When I was in culinary school, I would make a huge pot of jambalaya and eat on it for at least 5 days!  I was really in the mood for some kind of casserole, and then I thought about jambalaya.  So I thought, what if I made jambalaya but baked it like a casserole?  The result?  Super creamy and delicious jambalaya.  You can definitely still make this recipe on the stove top, but something about baking it really brings out the starches in the rice and makes it extra creamy.  Put on your fat pants for this one, because there is nothing low calorie about this recipe!  Maybe that's what makes it so good!

Brown Rice Casserole

 Brown rice has always been a staple at our family get-togethers.  Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without brown rice.  Not the real "brown rice".  I'm talking about good old white rice cooked in Campbell's soups!  Some of my friends and family have this idea that all I cook is "fancy stuff".  Not true!  I usually cook what is in my pantry or what I have on hand.  I wanted to try a different spin on brown rice this time around.  It usually has a can of French Onion soup in it, but all I had in my pantry was Golden Mushroom.  So I thought I'd give it a try and see how it turned out!  I love cooking with canned soups.  It just take me home.  I can close my eyes and feel like I'm sitting at my Gam's table.  Here's what I came up with:

Salmon topped with Guacamole over Cilantro-Lime Rice

This might seem like a weird combination, but it is so so good.  One of my favorite ways to eat salmon is with a panko breadcrumb crust.  For this recipe, I decided to crust it with crushed up tortilla chips since they go great with guacamole of course!  Also, aren't the colors in this recipe beautiful!?

 

Cilantro-Lime Rice with Black Beans

I love rice.  It is one of my favorite ingredients.  You can use it in soo many different ways.  It never gets old because there is always something new you can do with rice!  I never cook rice the old fashioned way.  Bringing water to a boil, add rice, simmer 20 minutes... snoooore.  It's just boring and not for me!  I'm always looking for ways to make plain rice more flavorful.  This cilantro-lime rice with black beans is one of my favorites.  I'm not a huge fan of cilantro, but I do think it belongs in certain dishes.  You can use as much or as little cilantro as you'd like.  I don't use much at all!  Too much of it tastes like dish soap to me..blah! I just use enough to get the flavor of it but not to over power the whole dish.