Asparagus & Sweet Peppers: Delightful Match!

I am a big fan of color--big fan. My couch is red, my hangers are lime green, the chairs on the porch are electric blue, and few clothes in my closet follow a neutral palette. So it's no surprise that I also like colorful meals. Meals or dishes with lots of color have different flavors, variety, and are usually really good for you. What I especially love about this dish is that it even looks like Spring!

When my father and his brothers were young boys, asparagus grew wild along the banks of the canals and creeks near their childhood home. The boys would go out and hand cut the asparagus and bring it home for dinner. Call me wistful or nostalgic, but I just think that's a really cute visual! Asparagus popping up at the local market is a sure sign that Spring is here.

When choosing asparagus, I grab the smallest, most tender stalks I can find. The sweet peppers compliment the asparagus--which can have a slightly bitter flavor according to some--and when mixed inside a creamy risotto...I'm salivating! I want to make this dish again right now!

Spring Risotto With Asparagus & Sweet Peppers
--2 tsp olive oil, divided
--1 small shallot, diced
--1 cup arborio rice
--1 cup wine
--1 cup chicken broth
--1 oz. goat cheese
--1 bunch fresh asparagus, ends removed and stalks snapped into 2-inch long pieces
--4-5 small sweet peppers, roughly chopped
--black pepper

Heat a medium-sized saucepan on medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp of the olive oil and the shallot and sauté for a few minutes, until the shallot begins to get translucent. Add the dry arborio rice and stir for 1 minute before adding 1/2 cup of the wine. Stir regularly and as the rice absorbs the wine, add the other 1/2 cup of wine. Once the rice has absorbed the wine begin adding the chicken broth in 1/4 cup increments, stirring regularly and allowing the rice to absorb the broth before adding more.

While the risotto cooks, heat a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 1 tsp of olive oil and the asparagus and peppers to the pan. Crack a healthy dose of black pepper over the veggies and sauté until tender, tossing regularly for even cooking.

When the veggies are done add them to the rice pot, stirring well to combine. Add the goat cheese and again stir well to melt the goat cheese and mix the creamy deliciousness into the risotto. Serve and top with more black pepper if desired!

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4
Calories: 271 per serving

Good Risotto Gone Bad

We've all been there. You read a recipe and think, "Wow, that sounds delicious!" only to end up with a bland or boring concoction that you just wasted 30+ minutes of your life on. It happens to everyone, regardless of culinary savvy. Sometimes it's the fault of the recipe, sometimes the cook, and sometimes external forces of differing cooktops or oven temperatures; altitude; humidity.

Life in a kitchen is an adventure and the recipe listed below is not exactly what I made. The recipe below is what I wish I had made instead. When my friend, Jess, found the recipe and sent it to me, we were both excited by how low the calorie count was for how rich the recipe sounded. Hell, I even ate dairy because I thought it would be worth it. And to be clear, it wasn't awful. It just wasn't the amazing meal we had both envisioned and salivated for.

The recipe below has a few tweaks and changes made that *in theory* should help to boost the flavor quotient for this recipe, while still keeping it healthy and in line with the nutritional content of the original recipe that inspired it...

Vegetarian Cheesy Risotto

--4 cups of vegetable broth or stock

--Asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

--2 TBSP olive oil
--1 small sweet onion, chopped
--garlic, minced
--1 small red bell pepper, sliced into long thin strips
--1 cup Arborio rice
--1 TBSP butter
--8oz. package of sliced crimini or baby portabella mushrooms
--4 ounces Boursin light herbed cheese spread

In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the vegetable broth/stock to rolling boil. Add the asparagus pieces and blanch for two-ish minutes. You will want the asparagus to be crisp but tender (springy if you squeeze a piece). Turn off the burner. Using a slotted spoon, remove the asparagus from the broth, leaving the broth in the saucepan--you will use this to make the risotto.

While the broth is working toward boiling, cook onion and garlic in the olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat until translucent. Add sliced bell pepper and cook until all veggies are tender. Add the rice and cook two-ish minutes--stirring often--until rice is lightly browned.

Add one cup of the broth to the rice and veggies mixture. Stir often until the broth is absorbed. Continue to add broth, in batches, until the rice is fully plumped! You'll know that you're done adding liquid when the rice has expanded, has a creamy texture, and is no longer crunchy when bitten into. (Taste early, taste often!)

While the rice is plumping, saute the mushrooms in the butter. There are about the same number of calories in one tablespoon of butter (110 or so) as there are in one tablespoon of olive oil (120 or so). The difference between these two oils is the fat. For the purpose of our mushrooms, we want the flavor of the butter to enrich the rest of our dish!

When the rice is cooked, stir in the cheese and asparagus. Mix until cheese is melted. Add the mushrooms and mix it all up. Crack in some black pepper. I hope it's delicious!

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4
Calories: 276 per serving

Stew + Pie Crust = Pot Pie?

I love pie crusts, as you may have noticed. And I welcome any excuse to put dinner inside of one. So I decided I would make a cioppino-inspired stew but with less fish and baked inside a pie crust. So it was to be a seafood pot pie of sorts...

Seafood Pot Pie

--1/2 stick of butter
--minced garlic
--mushrooms, sliced
--asparagus, snapped into 1/2" to 1" pieces
--scallops and/or rock shrimp
--14.5oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained
--flour or corn starch
--2 pie crusts, rolled out

In a non-stick pan with deep sides, melt butter over medium heat. Saute garlic for one minute before adding the mushrooms and the asparagus. Cook in the butter until veggies are tender and mushrooms begin to brown. Remove from pan.


In the same pan, add the scallops/shrimp. I cooked mine in a "dry" pan (which means I didn't add any new butter or oil, and just used what little residue was left from the veggies).


Fish is often over cooked (and since this fish was added back into a stew) I seared the scallops for only about a minute.

Add the can of tomatoes and simmer on medium for a few minutes to allow the tomatoes to get warm. Add the mushroom/asparagus mix back into the pan and stir all together. If sauce is fairly liquid, add cornstarch or flour, 1 teaspoon at a time to make it a more sauce-like consistency.


Line a pie pan or bread loaf pan with the pie crusts, leaving enough edges hanging over to cover the top once filled. Scoop the seafood mix into the pan and cover completely with the pie crusts.


Bake at 425 until pie crust is delightfully golden brown on top.