Risotto-style Pasta in Toronto

Hi Brown!

So I live close to lots of interesting markets and stores. I had one traumatic experience (okay, I was the only one who thought it was traumatic) at a Chinese supermarket, but other than that the high concentration of family-owned grocery places around me have been great. There's lots of fresh vegetables and meat.

Yesterday I discovered a poultry store called "Cirque du Poulet"! So I got some chicken and then I made this risotto-style pasta.

Kathy showed me how to do this over the summer, so this is really her recipe. It takes about an hour from chopping veggies to delicious dinner, and a bit longer if you have to debone the chicken. Exact quantities are not really important, but for 2-4 servings I used approximately:

2 cups chicken stock
300g pasta (penne, or some other small noodle. Not spaghetti)
1 bell pepper
Half-fist-sized chunk of broccoli
A bit of olive oil
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
About 1.25lbs chicken (that's how much it weighed before I deboned it).

You start by chopping up the onion, heating the oil, and throwing the onion in. Use a big skillet / frying pan. Then chop some garlic and throw that in as well. Let it sit and think over medium heat for a couple minutes.

Then, add the pasta. Stir it frequently. Let it cook for about 5 minutes.

Pour in some chicken stock - just enough to cover the bottom of the pan with at least 0.5 cm of stock. (I don't miss Imperial!). Keep stirring.

Now, this is the key to this recipe: keep adding chicken stock as it evaporates.

When the pasta is about 2/3 done, throw in the chicken. Wait a minute or two and then throw in the broccoli. When you're almost ready to serve, throw in the red pepper.

Yum. Co-op love from Toronto! There is a comfy (orange!) couch in my living room, waiting to receive guests...

Ghanaian food in Virginia: Jollof rice

Gabriel, one of my housemates this summer, is from Ghana, and his sister is a great chef and owner of a restaurant in Ghana!  We are both learning to cook some traditional Ghanaian dishes using recipes from his sister.  Here is a recipe for Jollof rice:

1 lb meat
1 onion
2 fresh tomatoes pureed or 1 can of tomato sauce
1 box chicken broth
1/2 can of tomato paste
3 cups of rice
salt to taste

1. Cook beef/chicken in water with ground pepper
2. Add 1/4 of a sliced onion and leave to cook
3. Fry rest of onion in separate pan with oil
4. Add tomato paste and stir well into the oil
5. Add fresh tomato puree and cook well
6. Fry chicken in oil but keep broth
7. Add tomato mixture and fried chicken to broth
8. Add container of chicken broth
9. Add salt
10.  Bring to boil
11. Add rice and turn down heat. Make sure water covers the rice.

Here's a bad picture I took with my cellphone.  It's usually eaten with salad.

Only at Virginia Beach.

-Kathy

Say hi to the Brown food blog

Janet Kim '10 mentioned she wanted Brown to start a food blog so members and alum could post recipes and stay in touch. So when you feel like it, post awesome recipes from wherever you are in the world.

Lots of co-op love!

The Brown gremlin