Podchef Gastrocast #2

Thursday, 31 March 2005

Welcome back and thank you for checking us out.

This is the second Podchef Gastrocast--sans food stylists or production crew.
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I've had a heck of a time getting this out there. I tried for about 8 hours this morning to upload the mp3. I finally hiked up the hill. I thought I had it beat, but when I can back I found that my file was not in my dot Mac account where it was supposed to be. I even checked that it worked before I left to come back--it did. Now, having spent almost the whole day at this, and still no podcast to post, I am subscribed to Liberated Syndication and am trying to upload my mp3 there. It may still be a while. I won't post this until the file is uploaded and works.

You can download the mp3 here.

Unfortunately due to several interruptions, and my tendency to by long-winded I had to really chop up the show to make it workable. I hope it does not loose clarity. There might be some confusion around the magazine bit, or later towards the end of the cooking. Things were getting squirrelly by then with phones ringing and my girls coming in and out of the house. I had intended on leaving this all in, but then I am trying to keep the show down to around 45 minutes, and I have to upload this thing over dial-up. Crazy, I know.

I was hoping to leave one of the phone calls in as it pertained to someone asking me for an auction item in support for a family going through hard times here on the island. For a moment I thought they were talking about us. . . anyway I offered to cook a 3 course meal for 4 people. It won't cost me very much, and it will probably earn a few hundred dollars. The least I could do.

This week we discuss a few of my favorite magazines.
1. Saveur

2. Food Arts

3. Kitchen & Cook by the CIA

As we plan to cook Fennel Seed and Coriander Encrusted Chicken Breast & Broccoli and Fennel Risotto we discuss short grain rices and two risotto cookbooks: Risotto and Risotto: 30 Delicious Vegetarian Recipes from an Italian Kitchen. Then we get down to cooking.

The Recipe: Broccoli & Fennel Risotto
--Serves 6--
Ingredients:
4 ounces Fennel bulb, cut in 1 inch pieces
4 ounces broccoli, (stem peeled) and florets
1/4 cup cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper
6 cups homemade chicken stock
2 T butter--unsalted
1T olive oil
1/2 onion minced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 cups Arborio Rice

Cooking:
Add Fennel to large amount of boiling, salted water for 10 minutes. Add broccoli to fennel and cook a further 10 minutes or until tender. Reserve 1/4 cup of cooking liquid, strain the rest. Process vegetables and reserved liquid in blender until pureed. Season. Set aside.
Meanwhile bring broth to a simmer
Heat oil and butter in heavy pan. Add onion and saute a minute before adding the garlic. Sweat over medium heat for a couple of minutes, being careful not to brown.
Add rice and stir to coat the grains. Slowly begin to add the simmering stock, 1/2cup at a time. Stir and wait until the liquid is completely absorbed before making another addition. You must keep stirring to keep the rice from sticking. Keep adding a 1/2 cup at a time.
When the rice is tender, but still firm and it is beginning to look creamy, add the final 1/4 cup or so of broth, the cream, the fennel and broccoli puree and the parmesan cheese. Remove from heat and stir to combine. Serve.

As always, comments are welcome at podchef@gmail.com

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