First meal of spring!

It's spring here in Austin! As you can tell, this makes me inordinately happy! We've got about a month to enjoy the cool breezes and sunshine until summer muscles its way in, and I intend to enjoy every minute of it.

I also intend to document lots of it with my snazzy new D-SLR camera, which I am slowly but surely learning to manipulate. This includes awkwardly asking farmers if I can photograph their stalls. One jokingly told me he needed to check with his agent.

In addition to the beautiful greens and radishes below, this stall was selling the season's first pea shoots! According to peashoots.com, pea shoots "have been a well kept secret for many years but they are now set to take the food world by storm and revitalise salads all around the UK!" Sounds like a very can-do, won't-take-no-for-an-answer kind of vegetable. In addition, they're very high in vitamins A and C and folic acid.The pea shoots had such a wonderfully grassy, fresh, flavor. They really tasted like spring. I wasn't in a stir-fry kind of mood, which was the preparation called for by most recipes I found, so I made a barley risotto with fresh mint (also from the market) and parmesan cheese (not from the market.) The technique for making barley risotto is similar to standard risotto, but the barley has a nutty, whole-grain flavor that I thought would balance the assertive herbal taste of the greens. I'm learning a little about macrobiotics and becoming more conscious of balancing meals, both nutrition-wise and taste-wise.

Barley Risotto with Pea Shoots and Fresh Mint
6 c vegetable stock
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 white onion, diced
1 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used sauvignon blanc)
2 c pea shoots
3 tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 tbsp butter and parmesan to taste
1. Heat the stock in a saucepan. Keep warm over low heat.
2. Saute the onion in 2 tbsp olive oil for about 4 minutes, until the onion is translucent.
3. Add the garlic and ginger, cook for 1 minute.
4. Add the barley, stirring until the grains are coated in oil.
5. Add the wine. Stir frequently until the liquid is absorbed.
6. Add a ladleful of stock. Stir often until absorbed. Repeat until all the stock has been absorbed, one ladleful at a time, about 40 minutes.
7. When the barley is almost done, cook the pea shoots in 1 tbsp olive oil until just wilted, about 3 minutes.
8. Mix pea shoots, lemon juice, mint, butter, lemon zest, and parmesan into risotto.

And there's our meal! Andy made a delicious salad of sunflower sprouts, red pepper, and walnut to accompany the risotto. We ate Jesse's rhubarb crumble for dessert, which was so good we forgot to take a picture!

On Paris, risotto, and sparkling wine

I think I gravitate toward apartments with great views and tiny kitchens. My place in Hyde Park boasts a beautiful balcony with trees all around and wind chimes blowing in the breeze, but we have maybe 10 square inches of counter space, and the microwave, pots, and pans, are all stored by the front door. Back in the day, when I was in college, I went away to Paris for a year, where I found an apartment with a dream of a view – and the most challenging kitchen I've ever worked with, aside maybe from cooking over a campfire the last time I was at Pedernales Falls.

Looking out my bedroom window, I could see the Eiffel tower twinkling over a picture-perfect view of red tiled rooftops. (I have a thing for photographing rooftops.) Looking into my kitchen, I could see a mini-fridge, a hot plate, and one pot. That's it. There was no way I wasn't going to take advantage of the bounty of Parisian farmers markets, even if cooking for few is an apparently weird thing, and vendors would roll their eyes at me for not purchasing, say, a kilo of spinach. My company dish of choice in those circumstances was risotto: the technique is involved enough and tricky enough to impress my fellow expat friends, it showcases fresh veggies, and it can all be made in one pot over a hot plate.
Even though I now have a few more modern conveniences– an oven! four burners! a food processor! – I still love making risotto. It's not terribly difficult, but it does take attention and practice. The combination of greens, pine nuts, and raisins is classic Mediterranean. I made it with baby spinach from the farmer's market, but it would also be great with chard or kale. Just make sure to slice the greens and remove their stems if you're using something with larger leaves.

Risotto with spinach, pine nuts, and and raisins

4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 onion, chopped
2 tbsp pine nuts
3 tbsp golden raisins
4-5 cups baby spinach
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp cinnamon

salt and pepper to taste

1. First, heat the stock. Keep it over a very low heat. Do not allow it to simmer or boil. (I skipped this part in Paris due to insufficient burners, but I do recommend it.)
2. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the pine nuts and fry until they are lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a small plate covered with a paper towel. Set aside.
2. Add the onion to the oil and saute until translucent, about 3 minutes. Then, add the spinach, raisins, cinnamon, salt, and pepper, and saute for 3 more minutes.
3. Add the rice and stir until it is coated in oil. Add the wine and stir until it is absorbed.
4. Add 1/2 cup or so of stock - a ladleful- and stir until the rice has absorbed all of the stock.
5. Continue adding stock, one ladle at a time, until the rice has absobed all liquid.
6. Stir in the butter and cheese.
7. Add more cheese to taste. Enjoy!

As a first course, I used those beautiful radishes I mentioned last time to make a blood orange, radish, and mint salad. The full recipe is here. I left out the celery 'cause I'm not a fan, but other than that I stuck to the recipe.
We drank this Spanish Casteller Cava Brut (11.95) with our meal. For the price, it was remarkably good. Not too sweet, toasty, with hints of almond. Also makes for a nice blood orange mimosa the next day if you have a bit left over! Next up: mint/pecan pesto...