gorgonzola risotto

we have a favor to ask of you! whether you read regularly or just found us, we'd love your help in nominating pictures & pancakes for saveur's best of 2011 awards for food photography! go here and vote to get us on the ballot. the previous year's lists are filled with amazing artists we'd love to share company with - thanks for your help everyone!

the sun came out for a bit today and we pretended it was warm by having our first kelvin slush of the season - ginger and white peach, yum! we are headed to Birmingham, AL next week to work on a project we're excited to share. any food destinations we can't miss while we're there? also can't wait to share a recent shoot we did with adam richman of man vs. food. some great new cookbooks are out - can't wait to pick up this book on all things goat, heidi's latest and matt's book as well!

here's an easy, indulgent risotto recipe perfect for lunch with a salad or as a side paired with a nice piece of beef and a good bottle of red wine. it's so good and incredibly rich - you'll want to eat the entire pot!

Gorgonzola Risotto

serves 4

2 tbs olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup arborio rice

4 cups chicken stock

1/2 to 1 cup water

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 oz gorgonzola dulce

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

salt & pepper

parmesan cheese for garnish

heat oil in a medium pot over medium high heat. add onion and saute 5 to 8 minutes or until translucent. add garlic and cook 2 minutes more. add rice and stir to coat with oil, cooking 1 minute. add 1 cup of stock and stir constantly until all of the liquid is absorbed by the rice. add remaining stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until each portion is absorbed and rice is tender. add water 1/4 cup at a time if rice is not tender enough after 4 cups of stock have been added. reduce heat to low and stir in cream and gorgonzola. stir and cook until thickened. remove from heat, add walnuts and season to taste with salt and pepper. divide between bowls and garnish with parmesan cheese. enjoy!

snow day

today is a great day to stay inside and play in the kitchen as the view outside turns into a winter wonderland. we know everyone in nyc is sick of the snow but the beauty and stillness of the white powdery stuff is still exciting to these west coast kids! cookbook santa was very good to us this holiday and we have loads of inspiration to share. a few books at the top of our list that we received are noma, tartine bread, my sweet mexico, and baked explorations. the oatmeal sandwich bread recipe for today's post comes from another wonderful cookbook, good to the grain, filled with recipes that bake with whole grain flours. it's a perfect loaf to toast, smear with butter and jam & nibble with a cup of tea on this snowy day. enjoy!

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

(from Good to the Grain)

makes 1 large loaf

1 pkg active dry yeast

3 tbs unsulphered molasses

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups bread flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted & cooled

1 tbs kosher salt

add 2 cups warm water, yeast and molasses to the bowl of a standing mixer. stir, allowing yeast to bloom for about 5 minutes, until it begins to bubble. add flours, oats and butter to the yeast mixture. stir together with a wooden spoon, cover with a towel and let sit for 30 minutes. attach the bowl and the bread hook to the mixer. add salt and mix on medium for about 6 minutes or until the dough slaps around the sides of the bowl without sticking. if the dough is sticking at any time, add one or two tablespoons of bread flour. the dough will be soft, supple and slightly tacky.

scrap the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times. put the dough into a greased bowl and cover with a towel. let it rise for about one hour or until it's doubled in size.

to shape the dough, scrape onto a lightly floured work surface. press down, working into a square shape and depressing any air bubbles. fold the dough down from the top to the middle, then up from the bottom to the middle. next, bring the newly formed top and bottom edges together and pinch the seam in the middle, sealing the seam with your fingers. pinch the sides together and roll the shaped dough back and forth, plumping it so that it's evenly formed and about the size of your loaf pan. place the dough in a greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pan and press it gently into the corners of the pan. cover and let it rest for about 1 hour or until dough rises to half it's size or puffs up over the edge of the pan.

preheat oven to 400 degrees F. bake for 40 minutes, rotating halfway through. the loaf is ready when the top crust is dark as molasses and the bottom crust is dark brown. give the top of the loaf a thump to see if it sounds hollow. remove the loaf from the pan and cool for at least 2 hours on a baking rack.

martha

a quick hello and some fun updates on what we've been up to in the new year! the images above are from work andrew shot in the february issue of martha stewart living - delicious in season tangelos and a curry dish from the lovely lucinda scala quinn. also check out our chocolate pretzel tart featured today on the martha blog taste of the test kitchen.

excited to share a beautiful chocolate project i styled this week with photographer jason varney. had a fun time in philadelphia, including a wonderful dinner here and of course a few cheesesteaks here and here.

we're excited to watch football this weekend but even more excited to eat pork at cochon 555! happy friday!

salty & sweet

have you ever noticed that the best and most loved cookbooks in a collection usually include oil stains, chocolaty fingerprints, and stuck together pages? we've mentioned this amazing cookbook before and if you haven't already added Baked to your library, you really must! it's well on its way to being covered in gooey sweet deliciousness and is one of our favorites for creative baking. their signature salty & sweet cake was the grand finale of urban family easter and was a huge hit. we devoured it so quickly that we didn't even think to take a photo of the whole cake! guess, we'll just have to make it again sometime. the combination of chocolate, caramel and fleur de sel is absolutely amazing. you can watch matt lewis bake the sweet & salty with martha way back in 2006 here. does anyone else have a favorite recipe they've baked from this great cookbook yet?

favas

here is another delicious starter from urban family easter - a fava bean puree crostini. fava beans are a lot of work between the shelling, blanching and shelling again, but in our opinion they are one of nature's perfect tastes of spring. this recipe is an adaption of suzanne goin's fava puree in sunday suppers at lucques, an essential addition to any cookbook library. favas are fresh and light, creamy and flavorful and really shine through in this simple preparation.

Fava Bean Crostini with Pecorino

2 lbs fava beans in the pod

1 whole grain demi-batard or baguette, thinly sliced

1/4 cup plus 3 tbs olive oil

2 cloves garlic, roasted in oil until soft & browned

1/2 lemon, juiced

salt & pepper to taste

1 small wedge pecorino romano, shaved with vegetable peeler

bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. remove beans from their pods and blanch for 2 minutes. drain and rinse with cold water until cool. slip them out of their pale green shell with your fingers and set aside. heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a medium saute pan and add fava beans. lightly saute for 6-8 minutes until tender. set aside to cool slightly.

preheat oven to 375 degrees F. spread crostini in a single layer on a sheet pan and brush with remaining 3 tbs olive oil. bake until lightly brown and crisp, 12-15 minutes.

transfer cooled beans and oil to a food processor and puree. add garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper and puree until smooth. spread about 1 tbs of fava puree on each crostini and top with a thin shaving of cheese. enjoy! 

urban family easter

as another year starts rushing by, easter comes screaming in.  we love easter for many reasons, and besides the obvious we love it for our yearly tradition of urban family easter.  we are on our 4th year and it gets better every time.  we always have the same system; friends bring the champagne and we do the food.  as we speak, we are cooking away, full of great tastes.  here are just a couple of sneak peeks of what we will blog about all week.  the bowl from mixing chocolate for a sweet and salty cake from the guys of baked in new york, and a sink full of dirty dishes from a bunch of other fun recipes.  we are making a martha stewart inspired ham to a bunch of sides we will share with great pics throughout the week, so stay tuned.  happy easter!!

valentine's day

hope everyone had a wonderful valentine's day on saturday. we celebrated with orchids, a lazy morning and seeing cat power in concert. just in case you didn't fulfill your chocolate fix this year, thought we'd share our favorite brownie recipe. it's from my cooking bible and go-to-reference - the joy of cooking. i got it for christmas in 1997 from my parents and the pages are very well worn and smudged by now. don't let the reduced fat part of this recipe worry you - these brownies are amazingly rich and chewy! there also great with a tablespoon of instant espresso added to the dry ingredients.

Chewy Brownies

(from The Joy of Cooking)

3/4 cup flour

1 1/2 tbs unsweetened cocoa

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 tsp canola oil

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbs light corn syrup

1 tbs water

2 tsp vanilla

2 egg whites

preheat oven to 350 degrees F. line an 8x8-inch baking pan with foil and grease well. in a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. in a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate with oil. once smooth, remove from heat and stir in brown sugar, sugar, corn syrup, water and vanilla. then add egg whites and stir until combined. stir in the flour mixture and blend until smooth. bake 20-25 minutes or until center is almost firm when lightly pressed. let cool completely before cutting.

trick-or-treat

we just got the great new cookbook Baked by these guys and this is the first recipe we've tried. so far so good and just in time for halloween! the recipe makes two loaves so you can keep one and give one to a friend.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf

(from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking)

3 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

15 oz canned pumpkin

1 cup vegetable oil

3 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

12 oz dark chocolate chips

preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease two 9x5-inch loaf pans. whisk flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, baking soda and salt together in a bowl. in another bowl, stir together pumpkin and oil. then add sugar and combine. stir in eggs one at a time and add vanilla. add 3/4 cup room temperature water and then stir in chocolate chips. fold the dry mixture into the wet mixture and combine but do not over mix. divide between two loaf pans and bake 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes. cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.