Room for Dessert - Food Blog

Avi and I had our first date (it was April 8th, 2005, almost 3 years ago!) at a great Italian restaurant named Bellini. It was the best first date I’ve ever had - it lasted for 6 whole hours, and every minute of it was absolutely wonderful! Don’t get alarmed here, we didn’t eat for 6 straight hours, after the restaurant we went to a pub
At Bellini, which is ever since our favorite restaurant in Israel, we ate, among other things, a super delicious pasta with eggplant, mushrooms and honey.

Whenever we go to Bellini, it’s always a sure bet that we’re gonna order that dish, all the other stuff in our menu are to be decided when we arrive at the restaurant. Last time we’ve been there, I’ve noticed a hint of an oriental taste in it, which was kinda weird - suddenly noticing a new fact about a dish I’ve been eating regularly for years. I was almost certain it was soy sauce. It was then that I decided that I’m gonna try and make this at home, after figuring out some of the main ingredients it contains.

Last Friday we had a Friday nigt with no family gatherings planned, so I figured I’d give it a shot. My expectations weren’t high at all, since I’ve already tried doing reverse engineering on recipes just by their taste and the list of ingredients I think they contain, and it didn’t come close to the real thing. For example, when we were in Italy, we ate the best dinner there at a small restaurant in Pistoia, that was recommended by Lonely Planet. One of dishes we ordered, and the one that I remember its taste exactly till this day, was pasta with a superb black olives sauce. Tried to make it home, was nice, but not even close to that divine taste.

But boy was I up for a sweet surprise! The sauce came out wonderful, and tasted 99% exactly like the one at Bellini!! Avi and I were both shocked with pleasure, every bite we took was an absolute paradise! The tastes of the soy and honey along with the white wine and brown sugar I’ve added blend together to create a marvelous pasta sauce! Serving it with Feta cheese aside, and adding a little of it to every bite you take completes the tastes celebration that’s going on in your mouth. I HIGHLY recommend this one!

This is also my entry for this week’s Presto Pasta Night, a blog event kindly held weekly by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast.

Farfalle with eggplant, honey and soy sauce / Self recipe
Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:
250 gr farfalle, cooked by manufacturer’s directions
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves
1 medium sized eggplant
4-5 medium sized fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
3 Tbsp white wine
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp honey
1 1/2 tsp light brown Demerara sugar
For serving: grated Feta cheese

Directions:
1. Slice the eggplant, scatter salt over all the slices from both sides, and let rest for an hour.
2. Wash the eggplant, dice them into small squares, so they won’t take ages to cook.
3. Warm the vegetable oil in a pan, add the garlic cloves and fry them for about a minute.
4. Add in the eggplant and mushrooms and fry until the eggplant is completely soft (about 15 mins, maybe a bit more).
5. Add the white wine, stir, and fry until the wine has almost completely evaporated.
6. Stir in 2 Tbsp of the soy sauce and all the honey.
7. After about 5 mins stir in the brown sugar.
8. Add the cooked pasta into the sauce, add the remaining 1 Tbsp of soy sauce and stir until the pasta gets a bit darker color (from the soy sauce).
9. It’s highly recommended to serve it with grated Feta cheese alongside, the tastes combination is simply exciting!

פרפלה ברוטב חצילים, דבש וסויה סטייל מסעדת בליני / מתכון עצמי - מירי רביבו
עבור 2 מנות

רכיבים:
250 גרם פסטה, מבושלת ע”פ הוראות יצרן
3 כפות שמן
4 שיני שום
1 חציל בינוני
4-5 פטריות יער בגודל בינוני
3 כפות יין לבן
3 כפות סויה
2 כפות דבש
1 1/2 כפיות סוכר חום דמררה
להגשה: גבינת פטה מגוררת

הכנה:
1. חותכים את החצילים (עם הקליפה) לפרוסות, ממליחים, ונותנים לזה לנוח כך כשעה וחצי, להוצאת המרירות.
2. לאחר מכן שוטפים את החצילים וחותכים אותם לקוביות קטנות, על מנת שבעת הבישול לא ייקח להם הרבה זמן להתרכך.
3. מחממים שמן במחבת ומטגנים את השום כדקה.
4. מוסיפים את החצילים והפטריות ומטגנים עד לריכוך מוחלט של החצילים (כרבע שעה, אולי טיפה יותר)
5. מוסיפים את היין הלבן, מערבבים, ומטגנים עד לאידוי כמעט מלא של היין.
6. מוסיפים 2 כפות מהסויה ואת הדבש ומערבבים היטב.
7. לאחר 5 דקות מוסיפים את ההסוכר החום.
8. מסננים את הפסטה ממי הבישול ומעבירים אותה למחבת עם הרוטב. מוסיפים את כף הסויה הנוספת ומערבבים עד אשר האטריות משחימות קלות (מהצבע של רוטב הסויה).
9. מומלץ בחום רב להגיש את המנה עם גבינת פטה מגוררת בצד, שילוב הטעמים הוא נפלא!

Yeah, I know what you must be thinking right now… And you’re right! We ARE risotto junkies!
Yesterday evening was the first Friday in quite some time that we haven’t had a family dinner planned. I really love these quiet evenings every once in a while, and whenever such a Friday approaches - I make big plans of preparing big meals for just the two of us Yesterday was about the same, except that I kept feeling worse (I am sick for quite some time now) as the day progressed.

So we ended up preparing our favorite (comfort) food - Porcini Risotto. Last time I prepared it was also the first time, and I wrote down the recipe as I prepared the dish. This time I tested the recipe - printed it and followed it step by step, just to make sure that it’s complete and that I haven’t omitted any important details. The good news is that the recipe is accurate and gave us the same results as the last time, actually even better because this time I used better Porcini mushrooms. Also, if you can get your hands on some fresh Portobello mushrooms (the recipe also asks for fresh mushrooms), they really kick the taste up and are more recommended than the regular (at least in our markets, here in Israel) fresh champignon mushrooms.

The result is totally worth the time spent on carefully pampering and gently stirring the rice. I’m sure you will agree too, as soon as you taste this smooth and creamy piece of heaven! It goes wonderfully along with a glass (or two) of red wine - Merlot or Cabernet are both a perfect match for this dish, in our opinion.

The recipe, both in English and in Hebrew, can be found here.

Whenever anybody asks me what do I feel like eating, there’s a solid 90 percent chance that my reply would be “Italian”. This certainly hasn’t been so my whole life, but I can’t point out the moment in time when this love of mine began. All I remember is that until the age of 10 I absolutely despised pizza (that’s understandable, considering the awful pizza they made in Romania in the 80’s).
About 2 years ago, I discovered rissoto. Ever since, I’ve been a great fan, and it didn’t take long until I started cooking it at home. Seeing how easy it was to cook a great risotto at home, it really baffles me that many restaurants make it so far from perfect. All you really need is some patience on the stirring phase, and there you are. A good recipe might come in handy as well

Last November, while in Barcelona, we had a great Porcini risotto. It hapenned twice, at two different places, both on Ample street, in the gothic quarter. The first one was at Chardonnay restaurant, where we ate a single time, and luckily for us, the same day they served the porcini risotto on their menu-du-jour (we know that, cause we came back every single day until we left Barcelona, to check whether they may be serving it again…).
The second is called Boga. This is the restaurant we officially ranked as the best of all the ones we’ve been to in Barcelona. It had the porcini risotto on their regular menu, and every other dish we’ve ordered there tasted just divine! It was so good, we came back there 3 times!

This trip left us with a serious craving for porcini risotto, but it mainly left me with a new challenge that I was determined to accomplish - that was making a similar-tasting risotto at home. I thought it would take quite some practice, but my improvised recipe worked wonderfully! You can surely imagine how happy it made me…

Porcini Risotto / Self Recipe
Makes 2 portions

For the mushrooms:
20 gr butter
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
140 gr various types of fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
15 gr porcini mushrooms, dried
1-2 Tbsp white wine
1 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped

For the risotto:
1 cup (210 gr) short-grained rice (such as Arborio)
60 gr butter
1/3 cup white wine
3-4 cups chicken stock (approximately, I’ll explain immediately)
salt, ground pepper

Prepare the mushrooms:
1. Let the dried porcini mushrooms stand for 20-30 mins along with a cup of boiling water.
2. Take out the mushrooms, but keep the water they have been staying in for further use.
3. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the onion and fry it for 2 mins. Add the mushrooms and continue frying for 5 more mins.
4. Add the white wine and continue frying for 5 more mins.
5. Add the parsley, stir them in and fry for two more mins. Put aside.

Prepare the risotto:
1. Melt the butter in a cooking pot, add the rice and stir for about 5 mins.
2. Pour in the wine and continue stirring for 4 mins.
3. Pour in the stock, cup by cup. Only when it starts to run out of fluids, add the next cup. Continue doing so until the rice reaches the degree of softness you prefer (there’s a chance you won’t need all the stock). In this phase also add the water in which the porcini have stayed. This adds a great taste of mushrooms to the rissoto. My advice is to add it little by little and taste each time - until it reaches the flavor of your preference. I added 1/3 - 1/2 cup. During this phase it’s most important to stir constantly, so your risotto won’t stick to the pot. It should take about 20 mins in total.
4. Add the mushrooms, stir until well blended, add salt and pepper according to taste and serve immediately. It’s great to serve it aside with some grated parmigiano cheese.

ריזוטו פורצ’יני / מתכון עצמי - מירי רביבו

רכיבים:
לפטריות:
20 גרם חמאה
1 בצל קטן, מקולף וקצוץ דק
140 גרם פטריות מסוגים שונים (שמפיניון, יער, ירדן) קצוצות דק
15 גרם פטריות פורצ’יני מיובשות
1-2 כפות יין לבן
1 כף פטרוזיליה קצוצה

לריזוטו:
1 כוס (210 גרם) אורז ריזוטו עגול, שטוף
60 גרם חמאה
1/3 כוס יין לבן
3-4 כוסות ציר עוף
מלח, פלפל שחור טחון

אופן ההכנה:
להכנת הפטריות:
1. להשרות את פטריות הפורצ’יני בקערה יחד עם כוס מים רותחים למשך 20-30 דקות.
2. לסנן את הפטריות, ולשמור את המים שבהם הן הושרו לשימוש מאוחר יותר.
3. להמיס את החמאה במחבת, להוסיף את הבצל הקצוץ ולטגן למשך 2 דקות. להוסיף את הפטריות ולהמשיך לטגן למשך 5 דקות נוספות.
4. להוסיף את היין הלבן ולטגן עוד 5 דקות.
5. להוסיף את הפטרוזיליה, לערבב ולהוריד מהאש כעבור 2 דקות. לשמור בצד.

להכנת הריזוטו:
1. להמיס את החמאה בסיר בינוני, להוסיף את הריזוטו ולערבב במשך כחמש דקות, עד שהאורז עצמו חם ועטוף כולו בחמאה.
2. להוסיף את היין ולהמשיך לערבב כ-4 דקות נוספות.
3. להוסיף פנימה את הציר, מצקת לאחר מצקת. להוסיף את המצקת הבאה רק לאחר שהנוזלים מהוספת המצקת הקודמת כמעט ונספגו לגמרי. בשלב זה יש להוסיף גם חלק ממי ההשריה של הפטריות. זה ייתן לאורז עצמו טעם נפלא של פטריות. גם כאן ההמלצה שלי היא להוסיף בכל פעם מעט, לערבב ואז לטעום - עד שזה יגיע לטעם האהוב עליכם. אני הוספתי בין 1/3 ל 1/2 כוס. ממשיכים כך בהוספת נוזלים עד שהאורז מגיע לדרגת הרכות המועדפת עליכם. בשלב זה מאוד חשוב לערבב טוב את הריזוטו, על מנת שלא ידבק לתחתית הסיר. השלב הזה כולו אמור לקחת בסביבות ה-20 דקות.
4. להוסיף את תערובת הפטריות, לערבב עד שהן נטמעו באופן אחיד בריזוטו. להוסיף מלח ופלפל לפי הטעם ולהגיש מיד. אפשר ואף רצוי להגיש את הריזוטו עם גבינת פרמזן מגוררת בצידו - מעדן אמיתי!