No-Stir Mushroom Risotto with Seared Shrimp

Guess what, y'all. Food photography is hard. Even Martha Stewart has trouble taking a good food photo on her own. You know what's even harder? When it's December already, and there's only light from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., and you want to take a picture of your 7 p.m. dinner before it gets cold. Whoever heard of such a thing? Sheesh. Anyways, that's really just a long-winded explanation for why there's no photo with this recipe. (Even though it still looks better than Martha's. Sorry, Martha.) 

Instead, here's a picture of Odie, looking cute. Which is what he does best, daylight or no daylight.

No-Stir Mushroom Risotto with Seared Shrimp

Serves 2 with a little left over, but you could easily double or triple the recipe

Until I tried this technique, risotto had eluded me. The idea here is that you get most of the effect of a creamy risotto quicker, and with less work. Sign me up!

For the Risotto:

• 1 small onion
• 4 ounces mushrooms
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/2 cup short-grain rice, such as Arborio 
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely grated
• Salt and pepper, to taste

For the Shrimp:

• 1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 2 tablespoons oil or lard, for frying

Lay the shrimp evenly on a couple of paper towels. Put several paper towels on top of them, then weight with a heavy pan, like a cast iron skillet.

Meanwhile, chop the onion, mushrooms, and bell pepper finely. Combine in a small saucepan with the olive oil, and saute until they have released all their liquid and are beginning to dry out. Add the cream, water and a pinch of salt, then bring to a boil. Once the liquid comes to a boil, add the rice, give it a quick stir, then cover and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for 14-15 minutes, or until al dente.

When there are five minutes left for the rice to cook, combine the cornstarch and sea salt in a shallow bowl. Toss the shrimp in the cornstarch so it is lightly coated. Heat the frying oil in a large skillet until it is almost smoking. Sear the shrimp, about a minute on each side, until they are golden brown, then remove from the pan and drain on fresh paper towels.

When the rice has finished cooking, add the butter and cheese, stirring vigorously so the melt evenly into the rice. 

Serve the rice in a shallow bowl topped with the shrimp. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve while it's still piping hot. 

If you have any leftover rice, you can make fried rice balls the next day. The possibilities are endless, but the basic idea is to heat up some oil, 

Season some breadcrumbs...

Form the rice into balls (some recipes even have you stuff them with cheese...yum!)

Roll those balls in the breadcrumbs...

Then fry.

Any way you slice it, it's good! Enjoy!

The Country Cooking of France, by Anne Willan

The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star.

-Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

This cookbook is far more than a new dish, or a new star. It's a little bit of both. If I could sum it up in a nutshell, I would call this cookbook a modern and slightly condensed take on Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  (In fact, Willan is known for starting a cooking school with Julia Child and James Beard.) Besides the recipes and techniques, which focus on country cooking (as opposed to Parisian cuisine), The Country Cooking of France is complete with breathtakingly mouthwatering photographs of many of the recipes contained within its pages, as well as scenes of life in the French countryside.

Besides gorgeous photographs, this cookbook has several vignettes in each chapter - about types of food, chefs, locations, and agriculture in the French countryside. I learned a lot from these little accounts, like the reason cheese gets stringy - the protein and fat get too hot.  Or that some cheeses have AOC status - just like wine - and the requirements for the prestigious labels are stringent, like requiring the cows' diet to consist entirely of summer grass and no grain-feed. No wonder the French are obsessed with cheese!

Starting on Sunday, and with the exception of Monday, we've eaten one new recipe from this cookbook every day this week. I was even inspired to have French-style fruit and cheese plates for lunch, complete with a single square of dark chocolate. I haven't fixed tonight's meal yet (Tian de Courgettes), but so far every single meal has been nothing short of spectacular.

How do you follow a recipe when you cannot eat one of the main ingredients (wheat) the cookbook celebrates? Well, first of all you choose recipes carefully, unless you're an expert. I picked recipes where I knew I could make substitutions, or where none were required at all because all of the ingredients were naturally gluten free. The Boeuf Bourguignon, for example, used flour as a thickener. Instead, I used an all-purpose gluten free flour blend, which did the trick just fine. Just to get in the mood for the week, I made gluten free French rolls, which I used for bread whenever it was called for in a recipe.  And for the Quiche Lorraine, I found a recipe for a gluten free pie tart elsewhere. It may be a little bit of extra work, but in my mind it's well worth it. 

Here's a recipe I made which is loosely based on a recipe in the cookbook. Give it a shot! It's excellent for a light meal, or as a first course.

My French Cooking Week Bonus  -  Salade au Gambas Grilles (Salad with Seared Shrimp) 

Adapted from The Country Cooking of France by Anne Willem

Let me make a confession: somewhere along the way, I lost my love of shrimp. When I was a kid, I lived for steamed shrimp, fried, shrimp, shrimp scampi, shrimp salad ... you know, I just loved shrimp. At some point though, shrimp lost their magic. So when I stumbled across a recipe for seared shrimp, I hesitated. But the pictures were so tantalizing, and there was shrimp in the freezer, so what did I have to lose?

Oh, boy, am I glad I gave this recipe a try. As I'm wont to do, I made up some twists along the way, turning simple shrimp into a whole salad for dinner.  Try your hand at it, and let me know how it goes for you! 

2 tablespoons butter, divided

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, more if needed

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

10 baby onions, peeled

2 cloves garlic, crushed

5 ounces lettuce

Juice of half a lemon

1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on

1/4 cup cornstarch (Argo is gluten free, but be sure to double check)

1 tablespoon coarse sea salt

1/2 ounce Parmesan cheese

Freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine tomatoes, peppers, onions, and garlic in a shallow baking dish. Toss with one tablespoon olive oil. Cut one tablespoon of butter into quarters, and tuck in to the dish. Cook for an hour, or until the tomatoes are bursting and the onions and garlic are soft. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Divide the lettuce among four plates. Spoon the tomato mixture evenly among the plates, reserving any cooking oil in the bottom of the pan. Whisk the reserved cooking oil with the lemon juice. 

Add the remaining butter and oil to a large skillet. Combine the sea salt and cornstarch in a bowl, and toss in the shrimp to coat. Heat the skillet over medium heat until nearly smoking, then add the shrimp in a single layer. Weight the shrimp with a heavy pan and cook for a minute or two. Remove the weight, turn the shrimp, reweight, and cook another one or two minutes. Remove from heat.

Divide the shrimp equally among the four plates. Top with shavings of Parmesan cheese, the lemon vinaigrette, and the pepper.

Serve immediately.