I could watch this all day. Seriously.

Something about Star Wars’ characters taken out of context, especially with their new Disney BFFs, always makes me laugh.

I have a love/hate relationship with risotto. I first had it in a restaurant and was instantly put off by the gloppy rice I was served.

I avoided it from then on, but so many people raved about risotto that I knew I had to give it another chance.

In my kitchen.

What an infinite improvement in taste and texture when risotto is prepared properly and not overcooked. It is up there with the best of the comfort foods.

I really liked this simple preparation of Basic Risotto. The wine and Parmesan offer just the right hints of flavor. The dish is creamy with just a touch of a crunchy bite.

I made the risotto a few weeks back when our garden was still on overdrive. I decided to prepare some oven dried tomatoes and a simple vegetable sauté to make a dent in the bounty.

I really loved how the sweetness and slight acidity of the tomatoes played off of the creamy, nutty and rich risotto. The green vegetables add to the visual appeal of the dinner, and are perfect in their simplicity.

Basic Risotto

Ingredients:

4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer. Cover the broth and keep hot over low heat.

2. In a large heavy saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until tender but not brown, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat with the butter. Add the wine and simmer until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 3 minutes.

3. Add 1/2 cup of simmering broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking the rice, adding the broth 1/2 cup at a time. Stir constantly and allow each addition of broth to absorb before adding the next, until the rice is tender but still firm to the bite and the mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes total.

4. Remove risotto from the heat. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, the remaining tablespoon of butter, and the salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Recipe from Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis

Oven-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients:

4 lbs ripe plum tomatoes
3 tablespoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons sugar
Basil, chopped, to garnish if you like

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 150℉.

2. Slice the tomatoes lengthwise and place cut side up on baking sheets. Combine the salt and sugar and sprinkle about 1/2 tsp over each tomato.

3. Place in the oven and cook slowly for 10 hours (A good time to do this is before you go to bed). Sprinkle with basil before serving. Any leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator.

Recipe from Simple Italian Food by Mario Batali

Green Veg Sauté

Ingredients:

A mixture of green vegetables, such as broccolini and zucchini
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add vegetables and sauté until browned and crisp-tender. Season and serve.

A love affair between a girl and a ukulele.

That is how Sparrow describes ‘The Sparrow Project’, a challenge she made to write a song a day for a week on the ukulele. Even more of a challenge for Sparrow is that she didn’t even play the ukulele.

What Sparrow has come up with is highly listenable, light gal pop. With a ukulele. And some great lyric moments, like this:

“Almost guaranteed
A heart with skinned knees ”

Check out Sparrow on Facebook and Bandcamp, where you can get her music.

Cheers!