Another
farmers' market visit this weekend led me to come up with a Citrus Risotto with Celery and Arugula Pesto
Topped with Sautéed Shrimps and Crab.
I
love the farmers' markets. Every week I
purchase beautiful produce that I use
for a typical dish or try something new. This time of year, the heirloom tomatoes are
the best with a drizzle of olive oil and Himalayan pink salt. http://www.cece-corner.blogspot.com/2012/08/heirloom-tomatoes-two-ways.html
Then
there were the beautiful leeks that became an atypical "warm" vichyssoise.
Purple
string beans were part of a side of tri-colored string beans a few weeks ago.
And
a variety of colored peppers were made into a dish of rainbow roasted peppers.
I know; too much enthusiasm about produce. I should be looking at the Net sites of
O-Stock or that Dazzle shoe site. No.
This
weekend it was the Celery. Yes,
celery. I've never seen such beautiful
celery. As I said before, I don't have
my own garden. I am a true urbanite, so I'm
used to purchasing celery at the produce market or at the grocery store where
it is sold in plastic sleeves and the prices change every other day, like a
politician's comments during an election year.
Whenever
I would see the plastic-sleeved celery heads which sometimes have a few stalks with leaves embedded in the middle of
the package, one particular dish that I've been making for many years immediately
comes to mind: Lemon Risotto.
And, since the farmers' market celery was dark green and had leaves the size of
those found on trees at a local park,
Lemon Risotto became one dish on the menu -- with a twist, of course. Since I needed only about 1/2-cup of
leaves for the dish, which I turned into one cup, I also had about 10 more cups
of celery leaves left over. I could not let
them go to waste.
Although
some leaves would be used as a bed for an
heirloom tomato salad, I wanted to do something else with the rest. A pesto. When I came across a recipe for Celery
and Arugula Pesto, I was ecstatic because I had arugula and parsley in the fridge. I
know, it's the "little" things that count. The Celery and Arugula Pesto recipe is adapted from Mary Ann Esposito's
Ciao Italia which, I learned a few
months ago, is the longest-running current cooking show on TV.
http://www.ciaoitalia.com/seasons/season-2200/episode-2212/celery-parsley-arugola-pesto
And
since my initial thought for using the celery was to make Lemon Risotto, I redid the lemon risotto recipe and turned it into
a Citrus Risotto where I cut the
lemon juice in half and added fresh key lime juice and fresh lime juice to the
mixture. I omitted the mascarpone cheese,
which was in the original recipe, and used 1/2 cup of freshly-grated parmesan
cheese (since we were going to top it off with some shrimps later).
Finally, I then swirled in about two
tablespoons of the Celery and Arugula Pesto.
And, as I said, this was topped with sautéed
shrimps and a cooked miniature (cute) crab as a garnish. Such fun.
CELERY AND
ARUGULA PESTO
1 cup celery stalks, chopped
2 cups celery leaves
1 cup arugula leaves
1
cup parsley leaves
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
1/2-
3/4 cups olive oil
Pink
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
1/2 to 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese*
Place
the celery, celery leaves, arugula, parsley, and garlic cloves in a food
processor and pulse until coarse. Add toasted almonds and pulse. Drizzle in the
olive oil continuing to pulse until a loose sauce begins to form. Add pink salt
and pepper to taste.
*Stir
in some cheese on an "individually served" basis. I don't "add" the cheese to the entire
recipe, so I could freeze the leftover pesto, which could be stored in an
airtight container in the refrigerator with a light cover of olive oil for up
to 5 days, or frozen for up to two months.
CITRUS RISOTTO
6 cups of vegetable broth (preferably
homemade)
2 Tablespoons of unsalted
butter
1 medium red onion, finely
chopped (about ½ cup) or chopped shallots
1/2 cup celery, finely
chopped
1 green chili pepper, minced
1 cup celery leaves, finely
chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ cups arborio rice
½ cup white vermouth
½ cup freshly grated parmesan
cheese
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon
juice
1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon fresh key lime juice
2 Tablespoons of Celery Arugula
Pesto
Pink Salt
Freshly-ground black pepper
1/2 pound of U 12-15 shrimps, cooked in olive oil and garlic
1 purchased and cooked crab from the local fish monger.
Heat the broth to a boil in a
medium saucepan. Cover and keep warm.
Separately, melt the butter
in a large saucepan. Add onion, or
shallot, chopped celery, and minced chili. Cook over low heat, stirring until
softened, about five minutes. Add the
celery leaves and garlic and cook for one minute. Add the rice and cook, stirring until glossy,
about 1 minute.
Add vermouth to the rice and
simmer over moderate heat until almost absorbed, about three minutes. Add the warm broth, one cup at a time, and
cook, stirring constantly between additions, until most of the broth has been
absorbed before adding more. The rice is
done when it is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 20-25 minutes.
Stir in the parmesan cheese and lemon and lime juices. Add the pesto and pink salt and pepper. Place Risotto in a large serving dish. Add
sauteed shrimps and garnish with a cooked baby crab, for fun!
