Utilizing Leftover Ingredients - Veggies and Parmesan Risotto

Ouch!
Why do I keep hurting myself?
Few weeks ago a tiny piece of my finger nail got chipped by a butcher knife,
Then the food poisoning thing after Shanghai trip,
Now my hand just got burned by 95 degrees Celsius water..

Sadly I'm not even a chef, otherwise maybe I can blame all these injuries to occupational hazard,
Or maybe it can be categorized as food blogger's occupational hazard?

Either way, even though the distance between a home cook like me and a professional chef is like comparing lean ground meat to Kobe beef,
At least the spirit remains,
Patch up my burned wounds, let's keep cooking!

Utilizing leftover ingredients, veggies and Parmesan risotto -

Ingredients (for 4 to 6 portion)?
2 1/2 cups of Arborio rice
2 cups of mushroom mix
1 cup of smoked ham
1 1/2 cups of grated Parmesan cheese
5 3/4 cups of unsalted chicken stock 
8 asparagus
1 big shallot
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

How?

Dice the shallot and chop the asparagus, smoked ham into smaller pieces,
As for the mushroom mix, you can use any kind of preferred mushroom,
Remove any tough stems and cut into smaller pieces,
Grate the Parmesan cheese and set aside.

Have a medium sized pot fill with chicken stock,
Bring that to a boil then turn off the heat,
We gonna use warm/room temperature chicken stock while making risotto.

A big, non-stick pot will be a perfect tool for this dish,
Add in olive oil, butter, and chopped shallot into the pot,
Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of salt and equal amount of pepper,
Turn to medium high heat,
Give it a quick stir and cook till the shallot turns translucent.

Toss in asparagus and cook for couple minutes,
Next, add the mushroom and sprinkle the additional 1/4 teaspoon of salt into the mixture,
You can also add more black pepper if desired,
Cook for few more minutes.

Pour in the rice and mix till every grain is evenly coated with the veggie juice,
To cook the rice, add a small amount of warm chicken stock at a time and stir once a regularly,
Add more stock when the liquid has been absorbed by the rice,
Repeat the steps till the grains reach desired texture, al dente per my case.

Mix in 4/5 of the grated Parmesan cheese,
What about the remaining cheese?
Just sprinkle them on the top of the risotto before serving,
That way, you get a clear cheesy bite together with the oozing cheese between the grains.

Remember do not add too much salt while following this recipe,
The reason is that cheese and smoked ham are quite salty already,
So please taste the mixture before sprinkle more seasonings into the pot.

Besides grated Parmesan,
I also sprinkle more freshly ground black pepper on top before serving,
No more unwanted leftover ingredients,
Just a little more thoughts, you can make a yummy meal with all that miscellaneous stuff in the fridge.

Just be careful don't cut, bruise, or burn yourself in the kitchen....like me...
( T 口.T )*

Cindy's Rating: 7

Smoked Ham Sandwich with Aioli and Parmigiano Reggiano

Home sweet home!

I couldn't wait to fly back to my cozy crib in Taiwan after staying in Shanghai for one whole week.

The scenery was great there,
The food was not bad, had a few bites of donkey meat*
My hotel room was comfy with amazing views looking down Shanghai, 
I basically fell asleep with beautiful city lights by my side every night,
There were also kites flying higher than my room almost 24/7,
Did I mention I stayed at 33rd floor?
What's even more, these kites had LED lights on after sunset, truly a fun scene to watch!

But all the above things just don't add up,
To me, nothing compares to home....most importantly...homemade food!
No more dining out, all I want is healthy, clean, light, and yummy homemade food!

Smoked ham sandwich with aioli and Parmigiano Reggiano -

Ingredients (for two)?

4 bread slices
4 slices of smoked ham
2 eggs
2 ripe tomatoes
1 sprig of rosemary
1/4 cup of mayonnaise
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
Tiny pinch of lemon juice (optional)
Some good quality Parmigiano Reggiano
Some extra virgin olive oil
Some olive oil
Some sea salt
Some freshly ground black pepper

How?

This is the kind of bread slices I use -

You can definitely substitute with other bread of preference.

Evenly drizzle some olive oil on both sides of the bread slices,
Grill each side till slightly brown in color.

To prepare the tomato slices,
Slice two tomatoes and set aside.
Mix finely chopped rosemary, some olive oil, sea salt, and pepper,
Brush tomato slices with the rosemary mixture and grill for about one minute.

As for the egg, it's just like cooking sunny side up,
Drizzle some oil in the pan, turn to high heat, and add the eggs in,
Remember to sprinkle a tiny pinch of salt and pepper on top of the eggs,
Cook till desired doneness and remove from heat.

Shave the cheese and set aside.

The aioli sauce is the main ingredient of this recipe,
Blend together the mayonnaise, garlic clove, lemon juice, maybe some lemon zest, small pinch of salt and pepper,
You can also add a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil if the mixture appears on the dry side,
Once mixed well, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before using.

This is good stuff,
I can just dip plain chicken meat with this aioli and eat with rice.

All the hard work is done, now move on to the assembly line,
Brush one side of the bread slices with aioli,
Take one of the bread slices, aioli side up, top with grilled tomato slices -

Add 2 slices of smoked ham, 1 egg, and some shaved cheese -

Top with another bread slice, aioli side down -

Ahhhh homemade food is the best.

I was gonna add avocado slices but couldn't find any ripe avocados in the market,
After traveling for one whole week, no way I'm waiting for that tiny green fruit to "grow older!"
Eat first,
The sandwich is still good withouth avocado, especially after being away for one whole week.

Cindy's Rating: 8