The Yum Yum Factor

Poor Shack. Two of the things that he loves the most are things I almost never make for him - veal parmesan and arancini. To make arancini, you need to have cold, leftover risotto but, trust me, if I am going to stand over a stove, stirring rice, for half an hour, I am not going to put it all aside to use for fried rice balls. Occasionally, I might have gone out of my way to double the recipe so that I could make these the next day but, honestly,  that often just resulted in gluttony. We were left with all of us rolling around the house, moaning and groaning, with too much food in our bellies and still not enough leftover rice. Enter my Instant Pot. Since making my first batch of risotto in the pressure cooker, I have not looked back. I was the last person who wanted to believe that you could end up with a risotto that was indistinguishable from a lovingly stirred pan of soupy rice but, here I am, making risotto in the pressure cooker all the live long day...

Wanting to make a special treat for our wonderful friends, The Neighbours, I wracked my brains for a week. They are both really good cooks so I can't easily wow them but I recalled that the topic of scotch eggs had come up more than once over the holidays. They both have fond memories of his mother's scotch eggs so there is a sentimental attachment, making them the perfect dish to bid goodbye to one year and usher in the new. For this first trip down the old scotch egg highway, I didn't want to mess around with the classic recipe too much since I knew that this was a very nostalgic thing for my friends but you know that there will be Korean Scotch Eggs, Mexican Scotch Eggs and more coming down the pipe. Scotch Eggs Makes 6 eggs 7 large eggs 2 large, fresh sausages 2 scallions, minced about 1 tbls grainy mustard fresh pepper about 1/3 cup of flour spash of milk about 2/3 cup panko Put 6 eggs in a pot of cold water and bring to a boil. Let them boil...

Because salt cod and I have a bit of a contentious relationship, I kind of assumed that I would have a hard time eating in Portugal because bacalhau (the portuguese word for salt cod) seems to be in every dish they make. It is said that there are over 1000 traditional Portuguese bacalhau recipes and I believe that might be an understatement. You can have it in stews, in fritters, in cakes, deep fried, grilled or braised. It's almost always cooked or served with potatoes, as is everything else there to be honest, and despite my initial feelings of distaste for this noble beast , I was certainly willing to try it before announcing that I still hated it. I am nothing if not opened minded. Bacalhau is to Portuguese cuisine what tomatoes are to Italian, despite the fact that they have to import it from Newfoundland, Norway or Iceland because cod is not native to their waters. Oddly enough, it's also the one fish that they never eat in it's fresh state. Once an inexpensive k...