Hay Hay Its Donna Day #8: Risotto

I have finally managed to join Hay Hay it’s Donna Day! I have wanted to take part ever since I first read about its inception at Barbara's. I had been charmed by Donna Hay from the very first time I came across her cookbooks in my favorite bookstore. Her simple yet luscious sounding recipes, always accompanied by brilliant food styling and photography, reeled me in. And then came those cupcakes that I, and many others, could not get enough of (it was in fact the theme of the very first Donna Day). And then I finally gave in to fate and got my own subscription. During all this time I tried to join HHDD, but as life, timing, and weird chance would have it, I never made it.

Until now! I was getting more vigilant about checking the HHDD announcements and came upon Cenzina’s posting for HHDD # 8…risotto! I couldn’t believe my luck. As I had started making my own stock, I had been wanting to try my hand at risotto. It would be my very first time to attempt it! So my first risotto and my first Donna Day coincide...

You can find the original recipe at Cenzina’s beautiful blog il cavoletto di bruxelles. She’s the host this month and the winner of last month’s HHDD. Her photos are fantastic!

Choices, choices…what would I do for my maiden risotto (and my first HHDD entry)? I decided to make a mushroom risotto because I seriously heart mushrooms and can eat them for days on end. Unfortunately, this tropical paradise is not exactly teeming with them, so I used a mix of dried forest mushrooms (although next time I will try this with fresh shitake or oyster mushrooms, as those are readily available here). As I had to reconstitute (I love that word…make me feel like Dr. Frankenstein) the mushrooms, I decided to replace some of the stock with the mushroom liquid as it just smelled so good and woodsy. Also, because I was in a celebratory-risotto-initiation mood, I decided to use cava (a sparkling wine from Spain) instead of white wine. Cheers to me! And cheers to Donna Day!

Forest Mushroom & Cava Risotto
(Click here for original recipe)

• 200 grams carnaroli rice
• 750 ml chicken stock
• Dried forest mushrooms, reconstituted in hot water (1 ½ cups mushrooms when reconstituted)
• 250 ml liquid from the mushrooms
• 200 ml cava
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 50 grams grated parmesan cheese
• 25 grams butter
• 4 Tablespoons olive oil
• sea salt & cracked black pepper

Prepare the mushrooms:
Place dried mushrooms in a bowl and pour hot water (just boiled) over them. Let rest until soft (30 minutes to one hour). Squeeze liquid out of mushrooms and roughly chop. Save the liquid!

Get on with your risotto:
- Place your stock and the mushrooms’ liquid in a heavy bottomed saucepan over low heat and bring to a simmer.
- Put the oil and chopped onion in another heavy bottomed saucepan and let cook for one minute over medium-high heat, until the onion is soft.
- Toss in the mushrooms and stir.
- Add the rice and stir until all the grains are coated with the oil.
- Turn the heat to high and add the Cava, letting it evaporate (watch it bubble and fizz!)
- Gradually add the hot stock one cup at a time, adding new stock when the previous cup has been absorbed, stirring constantly.

The whole cooking process should take 18 minutes. To be sure, taste the rice at the end, it shouldn’t be hard but definitely not too chewy either (al dente). I think I cooked mine a bit too long and that’s why it came out a little dry.

Once risotto is ready (al dente), take it off the heat, and stir in the butter and parmesan cheese. Add salt & pepper to taste, stir well, and let it rest for a few minutes.

Aside from my risotto coming out a tad on the dry side, everything else was just lovely and thrilling. I gently stirred the rice with a wooden fork (as I read here that using a fork avoids crushing the grains) and watched in wonder as it all came together. Pour in the stock…rice sips it up…repeat…watch the little white grains getting fatter and fatter. The smell was just amazing, and the flavor was wonderfully, intensely mushroom, with a mellow depth from the cava.

I’ll definitely be repeating this. Donna’s The New Cook has some interesting risotto recipes...

Thanks Cenzina for choosing such a smashing theme!

Lo que no mata engorda: Sugar High

What’s a food trip without dessert? Or at least something sweet to keep your energy up for all the miles' worth of exploring. Here are some of the sugary bits that kept me happy in Barcelona and beyond.

Chocolate con churros at Granja Dulcinea
This is the place for that traditional chocolate con churros you associate with Spain. This little granja (meaning ‘farm’ or ‘dairy’, what Catalans refer to as a ‘milk bar’) has been around for a long, long time, tucked away in a narrow lane among the warren-like streets of the Barrio Gotico/Catedral area. The chocolate is so thick and unctuous you can practically eat it with a spoon. Definitely an experience not to miss.

They are on Carrer de Petritxol 2. Tel: 933026824. Going out of the Placa del Pi just turn into Carrer de Petritxol.

Chocolate
Barcelona has some very talented chocolate makers that can definitely hold their own among the best out there. Some of these are what I buy ever time I go (and what I ask for from my kind relatives when they visit Manila) and some I tried for the first time on this trip.

Kokoa – These guys carry my all time favorite truffles (shoulder to shoulder with Maison de Chocolat). Don’t let the shiny gold wrapper, bright orange ribbon, and little flower on top fool you. Inside those foil wrappers lay individual hearts of darkness that can bring you to your knees. Despite the truffles being made from dark chocolate, they are called "Trufas de Vainilla". You will find Kokoa in on the basement of Diagonal Mar (two stores away from Toys R Us, kind of across Alcampo supermarket). Diagonal Mar is a shopping mall on Paseo Taulat and Josep Pla, or on Diagonal and Josep Pla. You can take the yellow line of the metro to the stop Maresme/Forum.

Vilaplana – This is where my cousin discovered catanies, and although I am not really fond of white chocolate, even I eat these little treasures. The catanies are caramel coated almonds covered in white chocolate and dusted with unsweetened cocoa powder. They are a delicious sensory mix of different tastes and textures – first the cocoa powder coats your mouth with unsweetened chocolate, then comes the smooth, milky white chocolate rebuttal, followed by your teeth cracking the sweet caramel coating, and finally the nutty goodness of the almond to round things off. These are my mom’s favorite and what we brought home for her. They are on on Plaza de Sant Gregori Taumaturg and Carrer Francesc Perez Cabrero near Turo Park.

Blanxart – This was a small bar of dark chocolate I got simply because I liked the medieval looking wrapper (I can’t help it, I like pretty things). It was a good, solid dark chocolate. We brought some back but it is now long gone, heehee. You can get Blanxart in a lot of specialty shops and chocolatiers about town (including the airport).

Xocoa – This was another new taste. I wanted to check this place out after hearing so much about it. A true Barcelonan venture, they are a happy marriage of age-old quality with a hip, modern delivery. The look is cool and retro and the selection runs the gamut from plain white, milk, and dark chocolate, to delicious and innovative flavor pairings. We got the milk chocolate with cacao nibs, dark chocolate with green tea (intersting!), and 90% cocoa dark chocolate (whoa!). You can find them at Carrer d’En Bot 4, Tel: 933188991 or Carrer de Petrixol 11, Tel: 933011197. They also have a small branch at the L’Illa mall.

Amatller – Casa Amatller is one of the three buildings that make up the famous “manzana de la discordia” (block of discord or apple of discord). The “manzana de la discordia” is made up of what is said to be the three finest modernist buildings in the entire city: Casa Batllo by Antoni Gaudi, Casa Amatller by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, and Casa Lleo-Morera by Lluis Domenech i Montaner. The three buildings can be found side by side on the Passeig de Gracia, each stunning façade competing for your attention (hence the discord). The building was bought in 1898 by chocolate industrialist Antoni Amatller, and you can buy their chocolates inside. Entranced by their gorgeous packaging, delicious looking offerings, and the girl at the register telling me my Spanish was very good, we happily purchased the following: Amatllons (which are what they call their catanies), more dark chocolate, and a block of chocolate for drinking (which is their own special blend with a touch of cinnamon). You can find them at Passeig de Gracia 41.

Taps from Cadaques
We visited Cadaques, the lovely seaside village where Salvador Dali lived, during our road trip along the Costa Brava. Unfortunately, as in our wedding, it wouldn’t stop raining. To make things a little more, um, exciting, this little gem of a town is found at the end of a winding mountain road...not the best place to be during inclement weather, especially with the fog fast approaching. But we pressed on, it was our honeymoon after all, and what’s a little adventure right? We searched for the tourist office where we could pick up our tickets for our entrance to Dali’s house, only to find the office closed. Wet and soggy, we trudged around the town, taking silly pictures of ourselves and our umbrella. And we bought taps. Taps, a specialty of Cadaques, are like little sponge cakes shaped like champagne corks, powdered sugar dusting their heads. They are sublime! Light, tender, and sweet, the sides still moist and sticky with sugar, they were exactly the remedy for a cold rainy day. Anyone who goes to Cadaques should not leave without a box. You can get them at most bakeshops there.