Here’s to pantry staples. Last weekend we had a neighbor up for a drink, and shortly before he arrived I realized we’d all probably want dinner and I hadn’t grocery shopped in at least a week. I scoured the pantry and the freezer and was able to patch together a quick risotto, which I cooked while the guys enjoyed second gin-and-tonics. I hadn’t made risotto in a really long time, but I love having it in my arsenal. If you have never made it, it’s so worth giving it a try–once you’ve done it a few times you won’t need a recipe and you’ll be ready to make an emergency dinner suited to casual company with whatever you have on hand!

I’m piecing this recipe together from memory–any basic recipe will get you started, and the theories are really simple!

Anything-You-Have Risotto
Serves 3-4
1 cup arborio rice
1/4-1/3 cup dry vermouth or white wine (if you have white wine already open)
2-3 tablespoons butter
1 shallot, diced
Chicken stock (probably 3 cups or so; have at least 4 cups on hand.)
Whatever you want to put in your risotto–trimmed and cut-up asparagus, dried or fresh (sautéed) mushrooms, sausage, pancetta, etc.

In this case I was relying on pantry elements, so I used dried porcini mushrooms, which I soaked in boiling water for a little while, then used the soaking water (poured carefully to avoid grit from the bottom) to supplement my stock. I rinsed the soaked mushrooms a few times because this batch is annoying gritty. Before soaking them I crunched the bigger mushrooms up a little bit so the pieces were uniform in size, but I probably should have left them bigger.

I also took two sweet italian sausages out of their casings and browned them (making them into small bits) until they were 95% cooked, then set the sausage aside. (Most times I brown a slice or two of pancetta at this stage, if I don’t have sausage around.)

In the same pan where I’d browned the sausage, I melted the butter and cooked the shallot until it was soft and translucent. Medium heat, I’d guess. Scrape your spoon around to get up some of the nice browned sausage bits, if applicable.

Pour in your arborio and stir it around to combine with the butter and shallot.

Pour in the vermouth or white wine and let it cook off, adjusting the heat as needed. If you’re using mushrooms and have some soaking liquid, add that once the vermouth is cooked off. This is when you’ll really be able to scrape up browned sausage goodness; it will release almost as soon as the liquid hits it. The liquids will make lots of steam so that you can’t take any good photos. I also added in the soaked mushrooms.

Try blowing on the steam and moving really fast–ah, that’s a little better.

(Seriously, I can’t believe I’m once again apologizing for godawful photos, but…sorry. Sigh.)

Begin adding stock about 1/2 cup at a time (though I go faster; I’m lazy!), stirring frequently to avoid sticking. Keep adding stock as it cooks away, until the arborio is cooked through.

Towards the end, add in the cooked sausage, sautéed mushrooms, etc. If you want to add raw asparagus, that goes in a little earlier. Do not let it dry out, especially towards the end–add enough stock that the final risotto is creamy and has a bit of broth to it. Serve in heated pasta bowls, topped with a bit of butter and some parmesan cheese, if you have it around.

We had nice big salads (and watched The Office!) after the risotto. Yum. It’s definitely time to retire mushrooms and sausage for the summer, though, and turn my sights to asparagus.

So I bought a packet of flank steak at TJ’s a couple weeks ago and through a variety of circumstances was forced to throw it away instead of cooking it. I tried to buy more and they were all out, so over the weekend (more than a week ago now!) I stopped at Savenor’s, the fancy butcher in Beacon Hill and Cambridge, and picked up some hangar steak. Their flank steak was packed in 2-pound chunks, which they didn’t want to cut down, and when I asked about hangar (having enjoyed is very much cooked in the french style at Les Halles over the years) the guy said it would sub in well. I…don’t think that’s entirely true? Or maybe it is but the Savenor’s meat is just so much better quality and…more meaty that I was thrown off? But more on that later.

The recipe in question is another one from Everyday Food, Flank Steak with Lime Marinade. The marinade is dead easy–I love recipes where i can just sort of chunk up the ginger instead of bothering to dice it tiny and evenly.

If this isn’t a summery group of ingredients, I don’t know what is:

I made a little less marinade than the recipe makes, since I had less meat. But in essence you juice a few limes and toss in diced ginger, red pepper flakes, some soy sauce and chopped scallions. Next time I will probably use garlic instead of scallions.

Put all that in a ziplock with your meat. Squish it around (seal it first!). Marinate for about an hour. Grill, rest, slice. So easy! Making the marinade takes about 5 minutes.

To go with the steak, we grilled asparagus. Clean the asparagus (snap off the woody ends; they snap right where they’re supposed to if you hold the end and the middle of the stalk and bend it), toss in salt and pepper and olive oil, grill to taste. Ben grilled it to his taste–it wasn’t quite charred enough for me. I just love asparagus. This was from New Jersey, and it was very tasty.

I also boiled/roasted a few red potatoes.

The meal was almost great, but not quite. The meat was a bit underdone, went back on the grill, and was still very rare for my taste. I think the hangar steak is also just too flavorful for this type of marinade–the meat and marinade didn’t work together as well as I’d hoped. Still, I want to keep trying these less-expensive beef cuts until I figure them out! (I do think I’d have been happier if it had been more medium-rare instead of rare. I microwaved leftovers at work the next day and they were delicious. Usually when I reheat non-braised meat it is overdone.)