The Best Risotto EVER!!!

As I mentioned in my last post, Damien came home yesterday, so I decided to try and make something a little special. As an ode to my adorable little boy, I broke out the Balthazar Cookbook.

While it is slightly embarrassing to admit, Baz is named after our favorite New York City restaurant, Balthazar. Sure there were other reasons too, but the main one is that we used to go to this restaurant for special occasions, when my parents were in town and paying for dinner or when we just wanted to splurge on a really great meal. When we began the name search for our boy, we were thinking of meaningful places we had been and Balthazar came up.

I started going there when it first opened in 1997. On my first visit, I was alone and sat in the bar area for lunch. It was so extravagant for me. I was just a lowly advertising assistant making maybe $20,000 a year, including the late night meals and cab rides they'd pay for when I worked past 8pm. But, I ordered a steak frite, a glass of red wine and took in the awesome scene while documenting it in my journal. After I'd spent a good amount of time there, I was ready for my check. It was bustling and busy, so I asked the maitre 'd to help me out. He said, "Oh no, you can't leave without having dessert!" I replied that I would love to but that I really needed to go. I think he recognized that the real issue was I couldn't afford the additional $8. He said, "Please, wait one more minute." Just then, a server swooped in and placed the most beautiful and perfectly browned creme brulee in front of me. The maitre 'd gave me a big smile and said, "Bon appetit on me." It was the most delicious creme brulee I had ever had.

So I had to keep going back. It was the first place I had oysters (thanks to my dad) and a dirty martini. It's where we went after we got engaged - and fulfilled my dream of ordering Le Grand (their three tiers of unbelievably delicious shellfish). And when we went back this summer for the sale of our Brooklyn Heights apartment, that's where we went to celebrate, taking little Balthazar for his first visit. (See picture to the left.) They didn't seem particularly impressed when we told them his name. I'll let that slide.

Since Damien's homecoming was a somewhat special occasion (sure he travels a lot, but I'll have the ability to sleep in a little bit longer so that makes it a special occasion) I decided I should go to The Balthazar Cookbook. And boy, oh boy was it AMAZING!

I decided to make the Shrimp and Roasted Red Pepper Risotto. Now, this was not the easiest thing in the world to make and I must give a special shout out to my baby without whom I would not have my newly muscular arms that enabled me to endure the incredible amounts of stirring it required. It is quite labor intensive, but it was so worth the effort.

Here is the recipe (adapted, of course, from The Balthazar Cookbook):














Shrimp and Roasted Red Pepper Risotto a la Balthazar
Start by making roasted red peppers a few hours before you are to start making the risotto. For this you will need:
6 red peppers
olive oil
salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Split and remove the seeds for the peppers. Slice the peppers into 1 inch strips. Lay them on a cookie sheet, peel side up, and brush the peels with olive oil. Sprinkle them with salt. Place in the oven and cook for 40 minutes or until the peppers are turning black.

Remove from the oven, put the peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the peppers. They should come right off. Set aside or put in the refrigerator.

You can also prepare chicken stock at this point, however, I did not have time for that so I did the awful thing of buying canned chicken stock (I'm so sorry Keith McNally). Next time I make a chicken, I'll try making my own.

Now for the risotto, you'll need:

6 cups of chicken stock
6 roasted red peppers (from above)
30 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
salt and pepper
4 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
2 cups Arborio rice (Italian risotto rice, regular rice will not do)
1/2 cup white wine
3 scallions, cut into 1/4" rings on a bias
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped finely
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat 5 cups of the chicken stock over a medium low setting until it simmers. Lower the heat to the lowest setting to keep warm.

In the meantime, cut the roasted peppers into large chunks. In a small saucepan, combine them with the other 1 cup of chicken stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a medium low setting and cook for 10 minutes. Put the mixture in a food processor and blend for a few seconds - until smooth, but a few small pieces of pepper remain.

Dry the shrimp with paper towels and season them with a little salt and pepper. Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan until hot but not smoking. Saute the shrimp (in a single layer) until just cooked through (about 1 1/2 minutes per side). Remove from pan and set aside.

In a big saucepan or dutch oven, melt the butter with 2 tablespoons of olive oil over a medium-low heat. Add the onions, garlic, and a sprinkling of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent and soft (about 2 minutes). Add the rice and stir to coat the grains with the butter/oil and to lightly toast them (about 2 minutes). Add the wine and stir until it is fully absorbed into the rice (about a minute.)

This is where you'll need the endurance. You'll be adding the warm chicken stock to the rice in 1/2 cup increments. After each addition, stir constantly until the liquid has been fully absorbed into the rice. Then add the next. This will take about 20 minutes, maybe more. Towards the end, start tasting the rice to make sure it has not become too soft. It should still be al dente after the last addition. After the last 1/2 cup has been fully absorbed, stir in the scallions.

Then start adding the red pepper puree. You will add this in three increments, stirring constantly and letting it fully absorb before adding the next. Again, keep tasting the rice to make sure it is not becoming mushy.

When the puree has been absorbed and the rice is at it's perfect consistency, stir in the shrimp, basil and Parmesan. Sprinkle a little more salt and pepper to taste.

This risotto is best served immediately with an additional sprinkle of Parmesan. Bon Appetit!!!

It was seriously some of the best risotto I've ever had (if I may say so myself. Actually, Damien said so, too.) The stirring was made less painful by the couple of glasses of wine I drank as I cooked : )

In the cookbook, they explain a way to partially cook the risotto so that you can prepare it to a certain point and finish it later. I find this helpful because there is really no way you could prepare this for a dinner party, unless you don't mind spending the whole time in the kitchen stirring risotto while everyone else is drinking wine and having a good time.

Now, as if this weren't enough for my hardworking husband's return, I went a step further. I made THE BEST CREME BRULEE EVER, also from The Balthazar Cookbook.














Creme Brulee (adapted from The Balthazar Cookbook)
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean (split and with the seeds scraped free from the bean)
1/2 stick cinnamon
5 large egg yolks

Preheat the over to 300 degrees.

In a saucepan, combine the cream, sugar, vanilla bean and seeds, and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil over medium heat, watching carefully so that it won't boil over (which it is wont to do if you are not careful.) Put the mixture into a glass measuring cup (because it has a spout.)

Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl. In a bowl that will fit into the ice bath (but not yet), lightly beat the egg yolks with a whisk. Begin adding the hot cream to the yolks, in a very light stream and whisking constantly so as not to cook the egg yolks. Cool the bowl down by placing it in the ice bath. Let it cool until room temperature (about 30 minutes.)

Once cooled, pour the mixture into individual ramekins nearly to the top. Balthazar uses 4 inch shallow dishes because in the end, after you have created the sugar crusted top, you get the perfect ratio of crunch to cream. Since I don't have those, I used a deeper, but smaller ramekin. This made 4 servings.

Place the ramekins in a large baking pan. Fill the pan with warm water until it reaches halfway up the ramekins. Cover the whole pan with aluminum foil and carefully place in the oven.

Cook the custard for 45 minutes. You'll know it's ready because the custard is set and firm when you jiggle the ramekins.

Let the ramekins cool a bit and then put them in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

When you are ready to serve, create the crisp sugar topping. You will mix 2 tablespoons of brown sugar with two tablespoons or regular granulated sugar. If your brown sugar is moist, put the mixture in a 250 degree oven for 15 minutes to dry it out. Then put the sugar in a food processor and mix.

Evenly sprinkle a layer of sugar over each serving of custard, making sure to get all the way to the rims. You can use a kitchen blowtorch or you can cook it under a broiler for about 2 minutes or until the sugar is brown and bubbly. Then sprinkle a second layer of sugar over them and repeat. I wish I had a blow torch because one of my favorite things about Balthazar's creme brulee is the warm crispy top over the cool custard. Broiling it heated up the custard too.

Regardless, it was delicious! I also have to tell you that the vanilla bean was sort of difficult to find and was wicked expensive (one bean costs me $7) so I suddenly don't feel like the $8 price tag at the restaurant is that outlandish. But, making it at home had the added bonus of being served so incredibly fresh. While the complimentary dessert I got at Balthazar on my first visit will always hold a special place in my heart, the creme brulee I made for Damien's return has now replaced it as the best creme brulee I've ever had.