The Omnivorous Fish

This whole eating from the garden thing is blowing my mind. I know; Captain Obvious rides again. The spinach loves getting thinned, and exploded after its last trimming.

There are a number of ways to cook spinach, and they can really influence the nature of its flavor. Spinach is one of the most distinctly flavored greens, but that flavor can run the gamut from a bright omigawd to a subtle what-is-this-kale? kind of reaction. A salad of young, tiny spinach with a light sherry or balsamic vinaigrette could practically get up, walk around and tell you how good and fresh and vibrant it is. Blanched, pureed and cooked in beef stock and butter, spinach has a very deep voice and the character of an ent. Chopped and added to something like risotto, spinach can play both roles, adding both freshness and earth to a dish.

So, there’s this boy who’s been around for a few months now. I kept waiting for him to wise up and move on, but I guess there’s no judging taste: he seems to like me. And good thing, too, since he’s a Green Lantern. So, blog, Green Lantern, Green Lantern, blog.

Anyway, when he’s not saving the world, he works one of those grown up jobs. You know, the kind where you go every day, and it’s always Monday through Friday. I’ve heard about these, but I’m not anxious to try one. Sometimes I treat him after a long day with something like this:

Pantry and Garden Thinning Risotto

Er, uh, I mean:

Risotto of Spinach with Porcini

Serves 4 as a first course, 2-3 for dinner

½ cup dried porcini mushrooms, morels or others would be good
2 cups hot water

four slices bacon, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
salt, pepper, freshly grated nutmeg

1 cup short-grain rice, arborio or carnaroli for example
1 cup white wine (or pink wine)
2 cups (or more) stock, water or other flavorful liquid (dried mushroom soaking liquid, cheese rinds (not wax ones) simmered in water for a half hour, half-strength bouillon from Knorr brand cubes, water from cooking vegetables, almost anything) In this case, water from soaking the mushrooms simmered with some bay leaves.

2 cups, loosely packed, chopped fresh spinach or thinnings or young shoots from any garden green, like dandelions, arugula or sorrel (yes, if you don’t use pesticides in your garden, you can absolutely use the dandelions you pull out of the flower beds)
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup grated pecorino romano cheese

Pour the hot water over the mushrooms and allow to soak while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. When they are thoroughly softened, remove them from the liquid, chop them coarsely and set them aside. Strain the soaking liquid, or allow the grit to settle to the bottom.
Heat the stock in a pan adjacent to your risotto pan, you will be ladling from one pot to another almost continuously. It should barely simmer.
Cook the bacon over medium heat in a heavy, nonreactive pot, like copper lined with tin or stainless steel or enameled cast iron. Aluminum may darken the risotto. When it begins to crisp, add the onion and sweat, stirring frequently. Sweating means to cook without browning, so keep your eye on it, you want to cook the onions until they are just softened. Season onion with salt and pepper. Add the rice and stir well. When the liquid from the onions has evaporated, the rice will begin to brown, stir frequently and listen for the rice to begin to whistle. No, I’m not kidding. When the natural moisture in the endosperm of the rice breaks out it will make a little whistling noise. This means the rice grains are getting in the mood.
After the rice has been whistling for a minute or so, add the wine all at once. When wine is mostly evaporated, add half the mushroom soaking liquid. Stir it in well and adjust heat so that the mixture bubbles excitedly but not vigorously while you stir. From this point on, the risotto must be stirred regularly. Stir, and stir with a purpose, scraping the bottom and corners to avoid the risotto scorching. When there is just barely enough stock in the pan to keep all the rice submerged, add the rest of the liquid and the reserved mushrooms. Again, when that liquid is almost gone, add a half cup of stock and continue stirring, adding stock every few minutes as needed. Meanwhile season the risotto with salt and pepper.
In about eight minutes (or longer, depending on your rice), start tasting a grain or two of rice to determine its consistency. Much like pasta, the rice should be neither crunchy nor mushy, and that last little white pearl of starch should remain inside the rice. This is not fluffy white rice with a stir fry, don’t expect it to be. This whole process will take from 15-20 minutes, depending on heat, rice and humidity. When the rice is almost there, add spinach to heat through and season with some nutmeg. When the spinach is wilted, adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and nutmeg. When you believe it to be thrirty seconds from being done, add the butter and cheese and stir thoroughly. Add stock to adjust the consistency to your liking and serve immediately. It’s not as urgent as it is with pasta, but don’t wait around. Get everybody sitting down before you add the cheese.

We drank this with one of many refreshing but unremarkable pink wines that we drink so much of this time of year. The Chateau D’acqueria Tavel is ubiquitous and good, the Tin Roof Pinot Noir Pink is really nice, and I had an Umbrian pink the other day that was great, but I forget the name of the producer (but it had Umbria in the name, like Azienda Umbria or something, although it wasn’t that). This time of year, I’ll try anything pink that’s under ten bucks. Ha ha ha.

Listening: NPR: national. public. radio.