Pumpkin Pastina Risotto and Pear-Bacon Salad

I'm a fan of anything pasta. For me, it means quick. It means comfort. It means stick-to-your-ribs yummy.

I recently saw Michael Chiarello on television make a pastina risotto with butternut squash. I was mesmerized. Pasto cooked in the same way you would risotto. Brilliant.

The very next day I stumbled across Proud Italian Cook's post about the same thing. I could practically taste it after seeing her mouth-watering photos!

Someone was trying to tell me something. I needed no more reminders--I made my own version today.



Fragrant, creamy, delicious, perfectly paired with a crisp, sweet salad of green lettuce, chopped tomato, sliced pear and a light vinaigrette all topped with crumbled bacon.



Pumpkin Pastina Risotto

serves 8



1 cup hot water

1/2 cup (by volume) dried shitake mushrooms, chopped

4-5 cups chicken broth

1 15-ounce can unsweetened pureed pumpkin

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 strips bacon

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, finely diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

12 ounces acini de pepe pastina

several scrapes nutmeg

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese



Pour hot water over dried mushrooms and cover; let sit for 15-30 minutes to rehydrate. Strain, reserving liquid, and set aside.



In a saucepan on the stove, combine mushroom water, chicken broth and pureed pumpkin. Set on a very low flame to keep warm. Season with salt and pepper; taste and adjust seasonings, if required. (You will need a total of 5 cups liquid.) Note: Sage would have been a lovely addition to the broth. Fried sage leaves would be a nice garnish.



In a large pot, cook bacon over low heat until crisp. Set aside to drain on paper towels. Keep 2 tablespoons drippings in the pan, discard the rest. Add butter to pan. Saute onion and drained mushrooms in bacon drippings until onion is transparent. Add minced garlic and cook 1 minute.



Stir in pastina and cook for just a few minutes to coat each pebble with the butter/oil mixture. Add broth mixture, a cup at a time, stirring until absorbed after each addition. When all has been absorbed and pastina is tender, stir in nutmeg and parmesan cheese.



Serve warm, topped with crumbled bacon and a drizzle of reduced--or, if you have it, aged--balsamic vinegar. I reduced 1/2 cup to just under 1/4 cup for mine.





Pear-Bacon Salad

serves 4



4 strips bacon, fried crispy, 1-1/2 tablespoons drippings reserved

your favorite lettuce (baby spinach would be outstanding here)

1 tomato, chopped

1 pear, sliced

1-1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper, to taste



Top lettuce with tomato and sliced pear. Combine bacon drippings and olive oil and set aside. In a small bowl, combine vinegar, salt and pepper. While whisking continually, pour oil blend in a thin stream to emulsify. Drizzle vinaigrette over salad and serve topped with crumbled bacon.

Risotto Style Barley or Quinoa and Easy Pumpkin Pudding

Another Tuesday, another ladies' luncheon.

I've been reading about risotto a lot. I've never had it or made it--mainly because it calls for arborio rice. And white rice makes my sugar skyrocket! So even though it looks interesting and all taste reports are nothing short of raves, I just could not see myself making or trying it.

Until yesterday.

I ran across a blog that featured Barley made risotto-style with great results. Then I wondered if I could do the same with quinoa--yes, recipes exist! So I knew I was on the verge of an idea.

So this morning I got up early and made two kinds of risotto--one with barley, the other with quinoa, but both with the same other ingredients. My plan was to stuff the risotto fillings into baked acorn squash halves for today's lunch for my five guests and I.

Personally I found the flavor of the barley version much more satisfying. Perhaps it was because of the size of the grain--larger than quinoa, it certainly absorbed much more broth (=flavor), and the texture was very nice. It even seemed creamier.

For dessert, I served a lovely Easy Pumpkin Pudding I concocted very quickly using sugar-free instant pudding as a starting point. What a treat, and delicious, to boot!

All in all, a long morning--but so worth it!

Risotto-Style Barley or Quinoa

As you may already know, risotto doesn't often have much of a recipe per se as a method. It is the method of cooking rather than a rule. So I'll share with you the procedure that I used, along with ingredients, as best as I can.

about 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 large onion, diced

1 pound white button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup barley or quinoa, rinsed well

several cups chicken broth (amount depends on which grain you use; I used a combination of homemade chicken broth and tomato-chicken bullion, with a little red wine tossed in for good measure)

3 cups sliced cooked chicken

1/2 cup milk (I used 2% milk)

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. In a hot stock pot or dutch oven set over a medium flame, add a good drizzle of olive oil (I'd guess about 2 tablespoons) and butter. Immediately add onion and mushrooms. Stir to coat all veggies with a coating of oil/butter mixture; continue to cook until mushrooms give up their liquid.

2. Stir in garlic and barley or quinoa. Stir until the liquid is absorbed. Ladle in (my ladle is about 1/2 cup volume) more broth and stir until the liquid is absorbed. (Note: I kept a large pot of my broth on a very low flame--just warm, not even a simmer--on a back burner so it was warm when I added it. This is an important step so you don't have to wait as long.) Continue this process of adding broth and stirring until liquid is absorbed until the grains will no longer absorb all of the liquid. You will know when you're getting close to that stage by tasting the grains as you go--when they are almost done, the texture will be al dente.

3. Stir in chicken, milk and parmesan cheese and cover; remove from heat and let rest 5 minutes. At this point, I covered the pan and put it in the oven to hold until lunchtime--but you could finish from here. Serve hot on its own or inside a roasted acorn squash half or any other way you wish.

I must admit that although the presentation was lovely in the acorn squash, the flavors did not blend overly well. Next time I'll skip the squash... but both rosottos were excellent.

Easy Pumpkin Pudding

serves 8

2 boxes (4-serving size) instant pudding mix (I used sugar free vanilla--butterscotch is perfect for this recipe, too) -- Prepare with milk according to package directions FOR PIE

1 15-ounce can solid pack pumpkin

cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate overnight. Serve in pretty glasses topped with whipped cream or--like I did--a wee bit of sugar-free non-dairy hazlenut creamer. Mmm!