Irony in the form of a craving

It is funny, after coming back from Italy, I was pretty sure that I would not crave any Italian food for a long time. Cheese, cured meats and antipasto are far from my mind. I didn’t really eat much bread, pizza or pasta but nonetheless I don’t generally and I have not thought about them either. The irony of which I speak and for which I craved last night was for risotto. I really really really wanted risotto. And I realized I didn’t have any while in Italy, which is also kind of ironic.

I have a special place in my heart for risotto since it is the first “fancy” thing I learned how to cook. It seemed fancy to me because it took some technique, some understanding and a whole lot of involvement. I remember being in Atlanta stirring, stirring and stirring the Porcini mushroom risotto. Blissful.

While I was craving risotto last night, I wasn’t really craving one with a lot of cheese (since dairy is a trigger for me) and wanted it to be pretty light, but filling. I have been ravenously hungry this week due to stepping up my mileage and feel like about every 15 minutes I am hungry. It is pretty insane. So risotto definitely sounded like a good idea after my second hard 20 mile trail run of the week yesterday. And I figured that the leftovers would be good today after a 13 mile fast road run. Training is getting interesting again, which means so are my cravings and food desires. And even better, I am finally in one place and so I can start getting back in the kitchen. I am also excited about all the fresh ingredients available at local farmers markets and groceries. I went to Rainbow grocery yesterday, which is by far my favorite San Francisco food shop and fell all over myself with joy at all the amazing produce they had. They had so many varieties of heirloom tomatoes, I couldn’t even remember all their names. It was awesome and so,  like I witnessed a lot in Italy, I wanted to let the ingredients stand for themselves. I decided to make a Bell Pepper Risotto with Heirloom tomatoes which I got from The Silver Spoon. I really don’t need a recipe to make risotto at this point in my life (especially since it WAS the first thing I learned to cook), but since I want to pass on the recipe to you, I will pass along my inspiration. I also found some beautiful broccolini at Rainbow and decided that a simple steam would do on those and then finished them with a squeeze of lemon, a drizzle of amazing olive oil that we brought back from Italy and a little salt. It was a fine meal and if the hunger had not driven me to multiple servings, the flavor would have!

Bell Pepper Risotto (from The Silver Spoon)

Serves 4

about 6 cups stock (I used a mixture of mushroom and chicken stock)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

3 tomatoes, seeded and diced (I used Heirloom tomatoes)

2 1/2 bell peppers (2 red, 1 purple), halved, seeded and cut into strips

1 fresh rosemary sprig, finely chopped

2 cups risotto rice

4 tbsp Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (Parm Reggiano)

Bring the stock to a boil. Meanwhile, heat the oil in another pan, add the onion and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, bell peppers and rosemary and cook, stirring occasionally for another 5 minutes. Stir in the rice and cook, stirring, until the grain are coated in oil. Add a ladleful of hot stock and cook, stirring, until it has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, and stirring until each addition has been absorbed. This will take 18-20 minutes. When the rice is tender, stir in the Parmesan and serve.