Mushroom and Gorgonzola Risotto

My wife has finally convinced me that Bitchin Kitchen is a show worth watching.  I’ve become a bit disillusioned with cooking shows (except you Good Eats, and you will be sorely missed) because they more or less offer the same style, recipe types, and ingredient base.  It’s just not what I’m looking for right now.  But Bitchin Kitchen is not a cooking show.  It’s a half hour crazy-fest that just happens to also feature food.  Even if you don’t cook, I highly recommend catching an episode for entertainment.  I especially enjoy her side kicks.

Most of the show centers around Mediterranean food, and her risotto recipes especially stand out.  This is my melding of her ingredient suggestions with my risotto recipe.  Enjoy.

Mushroom and Gorgonzola Risotto
Adapted from Bitchin Kitchen

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound portabella mushrooms, chopped
2 cups Aborio rice
½ cup white wine
2 ½ cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 ½ cups water
⅓ cup Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper
Parsley, to garnish

In a small pot over medium low heat add the water and chicken stock until simmering.  In a heavy bottomed pan (I like a dutch oven, but any heavy pot will do), combine the butter and oil over medium heat until foaming, add the onion and some salt and cook for about 3-5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms begin to brown, about 7-8 minutes.  Add garlic and cook 30 seconds.  Add the rice and stir constantly until the rice is slightly colored and smells toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Add the wine and stir until absorbed. Reduce the heat slightly and add about 1 cup of the stock, stirring constantly until all of the stock has been absorbed. Make sure the mixture is bubbling slightly but not boiling.  Repeat until about 20 minutes have passed and taste rice (note: you may not have to use all the stock/water). When slightly al dente add the Gorgonzola and Parmesan.  Season with salt and pepper.  The risotto should be slightly runny and not extremely thick.  Garnish with parsley and serve.

Little Indiana

I recently did an interview over at Little Indiana: http://littleindiana.com/2012/02/indiana-blogs-cooking-with-wolfes/

Check out the site for extremely useful articles on what to do and where to go!

What I'm Drinking-Winterfest Edition

I attended Winterfest a few weeks ago, one of the two large beer festivals in Indiana put on by the good people at the Brewers Guild of Indiana.  If you have never attended, I highly recommend it.  Not only did I try some amazing beers, I learned a lot from the brewers taking time to actually talk about their beers as well.  It was fantastic.

In case you have not heard, Indiana cleaned up this fall at the Great American Beer Festival.  By “cleaned up”, I mean won more medals than any other state.  That’s impressive no matter how you spin it.  I’ve become more familiar with some of the breweries in the state, and it’s been quite a pleasure trying out the new varieties they offer.  Here are a few of my favorites, and most can be found at local bars or stores.

Sun King Osiris Pale Ale: Best “everyday” pale ale of any that I drink. It's dry hopped but not to bitterness. It's refreshing and extremely balanced (also, for the record, everything Sun King brews is awesome).

Bier Brewery Fuggit Stout: This won last fall's Brew Bracket II event. It's rich and creamy without being dry or overly sweet

Triton Stout and IPA: This brewery just popped up about a year ago, and I'm loving their beers. Their stout is especially good, and it's nice to see a brewery brew a stout as a house beer. Their IPA is citrusy and easy to drink. I think we can expect bottles in the near future.

People’s Hopkilla: Lafayette's own! I was hard on them when they first started up, but they have really come a long way. This is a double IPA that's easily one of the best brewed in the state. It's aggressive and full of flavor.

Upland Gilgamesh: I learned at Winterfest that I enjoy sours. Sadly, this was a one-shot only tasting for me, as this is a very in-demand and rare beer, but man was it good! Sour and fruity, it gave me the same feeling when eating grapefruit.

3 Floyds Gumballhead: A wheat beer with a nice hop flavor at the end, this is one of the best year-round beers they produce. Good for people looking for something a bit lighter.

Brugge Harvey: Another sour (I was on a roll), quite delicious and tart. Only offered at the Brugge restaurant, but you know, they have great mussels and beer, so it's easy to make an excuse to go here.

Sun King Cream Dream IV: This beer starts as a cream ale but then gets the hell hopped out of it. Not only is it amazing and flavorful, I was lucky to have it out of a firkin, which gave some more complexity from the yeast.

Figure Eight Ro Shampo: I just discovered this brewery, and this red ale is my current favorite. It's slightly bitter, which I enjoy, and the malt on it is quite good.

Flat 12 Walkabout Pale Ale: A single hop pale, this ranks up there with Osiris as my favorite current pale ale. It's wonderfully fruity and bright.

That's just a sampling of what Indiana beers are great. Next time you're out, pick one up, you certainly won't be disappointed.

Three Bean Soup

Over the holidays I was fortunate enough to have some delicious food, and a lot of it not prepared by me (win win). For Christmas eve we had smoked turkey from D&R market. It was delicious, and thanks to my tendency to get sick during the holidays, I got to take the bones home as a consolation prize.

It’s tradition for me to make stock from some leftover Christmas animal, and turkey is no different. Stock making is something that is simple, easy, and yields healthier stocks you can freeze and use whenever you want. To make this stock, I browned the bones, added 1 quartered onion, 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped celery stalks, 4 cloves of smashed garlic, 2 bay leaves, parsley stems, 2 sprigs of thyme, a bit of salt (not much, it’s already smoked and therefore has some salt), and enough water to cover (10-12 cups). Bring to a boil and simmer for 3-4 hours. Drain, let sit to skim off fat, and use for soups, stews, etc.

While searching for a quick, warm dinner, I came across this recipe from The Other Side of Fifty, another Indiana food blog. I love the idea of using the refried beans as a thickener! It turned out great, though I did add a cornstarch slurry at the end to get a bit more body out of the soup.

Three-Bean Smoked Turkey Soup
Adapted from The Other Side of Fifty

1 T olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 large carrots, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 T chile powder
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, finely diced
1 T tomato paste
6 cups smoked turkey broth or other poultry broth
1 15-oz can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 16-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 16-oz. can non-fat refried beans
3 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 5 tablespoons broth or water
salt and pepper (if using smoked turkey broth, you may not need salt)
Sour cream


Add olive oil in a large pot heat over medium high heat. Add the onion, celery and carrots and cook for 7-8 minutes until softened. Add the garlic, chili powder, chipotle, and tomato paste, cook for another minute. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Add the beans and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Add half of the cornstarch slurry and check consistency to your liking. Add the other half if needed. Season with salt and pepper. Serve topped with sour cream.

Tinga Tinga

I'm certainly always on a Mexican kick. With the increasing crop of quality Hispanic markets around the West Lafayette area, it has become easier to source fresh and affordable ingredients for all my needs.  It's the food I truly miss from Arizona, the pure, unadulterated foods of Mexico.

Such is the case with this recipe for pork tostadas (or tinga, if you will). It's inspired from a recipe in Cook's Illustrated, who also seem to have something for Mexican food. It's a simple recipe, it makes enough for a large family or leftovers, and has additional uses such as fillings for burritos, tacos, etc.  I recommend getting your tostada shells from a Mexican market if you can. Make sure to look at the ingredients. It should read something like "corn, water, salt" or be less than five ingredients. If it's more, walk away. Just walk away. Quality is everything here people.

Shredded Pork Tostadas
Serves 6-8

3 pounds pork butt, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 onions, 1 roughly quartered and 1 chopped
6 garlic cloves, 3 peeled and smashed and 3 minced
6 sprigs fresh thyme

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 (15oz) can tomato sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons ancho chile powder

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

2 bay leaves
1 cup water

For the tostadas
tostada shells
shredded cheese (queso fresco, cojita, or mild feta)
cilantro

sliced avocado

sour cream
salsa

In a large pot, bring pork, quartered onion, smashed garlic, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 6 cups water to a boil over medium-high heat, skimming off any foam that comes to the surface with a spoon. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium low until simmering, partially cover, and cook until pork is fork tender, 70-80 minutes. Drain pork, reserving 1 cup of the liquid in a tall vessel (make sure to skim off the fat). Discard the onion, garlic, and thyme. Return pork to pot (no heat) and smash with a potato masher until roughly shredded. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, cook for about 3 minutes, then add pork and dried oregano, mixing and then pressing the pork down into the pan to make the pork crispy. Cook, stirring occasionally (flip the pork over) until the pork is well browned and slightly crisp, about 10 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

Stir in the tomato sauce, reserved cooking liquid, chile powder, cumin, and bay leaves; simmer until thick and most of the liquid has evaporated, 10-15 minutes. Discard bay leaves, season with salt.

To serve, spoon pork onto tostadas, top with avocado (or guacamole), cheese, cilantro, and any other fresh toppings you desire. Enjoy.

Beef with Broccoli

You know what really bites?  Writing posts ahead of time, then falling behind on your blogging and the season changing.  There is no way I can say "it's a great time to grill" right now.  Well, put it in the can for next summer.

But it is a great time to stir fry!  Honestly, when isn't?  Need a quick meal on a weeknight?  Boom, stir fry.  Unexpected guests?  Boom, stir fry.  See where I'm going with this?  I'm sure a few of these recipes are going to be coming down the pipe as I'm into giving my wok a workout (wokout?).

Strangely enough, this recipe came to me via an email newsletter from my favorite local kitchen store, KitchenArt.  I modified it a bit for some spice, but it's a rather simple and extremely delicious recipe.  Besides Chicken with Almonds, it's the most frequent stir fry around my house.

Beef with Broccoli

1 pound flank steak, sliced thin against the grain
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry (or rice wine)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon sugar
1 large bunch broccoli, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces (you can peel and use the stems too)
1/4 cup water
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 slices fresh ginger
3 dried arbol chiles (or other small spicy variety)
4 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon + 1 tablespoon peanut oil
Cooked white rice

In a bowl combine the soy sauce, sherry, sugar, cornstarch.  Add flank steak and marinate 10-15 minutes.

Heat a wok or large skillet over medium high heat.  Add 1 teaspoon oil and heat until shimmering.  Add broccoli and cook until starting to brown, about 1 minute.  Add water, cover, and cook for 4 minutes or until broccoli is cooked.  Remove broccoli from pan and spread out in a single layer to cool (this is important as you want to stop the cooking process).

To the now empty wok add the remaining tablespoon oil.  Heat until shimmering and add the garlic, ginger, and chiles.  Cook until browned to infuse the oil.  Remove the seasonings (discard them) and add steak, breaking it up and cooking while stirring constantly until browned and cooked through, about 4-5 minutes.  Add broccoli and oyster sauce to combine, cook for 1 minute or until everything is hot.  Serve with white rice.

Costa Rica: Monteverde- Love at First Sight

Leaving Fortuna was bittersweet, but we were certainly ready for some rainforest. First off, I have to talk about the drive. Fortuna and Monteverde are actually pretty close to each other, it just so happens there's a giant lake in between them you have to drive around. And wow, what a drive, with the most awful roads I have ever driven on. Thankfully (or not) it was pouring, and the rain helped us identify all of the pot holes

We found a great place on the way called Mystica, a local hotel that also offered homemade pizzas with garden-fresh ingredients. It was delicious! Beautiful views and a very friendly cat were also found. Highly recommended.

When we finally reached Monteverde, we knew it was special. The town is focused on both tourism and farming, and felt much more like a town than a large resort. Everyone was super friendly and helped us find great places to eat and things to see. I highly recommend stopping in at the Frog Museum, which allows you to see many of the natural species found in the surrounding rainforests all at the same time.

Monteverde is full of great places to hike, bird watch, and really experience all of the Costa Rican beauty.  If you came looking for big and flashy, look elsewhere.  We took night hikes, toured coffee and sugar plantations, and learned about wonderful rare birds.

Likewise, the food we found was both simple and pure.  We had dinner one night at Chimera, an amazing tapas restaurant where every dish was wonderful.  I highly recommend the cassoulet and the patacones (fried plantains).  Also, make sure and get one of their fresh cocktails.  Really good.

We also tried out an Italian place (in case you didn't notice, there is a large international presence in the country).  They grow a lot of their ingredients (just like Mystica), and the fresh eggplant ravioli I had was wonderful.  The best thing you can do is trust the locals, our resource was Sylvia who worked at the hotel Montana (where we stayed and highly recommended).  She sent us to some great places, and it was easily the best part of our trip

Our last night we stayed in San Jose, and we both needed something a bit different, so we headed down south a few blocks to Tin Jo, a delightful Chinese restaurant that serves authentic Chinese and other Pan-Asian specialties.  We dined on tempura spring rolls and tasty hot and sour soup, followed by Pad Thai (for my wife) and kung-pao prawns (for me).  The Pad Thai was some of the best either of us had tasted, with a good amount of heat, perfectly cooked noodles, and a zing of fresh cilantro on the end.  The kung-pao prawns was served in a cassava edible bowl and had nicely cooked squash and peppers along with a spicy sauce to coat the prawns.  All in all it was one of the best meals we had while in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica: Fortuna-You Stole My Heart, Then You Stole My Stuff

Actually starting our vacation in Costa Rica, we left San Jose pretty early to get a jump out to Fortuna. The trip, in our endlessly scorned Suzuki Jimmy (I yearned for a Rav 4) was uneventful and full of twists, turns, and two lane roads. When we arrived at our hotel we were met with by an iguana who was out sunning himself. We stayed at the Tilajari resort, which was an amazing place but a bit far from most of our planned destinations.

We visited the Tabacon hot springs first, which came complete with lunch, which was nice (sea bass ceviche) but felt like a typical "spa" meal. They did serve some chayote on the side, which was delicious. It's a squash that's extremely common in that area of the world and to me tastes like zucchini with much better texture. Also, hot springs are fantastic and highly recommended.

It rains a lot in the summer in Costa Rica, so most evenings are spent indoors eating and drinking. Costa Rica has a wonderful pilsner "Imperial", which I found was extremely refreshing after hot days, and also brews a darker ale called "". Both have a distinct fresh quality that most macro-brews in the states lack. And in case you are wondering, we did drink the water. And it was fine, and so were we.

We sought out Don Ruffino for dinner, a local place on the main drag in Fortuna. I specifically mention this place because it was so unbelievably delicious. I had Grandma's chicken, a half chicken marinated in a mole-style sauce and steamed in a banana leaf. Oh wow, was it tender and flavorful. Em had crab risotto with fish which was equally outstanding. And the dessert included strawberry beignets, which were as good as they sound.

I was really starting to like Fortuna! The next day we went hiking up the volcano and then zip-lining, which was one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done. Riding out 600 feet off the ground and seeing so much of the forest cannot be captured in simple words.

Then things started to go downhill. It started to pour during dinner, and I'm not just talking rain, I'm talking buckets. Dinner at La Chosa was awful; we went off a recommendation and found it to be a tourist trap complete with hilarious/awful drink choices and bland food. I'm also not a fan of elaborate garnishes (like cucumber flowers); I feel it adds nothing to my dish except price. Then we stopped to get a few souvenirs, only to return to our car two minutes later and find it had been broken into and our GPS stolen. Wow, what a turn of events. The police was super-unhelpful too, and it somewhat overshadowed most of our time in Fortuna.

My final thoughts about Fortuna are that it's a resort town, built up by people going to hot springs, but it has no other true industry, and has become somewhat of a party place with a seediness underneath. Monteverde? Never felt that, but here it seemed that there were two distinct towns living on top of each other, which led to an artificial resemblance of the entire place. I enjoyed some of my time, but if I return to Costa Rica, I won't be stopping by here.

More from the road, Monteverde, and a lot of birds tomorrow…

Costa Rica: San Jose- Get Out Fast!

We just got back from a week long trip to Costa Rica, and it truly a great and eventful trip. We traveled to three cities, so I'm breaking up the posts to cover the distinct locations.

We arrived in San Jose in the early evening, picked up our rental car, and inserted ourselves into an onslaught of traffic and poor directions. San Jose is a large city, and Costa Rica doesn’t believe in street signs or addresses. Most locations are either "between street x and y" or more often "across from restaurant z". Never in my life have I been as grateful for a GPS (or distraught from not having one, but those are spoilers). Also, the direction of the streets changes depending on the hour. Fun times.

We stayed in San Jose on both our first and last night in the country. My recommendation? Don't. There is not much in San Jose to see as a tourist aside from a few museums, and depending on your location the surrounding neighborhood may not be close to anything worth while. We stayed at the Hotel Balmoral, which was essentially an interior room with a bed. Like I said, not too much of note. One tip, don't change money at a hotel in the city. hotels in other cities and banks offer much better exchange rates. You can get buy with dollars in the city for a night.

The first night in San Jose we were feeling snacky, so we took a trip to the nearby bakery and ended up with these snacks, a coconut cake (bit dry) and a chocolate cake (which was ok).

The next morning, I quickly noticed how early everyone is out and about in the city. People selling fresh fruit and trinkets line the streets as early as 6am. We were eager to get out to our next stop, so we popped down for a quick breakfast in the hotel. Breakfast in Costa Rica is simple and filling. You can expect fruit, breads, eggs, lighter sausages, and their traditional dish, gallo pinto. Gallo pinto is a mixture of precooked rice, black beans, and spices or chiles. The one I had in San Jose was the best I had all trip, complete with some green onions and fresh chiles.

More from our trip to Fortuna coming next…

Maru Sushi

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Maru Sushi is out of place in West Lafayette. I'm not saying we don't have good food around here, we do, but Maru, it's on another level. I've had sushi in on the east coast and the west coast, but Maru is consistently my favorite.

Let me make a declaration first, Maru does not dabble in the high end, super expensive tuna cheek you can find if you travel with Anthony Bourdain, rather, they make really good nigiri and rolls that you can find variations of throughout the country. They just do it better, and you can stuff yourself for $20 or less

I dined at Maru Sushi last Friday for date night with my wife. The meal begins with water, soda, sake, or hot tea. The tea is barley, and is great even in the summer. No matter what you get on the menu, you are always presented with a few small appetizers such as pickled daikon, bean sprouts in sesame oil, or cucumbers with chili sauce. You also get a small bowl of miso soup. For free! Who does that? I'm surprised Texas Roadhouse still gives us peanuts.

When perusing the menu at Maru, there are loads of choices to please the sushi-fanatic and the sushi-phobe. For sushi, their platters are quite good, but the rolls are where the good stuff is. Crunch munch, white castle, chauncy, and the dragon are some of my favorites. Each are prepared with artistic detail and have a combination of fish and sauces that make you want more.

There are also noodles, noodle soups, and a few tempura dishes on the expansive menu. One item you need to take note of though, is the kopdol bibimbap. You see, Maru also serves some Korean food. And this dish, this is what I go back for time and time again. It's white rice, shitaki mushrooms, spinach, carrots, bean sprouts, bulgogi (a marinated beef), and a runny egg on top, all served in a very hot stone pot. You add some homemade chile sauce on top and mix. The rice gets crispy from the hot stone, the chile and egg fuse to make a binding, rich sauce, and the plethora of vegetables are all wonderfully cooked. Hungry yet? I am. Best part, it's $10. That's it!

Maru is one of my favorite places to eat in town, for lunch or dinner. It gets quite packed around dinner time, so plan accordingly, or you can order takeout or even delivery if you're close by.

111 N Chauncey Ave, West Lafayette, IN
(765) 743-2646 ‎

5/5 Sheepdogs






For other restaurant reviews in the Lafayette, Indiana area, you can visit my dedicated page or Eat'n Local