LEMON!!! Orzotto

A brief story:

Okay, so I was craving something bright, relatively light, but warm and saucy...weird, I know.  When I aquired a zester, I got pretty excited and figured that this was the route to take.  I had also recently discovered the awesome-ness that is orzo pasta.

I tried it with just a little zest one time and juice another...meh.   Not lemoney enough...

Then I decided to forgo subtlety and go for broke. 
(seriously, why do I bother trying to do subtle?  It's not my strong suit...)

Zest and juice = LEMON!!!

It was still missing a little something, so I added a bit of garlic. Done.




LEMON!!! Orzotto:

Half an onion (diced) or 1 decent sized shallot (diced)
1 or 2 lemons (zest THEN juice... it just doesn't work the other way around)

garlic minced (I use at least one big one, but figure out what's best for you)

1/4 cup to 3/4 cup dry orzo pasta

[WTF is Orzo?: it's a pasta, but it looks like bloated rice.  I like to substitute it for rice when I'm not in the mood for rice or there are ingredients that don't twirl well with longer pastas.]

Dry Basil

Kosar Salt

Hot water--I use a kettle, 'cause it's super useful and lives on my stove top

A bit of butter (maybe 1/2 Tbsp, depending on how much you make) and a little olive oil (to help the butter not burn)
-->It'll be fine if you just want to use olive oil

It'd been a while since I'd made it, and I forgot the onion/shallot.
My bad.
(figured it'd be better to post some pictures than wait till I make it again)

--I pretty much use medium heat the whole time

1. Start heating water
   -It's super friggin annoying to get to the point where it's needed, and then you have to wait
   -Get in the habit now
   -The same goes for pre-heating an oven
2. Melt butter in a medium skillet with a little olive oil
3. Saute onion/shallot till clear
   -Add some salt now
   -(You'll be adding salt as you go)

   
   

   

   Toasting the orzo...exciting.

   -pretend that you're seeing a lovely picture of minces onion/shallot being sautéed here. Thanks :) 

4. Add garlic
   -don't let it burn, but cook it for about a minute or so
5. Add DRY orzo
   -WTF? Why dry?
   -Well, like when making an actual rizzotto, it toast the orzo and adds another depth of flavor
   -I also use this method when making cous cous--you're welcome
6. Add lemon zest
7. 
   

   

   You should be able to see the orzo is nice and toasted

   When sufficiently toasted, add lemon juice
   -Again, WTF?
   -Well, since lemon is the main flavor I'm going for, I wanted to make sure that it was well absorbed into the orzo
   
   
8. When the juice is absorbed, slowly start adding hot water
   -Stir! Don't let that awesome burn or get too sticky
   

   -->You can also tell when to add more water by stirring and seeing how long the "line" stays
   -if it stays for a bit, add more water

   
   

   

   See the line?  Awesome. Now, add more water.

   
   
9. Test as you go
   -For taste
   -For done-ness
10. As you're approaching done, add basil
    -Too soon, and it might burn
    

     
    
    

    
    

The starch in the orzo makes it kind of creamy/goopy, so it'll stay together well on a fork.

 

 

Delicious...and, it's even more delicious when you don't forget the onion/shallot.
(I was wondering why it didn't fill the bowl as well as it normally does.
That's when I finally remembered about the onion/shallot.  Oops.)

 

Pea and Pesto Soup: Everything's Green

I could say that I was inspired by St. Patty's...but that'd be a dirty lie.
 
At this point, it's just a happy coincidence
 
I intended on having this done the weekend before last, but I'm accepting that it's taking time to adjust to my new job...and that means some things get put on the back burner...but I'm here, and I'm letting you know about this glorious soup.
 
It brings me great joy.
 

 
So, let's go.
 
 
A small story:
 
  I'm an odd creature, as many of those close to me can attest.  How this often relates to food is in the form of... interesting cravings.
 
  For some bizarre reason I was craving something that was green, savory, and bright.
 
  Yeah... even I was like, "Dude, WTF?!"
 
  Well, it was apparently put out into the universe, and it came back to me.  Huzzah!
 
 
  Thank you, Nigella Lawson.  This is exactly what I was wanting.  Oh, and it's super easy.
 
 
 
Pea and Pesto Soup:
 
You'll need a blender
  -one of those with a lovely removable center
  -there are some dangers with blending hot/very warm things*
     
3 cups Frozen Peas

(don't worry about fresh)

•  you could add a little more, if you're wanting a thicker soup
• ...or just add a little less water
• that's your deal 

4 Tbsp Pesto
(store bought is fine--I use Texafrance Garlic Pesto...LOVE garlic)
 
2 Green Onions
(trimmed of root)
 
A few squeezes of Lime juice
(I took her advice and used that weird plastic container of juice that lives with the lemons and limes)
 
1 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
(She suggested 1 tsp, but I like a little more)
 

All the goodies...you may have noticed that everything involved in this is green....
 ...save the water and salt, but you get the idea.



 
To make:
 

• Add salt, onions, and lime juice to water
   
• Bring mixture to boil 
• Add peas
• Bring back to a boil
• Boil for about 7 minutes
•  While this is boiling
• add pesto to blender
• this is super small, but I hate to waste anything
• when you're done spooning the pesto in, go ahead and rinse in in the pot of peas
• get all of the flavor!

  

  Pesto--waiting for glory!

   
• Remove onions
• yeah, if you forget and buzz it up with the soup, it'll be slimy
• ...eww.
• ...just...eww.

  

  Blender--waiting...
  ...so it doesn't explode and scald my ass.

• Pour whole potful into blender
• Let sit for a few minutes
• Place lid on blender
• cover opening in lid with folded over towel
• hold down firmly 
•  some of the soup may get on the towel
• accept and move on
   
• Blend*
• well, duh, but it made me nervous blending a hot soup the first time
• ...that whole may-explode-thing
• if you're nervous, go ahead and start at a lower setting and work up to puree
• Pour into bowl
• you could put into a thermos, but that's your deal.
• Enjoy your very green soup

Dang, soup.  You're super friggin green.
(Oh, and that's a bottle of rum in the corner...Whoops!)

 
 

Capsaicin: I like it when my mouth cries a little

Okay, so when I was learning about receptors in one of my psychology classes, we learned about capsaicin. 

The most pertinent piece I remember from it was that you can actually overload them and make the capsaicin receptor die.  Yup.  Sounds hard to do?  Nope.  (At least, not regarding your mouth).


My brief, tame story:


If you eat fast enough, there's always spicy contact on the tongue.


[How I learned about my friend's story]:  During the first cochon de lait (Cajun pig roast) the picky eater and I attended, we were on the front porch.  I was not to keen on wading through the many people crowded inside.  I did, however, want a rum and coke, (half-and-half, thank you).
A dear friend was already heading to the cooler for beer and offered to mix my drink.  Awesome! 
A few minutes later he presents the drink, I take one sip and nearly choke.  When it tasted right for him, it was about 75% rum, 25% coke...if that.
Then I learned that most of his tongue doesn't work.


My friend's, more pronounced, story:

So, as a child, some remember the taste of soap after uttering a bad word.  My friend instead, stuck out his tongue and held hot sauce on it.  This was a common occurrence, and, eventually, he started asking for more because he liked the taste.  His mom stopped using it after that.

Remember that whole over-loading receptor-thing from earlier?  Yeah, that killed most of the capsaicin receptors on his tongue.






SO, any time I cook something spicy, it's inevitably too spicy for some.  When I try things that are supposed to be spicy, they just taste good.  Or, when other folks make comments about the spice, I'm surprised because....well, it didn't seem spicy.

Basically, you can train to handle spicy things...if you're really wanting to, but be warned--just because your mouth can handle it, doesn't mean the rest of your system can...just sayin'.





Some precautions:

When handling ingredients containing a bit of capsaicin, do be careful.

--Option 1: gloves  (they annoy me)

--Option 2: con someone else to do that particular prep work (...I plead the 5th)

--Option 3: use your tools like a monkey, and don't actually make physical contact with the ingredient  
(I do pretty well with this...but it may be problematic for others)

--Option 4: do what you do, and deal with it afterwards  (good luck with that)

• rinse like mad
• wash
• wash, again
• I like using a soap/hand wash that has milk in it
• milk helps combat the capsaicin
• they form micelles around the capsaicin
• basically, they surround it and get it the hell away from your pain receptor
• wash, again
• still try and avoid your eyes
• ...and sensitive bits.

When eating things with capsaicin, you might try some of these:

--Cool down 1: milk

• the standard for good reason
• see micelle discussion from Option 4
• I've found that, the higher the fat content of the milk/dairy product, the more effective it is
• makes sense
• you need fat in order to make a micelle

--Cool down 2: cheese

• add some of this to spicy pasta or whatever else it'd be appropriate in (to you, at least)
• same concept as above
• also, it's hard to go wrong with cheese

--Cool down 3: acceptance

• accept that small part of yourself that's a bit of a masochist
• ...at least, culinarily speaking...
• no judgments!