Entertaining Life Daily

I have regressed back to Spring. You see, I made risotto for dinner. Not saying risotto is a Spring dish by any means, but ingredients can definitely define the season. I'm all about eating within the season, but this dinner was a Spring accident. Delicious, but an accident. All because of what I had on hand (or maybe I was thinking Spring because of the gorgeous flowers we had on the table, compliments of the wedding we were at this past weekend.)

I knew I had some shrimp on hand that we ended up not boilingin beer for our BrewMile, so I thought I would add that to the mix. Grabbed a lemon for some brightness and the bottle of pinot grigio that we just bought. This would all work out just fine.

But this seemed awfully Spring like to me, especially after I added peas to the mix (note, they were frozen, but alas.) Then, I saw we didn't have much rice left (maybe from the mushroom risotto I had previously made?) which meant that this risotto idea may be delayed. I pushed the bag aside and saw quick cooking barley.

Autumn redemption.

I remembered reading somewhere that pearl barley was a great rice substitute. But, I had quick cooking pearl barley. Only a slight difference from the regular pearl barley, right? I shrugged my shoulders and thought, "why not?" and put on my I'mdeterminedtomakerisotto face. Let's do this barley.

I sauteed up an onion with garlic until fragrant and translucent. I added the barley and crossed my fingers. I was looking for it to toast up, soak up all that oil from sauteeing. Well, it soaked up the oil, but I got a little impatient waiting for it to toast. So, I turned to the bottle. Not in an alcoholic sense, though I did pour myself a glass. I added about 1/2 a cup to the pan so the barley could take it all in.

All while this was happening, I had some chicken broth simmering away. I began adding that to the pan, one cup at a time, until the barley took it all in. Then, I added more broth and stirred the pot some more. A few rounds of this until I had a creamy barley mix. I added the shrimp and maybe 1/2 a cup of peas (if you remember, I don't like peas, but I find that I keep trying anyway). Once the shrimp was pink, I threw in a handful of Parmesan and finished it off with a squeeze of lemon and lemon zest.

Though I made way too much, the risotto was delish, light and refreshing. Perfect for this random 80 degree October day we are having here in Indy. I enjoyed the twist of citrus at the end, it worked well with the shrimp and peas that were part of the dish. And I was really happy with how creamy the barley became - barley truly is a great risotto substitute!

I love risotto. It is so easy to transform by adding things here and there. Are you a risotto lover? What are your favorite ingredients to add into the rice (or barley) dish?

Some of you know that I like to have Meatless Monday at home. I think it helps get us to try new food (which normally isn't a struggle - I'll try anything) and think outside the box. I could never be a vegetarian, but that doesn't mean that I dislike my veggie meals (or veggie friends of course.) But sometimes, hubs immediately thinks that we'll end up having pasta on Meatless Monday, so it is more fun when I purposely do not incorporate the fantastic carbs.

But, what some of you don't know is that in the fall, I subject my hubs to a pumpkin meal at least once a week. I do this until I see that look of "more pumpkin!?" in his eyes, which normally happens right after Thanksgiving. I just adore pumpkin, I can't help it. And this past Monday, I decided to combine our seafood and pumpkin dish into one, and since it is meat-free, why not make it Meatless Monday?

Once again, perusing some blogs, I found a dish I just couldn't pass up over at Closet Cooking - Pumpkin & Shrimp Bisque.

After shelling the crab, started off by creating a stock utilizing the shrimp shells, wine, onions, carrots, celery, sage, bay leaves (I had Turkish, it works) and some broth. I had chicken bouillon on hand, which I'm sure gave it a smoother finish. And yes, I realize chicken is meat, but just ignore that for right now.

After letting that simmer for a little over 30 minutes (to be honest, I cleaned out our coat closet and did some reorganizing during that point. I like to multitask, I can't help it,) I drained the solids and was left with a great tasting broth.

I then added pumpkin, cayenne and cream. I have to say, I really tried to stick to the recipe on this one (despite measuring, I don't really enjoy measuring...) and I have to say, it was a valiant effort. Main reason why I didn't, no saffron was in my kitchen. But that would have made it that much more heavenly. However, I raised the spice bar just a little bit and was happy to have the back heat of cayenne on my palate.

This simmered for about 15 minutes (yes, I wrapped up putting the coats away before chopping up the shrimp that I had cleaned earlier) while I prepped the shrimp. Sauteed the shrimp and continued to drool as the remainder of the dish came together.

Then, it was time for the pumpkin bowls! I put some shrimp in them, then ladled the soup on top before adding a combination of sage, lemon zest, garlic and toasted pine nuts.

It really was a great dish - had a nice lemony flavor from both the sage and zest which lightened what many people think of a "heavy" pumpkin cream soup. The crunch of the pine nuts contrasted well with the smooth soup, and I loved the taste of the shrimp combined with the pumpkin. Though the richness of the toasted nuts could have added too much to the already rich soup, this didn't happen at all - I chalk that up to the lemon.

I love pumpkin soup, so this was a great variation of what I normally make. The shrimp was fantastic in it, and the leftovers were as good the next day.

Any other pumpkin lovers out there? How do you feel about combining with seafood?

Entertaining Life Daily

Entertaining all aspects of life, one day at a time.

Barley & Shrimp Risotto

Pumpkin & Shrimp Bisque