Lady Lazarus and Cooking with Wine

Happy New Year everyone!

Today’s recipes are a triple wine threat of deliciousness. We threw a New Year’s bash chez nous and found a number of half-full wine bottles in the morning. This is how we wasted not and wanted not. What we’ve got for you today: red wine-stewed apricots for a special punchy manhattan, mussels apocalypse with subtle anise undertones & we-cleaned-the-fridge risotto, to, of course, accompany the mussels.

Let’s start off the feast with a Mad-Men approved aperitif, inspired the lovely folks at The Ace on Roncesvalles.

• 1 Package of dried apricots $5.00
• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 3 star anise stars

Enough red wine to drown your deliciousness.

1. Put everything listed above in a pot. Put ‘er on the stove and boil down.
2. Now that your apricots are plump with wine and spices, throw one in a lowball glass.
3. In a shaker make your typical manhattan (we do 2 shots of Bullet, 1/2 shot of red vermouth, 3 dashes of bitters, and a table spoon of that reduced wine mixture, shaken over ice).
4. Yum! And, if you’re feeling sassy, adorn with a cinnamon stick.

(Recipe thanks to our household mixologist, Darcy Streitenfeld.)

Mussels Apocalypse

• 2 lbs of fresh mussels at $2.50/lb
• 1 head of fennel at $1.50
• 2 onions at mere cents!
• 4 cloves of garlic, for price see above
• a half can of stewed tomatoes $1
• a fist of of curly parsley $1.50
• a half bottle of white zinfandel

1. Heat some olive oil in a tall broad frying pan (make sure you have a lid lying around somewhere), throw in the onions and garlic and saute until silken.
2. Cut Fennel tops off and reserve. Cut off the knotty bottom and toss. Cut width wise, and then lengthwise. Then cut into thin (0.5 cm) strips.
3. Throw fennel, tomatoes & wine in and let simmer, lid on to ensure minimal liquid loss.
4. After 25 minutes of simmering throw in the mussels, throw that lid back on and shake the pot while on the burner to ensure every last mussel gets a blast of heat and decides to yawn nice and wide for easy mange-ing later.
5. Try to time it all so that the mussels are the last dish you prepare, they get a little leathery if forced to sit out.

We-cleaned-the-fridge Risotto
(No prices included because this dish was the result of a fridge and pantry clean.)

• 2 onions
• 3 garlic cloves
• a half of a buttercup squash
• a half of a fennel bulb
• 2.5 cups of arborio rise
• 3 cups of veggie stalk
• 1 cup of white whine
• butter, olive oil (to coat pan)
• 1 tbs of sage
• 1 tsp of saffron

1. Onions, garlic butter, olive oil and action!
2. Add buttercup squash, peeled and diced.
3. Add diced fennel bulb. (And the spices.)
4. Saute for 10 mins.
5. Add arborio rice.
6. Add the wine and stir.
   
7. Once the wine has been absorbed start adding (one ladle at a time) the stalk, stirring until the liquid is absorbed and then adding more liquid. Keep the dish on a medium-low heat. After 20 minutes start tasting the risotto as you go; it’s done when the rice is soft and delish.

For platting:
In a broad bowl put down a bed of risotto, then a handful of mussels with some sauce and fennel. Finally, garnish with the fennel fronds & a sprinkle of parmesan & a crack of pepper.

We added shrimp because we had to stretch the dish to accomodate some unexpected dinner guests.