Gardening 401: Advanced Independent Study in Farming

Happy Solstice a little late!  I hope that this summer is off to a great start for you, and that you're starting to get the best vegetables that summer can offer.  It's still a little early for tomatoes (at least in Wisconsin), but the zucchini have started to explode, and despite a rough spring the cherries are coming in.  I've also seen some farmers with broccoli, which seems a little early to me but I'm not complaining!

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to head out to the Rhine Center Vegetable Club two weeks ago, to spend a day working on their farm.  Some people, I recognize, may not consider this an "opportunity."  They might consider it in fact hard work, and me a sucker for doing it.  I disagree.

The farm.

As you might have noticed, I consider myself somewhat of an avid gardener.  I would say my garden plot is bigger than the average city dwellers, and it's supplemented with containers throughout my yard and house.  That being said, I was shocked at the amount of time that it takes to work a true farm when you're not using big machines, pesticides, and migrant labor.  I spent about the first five hours of my seven hour day thinning and weeding the beets.  Jess and Sam (the real farmers) were planting a new field that they hadn't used in the past, and they weren't sure how fertile it was, so they triple seeded the beets.  Unnecessary, because the beets came in just fine.  However, if the plants were just left as is, it would have meant that the beet roots would be too crowded, and the beets would not grow in as big round bulbs.  Instead, they'd just be roots.  So, we had to go down the lines, find patches of overcrowded beets, carefully select the plant that appeared to have the smallest root (which of course you couldn't really see), pull it up, snip off the root, and save the greens to go out in boxes to the CSA members.

Beets

Rows and rows and rows and rows (actually four rows) of beets

It was hot.  I actually picked far more beet greens than this, but they got snatched away faster than I could take a picture to keep them from wilting.

The rest of my time was spent harvesting and trimming kohlrabi, and picking kale.  The kale was actually my favorite, because the wilty and otherwise less than pretty leaves went over to the pigs for a snack.  I enjoy pigs, both in person and in my belly, and these guys were especially friendly.  They did, occasionally, appear to want to eat my feet, and I had to remind them that this was backwards - I eat them not the other way around.

Kohlrabi and Kale

Nom nom nom...

This is a pig who appreciates his veggies!

I'm sure that some of you are finding this disturbing.  These are happy, living creatures, snorting around eating their kale, and I'm thinking about eating them.  Cruel.  On the other hand, though, they do have a happy life.  And that happy life is paid for by my future consumption of them.  These pigs have, in my opinion, a much happier and healthier life than than their Wild Boar counterparts.  They have land to roam free, all the kale (and plenty of other goodies) that they can eat, fresh water, and medical care if needed.  And, they're not at risk of being hunted by tigers (wild boar are the main and preferred food source for tigers in the regions where they co-exist, and tigers have been known to chase boars for longer distances than other prey), wolves (a single wolf pack can consume an average of 50-80 wild boars annually, and in Italy wild boars have become so defensive against wolves that they have been known to attack domesticated dogs), and hyenas.  Baby boars are food for pythons, large birds of prey, large cats, dingos (dingos ate my boar baby!), large bears, and crocodiles. (Source: Wikipedia, of course!)

So if I don't eat them, someone will.

Like this guy.  He will eat the pig if I don't get to it first!

Seriously, though.  I'm not going to become a vegetarian.  I respect the views of people who are vegetarians, just as I respect the views of anyone who is making a conscious effort to think about what they eat - whether it be for their own health, environmental reasons, or moral reasons.  Thinking about what you eat is good.  I personally believe that meat is an important part of the human diet.  We are, omnivores by nature.  No, it is true that we do not need to be, but our digestive system is set up to process meat and vegetables.  Looking at people who eat the "Paleolithic Diet" or "Caveman Diet," they are mimicking the eating habits of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, who were just that: HUNTER-gatherers.  (Please do not read this as my advocating for the Paleo diet.  While it's interesting, and again a good way to be paying attention to what you eat, I think it's a little bit silly to take in calories like early humans when we are not expending calories like them.  Every time you get in your car, don't hunt your own food, don't forage for your own veggies, etc. you are taking a step further away from what early humans did, so your caloric needs are going to be different.  Plus, the Paleo diet forbids alcohol, which is just inconceivable in my mind.)  What is important to me is knowing that the animal that sustains me was likewise sustained.  I have heard some of my more passionate vegan friends say that eating meat is slavery for the animals.  While I can see where they are coming from, I see it more as a symbiotic relationship.  I am as dependent on that animal for survival as they are to me.  I feed them, care for them, and water them, and in return they sustain me.  The quality of sustenance I receive from them is equal to the care that they receive.  Happy food just tastes better.

Most local farmers - at least the local farmers I know in Wisconsin - appreciate having people out to their farm.  This is their job, but it is also their passion and their art.  They are proud of it.  Farming is a dying skill, which is terrifying because without farmers there is no food.  But, really, how many of your friends wanted to be a farmer when they grew up?

These people might have wanted to be farmers when they grew up.  They're kick ass farmers now, regardless.

So, I highly recommend spending a day on a farm.  It's hard work, but I promise you will leave feeling satisfied.  If you get a CSA, often times the farmer will allow you to pay some of your share cost in labor.  Some even offer "Worker's Shares," in which your CSA share is paid for or supplemented by your commitment to put in a certain amount of time at the farm each week or month.  I took away from my visit a sense of accomplishment, a renewed energy for my passion in local food, a sunburned knee (just one...), and the knowledge that I was going to get a hell of a good sleep that night!  I also had the opportunity for a truly amazing lunch with my hosts, and got to learn more about the people who are kind enough to feed me every week. It's nice to realize your food comes from somewhere other than the shelves of a grocery store, or a truck before that, or a distribution center before that.  And it's also nice to think about the amount of work that goes into creating your food.  I know for me, it renewed my commitment to waste as little food as possible.  Those beet tops, the carrot greens, the green shoots the garlic sent up, those chicken livers and those pigs feet, they all took time and love and energy to create.  We should not be considering them garbage and tossing them away.

And, who knows, maybe you'll change your mind and want to be a farmer when you grow up!

Extra bonus recipe:

Early Summer Beet Green Risotto

• 6 cups chicken stock
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large green onion, thinly sliced including tender green parts
• 1 garlic scape, thinly sliced
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 1/4 cup white wine
• salt and pepper
• 3 cups thinly sliced beet greens

Bring the chicken stock to a gentle simmer.

In a large frying pan with high sides, heat the olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the onions and garlic, and saute just a few minutes until fragrant.  Add the rice and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for about five minutes.  The rice should be translucent with just a small white dot in the center.  Add the white wine, and cook, stirring constantly, until the wine has evaporated.  Reduce the heat to low.  Add the chicken stock about 1 cup at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition, and adding another cup when the rice is almost dry on top.  Season with salt and pepper.  Around the 4th cup you want to start tasting to see where your rice is in terms of doneness.  The rice should be just barely firm, and creamy (you may not use all 6 cups of stock).  Add the beet greens with the last addition of stock.

Now enjoy some pictures of happy chickens, pigs, and beets.  For the rest of my pictures (no, this is not all of them!), visit my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HomeGrownHomemade.  Consider giving us a like while you're there!:

 

 

 

 

 

A Few Recipes to Ease into Fall

Happy Autumnal Equinox!

For any of you who are unaware, the equinox occurred today (9/23) at 9:04 am Universal Time/Greenwich Mean Time, which was 4:04 am Central Time.  I did not wake up to celebrate it.

I am a great big celebrator of equinoxes and solstices - partly to be contrary (ie: demanding that it's still summer after Labor Day in Wisconsin when it's probably 60 degrees outside), and because I was born on the vernal (spring) equinox.  I like to celebrate my birthday on whatever day the equinox is... but for the record that doesn't work well when you're turning 21 and the equinox is two days before your actual birthday.  The bouncers don't care if a calendar based on the sun is more accurate than the one we use - they only care what it says on your drivers license.  And they're not messing around, either.  Just a word of warning from experience.

Anyway, it is TECHNICALLY fall, but I will admit that, weather wise, it has been fall in WI for at least a couple weeks now, if not more.  I got a little respite when I went to Vegas, but it seems like it's been cold for a while now.

I'm actually not complaining.  I do love the fall.  I know it means that winter is coming, and I am not such a huge fan of WI winters, but I love the fall.   I like that the air is crisp and smells good.  I like the way my dog chases the leaves blowing in the wind during our walks.  I like Halloween and getting costumed up and eating candy.  I like carving pumpkins and eating pumpkin seeds.  I like sweater dresses.  Who am I kidding, I LOVE sweater dresses and thick patterned tights and boots.  I like fall. 

And, I like the food.  Summer is good for food, but it's not good for cooking.  In the fall, I get to make sauces and braises and mashed potatoes!  Fall is the time to eat squash, and pies, and to bake things.  In the fall I get to bust out the crock pot, and turn on the oven, and fill the house with smells of food cooking.  This fall, I get to can food for the first time.  I feel like a squirrel stocking my house full of nuts.  (Except not actually, because I don't really like nuts.)

When I was in school, I remember the students staring longingly out the window at the end of the year, as spring changed to summer, wanting to get outside into the summer day and play.  Okay, I wanted that too, but mostly because I never liked school.  But the time the weather called to me - and still calls to me as I sit at my desk at work - is in the fall.  I want to go hiking.  I want to go camping and build a giant fire and look forward to snuggling into a thick sleeping bag.  I want to just drive around in the country and look at the fall foliage.  I want to go apple picking, and horse back riding (horse back riding at an apple orchard?!  OMG, that would be the best fall day ever!)  I don't have time to do any of those things, and gas is too expensive to drive around mindlessly anyway, but still.

I've been cooking for fall already, since it feels like fall outside.  And I've gotten a little behind on my recipe posting, so here are a few to catch you up.  It's too early to turn on the heat.  Save energy; put on a chunky sweater and heat up the house making some of these:

Gnocchi
I guess I didn't get a picture of the finished product here, but really you can eat Gnocchi with whatever you want.  A tomato sauce, or a butter sauce, or a pesto sauce.  It's all good.  I have tried to make gnocchi before, and it's never quite right.  This recipe worked out really well.  The gnocchi were light and fluffy, like they are supposed to be, and held together well while cooking.  Also, this recipe is crazy inexpensive to make!

I modified this recipe from an article called "How to Make Gnocchi like an Italian Grandmother."  Does it get any better than that?  I don't know if my Italian Grandmother makes gnocchi... I don't remember ever eating it...

Gnocchi is not an easy thing to make.  The recipe is deceptively simple, but things can go wrong.  This recipe worked for me, but that might have been a coincidence.  Be prepared for your first try to not be perfect - they should be light and fluffy, not chewy and tough.  Also, they should hold their shape while being cooked.  This is definitely a recipe that takes practice.

(*Every recipe I have ever seen for gnocchi has you cook the potatoes whole and then peel them while they are hot.  This seems like the dumbest idea I have ever heard in my entire life, and I have no idea why anyone would do this.  I did not do this, and it worked out fine.  Again, maybe I was lucky?  But until someone tells me why it is done this way, and why I can't peel the potatoes and cut them small in order to have them cook faster, I am going to continue to do it my way.*)

• 2 lbs starchy (russet) potatoes (L)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten (L)
• 1 cup flour (L)
• salt

Peel potatoes and slice into about 1/2 inch slices (Or don't.  See *note* below).  Fill a large pot with cold water.  Salt the water well, and add the potatoes.  Bring water to a boil and cook until tender throughout.

Drain the potatoes, reserving the cooking water.  Turn the potatoes out onto a large cutting board and mash.  The goal here is to keep the potatoes as light and fluffy as possible, while removing all the chunks.  Another (better) option would be to use a food mill, but I don't have one!

Let the potatoes cool spread across the cutting board for about 10 to 15 minutes.  You want to make sure that the potatoes are not hot enough to cook the egg.  When you are ready, shape the potatoes into a soft mound, drizzle the eggs and sprinkle 3/4 a cup of the flour over the top of the potatoes.  Fold the flour and egg into the potatoes, mixing as thoroughly as possible while still retaining the fluffy nature of the potatoes.  I used a stiff spatula, but I bet a pastry scraper would have worked better (another thing I don't have!)  Scrape under the potatoes and fold them over until the mixture is a light crumble.  From hear, kneed the dough gently, adding more flour if necessary until it is no longer tacky.  The goal is a dough which is moist, not sticky, and is still light and not dense.

Cut the dough into 8 pieces, and on a well floured surface, roll each piece into a rope about the thickness of your thumb (or my thumb... do you have fat thumbs?  If you have fat thumbs, do you have to eat fat gnocchi?)  Cut into 3/4 inch long pieces.

I will admit, I have not tried to do the fancy gnocchi shaping at this point.  At this point, for traditional gnocchi, you should roll your fork across each individual piece, pressing it against your thumb, and creating a slight "C" shape with ridges on the outside edge.  This will catch more sauce than a smooth gnocchi.  That is true, but it is SO much work and I just cannot convince myself that it is worth it.

Reheat the potato water (or heat new salted water if you lost the potato water, or you caught your cat drinking out if it like I did), and bring to a gentle boil.  Cook gnocchi in batches, about 20 at a time, maintaining a gentle boil - a hard boil will toss them around too much and cause them to fall apart.  Once they are cooked, they will float to the top - fish them out with a slotted spoon about 10 to 15 seconds after they surface.  Drain (I like to set them into a colander on top of a pot of water that is over very low heat, just to keep them warm while the others are cooking), and serve with whatever sauce you like.

(*Note: Every recipe I have ever seen for gnocchi has you cook the potatoes whole and then peel them while they are hot.  This seems like the dumbest idea I have ever heard in my entire life, and I have no idea why anyone would do this.  I did not do this, and it worked out fine.  Again, maybe I was lucky?  But until someone tells me why it is done this way, and why I can't peel the potatoes and cut them small in order to have them cook faster, I am going to continue to do it my way.*)



Risotto Carbonara
(Like pasta Carbonara, only risotto-y-er.)

• 4-5 cups chicken stock (L)
• 4 slices thick cut bacon (L), chopped into about 1/2 inch pieces (I used pepper bacon!)
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced (L)
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced (L)
• 1 cup risotto rice (Arborio or another short grain, high starch rice)
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 large eggs (L)
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (L)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper.

Bring stock to a simmer in a large pot.  

In a large, rounded bottom frying pan over medium high heat, cook bacon until crispy.  Transfer bacon to a paper towel to drain.  Pour off all except for 1 tablespoon bacon fat (I totally save my bacon fat in a jar in my fridge.  It basically lasts forever, and it's great for cooking pancakes or eggs or potatoes.  One time I was out of olive oil, and I used bacon fat to cook my popcorn.  It was quite possibly the best thing I have ever eaten in the history of ever.)  Turn heat down to medium and add onions to pan.  Saute until onions soften, about 6 minutes.  Add garlic and cook about 3 minutes more.  Add rice to pan and cook, stirring constantly, about 8 minutes or until rice is almost completely opaque with a small white dot in the center.  Add wine and cook until all the liquid has cooked off.

Reduce heat to low.  Add simmering stock to pan one or two ladle-fulls at a time, just covering the rice with liquid, and cooking until almost all of the liquid is absorbed, adding more liquid before the rice is completely dry and stirring often.  This should continue for about 30 minutes, until the rice is tender and most of the stock is gone.  Reserve 1/2 cup stock.

In a separate bowl, combine eggs and cheese, and whisk well.  Slowly pour in 1/2 cup reserved stock, tempering the egg.  Slowly pour egg/cheese/broth mixture into rice and stir vigorously. Taste and add in salt and pepper as necessary.  Add back in bacon, and stir to combine.


Pork Chops with Onions and Pears

• 2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour (L)
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 tablespoon butter, divided (L)
• 4 thick pork chops, about 1 ¼-inch-thick(L)
• 1 cup onions, thinly sliced, from about 1 large onion (L)
• 1 1/2 cup Bartlett pears, peeled, cored, trimmed, and diced, from about 4 small pears (L)
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced (L)
• 1 cup chicken broth (L)
• splash white wine
• splash heavy cream (L)
• Additional salt and pepper to taste

Combine salt, pepper, flour, garlic, and onion powder in a large bowl or glass baking dish.  Dredge pork chops in flour, coating well but shaking off any excess.  In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt 1 tbsp butter.  Add pork chops in batches, browning on both sides, and removing to a platter.

Melt second tbsp butter in pan, reduce heat to medium low, and add onions.  Cooking slowly, caramelize onions by cooking until they are golden brown and soft, stirring regularly.  The process should take about 30 minutes.  About 15 minutes in, while onions are still caramelizing, add 3/4 of the pears and season with salt and pepper.

When onions are nicely caramelized, raise the temperature to medium and add garlic.  Cook an additional 3-4 minutes, until garlic is fragrant, stirring often and being careful not to let the onions burn.  Add chicken broth, white wine, and remaining pairs, and scrape any browned bits from the sides and bottom of the pan.  Bring to a low simmer, and add pork chops along with any juices on the platter.

Simmer over low heat, uncovered, until sauce is thickened and pork chops are cooked through, turning pork chops half way through - about 5-8 minutes on a side.  Remove pork chops and cover loosely with aluminum foil.  Turn heat up to high, and cook until sauce thickens, stirring often.  Remove from heat, add a splash of cream, taste and add salt and pepper if necissary.

Serve pork chops over rice or potatoes, topped with sauce.

I have crabs... and I couldn't be happier!

So, I've said from the beginning that there are going to be exceptions to my local rule.  This has got to be one of them! 

Soft shell crabs are about my FAVORITE food in the world.  I'm pretty sure that they are the most delicious seafood of them all... although it might just be that they're only available for about two weeks a year, so they're always a special treat.  Nah, I'm going to go with most delicious seafood of them all.  And they're so easy to make!  Which is good, because, seeing as they're only available two weeks a year, I don't get a lot of opportunity to practice...

I can never quite remember which two weeks, though, and I have missed them in the past.  Yesterday, on my way home from work, something told me to swing by the Public Market.  Having just gotten home from my dance trip, there was very little food in the fridge.  My original plan was to swing by Outpost and find something to make for dinner, but a little voice in my head said: "You have to teach tonight.  You don't have time for real food.  Cheat.  Get some fish!"  I tend to listen to the little food voice in my head... except, maybe, for the one that is constantly screaming "FEED ME SUSHI!!!" because that one doesn't understand that I have a budget...  But this was the good voice... The sane voice that tells me to eat beef when my iron is low, and craves vegetables all winter, and demanded I buy 7 kinds of tomato plants at the farmers market...  It may be the same voice that tells me that a bottle of red wine and a bar of dark baking chocolate are good for my heart, but we all have to have some flaws, right?

Anyway, I went to the Public Market, and wandered down to visit my lovely fishmonger boyfriend, and as I was pondering what to get he looked at me with a little wink and said "we have soft shell crabs..."

"Yes!  Thank you!  Yes!! NOW!"

Anyway, I've also gotten to the point where I need to pick some of my rhubarb, so I decided to use up some of that as well.  I love rhubarb pie probably more than the next person, but I also really enjoy rhubarb in savory dishes.  I've used it as a sauce for pork before, and so this recipe was somewhat inspired by that taste:

Rhubarb Risotto with Grilled Soft Shell Crab

Serves 2 with leftovers

• 3-4 cups chicken stock (L)
• 3-4 slices thick sliced bacon, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces (L)
• 1 shallot, minced (L)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (L)
• 2 cups rhubarb, thinly sliced (*L)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 cups arriboro rice
• 1/2 cup dry white or rose wine
• honey or maple syrup to taste (L)
• 2 tbsp butter (L)
• 1/4 cup chives, minced (*L)

• 6 soft shell crabs
• Olive oil
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Minced Chives (*L)

This recipe could easily be made vegetarian.  Replace chicken stock with vegetable stock, and use 2 tbsp olive oil in place of the bacon.

Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a medium sauce pan.

In a large saute pan, fry bacon until crispy.  Remove bacon, leaving drippings in pan.  Add onions and garlic, and saute until softened.  Add rhubarb and continue to cook until the rhubarb begins to soften and has released some of its liquid.  Season mixture with salt and pepper to taste.  Add rice and cook, stirring constantly, until rice is mostly opaque with a little white dot in the center.

Add wine, and cook, stirring constantly, until most of the liquid has evaporated (I used a rose, and it made the rice just a little bit pink!).  Do not let the rice become completely dry.  Add about 1/3 of the stock to the pan and stir.  Allow to cook, uncovered, until most of the stock has been absorbed, stirring regularly.  Add 1/3 more of the stock.  Again, cook uncovered, stirring regularly, until most of the stock is absorbed.  Add final 1/3 of stock and stir vigorously.   Allow to cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until most of the stock is absorbed.  Taste and season as desired.  If the risotto is too tart, add a little bit of the honey or maple syrup (not too much.  This is not supposed to be a sweat dish!).  Remove from heat.  Add the butter and retained bacon bits, stir, and allow to sit covered for about 5 minutes or until butter is melted.  Stir again to incorporate.

Meanwhile, brush crabs with olive oil, and season generously with salt, pepper, and chives.  Grill over a medium high grill, for about 3-5 minutes on each side, until firm to the touch but not burnt.  Do not overcook, they should still be juicy, even in the ends of their legs.

I served this with a mixed green salad from Growing Power (L), with Feta Cheese (L) and Rhubarb Vinaigrette Dressing:

• 1 1/2 cup thinly sliced rhubarb (*L)
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup (L)
• 1/3 cup sweet, fruity wine vinegar (I used raspberry blush because I had it, but really anything would work.  I considered using a pear white wine vinegar too).
• 1/4 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 3/4 cup olive oil

In a medium saucepan, combine rhubarb, syrup, and vinegar.  Cook, uncovered, until rhubarb is very soft.  Transfer to a blender, add remaining ingredients, and blend until well combined and rhubarb is liquefied.   Allow to cool.

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Risotto Style Jambalaya... Or Maybe Jambalaya Style Rosotto?

Disclaimer: If you hold either Risotto or Jambalaya sacred, if you get mad if someone puts in things that "don't belong" or makes it the "wrong way," you probably shouldn't read this.  I am sure it is not quite right to be called either Jambalaya or Risotto, but it was damn good so I don't care!

The Winter Farmers' market was closed this week for Easter, which sucks.  On the other hand, the tulips about to bloom in my front yard tell me that spring has finally almost arrived in Wisconsin!  This means one thing to me: Spring Cleaning!  But not in terms of my house... that seems like WAY too much work.  It's time for spring cleaning of the freezer.  I am a big fan of freezing as much produce as I can in the fall... mostly because I am terrified of canning.  I have this fear that I am going to give everyone I know botulism.  It's not a rational fear, because I am very careful in the kitchen, but I've never done a lot of canning because of it.  It is a fear that I plan on getting over very quickly this year.

Anyway, I still have a lot of frozen peppers in my fridge, as well as a lot of frozen spicy shrimp stock.  The veggies are local.  The shrimp stock... who knows.  The shrimp certainly weren't local, but I made it myself so that should count for something.  Jambalaya seemed like a great recipe to get rid of a good chunk of that.  Plus, my mom gave me a bag of frozen tomatoes from her garden last year!

I put celery root in because I have it.  While I don't usually like celery in Jambalaya, I thought the celery root was excellent.  It is one of my new favorite vegetables! 

This is one of those recipes where you should really just use whatever you have on hand.

Non Local Ingredients: Shrimp Stock (but I made it, so local there!  I know the super spicy factor is coming from habaneros from my garden), rice, wine, spices.

Risotto Style Jambalaya

•  6-7 cups spicy shrimp stock (mine was SPICY).  If yours isn't spicy to the point of being practically inedible, you might want to add some more heat to this.  You could also use chicken or vegetable stock here if you wanted)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 medium celery root, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces.  
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 3 cups short grain rice (like Arborio)
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups tomatoes (fresh or frozen), coarsely chopped - or used canned with juice
• 3-4 sweet banana peppers (fresh or frozen), seeded and sliced
• 1 lb chicken, cut into bite sized pieces (I used boneless, skinless breasts, but thighs would do too.  I have also made this with leftovers from a whole roasted chicken).
• 1 lb shrimp
• 1 lb andouille sausage, cut into bite sized pieces (I used Usinger's fully cooked andouille sausage.  If you use an uncooked sausage, you will need to adjust the recipe accordingly.)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• Hot sauce if desired

In a large sauce pot, bring stock to a gentle simmer.

In a large frying pan, over medium heat, heat up olive oil.  Add onions, carrots, and celery root and saute until they start to soften, seasoning with salt and pepper.  Add garlic and cook one minute more.  Add rice and stir constantly until rice is mostly translucent except for a small white dot in the center - about 3 minutes.  Add white wine and cook, stirring constantly, until wine is evaporated - about 5 minutes.  (This step is a lot easier to tell in a regular risotto.  In this instance, the wine doesn't cover the rice so it's hard to tell when it is all evaporated.  The best way to tell, in my opinion, is that the sound of the rice cooking will change.  Do not let the rice cook dry.  It is better to add stock too soon than too late.)  Add 1/4 of stock to rice and stir vigorously.  Allow to cook until liquid is mostly absorbed, stirring regularly.  Again, do not allow rice to get completely dry.  Add 1/4 more of the stock, along with tomatoes.  Again, allow to cook until rice is mostly dry, stirring regularly.  Add 1/4 more of the stock (so you should now have 1/4 of the stock remaining.)  Meanwhile, cook chicken, seasoning with salt and cayenne pepper.  Once the third addition of stock is almost fully absorbed, test the rice.  It should be just al dente.  If it is still too firm, add more stock and allow to continue cooking, checking and adding stock as necessary until it is al dente.  Once the rice is al dente, remove from heat and stir vigorously for a good minute (this helps the rice get creamy.)  Add two more ladles full of stock, along with the uncooked shrimp, cooked chicken, and andouille sausage.  Allow to rest, covered, stirring occasionally, until shrimp is cooked through and sausage and chicken are hot - about 7 more minutes.  Serve with hot sauce if desired.

This is one of those dishes that is even better the second day.  I know it seems like there are a lot of directions, but it's not really a lot of work.  If you've made risotto before, it's the same process just with more stuff.  If  you've never made risotto before, trust me it's well worth it!