Get Cookin': Risotto and Ratatouille

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What other endeavor besides cooking prompts people to cut so many corners to save time, money, a little elbow grease, and fat calories? Can you see yourself taking the same approach when you have to change a tire on the car? “I don’t have time to tighten down all those lug nuts—one will be enough.”

Yet by often picking the fastest preparation, rather than the tastiest, we easily shortchange ourselves at mealtime. Some recipes are written as though our taste buds are an evolutionary throwback, not good for much, like hair on the tops of our toes. They tell you that a squirt of lemon juice on a salad is as good as a dressing. Please.

Health Notes

This menu is a good way to get your 7 to 9 servings of fruits and veggies, all at the same meal. The addition of the beans to the dish makes this a healthful meatless entrée, as the beans and rice form a complete protein.

I certainly don’t long for the days of old when recipes began with, “First catch a wild stag...” But how do you approach some favorites, such as risotto? Even if you figure out how to get around all that butter and cheese, what do you do about the endless stirring while the rice absorbs each thimbleful of stock? And ratatouille? I’ve never owned a sponge that did a better job of sopping up oil than eggplant. Finally, apple pie. There’s the piecrust, peeling the apples, slicing the apples. Did I mention the piecrust? Well, before you reach for instant rice and toaster-ready pastries, here are some detours around a few labor- and fat-intensive dishes that don’t bypass flavor.

Quick Tip

You can prepare the ratatouille and apples ahead, but the risotto is best served as soon as it is done.

This meal is low in fat. If you want to replace the non-fat chicken stock with low-fat chicken, this will slightly raise the fat percentage of the overall menu. Also, this analysis does not include the optional orange liqueur in the dessert.

Risotto

When I first attempted risotto many years ago, I couldn’t find arborio and used regular long grain rice instead. I almost broke a tooth on the result. Arborio releases its high concentration of starch when you add liquid in small doses. But the microwave can help you achieve the luxurious, creamy texture without the endless stirring. The result is a happy cross between steamed rice and the almost custardy, slow-cooked risotto. Use just enough oil and cheese for a glossy sheen. Note that the cooking times will vary with the power of your microwave. I use an 800-watt oven and these times and temps produce the results described. Consult your manual for cooking times for 1 cup of long grain rice, but use the method I describe. Use your food processor to mince the shallots easily.

Quick Tip

If you use chicken broth with salt, don’t add any more salt without tasting the finished dish or it may be too briny, especially if you use Parmesan cheese.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup shallots, minced to approximate the size of the rice grains
1 cup arborio rice
3 cups VERY HOT nonfat chicken stock (preferably homemade with low salt, or 2 cups canned plus 1 cup water or wine)
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, optional
1/4 cup boiling water
Pepper to taste, salt if necessary

Healthy Pantry

In some areas where Italian cooking has become the second American cuisine, arborio rice needs no introduction. Look for it in specialty food stores or order it online. Because of its richness, you can add peas or other steamed or sautied vegetables to risotto made with arborio and have a one-dish meal.

Place the oil in a 2-quart microwave baking dish. Heat on high for 1 minute or until the oil begins to steam. Add the shallots, stir to coat them thoroughly with the oil and microwave uncovered on high for 2 minutes. Add the rice, stir thoroughly, and microwave on high for 1 minute.

Add all the chicken broth (or blend of chicken broth and water or wine but not the final 1/4 cup water). Stir well. Microwave uncovered on high for 9 minutes.

Stir the rice and microwave uncovered for 7 minutes. Remove from the microwave. Stir in the cheese if you are using it and cover with foil or a tightly fitting cover. Set aside on the countertop for 5 minutes. Add the 1/4 cup boiling water and stir just until the rice is creamy. Season to taste with pepper and salt. Serve hot.

(Serves 4)

Ratatouille with White Beans
Roasting takes a lot of the work and fat out of this classic melange of eggplant and garden vegetables. What roasting puts back in is a complexity of flavors that only occurs when foods are permitted to brown at temperatures high enough to allow the natural sugars to caramelize. Roasting makes vegetables sweeter and richer, tasting as though they had been cooked in oil. It is not necessary to have them done to a turn, as they will finish cooking on top of the stove. You will find them much easier to slice and chop after roasting (no sliced-onion-induced crying jags). The addition of the white beans mellows this earthy dish and the fresh basil is a sprightly lift to the palate. This dish improves with age and is delicious served hot or cold.

Ratatouille Options

Adaptability is only one of ratatouille’s many virtues. You can make it with larger or smaller eggplants, more peppers than squash, or leave the zucchini out altogether. The typical French version includes tomatoes, but is quite good here without them. Make it just before you plan to serve it if you have time, or prepare it in stages. Roast the vegetables two days in advance, then the night before your meal let them simmer in the stock for 15 or 20 minutes until you close up the kitchen for the night. Refrigerate them, then reheat with the beans, add basil, and serve.

1 large eggplant
1 red and 1 orange pepper or 2 red peppers
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small zucchini, cut in medium-thin strips
1 yellow crookneck squash, cut in medium-thin strips
1/4 cup nonfat chicken broth
1 cup cooked or canned white beans
5–6 large basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Place the eggplant, onions, and peppers on a baking sheet coated with a light film of vegetable spray. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until tender but not overcooked. Cool slightly.

Slice the eggplant down the center and spread the two halves open. With a sharp knife, score the eggplant, making cuts an inch wide down the length, the across the width of both halves. Set aside.

Slice off the stem and top of the onion, discard the papery outer layers. Slice the onion and set aside.

Scrape away as much of the skin of the pepper as possible with a vegetable peeler. Slice and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Slice the pepper in half-inch strips and set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a large non-reactive skillet until a spray of water dances on the surface. Add the garlic and stir for a few moments just until it becomes fragrant. Add the onion, pepper, raw zucchini, and squash. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook over low heat for 3–4 minutes or until the squash softens. Scoop out the eggplant pulp with a large spoon and add to the vegetables. Stir in the white beans. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Uncover and simmer for 10 minutes, raising the heat as necessary until the liquid has largely evaporated. Stir in the basil and season to taste with salt and pepper.

(Serves 4)

Baked Apples with Dried Cherries
Simple, you ask? Well, you’re not allowed to peel and slice the apples, even if you wanted to go to all that trouble. The skin acts as a container as the pulp softens and sweetens. Use only cooking apples, because eating apples, such as Delicious, become mushy with cooking. If you can’t find the sweet Queen Ann dried cherries, substitute dried blueberries, muscat raisins, or yellow raisins. Serve warm or cold. Garnish with a little fat-free sour cream or yogurt if desired.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

A Word About Cooking with a Non-Reactive Skillet

Novice cooks get confused by the term non-reactive skillet, which is found in cookbooks more often than on the label of a piece of cookware. Certain cooking surfaces, such as aluminum and cast iron, interact with acids in foods to discolor them or even give them an off taste. You can avoid this by using a pan or pot made of a neutral material, such as stainless steel, glass, or enamelware that does not have a negative reaction to foods, hence the name non-reactive pan. Often, these pans have a heftier weight and provide better heat conduction as well. Some, such as the wonderfully easy-to-clean All Clad and Calphalon, move deftly from stovetop to oven and back again, saving you the hassle of transferring food from a stovetop pot to an oven roaster.

4 green apples, such as Pippin or Granny Smith
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 dried cherries, or teaspoon dried blueberries or yellow raisins
1/2 cup apple juice
3 tablespoons naturally sweetened apricot puree
1 tablespoon orange liqueur, optional

Preheat oven to 525 degrees F

Cut the tops and stem ends of the apples and remove 1 inch of peel from the top. Using an apple corer (a wise, cheap investment) or a sharp paring knife, remove the core. Set the apples in a heavy ovenproof baking dish. Blend the sugar, cinnamon, and cherries. Stuff the mixture into the center of the apples.

Blend the apple juice and apricot puree and pour over the apples. Bake for 45–55 minutes or until the apples are tender. To serve, stir in the liqueur if you are using it, and spoon the sauce over the apples. Serve warm or cold.

(Serves 4)