Years ago I wrote a series for Disney’s website Babble: 3 Kids, a Mom & a Kitchen. Babble has since been closed down and the posts are no longer online, so I have decided to sharing my favorites here on my website! This is a recipe that one of my readers Kelly said had become a favorite in their family but she could not find it online anymore. This one’s for you, Kelly! And thanks for reminding me to start sharing these great kid-friendly recipes once again!

For this month’s cooking project, I decided to teach my kids how to make risotto. When I told them, they were pumped! And, as it turns out, they had never tried risotto before, so it was really cool teaching them something totally new in the kitchen.

Risotto seems like an intimidating meal to make to a lot of people, but it’s actually quite simple. It just takes a little time and care to prepare, and, as I just discovered, is actually a great dish to make with kids!

Choosing the Recipe

I love risotto but hardly ever make it at home. I hoped that if my kids learned how to do it, we’d be more likely to include it in our menu in the future. It’s also a pretty basic recipe that I would love my kids to have in their kitchen “toolbox” when they leave home one day. 

Rankings

This recipe was a big winner in the “cooking with kids” department! They had a lot of fun making it and thought the risotto was delicious. When I asked if the recipe was hard, Anna and Cate confidently declared that it was not at all.

Steps Where Kids Can Get Involved

This recipe takes about 40 minutes of hands-on cooking time. The three kids rotated in and out of the process, which worked really well. No one got bored and there was plenty for them to do whenever they wanted to participate.

• Grating the cheese: Owen, my 3-year-old, did some of the grating and when he got bored Anna, my 7-year-old, finished it up.
• Chopping add-ins: Cate is 10 years old, so she was able to help chop the prosciutto and cook the asparagus. It was good practice for her to work on her knife skills.
• Stirring Galore: There is so much stirring in this recipe, which is my kids’ favorite thing to do when cooking. Actually, there is so much stirring they got tired of it — something I never thought could happen! The girls also loved pouring the ladles of broth into the rice.
• The Tasting

Usually our recipe tastings don’t stress me out, but this one had me on my toes. After all, the final product was dinner — if the kids didn’t like it, I didn’t know what we were going to eat that night! Thankfully all three kids enjoyed the risotto and Anna even declared it her second favorite food ever, second only to boxed long grain and wild rice mixes.

The Recipe

I used The Kitchn’s tutorial for homemade risotto as a guide and made adjustments to the recipe where necessary. I talked to the kids about how risotto is a great blank canvas for all kinds of flavors and add-ins, especially depending on the season. For example, in the fall I sometimes make Butternut Squash Risotto. Since it’s spring, we all decided to go with asparagus, which is in abundance right now. Prosciutto and asparagus are pretty much made for each other, so we had to throw some prosciutto in, too!

Asparagus and Prosciutto Risotto

 

Print

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Author: Jane Maynard

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 6-8 cups chicken stock or broth
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ⅓ onion, chopped
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced or pushed through garlic press
• 2 cups arborio rice
• ½ cup white wine
• 1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup cooked asparagus, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 5 thick slices prosciutto, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Prep all ingredients ahead of time so they are ready to go when you’re cooking.
2. Heat chicken stock in a large saucepan over medium heat, then keep warm over low heat while you continue with the rest of the recipe.
3. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a deep 12-inch skillet. Add onions and cook over medium heat until they have softened and are translucent. Add garlic and 1 more tablespoon butter and stir.
4. Add rice and raise heat to medium-high. Constantly stirring, cook rice until toasted. You should start to smell the rice toasting and the grains should look clear on the edges, with some white still in the middle of the grain.
5. Deglaze the pan by adding the white wine and cooking until wine evaporates.
6. Add 1 ladle of the chicken stock to the rice. Reduce heat to medium. Keep stirring until most of the stock has been absorbed by the rice, then add another ladle of stock. Repeat this process, until the rice is cooked through (taste testing is necessary!). The rice cooking process will take 20-30 minutes. Towards the end of this process, sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the risotto. Do a little at a time and taste it as you go — the saltiness of the chicken stock will depend on how much salt you will need.
7. Once the rice is the texture you like, add the last tablespoon of butter, 1 more ladle of chicken stock, and the Parmesan cheese. Stir and cook until the risotto is a nice creamy texture.
8. Stir in asparagus and prosciutto and serve immediately. (Feel free to experiment with other seasonal add-ins — risotto is a great canvas for all kinds of flavors!)

3.4.3177

Forget PB&J. Or PB&H. Today I give you PB&P! And it has nothing to do with peanut butter. But it is a sandwich. And it has everything to do with savory pear sauce, brie and prosciutto. That’s right, pear brie prosciutto grilled cheese sandwiches…PB&P! And this sandwich is scrumptious.

It’s springtime, so fruit is in the air. (Along with love, but that’s another blog post for another blog, really.) Libby’s hired me to develop a recipe using one of their canned fruits to celebrate the spring season. I immediately thought of canned pears (one of my favorite foods growing up!) and wanted to try out a fun savory twist. Enter the PB&P.

I love brie in a melted state. And I love the combination of salty prosciutto with sweet fruit. And I love bread. So, basically, today’s sandwich is the love of my life. The sandwich itself is quite simple – bread, sliced brie and prosciutto with a smattering of savory pear sauce. The layers of flavor are delicious, and the texture is perfect. Oh, and by the way, the savory pear sauce is so good and beyond easy to make. And, even though this is a great sandwich for springtime, by using canned pears it not only simplifies the recipe, but you can make this any time of year!

Before we get to the recipe, Libby’s has a giveaway for you today! One lucky winner will receive this super cute Crate & Barrel Six Bottle Spice Box along with an assortment of Libby’s Fruit, so you can get creative in the kitchen, too! Simply leave a comment on this post to enter! Comments must be posted by midnight PT on Wednesday, April 6, 2016 and prize must be shipped within the U.S.

Good luck to all on the giveaway…and now for the recipes! Enjoy!

PB&P Sandwiches (aka Pear Brie Prosciutto Grilled Cheese)

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

15 mins

 

Author: Jane Maynard

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 2 slices good quality bread
• 1 thin slice prosciutto
• About 4 thin slices brie
• 1-2 tablespoons savory pear sauce (see recipe below)
• Butter

Instructions

1. Heat a frying pan over medium heat about 5 minutes.
2. While pan is heating up, spread pear sauce on 1 slice of bread.
3. On the second slice of bread, place the brie slices evenly to cover then top with prosciutto.
4. Put the sandwich together, then butter the top.
5. Place sandwich butter side down in the pan, then butter the other side (that is now facing up).
6. Cook sandwich over medium heat until both sides are golden brown.

3.4.3177

Savory Pear Sauce

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Author: Jane Maynard

Serves: 1 cup

Ingredients

• 1 15-ounce can Libby's pear halves, drained but reserving 2 tablespoons of the juice
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced onions (about ⅛ of a small onion)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
• Couple shakes of ground pepper

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, add onions and cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of the pear juice to the pan, then the drained pears. Break the pears up with a spatula a bit. Add salt, ginger and pepper and stir well.
3. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to about medium-low, making sure to maintain a simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and smashing up the pears each time you stir. The final consistency should be saucy with lumps.

3.4.3177

Last summer on Cape Cod we ordered pizza from a restaurant in Falmouth called Stone L’Oven. Every last pizza we tried was delicious, but there were two flavors in particular that really stole my heart. I’ve been meaning to recreate them since July and finally got around to making one of them. (The second favorite flavor will have to remain a mystery until I can get a post together!)

Pizza is sort of becoming my thing. The last few times we’ve had guests over it’s what I’ve made. It’s great all hanging out while the pizzas come out of the oven, one-by-one. The cooking and the eating get all mixed up together and it’s a lot of fun. And, not to brag, I’ve gotten really good at making pizza. I am planning to write a comprehensive post with all the tips and tricks I have, but for now you’ll just have to settle for a totally amazing pizza flavor – fig and prosciutto.

THIS PIZZA. So good. It almost beats the honey goat cheese and caramelized onion pizza. (I’m coming to realize no pizza will ever actually beat that one, but coming close is an accomplishment!)

This pizza is the perfect combination of salty and sweet and is drizzled with a delectable balsamic glaze. It’s so tasty you won’t know what to do with yourself.

Also, my new trays from Q Squared NYC were perfect for pizza night. I just fall in love all over again every time I use Q Squared’s dishes! We’ve entertained a few times since my dishes arrived – they always come in handy (especially eating outside) and look gorgeous to boot. Love, love, love.

(>> Find out more…)