cookbook_challenge | Beet risotto; Spiced potatoes; Lemon tart; Caramel corn; and Cranberry-pumpkin bars

March was A Lot and I fell behind on both cooking and posting about it. Here are some catching-up recipes,

Pink Risotto With Beet Greens and Roasted Beets from NYT, copied below due to paywall:

- ¾ pound beets (1 bunch small), roasted
- 1 bunch beet greens, stemmed and washed
- 6 to 7 cups chicken or vegetable stock, as needed
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- 1 ½ cups Arborio or Carnarolli rice
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
- ½ cup red, rose, or dry white wine
- Salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1 to 2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (1/4 to 1/2 cup, to taste)
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan. Season well and turn the heat to low. Stack the stemmed, washed greens and cut crosswise into 1-inch wide strips.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large nonstick frying pan or wide, heavy saucepan and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until the onion begins to soften, about 3 minutes, and add the rice and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the grains of rice are separate and beginning to crackle, about 3 minutes.
3. Stir in the wine and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. The wine should bubble, but not too quickly. You want some of the flavor to cook into the rice before it evaporates. When the wine has just about evaporated, stir in a ladleful or two of the simmering stock (about 1/2 cup), enough to just cover the rice. The stock should bubble slowly (adjust heat accordingly). Cook, stirring often, until it is just about absorbed. Add another ladleful or two of the stock and continue to cook in this fashion, not too fast and not too slowly, stirring often and adding more stock when the rice is almost dry, for 10 minutes.
4. Stir in the greens and the diced beets, and continue adding more stock, enough to barely cover the rice, and stirring often, for another 10 to 15 minutes. Taste a bit of the rice. Is it cooked through? It should taste chewy but not hard in the middle. Definitely not soft like steamed rice. If it is still hard in the middle, you need to continue adding stock and stirring for another 5 minutes or so. Now is the time to ascertain if there is enough salt. Add if necessary.
5. When the rice is cooked through, add a generous amount of freshly ground pepper, and stir in another half cup of stock, the Parmesan and the parsley. Remove from the heat. The rice should be creamy; if it isn’t, add a little more stock. Stir once, taste and adjust seasonings, and serve.

The only substitution I made was using barley instead of rice.

Verdict: A little bland, but definitely pretty! I might make it again to feed a group, but the amount of work required vs. tastiness ratio is not high enough to be worth it just for myself. (It's not a particularly difficult recipe, but does require lots of time standing at the stove slowly adding broth.) It also went well with leftover Chinese take-out. I guess I'll count this for "FREE SPACE."

Skillet-Braised Spiced Potatoes and Chickpeas from WaPo, copied below due to paywall again:

Servings: 8

Ingredients

- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, cut into small dice (1 cup)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 pounds red potatoes, peeled, if desired, and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
- One 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (may substitute 1 3/4 cups cooked chickpeas)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup low-sodium or homemade chicken broth
- 2 to 3 scallions, white and light-green parts, cut crosswise into thin slices (1/4 cup)
- Leaves from 2 to 3 stems flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (1 tablespoon; may substitute cilantro)
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Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, stirring to coat, then reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until just softened.

Add the spices and stir to combine; cook for 1 minute. Add the potatoes, chickpeas, about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and the pepper to taste. Stir to coat the potatoes evenly, then add the chicken broth. Let the broth come to a boil, then cover the skillet and reduce the heat to medium or medium-low. (The broth should bubble at the edges.) Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are just tender.

Uncover and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes, until the broth has reduced and thickened slightly. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.

Transfer to a serving dish and top with the scallions and parsley. Serve hot.

I made this pretty much just how it said, though I had fewer potatoes than called for and they weren't red. Would make again, and might add more pepper! I'm counting this one as a dairy-free dish.

Whole Lemon Tart, also from WaPo so copied below:

Ingredients

- For the crust
- 1 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (40 grams) confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (from 1 large lemon)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 stick (115 grams/4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 large egg, cold
- For the filling
- 1 large lemon (about 160 grams)
- 1 large zested lemon (about 160 grams), from the crust above, white pith removed, sliced and seeded
- 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 stick (115 grams/4 ounces) unsalted butter, cold is fine
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 3 tablespoons (24 grams) cornstarch
- Confectioners’ sugar, for serving
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Directions

Make the crust: In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, zest and salt and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until a coarse meal forms, about 12 pulses. Add the egg and pulse just until the dough comes together in large clumps, 20 to 25 pulses or so. (Pay attention to the sound the motor makes; it should change right around this point.) Pinch the dough — it should hold together. Press the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

When ready to roll out the dough, place it between two large sheets of parchment paper and roll out to about 12 inches in diameter and 3/8-inch thick. Line a 9- to 9 1/2-inch tart pan with the dough. The dough will be very soft and may start to tear; that's okay, just patch it up. Gently press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the tart pan. As you press the dough against the sides of the pan, also gently press the overhang with your fingertips against the edge of the pan — it should break off easily. Dock the crust on the bottom and sides with a fork — this helps prevent the tart from puffing up. Freeze for 1 hour before par-baking.

When ready to bake, position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Place the tart pan on a large, rimmed baking sheet and cover the dough with aluminum foil, gently pressing the foil to fit snugly over the bottom and edges of the shell. Fill with pie weights (or rice, beans or pennies).

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the dough no longer appears raw, then carefully peel away the foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until the crust slightly pulls away from the edges of the pan and the edges of the crust are light golden brown. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight before filling.

Make the lemon filling and tart: Position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 325 degrees. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and place the tart crust on top.

Cut the unzested lemon in half: If the pith is thinner than 1/4 inch, slice the lemon and discard the seeds (otherwise, see NOTE). Transfer the lemon to the food processor bowl, and add the zested lemon slices, sugar and salt. Process until smooth, scraping the bowl as needed. Add the butter, and process until smooth, scraping the bowl as needed.

With the processor motor running, add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the yolk, and process until smooth. Add the cornstarch and process to incorporate. Remove the bowl from the processor and gently tap it on the counter a few times — this will remove some of the air bubbles — and pour the filling into the crust. The filling may look curdled; that’s okay. (Using a food processor results in a mostly smooth filling with tiny bits of lemon, which add some zing. If you prefer a smooth filling, use a blender to process.)

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the filling looks set; it may jiggle a little in the center. (Don’t worry if the top cracks.) Insert a toothpick or cake tester in the center of the filling — it should come out clean. If not, bake for an additional 5 minutes and check again. Transfer the tart to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature before serving, or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Just before serving, gently pop out the tart out of the pan and transfer it to a plate. Dust the top of the tart with confectioners’ sugar, slice and serve.

NOTE: If the pith of the lemon is thicker than 1/4 inch, finely grate the lemon zest and transfer it to the bowl of a food processor. Trim the tops and bottoms of the lemons and stand them upright. Using a paring knife, follow the curves of the lemons to trim away the pith. (Thick pith may make your filling bitter.) Cut the fruit into slices and discard the seeds. Transfer the lemon flesh to the food processor bowl and proceed with the recipe.

Changes: I don't have a tart pan, so I just baked it in a circular cake pan. I also don't have any pie weight so I just didn't weight the crust. It came out fine. I also had a lime laying around, so I added some lime zest & lime to all parts of the recipe.

Verdict: super yummy and I would absolutely make it again, though it might be fun to get an actual tart pan one day. It took a bit longer to bake than the recipe says, probably closer to an hour? Lots of time spent waiting for things to chill, lots of steps, but not difficult to make. This counts as my dessert square.

Caramel Apple Popcorn from the Alpine Spice website, because I had some cider packets that were long past their due date. I popped my own corn rather than using a microwave packet, but otherwise followed the recipe. It came out really delicious and I only burned my hand a little! Would make again, but would not go out of my way to acquire instant cider just to make this. I guess I'm counting this one for "recipe from a specialty website."

Finally, one from a paper cookbook! This is from my Cranberry cookbook, which I like a lot and use often, because I love cranberries. I did an audit of expiration dates and realized I needed to use up a can of pumpkin; I was going to bake my go-to recipe from this book, pumpkin-cranberry bread, but then realized I'd had a bookmark stuck on the recipe for pumpkin-cranberry bars for years and hadn't got around to trying it yet. So I tried it.

Changes: 1/3 of the flour was whole-wheat; margarine instead of butter in the bars. I did not have the right pan so I just used a 9x13 baking pan. It took at least 10 minutes longer to cook than advertised and came out more like a sheet cake than a "bar" per se.

Verdict: Yummy, but mostly because of the icing. The cake bit is fine, but not as good as the pumkin-cranberry bread, which is what I'll probably still just make next time instead of going back to this. It does make a lot, though (I still have half of it in the freezer) so might be good to bring to a party if that's ever a thing we do again. This one counts for my "made a recipe from a cookbook" square.

And with that, I got a bingo! I'm going to try for a blackout.

Beet risotto; Spiced potatoes; Lemon tart; Caramel corn; and Cranberry-pumpkin bars

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