Orecchiette con Broccoli di Rape and Sausages, recipe from Lidia Bastianich

The other day I happened to see this recipe demonstrated on the PBS series Julia Child: Lessons with Master Chefs. The chef put this together with little effort and it just looked good and tasty. Coincidentally, I had never tried/cooked broccoli rabe or orecchiette so this recipe seemed like a good one to try as it has a simple, non-tomato based sauce plus it features Italian sausage as the main protein.

I guessed correctly that Whole Paycheck would have both the veggie (about $10 per pound) and pasta but decided that every store would have the pasta. Well it turns out that I finally found a box of orecchiette reasonably priced at WalMart ($1.96 for 10 oz.) after three other nonproductive stops.

I cut the recipe in half for this experiment and used half sweet/half spicy sausage. I also added a squeeze of fresh lemon juice before it was served. It turned out to be a definite keeper - very tasty!

Check out this delightfully written recipe: http://www.pbs.org/juliachild/free/pasta.html

Beet and Swiss Chard Risotto with Horseradish

Tonight's adventure was Beet Risotto and Swiss Chard with Horseradish. Beets have never been on my list of vegetables to cook but I thought I would try this out after buying some beets at Whole Paycheck. The colors were very much in the Christmas season - bright red with bits of green Swiss chard throughout the dish (the green doesn't show up well in the picture - the chard appears to be dark green).

The risotto supported some thick cut (Husker) pork chops which I brined for a couple of hours; they were then breaded with crushed oyster crackers, parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning, browned in a pan and finished in the oven.

I've only eaten beets once before (in class) and this was the first time for my food critic. I sauteed the beets before adding them to the risotto - they didn't really have a lot of flavor. I think when I repeat this recipe I may roast the beets first rather than saute them.