Risi e Bisi

A fun find at our local library was Everybody Cooks Rice by Norah Dooley, a children's book with some recipes in the back. My daughter wanted to try the Risi e Bisi recipe, since it fit in with our green pea challenge.

Reading for fun and food

Here's the ingredients:

• 2 cubes vegetable or chicken bouillon
• 4 cups water
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups uncooked rice
• 2 cups fresh or frozen green peas
• 1/2 to 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Thanks to hard work in our backyard garden, we were able to use the freshest of all possible peas.

Harvesting pods

Harvesting peas

Here's the instructions:
Use a pot with a tight cover.

1. In a bowl, dissolve bouillon cubes in 2 cups of water, then add to the rest of the water. Set aside.
2. Over medium heat, cook garlic and onion in olive oil untion the onion is transparent. Don't let he garlic turn brown!
3. Turn off heat right away and pour in rice. Stir in the 4 cups of water and dissolved bouillon and cook on highest heat until micture boils. Lower heat and do not remove lid. Cook for 25 minutes.
4. If using frozen peas, soak them in warm water. When rice is cooked, add peas, stir Parmesan cheese, and sprinkle with nutmeg.

We altered the cooking instruction a bit for our Risi e Bisi. We only had 1/2 cup of peas from our garden, so we only used that much. We also substituted 2 cups chicken broth and 2 cups of water for the bouillon and water in the recipe.

Stirring in peas and other stuff

The big test came at the end, when the cook tasted her creation for the first time. My daughter was a little reluctant. She overcame her fear of something new by realizing she likes all the ingredients.

Cooling before tasting

A happy customer

Sweet Pea Cupcakes

After the success of our "blue food challenge" (featuring blueberries in various recipes), we started a "green food challenge" (featuring peas). One unusual recipe we tried was pea cakes, which is a terrible name in our humble opinion, so we renamed it Sweet Pea Cupcakes. We adapted this recipe.

We cut it down to make 6 cupcakes (small enough to bake in our toaster oven on a hot day).

• 3/4 cup frozen peas
• 4 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
• zest and juice from 1/4 of a lemon
• 3/4 cup cake flour (or all purpose flour)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt

1. Preheat the (toaster) oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line tin with cupcake papers. Microwave frozen peas until thawed and warm (about 2 minutes, with stirring in between). Drain and rinse with cool water. Place peas, vanilla and lemon juice in a food processor and puree until smooth. Set aside.

Not sure about this ingredient

Visualizing whirled peas

Getting some zest with our special tool

Juicing what's left of the lemon

2.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine.

3.  Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, and then add the pea mixture and lemon zest. On low-medium speed, add the flour until  just incorporated.

Using hand-shaped whisks

4.  Spoon into cupcake papers. Bake for 20 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test. Cool cupcakes completely.

Uncooked

The results were perfect.

Cooked

To make the cakes more presentable, we made some simple lemon icing (butter, powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest) and sprinkled green sugar on top.

Icing

Finished product

The most important part of the cakes is, of course, the taste. After that horrible face in the first picture, what will my daughter's reaction be to the final product?

Taking a bite

Mmm....good!