A strong theme of hot chocolate
Dear friends,
Do you think we'll ever be in the mood for personal April Fool pranks again, or has that cultural ship just sailed? Or was it only ever a good time for grade school kids? That last one is entirely likely now that I think of it. In any case I'm sure not in the mood for the kind of prank that's basically "you believed a thing I told you? haha I win."
What I am in the mood for: reading library books and drinking hot chocolate while spring in Minnesota throws a wintry mix hissy fit outside. Am willing to do some work of my own if fueled by hot chocolate. Good news, the weather is able to accommodate my needs! And so is the library. What a day.
What I hope you're in the mood for: a new story! Disconnections came out in Nature Futures last month. We must make sure we make the right connections, darling....
One of my interesting April activities will be moderating a panel at Virtual Can*Con, an online convention you don't have to be Canadian to attend--not even Baja Canadian like me! My panel is Rich Word-Crafting, and my fellow panelists are Brandon O'Brien, Rati Mehrota, and Diana Dima. Here's the description: "Sinking into a literary masterpiece, hot chocolate in hand, comfortable on your favourite armchair: a wonderful sensory experience. Not every work can absorb a reader like that—so how do you create one that does? Masters of poetry and prose discuss their approach to creating a rich experience through only their words. How do they craft their beautiful imagery, gorgeous world-building and sensuous phrasing? How do they select the right words? How do those words help weave a tale, and bring readers into their desired space?"
(So there's a recurring hot chocolate theme in this newsletter. I'm not mad about that.)
Anyway I hope some of you can make it, because it's going to be a really lovely discussion with very smart folks.
What else will April bring? With the way this year has started for my family, I'm kind of afraid to ask, but onward anyway! Doing the best we can! And I know you'll be doing the same. Hang in there, friends.
Best,
Marissa
I know, I know, I promised you cherry brownies. Soon. But a friend asked me how to make this, and I went and figured out about how much of which things I use and wrote down how, so you're getting it now and brownies after.
Mushroom Risotto
Okay, so this is a recipe that has a lot of wiggle room in it. Almost every place in it is a "more or less" or an "if you've got that" or "if that's what you like" and can have something else substituted instead. Will it taste the same? No, but it doesn't taste the same as the last time I made it either, it's fine, that's the nature of the beast.
You're going to want about 1 1/2 c. chopped mushrooms, total. This will be best if they can be a mix of different kinds. I used pioppinos, criminis, and maitake this time. Other times there have been other combinations. Anyway. Cleaned, chopped. You can use dry for this, and if you do, you'll have the soaking liquid from when you reconstituted them. Save that.
So: peel and mince four cloves of garlic. Melt a tablespoon or so of butter, and soften the garlic in it. Grind in some black pepper to taste--and if you like black pepper, this is a great place to have a fairly heavy hand compared to what it looks like it'll need, because it'll be spread out into the whole risotto. Add the mushrooms and saute until basically cooked.
At the same time as this, in a separate pan, you can heat a good glug of olive oil (tablespoon maybe?) and throw 1/2 c of uncooked rice in with it for a sec. (Arborio if you have it. Don't stress if you don't.) You want about 2 c. total of liquid to add to this. I used veggie broth this time around. Mushroom broth is great if you have it. Dried mushroom soaking liquid, strained to get the grit out, is amazing. Some people put in a little bit of wine here, no problem with that if that's your jam but we're aiming for dark/funky flavors rather than bright/crispy flavors here, so choose accordingly. Anyway, you're going to have the rice on medium heat, stirring a little liquid in at a time as it absorbs.
Your mushrooms can come off the heat when they're done. You're just stirring liquid into rice now. Stirring. Stirring.
At some point, the last of the liquid will start to absorb up into the rice--you'll see that you have done this right and it is definitely risotto, not rice soup. At that point you want to stir the mushrooms into the risotto, making sure to scrape the pan to get the bits of garlic and black pepper off the bottom. Then you'll want to add something like 1/4-1/2 c. of chopped toasted nuts to your taste. I'm allergic to walnuts, but they'd be my preference if I could still eat them. Pecans or hazelnuts will also be great. Then you stir in 1/4-1/2 c. of crumbled gorgonzola. It should melt into the risotto as the last of the liquid is absorbed, and voila, you have your mushroom risotto.