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It’s a gray and blustery day today in Lawrence, Kansas. Never mind that it’s peculiarly warm and humid outside, it’s still rather gloomy. Rather than brood or immerse myself too completely in newspapers, I decided to cook and am richly rewarded for my efforts.

Exhibit A: Pepper Risotto

I used to hate bell peppers, but they’ve grown on me in adulthood, especially as a flavor to complement onion, tomato and the like. Still, it’s rare that I choose a recipe that features peppers, but Pepper Risotto is an exception. For one reason or another, its cooking along with the broth and rice gives it a pleasant subtle taste that I like.

The result:

Pepper Risotto

Makes 2 main-course servings, 4 as side dish

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons minced onion
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups (approximately) chicken broth
• 2-3 medium bell peppers (I used 2 bell peppers and 1 Anaheim for this batch; using a red and green one is pretty)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oil in heavy pan over low-medium heat. Add onion; cook 2 minutes till it begins to soften. Add rice and salt. Stir; allow to sizzle a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add about 1 cup broth. (If your pan is good and hot, you’ll get a brief cloud of steam.) Stir continuously until mixture simmers, then stir occasionally until broth is nearly all absorbed.
3. Add another cup or so of broth. Add peppers and bay leaf. Stir until mixture returns to the simmer, and then occasionally until broth is absorbed.
4. Add another cup of broth. Again, stir and simmer. When broth is mostly absorbed, test a couple of rice grains. They should be tender but not mushy. If they have any crunch to them, add more broth and continue to cook until tender.
5. Remove from heat. Remove bay leaf. Stir in Parmesan, and serve hot.

My other motivation for making it was that it used some of the pile o’ peppers I have left at the end of the season from Rolling Prairie Farmers Alliance. Plus, while it cooked, I could chop the rest of the peppers for freezing. Witness the pile:

And witness the interesting innards of some of these peppers:

I was quite impressed with myself for pulling out the seeds and membranes in one lump, as you can see on the right in the photo above. It’s times like these I wish I knew a bit more about horticulture to understand what’s going on inside these things.

Exhibit B: Bread

As long as I was producing all that warm, moist air by cooking the risotto, I figured I might as well take advantage of it and bake some bread. I’ll spare you the recipe this time, but I’ll tell you this much: It’s easy and delicious. I mix it up in my food processor, although you don’t have to. And, of course, it smells great.

The result:

My mood is much better for the effort!

Quick question

Does anyone have a preference regarding recipes I run here in terms of format? That is, do you like them in the text of the post like the risotto recipe above, or do you prefer to have them in a word-processing document (an .rtf for use by numerous word processors)? I did that with the Chinese Chicken Wraps in this post.

Go ahead and let me know now—or I’ll be asking again soon.