Sunday, October 19, 2008

Chard Stuffed with Risotto and Mozzarella


Chard Stuffed with Risotto and Mozzarella
Serves 3-6

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups brown rice
• 6 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1 cup cream
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated, more for garnish
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 6 large chard leaves
• 1/2 lb mozzarella cheese
• extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Cook rice in 3 cups stock, until rice is barely tender. Reserve unused stock. Mix soup with cream until smooth. Stir in parmesan, salt and pepper. Add to rice and mix well. Allow rice to cool a bit. Although you can make this about an hour ahead of time, don't refrigerate the rice. It will change consistency.

Cut mozzarella into bite sized pieces and set aside for assembly.

Poach chard leaves in about 3 cups of remaining broth for about 30 seconds. Remove, drain in a dishcloth, and cut out the central stem, cutting the chard leaf in half lengthwise. Reserve cooking stock.

Note: if you are cooking this in the oven, preheat it now at 400'. But if you are using the solar cooker, don't worry about it.

Lay out a chard leaf, put a three inch ball of rice at one end of the leaf. Sink a piece of cheese into the center. Then carefully roll and place in the pan. Repeat until all the leaves have been used. If your leaf halves are big enough, you may be able to halve them again. Once your pan is full, it will look like you have really plump dolmas! Now use your reserved stock to rise halfway up the wraps.

Cover and toss them in the oven for 15 minutes or the solar cooker for a couple hours. Everything is cooked, so now you just want it to get warm and yummy!

Serve wraps topped with parmesan and olive oil.

3 comments:

  1. This sounds great! Can you continue to use the solar cooker through the winter? It really has my interest piqued.

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  2. I'm still in the experimental stage, but from what I understand, you can use it through the winter IF you have at least half an hour of sun in each hour. I have found that the sun is passing lower in the sky since it's autumn. A lot of our yard is shaded right now, though, so I have to attend to it and move it to follow the sun. Another factor is wind. The wind decreases the cooker's ability to maintain heat. But if you don't have too much wind and have some sun, I think you could even cook on a snowy day. That'd be a fun experiment! If you make one, let me know!

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  3. I think we have good exposure on the deck but wind might be an issue. I'm really interested in trying though. We're in the south so it doesn't get quite as cold in the winter as other places. You've inspired me! :)

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