SBK food blog Inc.: Roast Beef, Risotto, and Eggplant dinner partyyyyyyy

Hello to all of the lovely fans of our food blog,
First of all, I would like to apologize for being MIA for a while- work has pretty much taken over my life for the past few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago, me and a few good friends decided to host a dinner party, and I would have to say it was pretty successful. It was a "one course" meal, with 3 main components to our entre. However, if you count the delicious goat cheese brie (appetizer?) and chocolate (dessert?) that we ate while cooking, I guess it could be considered a three course meal..lol

So, here are the recipes:

Roasted Eggplant

Ingredients:
2 eggplants, Olive Oil (EVOO, enough to cover eggplant), A few cloves of garlic

Directions:

Quarter the eggplant, lengthwise.
Cover in EVOO
Crush garlic overtop
Roast in oven at ~350 for 10 minutes or so (until tender)

Commentary and hints:

Our guests seemed to like the eggplant, although I thought it was a little dry. If I did this again, I would cover them with tin foil and cook them longer. I think it might help keep some moisture in, and cooking them longer would make it more tender. Or just forget it and grill them or make babaganoush (sp?) instead.

A hint I picked up from my mom: If you cut up eggplant, you should coat it in salt and let it sit for about 10 minutes, and then rinse the salt off with water... it makes the eggplant less bitter.

eggplant before cooking

eggplant after cooking

Shitake Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients:

Italian risotto rice, olive oil, chicken bouillon, 35% cream, parmesan cheese

Directions:

Heat Oil in a large pan
Add rice (remember it pretty much doubles in volume, so don't make too much!) and let it cook in the oil, stirring occasionally. Wait until the rice has a browned slightly. The more brown it is, the nuttier the flavor.
Add dried and diced shitake mushrooms. I usually put about 1/4 the volume of mushrooms to rice, but you can add more or less depending on your preference.
Mix some chicken bouillon powder with water until smooth. The amount of bouillon is a personal preference; if you like your food saltier add more. If I make a cup of rice, I usually add enough to make a cup of soup. Slowly add the mixture to the rice (careful for spattering oil). Add about 2 teaspoons at a time, and let it cook and absorb into the rice before adding more. Continue stirring, so that the rice does not burn. Keep adding this mixture, or more water, until the rice is cooked through (try some, and make sure it is not hard).
Remove from heat. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of cream (more is tastier, less is healthier) and the same amount of parmesan. Stir it all together, and let it sit covered for about 10 minutes.

Commentary and hints:

This is one of my favorite foods. If you add less water, and more cream it tastes so good! but its also really fatty. You can make it with no cream, but be careful, cause it is usually pretty dry tasting. Also, go easy on the parmesan. If you put less parmesan you can taste the amazing compliment to the mushrooms, but if you add to much it can overpower everything else.

Inside Round Roast Beef

Ingredients:

Inner round roast, carrots, onion, garlic, orange, rosemary, salt, pepper, oil, horse radishI'm not sure what else...

Directions:

Cut carrots garlic and onions, and place in bottom of a large baking tray. Cover with the zest of an orange. Add orange slices, the juice of an orange, and a little water.
Season the roast with salt and pepper
In a large pan, on high heat, sear the outside of the roast.
Put the roast over the veggies, cover, and cook in the oven at 350F for a while.
Remove from the oven, cover, and let it sit for a few minutes before serving. serve with Ryan's yummy gravy, and/or horseradish.

Commentary and hints:

Ryan made this dish, so I really don't know much about it... There is an internal temperature that he used a meat thermometer to check to make sure it was ready. If I were to do it my way, I would follow my moms advice which is don't overcook it.. take it out of the oven early, let it sit and cook more. Feel it (the hardness) to see if it is ready, and DO NOT cut it until it cools down a little (if you do, you loose all the juices)

Ryan also made a delicious sauce, which involved the juice that came out of the over tray, the oily mixture from searing the meat, and some corn starch. I'm not sure what else went into it, but MMMM it was good! :)

**Hint.. do not eat a spoonful of extra strong horseradish. It may make you cry...