Since I became a renal patient four years ago I have changed my way of eating gradually. Excess salt was the first to go out of my diet, keeping a check on the amount of protein I eat and making sure I eat enough vegetables. It’s not always easy keeping all those things in account and occasionally I forget all those.
But being obligated to really look at what I eat has inspired me more to delve deeper in cooking. Always when finding recipes online or in books I change them removing and replacing the less healthy ingredients. For example I never add salt when cooking because a lot of products already have salt, like canned tomatoes, cheese, canned tuna, etc. When using butter I use unsalted butter but 90% of the time I use olive oil to cook.
Eating this way requires frequent trips to the grocery each week, also more expenses. Buying everything fresh costs way more then buying canned vegetables or frozen products. Buying fresh fish at the fish market isn’t the cheapest either. But eating healthy(and delicious) is a must so it’s not like it’s wasted money.
In any case having to watch out what I eat has stimulated me to try more different kind of food, I now like mussels and clams. Years ago I wouldn’t even tried them.
And I’m convinced that keeping salt to a minimum amount in your diet is better for your taste of food. After adjusting to less salt you start to taste more of the food, different spices and so on. I never put salt while cooking pasta and rice. And me this amateur cook, who never took a cooking class will tell chefs like Jamie Oliver who always focuses on putting salt in pasta, don’t do it! I did it months ago to see the difference and pasta with no salt tastes much better, especially if you use good quality pasta.
It’s just a matter of losing the excessive use of salt habit. Just give it at try, go by seven days without putting salt in the food. And start using more fresh spices, think about rosemary, thyme, coriander, basil, garlic, etc.
In the picture above you can see my usual grocery shopping. Note the Uncle Ben’s Rice Express. It’s pre cooked rice with Mexican flavors. Normally I don’t buy anything pre cooked or with added spices. But it was already past 6 o’clock and I was too hungry for cooking more then 30 minutes. I ate that rice with Goya black beans with Goya Sazon seasoning. The Sazon spices are low on salt and in small bags to use one at a time.
This was dinner the day I did those grocery. It tasted nice, although the rice was too salty for my taste. Just to show that processed food contains more then enough salt so adding more to your food is a big no no.
Risotto is a dish that takes some practice to make it right. The first time I tried to make it I didn’t even get to add the stock. I had to trow the rice away. So read up a couple of recipes and make sure you understand the basics before trying yourself.
For the details about risotto you can check out wikipedia. Most important is that you use risotto rice or also called arborio rice. In most supermarket now a days most packages says risotto rice. So it’s a no brainer to get the right rice.
I must say I don’t follow the original way of making risotto, the purist way so to say. The biggest difference is that I don’t use fresh stock or liquid bottled stock. I use a chicken bouillon cube which I put in 3 cups of warm water. I don’t keep the bouillon hot either on the stove while making the risotto. The purist way requires you to keep the stock warm on the stove while making the risotto.
To start of you will need half a white onion finely chopped, 1 or 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped. Heat some olive oil in a non-stick skillet pan, or if a stainless steel skillet pan. Fry the onions without burning them until they are soft. Add the rice and garlic and mix well until rice grains are covered in oil and are translucent and the garlic are fragrant.
Pour one glass of dry white wine on the rice, use good wine, the kind you would drink. Keep stirring the rice until the wine is absorbed. Note that it’s very important to keep stirring the rice! As soon as the wine is absorbed add some stock to the rice and keep stirring again until absorbed. Repeat this process until the rice is soft but still has a bite, with other words the rice should be al dente. Risotto is not supposed to be soft like normal rice.
Now depending what kind of risotto you are making these steps are next. If you are making risotto with peas; Risi Bisi(risotto with peas) you add the peas with the last stock so it can cook but not get too soft.
When the last stock is absorbed, turn the fire off, add grated Parmesan, about three spoons and a small bit of butter and fresh grated pepper to taste. Mix everything well and adjust the taste if needed. Serve right away.
For Risotto al Funghi(risotto with mushroom) you should saute the mushrooms before starting with the risotto and put it aside. when the last stock is absorbed turn off the fire and add the mushrooms, add grated Parmesan, about three spoons and a small bit of butter and fresh grated pepper to taste. Mix everything well and adjust the taste if needed. Serve right away. I usually add some peas to to this for some color and a hint of sweetness.
You will notice I don’t use salt, I almost never add salt while cooking because now a days everything contains salt, a person gets more then twice the amount of salt intake then daily recommended. And in this case the salt in the Parmesan cheese is more then enough.
This recipe serves two people adjust all amounts according to how much you are making.
