Summer Delciousness Pt II

Tonight is hot. It's muggy. And the Brewers are getting their arses handed to them by the Cubbies once again. Who wants to cook?

Well, me, because I'm going to Chicago for Lolla this weekend and anticipate spending more money than I should.

Last night I made a salad out of much of my CSA offerings, but after eating it for lunch today, I only had a bit left:

I used CSA lettuce, radicchio, swiss chard, tomato, carrot and radishes and added green pepper and onion that I bought at the Cathedral Square Farmer's Market. I mixed in shredded Sartori Bellavitano Cheese, BelGioso Romano cheese and oil & vinegar.

My entree was truly brilliant though:

The bottom layer is my attempt at "quick" risotto and I'll be if it didn't work! I needed to use up leftover chicken broth, so I boiled it as my base for Brown Minute Rice (which I picked up free as a promo at Summerfest--just adding to the economy of this meal). When I added the rice to the broth, I also added a pat of butter, a tablespoon of yogurt, some 1% milk, shredded Sartori Bellavitano Cheese and the romano cheese. I stirred it all up, turned off the heat and went and got my laundry.

When I came back I sautéed up my Italian pole beans and zucchini from the CSA, adding a bit of the Farmer's Market onion. After they browned a bit in the olive oil and butter, I threw in the romano cheese. Bellisimo!

Back to the rice, I threw in a bunch of rosemary, a sprig of basil and a touch of coriander flower.

Assembling my dish, I added the final touch -- shreds of rotisserie chicken (it was too hot to cook meat!). I topped this with romano cheese and rosemary and voila! One damn fine looking and damn fine tasting meal. Wisconsin's bounty is truly spoiling me this year:

Delicious? Yes. And better than the worst food offering at GermanFest last weekend:

Yup, that says "herring funnel cakes."