Cocoa and Lavender: Will Travel for Food

Today's recipe is another I created while we were traveling last summer up the west coast by train. Our time on the train alternated with staying for a few nights in each of several cities, so there was ample opportunity to cook for ourselves and friends. Today's creation is Shrimp Risottouffée, as it combines my love of both Italian and New Orleanian cuisines.

Cooking is one of the most fun things I do when we travel, no matter where we go. One requirement I have is renting an apartment or house with a decent kitchen. Airbnb has been a great way to make this happen; nice places at really reasonable prices. The kitchens may be ample or tiny, but they always have a stove top, decent equipment, and sometimes an oven. Another requirement is, of course, close proximity to a farmers market and other local ingredients.

The seasonal vegetables, meats, fish, and many other ingredients are different from what we get at home. Sometimes it's a particular mushroom, a variety of rice, or a vegetable that doesn't grow in the desert heat. It could also be sauces, pastas, or herbs.

Even though the West Coast has its distinctive culinary practices, they aren’t so different from our own Southwest cookery, so I enjoyed getting really inventive on that train tour.

When we travel, our day generally looks like this: Get up early. Go to the market. Get an idea. Buy the ingredients. Return to the apartment. Sight-see. Nap. Create. Repeat.

We have had some funny experiences along the way... like the time we rented a farmhouse in Tuscany, and got all the ingredients to roast some pork. Turning on appliances in a foreign country is always a little challenging, with the unfamiliar and cryptic logos on the dials. Just when you think you know what you are doing, you end up broiling something instead of baking it, or your have only pre-soaked your clothes when you fully intended to wash them.

In the case of the pork roast, we tried everything to get the oven started, and sought out the owner to explain to her - in a mixture of Italian, French, and German - that we couldn't get it to heat. Her first response was shock. "You are cooking?" she asked incredulously. Our guess is that most touring Americans have no more than yogurt for breakfast and otherwise eat out. Her second statement was, "It worked four years ago when someone else used it..."

In the end, she let me use her kitchen, and all was well. When she discovered that I love to cook, we became fast friends. She kept tabs on what I was making, was astonished when I showed her my zuccotto (another story), and even taught me how to brine capers.

We have been lucky that there have been very few appliance incidents like this. Most kitchens have been well equipped, although we have purchased and left a trail of rolling pins behind us.

Because you always need to bake a pie when traveling, right?

Shrimp Risottoufée

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 ounces pancetta, diced

1 large white onion, peeled and chopped

3 stalks celery, sliced thinly

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning (recipe HERE)

1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large shallot, peeled and chopped

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

6 cups chicken stock, simmering

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

salt and pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the pancetta and let cook a couple of minutes, until it begins to release its fat.

Add the onions, celery, and the green and red bell peppers. Sauté until the vegetables are softened a bit, then add the Cajun seasoning. Cook for 2 minutes to release the flavors of the spices. Add the tomatoes and cook until all the vegetables are soft. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Set a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. When hot, add shallots and sauté until soft and beginning to turn golden. Add the rice and cook, stirring, until rice is milky-white and opaque. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until wine is almost all absorbed. Add stock, one ladleful at a time. Cook, stirring, and add the next ladleful of stock only when the previous one is almost fully absorbed.

As you near the end of the stock, reheat the skillet with the pancetta and vegetables over high heat and add the shrimp. Sauté the shrimp briefly until pink. Add the cream and stir to blend. Season with salt and pepper; reduce heat to keep warm.

When the last of the stock has been added, keep stirring and, when the risotto is still loose but not too runny, add the cheese and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper and divide risotto among 4 bowls, then top with the shrimp mixture.