Family Meal Plan: (Almost) Hands-Free Butternut Squash Risotto + Butternut Salad + Apricoty Squashy Sorbetti

(Almost) Hands-Free Butternut Squash Risotto

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• adjust :

  to change seasonings or consistency to one's taste or to alter portion sizes.

• blend :

  to stir together two or more ingredients until just combined; blending is a gentler process than mixing.

• brown :

  to cook food until it turns brown, crisper, and more flavorful from the heat of an oven, a pan, or the oil it is cooked in.

• chop :

  to cut something into small, rough pieces using a blade.

• knife skills :

  Bear Claw (growl), Pinch, Plank, and Bridge (look out for trolls) and Rock and Saw.

• melt :

  to heat a solid food so it becomes liquid, like butter or chocolate.

• mince :

  to chop into teeny tiny pieces.

• simmer :

  to cook a food gently, usually in a liquid, until softened.

• slice :

  to cut into thin pieces using a sawing motion with your knife.

• stir :

  to mix together two or more ingredients with a spoon or spatula, usually in a circle pattern, or figure eight, or in whatever direction you like!

• taste :

  to put a bit of food or drink in your mouth to determine whether more of an ingredient is needed to improve the flavor.

• toss :

  to lightly lift and drop food items together or coat food items with flour, or a sauce or dressing, as in a salad.

History of Risotto!

• Risotto (Ree-ZOH-toh) is a classic dish from the Lombardy region of northern Italy. Short-grain rice, especially Arborio, which has a high starch content, is slowly cooked in a fish, meat, or vegetable broth until it has a creamy consistency.
• Rice in Italy was initially cultivated in the south, possibly as early as the 9th century by the Moors or later in the 15th century. It was taken north to the Po Valley, where marshes created a satisfactory rice-growing environment. Chefs near there found that if they added broth to the rice gradually and stirred constantly while it simmered, starch was released from the rice, and it became creamy without adding cream.
• A legend says that in 1574, a young glassblower's apprentice, Valerio di Fiandra, tasked with staining the glass of the Duomo di Milano cathedral, used saffron to add an orange-yellow color to the glass. His coworkers decided to add saffron to the rice for his wedding banquet as a practical joke. It was a hit, and the dish became known as "risotto alla Milanese," often served with "ossobuco alla milanese."
• Fish, meat, or vegetables may be added to the al dente rice, which has absorbed the broth. A pat of butter and a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese will finish it before serving.  
• In Italy, risotto may be considered a primo or first course. You can also serve it as a side dish.

Let's Learn About Italy!

• Italy became a unified country in 1861, only 150 years ago. It is sometimes called "bel paese" or "beautiful country."  
• Italians invented the piano and the thermometer! 
• In ancient Roman mythology, two twin brothers named Romulus and Remus founded Rome, Italy's capital city. The myth says the twins were abandoned and then discovered by a she-wolf before being found and raised by a shepherd and his wife. Eventually (and after many exciting adventures), they found themselves at the location of Palatine Hill, where Romulus built "Roma." The Italian wolf became Italy's unofficial national animal. 
• In the 1930s and 40s, Mussolini, Italy's prime minister, and dictator tried to eliminate all foreign words from the Italian language. How did he do that? He just changed them! For example, in soccer, "goal" became "meta." Disney character names changed, too: Donald Duck became "Paperino;" Mickey Mouse became "Topolino;" and Goofy became "Pippo." Although they're not banned anymore, these words and names have stuck. So now if you go to the Italian Disneyland, called Gardaland Park, you will see Topolino and Pippo! 
• About 60 million people call Italy home, and it is 116,350 square miles, slightly larger than the US state of Arizona. If you compare that to the United Kingdom, 67 million people live there, and it is about 94,350 square miles. So, the UK is smaller than Italy but has a bigger population! 
• The Italian flag is green, white, and red. These colors represent hope, faith, and charity.
• The average Italian eats close to 55 pounds of pasta annually. If you think about how light pasta is, that is a considerable amount! There are more than 500 different types of pasta eaten in Italy today. 

What's It Like to Be a Kid in Italy?

• Kids begin school at 6 years old. They grow up speaking Italian, but they learn English in school, so many become bilingual in Italian and English.
• The most popular sport for kids is football (soccer). The Italian word for soccer is "calcio," the same word they use for "kick." A favorite of younger kids is "Rody, the bouncing horse," a plastic horse that a small child can hop onto and bounce around the room. Rody was invented in Italy in 1984.  
• The family ("la famiglia") is a central characteristic of Italian life. Children have great respect for their older relatives. It is traditional to name the first male child after the grandfather and the first female child after the grandmother.
• If kids live close to school, they can go home and have lunch with their families! Lunch at school might be pasta, meat with vegetables, a sandwich, or a salad with lots of ingredients. Families typically eat dinner later (7 to 8 pm), so kids end up staying up later, too!
• Between lunch and dinner, kids often enjoy "merenda," which is an afternoon snack that translates to "something that is deserved." It is really a mini-meal that can include both savory and sweet foods. Examples of savory foods are a salami or mortadella sandwich, a slice of rustic bread rubbed with a cut, raw tomato, or "pizza bianca" (white pizza without tomato sauce). Types of sweet foods eaten during merenda are "gelato" (a lower-fat type of ice cream), any kind of cake, or biscotti dipped in warm milk.