Summer Risotto, Caramelized Onion Focaccia and Green Beans

First off, we may not be posting much next week because I'll be in San Diego at a conference until Friday. But we'll leave you with a somewhat lengthy post and a few more photos than usual. We had our friends Saul and Michelle over for dinner last night and we thought a risotto recipe with some fresh summer veggies that we did once before would be good. So let's start with the risotto, which is from The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen by Peter Berley. Like he suggests, I started by making a broth from the corn cobs and leek tops. I also added some quinoa to the mix which is an idea I got from another risotto recipe in the same book. So here's what I did:

5 cups broth
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 c. chopped leeks, white and tender green parts
1 c. arborio rice
1/3 c. quinoa
1/4 c. white wine
corn kernels from 2 ears of corn
1 lb. tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. fresh thyme
1/2 c. chopped basil, plus a little extra for garnish
salt & pepper to taste

Keep the broth simmering on another burner while you heat the oil in another pan. Add the leeks to the oil and cook for a few minutes then add the rice and quinoa and cook for another 2 minutes or so. Add the wine and continue cooking until all the liquid is absorbed then add the corn, tomatoes, garlic and thyme. Add the broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until the liquid is mostly absorbed each time. Continue cooking and adding broth for about 22 minutes, or until the rice is tender and creamy. Add the basil in the last 5 minutes and season to taste with salt & pepper.

Here we are in our kitchen while I'm stirring the risotto:

We started the meal off with some salads made with a combination of leaf lettuce and other mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers and nasturtium flowers. The dressing was the Lemon Zinger Vinaigrette which I think is my favorite dressing recipe from Vive le Vegan.

With the risotto we had some steamed green beans with a little margarine and salt & pepper, and a focaccia that I made with caramelized onions on top. The focaccia recipe was made with sourdough starter and is something I adapted from Nancy Silverton's Breads from the La Brea Bakery. For the topping I thinly sliced a large Vidalia onion and cooked it in olive oil with about a teaspoon of sugar and a little salt until it was nicely browned. And since we promised our guests that they'd be on our blog, here's Michelle, Saul and Darlene sitting down to dinner:

Finally, our guests were interested in our choice of a vegan diet/lifestyle and asked us several questions about our veganism. For them and others out there who might have similar questions, one of the best resources I know of explaining the "why" of being vegan is the appropriately named Why Vegan section of the Vegan Outreach web site.