Great Eats: Tomato & Herb Risotto

Tomato & Herb Risotto

Mmm, risotto. This easy and endlessly adaptable dish has such a poor reputation. There is this image of toil and endless stirring, that is very far from the truth - this is a great grab-and-go dish that can be ready in less than 30 minutes, with hardly any prep-work or thought. It, of course, requires an iota of attention - like anything, but so long as you don't let it burn, you are guaranteed a hearty, flavorful side dish that's filling to be it's own meal.

Vegetarian and vegan too!

Inspired and adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Great Eats: Fresh Herb Overload; a Pasta Sauce

Despite appearances, I don't eat Thai every night. There are days when I don't want my sinuses cleaned with chili, when I don't want to add another root vegetable to my palate. And as much as I enjoy curries of every color, sauerkraut remains a separate food group. Also, there are days when all I want is to sit back, throw some ingredients together and get back to a book, or a drawing, or some dumb online distraction.

Pasta is perfect for those days. My sauces are lazy, half-assed, a perfect thing to let sit and bubble away while I work on another illustration. The trouble is in getting a right mixture of flavors without overcrowding the best part - the pasta. In this, I don't always succeed, but this time I decided to take on a more academic approach to the sauce.

Simple but refined, it relies on the pungent flavors of fresh herbs that add so much life to any dish.