Food Challenge

It all started when... my friend and I were having a conversation in my kitchen. I was telling her how I make a "pretty awesome" mushroom risotto. She responded with her opinions and high praise for the boxed version of mushroom risotto she usually makes and swore that it tasted just as good. And naturally I said to her... IT'S A CHALLENGE!!

Over the next week or so we developed a boxed vs. homemade challenge. We discussed likely categories--and narrowed it down to:

Round 1: Mushroom Risotto
Round 2: Brownies
Round 3: Lasagna*

Rounds 1 and 2 were Homemade vs. The Box. *Round 3 was Homemade vs. Homemade. It just so turns out that, I would win Round 1 and my friend would win Round 2. Therefore, making Round 3 the ULTIMATE challenge where we were both able to bring out our best lasagna recipes and make that for 8 people.

**Side-bet: There was also a very interesting Cornbread Casserole Challenge which took place on the same day. The winning casserole was this recipe:

Corn and Onion Casserole
http://www.bigoven.com/72310-Corn-and-Onion-Casserole-recipe.html

In addition to this recipe, add some ham steak--dice that up and drop that in there before you put it in the oven. Also, the cook recommends less cream of corn because it came out kinda runny.

My notes on my own food challenge are as follows:
I wouldn't do anything differently with my mushroom risotto recipe. I spent a lot of time and stirred with much love when making it. I can only suggest the same for you--Good luck!

Mushroom Risotto

6 to 8 cups of chicken broth
Crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced or 1 oz. dried wild Italian mushrooms
2 tbsp. butter for fresh mushrooms
5 tbsp. butter for the risotto
1 med. onion, finely chopped
2 1/2 cups of arborio rice
3/4 cups of white wine
1/2 cup grated Parmasean cheese
salt to taste

Prepare chicken broth. If using dried mushrooms, soak in warm water 20 minutes. Drain mushrooms, reserving liquid. Strain mushroom liquid. Rinse mushrooms under cold running water. Squeeze to remove as much moisture as possible. If using fresh mushrooms, saute in 2 tbsp. butter until golden, set aside.

Heat broth in medium saucepan. melt 1/4 cup butter in a large saucepan. When butter foams, add onion. Saute over medium heat until pale yellow. Add rice and mix well. When rice is coated with butter, add wine. Cook, stirring constatnly, until wine has evaporated. Add drained dried mushrooms and reserved mushroom liquid. Stir in 1 or 2 ladles of broth, or enough to cover the rice. Stir over medium heat until broth has been absorbed. Continue cooking and stirring rice, adding broth a little at a time until rice is done 15 to 20 minutes.

Rice should be tender but firm to the bite. Stir in Parmasean cheese, 1 tbsp butter and sauteed fresh mushrooms, if using. Season with salt. Place in a warm dish and serve immediately.

I could have done a little more research on my brownie recipe... but I went with what I know. I opened up my America's Test Kitchen Cookbook and I chose to make the Ultimate Fudgy Brownies. And indeed that's what they were. They could not be described any other way--I used both bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate--Ghiradelli's. I made them the night before the challenge--my challenger's brownies were still hot out of the oven... Her fudge was better--it was sweeter and more gooey. Mine was like the fudge you get from those old fashioned candy stores, where it's more dense and the bittersweet chocolate you could taste. If you like dark chocolate, you probably would have voted for mine.

Last but not least, there came the Homemade Lasagna Challenge. I made a half sausage and half eggplant lasagna, but I mixed it up on this one by making two layers with sausage and the middle layer had eggplant. This lasagna was a veggie-friendly lasagna, each layer additionally contained spinach, mushrooms, a ricotta mixture (recipe used off the box of no-cook lasagna by Barilla), and mozzarella (always!). The sauce I used was my favorite, Paul Newman's Own--the types of tomato sauce were Tomato & Basil and Sock-a-rooni (my favorite because it has bell peppers in it--and lots of seasoning!!!). I was very disappointed to find out that the pasta didn't cook all the way through because I may have prematurely pulled my lasagna out of the oven. The other deciding factor for most people was the fact that my friend's lasagna had meatballs stuffed in to it (IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!), and I think I was a little light on the sausage in mine. Greatest lesson learned on this one--don't forget if you're cooking for people, know who your feeding! (OH! I forgot to mention that I was cooking for 8 men... what was I thinking trying to sneak that eggplant in there! hahahahaha.)