Last week’s New York Times piece on watercress couldn’t have come at a better time. I had a big bundle of upland cress from my harvest at Bee Heaven Farm. Unlike watercress that grows in—you guessed it—water, upland cress grows in the soil. Fresh, it has a peppery bite that mellows quite a bit when cooked.

I chose to dump my cress into a big pot of barlotto, or barley risotto. The flavorful greens, blanched and pureed into submission, clung to firm-tender grains of barley whose starches blended into a creamy sauce with the usual risotto suspects—garlic, stock, parmesan and butter. This was more delicious than any risotto I’ve made in some time. The greens offered lots of character, the grains a sturdy, chewy mouthful.

I made a few amendments to the original Aquavit recipe. I blanched the cress in stock not water (why let that flavor go to waste?) and used a food processor to pulverize the watercress. A blender wouldn’t cut it. I also used all cress and no spinach, but I imagine any combination of flavor-packed greens would do the trick.

Barley Risotto with Watercress
8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
Kosher salt
10 ounces watercress, tough stems removed
6 sprigs parsley, stems and all
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 leek, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups pearl barley
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 grated Parmesan
Black pepper

Instructions
Bring vegetable stock to a boil. If the stock is homemade and low-sodium, season with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Reserving a few sprigs watercress for garnish, blanch the greens and parsley in the stock for 30 seconds. Remove the watercress and parsley with a slotted spoon, and transfer them to an ice water bath. Reduce heat on the stock pot, and bring it to a gentle simmer.

Squeeze excess moisture from the watercress, and transfer it to a food processor. Add 1/2 cup of stock, and puree. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large, wide pot over medium heat. Add the leek and cook until it begins to soften—about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Pour in the barley, and cook 3 minutes, stirring. Pour in wine, and stir until all of the liquid has been absorbed into the barley. Add 2/3 cup stock, and stir until all of the liquid has been soaked up by the barley. Repeat with remaining stock—this will take about 30 minutes. The barley should be firm but yielding, and the grains and stock should take on the creamy consistency of risotto.

Stir in 3 tablespoons of butter, Parmesan, and watercress puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with sprigs of watercress, and serve immediately.

Serves 4 main courses and 6 sides

Temperatures are still in the 80s down here in South Florida, but I’m forging forward will fall-inspired menus. Last Friday I made Pumpkin Sage Risotto with a little gem of a pumpkin I picked up from a Jacksonville farmers’ market. For the most part, I followed my tried and true risotto recipe—just adding in roasted pumpkin and fresh sage in the last stage of cooking. 

You could, of course, substitute canned pumpkin in a pinch. But you wouldn’t get this beautiful bright orange color (canned pumpkin tends to be darker) nor the deep, gourdy flavor. Roasted butternut or acorn squash would be a better, most likely sweeter, alternative. 

This recipe yielded plenty of risotto for four main courses, plus two fat risotto cakes that William and I ate with eggs for Saturday breakfast. 

Pumpkin Sage Risotto
1/2 of a 3- to 4-pound pumpkin, roasted
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 cups carnaroli or arborio rice
6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh sage 
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup grated Parmesan 
1 teaspoon (or more) coarse Kosher salt
Pepper to taste 

Instructions
Roast pumpkin (here are great step-by-step instructions), chopping half of the pumpkin into 1/2-inch cubes and reserving the second half for another use. 

Bring stock and wine to a near boil, and turn heat to low. 

Heat olive oil in a wide, 4- to 6-quart pot over medium heat. Add onion, and cook 8 minutes, until soft. Add garlic, and cook 2 minutes more. Add rice to the pot and toast for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring. Now, add 1/2 cup stock mixture at a time, pouring in the next 1/2 cup only after all of liquid has been absorbed by the rice. You should stir the rice constantly. Depending on how salty your stock is, I usually add 1 teaspoon kosher salt once 2 cups of stock have been added, so the rice has plenty of time to absorb the flavor. 

Once all of the liquid has been added, the grains should be al dente and the dish creamy (don’t let all of the liquid from you last pour get absorbed). Stir in pumpkin and sage, and cook until it’s heated through. Add parmesan, butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately. 

Serves 5 (as a main course) or 7 (side-dish servings)

Somehow risotto has flitted on and off our weekly dinner menu for months now. But this Saturday, I devised a new recipe for our repertoire: Fennel-Onion Risotto with Green Pea Puree.

We love fennel—it’s in our favorite pot pie; we make a fennel confit, and we like it sauteed with sweet onions as a side dish. This love carried over naturally to our favorite risotto recipe, giving it a subtle anise scent and flavor, which you could intensify with fennel seed if you were so compelled. 

I wanted to round out the meal without having to go to the grocery store, hence the green pea puree, which was born from a bag in our freezer. This puree is really delicious on its own (I ate leftovers cold, straight from the fridge). But paired with the risotto, it presented a zippy cure to the palate fatigue that can accompany a main-course risotto.

This is an unabashedly spring-inspired meal (my apologies to the hard-core locavores). So you can either make this now and cheat of summer, or bookmark the recipe and wait seven or eight months to give it a try. Either way, you’ll enjoy it. 

Fennel-Onion Risotto with Green Pea Puree
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 medium fennel bulb, plus stalks and fronds
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups carnaroli or arborio rice
1 cup grated parmesan
3 tablespoons butter 
Salt and pepper to taste 
Green pea puree (recipe follows) 

Instructions
Bring stock and wine to a near boil, and turn heat to low. Trim stalks and fronds from fennel bulb, and add the stalks to the broth, simmering for at least 15 minutes. Finely chop 1/4 cup of the fronds, and reserve for the end of the risotto’s preparation. Dice 1/2 of fennel bulb (about 1 cup).

Heat olive oil in a wide, 4- to 6-quart pot over medium, add onion, diced fennel, and garlic, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, until vegetables soften. Add rice to the pot and toast for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir the rice as it toasts, and don’t stop stirring until the risotto is ready to hit the table. Now, add 1/2 cup stock mixture at a time (avoiding the fennel stalks), pouring in the next 1/2 cup only after all of liquid has been absorbed by the rice. (Don’t forget to keep stirring.) Depending on how salty your stock is, I usually add 1 teaspoon kosher salt once 2 cups of stock have been added, so the rice has plenty of time to absorb the flavor. 

Once all of the liquid has been added, the grains should be al dente and the dish creamy (don’t let all of the liquid from you last pour get absorbed). Stir in the parmesan, butter, and fennel fronds. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Plate risotto, and in the center of each pile, make an indention about the size of a medium plum. Fill each indention with 1/4 cup pea puree, and serve. 

Serves 4 (as a main course) or 6 (side-dish servings)

Green Pea Puree
2 cups frozen green peas
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped 
3 tablespoons chopped chives or scallions
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
Bring a small pot of salty water to a boil, add peas and cook 4 to 5 minutes, until tender. Drain, and shock peas in ice water. (This step can be done hours in advance.)

Dry out the pot, and return to stove on medium-low heat. Heat olive oil, and add garlic and chives. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn down heat if necessary; just don’t let garlic burn. Add peas back to the pot, and cook until heated through. 

Transfer pea mixture to a food processor along with the butter and lemon juice. Pulse until mixture is creamy. Add a tablespoon of broth or water if pea puree is too thick, and pulse again. Season with salt and pepper. 

Makes about 1 cup

My first taste of risotto was repulsive. My poor mother was trying to introduce her backwater children to a new food, but she failed, over salting the risotto and cooking it into a gummy mess. It was quite possibly the worst meal my Cindy has ever prepared. Thankfully she tried again with a new recipe and a slighter hand with the sodium.

Cindy has since mastered the dish. And it’s become a weeknight staple for William and me. While the constant stirring gives risotto a reputation for being labor intensive, the prep work really is a snap. Chop an onion, garlic and parsley. Throw them in a pot in good order, along with rice and a few more ingredients, and you have a one-pot meal.

I’ve adapted this risotto recipe from epicurious.com, and it takes on extra vegetables, herbs and flavors readily. Enjoy.

Lemon-parsley Risotto
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups carnaroli* or arborio rice
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 cup grated parmesan
4 tablespoons butter 
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
Zest and juice of one lemon
Salt and pepper to taste 

Instructions
Bring stock to a near boil, and turn heat to low. Heat olive oil in a wide, 4- to 6-quart pot over medium, add onion and cook 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add rice to the pot and toast for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir the rice as it toasts, and don’t stop stirring until the risotto is ready to hit the table. Pour in wine and cook until all the liquid has evaporated. Now, add 1/2 cup stock at a time, pouring in the next 1/2 cup only after all of liquid has been absorbed by the rice. (Don’t forget to keep stirring.) Depending on how salty your stock is, I usually add 1 teaspoon kosher salt once 2 cups of stock have been added, so the rice has plenty of time to absorb the flavor. 

Once all of the liquid has been added, the grains should be al dente and the dish creamy (don’t let all of the liquid from you last pour get absorbed). Stir in the parmesan, butter, parsley, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Serves 4 main course or 6 side dish servings

*I prefer carnaroli over arborio rice, because it maintains its shape and firm texture.