pickled eggs, risotto, peanut sauce . . .

A few of the things I've put together in the past couple of days.

After the beets were but a memory, we hardboiled some eggs, peeled them, and put them into the "juice" from the pickled beets -- they turn a gorgeous, vibrant fuschia, and are infused with that pickle-y flavor. Plus they take me back to my childhood, when my grandma used to do this . . .

The risotto I made Saturday night pretty much as I envisioned it last week: with the garlic scapes, the shelling peas, and the chickpea broth. Risotto is amazing. I don't think I've ever eaten any risotto but my own, which I only started making a couple of years ago, but the first time I tried it, I fell in love! I really thought, "where has this BEEN all my life?!" And each time I make it I have that same reaction yet again. In fact, there might be some leftovers lurking in the fridge right now . . .

Yes, risotto takes time, but it is SO worth it! Deborah Madison says something I like about it -- I'll go look it up. Oh, guess what! She doesn't say it about risotto, she says it about polenta, but it still applies: "Averse as we are to giving time to simple tasks . . ." oh, yes. But the time spent is an investment, and a celebration.

Then last night I topped pan-fried tofu and sauteed Asian greens from the farmer's market with a peanut sauce, sort of cobbled together from ones in Didi Emmons' Entertaining for a Veggie Planet and Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone. I used peanut butter, brown sugar, finely minced cilantro, garlic and ginger, lime juice, soy sauce, sambal, and warm water to thin it. The sauce itself was fantastic, but the finished dish didn't quite come together as I had hoped. Maybe the sauce was too thick? Or not spiced strongly enough? I'll keep tinkering with it.