A Different Light-4/28/09

We got a new camera today and I'm curious to see how the food pics will look. I can already tell they are a little lighter. Not that I do this blog to plug products, but this camera is a Canon Power Shot SD1200 IS if you like the pictures.
I'm racing along on my head start on May's recipes. Tonight I made two recipes from next month's Gourmet. The first recipe was the Lemony Risotto with Asparagus and Shrimp on page 76. Risotto recipes are pretty similar and this one was like most. You make the risotto and add the extras at the end. This was good but not spectacular. Some of the issue was the rather vague directions about how much liquid to use/leave after making the risotto. My risotto was still a little too chewy after 18 minutes and adding the last of the liquid would have given it a little more time to finish. Shrimp and asparagus are pretty common risotto additions and they worked well.
My second dish was listed as a one pot meal but the ingredients sounded a little thin so I made the risotto to go along with it. I am so glad I did. This dish was not only not filling, it was flat out not good. I really can't tell you what went wrong but this was a really poor dish. There was very little flavor outside of the hot pepper flakes and the squid was flavorless and tough after cooking for that long. Perhaps in Florence, Italy, where this dish was conceived, each component carries its own flavor but using my supermarket ingredients, nothing stood out. The Swiss chard added a bitter note that really off-putting. This is my first D of the month and it would have been an F if I even had them. Oh well, at least the picture looks good.
Lemony Risotto with Asparagus and Shrimp-C+
Cost- $14. 43
Calories per serving-562
Florentine Stewed Calamari with Swiss Chard-D-
Cost-$14.44
Calories per serving-270

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