Risotto with smoked mozzarella

Risotto with smoked mozzarella and escarole,

another NYT Cooking recipe

It's a risotto recipe without the risotto preparation: No ladling of liquid, just cook the dry rice in oil for a minute and then add all the liquid. The smoked mozzarella added an unexpected note.

I added some parsley I still had for a touch of color.

Verdict: looks 4/10, taste 8/10, easiness 9/10. I'll make this again!

The NYT Cooking Site

...is great. A couple of things I've made over the past couple of weeks:

Pasta with chicken and mushrooms, risotto-style

It was fine, but I thought the somewhat cumbersome risotto method didn't add all that much to the flavor.

Fettuccine with asparagus and smoked salmon

Very good and I liked the fact that I didn't have to cook the salmon.

(Deconstructed) Lasagna with asparagus and chives

Fine. Not sure I got the lasagna part right -- other pasta would have worked as well. I did like the use of ricotta!

Mushroom risotto with peas

Fine. Not six servings, though. The parsley matters!

Onwards!

Fettuccine with Asparagus and Salmon

Another recipe with asparagus from the Times' Cooking Website. Quick and easy, though not exactly light (I used 1/2 and 1/2 instead of heavy cream). Too bad Whole Foods didn't have green fettuccine. Otherwise I pretty much followed the recipe and it was a very satisfying dish.

I didn't click on nutritional information.

Random recipe: Deconstructed lasagna with asparagus and chives

Deconstructed Lasagna with Asparagus and Chives

This recipe, from the NYT's new Cooking website, was a hit on a warm and humid night in May. Easy to prepare (not many ingredients, no complicated chopping or peeling or sauteeing), not too heavy (thanks to the use of ricotta -- of the whole milk kind -- rather than cream), not too pasta-y (thanks to a lb. of asparagus). My family loved it. Five out of five.

Toast Hawai'i

So this was a popular German appetizer in the 1970s: Toast Hawai'i. You butter toast (challah or brioche offer an upgrade), top it with 1. a slice of ham, 2. a slice of pineapple (upgrade: fresh pineapple), 3. a cherry, and 4. a slice of cheese (upgrade: don't use Kraft singles). Comfort food with a touch of the Pacific. Try it, it's really not bad.