Making Miscellany: 7

Dear reader,

Hello, hello, and welcome to this month’s edition of the Making Miscellany. July has felt a particularly miscellaneous month, a bit in-between-y. While my hands have been uncharacteristically focused on one or two projects, my brain has been jumping ahead, planning: what’s next, what’s next, what’s next. The result is a certain antsty-ness, a feeling of being nearly done and about to start that’s permeated the month. I’ll show you a bit of what I’ve been working on and thinking about today, and I’ve also got (gasp) something a bit different—a recipe—at the end.

Finishing Up

My needles have been mostly been occupied with my Dappled Lace Raglan (Ravelry link), a gamble of a project that I’m delighted has paid off. Last month I wrote about winging it with this lovely sweater; I was knitting it up at a different gauge in lovely Organic Trio, without doing any of the necessary math, and hoping when I went to divide the sleeves from body it would fit. And, dear reader, it did! I’ve rechristened it my Wimbledon Sweater, a tribute to the hours I spent working on it while watching the tennis and the fact that, in color, it’s not all that unlike a tennis ball. A pair of short sleeves and an i-cord neckline are all that stand between finished article and me, and I cannot wait to be wearing it. I’ve already got an autumn version planned, inspired by this test knit version on Ravelry; the yarn-economical pattern will be the perfect way to use up a scant sweater quantity of Vovo currently living in my stash.

My daughter’s pre-school year has also wrapped up, with a much-loved teacher heading off for maternity leave. I wanted to gift her a handmade hat for her imminently arriving baby at the end-of-year celebration, but some other deadlines meant that, the evening before the party, I hadn’t begun. Somehow, though, a Beloved Bonnet jumped on and off my needles just in time … I used two shades of Coop Knits Socks Yeah! I had in stash held together, and I love the marled result. I think this will be a new go-to for easy-to-care for baby knits … soft, silky, machine washable, and an amazing range of colors.

Beginning [again]

I love the cheerful colors of my new sock!

I’ve loved the Dappled Lace Raglan, but especially when I was working the yoke, it wasn’t great for on-the-go, pick-up-put-down knitting as I needed the chart to hand. For those moments, I’ve been knitting on socks. I have a long-waited for sock nearly finished and the beginnings of a new pair. They’ve inspired me to get back to my Make Socks, Mend Socks 2023 goals … my hope was to end the year with 12 pairs of socks added to the sock drawer. I’ve fallen off sharing my progress, mostly because it felt there wasn’t much to share, but I want to keep going. I wear handmade socks nearly every day throughout the year and want a nicely refreshed sock drawer, with mended pairs sat alongside new socks by year’s end!

A Burgeon Sock (Ravelry link) to join one I knit four years ago … one of the original pair met an unfortunate end in the washing machine. Luckily I had leftover yarn, it just, uh, took me awhile to get to it.

In a similar vein, I’ve recommitted to using a journal to set some simple monthly intentions. I did this for the first five months of the year, taking a bit of time at the end of each month to think about my hopes for the following month and breaking it down into actionable tasks (i.e. cook more —> make dinner 2 times a week). My tendency when I fall out of the habit of say, sharing monthly sock progress or setting monthly goals is to just stop altogether, which is silly. So today, I’m revelling in beginning again!

On repeat

Eggplant/aubergines and zucchini/courgettes! It is perhaps almost a truism to say that it is July, so we are eating the most July-y vegetables on repeat, but there you have it. Current favourites include this smoky eggplant dip, which I would eat every day if I could (my advice if you’re making it, roast as many eggplants as your oven will fit until they’re really, really, really soft, choose the hand chopping method, then layer in the tahini, lemon, olive oil, etc. to suit your taste), this zucchini pasta and this zucchini bread. (If you’re wondering, yes all cooking ‘content’ will probably continue to be a paean to Deb Perelman for the forseeable.) In an exciting turn of events, I spotted some yellow summer squash at our grocery store last week; a staple of my childhood summers and available I think pretty much in any supermarket anytime of year in the US, I rarely see it here in the UK. It was delicious, and I resolved that next year, we’ll see if we can grow our own to ensure a steady supply! I used the last of it in a glorious summer risotto, pictured above, a variation on the same risotto I’ve been making for a decade. If you’d like the recipe, you’ll find it at the newsletter’s end.

Coming up

My sewing machine has been very quiet for the month of July, but I have Many Plans. Partly because I’m realistic about how long it takes me to sew things, but also partly because the weather has been atrocious and, even though it’s July 27th, it feels like summer here is DONE, the fabrics and patterns I’m pulling out are definitely more in a transition to autumn category. While my plans for the next month are certainly overly ambitious, I’m looking forward to firing up the machine and having a sewing project on the go on the regular again. First up, a Donny Shirt in that amazing striped cotton.

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I hope you’re well and finding some time to make in the midst of the daily bustle! To end things today, I thought I’d share the base recipe for the risotto I always make. I’m not Italian and make no claims to it’s authenticity, but it’s the way I’ve been cooking it for over a decade now, and one of our favourites.

Happy eating, cooking, knitting, sewing, making!

xo Katherine

Christopher’s Aunt’s Risotto

About once a month, we have a roast chicken on a Sunday, and make a stock with the carcass. Two or three days later, I make risotto. I love it for many reasons: it’s a meal in one pot; it’s infinitely adaptable, making it a great recipe for eating with the seasons; it’s thrifty—my versions always are based on what’s left from other meals and what veg we have to use up—while feeling decadent.

I started making this my first year of graduate school, when a fellow first year and I would sometimes cook dinner together. My hazy recollection is of a first semester fuelled by weekly risotto. But when I drill a bit deeper into the memory, in point of fact I can only remember us cooking it once; nevertheless, he gave me the recipe for the risotto his aunt taught him to make, and I’ve been cooking it ever since. It’s scribbled in a battered black-and-white composition book, though I committed it to memory long ago. I’ve written it up as I now make it, with some suggestions of the kinds of veg I put in — leeks and asparagus in the spring; spring onions and summer squash in summer; mushrooms in autumn; Brussel sprouts in winter—but it really is very adaptable. I’ve made it many many ways with many different ingredients; while some have been, of course, better than others, it’s always delicious!

Serves 2, generously

You’ll need

• 1 small onion + 1 clove garlic (or shallots or a leek or big spring onions)

• 2 TBSP olive oil (sometimes I add a knob of butter)

• 1 c. arborio rice

• a few stems of fresh herbs, like tarragon or thyme (optional)

• 1/2 c. white wine

• 3-4 c. broth*

• 1/4 c. parmesan or other hard cheese (I’ve also sometimes added soft goat cheese alongside a hard cheese for a different flavour profile )

• lemon zest (optional)

• Additions: veg** like asparagus, peas, zucchini, summer squash, green beans, mushrooms, Brussel sprouts , butternut squash; we also sometimes add leftover chicken or have, on special occasions(read: one time on Nick’s birthday), topped with scallops

* A note on the broth: Since this dish is, essentially, broth and rice, you want the tastiest broth you can make or find. We tend to make this when we have homemade chicken stock (usually from boiling what’s left of a roast chicken) but you could buy chicken wings to make stock, or make a homemade vegetable stock to keep it vegetarian, or buy the best stock you can find. When I was in the US, I liked Better Than Bullion paste; I’ve yet to find an equivalent in the UK.

**I add the vegetables in at different stages and different levels of pre-cooked-ness, depending on the season. For spring/summer vegetables, I either steam or blanche (things like green beans, asparagus) or add them directly in. Zucchini and summer squash I add shortly after the rice, delicate veg that needs minimal cooking like peas I add near the end. For winter vegetables, I often roast them first and stir them in at the very end (roasted butternut squash is great, as are Brussel sprouts, though I also sometimes shred half of my sprouts and sauté them with the the onions, then carry on from there). And when in doubt, I sauté the veg in a separate pan as I cook and add in near the end — this is what I always do for mushrooms!

Method

Put your stock onto a simmer and chop onion + garlic (or whatever allium you’re using). Heat oil in a wide heavy pan, like a Dutch oven or large sauté pan, and cook onion + garlic until soft over low to medium heat. Add rice and any stems of herbs, if using, and cook for about five minutes, then add the wine and cook, stirring, until absorbed.

[If you’re adding vegetables that you want to cook alongside the rice, now is a good time.] Begin adding your stock a ladle full at a time, stirring frequently. While I’ve found I don’t have to stir non-stop (if I’m say, prepping the vegetables), you don’t want to leave it too long without stirring. You’ll know its time to add the next ladleful of liquid when your last one is nearly absorbed. To test, pull a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan and see if liquid rushes out ahead of the rice. If it does, keep stirring, if it doesn’t, add another ladleful. Initially the rice will absorb the liquid fairly quickly, nearer the end, it’ll take longer. As your stock supply runs low, start tasting the rice for doneness. You’re after rice that’s cooked but has a bit of bite.

When your rice is nearly done, add in any pre-cooked vegetables (reserving some to spoon over the top if you wish) or meat and stir to bring everything to temperature, then grate in hard cheese and stir. Once I’ve turned off the heat, I often finish it with lemon zest or sometimes a soft chopped herb if it makes sense. If I’m feeling fancy I fish the stem of thyme/tarragon/whatever out before serving, but often I don’t; make it a game, whoever ends up with the branch of thyme gets good luck.

Serve immediately. I love that this is a meal unto itself, but during the summer months I like to have it with a tomato salad (mostly because, in summer, I think there are few meals not improved by a tomato salad).