Jazz and Fall a perfect combo....

A few bottles of wine, jazz and friends can do a lot for the soul of a chef. Like the great jazz musicians who see their music as a framework for an improvisational session, I look at recipes as an inspiration, not a carefully plotted script. After a night with close friends, a hip hole in the wall jazz bar, I have decided to use this same approach for the design of my menu for the rest of Fall . . . keeping it smooth like the stand up bass, bright and cheery as a horn player, in rhythm with the season like a drummer, and soulful like the ivory keys.

The menu is written for the home cook. It contains liberal descriptions to guide the diner through the “framework” of the menu and enable them to see spontaneous yet focused cuisine I have cooked for them. If they choose to recreate the evening at home, the menu offers them a great tool to help them recreate a dinning experience, but allows them to add more trumpet and less bass if need be. I look at a dish in general and see a jazz quartet on every plate. Each piece can stand on its own, but together they create a more resonant sound. You, the guest, may not hear the dish in quite the same way as the next, and this is fine. If you like cheery trumpets, then maybe the acid of citrus speaks to you more than the smooth bass line of creamy “Fall Squash Risotto”, and this is ok. Food, like music, is a personal experience. I cannot tell you that putting cream cheese on a hot dog is a sin, even though it is, for if that bit of sweet cheesey topping on street meat is what makes you happy then go for it. If you feel the urge to try Bordeaux with striped bass then do it. Like a jazz musician, they will never know if that b flat minor fits if they don’t play it.

That is what food and music is all about, playing and eating what you like. It is something that speaks to the inner soul and makes you happy when you hear it, and smile when fond memory surfaces when you smell the aroma of a dish. Take life, as well as your dish of perfectly cooked pasta to the couch, dim the lights and listen to the ivory keys whisk you away, or a hamburger and Britney spears, whatever you’re in the mood for! But whatever you eat, make sure it is quality. Like my Father told me, “Good Food, Good Friends! QUALITY GETS AL”. . .

Butternut Squash Risotto

Ingredients
6-8 cups vegetable broth

5 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided into 4 Tbsp and 1 Tbsp

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 each Leek, Chopped

1/4 cup Marscapone

2 cups butternut squash, peeled, and finely diced

2 cups arborio rice

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp chopped chives

Salt

Method
1 Heat broth in medium sized saucepan and keep warm over low heat. Melt 4 Tbsp of butter in a large saucepan; add onion. Cook over medium heat until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

2 Add rice to onions. Cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine. Cook, stirring constantly until wine has been absorbed by the rice or evaporated. Add a few ladles of broth, just enough to barely cover rice. Cook over medium heat until broth has been absorbed. Continue cooking and stirring rice, adding a little bit of broth at a time, cooking and stirring until it is absorbed, until the rice is tender, but still firm to the bite, about 15 to 20 minutes. half way through the process add the butternut squash.

3 During the last minutes of cooking, add remaining tablespoon of butter, 1/3 cup Parmesan, leeks, and chives. At this point the rice should have a creamy consistency. Add salt to taste, and stir in marscapone. Serve with remaining grated Parmesan.

Serves 4 to 6.