Lisa Eberhahn, Challenge 3
I prepared Pastor Risotto with Elixir Popcorn Mushrooms.
For this round, the popcorn is a fun addition and the most challenging of all the ingredients for me.
My original thought was a savory popcorn ball. While they tasted delicious, they became soggy very quickly. I ended up coating the popcorn with the ketchup elixir. Seems easy enough, but I had to experiment with the size of the popcorn.
It had to be small enough to top the mushrooms but big enough to stand up to the elixir. Once perfected, I ended up with caramel corn like consistency, which is a nice contrast against the mushrooms.
Since the pork was a little bit fatty, I tried to cook it well done, thinking it would become more like bacon. It only became overcooked, so I cooked according to package directions. It's a great addition to risotto because it's cut thin but still gives a little bit of chew.
For me, there were so many possibilities with this round of ingredients. I decided to go with a risotto dish to ring in the chilly weather. Everyone in my family loved this dish.