HK Cincinnati:

David and I never really got around to purchasing a television after we moved out of our Clifton apartment to our shiny new place. There were other, more pressing matters, like paying for emergency root canals and iphones and rent and craft beers. That being the case, David and I don’t watch a lot of current television shows.

But we do watch Hell’s Kitchen.

It’s become our latest guilty pleasure. I was clicking around on the interwebs late at night and found the season 5 premiere. We enjoy Hell’s Kitchen for a number of reasons.

One—David and I both think it is cathartic to watch people other than us get yelled at. The British accent and frequent cursing just makes it even better.

Two—I don’t know where they find these “finalists” but they seem handpicked to induce the most scoffing on the part of the viewers. Their personalities have been picked out to clash with each other while they cook delicious (and not so delicious) food. During all of the drama, Gordon Ramsay is stomping around the kitchen dramatically screaming and throwing pans around.

The teams cook a lot of things, though mainstay appetizers during dinner service are scallops and risotto.

After seeing all of season 4, and watching the teams berated about their subpar (and sometimes acceptable) scallops and risotto at least twice an episode, I turned to David and told him I had never actually had a scallop or risotto and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Yesterday I found out. We made a trip to Whole Foods in Rookwood after work. And so begins our own version of Hell's Kitchen:

Which means I get to run around the kitchen asking David "David, how long to the window?!" in a terrible British accent, and following every question with a rhetorical "yes?"

We picked up our ingredients for our own risotto, including risotto rice, peas, carrots, 24 month old grated parmesan cheese, chicken cooking stock and shallots. We had vermouth at home.

Peas

24 month Parmesan

We also selected 1 lb of sea scallops with some fresh thyme to cook them with.

David reminds you to always gently rinse the scallops

Thyme

As an afterthought, we picked up some veggies and crostini to hold us over while we cooked.

After David almost blinded himself cutting them up, we sautéed the shallots.

Added Saffron for some nice color:

And cooked our chicken stock with various spices and the carrots:

finished risotto

fancy pants sea salt flakes

white pepper for the scallops

Want

We decided to pair our scallops and risotto with nice belgian brews. St. Bernardus Tripel (his) and Goulden Carolus Cuvee de van de Keizer (hers).