Tag Archives: mushrooms

August 12, 2018 · 10:06 am

NOT EXACTLY RATATOUILLE

One of my favorite stalls at the farmers market is run by two young women who always have friendly greetings and interesting offerings. They have bunches of several varieties of basil along with many other herbs. Earlier in the season they had garlic scapes, fava beans, and a wide variety of Asian vegetables. They have bins and bins of tomatoes. But they also have an amazing selection of eggplants: not just the big purple tear drops that my grandmother grew but also white, variegated, Japanese, Italian, long, and green varieties. On my last visit I found eggplants that I had never seen. They were labeled as “Indian”, but their distinctive characteristic was that they were only about the size of a hen’s egg. They looked so cute that I bought them, although I wasn’t sure what I would do with them. You could stuff them with shrimp, Cajun-style, for individual servings. You could make an eggplant tapenade, but that would subvert the whole idea of miniature vegetables. I guess you could steam them and serve them by themselves. Of course, if you  think of eggplant you think of ratatouille, so I bought some tomatoes, squash, peppers and onions as well.

I have long thought of ratatouille as a dish that is delicious but labor-intensive. That’s because the first time I ever prepared it years ago I followed Julia Child’s recipe exactly. Each vegetable was cooked separately and slowly to maintain its shape and color before combining with all of the other ingredients and then simmered gently to meld the flavors. In short, Julia’s version is not a dish that you start when you get home from work. The mystique has even been amplified by the wonderful Disney Pixar film, Ratatouille.  In the movie, the signature dish prepared by the rat was an elaborate layering of slices of eggplant, squash, tomato and pepper. Beautiful to behold. And if you go to the web these days there are several versions of the recipe that use a similar artful arrangement of vegetables. Again, not something you would whip together before the evening news.

I think of a farm family sitting at their dinner table in Provence. I suspect they enjoy a good ratatouille but I doubt that it is in delicate layers. For that matter, a good shakshuka in Israel or bibimbap (add some beef and rice) in Korea may employ the same or similar ingredients without a lot of fanfare in their preparation. In other words, ratatouille should be easy to make and still be wonderfully delicious. This recipe just tosses the vegetables together, uses mushrooms, and adds a poached egg – definitely not authentic ratatouille, but a good way to use miniature Indian eggplants.

Eggplant blossom
Baby eggplant

RECIPE

Indian eggplant
Salted zucchini rounds
Grilled zucchini
Vegetable mix ready for braising
Not Exactly Ratatouille with poached eggs

Not Exactly Ratatouille

Ingredients

  • 6 small Indian eggplants
  • 2 small zucchini
  • Kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 6 small white onions
  • 6 medium mushrooms
  • 4 small ripe tomatoes (about 4-5 inches in diameter), halved
  • 1 large green bell pepper, seeded and slice into ¼ inch thick rings
  • 1 small can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
  • ½ cup dry white wine (optional)
  • ¼ teaspoon ground thyme to taste
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 eggs, poached

Method

  1. Trim the tops of the eggplants and slice them in half lengthwise. Do not peel. Slice zucchini in ¾ inch rounds. Sprinkle the cut vegetables generously with Kosher salt and place in a large sieve over a bowl for 30 minutes to draw out water, Blot dry with paper towels. Over a high flame, grill the vegetables for a few minutes until lightly browned with grill marks (if desired). Remove from the grill and set aside until ready for assembly.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or lidded oven-proof vessel over medium heat. Add the grilled eggplant and zucchini along with the onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, green pepper, tomato sauce, wine and seasonings.
  3. Cover the Dutch oven and transfer to the middle of an oven preheated to 300°F. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the vegetables are fragrant and tender. If there is too much liquid, remove the cover during the last 15 minutes of cooking to reduce.  Adjust the seasoning and serve, topped with 2 poached eggs for each serving.

 

 

Advertisement

4 Comments

Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

January 25, 2017 · 12:22 pm

ZUCCHINI AND SPINACH UN-QUICHE

We are entering our third week of unpacking. We had thought that by now we would be able to have Carol and her family over for our alternating family Sunday dinner. Unfortunately that was not to be although our kitchen is in good enough order to do some cooking. This week I was scheduled to make the main dish and sides. Carol was scheduled to make appetizers and dessert. The modified modified plan was for me to cook in our kitchen and then take it to Carol’s house for the dinner.

Carol made some outstanding appetizers and a delicious bread pudding (I forgot to make the promised whiskey sauce, but not to worry – there was whipped cream and/or ice cream to substitute.) Carol calls the appetizers puff pastry pinwheels. She had two kinds: pesto and sun-dried tomato. She says that the family’s favorite is prosciutto. It would have to be great to beat the two that she baked. Her bread pudding was made from an extra Christmas panettone augmented with chocolate and raisins.

Puff pastry pinwheels

Puff pastry pinwheels

For the main dish I roasted a whole chicken along with Hasselbach potatoes.  The challenge was the green vegetable. This time of year you can always find broccoli, broccolini, and green beans, but for me they have worn out their welcome. I know that summer squash is out of season, but in Southern California everything seems to be in season all year long. Unfortunately zucchini often cooks up watery with not much color. I decided to combine it with another watery vegetable but with more color: spinach. And mushrooms. Cheese and mushrooms sounded like good additions, and suddenly you have the makings of a quiche. The crust was definitely too much effort and too filling for a side dish, but the stand-alone filling sounded good.

Here’s the whole menu – puff pastry pinwheels, roast chicken, Hasselbach potatoes,  zucchini-spinach un-quiche, and panettone bread pudding.

RECIPE

Grated zucchini
Baby spinach leaves
Slices mushrooms
Zucchini and spinach un-quiche

Zucchini and Spinach Un-Quiche

Ingredients

  • 3 medium zucchini
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 generous handfuls, more or less, fresh baby spinach
  • 5 crimini mushrooms, sliced
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons Pernod
  • 2 ounces Swiss cheese, coarsely grated
  • 3 eggs, well beaten
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • ¼ cup panko
  • ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Method

  1. Wash the zucchini and cut off the stems. Grate with the coarse side of a box grater. In a clean towel or with clean hands, squeeze as much liquid as you can from the grated zucchini.
  2. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large sauté pan. Add the grated squash and sauté until the squash gives up its liquid. Then add the spinach and cook until the leaves are completely wilted and they have given up their liquid. Add the mushrooms and sauté for another 3-5 minutes. Correct the seasoning with salt and pepper. Add Pernod
  3. Transfer the mixture to a strainer. Drain. Use a heavy spoon to press out as much moisture as you can. Place in a well-buttered 2 quart baking dish or soufflé bowl.  Top with grated Swiss cheese.
  4. Combine the well-beaten eggs and cream. Add a little bit more salt and pepper. Pour over the zucchini/spinach mixture and stir until well combined. Sprinkle the top with panko and grated Parmesan cheese. Dot with butter.
  5. Bake in the middle of an oven preheated to 350°F for 1 hour or until bubbling and well-browned. Remove from the oven, cool for 5 minutes, and serve while still warm.

Cook’s Notes

  • The casserole will deflate as it cools. It will not reinflate with reheating, but it will still taste good if it is rewarmed.
  • You can turn this into quiche by baking it in a blind-baked pie shell at the same temperature for the same time.
  • You can turn it into a soufflé by separating the eggs, combining yolks with the cream, and gently folding in the stiffly-beaten egg whites. Use the same time and temperature.

 

3 Comments

Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes

Tagged as , , , ,

November 10, 2016 · 10:44 am

SALMON CAKES AND MUSHROOM SAUCE

The de-cluttering campaign has moved to the pantry. There are lots of opportunities there: several boxes of salt, two or three tins of sardines, and five – or is it six? – different varieties of vinegar. One item caught my eye, a can of salmon. Fortunately, canned salmon is one of those virtually indestructible items like Spam and Twinkies. It can sit on a shelf for years, just waiting for some culinary emergency. This can had sat on the shelf for longer than I wish to recount, so it seemed like the time had come to use it.

When I was growing up, my mother often used canned salmon. I think that may have reflected her growing up in a Dakota sod-buster family on the flat and isolated prairie. She used to tell of waiting for shipments of otherwise unavailable foods to arrive , preserved in one way or another, on the trains from Minneapolis. Salmon loaf was one of my mother’s  specialties,, and salmon salad sometimes showed up with the salmon straight out of the can. You were able to eat it that way because the canning process essentially cooked the salmon, bones and all. I was never a fan of the bones that you could find. The little vertebrae had a fascinating shape, and they crunched easily between your teeth. But when I found out what they were, those little bones finished off my enthusiasm for canned salmon. These days, we often have salmon, but it is grilled or roasted, and always a fresh steak or a beautiful filet. Canned salmon seemed like a distant memory but a good challenge. Salmon cakes were an obvious choice.

I also had to deal with mushrooms. The other day, Susan wanted to make her favorite Hungarian mushroom soup from the Moosewood cookbook. The recipe called for 2 pounds of fresh mushrooms. When I bought some at the grocery store, I carefully weighed out 2 pounds. It seemed like a lot. Clearly the scale at the store was not working because we wound up with enough mushrooms to make several batches of soup.  It occurred to me that mushroom sauce for the salmon would be a good way to use up at least some of the mushrooms. The sauce I made was thicker than you might like, but you can always thin it out with stock.

Canned salmon
Sautéed salmon cakes
Salmon cake topped with mushroom sauce

RECIPES

Salmon Cakes

Ingredients

  • 1 large, thick slice good-quality sourdough bread
  • ½ cup cream
  • 1 14 ounce  can salmon, drained
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon dried dill weed
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • vegetable oil

Method

  1. Tear the bread into chunks and place in the beaker of a food processor. Pulse several times to form coarse crumbs.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine the bread crumbs and cream. Stir in the salmon with a fork, breaking up the fish into shreds about the size of the bread crumbs. (This should collapse any intact vertebrae)
  3. Stir in the mustard, dill weed, lemon, seasoning, salt and pepper until thoroughly combined. Shape into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
  4. When you are ready to make your salmon cakes, remove the salmon mixture from the refrigerator and divide into four equal balls. Between two pieces of waxed paper, form each ball into a patty about ½ inch thick.
  5. Heat just enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of a large skillet. Over medium-high heat when the oil is shimmering, add the salmon cakes. Sauté until crisp and lightly browned on one side, about 5 minutes. Turn once and brown the other side. Serve while still warm.

Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • ½ pound Cremini mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1½ cups vegetable stock + more if needed
  • salt and pepper

Method

  1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the mushrooms and sauté  until the mushrooms are cooked through and lightly browned
  2. Stir in the flour so that the mushrooms are completely coated. Cook another minute or two.
  3. Add the vegetable stock, stirring continuously until it is completely incorporated and the mixture has thickened. Add more stock as needed for your desired consistency. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
  4. Serve over warm salmon cakes.

7 Comments

Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes

Tagged as , , ,

November 5, 2016 · 3:42 pm

VOL-AU-VENT

We are continuing our decluttering project and have moved to the garage where we store most of our infrequently used kitchen gear. That was where we found our two croquembouche molds that have subsequently been given to our daughters. That is also where we keep our stove-top smoker (a useful item) and supplies and equipment for making sausage.

I was excited to discover in a large bin of items a set of vol-au-vent cutters. One is shaped like a fish, one is shaped like a flower, and one is shaped like a heart. The cutters are cleverly designed with a central cutter that is just very slightly shorter than the outside cutter so that it does not completely cut through the pastry. It is also designed so that if you want to make pastry shells with only one layer of pastry dough you can do so. But you can also stack layers to make a taller shell. Most cookbooks that have a recipe (not many!) recommend using three layers.img_0751

It is said that vol-au-vents were invented by the great French chef, Marie-Antoine Careme. He, by the way, is considered to be the first celebrity chef as well as the inventor of such kitchen essentials as the toque, the tall chef’s hat. His fame came from all of the elaborate dishes and food displays that he prepared for his patrons, including Talleyrand, Napoleon, Czar Alexander I, British King George IV, and one of the famous Rothschild family.

Vol-au-vents are not commonly seen on restaurant menus these days. The name translates to “flying with the wind”, presumably because of the lightness of the puff pastry casing used to contain a delicate sauced meat or poultry. The original dish was, to say the least, complicated. Here is the recipe for Careme’s version, drawn from the book, Cooking for Kings by Ian Kelly and reported on NPR by Melissa Block.

DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME!

Les Petits Vol-Au-Vents á la Nesle
Brighton Pavilion and Chateau Rothschild

20 vol-au-vent cases, the diameter of a glass
20 cocks-combs
20 cocks-stones (testes)
10 lambs sweetbreads (thymus and pancreatic glands, washed in water for five hours, until the liquid runs clear)
10 small truffles, pared, chopped, boiled in consommé
20 tiny mushrooms
20 lobster tails
4 fine whole lambs’ brains, boiled and chopped
1 French loaf
2 spoonfuls chicken jelly
2 spoonfuls velouté sauce
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped mushrooms
4 egg yolks
2 chickens, boned
2 calves’ udders
2 pints cream
sauce Allemande
salt, nutmeg

Forcemeat:

Crumb a whole French loaf. Add two spoonfuls of poultry jelly, one of velouté, one tablespoon of chopped parsley, two of mushrooms, chopped. Boil and stir as it thickens to a ball. Add two egg yolks. Pound the flesh of two boned chickens through a sieve. Boil two calves’ udders — once cold, pound and pass through a sieve.

Then, mix six ounces of the breadcrumbs panada to ten ounces of the chicken meat, and ten of the calves’ udders and combine and pound for 15 minutes. Add five drams of salt, some nutmeg and the yolks of two more eggs and a spoonful of cold velouté or béchamel. Pound for a further ten minutes. Test by poaching a ball in boiling water — it should form soft, smooth balls.

Make some balls of poultry forcemeat in small coffee spoons, dip them in jelly broth and after draining on a napkin, place them regularly in the vol-au-vent, already half filled with:

a good ragout of cocks-combs and stones (testicles)
lambs’ sweetbreads (thymus and pancreatic glands, washed in water for five hours, until the liquid runs clear)
truffles
mushrooms
lobster tails
four fine whole brains

Cover all with an extra thick sauce Allemande.

Here’s a simpler, more modern version which uses substantially fewer ingredients along with store-bought frozen puff pastry. You can fill the pastry shell with anything you like, sweet or savory. Ice cream and berries make a good sweet choice. For savory, I have used a scallop sauce adapted from Julia Child’s recipe for coquilles St. Jacques à la Parisienne, but creamed chicken would be another good choice.  Another tip: you don’t really need the specialized cutters. You can just use the rim of a jelly glass or biscuit cutters of two different sizes. Finally, although I thought my end result tasted good, it certainly did not win any awards for appearance. The puff pastry burned around the edges where it was not covered by sauce. The lesson is to watch for burning and remove from the broiler before that happens.

RECIPE

Vol-au-Vent with Scallops and Mushroom Sauce

For the Pastry

Ingredients

  • 1 package (2 sheets) packaged puff pastry, thawed according to instructions
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tablespoon water

Method

  1. Place the thawed sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface. Roll it gently to flatten the dough and remove creases.
  2. Using your vol-au-vent cutter or improvised cookie cutters, cut out your preferred shapes and sizes.
  3. transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment
  4. Beat the egg yolk and water together. With a pastry brush, brush the egg mixture onto the pastry shapes, being careful not to let the egg mixture drip onto the parchment as that may prevent even rising.
  5. Bake according to package instructions. Mine called for 10 minutes in a 400°F oven. I baked them for a few minutes longer to make sure the insides were done.
  6. Cool in a rack, and remove the “lid”. Hollow out the center with a paring knife and teaspoon to form a little “bowl” for the filling.

For the filling

Ingredients

  • 1 cup white wine
  • bay leaf
  • 2 scallions, including green tops, minced
  • 1 pound scallops, rinsed and patted dry
  • ½pound Crimini mushrooms, sliced
  • water
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter + 1 tablespoon for top
  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 2 egg yolks
  • ½ cup cream
  • few drops of lemon juice
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 tablespoons Swiss cheese

Method

  1. In a small saucepan, combine the wine, bay leaf, and scallions. Bring to the simmer. Add the scallops and mushrooms with enough water to cover them. Return to the boil and then simmer until the scallops are cooked through, about 5 minutes.
  2. Remove the scallops and mushrooms to a plate. Bring the liquid back to the boil and continue to boil until it has been reduced about half to 1 cup.
  3. In another saucepan over medium heat, stir the flour and butter together and cook for a few minutes to remove the raw taste of the flour.
  4. Off the heat, stir in the hot liquid from cooking the scallops along with the milk. Return to the heat and boil for 1 minute.
  5. Blend the egg yolks and cream in a small bowl. Gradually drizzle the sauce mixture into the egg/cream mixture, stirring constantly to prevent the egg yolks from scrambling.
  6. Return the sauce to the pan and boil for one minute. Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. If the sauce is too thick, add more cream as needed.
  7. Combine 2/3 of the sauce with the reserved scallops and mushrooms. Spoon into four prepared puff pastry shells. Top with the remaining sauce,  sprinkle with grated Swiss cheese, and dot with butter.
  8. Place the filled shells under a hot broiler just long enough to melt and lightly brown the Swiss cheese. Serve immediately
    Cutting the puff pastry
    On the parchment ready for baking
    Cooling
    The finished dish, burned fish tails and all

7 Comments

Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes

Tagged as , , , , , ,

October 22, 2016 · 4:27 pm

DIANE’S MARINATED MUSHROOMS

Tonight I’m going to a reading of a writers’ group I have belonged to for a number of years. The reading is an occasional thing where everyone brings something they have written to read to the group, something to drink, and something to eat. It’s really a pot luck poetry reading.

For food, I decided to make a batch of Diane’s marinated mushrooms. The recipe came from the wife of the first colleague I recruited to my department in Shreveport over 40 years ago. The dish was so popular with the family – except, of course, those who don’t like mushrooms – that it received a spot in our family cookbook.  Marinated mushrooms are very easy to make and perfect for a cocktail hour or for a buffet. The two  things that require special attention are to start early enough to get the mushrooms well-marinated and to buy the smallest whole mushrooms you can find.

Pound and a half of white button mushrooms
Mushrooms marinating
Ready to serve

RECIPE

Diane’s Marinated Mushrooms

Ingredients

  • 1 cup wine vinegar
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1½ teaspoons sugar
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons minced chives
  • 2 teaspoons minced parsley
  • several whole peppercorns
  • 1 tablespoon pickling spice
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 quarts water
  • juice of one lemon
  • 1½ pounds button mushrooms

Method

  1. Prepare the marinade by combining in a quart jar the vinegar, olive oil, salt, sugar, bay leaf, pepper, chives, parsley peppercorns, pickling spice, and garlic. Set aside.
  2. In a large pot, bring the water to the boil. Add lemon juice, and then the mushrooms. Return to the boil, and boil for 3 minutes. Drain and cool the mushrooms.
  3. In a non-reactive container, combine the mushrooms and marinade. Marinate for 24 to 48 hours, stirring occasionally. The mushrooms will shrink in size.
  4. When you are ready to serve, drain and remove the bay leaf and, if desired, peppercorns and bits of pickling spices. Serve with toothpicks. If you can’t find button mushrooms, you can halve or quarter larger mushrooms.

5 Comments

Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes

Tagged as , , , , ,

October 18, 2016 · 9:19 am

LAZY MAN’S COTTAGE PIE

Shepherd’s pie (if it’s made with lamb) or cottage pie (if it’s made with beef) are pub favorites in Britain. They’re favorites in our house, too. The ingredients are straightforward, and the recipes are pretty simple. But they do take a lot of time and effort, especially with the mashed potatoes. You scrub, peel, cube, boil, and rice the potatoes. Then you mix them with butter and milk or cream. Finally you layer them over the meat mixture and bake.

It occurred to me that maybe there was a simpler way to deal with the potatoes. Another family favorite is smashed garlic potatoes where you boil russet potatoes in their skins and then mash them coarsely with butter and garlic so they still have lots of lumps, the bane of any self-respecting silky mashed potato. A little egg to bind them together and they might make a tasty – and easy – topping for cottage or shepherd’s pie. I thought I would give it a try. Here’s the result.

Still bubbling, straight out of the oven
Resting
Lazy man’s cottage pie
Lazy man’s cottage pie

RECIPE

Lazy Man’s Cottage Pie

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 6 snacking peppers, seeded and sliced into thin rings
  • 6 crimini mushrooms, coarsely chopped
  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • 1 cup beef stock + more as needed
  • ½ teaspoon ground thyme
  • ¼ teaspoon ground bay leaves
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 medium russet potatoes
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • ½ cup half-and-half
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • salt and pepper
  • melted butter for top

Method

  1. In a large skillet, heat the oil over a medium flame. Add the onions and stir, cooking until they are translucent but not browned. Add the ground beef, breaking up any large pieces. Stir frequently until the beef is lightly browned and all pink is gone. Stir in the peppers and mushrooms and cook for another few minutes until the peppers are wilted and the mushrooms are lightly browned and cooked through.
  2. Stir in the flour to cover all the other ingredients and cook for another few minutes until the oil is absorbed and the flour is cooked through. Add the beef stock and stir to make a gravy. Add stock until the gravy is the consistency that suits you.
  3. Add the thyme, bay leaf, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Adjust the seasoning and cook a few more minutes. Then transfer to a well-buttered oven-proof dish (a large soufflé dish is perfect) and set aside until you are ready to add the potatoes.
  4. While you are preparing the meat filling, place the unpeeled potatoes in a large pot of well-salted water and bring to the boil. Boil the potatoes until they are easily pierced with a kitchen fork with no resistance. This may take as long as 50-60 minutes.
  5. Remove the boiled potatoes from the heat and drain. Cool enough that you can handle them easily. Mash the potatoes coarsely with a large fork or a potato masher, Leave large chunks. Stir in the butter, half-and-half, and eggs. Cool the potatoes enough that the eggs don’t scramble.
  6. Cover the meat mixture with the potatoes, brush the top with melted butter, and bake in the middle of an oven preheated to 400° for about 45 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and bubbling.
  7. Remove to a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes. Serve while still warm. Should serve 4 persons.

 

6 Comments

Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes

Tagged as , , , ,

September 27, 2016 · 2:01 pm

SHRIMP-STUFFED MUSHROOMS

We’ve had our son and his two daughters visiting us the last few days. He was in town for a meeting, and the children flew in by themselves for the weekend. During their visit they took a couple of hikes and spent an afternoon at the swimming pool at the Community Recreation Center. The pool is a favorite place for all of our grandchildren because of the giant water slide.

The fist day, they visited Tent Rocks National Monument. The tent rocks are columns of volcanic tuff as high as 80 feet and topped with more durable cap rocks. The site has a slot canyon that you have to squeeze through to get to the top of the mesa. There are also petroglyphs if you look carefully.

Tent rocks
A parade of tent rocks
Slot canyon at Tent Rocks
Petroglyph of snake

The second day they visited Tsankawi Ruins, part of Bandelier National Monument. The trail leads to the top of a mesa where the ruined ancient village is littered with decorated pottery shards. Much of the trail winds through the volcanic tuff layer. It has winding, deep grooves, probably worn by countless foot steps, but possibly also carved out so that potential invaders had to come up the steep hillside in single file.

View from Tsankawi Ruins
Stone wall on the mesa top at Tsankawi Ruins
Path to Tsankawi Ruins carved through the tuff layer

On our son’s arrival, we had refreshments on the patio. Something more substantive than salted nuts but less than a full meal seemed in order. Stuffed mushrooms sounded like the perfect alternative. Shrimp was a perfect stuffing. As you’ll see in the recipe, there is a lot of chopping. You could use a food processor instead. Just be careful not to turn everything to mush. I prefer hand-chopped ingredients to give contrasting textures and bursts of different flavors.

Crimini mushrooms with and without stems
Boiled shrimp with and without tails
Ready for the oven
Ready to eat

RECIPE

Shrimp-Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients

  • 12 3-inch crimini mushrooms
  • olive oil
  • ½ pound boiled shrimp, cleaned and tails removed
  • 1 scallion
  • 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • ¼ cup panko
  • ¼ cup pine nuts, lightly toasted in a small dry saucepan
  • ½ teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and set aside.
  2. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, sauté the mushroom caps on both sides in about 1 – 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Transfer to a small baking sheet, hollow side up.
  3. Chop the mushroom stems and sauté in the same pan using more olive oil as needed. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.
  4. Chop the shrimp finely. Chop the scallion finely, including the green top.
  5. In a bowl, combine the chopped shrimp and scallion, reserved chopped mushroom stems, mayonnaise, panko, and pine nuts. Stir in Old Bay seasoning, and add salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Fill each mushroom cap with the shrimp mixture. Bake in the middle of an oven preheated to 350°F for 20-30 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer to a plate, and serve while still warm.

10 Comments

Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes, Travel

Tagged as , , , , , ,

September 12, 2016 · 2:19 pm

PORCUPINES IN MUSHROOM GRAVY

Here’s another riff on comfort food of the past.  For many mothers of the 1950s, -60s, and -70s, porcupine meatballs or just porcupines were a standby and family favorite. The recipe was included in The Joy of Cooking at least as early as 1943 and as late as 1974, but it had disappeared by 1997. I haven’t been able to find a recipe in contemporary cook books, but there are still several versions on the internet.

My first experience with porcupines came during my graduate school days. I lived with the family of one of my best grade school friends who had moved to Houston. The mother was a very good cook, but her meals were very much of the era. She knew dozens of ways to fix ground beef, and there was nothing that couldn’t be improved with a can of tomato or cream of mushroom soup.

Porcupine meatballs were one of her specialties. Whenever she made them, cheers would go up from the younger children in the family as well as me. The version in the Joy of Cooking called for a can of condensed tomato soup. Her version was more refined, using a can of tomato sauce with seasonings. Both recipes, however, called for rolling the meatballs in rice before cooking them. Internet recipes combine raw rice in the meatball. The recipe that follows uses Mrs. M.’s method.

I have also made two significant changes: first, I have made what are basically hamburgers instead of meatballs (much easier) and second, instead of some kind of tomato sauce, I have used a brown sauce with mushrooms. In part, this is because lately we have been eating lots of Italian dishes with tomato sauces, and I’m getting a little tired of tomato sauce of any sort on any thing.

Sorry, the images are not my best. I confess that the finished dish does not look like much, but I promise that it tastes good – almost as good as at Mrs. M’s table.

Hamburger patty coated with raw rice
Waiting to be cooked
Porcupines with mushroom gravy

RECIPE

Porcupines in Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • 4 cups beef stock
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 4 medium white mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • ½ small onion, diced finely
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup bread crumbs
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • dash ground bay leaf
  • ¼ teaspoon ground thyme
  • ½ cup long grain rice
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour until well combined. Cook until the mixture is bubbling, about 5 minutes. Do not allow to color. Whisk in the beef stock, stirring vigorously to break up any lumps. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the mixture is thickened. Stir in the tomato paste and mushrooms. Cook for another 5 minutes. Then reduce the heat to the lowest setting to keep the sauce warm until you are ready to add it to the porcupines.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, onion, egg, bread crumbs, garlic powder, bay, and thyme. Use your well-washed hands and mix gently until well combined.
  3. Divide the mixture into 4 equal-sized pieces. Shape each into a patty about 5 inches across and ¾ inch thick.
  4. Place the raw rice in a bowl large enough to accommodate the patties. Individually, place the patties in the rice, pressing down with your hand to make sure the rice sticks to the surface and turning until the patty is completely and evenly coated with rice. Repeat the process with all four patties
  5. Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed cooking pot with lid. Add the rice-covered patties and allow them to brown lightly, turning once. Stir in the warm mushroom sauce slowly to avoid any flare-up. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 – 40 minutes until the rice is done. Check from time to time during the cooking.
  6. Serve one or two patties to each diner with a good helping of the sauce.

11 Comments

Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes

Tagged as , , , ,

May 14, 2016 · 8:54 am

OLIVE OIL POACHED TUNA SALAD WITH FENNEL

Our local wine shop hosts weekly wine tastings as well as periodic wine classes that emphasize wine and food pairings. So, of course, with the wine classes there is food. One of the featured dishes at the most recent class was oil-poached tuna salad. It was delicious and refreshing. I thought I would try to copy it. I found that there were lots of recipes for oil-poached fish to be found on the internet. They all sounded good although there was a lot of variation in the instructions on how to cook the fish. There were also ingredients that didn’t appeal to me. The wine class version included cooked fennel. I thought I would opt for the refreshing crunch of raw fennel.  Otherwise, I decided to wing it with my own recipe. In any event, I was determined not to replicate the tuna salad of sandwich fame that is made with canned tuna. Probably everyone has had one of those in a brown bag lunch. There is no worry: olive oil poached tuna tastes nothing like the canned variety.

Fennel bulb with stems and fronds
Fennel stems and garlic boiling in olive oil
Ahi tuna portions
Thinly-sliced fennel bulb
Olive oil poached tuna salad with fennel

RECIPE

Olive Oil Poached Tuna Salad with Fennel

Ingredients

  • fennel bulb with stems and fronds still attached
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
  • about 3 cups olive oil (no need to use extra virgin)
  • 10 ounces ahi tuna
  • 4 tablespoons champagne vinegar, divided
  • 6 small cremini mushrooms, quartered
  • ½ teaspoon dry mustard
  • 2 ribs celery, sliced thinly
  • 5 scallions including green tops, sliced thinly on the bias
  • 1 tablespoon chopped pimento
  • ½ cup small pitted black olives drained and cut in half
  • 1 ripe avocado, ½ inch dice
  • salt and pepper
  • Romaine lettuce leaves

Method

  1. Trim the stems and fronds from the fennel bulb. Cut the stems into 1-3 inch pieces. Chop 3 tablespoons of the fronds and set aside to add to the finished salad. Slice the fennel bulb horizontally using a mandoline. Set aside the sliced fennel bulb.
  2. In a saucepan that is just large enough to hold the tuna in a single layer, combine the chopped fennel stems and fronds, garlic, and olive oil. Bring to the boil for about 5 minutes, reduce the heat to low, and add the tuna. The hot oil should cover the tuna. Turn off the heat and poach the tuna, uncovered, basting from time to time with the hot oil and turning once during the poaching. Poach for 20 minutes. Remove the tuna to a plate. Strain the oil into a small bowl.
  3. Place the quartered mushrooms in a small container that can be firmly sealed. Add 2 tablespoons of the vinegar and 6 tablespoons of the poaching oil. Cover tightly, and turn from time to time to make sure the mushrooms are well-marinated.
  4. Prepare a vinaigrette by combining the remaining vinegar and dry mustard in a small bowl or measuring cup. Slowly whisk in by drizzles 7 tablespoons of the poaching oil. Set aside for final assembly of the salad.
  5. With a sharp knife. cut the tuna into bite-sized pieces. Place in a large bowl. Add the marinated mushrooms, celery, scallions, pimento,  olives, avocado, and reserved chopped fennel fronds. Gently stir in the vinaigrette, making sure that the salad is well mixed.  Serve on Romaine lettuce leaves.

7 Comments

Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes

Tagged as , , , , , ,

March 20, 2016 · 11:53 am

BOGUS BOLOGNESE

I’ve been home alone for several days. Times like that call for lots of restaurant visits or eating out of cans and making a lot of popcorn. They are also times to toss together whatever leftovers there are in the refrigerator before it’s time to toss them out permanently. This recipe is inspired by that latter need. It turned out to be a fair approximation of the real thing, but I am certain that Marcella Hazan is looking down and howling with disdain. This recipe should serve one or two persons.

RECIPE

Bogus Spaghetti Bolognese

Bogus spaghetti Bolognese

Bogus spaghetti Bolognese

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ medium yellow onion, diced
  • 1 rib celery, diced
  • 8 peeled “baby” carrots, cut crosswise in thin coins
  • 4 medium crimini mushrooms, sliced
  • ½ cup packaged diced boneless ham
  • ½ cup milk
  • ½ cup dry white vermouth
  • 1 cup mixed vegetable juice (V-8 or equivalent)
  • 8 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • good pinch of sugar
  • 1/3 to 1/2 pound of dry spaghetti
  • Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until translucent but not browned. Stir in the celery and carrots. Sauté for another 5 minutes. Then stir in the mushroom and ham, continuing to cook until the mushrooms are soft.
  2. Stir in the milk and bring to a low boil. Cook until the milk has been almost completely reduced, but be careful not to burn. Stir in the vermouth and simmer until the wine has almost completely reduced.
  3. Stir in the tomato juice and tomatoes. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Stir in the nutmeg and sugar. Simmer for another 15 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and slightly falling apart. If needed, add more liquid.
  4. While the tomatoes are simmering, cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water. Cook to al dente, about 10 to 12 minutes. With tongs or a spaghetti tool, transfer the strands of cooked spaghetti directly into the sauce, mixing thoroughly until the ratio of sauce and pasta is to your taste.
  5. Top with grated Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

6 Comments

Filed under Food, Photography, Recipes

Tagged as , , , , ,