Baked rigatoni with mushroom ragout

Mmmm, baked pasta. I used rigatoni, but ziti or penne would work just as well. I also used this recipe from Bon Appetit, without the dried mushrooms; I had a big clamshell of white button mushrooms from Costco which I used up instead.

It's almost mac and cheese with mushrooms added in; but the sauce is a white bechamel sauce, instead of a cheese sauce. Regardless, it's rich and cheesy and mushroom-y and delicious.

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
1 3/4 cups finely chopped onions
1 lb fresh button mushrooms, chopped
2 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh chives
12 ounces pasta (rigatoni, penne, or ziti)
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and simmer over medium-high heat 10 minutes.

Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir constantly until golden, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk. Stir until sauce thickens and boils, about 3 minutes. Stir into mushroom mixture. Simmer 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and chives. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside. 

Preheat oven to 425°F. Butter 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain well. Return to pot. Add mushroom sauce and toss well to coat. Transfer to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle breadcrumbs and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan over. Bake casserole until heated through and light golden, about 25 minutes.

Garlic butter roasted mushrooms

I'd forgotten how delicious garlic butter is.

I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen while I was searching for a way to use a big box of button mushrooms. Voila, I made this for breakfast, served it with crusty bread, and decided this is one of the easiest and best ways to eat a box of mushrooms.

Reprinted below:

1 pound mushrooms such as cremini or white, halved lengthwise if large
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in middle. Toss mushrooms with capers, garlic, oil, 1/8 teaspoon salt and several grinds of pepper in a 1 1/2- to 2-qt shallow baking dish. Top with butter and roast, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are tender and golden and bubbly garlic sauce forms below, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and parsley. Serve immediately, with crusty bread on the side for swiping up the juices.

Warm mushroom and grated beet salad

This is just cooked mushrooms, with grated roasted beets, and a wee bit of cheese. If you have greenery (spinach, arugula, lettuce), you could serve this over a bed of greens. But I ate it all by itself and it was delicious.

1 box button mushrooms, sliced
2 medium roasted beets, peeled
Butter, olive oil, fresh thyme
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Lightly saute the mushrooms in butter and olive oil until they start to give up some liquid. Add fresh thyme, and grate the beets into the pan. Mix together and continue cooking until the mushrooms are as done as you want them. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm, with cheese.

As an aside, this was an excellent way to use up both some old mushrooms and a couple of old beets I found in the vegetable drawer.

Quinoa "risotto" with mushrooms

So not kid-friendly. Still delicious, though.

You can also layer this, with salad greens, into a wrap and eat it cold.

From Epicurious:

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 8-ounce package sliced crimini (baby bella) mushrooms
6 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, sliced
3 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, divided
1 cup dry white wine
Grated Parmesan cheese

Bring 2 cups salted water to boil in medium saucepan. Add quinoa, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender and water is absorbed, about 13 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until onion begins to brown, 5 minutes. Add garlic; stir 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and thyme. Sautée; until mushrooms are tender, 6 minutes. Add wine; stir until wine is reduced and liquid is syrupy, 2 minutes.

Mix quinoa into mushroom mixture; season with salt and pepper. Pass cheese separately.

Baked rigatoni with eggplant, chard and mushrooms

Hey, look! I cooked something!

It's been over a month since I cooked anything (Christmas Day, to be exact). In that time, I've been eating a lot of other people's cooking and road food. Also some nice meals out, but probably too many.

To avoid spending unnecessary money on both road food and eating out, I wanted to get my kitchen operational as quickly as possible. Step 1: unpack. Step 2: stock the pantry. I started at Costco, and finished with a couple of trips to local grocery chains. I've discovered that some things are weirdly cheap (eggs are $1 a dozen, eggplants are $1 each) and some things are weirdly expensive (booze has a 35% tax! Can you believe it?).

The pantry is about 85% there, but it's enough to get started. First I made chili with ground pork, then I made a big batch of tomato sauce, then I made some fudge, and now I'm making bread.

For dinner last night, I made baked rigatoni with eggplant, chard, and mushrooms. It's a variation on a theme, but a delicious one.

1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped (I used one large shallot)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small package of mushrooms, quartered
1 bunch chard, loosely chopped
3-4 cups tomato sauce
Leaves from 1 small bunch basil
1 pound rigatoni
1 pound fresh mozzarella
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Heat some olive oil in a skillet until hot. Add the eggplant pieces in one comfortable layer (you may need to do more than one batch) and cook until golden brown. Set aside in a large bowl. Cook the mushrooms next in the same skillet. Add to the eggplant. Saute the onion and garlic next, and add that to the eggplant. Cook the chard just long enough so that it's wilted, and add that to the eggplant as well.

Cook the rigatoni until still slightly firm. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. Add both to the eggplant, along with the tomato sauce, basil and any seasonings,  and the mozzarella. Mix well, and pour into a large casserole dish. Top with parmesan and pepper, and bake at 450 until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. Serve immediately.

Chicken pot pie

What better way to use up a bunch of summer vegetables and leftover chicken?

This is not so much a recipe as it is a guideline. Feel free to use different vegetables. Peas, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, and other kinds of squash are easy substitutions. If you like more sauce, use fewer vegetables. (I like my chicken pot pie not very saucy.) This made two big 8x13 casserole dishes of chicken pot pie, so scale back if you need to.

2 zucchini, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 package mushrooms, sliced
Cooked leftover barley or rice (you could substitute potatoes too)
Cooked leftover chicken

For sauce:
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups milk
2 cups chicken broth
Tabasco

2 pie crusts
1 egg, beaten

Saute the veggies in olive oil until they begin to soften. Add leftover barley or rice to heat through. Stir in the chicken to heat through. Season with salt and pepper, and whatever fresh herbs you may have. (I used parsley, basil, and a little oregano.)

For the sauce, combine the flour and melted butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk together. Slowly add the chicken broth, and then the cream and milk. Continue whisking over medium heat until it boils. At this point it will be visibly thicker, like a cream sauce. Remove from the heat, stir in a few drops of Tabasco, and combine with the chicken and veggie mixture.

Pour into two casserole dishes. Place a rolled-out pie crust on top of each. Slice into the pie crust to create vents, and brush each with the beaten egg.

Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes, or until the crusts are nicely browned.

Crustless mushroom quiche

Part of household management is paying attention. Every couple of days, I look at everything in the refrigerator, to see what might be on the cusp of going bad. Yesterday's foray reminded me that I still had several containers of restaurant leftovers to process.

So I used a huge plastic tub of sauteed baby mushrooms, and the rest of my eggs, to make a crustless mushroom quiche.

6-7 eggs
2 1/2 cups sauteed mushrooms
3/4 cup milk (I used watered-down heavy cream, which is not exactly the same, but hey, it's all I had)
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
Seasonings: salt, pepper, dried herbs

Combine well. Pour into a buttered pie dish, and bake at 350 until the center doesn't wobble anymore (close to an hour).

Easy, low-maintenance, delicious. Now I just have to get some more eggs.

Mushroom and prosciutto pizza

I had some button mushrooms that were starting to look a little shriveled, so I used them to make a mushroom and prosciutto pizza.

Mushroom storage tip: don't store them in plastic. Plastic makes mushrooms slimy. Take them out of the plastic as soon as you get them home, and put them in a brown paper bag. They'll last for weeks that way (although they'll start to look a little shriveled after a while).

I sliced the mushrooms and browned them in a little in some butter. I used half on a spinach salad, and the other half on a pizza.

This pizza crust + tomato sauce + a smear of ricotta + cooked mushrooms + a few pieces of prosciutto, torn into bits + healthy sprinkle of parmesan + dried basil (in that order); bake at 475 for 15 minutes.

Green bean and mushroom stir-fry

Because sometimes you just want to eat something covered in soy sauce, you know?

This has the added benefit of being fast, easy, and flavorful. You can use frozen green beans (I did), and a big skillet if you don't have a wok. Serve over rice.

1 bag frozen green beans
1 tub button mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger (optional)
Peanut or sesame oil
Soy sauce
Oyster sauce (if you don't have oyster sauce, you can fake it with fish sauce mixed with a little extra soy sauce)

Get the oil (2 tablespoons or so) piping hot. Add the onion and cook until almost soft. Add the garlic and ginger, then the mushrooms. Cook over medium until the mushrooms start to sweat, then turn the heat up and add the frozen green beans. Once they've thawed, add soy sauce and oyster sauce to taste. Keep stirring until the green beans are cooked through.

Chicken cacciatore

There are an almost infinite variety of ways to do chicken cacciatore, but they're all basically a rustic braise of chicken, tomatoes and vegetables. So feel free to substitute.

I used this recipe from the New York Times. I adapted it a bit; I left out the dried mushrooms and garlic (didn't have any), added more wine, and instead of using chicken legs/thighs, I just used one whole cut-up chicken.

The advantages to using a whole cut-up chicken are that's far cheaper than buying chicken parts by the pound (2 whole chickens at Sam's Club: $8.80, for $4.40 each, for a 5-6 lb chicken. That's around 75 cents a pound, and the scraps can be used to make chicken broth). The disadvantages of using a whole cut-up chicken are that you have to cut up a whole chicken. It's not difficult, especially if you have a really good set of kitchen shears; but if you don't have good kitchen scissors, and/or are squeamish about cutting up a whole chicken, well, I can't help you there. Try to find chicken thighs on sale.

Also, chicken cacciatore is usually served with pasta or rice. I am happy to report that it goes very well with cheese grits.

1/2 oz dried mushrooms (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
6 to 8 skinless chicken legs and/or thighs (thighs can be boneless); or one whole cut-up chicken
1 small onion, minced
1 small carrot, minced
1 rib celery, minced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh minced Italian parsley
1 heaped teaspoon minced fresh rosemary, or 1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 pound mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
1/2 cup red wine (I used 1 to 1 1/2 cups)
1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes in juice

If using, place the dried mushrooms in a bowl or heat-proof glass measuring cup and pour on 2 cups boiling water. Let sit 15 to 30 minutes, until mushrooms are softened. Drain through a strainer lined with cheesecloth or a paper towel and set over a bowl. Squeeze out excess water and chop coarsely. Set aside. Measure out 1 cup of the soaking liquid and set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large, heavy nonstick skillet. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown, in batches, for 5 minutes on each side. Transfer the chicken pieces to a bowl as they are done.

Turn the heat down to medium, add the remaining oil and the onion, carrot and celery, as well as a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, parsley, rosemary, red pepper flakes and salt to taste. Cover, turn the heat to low and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes, until the mixture is soft and aromatic. Stir in the fresh and dried mushrooms, turn the heat back up to medium, and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are just tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the wine and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring, for a few minutes, until the wine has reduced by about half. Add the tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the tomatoes have cooked down a little and smell fragrant. Stir in the mushroom soaking liquid that you set aside.

Return the chicken pieces to the pan and stir so that they are well submerged in the tomato mixture. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes, until the chicken is tender. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve with pasta or rice.

Savory bread pudding with kale and mushrooms

Savory bread pudding is just like the bread pudding dessert--eggs, cream, milk--but instead of sugar, it has vegetables and cheese. The great thing about a savory bread pudding is that is can be breakfast or dinner. Better yet, you can put a fried egg on top and get a runny yolk-y egg-y thing going on with the bread pudding.

Be sure, though, that the egg/milk mixture covers everything else. Otherwise you'll end up with a baked veggie casserole, with some custard in it.

1 bunch kale, chopped and blanched (drop it in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, then remove)
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
thyme
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 loaf stale bread, sliced into large cubes
1/2 cup shredded gruyere cheese
1/4 cup shredded parmesan
salt and pepper
4 eggs
2 cups milk

Saute the mushrooms in a little olive oil until browned. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for another minute. Toss together with the well-drained blanched kale. Butter a large baking dish, and combine the bread cubes, mushrooms and kale, and cheeses. Toss well, and pour into the baking dish. Beat together the eggs and milk, and pour over the bread mixture. (Use more eggs and milk if the liquid doesn't cover the bread mixture.) Salt and pepper to taste. Let sit 5 to 10 minutes before baking. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.

Winter salad with barley, watercress, mushrooms and roasted beets

Now that I don't have access to a winter CSA, and I'm not in the habit (or budget) of regular grocery shopping, it can be difficult to get green things. I'm also not interested in flabby, wax-covered supermarket greens that have been shipped halfway across the world from God-knows-where; I'd much rather go to the farmer's market and get fresh local green things, but alas, the farmer's market was snowed out this past weekend.

So I went to Whole Foods instead.

Still a supermarket, but at least I could get cage-free eggs and local fruit there. I got eggs, apples, and hey, look! Watercress was on sale. Probably not local, but I had an instant craving for it.

I picked up some button mushrooms too and threw together this wonderful winter salad. It's just cooked warm barley, sauteed warm mushrooms, and roasted sliced beets (I had white beets) with the raw watercress. The warm vegetables cook the watercress down just a little, which is nice. Sprinkle liberally with salt, and you've got your winter greens craving taken care of for a bit.

1 cup uncooked barley, cooked in water (bring to a boil, then let simmer) until done, and drained
2 bunches watercress, large stems removed
3 roasted, peeled and sliced beets
1 container button mushrooms, sliced

Saute the sliced mushrooms in a little butter until browned. Combine all in a bowl, salt and pepper to taste, and serve warm.

Baked eggs with chard and mushrooms

Ah, the joys of baked eggs for dinner. Simple, fast, delicious, and slightly daring, since you're eating eggs for dinner. Also, a great way to get some protein when there's not much in the house.

I combined a bag of dried shittake mushrooms (reconstituted in boiling water) with 2-3 big handfuls of chopped fresh chard in a little butter, and cooked the chard down until it was wilted. I buttered six ramekins, filled each about 3/4 with the chard/mushroom mixture, and topped each with an egg. I topped the egg with a tablespoon of milk (cream would work better, but I didn't have any) and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Bake at 400 until the whites of the eggs have just set. Serve immediately.

Baked eggs with bacon, leeks and mushrooms

6 strips of bacon, diced
1 big leek, sliced
1 basket of mushrooms, sliced (I used a bag of dried chanterelles, reconstituted with hot water)
3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup parmesan
4 eggs
milk or cream

Cook the bacon until crisp; remove with a slotted spoon, and add the leeks and mushrooms to the bacon fat. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant; add in the parmesan, salt and pepper to taste, and a little milk or cream.

Add that into a small casserole dish (I used two individual sized dishes). Crack the eggs on top, and bake at 375 until the whites are set.

Shittake mushroom crostini

My mom brought me four boxes of shittake mushrooms during her visit this past weekend, but they weren't exactly fresh. In fact, they were starting to go bad the very next day. But I couldn't very well let a bunch of shittake mushrooms go to waste, now could I?

I sliced them all, sauteed them gently in a little butter and fresh thyme until browned, and sprinkled with salt.

I then took some homemade bread, sliced it, and toasted it.

Then I layered the mushrooms on the toasty bread and sprinkled it with truffle oil.

Best appetizer ever.

Morel crostini

Naturally, given my morel bounty, they needed to be part of the menu for Saturday's dinner party. I took this recipe from Food 52 for morel crostini. I've copied it below.

Serves 4-6

1 fresh baguette, sliced thin
extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
6 ounces fresh morels, cleaned and sliced lengthwise
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
3/4 cups leeks, sliced thin, white and pale green parts only
2 tablespoons Italian flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
goat cheese, to taste

MAKE THE TOAST: Preheat oven to 350. Place sliced bread on a baking sheet. Brush each piece with olive oil. Bake until bread is lightly toasted, 10-15 minutes. Arrange toast on a serving tray.

SAUTE MORELS: In a large skillet, melt butter over MEDIUM HIGH heat. Add morels and saute 2-3 minutes. Add thyme and season with salt and pepper. Saute until morels are tender, about 3 minutes.

ADD LEEKS, LEMON JUICE, AND PARSLEY: Add leeks to mushrooms and saute until soft, 3-4 minutes more. Stir in the lemon juice and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

ASSEMBLE AND SERVE: Pour mixture into a serving bowl and then place the bowl on top of the serving tray with the toast. Place goat cheese on the tray. Let everyone assemble their own crostini: smear a bit of goat cheese on toast, then top with a spoonful of morels.

Notes: Goat cheese for the win. I made some with and some without the goat cheese, and the cheese ones were definitely best. A great appetizer; but you know, I'd eat a plate of these with a glass of wine and happily call it dinner.

OMG, morels

The pecking order of gourmet foods goes something like this:

1. Truffles
2. Foie gras
3. Morels
4. Anything really old (wine, scotch, aged cheese, balsamic vinegar, etc.)
5. Unicorn

And so on. Not surprisingly, those ingredients are the most expensive, and among the rarest.

Morels are the truffles of the mushroom world: they only grow wild, only during the spring, and only in very specific environments. And they have to harvested by hand, which is why Whole Foods will charge you upwards of $40 a pound for them, when they're in season.

Fortunately, they are in season right now, and I have a supplier.

A friend of mine lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia--which, it just so happens, is one of the favorite hiding places of morels. She went harvesting with her grandmother, like she does every year, and found herself with several pounds of morels she was willing to offload. Naturally I jumped at the chance, and had her overnight the stash to me. (Even with overnight shipping, it's still cheaper than going to Whole Foods--and I know exactly where they came from. Don't worry--morels are very distinctive-looking, and it's almost impossible to mistake them for a poisonous variety of mushroom.)

So I have the happy problem of needing to get through several pounds of morels this week.

I'm having some friends over for dinner on Saturday--I sorted through the haul, and set aside the morels I thought most likely to make it to Saturday.

The rest, I sliced and sauteed in butter.

That's it. They taste so good, it would be criminal to drown them in a cream sauce or a soup. You can't eat them raw, but it only takes a few minutes over medium heat in some butter to bring them to full deliciousness. I served them over a bed of fresh-picked spinach.

The perfect spring meal.

Morels taste much deeper than other mushrooms, almost meaty (dare I say...bacony?). They're are often paired with asparagus, since they're in season at the same time (but I wasn't going to go out and buy asparagus specially). Peas, fava beans, lamb, and arugula are other common pairings, for the same reason. I ate my morel salad with a glass of pinot noir and a glass of viognier, to see which went better, and the pinot noir won hands down.

Mushroom ragout with barley

Remember my shittake mushroom patch? So far I've gleaned nearly a full pound of shittakes from it. Last night I sliced those, added a few button mushrooms to round it out, and made this. Mushroom ragout with barley sounds fancy, but essentially it's just cooked mushrooms on top of cooked barley. Decadent, but easy.

1 pound mushrooms, sliced (I used shittakes and button 'shrooms, but any kind will do)
1 cup pearled barley
1/2 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cups broth
a little sour cream or creme fraiche
chopped fresh parsley

Saute the onion and celery in olive oil until soft. Add the barley and broth, cover and reduce to low, and let cook until the barley is done and the liquid is mostly gone, about 30 minutes.

In a separate pan, saute the mushrooms in a little butter until browned.

Serve by heaping the mushrooms on top of the cooked barley, drizzling the sour cream/creme fraiche on top, and garnish with the parsley. Salt and pepper to taste.

My very own mushroom patch

I recently ordered a shittake mushroom growing kit from Fungi Perfecti. ($26, or 3 for $65.)

Kinda freaky looking, huh? My husband claims it's actually some sort of space alien, and it will eat us one night like the plant in "Little Shop of Horrors."

But look! It's growing shittake mushrooms!

For your money, you get the mushroom pod thing, which you put in a dark corner and mist with water several times a day. Within a week or two, it'll start sprouting mushrooms (like above). I'll keep you posted as to how many shittakes I get from this thing, and how long it keeps producing.

If this kit is successful, I'll try my hand at some of the other varieties they have. I love fresh mushrooms, especially the exotic varieties, but they're so expensive in stores. I'm hoping this provides me with a cheap, and relatively long-lasting, supply of shrooms.

Truffled mushroom grits

This dish tastes like a million bucks and costs next to nothing. And it takes only about 10 minutes to prepare, from start to finish. Essentially it's cheese grits, with mushrooms sauteed in truffle oil, all mixed together. I even added some bacon-bourbon jam to it, though of course that's optional. (Really damn tasty, though.)

Make a batch of grits. (Quick grits: 3 cups water to 1 cup grits.) When done, stir in two handfuls of shredded cheese. I used a combination of smoked gouda and comte. Meanwhile, slice a package of white button mushrooms, and saute them gently in a mixture of truffle oil and a little button, until they're dark and soft. Stir into the grits, and serve.