EatLocal365 » mushrooms

How to Make Roasted Green Beans and Mushrooms with Rosemary and Garlic Oil

Erik — Wed, 30 May 2012 01:16:32 +0000

The past six weeks have been a bit of a challenge in terms of our shopping and cooking routine. The winter farmer’s market has been steadily winding down, to the point where it’s all prepared foods, bread, jams, etc. However, the summer version hasn’t yet started. We’re also in between CSA shares. Everything gets back to normal next week, but it’s been slim pickings!

That’s why this recipe was perfect. It was simple and leveraged what we DID have. And it was easy and tasty to boot.

Roasted Green Beans and Mushrooms with Rosemary and Garlic Oil

Makes 2-4 servings

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation
12 oz	Green beans	Stems trimmed
10 oz	Crimini mushrooms	Cut into quarters (halves if small)
1 tsp	Fresh garlic	Minced
1 tsp	Fresh rosemary	Chopped
1/4 tsp	Red pepper flakes	Crushed
1/4 cup	Olive oil
1 tsp	Kosher salt

Directions

Heat the oven to 475 degrees. Line a large sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper.

Place the mushrooms in a bowl and add 2 TBsp of olive oil and 0.5 tsp of salt. Toss thoroughly to coat. Spread the mushrooms out on one portion of the pan, cut side down, in single layer. Do the same with the green bean with 1 TBsp of oil and 1/2 tsp of salt.

Roast for about 25 minutes, or until the beans and mushrooms are a bit shrunken, shriveled, and browned.
While the vegetables are roasting, put the remaining 1 TBsp of oil in a small skillet and add the garlic, rosemary, and red pepper flakes. Turn the heat onto medium-low. Once the oil begins to bubble, cook for about 1 minute. Set aside.

When the vegetables are done in the oven, toss them together with the infused oil in a mixing bowl.

Delicious and simple!

How to Make a Spinach Salad with Mushrooms and Pine Nuts

Erik — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:00:09 +0000

This recipe is actually from a few weeks ago, just as spinach was coming back into season full-swing. It fell through the cracks, but it’s still worth posting because everything is still available. It’s a salad, but since it requires sautéing some items, it’s a bit more involved than most salads.

Spinach Salad with Mushrooms, Pine Nuts, and Balsamic Vinegar

Makes 2-4 servings

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Sq. Greenmarket)
2 bunches	Spinach	Washed, large stems removed, torn into chunks	Norwich Meadows Farm *
0.25 lbs	Shitake mushrooms	Thinly sliced, stems removed	Bulich Mushroom Farm *
0.25 lbs	Crimini mushrooms	Thinly sliced, stems removed	Bulich Mushroom Farm *
1	Small red onion	Peeled, halved, and thinly sliced	Paffenroth Gardens
2 cloves	Garlic	Minced	Keith’s Farm *
0.25 cup	Pine nuts	Toasted
2 TBps	Kalamta olives	Pitted and choped
2 TBsp	Capers	Drained
2 TBsp	Lemon juice	Fresh, if possible
1 TBsp	Balsamic vinegar		The Brooklyn Kitchen, bulk section
3 TBsp	Extra virgin olive oil		The Brooklyn Kitchen, bulk section
To taste	Kosher salt
To taste	Black pepper	Freshly ground

Directions

Prep all the ingredients except for the spinach.
Heat 2 TBsp of the olive oil over medium-high heat, then add the mushrooms and sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to medium and add the garclic, olives, capers, lemon juice, and vinegar, and let it cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
While the mushrooms are cooking, tear the spinach into pieces. In a large bowl, toss it with the red onion and remaining 1 TBsp of olive oil. Add the desired amount of salt and pepper to taste.
Add the mushroom sauté to the spinach and toss it again until well mixed. Plate and top with toasted pine nuets.

How to Make Sautéed Shitake, Kale, and Leeks

Erik — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 01:24:07 +0000

This easy recipe was my end of Dark Days / welcome back to fresh greens meal.

Sautéed Shitake, Kale, and Leeks
Makes 2-4 servings

Ingredients:

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Sq. Greenmarket)
1 bunch	Dinosaur or Tuscan kale	If necessary due to thickness, trim or remove stems	Norwich Meadows *
4 large	Shitake mushrooms	Stems removed and sliced	Bulich Mushrooms *
1 – 2	Leeks	Thinly sliced	Paffenroth Gardens *
1 bunch	Fresh chives	Chopped	Paffenroth Gardens *
1- 2 TBsp	Unsalted butter	Use 1 TBsp if you want it a little healthier	Ronnybrook Farm Dairy *
1 tsp	Soy sauce	I used Nama Shoyu, but any will do
0.25 tsp	Sesame oil	Either toasted or not
0.25 tsp	Kosher salt

Directions:

If necessary, trim the stems on the kale. On this bunch the stems weren’t too thick so I left them in, but they did extend beyond the leaves enough that I decided to trim them back. It’s easy when there is a rubber band around them! One trick is to wash them by filling a salad spinner with water and then swish the greens around in it. Then let them float on top for a minute or two to let any loose dirt sink. Lift the basket full of greens out of the spinner and pour out the dirty water. Put the basket back in, place the top on, and spin dry. We’ve found this to be the fastest way to wash a small amount of greens without wasting a lot of water (e.g., by filling the whole sink or washing them under running water).
Once your greens are washed and spun, chop the fresh chives and slice the leeks. Be sure to wash the leeks very thoroughly. There is usually soil in every nook and cranny; it’s often necessary to peel them apart and clean the layers one by one.
Slice the mushrooms. I usually brush visible dirt off of shitake or Portobello mushrooms, but I don’t wash them unless absolutely necessary because it impacts the texture.
Put the pan on medium-low heat. I included a picture here because I often have difficulty judging medium-low. Melt the butter.
Add the mushrooms, chives, leeks, and salt. Sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are shrunken and look cooked and the leeks and chives are softened.
Add the kale and the soy sauce. Let the kale wilt down, but just barely; don’t overcook it. I always wind up with a pile of greens that overflows the pan (see the picture below). When this happens, I let the bottom layer cook down for a minute, and then I use tongs to grab and “flip” everything. I give it another minute and then repeat, always making sure that a fresh bunch of greens is on the pan. It will cook down very quickly this way. The volume won’t be a problem for long.
Remove the pan from the heat and toss in the sesame oil before serving.

How to Make Pizza

Lindsay — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:12:38 +0000

Pizza is a definite DIY situation. It’s cheaper, less likely to be delivered cold, and only covered in surplus commodity cheese if you like that kind of thing. The most time-consuming part is making the dough, which has to rise for an hour or so (although you could cut this to 30 minutes if you were in a big hurry). Because of this, we usually save pizza for weekends and plan to work out, call our parents, or catch up on the DVR while the dough’s doing its thing.

The dough recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, which I got for making a donation to WNYC. Actually, I made the donation to WNYC to get the cookbook and it has totally paid off – good recipes and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me…a seriously good deal. He uses a food processor, but we prefer to use the stand mixer, because our tiny food processor would probably burst into flames if we asked this of it. This NY Times article has the food processor instructions, if you’re so inclined.

Homemade Pizza
Makes 2 12-inch diameter pizzas (You can make larger pizzas with thinner crusts or smaller pizzas with thicker crusts, but this is fits nicely in our oven).

Ingredients for Crust

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Sq. Greenmarket)
11 3/4 ounces	1/2 white flour	a.k.a. “brown” flour (half all-purpose and half whole wheat bread flour), about 2 1/2 cups, volumetrically	Cayuga Pure Organics *
2 ounces	Cornmeal	About 1/2 cup, volumetrically	Cayuga Pure Organics *
2 tsp	Instant yeast	Not to be confused with active dry yeast	We use this brand.
2 TBsp	Sunflower oil		Stolor Organics *
2 tsp	Coarse kosher or sea salt

Topping Ideas (per pizza)

1/2 cup prepared pizza sauce
About 5 ounces of cheese, such as fresh mozzarella or ricotta
Veggies! Onions, mushrooms, sautéed greens, peppers, tomatoes. Really whatever’s in season.
Your favorite precooked meat
Any leftovers you find in the refrigerator

Directions

Weigh flour and cornmeal in stand mixer bowl using the tare (zero-out) function on your scale. That is, put the bowl on the scale, press tare, add 11 3/4 ounces of flour, press tare, and add 2 ounces of cornmeal. No dirty measuring cups!
Add the yeast and salt to the flour mixture. Because they’re such a small amounts, it’s best to measure them in teaspoons, rather than by weight.
In a measuring cup, combine 1 cup of water and the sunflower oil.
With the paddle attachment and the mixer on low, slowly add the liquids to the dry ingredients. Mix until there isn’t any dry flour on the bottom of the bowl, about a minute.
Switch to the dough hook and knead the dough on speed 2 or 4 for 3 or 4 minutes. I just let it knead until I’m done cleaning everything else up and it forms a nice ball around the hook.
Remove the dough from the bowl. Put a small puddle of oil (a teaspoon or so) in the bottom of the stand mixer bowl, drop the dough in, and roll it around so that it’s covered in oil. This will make sure it doesn’t stick to the bowl while rising. You could use a second bowl if you want, but I don’t like to do dishes. Actually, Erik usually does the dishes, so I don’t like feeling guilty about NOT doing the dishes. It’s easy to do as long as you remember to unscrew the cap of the oil before you get your hands all doughy.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or the shower cap you took from the hotel you stayed in last week) and let the dough rise for an hour or 2. Ideally, you should wait for it to double in size, but you can cut this short if you’re in a hurry.
Once the dough has risen, preheat your oven to 500 degrees, or as hot as it will go. Set a baking stone or cookie sheet in the top third of the oven to preheat. Lay out two sheets of parchment paper that are about 16 inches long.
Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured counter. Cut it in half and gently shape each into a ball. At this point, you could tightly wrap one of the dough balls in plastic and freeze it, but we like pizza leftovers, so we never do. Drape a towel over the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes. This will make it easier to shape.
While the dough is resting, prepare your toppings. We made two different pizzas. One had a sliced portobello mushroom (from Bulich Mushrooms), half a sliced red onion (Paffenroth Gardens), and about 5 ounces of sliced fresh mozzarella (from Eataly, since we forgot to get it at the greenmarket). The other had about 5 ounces of sliced fresh mozzarella and 5 ounces of ricotta (also from Eataly, but made in Brooklyn).
Lay one of the sheets of parchment paper on a pizza peel or (our preferred method) an upside-down cookie sheet. We flip the cookie sheet over, so that the pizza will slide off cleanly without bumping into the raised edges.
To shape the dough into pies, start by patting out one of the balls into a circle. After a while, the dough will start resisting, so use gravity. Hold the disc at the top with both hands and turn it like a steering wheel, using your thumbs to create a lip around the edge. It won’t get perfectly round, but you can fix that later. Once it’s as big as you want it, lay it down on the prepared parchment paper and pat or stretch it into a nicer shape. Fix any holes by pinching the dough together.

Spread the first crust with about 1/2 cup of prepared pizza sauce. We canned our own this summer following this recipe. Lay on your toppings. If you’re using anything delicate, like greens or herbs, tuck them under the cheese so they won’t burn.
Once your pizza is dressed up and ready to go, open the oven door and pull out the rack as far as it will go. Use an oven mitt! In a smooth motion, pull the pizza onto the stone or baking sheet using the corner of the parchment paper. Be careful!
Check the pizza after 8 minutes and then every 1 or 2 minutes thereafter until it’s done. Our oven usually takes about 12 minutes, but it depends on how long it preheated and what toppings we used. You want a dark brown crust and some brown spots on the cheese.
While the first pizza is baking, prepare the second following the same steps.
This is the hard part. Don’t eat it right away! If you cut it too soon, it will just be a big juicy mess. Wait 5 minutes (more if you can) for it to cool and firm up.

Waste Not Want Not: Open-faced Portobello Mushroom Burgers

Erik — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:19:09 +0000

We had leftover ingredients from a number of meals this past week: spinach from our roasted squash and black bean salad, one solitary English muffin from quinoa black bean burgers (we plan to post them next time we make them), and ricotta cheese and portobello mushrooms from the pizza we made on Saturday. We bought three big mushrooms, and it turned out we only needed one for the pizza.

This creative meal took about 15 minutes total, and used up all the leftovers.

We marinated the mushrooms in a mix of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper, for about 10 minutes. Then we put them under the broiler for 5 minutes. We toasted the English muffin halves in the broiler for 3 minutes. We spread a little ricotta on each English muffin half, added the spinach, and topped with a mushroom. These open-faced sandwiches were delicious.

On the side we ate some of Lindsay’s dehydrated vegetable chips. We had dried carrot, parsnip, and Daikon radish chips:

Dark Days: Attacking Food Storage Clutter

Lindsay — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:00:02 +0000

Our food storage situation was getting out of control. Half a duck fell out of the freezer and landed on my shoe-less toes. Random bags of grains leftover from this fall made getting the breakfast granola a daily battle. And somehow we had a whole shopping bag full of mushrooms in the refrigerator. Time to take charge!!

We sautéed two chopped onions (Paffenroth Gardens) with some garlic (Keith’s Farm) in sunflower oil (Stolor Organics). To that, we added a mountain of sliced mushrooms (Bulich Mushroom Farm) and sautéed them until soft with a little salt and pepper and a splash of Riesling (Chateau Renaissance). Then poured everything into the slow cooker.

We trimmed any excess fat and skin off of the duck parts (Hudson Valley Duck Farm) and used the same pan to brown them for a few minutes on each side (just until the duck released easily from the pan). Into the slow cooker it went, topped off by small handfull of farro (Cayuga Pure Organics), a few red sunchokes and a couple of handfulls of little potatoes (Berried Treasures) and covered in water.

We let it cook on high for six hours. We then removed the bones, shredded the meat, and returned it to the slow cooker for another two hours on low.

Served up with some (failed and very flat, but tasty) sourdough bread (flour from Cayuga Pure Organics, yeast from the Manhattan air) it was a very satisfying improvisation.

How to Make Quinoa and Mushroom “Meatloaf”

Erik — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:07:29 +0000

After six weeks of a relatively meat-heavy diet, Lindsay and I have been eager to get back to more vegetable-based meals. This “meatloaf” turned out to be a great winter vegetable half-way point, and great comfort food as well.

This dish is tasty and texturally pretty close to the real thing. Better yet, this vegetarian “meatloaf” contains quinoa, which is one of those so-called “super-foods”. It looks and tasted like a cereal or grain, but it isn’t. It’s high in nutrients and protein.

Quinoa

We served this “meatloaf” with vegetarian mushroom gravy (see the link for the recipe) and mashed potatoes (see the bottom of this post). Yum.

Quinoa and mushroom “meatloaf”

Ingredients:

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Sq. Greenmarket)
1 cup	Quinoa	Rinsed and drained
2 cups	Water
2 TBsp	Sunflower oil	Can substitute olive oil	Stolor Organics (sold by Cayuga Organics) *
0.5 lbs	Carrots	Diced, can substitute 2 stalks of celery	Paffenroth Gardens *
1	Medium onion	Diced	Paffenroth Gardens *
1.5 tsps	Kosher salt
12 oz.	Mushrooms (we used crimini)	Thinly sliced	Bulich Mushroom Farm *
1.5 cups	Wheat germ
1 cup	Walnuts	Toasted and ground
0.5 cup	Bread crumbs
1	Large egg	Lightly whisked	Northshire Farm
1 TBsp	Dried sage
2 tsps	Dried thyme
1 tsps	Dried rosemary	Crumbled with your fingers
As desired	Black pepper	Freshly ground

Directions:

In a sauce pan, bring the 2 cups of water to a boil on high heat. Putting a lid on the pan will make the process faster. Add the quinoa, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 15 – 20 minutes, until the water is absorbed. Set it aside.
While the quinoa is simmering, slice the mushrooms and dice the onion and carrots.
Heat the 2 TBsp of oil in a skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrot, and salt and sauté for about 5 minutes until the onions become translucent. Add the mushrooms and continue to sauté, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms release their juices, and then continue until the mixture evaporates most of its moisture, about 10 minutes.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put a quarter-sized pool of the sunflower or olive oil in the bottom of a loaf pan and rub it around the bottom and sides of the pan with a paper towel.
Toast whole walnuts or pieces in a skillet for about 8 minutes. When done, grind the walnuts in a food processor or coffee grinder, or alternately use a knife to chop them very finely.
Whisk the egg in the bottom of a large bowl. When done, add the wheat germ, breadcrumbs, ground walnuts, ground pepper, and herbs to the bowl.
Add the sautéed onions, mushrooms, and carrots, as well as the quinoa , to the large bowl containing the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Use your hands to pack it tightly into the loaf pan. It should all fit into a single loaf pan if you pack it tightly enough.
Bake for 1 hour, until the top is nicely browned. Let it cool for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides using a spatula. Place the serving plate upside-down on top of the loaf pan and flip it over to release it onto the plate. Carefully lift the load pan off of the “meatloaf”.

Mashed potatoes

Ingredients:

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Sq. Greenmarket)
1.5 to 2 lbs	German butterball potatoes	Scrubbed, eyes and bad spots removed	Berried Treasures *
0.5 cup	Buttermilk		Tonjes Farm Dairy *
1 large pinch	Kosher salt
As desired	Black pepper	Freshly ground

Directions:

Scrub the potatoes. Remove any eyes and cut out any bad spots.
Bring a pot full of water to a boil. Add the potatoes and continue the boil for about 30 minutes, or until they are very soft. They are done when you can very easily puncture them with a butter knife, and the skin may crack open when you do so.
Drain the pot and put the potatoes into a large bowl. Cut them into smaller pieces (quarters). Add the buttermilk, salt, and pepper and use a masher or large fork to thoroughly mash the potatoes. If you want to, you can pull out the skins now, rather than mashing them in.

Bringing it all together

You can chop the onions and mushrooms for the gravy at the same time as that for the “meatloaf”. You can prepare the potatoes and the gravy while the “meatloaf” is in the oven. Plate them together for a delicious meal:

How to Make Vegetarian Mushroom Gravy

Erik — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:06:39 +0000

This recipe for mushroom gravy is spectacular. We tried it for the first time when we made roasted winter squash with wild rice and mushroom stuffing, but we’ve made it again on a number of occasions because it is so rich yet so healthy (for a gravy).

Most gravies involve animal fat, but the only two items of concern for the health-conscious in this recipe are some olive oil (fat) and soy sauce (sodium). The richness comes from the mushrooms.

Since we will no doubt be referencing this recipe again in future posts, we decided to break on its own.

Ingredients:

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Sq. Greenmarket)
6 TBsp	Olive oil	Split into 3 TBsp and 3 TBsp
2 cups	Yellow or white onions	Peeled and diced	Paffenroth Gardens *
2 cups	Mushrooms (we used crimini)	Diced	Bulich Mushroom Farm *
0.5 cup	All-purpose flour	Can substitute 1 cup rice four	Cayuga Pure Organics *
2 cups	Water
0.5 cup	Shoyu or Tamari	Can use regular soy sauce in a pinch
4.5 tsp	Mix of sage, rosemary, and tarragon	We used 1.5 tsp sage and 3 tsp of Herbs de Provence

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat 2-3 TBsp of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and mushrooms and sauté for about 5 – 10 minutes, until the onions are soft and the mushrooms are cooked. When they are done, set them aside.If you are looking to save time and comfortable multi-tasking, you can begin on the next steps while the onions and mushrooms are sautéing.
In a small saucepan, heat 3 TBsp of olive oil over low heat. Whisk in the flour. Keep whisking as the flour and oil mix to a dry, crumb-like consistency and start to brown. At this point you are toasting the flour.
Add the remaining ingredients (water, shoyu / soy, and herbs), whisk thoroughly to incorporate the flour mixture into the liquid, turn the heat to high, cover, and bring to a boil.
Although you can use regular, grocery store soy, the tamari and preferably shoyu styles of soy bring a lot more complexity and richness to the recipe, rather than just saltiness. See umami.
Once it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer to your desired consistency, which for us was about 10 minutes. Be sure to continue to thoroughly whisk up the bottom of the pan to make sure that no flour solids are hanging out at the bottom, or else they may burn. Stir intermittently, scraping up the bottom, as it simmers.
If you properly whisk to incorporate all the flour, the mixture will thicken much faster. If it appears too thin or too light in color, you probably still have a bunch of flour at the bottom of the pan. See the difference between the two pictures below. In the picture on the left, the gravy still has chunks of flour, both floating and at the bottom of the pan. Once I incorporated it, the gravy immediately began to look like the picture on the right.
Once the gravy is the right consistency, add the onions and mushrooms and continue to cook over low heat for a minute or two. If the gravy becomes too thick, whisk in1 TBsp of water at a time until you get back to the right consistency.

How to Make Stuffed Squash – Mushroom and Wild Rice Stuffing

Erik — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 02:21:46 +0000

Squash Stuffed with Mushrooms and Wild Rice, with Mushroom Gravy

Introduction / Methodology:

This recipe has five parts to it, plus an additional step to combine the parts. It would be easiest to explain by going through each part individually, but if you cooked it that way, it would take too long. So, I’ve rewritten the recipe to reflect the actual way that we cook it. This version jumps back and forth to achieve the most efficient timing. I hope that it remains relatively easy to follow.

First, let’s review the five component parts:

Cooking wild rice in vegetable broth
Preparing and roasting the squash
Sautéing mushrooms, shallots, and garlic for the stuffing
Sautéing mushrooms and onions for the sauce
Making the sauce

In each step below, I’ve indicated which part you are working on in order to help make it more clear. The component parts use a lot of the same ingredients. To make it easy to prepare a shopping list, I’ve combined any repeating occurrences into a single measurement (with the exception of the soy sauce; adding 1.5 teaspoons to 0.5 cups would result in something unmeasurable). In the “preparation” section I’ve noted the necessary splits that you need to make to fit with the multiple uses in the recipe.

One nice thing about this recipe is that other than the sauce, you don’t have to worry about the timing of the components other than trying to get them started in the right order to get them done as quickly as possible. If something is finished early, you can just set it aside because the final step is to combine everything and reheat for 15 minutes in the oven. The exception is the sauce, which you should aim to have finished as written, just as the reheated stuffed squash are coming out of the oven.

Equipment:

Silicone brush or pasty brush
A good knife and cutting board
Metal whisk
Stock pot, dutch oven, or any decently thick large pot with lid that will distribute heat evenly
Sauté pan
Sauce pan
Pyrex or other baking dish

Ingredients:

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Square Greenmarket)
1 quart	Vegetable broth		From a box or see here
1.5 cups	Wild rice	Rinsed	Lindsay’s mom sent from Minnesota
Pinch and to taste	Kosher salt
2 – 4	Winter squash (carnival, acorn, or delicata)	See notes in recipe	Oak Grove Plantation *
7 tsp	Olive oil	Split into 1 tsp, 1 tsp, 2 tsp, and 3 tsp	The Filling Station
3 TBsp	(Real) maple syrup		Deep Mountain Maple *
1 tsp	Ground cinnamon
0.75 lbs	Mushrooms (we used crimini)	Split into 0.5 lbs sliced and 0.25 lbs finely chopped	Bulich Mushrooms *
3	Large shallots	Chopped (coarsely)	Paffenroth Gardens *
1 large	Yellow or white onion	Diced / finely chopped (about 2 cups diced)	Paffenroth Gardens *
3 cloves	Garlic	Minced (finely)	Keith’s Farm *
0.5 cups plus 1.5 tsp	Soy sauce, preferably Shoyu or Tamari	Split to 0.5 cups and 1.5 tsp
0.5 tsp	Dried thyme
0.5 cups	All-purpose flour		Cayuga Pure Organics *
1.5 tsp	Dried sage
3 tsp	Herbs de Provence
To taste	Black pepper	Freshly ground

Directions:

Roasted squash: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Wild Rice: Start with the wild rice because this component takes the longest. Pour the vegetable broth into a stock pot or dutch oven. On the stove top, put the broth on high heat and bring to a boil. Put the lid on the pot to accelerate the process.
Wild Rice: Add the wild rice and pinch of kosher salt, replace the lid, and bring it back to a boil, which shouldn’t take long. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for about 40 minutes, or until most of the water is absorbed. You may want to check on it and stir it 2 or 3 times during the process. Once it’s done, turn the heat off and/or move the pot off the stove.
Roasted squash: The reason this recipe calls for “2 – 4″ squash is because you can use a few different types and size can vary. With the smaller carnival squash that we used, we needed four in order to use up all of the stuffing. If you buy larger acorn squash, you may need only two.
With smaller squash you want to cut the tops off and stuff the whole squash (like we did). With larger squash you want to cut them in half vertically and stuff each half separately. Either way, it should make four servings.

If you want two servings, just roast half of the squash and leave the other half raw. This recipe makes great leftovers; see the end of the post for details.
Roasted squash: Per above, if using small squash like ours, cut the tops off. If using larger squash, remove the stem area and then cut in half vertically. Using a metal spoon, scoop out the seeds and stringy bits of pulp. If you have time while waiting for the broth to come to a boil in step 1, you may want to get a head start on this step.
Roasted squash: In a small bowl, combine the 2 tsp of olive oil with the maple syrup. Brush the rim and hollowed interior of the squash with the mixture, and sprinkle-over with cinnamon. Place the squash in the baking pan (Pyrex will work best) and roast in the oven until the flesh is tender and can be pulled away from the skin easily with a fork (20 – 30 minutes). When it’s done, take it out of the oven and place it aside on a trivet. Leave the oven at 350 because you will use the oven again shortly.
Chopping for the stuffing and sauce: It makes sense to do all this chopping at the same time, but the mushrooms have to be chopped in two different ways. For the stuffing you want thin but complete slices. For the sauce you want tiny bits. The same goes for the shallots/onions.
Take 2/3 of the mushrooms (0.5 lbs) and slice thinly (left). Place these into one bowl. Chop the remaining mushrooms (0.25 lbs) as finely as you can tolerate (right). I probably should have chopped them a bit finer. Place these into a second bowl.
Chopping for the stuffing and sauce: Chop the shallots and mince the garlic. You can put these directly into your sauté pan.
Chopping for the stuffing and sauce: Peel the onions and dice them into small pieces. Set them aside in yet another bowl.
Sautéing for the stuffing: Pour the the 1 tsp of olive oil into the sauté with the shallots and garlic. Put the pan over medium heat. Once things start to sizzle, turn the heat down to a medium/low and sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the shallots and garlic are browned and caramelized.
Sautéing for the stuffing:Add the sliced mushrooms to the pan and continue to sauté, stirring occasionally. If the pan gets too dry you can add a small amount of additional olive oil at a time. The mushrooms will eventually release their water into the pan. Once this happens and the mushrooms “shrink”, add the 1.5 tsp of soy sauce / Shoyu, the dried thyme, and pepper to taste. Cook while stirring until the liquid is mostly evaporated.
Sautéing for the stuffing: By now, the wild rice has probably been finished for some time. Transfer the contents of the sauté pan into the pot with the wild rice. Mix it up and set it aside until the squash is finished roasting. This is your stuffing.
Roasted squash: Whenever the squash is finished roasting, remove the pan from the oven and place it on a trivet or an oven burner. Carefully spoon stuffing into each squash until it is filled to the top, plus a bit more. Put the squash pan back in the oven for 15 minutes.
Sautéing for the sauce: Put 1 tsp of olive oil back into the (dirty) sauté pan. Heat it over medium heat. Once it is hot, lower the heat a little and add the onion and finely chopped mushrooms. Sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. In the meantime, move immediately on to the next step (do steps 14 and 15 simultaneously).
Making the sauce: In a sauce pan, heat 3 tsp of olive out over low heat. Whisk in the flour, a little at a time, then add 2 cups of water. To get technical, you are making a roux. When I did it, there was too much flour and it made a paste. If this happens, add a little bit of water at a time, whisking constantly, until it loosens into a sauce. Be careful when adding water, though, because it is easier to add additional water than it is to evaporate it out if you add too much.
Making the sauce: Once you get the roux to the right consistency, add the remaining soy sauce / Shoyu, the sage, and the herbs de Provence. Mix well with the whisk. Raise the heat to medium and bring it all to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened to the consistency shown below.
Making the sauce: Add the contents of the sauté pan to sauce pan. Mix together over low heat until warmed-through. If the sauce is too thick, add 1 tsp of water at a time and mix, until you get to your desired consistency.
Finishing up: The 15 minute re-warm of the stuffed squash should be done around the same time that the sauce is finished. Transfer the squash to your plates and spoon sauce over the top. We also added a nice dollop of sauce on the side. Enjoy!

Lindsay ate hers very carefully out of the skin. I tore into mine with a knife and fork, making an absolute mess, cutting away the skin as I ate my way through. Both methods were delicious, but Lindsay’s gave us one last picture to add to the end of this post.

Leftover Instructions:

If you only made two servings and left the other half of your squash raw and intact, refrigerate the leftover stuffing and sauce in separate containers. To prepare the leftovers, repeat steps 5 and 6 with the remaining raw squash. Stuff with the leftover stuffing and repeat step 13. Reheat the sauce and repeat step 18. It might be a little more work than your normal leftovers, but the good news is that for once, the leftovers are every bit as good as the first-run.

You will get a better result if you reheat the sauce in a pot on the stove over low heat. If you want to microwave it, do so for 30 seconds, stir in a little water to counter-act the fact that the microwave dries food, and heat for another 30 seconds.

It’s complicated to explain, and the first time you make it be sure to give yourself some time, but we absolutely love this meal.

Yum!

Dark Days: Polenta with Celeriac and Mushrooms

Lindsay — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 02:52:43 +0000

After a pretty stressful week at work, comfort food was on the menu this weekend. This polenta hit the spot. It’s based on a NY Times article and the fact that I wanted a relatively guilt-free meal, that still tasted “naughty”. Had I not been wiped out from work, this would have been an easy meal. I was, however, sleep-deprived and stressed out, so Erik tagged me out and finished when I got (easily) frustrated. Thank goodness for level-headed boyfriends!!

We can’t get very much at the farmers’ market except for root vegetables and mushrooms this time of year, so it’s nice to use the same old Dark Days veggies in new ways. You can definitely taste the celeriac puree in the polenta, but it’s still a new flavor, due to the cornmeal. The egg is optional, I suppose, but the yolk adds creaminess to the mushroom sauce. We use these nifty silicone Poach Pods for poaching eggs. We often make random leftovers (roasted veggies, sauteed greens, rice, whatever) into a quick meal by topping them with a poached egg.

Polenta with Celeriac, Mushrooms, and Egg
Serves 4

Ingredients:

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Square Greenmarket)
3 cups (~3 small)	Celeriac	Peeled and cut into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes (see this post for directions)	Paffenroth Farm *
1 cup	Cornmeal		Cayuga Organics *
1 1/2 cups	Mushrooms	Quartered or halved depending on size	John D. Madura Farms *
5 small	Shallots	Roughly chopped	Paffenroth Gardens *
3 TBsp	Butter		Ronnybrook Farm Dairy *
1 tsp	Dried oregano
1 1/2 cups	Red wine		Château Renaissance Wine Cellars
To taste	Salt
4	Eggs	Softly poached or fried (wait until everything is just about done to cook)	Flying Pigs Farm

Directions:

Heat a large pot of water to boiling. Add a large pinch of salt and the cubed celeriac. Boil the celeriac until very tender about 30 minutes. I got hungry and impatient and drained it too soon. Don’t be impatient. It will make your life much harder later.
While the celeriac is cooking, heat 3 cups of water in a second pot until boiling. Add a large pinch of salt. While whisking, slowly pour in the cornmeal. This will help avoid lumps. Our cornmeal was pretty lumpy (which I didn’t notice until I was pouring it in), but I just whisked away and crossed my fingers. By the time it was done, it was nice and smooth. Allow the polenta to boil for 15 minutes, whisking occasionally.
While your two pots are cooking, slice the shallots and mushrooms. Melt the butter in a sauté pan and add the shallots. Sauté the shallots over medium heat until translucent.
Add the mushrooms, salt, and oregano, and sauté until the mushrooms are tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Once they are done, turn off the stove, but leave the mushrooms in the pan. Our mushrooms were pretty dry, since we bought them a week ago and didn’t get around to cooking them until now. We added a little extra butter to compensate, but they looked pretty shriveled until we added the red wine later.
Once the celeriac is very soft, strain it and mash it very well. We used an immersion blender, but you could use a potato masher or a fork. We tried a blender, but there wasn’t enough to work well no matter how hard I tried. This lead to Erik telling me to take a time out. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Add a little milk or water to make it mash better if you want to. Aim for a smooth puree similar to the cornmeal.
After the celeriac is mashed, turn the heat under the mushrooms to medium again. Add the wine and cook until much of the liquid is evaporated.
Once the cornmeal is cooked, stir it into the celeriac mash to finish the polenta.
To eat, put a mound of polenta on the plate, add the mushrooms, and top with the fried or poached egg. Since you won’t have used the full bottle of wine, pour yourself a glass and relax.