We wanted to end the week on a holistically beautiful note. This recipe from Leite’s Culinaria, to us, sounds like the perfect thing to see us through these last clings of winter as we soldier into spring. Hearty but healthy and approved for your Spring Break-friendly menu plan without abandoning great flavor from the bacon- an excellent combination all around. Have a great weekend!
In these first few weeks of the New Year, many of us are still detoxing from the last few weeks of the old year. The rich indulgence from every angle has the larger “us” craving simpler foods that just feel good, from start to finish and then maybe some tasty leftovers for lunch. Today’s post features three recipes that will do just that, all incorporating two tasty, satiating ingredients that should be on the all-star roster for your winter menu: barley and (you guessed it!) mushrooms.
Turkey Veggie Barley Chili from Anne of Fannetastic Food
Mushroom Barley from Catherine of Weelicious
Healthy Mushroom Barley Soup from Christine of Once a Month Mom
Today’s featured recipe comes to us from Rachael, the taste buds behind La Fuji Mama.
Gyoza, Japanese pan-fried dumplings, were one of the first things I learned to cook when I first lived in Japan. I’ve since made them many times with many different fillings. One of the things that I love to put in gyoza are mushrooms. For this gyoza variation, I use a combination of mushrooms (I use 5 ounces of fresh shiitake mushrooms, 4 ounces of baby bella mushrooms, and 3 ounces of enoki mushrooms, but you can use whatever mushrooms you like), cubed pancetta, garlic, ginger, green onion, and a bit of aka miso (red miso paste).
I chop up the mushrooms. Then I saute the pancetta in a large saute pan until the fat starts to melt and the pancetta starts to brown. Then I add the mushrooms, garlic, ginger, and green onion and saute everything together until the mushrooms have browned slightly. After letting the mixture cool slightly, I stir in the miso paste and a bit of salt.
Then I assemble the gyoza. Gyoza are made using round wrappers. Many local grocery stores only carry square wonton wrappers. You can buy these and use a biscuit cutter to cut them into circles.
There are several ways to form gyoza, but here is a simple method you can use: Start out by laying a dumpling wrapper on a dry work surface, and place a heaping teaspoon of the mushroom mixture in the center of the wrapper. With a fingertip moistened with water, trace a line along half of the edge of the round wrapper. Fold the wrapper over to enclose the filling, and pinch the wrapper in the center to seal the edges together at that spot. Holding the filled half-circle in your left hand, push the right rounded end in with the forefinger of you right hand to close the opening. Pinch the “V” created by doing this together. Repeat on the other side. This should create a flat rectangular bottom, with the a rounded arch on top.
If you want to make your gyoza look a bit fancier and pleat them, take a look at my step-by-step pleating instructions.
Once you have assembled all of the gyoza, cooking them is simple. First you fry them in a bit of oil until the bottoms turn a golden brown. Then you add some water, cover them with a lid, and steam them for several minutes until they are cooked through.
Serve them hot with a simple dipping sauce. The finished gyoza make a wonderful party appetizer or a fun meal. The mushrooms make a wonderful earthy and meaty filling.
Makes 40 gyoza
3 ounces cubed pancetta
12 ounces mushrooms, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (with a Microplane grater)
1 tablespoon green onion (green part only), minced
1 tablespoon aka miso (red miso paste)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
40 dumpling wrappers
For cooking the dumplings:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
Dipping Sauce:
6 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
Several drops of chili oil or sesame oil (optional)
1. In a large saute pan over medium heat, saute the pancetta until the fat has partially melted and the pancetta starts to brown. Add the mushrooms, garlic, ginger, and green onion and saute until the mushrooms are lightly brown. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly, then stir in the miso and sea salt.
2. Have a small bowl of cold water ready. Lay a dumpling wrapper on a dry work surface, and place a heaping teaspoon of the mushroom mixture in the center of the wrapper. With a fingertip moistened with water, trace a line along half of the edge of the round wrapper. Fold the wrapper over to enclose the filling, and pinch the wrapper in the center to seal the edges together at that spot. Holding the filled half-circle in the left hand, push the right rounded end in with the forefinger of you right hand to close the opening. Pinch the “V” created by doing this together. Repeat on the other side. This should create a flat rectangular bottom, with the a rounded arch on top. Set aside the stuffed dumpling with the rounded-wrapper edge up. Repeat to make 40 dumplings in all.
3. In a large skillet with a tight fitting lid, heat 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Carefully place as many of the dumplings that can fit without touching in the skillet with the pleated-wrapper edge up. Cook the dumplings for 3 minutes, or until nicely browned on the bottom. Check the progress by lifting 1 or 2 dumplings by their pleated edge.
4. Once the bottoms are nicely browned, use the skillet lid to shield yourself and carefully pour in 1/4 cup of the water. When the hissing and splattering die down, drizzle in 1/2 teaspoon of the vegetable oil around the edge of the skillet. Place the lid on the skillet to trap in the moisture and then quickly lower the heat to keep the liquid at a bare simmer.
5. Check the dumplings after 2 minutes. When the wrappers appear slightly translucent and the filling feels firm when pressed lightly with a spoon, remove the lid and raise the heat slightly. Continue to cook until all the water has evaporated and only the oil remains (about 2 minutes). Once you hear a sizzling sound, shake the skillet. The dumplings should slide about. If they seem to stick to the skillet, move the skillet away from the stove and replace the lid for a moment. Remove the dumplings from the skillet with a broad flexible spatula. If you’d like, flip them over so that the seared surface faces up. Cook the remaining dumplings the same way. Serve the dumplings hot accompanied by the dipping sauce.
4. While the dumplings are cooking, make the dipping sauce by mixing the soy sauce and rice vinegar together in a small bowl. Pour the sauce into a small serving pitcher or distribute among individual dipping dishes.
I love that Pam made this recipe for poached eggs with roasted tomatoes, caramelized mushrooms and shaved Parmesan because she couldn’t get a picture out of her mind. We officially know the feeling.
Please enjoy not one but TWO amazing empanada recipes from Colleen- the excellent taste behind FoodieTots.com.
When you think about it, is there a more perfect food than the empanada? Miniature stuffed pastries, sweet or savory, make the perfect party appetizer – or fist-sized meal for children on the go. And full-size empanadas can be a meal-on-the-run for grown ups as well. When I was thinking about the ideal companions to mushrooms in these funghi empanadas, I thought of my favorite pizza toppings – mushrooms, olives and Italian sausage. I love to cook with Italian sausage because it’s pre-seasoned, making it a time-saving way to impart flavor to the finished dish. I also decided to make a sweeter one with caramelized onions, Brie and shitake mushrooms, for variety (and to provide a vegetarian option).
Whether you use store-bought pastry dough, as I have, or make it from scratch, empanadas are a fun kitchen project for young children who can roll, cut and help fill the dough. As with the toppings for the portabella pizzas I shared in my last post, letting kids choose their own fillings makes it more likely they’ll sample the finished product, and may even encourage them to try something new.
Recipe: Shitake, Brie and Caramelized Onion Empanadas
Ingredients:
Instructions: In a medium sauté pan, slowly cook onions and olive oil over low heat, stirring infrequently, until onions are golden brown, about 30 minutes. Increase heat to medium low, deglaze pan with wine, and stir in mushrooms and thyme. Cook about 2 minutes more, just until mushrooms have absorbed the liquid. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.
Roll the thawed pastry dough out on a floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out 5-inch circles (I use a small glass bowl for this). In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and water to make an egg wash. Scoop one tablespoon full of mushroom-onion filling into the center of each pastry circle. Place a slice of Brie on top. Brush the edge with egg wash, fold, and crimp the edges. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush the tops with the egg wash. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Let cool slightly before serving. Makes 8 empanadas.
*BONUS ROUND*
Ingredients:
Instructions: Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Squeeze sausage out of its casing and crumble in the skillet. Cook several minutes, until browned. Strain off any excess grease, then add red pepper and cook 2-3 minutes more, until peppers are soft. Add mushrooms and cook 1 more minute. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper and add olives. (If, like me, you have olive haters in your household, keep the olives separate and add them only to half the empanadas.)
Follow instructions above to prepare pastry circles and egg wash. Place sausage-mushroom filling in the center of each circle, brush edges with egg wash, fold over and crimp edges. (If you need to distinguish the olive ones from the olive-free, carve a small “O” in the olive ones with a paring knife.) Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Let cool slightly before serving. Makes 8 empanadas. Enjoy!
Update: broken links have been updated in this post. Sorry guys!
Remember the “Mushrooms: Every Day, Every Way” recipe contest with Taste of Home? Well the results are in! More than 1,400 recipes were submitted and we narrowed it down to three amazingly delicious recipes that are simple and practical for the everyday home cook. Read on to see if one of these newly crowned top chefs lives in a town near you!
The Main Dish category and overall Grand Prize winner, Anthony Dolby, is native to Howland, OH. He earned ultimate bragging rights with his mouth-watering Stuffed Flank Steak with Mushroom Sherry Cream. Herb cheese is slathered onto flank steak that has been stuffed with mushrooms, roasted red peppers and fresh spinach, and then topped off with a mushroom sherry cream sauce. This recipe shouts umami and is sure to impress guests.
The Appetizers and Sides category winner, Jennifer Beckman, resides in Falls Church, VA, and writes the foodie blog Love & Onions. Jennifer’s delectable Mushroom Panzanella is a tasty accompaniment to any meal. Fresh arugula is mixed with grape tomatoes, pine nuts, golden raisins, caramelized ‘shrooms and yummy goat cheese, taking the idea of a starter salad to a whole new level.
The Breakfast category winner, Cynthia Stackhouse, calls Papillion, NE home. Her delicious Southwestern Quiche is a savory way to start off your day. Tortillas form the crust of this quiche and it’s peppered with spicy chorizo sausage, putting a southwestern spin on your usual breakfast pie.
Congratulations to our winners, and a huge thanks to all of you who entered! We love learning new, creative ways to cook up mushrooms, so be sure to share your tasty creations with us on Facebook and Twitter. We’ll be sure to shower you with mushroom love and praise!
We’re a day late for Wordless Wednesday but the Noshery’s Creamy Sage, Sausage and Mushroom Baked Tortellini was too beautiful not to mention. The perfect dinner for the first week of fall!
As a reminder, there’s another gorgeous fall mushroom recipe that could use your vote over on Tastespotting. It’s the last week of the Mushroom Masters and Kath Eats is our champion of champignons!
Today’s post comes to you from the lovely Paula of bell’alimento.
Gnocchi are little pillows of potato goodness and I’m my opinion, comfort food at it’s finest. The good news is, it’s not as difficult as you might imagine, you just need a little time. I like to make it in stages. Do a little work, take a little break, do a little work, take a little break and before you know it you’ll be enjoying a plate full of deliciousness!
Once you’ve mastered the basic gnocchi recipe, you can experiment by adding all kinds of different flavors. Naturally, here we’ve added mushrooms and we’ve given the gnocchi themselves a deep, decadent flavor with truffle paste! This would be simply divine with a butter and sage sauce on it’s own, but oh no, we’ve continued the mushroom theme and created a flavorful sauce full of mushrooms plus a little spice for extra measure. You can after all, never have enough mushrooms, right ; )
The secret to making light and fluffy gnocchi is the amount of flour you mix in. Too much and the gnocchi will be tough and dense {and who wants that} You want your dough to be tacky but not sticky or “wet”. Your hands will let you know when this is just right. Just add a little flour at a time until it’s perfect, you’ll know when ; )
The recipe is easily doubled and you can tailor the heat and mushroom level to your taste, simply add more or less of the Calabrian Crushed Red Pepper Chili Flakes and truffle paste and voila!
Baci!
Paula
What you’ll need:
{gnocchi}
4 medium- large Russet Potatoes
1 tablespoon Truffle Paste
1 egg – beaten
1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano – Grated
2-3 cups of all purpose flour
salt
{sauce}
8 ounces of mushrooms – sliced
1 teaspoon Calabrian Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
3 cloves of garlic – crushed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
salt/pepper
What to do:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place potatoes onto a rimmed sheet pan and bake for approx 45 minutes to 1 hour until fork tender. Allow to cool just until you are able to safely work with them and then remove skins.
2. While the potatoes are still warm, place them into a food mill and grind. Transfer milled potatoes onto a rimmed cookie sheet and place in refrigerator to cool completely.
3. Once cooled, transfer to a clean, lightly floured surface. Form a well, add eggs, Parmigiano, a large pinch of salt, and 2 cups of the flour. Begin mixing/kneading. If dough is still too wet add another cup of flour. Continue until you have a ball of dough {adding flour only if necessary}. Once your dough ball is formed, add the truffle paste and work in until well combined.
{NOTE: put a large stock pot of generously salted water onto boil now}
4. Using a pastry scraper, cut the dough into small manageable sections. Roll the sections of the dough into logs of equal proportions. Once the logs are in place, use your pastry scraper and cut them into 1? sections. Transfer them to a lightly floured rimmed cookie sheet. Continue until all pieces are cut.
5. When the water is boiling, place the gnocchi into the water and allow them to cook until they rise to the top and swell up.
6. WHILE the gnocchi are cooking, make the sauce by placing a large sauté pan over medium – high heat. Add the olive oil, butter, crushed garlic and allow to melt and for the garlic to turn a light golden color. Add the mushrooms and allow to cook down slightly. Add chicken broth and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium and allow sauce to reduce. Stirring as necessary. Remove garlic before serving.
7. When gnocchi are done. Transfer them with a slotted spoon into the sauce pan, toss GENTLY to combine. Garnish with additional basil and Parmigiano Reggiano if desired.
Buon Appetito!
Patti, food blogger at Worth The Whisk, invites us to use our noodles:
Early in my food career, I knew a woman named Harriett Paine, a home economist who wrote recipe books and taught cooking classes. My culinary background at that point was fairly one-dimensional, and I remember seeing something she’d done that stopped me in my tracks… she ROLLED lasagna noodles with filling. Of course today, you see that everywhere, but way back then, that touch of creativity took a fairly common dish and made it sparkle.
For this recipe, I have upscale ingredients to apply to that tweaked tradition. Cooked lasagna noodles, rolled with a creamy, pungent blend of goat cheese, fresh basil and sautéed baby portabella mushrooms. The portabellas have such a rich flavor, no meat is needed, believe me.
Make your family stand up and take notice. Roll your next lasagna, and stuff it like this:
Mushroom, Basil and Goat Cheese Lasagna Roll-Ups
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions, drain and rinse to cool.
Meanwhile, in a heavy skillet, heat olive oil. Sauté onions, garlic and mushrooms 5 minutes.
In a medium bowl, blend together ricotta, goat cheese, egg, basil, oregano, pepper and salt.
One noodle at a time, spread a layer of cheese and then a light layer of mushroom/onion mixture.
Roll up noodle, place in baking pan.
Once all rolls are filled, top with remaining ricotta mixture and sprinkle with mozzarella.
Bake for one hour or until cheese is melted and golden brown. Makes 9 rolls.
Today’s post comes to us from Colleen for the family-friendly food blog, Foodie Tots.
In these steamy hot days of August, turning on the oven is one of the last things we typically want to do in the evening. Pizzas cooked on the grill are a classic summer menu item, and swapping portabellas for pizza crust makes it an even faster and simpler dinner solution for busy summer nights.
As with regular pizzas, the topping variations are endless so be creative and, if making them with children, let them suggest their favorites. For these, my son stuck with plain mozzarella and a black olive smiley face, while the grown ups enjoyed basil, feta and olives. Next time I plan to make a Hawaiian version with some shredded prosciutto and pineapple.
Recipe: Grilled Portabella Pizzas (Smiley Face Optional)
Ingredients:
Instructions:
1. To start, gently clean your portabellas with a damp paper towel. Trim the stems with a paring knife (and a tip I learned from a local chef: save the stems for making mushroom stock) and use a spoon to scrape the dark brown gills from the underside of the cap. (Just toss — or compost — those.)
2. Arrange the sauce, cheeses and toppings in small bowls and line them up across the top of your work surface.
3. Brush the underside of the caps with olive oil and grill, oiled side down, for 3-4 minutes over a medium high flame.
4. Place the caps on your work surface, cooked side facing up, and season with salt and pepper. Spread 1 to 2 tablespoons of sauce around the cap. Go easy on the sauce as the mushrooms will give off liquid when they cook, and too much sauce can make them soggy. Sprinkle with cheese to cover, then olives or other desired toppings. Gently place back on the grill (toppings facing up!) and cook another 3 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
Serves 4 as a side dish or appetizer, or 2 as a main course. Enjoy!
