.italian stuffed mushrooms.

The other night we had appetizer night, which I do when I'm craving multiple things at the same time. I usually do this on Friday as a kind of "celebration" for surviving the week. Normally I don't fix this kind of fancy food, but I was in the mood to try new things.


On the menu: Brie puffs (I used my profiteroles recipe and added grated Brie cheese to the dough before piping), Grilled Steak Kabobs with Roasted Red Pepper Salsa, Crab Cakes with Chipotle Lime Aioli, and Italian Stuffed Mushrooms. For dessert I made Coconut Parfaits using toasted coconut pound cake and coconut whipped cream.


Today's blog entry shows how I made the mushrooms.



In a skillet, put a little olive oil and cook some mild italian sausage (1 cup) with 1/2 cup finely diced onion. Saute until the sausage is cooked through.
















Transfer the onion and sausage to a bowl and add 1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs, 1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and one egg.


Mix everything together well using a fork.
















Remove the stems from all of the mushrooms, leaving only the caps. You can dice up the mushroom stems and add to the filling if you wish. I chose not to this time.


Place the mushrooms in a baking dish.










Fill the mushroom caps with the stuffing. Make sure they mound up nice and high because you want to have enough filling so when you bite in it should be 50/50 in flavor.


Cut up 1/4 stick of butter and place strategically around the mushrooms. It will melt as the mushrooms bake and keep them from sticking to the baking dish. Put in a 350* oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZ-Z_fQXybIkZGcydmZqcW1fMTYzZnE2bXpmZjI&hl=en

.pasta e fagioli.

To me, soup means comfort and I love comfort foods.  This recipe for Pasta e Fagioli was one I found in a new cookbook I bought about a month ago.  I changed it a little and it was so tasty.  If you've ever had this at the Olive Garden, you'll know it's kind of an Italian style chili with pasta and beans and a rich tomato broth.  It's also very easy to make so if you have a child in your home who likes to help in the kitchen, this is the perfect dish to prepare for little hands.

You'll need 3 carrots, cut up, 1 onion, diced, 4 celery stalks cut up, and 1 clove garlic, minced.

The recipe in the cookbook did not call for any meat, but we had to put some in.  I had some spicy italian sausage in the freezer that I thawed and used.  Remove the meat from the casing.  (If you want exacts, I used three sausage links.)

In a soup pot, heat some olive oil.  Saute the garlic and a bay leaf for a minute.  Be careful not to let the garlic burn.

Add the sausage and start breaking it apart as it cooks.  

When the sausage is almost cooked through, add the onion, carrot, and celery.  Stir well and cook until the onions are almost translucent.

Add 5 cups beef broth (you can easily use vegetable broth if you want to keep this vegetarian) and 1 jar spaghetti sauce.

I used a garlic and olive oil flavored sauce from Bertolli.

Without straining either of these, dump in 2 cans Cannellini beans and 1 can diced tomatoes.

Make sure you season at this point with some salt, pepper, and 2 tsp oregano.

Stir everything well and let it come to a boil.  Cover and reduce to low.  Let this cook for about an hour.  The longer you let it simmer, the more those flavors have a chance to marry.

For the pasta, I used ditalini, which is a short macaroni noodle.  It has a nice firm texture that holds up well in the soup.  You can swap this out using orzo or elbow macaroni.

About 30 minutes before serving, cook half the box in it's own pot of boiling water.  The reason why I use a separate pot to cook the pasta it will take away all of the liquid in the soup if you threw it into the main pot.  This way, if you cook to al dente, you'll have cooked pasta that still has room to absorb the flavor of the soup, but it won't take away all that delicious tomato goodness.

Drain the pasta well and add to the soup pot.  Stir well.

Serve and top with some fresh grated parmesan cheese.  Fresh baked italian bread is the perfect companion.  I love using it to sop up the broth in the bowl.

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_142dvb53qfz

.chicken stuffed with italian sausage.

I was cruising the internet for copycat recipes for some of my favorite places. Carrabbas is one place we looveee to go.



Well, surprisingly enough, I came across a website for PBS. Did you know that one of the Carrabba brothers hosts a cooking show on there? YES! This was one of the free recipes they had available on the website. The official italian name for this dish is Involtini di Pollo. Absolutely delicious.



Dice half of an onion.



Mince 2 cloves garlic.




Thaw 1/2 cup spinach. Squeeze out as much of the water as possible. Set aside.



Remove the casing off two mild italian sausage links. Set aside.



Heat about 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil in a skillet. Saute the onion and garlic for a minute.



Sprinkle in a little fennel seed.



Add the italian sausage. Break apart while it cooks.



When there's no longer any pink in the sausage, add the spinach. Remove from heat and mix well. Make sure you break up the meat and spinach so they are well distributed.



Remove from the pan and put in a bowl. Cool a little.



Break in one egg.



Grate about 1/2 cup fresh parmegiano-reggiano.



Mix everything together well.



Take a long length of saran and put it on the counter. Sprinkle lightly with cornstarch.



Put down the chicken breasts. I used three and just spaced them out on the saran. Dust lightly with cornstarch and then put another length of saran on top.



Use a mallet or a heavy skillet to pound out the meat starting in the center and working your way out.



This is about as thin as you want it. Any thinner and you're going to rip it apart.



Put a couple tablespoons of filling down the middle of the chicken breast.



Roll up and seal with toothpicks.



At this stage, wrap each involtini with saran and hold in the fridge overnight. This firms everything up and keeps it from falling apart while cooking. You could easily freeze these too. Wrap in saran and then hold in freezer bags.



Heat 2 Tbsp butter and 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil in a skillet.



Sear all sides of the involtini.



Remove from the pan and put in an oven safe dish. Cover with foil and put in the oven at 250*. This is just to keep them warm while you make the sauce.



Cut one stick of butter up into 8 pieces.



Using the same skillet you cooked the chicken in, add 1/4 cup chicken stock.



Add 1/3 cup red wine. Cook this down while scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Season with some salt and pepper.


Keep over medium high heat until half the liquid has evaporated.



Add 2 pats of butter at a time, stirring frequently. You don't want this to come to a boil because it will break up the sauce.



Once the 2 pats are melted, add another two. Keep doing this until you've added all the butter and you have a smooth sauce.



Remove chicken from the oven and carefully pull out the toothpicks. Slice on the diagonal and plate. Spoon some sauce over the top.



I served this chicken with some lemon basil linguini. I don't have pictures of the pasta dish, but I will walk you through it.

Lemon Basil Linguini



1 handful linguini pasta, boiled in salt water and drained

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tsp basil (fresh is best, but dried works just as well)
Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 cup fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano

1 Tbsp butter



In a skillet, heat the olive oil. Saute the garlic for a minute. Don't let it burn. Add the pasta and toss to coat. Sprinkle in the basil. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze in the lemon juice. Remove from the heat and toss in the cheese and butter. Toss well. Serve immediately.

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_77hjfg93hq

.egg rolls.

Whenever I make Chinese food, I *have* to make eggrolls. These aren't your typical cabbage filled rolls with the egg roll wrapper. The recipe I use requires an almost crepe like wrap made of egg, cornstarch, and water. Then it's filled, dipped in a tempura batter and deep fried. It is so yummy. It's a nice variation from the traditional ones you find in most Chinese restaurants or take out shops.
If you have a Pampered Chef food chopper, you'll want to use it. It makes prepping for this thing so much quicker!




Crack 4 eggs in a bowl.

Add 2 Tbsp cornstarch.

Add 1/4 cup water and whisk, working to get rid of any lumps. Sometimes it takes a few minutes for the cornstarch to dissolve, so if it's lumpy at first, don't worry... they should dissipate soon enough.

Heat up a crepe pan. This is a pretty big one. My husband got it for me for my birthday and it was so big, I had to make double the egg mix. If you don't have a crepe pan, use your small saute pan. It will cause the edges to curve up a little, but it will be just fine. How do I know? Because that's what I used to use before I got my lovely crepe pan. :)



Ladle some of the egg batter into the pan. Tilt the pan in a circular fashion to coat the entire thing. When you feel it's cooked on one side, use a spatula to flip it. Cook for only another minute and then remove from pan. Repeat until your batter is all gone.

Put the cooked "crepe" on a plate to cool.


Now for the filling!














Finely chop 1/2 cup carrot.

Finely chop 1/2 cup celery.

Finely chop 1/2 cup onion.

Finely chop 1 Tbsp water chestnuts. (I did more than that in this picture because I needed more chopped water chestnuts for another dish.)

These are bamboo shoots. Bamboo shoots come from bamboo! The bamboo is harvested in the spring or early summer. It's then sliced thinly and boiled until tender. The flavor is rather distinct and is an important component for these eggrolls.

(NOTE:You can find bamboo shoots in your grocery store down the asian foods aisle. They're in a can usually next to the can of water chestnuts.)


Finely chop up 1/4 cup.



Take 1 cup bean sprouts and cut them up. These don't need to be finely chopped. Mix all the veggies together in a large bowl.

In a small bowl put:


1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Mirin
1 tsp Soy sauce
and 1/4 cup water







Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a wok. When hot, add 1/2 cup ground pork and fry until cooked.
















Dump in the veggies and toss to coat with whatever oil there might be left in the pan. Saute for about 5 minutes until you think the veggies are cooked.

Add the soy sauce/mirin sauce. Cook for another minute.



In that same little bowl, whisk together 1 Tbsp cold water and 1 Tbsp cornstarch. This is going to be our thickener. Add it to the wok and bring to boil. The sauce you added will start thickening up.




Once thick, pull from the heat, transfer to a bowl and let cool.

To assemble, put one of the egg crepes on the counter or cutting board. Put a large Tablespoonful of filling in the center.

Fold in the sides.

Roll up like a burrito. Make sure you have the seam side down so it doesn't unroll.

Repeat until all the wraps and/or filling are used up.



These can be individually wrapped with saran and put in a large ziploc at this point for freezing. I normally make it to this stage and wrap well and hold in the fridge overnight until I need them the next day. Makes it easy when I have company coming.


Before we can cook these, we need to make the dipping batter. In a bowl, mix up 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup cornstarch, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 3/4 cup cold water. Whisk everything together so there aren't any lumps.




Dip an egg roll in the batter and coat well.

Carefully put the eggroll in a wok of hot oil (350*) and fry until nice and golden on one side. Turn and fry the other side. When it's golden all the way around, remove from the oil and put on a paper towel to drain.

This is a finished egg roll. You can see that the batter makes it nice and puffy on the outside.


Serve these babies hot with some soy sauce.



Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_64gbpb9hhr