Mushroom Stuffed Mushrooms

There are few meals on earth as complicated as the Passover Seder meal, and here's why.

1. It's a meal that must be fancy enough to meet the holiday occasion, and you serve it to probably a dozen to thirty people, depending on the size of your family and how popular you are. Also, depending on how good last year's was.
2. You can't use any leavening, and you can only use meat OR dairy.
3. You must include the ceremonial elements- charoseth, hard boiled eggs, matzo ball soup, etc. Which means that you have a limited amount of time and energy for making the food that actually constitutes the meal.
4. In the food that you're preparing, you must try to stick to the Passover theme, which means there should be plenty of parsley, wine, and the other assorted foods that go on a seder table.
5. You will have to prepare the whole thing in advance, if possible, because there will be one to three hours of seder to sit through before dinner is served, and you will be at the seder table. NOT cooking.
6. You will be drunk when it is time to serve the meal. You will have been too busy cooking all day to remember to eat much, and the seder will dictate that you drink three glasses of wine. Don't even think about wearing high heels.

So, what do you do when you have to provide a bunch of hungry, drunken, celebrating people with a spectacular meal? You make these mushrooms.

The spectacular thing about these mushrooms is they can be made hours, even days, in advance. The only thing you have to do before serving them? Set them under the broiler. And then, like magic, they become hot and juicy and gooey and crunchy. Yes, all of the above.

This means they're also great for when you're not serving them at a Passover Seder. You can make them in parts- the portobellos in the morning, the stuffing in the afternoon while the kids watch TV, and then toss the rest together come dinner time and BAM! Add a salad, and dinner is made.

Two mushrooms make an entree. One is a super impressive side dish. It's pretty spectacular.

For the we had these mushrooms, a slow-cooker recipe for gigantes, a salad, and a matzo spanikopita. You know, with matzo ball soup, charoseth, horseradish, matzo, hard boiled eggs, relish dishes, eight bottles of wine, pecan torte, chocolates, candies, macaroons...

You get the idea.

So here you are: Mushroom Stuffed Mushrooms. Bon apetit!

Ingredients:

3+ tbs olive oil, separated

8 portobello mushroom caps- as big as your hand if you can get them (That's hand WITH fingers, not just your palm), stems reserved and chopped

1/3 c grated parmesan cheese

1/2 c chopped fresh parsley

1/3 c chopped fresh chives

1/4 c matzo meal (if it's not Passover, go ahead and use bread crumbs or crumbled crackers)

4 shallots, finely chopped

12 oz  cremini or baby bella mushrooms, sliced

6 oz shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1/2 c Pinot Grigio

1/2 c heavy cream

salt and white pepper

Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease a jelly roll pan with olive oil, and arrange the portobello caps gill side down. Bake for 30-35 minutes, then set aside to cool.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet until very hot, and then add the shallots. After about four minutes, add the portobello stems. Then the shiitake. Give it another few minutes, and add the creminis. Stir vaguely for about ten minutes, and then add the wine. Continue to absently shuffle the mushrooms from one side of the pan to the other while you drink another 1/4 c of wine or so, say ten minutes. Stir in heavy cream and half the herbs, and continue to stir with minimal attention until the liquid is almost entirely evaporated. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the parmesan, the rest of the fresh herbs, the matzo meal/crumbs, and 1 tbs olive oil. Set aside.

When you're ready to combine and serve the mushrooms, start with a fresh baking sheet. Place the portobellos gill side UP on the new, ungreased sheet. Divide the mushroom mixture onto the portobellos. Now divide the crumbly mixture onto the mushroomy mushrooms. 

Set the broiler on high, and broil those suckers for 3 minutes, until the tops start to turn a gorgeous brown.

Serve immediately, and resume your drunken revelry.

Bummed that I didn't post this until a month after Passover? Fear not! Today is Shavuot- and traditional foods for Shavuot include... cheese! So just double the parmesan, and there you have it. And excuse to pop open another bottle of Pinot. Enjoy!

Curry Week!

It's finally here, curry week!

Curry is an interesting subject.  After all, it describes such a wide variety of dishes.  There are yellow, red, and green curries.  There are sweet curries and spicy curries.  The variety of countries boasting an array of delicious curries is staggering.

Wars, oh so many wars, have been fought over the spices that go into curry.  History has turned on the whims of those who love curry.  Curry is the culmination of the combined spice, and in the words of Frank Herbert, "He who controls it, controls our destiny."

This week, we will be making a variety of curries.  This, like every week's meal, has everything you need for a balanced diet.  Lean protein, green and orange vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and just a dash of dairy.  The bonus is, of course, that it even includes dessert and really, curry is EASY!

Curry is one of the simplest things you can throw together.  Got a few ingredients and don't know what to do with them?  Curry!  Want to impress you in-laws or your sister?  Curry!

Unlike most dishes, curry's success depends much less upon the quality of your fruits and vegetables and much more on the quality of your spices.  Curries developed in parts of the world where the weather is hot and wet, which meant that food tended to spoil faster.  However, those glorious spices could disguise the taste of even the most withered yam, and as a result we have the amazing, the spectacular, the splendiferous curries we enjoy today.  There are curry leaves, and they are in many curries, but the flavor that really makes curry taste like CURRY is fenugreek.  Why don't we call it a fenugreek instead of a curry?  I have no idea.  But however the confusion came about, thank goodness for the Indian subcontinent!  Thank goodness for the Carribean!  Thank goodness for Thailand!  THANK GOODNESS FOR CURRY!

This Week's Menu:

 Saffron Rice

Daal

Sweet Potato Carrot Curry

Not / Chicken Massaman Curry

Vanilla Raita

Sweet Lassi

 The Grocery List:

• 1/2 lb red lentils
• 5 carrots
• 1 sweet potato
• 1 lb boneless chicken OR 12 oz chicken substitute (I like Veet for this recipe!)
• 1 quart vanilla yogurt
• 1 cucumber
• 1 lemon
• 1 can thick coconut milk
• 1 can black eyed peas
• 1 small fresh ginger root
• 1 green bell pepper
• 4 shallots

What Do I Do With It?

I am fortunate enough to have access to a wonderful organic produce coop. Ever week, we get a big box full of seasonal, local, organic fruits and vegetables. This is an excellent way to make sure your produce is fresh and healthy, as well as keeping your corner of the world a little greener. However, it does present the occasional problem.

For example, you'll get a few things that you haven't ever seen before, or that you just plain don't know what to do with. Very few of us can walk through the the produce section of our grocery store, point out every single veggie, identify them and then tell you what to do to make them delicious.

So that means that once in a while, you have a fridge full of odd veggies- and you are presented with a big question...

What the heck do I do with THIS?

This week's meal is:

Cabbage Soup

Almond Gouda Salad

Turnip Hash

Sourdough Parmesan Croutettes

Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas

The meal's grocery list is:

• 4-5 turnips
• 1 small green cabbage
• 1 leek
• 1 pkg white mushrooms
• loaf of sourdough
• 4-5 bananas
• semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 head red leaf lettuce
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 2 oz aged gouda cheese
• 1 jar lemon curd

Fresh Produce Staples - Top Five

Much like your pantry, your refrigerator can hold on to a few items that you will use constantly. Even if you think you don't like them. You'd be amazed how many things have just a little of this, or a bit of that, and it makes all the difference to the flavor.

For example, a friend of mine's husband HATES celery. Just hates it. But if I leave it out of my shephard's pie, he notices the flavor difference, and doesn't like it! Why? Because it's like salt- it doesn't exactly taste like anything once it's cooked in, it just makes everything taste better.

So here are a few varieties of produce you want to keep on hand. I'll still be putting them on the grocery list, but if you've got them in the fridge (or pantry) all the time, your grocery trips will be easier and faster.

• Potatoes: You always want to have some russets on hand. First of all, because you can throw together a quick dinner with some potatoes any time, but secondly because you can use them to FIX a failed meal. What? Fix a failed meal? Oh yeah! The most common food blunder I've seen my friends make is to add too much salt. Trust me, it happens. You just meant to shake a little in, and WHOOPS! And usually, that's towards the end of the cooking process- so what do you do? Add a skinned potato. Amazingly, your skinned potato can absorb a great deal of salt and other flavor OUT of the rest of the food. So I always keep a bag of potatoes in my pantry. In order to keep your potatoes fresh longer, you want to keep them OUT of a plastic bag- that's very important- and in a cool, shadowy place. If you have the space, get a bin of sand to store them in. The sand will stay cool, and they'll have an even longer shelf life. But if a recipe calls for "new potatoes," you don't want to use your pantry potatoes. New potatoes will have a different flavor and texture.
• Pantry Onions: Onions are in everything. Now, there are a great many varieties of onions. To be frank, most of the time it really doesn't matter what type you're using. You can substitute red, white, or yellow onion in most recipes without ever noticing. Like potatoes, you can use them to throw together an amazing amount of quick meals. However, you should still choose your pantry onions with a little care. An onion that has a very thin skin- not a thick, papery skin- will keep badly in the pantry. You want to get onions that have the papery, flaky skin that ends up EVERYWHERE. Sad, but true. To keep onions in the pantry, store them basically in the same conditions as your potatoes. Never store them in a plastic bag.
• Celery: I know, lots of people do not like celery. But you'll use it everywhere, as mentioned above, and you'll hardly ever notice it. Plus, throw a little into a salad and you can really stretch your greens. It lasts quite a while in the fridge, but not forever. You probably have three weeks for the average bunch of celery.
• Apples: Apples are great. They're a good snack, they're a great addition to a salad, you can bake them for a healthy dessert, and there are dozens of varieties available just about everywhere. Find one that works for you- my husband is a Fuji fan, while I prefer a Granny Smith. If possible, avoid Red Delicious apples. They don't keep as well, bake as well, or generally taste as good. There are, however, recipes that call for them specifically. This is mostly because their incredibly vibrant color is a feature of the dish. So for your usual, daily use apples, go for something else.
• On-the-vine Tomatoes: Again, they go in everything. They also keep better when you get them on the vine. Why? That vine is sort of like a nutrition supplement. So if they're vine on, their shelf life nearly doubles. You'll cook with them, but them in salads, put them in sandwiches, and if you're like me just eat them as snacks. You will want to buy other varieties of tomatoes for other things, but always having a tomato or two on hand is never a bad idea.