Vegetarian Stuffed Mushrooms

A few weeks ago in a vain effort to be frugal, the hubby and I bought a four-pack of cream cheese. I think it went something like "Oh, I'm sure we can freeze it." So he said. However, when I defrosted a pack to use it on my morning bagel, it was really grainy and gross looking. Hubby said it tasted funny. I think it tasted fine, but the texture was less than appealing. So, instead of making a grainy cheese-cake (which I may do anyway, since I still have two more frozen packs), I decided to make a vegetarian version of these. If you like sausage in your stuffed mushrooms, feel free to head on over to the Pioneer Woman Cooks.


Ingredients:

1/2 Onion
3-4 Cloves Garlic
Olive Oil
6 oz cream cheese
12 ounces button, cremini, or baby bella mushrooms (I used BB)
1/3 c grated cheese
Italian seasoning
1 egg yolk


Start by popping the stems out of the mushrooms. Save half of the stems and chop them finely. Mince the garlic and dice the onion. Heat some olive oil in a small skillet. When it's hot add the garlic and onions. When they become translucent, add the chopped stems and sautee for a minute. Put them aside.

Take the cream cheese and mix with the egg yolk in a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt, and a bunch of shakes of the Italian seasoning. Then, dump in the sauteed stuff. Stir around and then add the grated cheese (I use this amazing Asiago with hot peppers in it that I found at Wegmans). Spoon this into the mushroom orfices. Hehe, I like that word. Anyway, stuff the mushrooms and put them on a jelly roll pan to bake.

Bake these for 30 minutes at 350.

Stuffed Squash

A friend of mine recently came to visit. He lives with his mother, who is a member of a CSA*, or Community-supported agriculture. CSA are great for buying local. They are good for farmers, because they have a guaranteed amount of sales before the season starts, and good for families because they get fresh local veggies (and sometimes fruit, eggs, or meat) delivered to their home or local farmer's market each week. At any rate, my friend's mother never manages to finish everything she gets from the CSA, because there are only two of them (many CSA's allow you to purchase a 1/2 share for smaller families or individuals). So, when he came to visit, he brought me some lovely veggies! I don't complain about such things.

Stuffed squash is something you can make with those absurdly large squashes you see at the farmer's market (or perhaps in your backyard). They are usually yellow or green squashes or zucchinis which are too large to sautee, and so large that the seeds have gotten thick and woody. So, instead, we scoop out the seeds as if it were a pumpkin, and stuff it.

Ingredients:

1/2 finely chopped onion (any kind, but I used a plain old yellow onion)
several diced mushrooms
2 cups seasoned breadcrumbs
1 large squash
2 tablespoons of butter
1/4 c grated cheese (I used Mexican cheese mix)

Preheat the oven to 375. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Layer 3/4 c breadcrumbs, onion, mushroom, and 1/2 butter in one half of the squash and cover with more breadcrumbs. Repeat with other squash half. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 30-40 minutes.


*To find a CSA near you, check out Localharvest.org

Best Eggplant Parmesan Ever

Tonight I made the best eggplant Parmesan ever. I know you don't believe me, but you gotta try it first. I started experimenting with eggplant parm about 3 years ago, in college. I think I have now perfected my recipe. The secret is that you have to bread and fry the eggplant first so it gets soft inside, but not greasy.

Ingredients

1 eggplant
1 c flour
1.5 c breadcumbs (buy the italian seasoned kind with salt already added)
2 eggs
splash of milk
olive oil
1 jar pasta sauce (whatever you like)
1/2 cup shredded cheese

First you slice the eggplant into about slice short-ways about 1/4-1/2 an inch think (or 1cm which = .39 inches). Then you crack the eggs into a bowl, add a splash of milk, and beat them. You want to line up two more bowls, one with flour and one with breadcrumbs. Then you take the eggplant slices, drop them into the bowl of flour until covered, then into the bowl of egg, and last into the breadcumbs. I do this whole process for each slice individually with a fork because it will make your hands really dirty otherwise.

Once you have breaded the eggplant, heat olive oil in a pan (cover the whole bottom) to medium heat. Once you can flick water on the pan and hear it sizzle, it's hot enough. Then fly the eggplant briefly until the breading is slightly browned. Put the finished ones on a paper towel to dry them. Add more olive oil as needed to keep the pan covered.

Once the eggplant is finished put a bit of the sauce into a large baking dish (I use the biggest one I have, about 13"), and spread it around to cover the bottom. Then layer the eggplant slices on top of each other in the pan. Pour the rest of the pasta sauce on top and spread around evenly. Then sprinkle cheese on top.

Bake in the oven for 35 minutes at 350 degrees, and enjoy!

Gazpacho

Two weeks ago I was at the farmer's market with my sister and I discovered a vendor who was selling not-quite-ripe tomatoes for $0.50 a pound. So, I bought about 7 tomatoes which have been sitting on my kitchen windowsill ripening, and then another week in the fridge before I figured out what to do with them. I picked up a cucumber, some garlic, and cilantro and decided to make gazpacho.

And then I found at that all the recipes I could find for gazpacho required tomato juice. Lame. So I made my own.

Ingredients:

3-4 slightly overripe tomatoes, quartered
3 cloves garlic, peeled (I only used 3, but in hindsight I should have used 4-5, people not obsessed with garlic will probably be fine with 3)
1 large cucumber, peeled and chopped into 1-inch chunks
1 small hot pepper of your choice
1/2 onion (I used half white and half red, because they were left over from other things)
handful cilantro
4-7 splashes Tabasco

Put half of the vegetables (not the cilantro, because it is an herb) in the blender and puree until smooth. Then, add the second half of the veggies in an "pulse". This will give you a chunkier gazpacho. If you want a smoother one, puree all the veggies. Add tabasco, salt and pepper to taste - this recipe might also benefit from a splash of red wine vinegar if you so choose. I didn't, because I didn't have any. Roughly chop the cilantro and stir into the soup. Serve cold, garnished with a slice of cucumber and pepper. Alas, I forgot to take a picture before I ate it, so this isn't a particularly attractive photo.

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas

Tonight I decided to make enchiladas, since I found this great recipe on Tasty Kitchen. I made the shreded chicken by soaking 3 chicken breasts in salt water for 1 hour, baking them for 30 minutes in the oven at 350, and then shredding them with 2 forks (they should be slightly undercooked when they come out of the oven). Anyway, the recipe was delicious, but terribly salty because I apparently was not supposed to use bouillon with salt in it. Credit to Ali over on Tasty Kitchen.

A Corny Dinner

The husband was trying to tell me that I didn't need to go to the grocery store tonight (well, actually, he said I didn't need to drive to the store, but since it's 5 miles away...), to get those garbanzo beans to make curry, and that I could make a perfectly fine meal with the things we had in the house. I took this challenge and came up with this new (experimental) recipe.

Corny Tuna Cakes: makes 4 small cakes

1 can dolphin safe tuna in water (in brine is fine, omit salt later)
1 egg
2 slices left over cornbread
1/4 red onion diced small
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
oil (I used olive oil)


Crumble one piece of cornbread (I used leftover cheese & jalepeno corn bread) in a small bowl, add onion and egg, and mix up until liquidy. Add the can of tuna and stir. Add more cornbread crumbs until it reaches a consistency where you can pick it up without having it goo through your fingers, but is still pretty moist. Add salt and pepper (a LOT of salt if the cornbread isn't well salted, omit this here if you used tuna in brine) and paprika (if you use crappy store brand that has no taste, like me, use more). Cover the bottom of a pan in oil, heat to medium-high. Form balls/patties of tuna stuff and cover them with remaining cornbread crumbs (this will make it crispy-ish). Place in hot oil and fry until cooked through.

This is definitely still experimental, and the next time I have leftover cornbread and a can of tuna, I will try it again. Feel free to post improvements!