Just in Time for the Weekend - Sausage and Parmesan Stuffed Mushrooms

Before you read this post, if you need a brief escape from the world, go to youtube and search for 'Jimmy Dean Sausage complaint' (I tried to link it here but my site is being hormonal.) I was just in Texas and saw a woman walking her dogs with a braid down to her ankles stop and do 50 push ups against a rock. You don't mess with Texas. Or a Texan's sausage, apparently.

Anyway, I made these sausage-stuffed mushrooms years ago for a party, loved them, and promptly forgot all about them. It wasn't until this past week visiting family in Texas that they resurfaced again in my tiny brain. Actually, I think I 'forgot' about them on purpose because while they were delicious the first go around, they were a pain in the @$$ to make because I used little button mushrooms which made cleaning and filling them as tedious as hula hooping in a body cast. If memory serves, that was also the party where I was so flustered from running late I forgot to eat and ended up running around with my pants down at the end of the night thinking everyone had left. They hadn't.

So do yourself a favor. Do make these little crack-filled nuggets for company or to snack on during football, but only if you can find the baby bellas about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. My sister and I found them in packages of 6 at her grocery store in Texas, but of course I can't find them now that I'm back in NY (that would be too easy.) So when I make them here, I'll go through the trouble of rifling through the free range mushroom bin to find them all this size. Far less traumatizing than ending up with a gallon of sangria in my stomach and my pants around my ankles...

Sausage and Parmesan Stuffed Mushrooms
(Serves 12 as an appetizer or hor douvre with a salad)

TIP: I know rinsing mushrooms is a culinary 'no-no' (it's said to make them heavy because they absorb the water.) But nothing is sadder in the entire world for a cook than biting into a wonderfully seasoned mushroom that tastes like potting soil. It gives me chills just thinking about it. So for me, I rinse the little bastards. Not for several minutes, but quickly and under hard running water to knock any clinging dirt or grit off. I then dry them off with a paper towel which gives me a chance to double check them for any garden remains. But if you want to stick with the damp towel method - more power to you.

Ingredients:
24 (roughly 2 1/2 inch in diameter) Baby Bella mushrooms, gently and quickly rinsed, patted dry with stems removed so you can fill them
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, finely diced
3/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
pinch fresh cracked black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (16) package ground pork sausage, preferably Jimmy Dean or other trusted brand
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, room temp
1 (6 oz) tub shredded parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons minced flat leaf parsley
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (just a couple shakes)
pinch red pepper flakes, or more to taste
additional 1/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 400.

Heat up a large skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil (you may need a dash more depending on how large your onion was.) Let the oil heat through for one minute, then add the onions seasoning them with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring every so often until they become translucent, about 12 minutes. Add the minced garlic, give a good stir, and cook another 3-4 minutes until softened.

Transfer the onion and garlic mixture to a large bowl. Add another dash oil to the pan and put back over medium heat. Add the sausage, breaking up with your wooden or plastic spoon and cook stirring every couple of minutes until cooked through (usually about 10 minutes but use your eyeballs and consult the package instructions.) While the sausage cooks, add the cream cheese, parmesan, parsley, nutmeg, red pepper flakes and salt to the onion and garlic mixture, stirring in well to incorporate.

Once the sausage has cooked, use a slotted spoon to transfer the sausage to the onion mixture (leaving excess grease behind in the pan to discard) and mix well. Set aside.

Grease two large rimmed baking sheets with non stick spray, then begin filling your mushrooms with the stuffing mixture. Use a small spoon to do so, pressing the filling in gently so that it fills up the entire cavity of the mushroom and put a hefty bit of the filling over the top, but not so much that it's falling over the sides. (You could even put additional parmesan over the tops after you're done filling them, but by this point, I'm over it:)

Place in the oven for 15 minutes, then swap the trays to allow for even cooking and cook another 8-12 minutes, until the tops are just becoming golden brown. Remove allowing to cool a couple of minutes before serving.

Pasta with Pancetta, Sauteed Zuchinni, and Tomatoes

I know. I'm feeding you pasta twice in one week. But that's how the cookie crumbled so you will eat your pasta and like it! Actually, that might not be true. If you don't like zuchinni - you obviously won't like this pasta. But when I went to the stables last weekend, the farm stand next door was warning me it was the last time to get summer's organic wonders - namely corn and peaches - but it was zuchinni that caught my eye.

I was tempted to create a cream sauce for the pasta, but it's fashion week here in New York and the explosion of lanky 17 year old Brazilian models curbed that aspiration. So here's what I made instead. Apologies for the roughage dominating the picture - I like a lot of fresh herbs on this and didn't realize it would photograph like a home lawn (though I'll tell you - between the zuchinni and fresh basil - who needs a salad?)

TIP: Pancetta is best purchased in whole 'chunks' versus pre-diced. (If you're short on time - ignore what I just said.) So when you find it, buy it, cut off and dice what you need, and keep the rest in the freezer. Pancetta, like bacon, is actually easier to cut when frozen and docile, versus room temp and resistant.

Pasta with Pancetta, Sauteed Zuchinni, and Tomatoes
Serves 3.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound of short tube pasta, little ears, or bow ties
heaping 1/2 cup of diced pancetta
2 medium zuchinni, ends removed and diced
pinch of salt
good crack of black pepper
1 (14 oz) can diced or whole tomatoes, drained and lightly broken up, if whole
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon olive oil

handful of fresh, torn basil leaves (can also sub oregano)

Instructions:
Get a large pot of water started boiling over high heat. Once it's boiling, add a handful of kosher salt and let come back to a boil. (If you are still cooking your pancetta - let the water wait at a boil. If not - go ahead and add the pasta.) Cook for 8 minutes or per directions until al dente.

Meanwhile, heat a large rimmed skillet over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil letting heat through 1 minute, then add the diced pancetta. Cook, stirring every so often for about 8 minutes, until the fat has rendered (shrunken and the remains have become glassy and golden) and cooked through. Don't let it get too dark brown or it will be like pork rinds in the pasta versus delightful meaty nuggets. Remove with a slotted spoon or spider to a holding plate. Drain off any excess fat from the pan, leaving just a thin layer. Add a splash of fresh extra virgin olive oil to the pan, return to medium heat, and add the zuchinni along with a good pinch of kosher or sea salt and black pepper. Cook stirring every few minutes until nice and sauteed, beginning to turn golden on the edges - about 12 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add the drained pasta to the zuchinni/tomato mixture along with the cheese and final teaspoon of olive oil, gently stirring to incorporate altogether. Add a final bit of black pepper, if desired along, with freshly torn basil leaves. Serve with extra parmesan grated over each bowlful.

Cheater's Side Dish - Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots and Bread Crumbs

Kris asked me the other day how restaurants manage to get all of their dishes out at the same time. I told him I had no idea, but remembered from my short stint as an (atrocious) waitress in high school, that many things were cooked partially ahead of time so that they could be finished off while another dish was cooking.

While perfect timing is crucial for a restaurant, the thought of it can also send the home cook reaching for the Ambien. In fact, when I first started cooking, I distinctly remember NOTHING ever being ready at the same time, which is why I usually avoided it altogether.

But have no fear - you're a smarter cook than I was. After all, you're on this blog reading about food and cooking while I was going at it like a rogue sailor, all alone with my ignorance. Here are a few tricks to arm you:

TIP 1. Meat means built in 'last minute' time. Anytime you are roasting or grilling meat as your main course, remember it generally needs ten minutes to 'rest' so that the juices can redistribute throughout. So wether it's a roast chicken, steak, or pork roast, remove it from the source of heat and cover loosely with aluminum foil while you wrap up whatever you're doing. This can be a real help if you've forgotten to make the salad dressing, set the table, what have you.

TIP 2. Have at least ONE un-fussy side dish that requires no babysitting on the menu (rice that can be baked in the oven untouched or roasted vegetables), can be made ahead (a salad assembled in a big bowl and chilled, then dressed right before you sit down), or that can sit quietly after its made (grits and polenta are very patient and can be reheated gently on the stove with just a splash of chicken stock to loosen them, while mashed potatoes often get gummy/tough as they sit.)

TIP 3. If you're making something fussy and codependent, like risotto - make it your main dish. Anyone who's made risotto WHILE trying to grill steaks or sear tuna perfectly knows what I'm talking about - it's very difficult to tend to both at the same time. Risotto requires constant stirring and sporadic addition of piping hot stock for up to 45 minutes. It's a time sucker - delicious, but demanding. So make it your main course and serve it with something you can whip up quickly once it's done, like a salad.

TIP 4. Build of a repertoire of recipes that can be eaten at room temperature so that you can use at least one in a menu that's rounded out with dishes served hot. Examples are roasted beets, quinoa or cracked wheat salad, or a salad of roasted butternut squash, basil leaves, and goat cheese dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Alright, enough babbling. Here's my new favorite way to eat green beans, using good old prewashed green beans that you 'steam' in the microwave first. I call it a cheater's side dish because you can saute the shallots first, then take them off the heat and let them sit until you're ready to finish the dish - in just five minutes' time.

Sauteed Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots and Bread Crumbs
Serves 4.

Ingredients:
2 healthy sized shallots, sliced thin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
pepper

1 package prewashed, precleaned green beans - the kind you steam in the bag, found in the chilled fresh veg section of grocery store
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons seasoned breadcrumbs
additional pinch of salt and pepper

Instructions:
Add the oil to a large, rimmed, nonstick skillet and raise the heat to medium. Add the sliced shallots and salt and pepper, stirring to spread throughout the pan. Let cook for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally and lowering the heat if they brown too quickly. Once they've become translucent and actually begun to shrink a little, you can take them off the heat and set aside until you're ready to finish the dish.

Five minutes before you're ready to eat, retrieve your bag of green beans from the fridge and use a fork to puncture holes in a couple of places. Put in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, get your shallots back on the stove over medium heat. Carefully (using a towel) remove your green beans from the microwave, open the bag and add to the shallots in the pan. Season with a good pinch salt and pepper, then add the butter, breaking into bits with your fingers as you add it to the pan. Immediately add the breadcrumbs and stir to incorporate. Let cook for another 2 minutes on medium - until the shallots have really withered down and the green beans are just beginning to brown on one side (should remain bright green though in general - once they lose their signature shade - you've cooked them too long. Nothing to lose your pants over - but ideally you want them crisp and bright green.)

Serve immediately.

* These are particularly good with the Thyme Coated Chicken, posted here:

Thyme Coated Chicken with Balsamic Reduction

This chicken is another riff of an Andrea Immer Robinson recipe. She constantly preaches the wine-friendliness of dried thyme, to the point where I worry about the state of her darling mind. But like any good parishioner, I finally broke down and bought a bottle.

I was afraid that using dried thyme to coat protein would be too earthy, like biting into a hay bale, but I was wrong. The flavors were delicate and mellow, actually accentuating the juiciness of the chicken rather than taking center stage. And the balsamic reduction that goes with it? I could bathe in the stuff. The addition of chocolate is optional - if you only have milk or semi sweet on hand instead of dark, omit the honey and taste first. It might be sweet enough without it.

BTW - this is LOVELY with Pinot Noir, for my wino readers out there.

TIP 1: Buy chicken breast cutlets versus breasts so you don't have to pound them yourself or ask your butcher to pound them into scallopini for you.

TIP 2: Get your oil in the pan hot before searing your chicken, letting it heat through for at least a minute before adding the meat. You can test it buy dipping just the edge of a chicken cutlet into the oil. If it sits there lackadaisically in silence, keep waiting. Otherwise you'll get heavy, lifeless chicken versus juicy seared pieces.

Thyme Coated Chicken with Balsamic Reduction
Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets, or 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced lengthwise in half and pounded into 1/2 thickness giving you 4 pieces
Lots of dried thyme - about 2 heaping tablespoons or more, for coating
salt and pepper
2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons red wine
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/2 tablespoon butter (small pat)
1 lady's thumb-sized piece of dark chocolate (I use Green and Black's 70% Dark Chocolate)
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees - or 'warmer' setting.

Season both sides of your chicken cutlets with salt and pepper, then pour the dried thyme over them, turning to coat and making sure every inch is covered with the green flecks (you may need more than 2 tablespoons.) Don't worry - the chicken can only hold so much so you won't 'over do it' - but you want a good coating.

Add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a large, rimmed skillet and bring to medium heat, letting the oil heat through for at least one minute (see tip above.) Once the oil is hot, add the chicken breasts carefully spreading out evenly in the pan, then don't touch them for 3 minutes. (If your oil is really spitting like mad after they've all been added, reduce your heat slightly.) After 3 minutes, lift up one of the edges of the chicken, checking to see if you've got a nice, golden crust yet. If so, carefully flip. If not, wait another minute, then check again. Once on the second side - they should only need another 3-4 minutes, depending on thickness.

Transfer the chicken to a heat proof dish and put in a low oven to keep warm (about 200 degrees.) If you're worried your oven is too hot - keep the door open - you don't want to dry the chicken out.

Meanwhile, drain any extra oil from your pan and discard, leaving just a thin layer behind. Return to medium heat, then add the balsamic vinegar, stirring briefly to scrape up any browned bits off the bottom, then letting it bubble and hiss away like witches' brew for a couple of minutes until it reduces and thickens (a good trick is to see if your wooden spoon leaves a wake behind when you drag it through. If it does - it's thickened.) Carefully add your red wine (the proper police say to take it off the heat briefly to do so.) Stir quickly, then let bubble and reduce down some more - about 2 minutes - or until what you're staring at in the pan is no doubt, SAUCE looking. Reduce heat to low and stir in your honey and butter and chocolate if adding. Season with a bit of salt and pepper, tasting before adding more. Don't ask me why but this sauce seems to mellow and taste even better if allowed to sit for a few minutes contemplating life - which is fine, given that you can leave the chicken in the LOW oven during this time. Not a necessary step, but a good one.

Remove chicken from the oven, plate, and drizzle the reduction over and around.

Ode to Julie and Julia - Poached Eggs in Red Wine Sauce

I finally saw Julie and Julia!

I loved it, of course. Meryl Streep as Julia Child?!!?? I mean get out of town on a hot catfish! I could watch Meryl play an embryo and be entertained for hours, much less the larger than life Julia!

The movie got me thinking about different types of cuisine and people's loyalty/fascination with them, as in Julia's real life obsession with everything French. The truth is, I don't think I could pick a favorite type or genre of food. Obviously, I'm head over heels for the simplicity and comfort of Southern American cuisine as well as Italian. But then again, I adore Mexican (both Tex Mex and Interior Mexican) as well as the exotic flavors of Asian and Indian food. The thought of not being able to change things up night after night gives me heart palpitations and makes me want to hide under the bed.

Of course, it's hard not to be seduced by the richness and all out indulgence of French food. In fact, Julia was so clearly in love with France itself, it makes total sense that she adopted the food as her own cuisine. Food after all is the shortcut to home, wether genuine or adopted.

My 'ode to Julie and Julia' recipe comes from a wonderful cookbook I received one Christmas from my mom in law, Charlotte, titled The Country Cooking of France. It's written by the modern day Julia Child (though not in personality - she's actually a quiet, elegant English woman by the name of Anne Willan.) And it's a gorgeous, gorgeous book - the kind that takes you to the land itself where the cows and lamb and vegetables grow and thrive versus just listing recipes.

The recipe is Oefs en Meurette - Poached Eggs in Red Wine Sauce. I followed the recipe for the most part but used Julia's gut bolstering wisdom (make no apologies) taking a liberty here or there. And because I wanted it to be dinner versus breakfast, I added a mushrooms on toast recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Mustard's Grill Cookbook.

I hope the flavors of France, or at least the Joie de vivre that seems to accompany the food, people, and culture, find you often.

TIP: Poaching eggs can actually be just as unglamorous and frustrating as the scene of Julie attempting it in the movie. It takes practice, and even after you've mastered it - I suggest having more eggs than the recipe calls for at the ready in case of accidents. One trick that helps me is to first crack each individual egg into a coffee cup, then carefully dip the edge of the cup into the simmering water where bubbles have formed, carefully but swiftly letting the water enter the glass and carry the egg out and into the water - hopefully in one piece. If you strike out, simply try again, removing the broken up sacrificial egg with a spider. It's not the end of the world.

Poached Eggs in Red Wine Sauce
Adapted from The Country Cooking of France, by Anne Willan
Serves 2 as a main course.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 tablespoons flour

1/2 bottle Pinot Noir (preferably French:)
1 cup veal or beef broth
4 eggs
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 celery stalk, thinly sliced (I subbed 1/2 teaspoon celery salt)
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1 bouquet garni (simply a couple of fresh thyme, rosemary, and parsley sprigs tied together with cooking twine)
1/4 teaspoon peppercorns
1 peanut sized chunk of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
salt and pepper
chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

bowl of cooled water, on standby for poaching the eggs

Instructions:
Bring the wine and the broth to a vigorous boil in a medium, rimmed saute pan (you need the liquid to be deep enough for the eggs to float, so use your judgement.) Break the eggs, one by one, into the part where the liquid is bubbling so that the bubbles 'spin' the eggs. Lower the heat and poach them at a very gently simmer until the yolks are firm but still soft to the touch, about 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully lift the eggs out with a slotted spoon and immerse them into a bowl of cool water while you prepare the sauce (after a couple of minutes, you can gently lift the eggs out to trim uneven edges with scissors, then put them back into the water.)

Meanwhile, add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bouquet garni, peppercorns, and a pinch of kosher or sea salt to the wine mixture and simmer until it is concentrated and reduced, about 20 to 25 minutes total.

Meanwhile, crush the butter and flour together in a small bowl using a fork to work the flour into the butter to form a soft pace (what the French call a Beurre Manie.) Bring the wine reduction back to a boil, and whisk in the beurre manie A PIECE AT A TIME, until the sauce coats the back of your stirring spoon lightly. You might not need all of the paste. Using a large sieve, strain the sauce into a separate, heat proof bowl or pot, mashing the veggies into the sieve getting all of the flavor you can extract out of it. Transfer this BACK to your original pan and stir in the chocolate until it melts and incorporates into the sauce. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper.

Reheat the eggs by placing them in the microwave for 5-10 seconds (just a flash to warm through or they'll cook), then transfer carefully to your serving plate and spoon the sauce over. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley.