Mushroom Casserole

I made this as a side item for our dinner last night and I think if I made it again it would be the main course. We really wouldn't have needed anything else to go with it. We ate the entire pan, it was that good! Next time I would dress it up a bit with some greens and extra spices, maybe throw in some chicken and call it a meal. There are additional suggestions on the 101 Cookbooks website. The only change I made to the recipe was using pureed tofu instead of the cottage cheese. Anytime a recipe calls for cottage cheese or ricotta I always use this substitution.
Mushroom Casserole Recipe
from 101 Cookbooks
1/2 pound (8 ounces) brown mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1 large onion, well chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 cups cooked brown rice, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheesea
bit of fresh tarragon, chopped
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Rub a medium-large baking dish with a bit of olive oil or butter and set aside. The pan I use is slightly smaller than a classic 9x13 baking dish - just grab for something in this ballpark.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat saute the mushrooms in a glug of olive oil sprinkled with a couple pinches of salt. Stir every minute or so until the mushrooms have released their liquid and have browned a bit. Add the onions and cook for another 4 or 5 minutes or until they are translucent. Stir in the garlic, cook for another minute and remove from heat. Add the rice to the skillet and stir until combined.
In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream, and salt.
Combine the rice mixture and cottage cheese mixture in a large bowl, stir until well combined and then turn out into your prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with 2/3 of the Parmesan cheese, cover with foil and place in oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 20 or 30 minutes more or hot throughout and golden along the edges. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and enjoy.
Serves about 8.

Suppa Club #3- Pork Roast with Three Mushroom Ragout

I know you have heard it before, but I am really bad about reading recipes. Here's my latest story...
Our most recent Suppa Club I voted for this recipe. I don't really like pork, but David loves it. I do really like mushrooms. I figured the worst case scenario I could just eat the mushrooms since there were going to be a lot of them. I figured choosing this recipe would motivate me to make a pork recipe. The day I was going to buy the ingredients I finally read through the entire recipe to discover I needed to cook this roast in a crock pot. Did I mention that I don't own a Crock Pot? At this point I was standing in the grocery store. I could not bring myself to buy a crock pot on the spot, so I put the pork roast down and decided to think about it for a few days. Then I read Molly's post about her Crock Pot not having a timer and how her pork all fell apart and decided if I was going to buy a Crock Pot that I better get one with a timer. A few days later Fred Meyer had a sale on Crock Pots and so I bought myself a brand new Crock Pot with a timer.
I never realized how expensive a blog can be! First you find yourself sending jelly to Norway, then you have to buy a Crock Pot, anther site wants me to make $135 worth of soup (don't worry David, we will not be eating $135 soup). The trouble is that it is so much fun! I am finding so many resources for recipes and ingredients.
This months recipe chosen by Ingrid was a Pork Roast with Three Mushroom Ragout from Cooking Light. The only minor changes I made were that I added a few Chanterelle mushrooms because there were only four Shiitake mushrooms left at the grocery store. I also used tomato sauce instead of crushed tomatoes because David can not eat whole tomatoes. Also eliminated the Sun-Dried ones as well.

Yield
5 servings (serving size: 3 ounces pork, 1 cup sauce, and 1 cup noodles)
Ingredients
1 (3 1/2-ounce) package shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes, divided
2 tablespoons chopped fresh or 2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 (8-ounce) packages button mushrooms, cut in half
1 (8-ounce) package cremini mushrooms, cut in half
1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges
1/2 ounce sun-dried tomatoes, packed without oil, quartered (about 6)
1 3/4 pounds boned pork loin roast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
5 cups cooked medium egg noodles (about 4 cups uncooked pasta)
Preparation
Discard shiitake mushroom stems; cut caps into quarters.
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes, and thyme in an electric slow cooker; stir well with a whisk. Add all mushrooms, onion, and sun-dried tomatoes.
Trim fat from pork. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper; place on top of mushroom mixture. Pour 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes over pork. Cover with lid; cook on high heat for 1 hour. Reduce heat setting to low; cook 7 hours. Remove pork from slow cooker; cut into slices. Serve over noodles.

Just Like Grandma's Used To Make...

We all know the saying the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Well, apparently the way to David's heart was through nearly burning his apartment down (this story will be saved for a future gumbo post)! When we first started dating I attempted to woo him through my cooking. Of course, I did this making things that I had never cooked before. My first attempt at Chicken and Dumplings was good, but the dumplings completely fell apart. I was humiliated, even though David went back for seconds. David informed me that I shouldn't point out my cooking errors and that I should just say something like "this is an old family recipe, just like my grandma used to make". 

No, my grandmother never made this soup. I was referring to Grandma's in Duluth, Minnesota. Every time I go to Grandma's I always get a bowl of their Chicken and Wild Rice soup. I can't get enough of the stuff. I have come close to re-creating it at home in the past, but this recipe with a few adaptations from Eating Well magazine is the closest it has every been to the real thing. This one really is just like Grandma's used to make (and probably still does).

Cream of Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

adapted from Eating Well
Makes 4 servings, about 1 3/4 cups each
Ingredients
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 cup wild rice

2 large chicken (or turkey) breasts, should equal 3 cups shredded

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 fresh sage leaves

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups sliced mushrooms (about 4 ounces)

¾ cup chopped celery

¾ cup chopped carrots

¼ cup chopped shallots

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

½ cup reduced-fat sour cream 

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

In a large soup pot or dutch oven (4 quart) over medium heat add chicken broth, wild rice, chicken, thyme, and sage. Let simmer for about 40 minutes. Remove chicken from the pot, shred, and return to pot.
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add mushrooms, celery, carrots and shallots and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add flour, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes more. . Add 1 cup broth from soup pot and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Add mixture to the soup pot. Stir in sour cream and parsley and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes more.

No Recipe Beef Noodle Soup

The first thing David noticed when he got home from work Friday night was that I wasn't using a recipe to cook dinner. There was no cookbook or magazine open, and no laptop sitting on the dining room table. We rarely eat beef at home, well at least when David is at home! Sometimes I treat myself to a steak when David goes out of town. In any case when it comes to beef it appears that the midwesterner comes out and instinct kicks in. This soup is a cross between soup and beef stroganoff.

Beef Noodle Soup

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

1 lb of tenderloin or stir fry beef

1 lb white mushrooms

4 cups beef broth

2 tbsp cornstarch

3 cups egg noodles

1 tsp thyme

1/4 cup cooking sherry

salt and pepper to taste

sour cream for topping

Thinly slice on medium onion and two cloves of garlic, add to a 4 quart dutch oven or soup pot and cook over medium heat until onions have become soft and translucent. Cut beef into bite sized pieces and add to the pot. Cut mushrooms into quarters and add to mixture, cook until beef becomes browned. Stir in thyme, salt, and fresh ground pepper. Add beef broth and bring to a simmer. Mix in cornstarch and add cooking sherry. Add egg noodles and simmer until noodles are tender. Serve with a generous dallop of sour cream to be stirred in before eating.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

15-18 Medium size mushrooms
1 package cream cheese

1 can of lump white crab meat well drained

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 green onions finely chopped

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

6-8 drops Tabasco

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 tbsp. white wine or cooking sherry

approx 1/8 cup breadcrumbs for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash mushrooms and remove stems (reserve 1/2 of the mushroom stems). Place mushrooms cap side up on a baking rack and make sure they are thoroughly dry before filling. Once dry place mushrooms cap side down in a glass baking dish.

Finely chop the reserved mushroom stems and add to large mixing bowl with remaining ingredients except bread crumbs. Mix on low setting until ingredients are well blended.
Put mixture in pastry bag or quart size ziploc bag with a very small corner snipped off. Pipe filling into mushrooms.

Sprinkle tops with bread crumbs.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bread crumbs turn brown. Makes 15-18 stuffed mushrooms.