Tag Archives: cheese

Recreating Maggiano’s Stuffed Mushrooms

3 Jun

For a long time I had been dreaming of this dish… the Stuffed Mushrooms from Maggiano’s.  I had never heard of Maggiano’s before, but I went first during a trip to Philadelphia.  Someone recommended the stuffed mushrooms and when I tried them I was hooked.  I have been known to hook a few other people to these mushrooms.    Every time I travel and I see a  Maggiano’s,  I start to salivate for these mushrooms.  Hey, I even photographed them once for you…

But I was crushed recently … CRUSHED, because for the first time ever, Maggiano’s mentioned these mushrooms are made, apparently, with chicken broth.  Something, I swear, I had never seen in their menus, or even tasted.  Believe me, I have been tricked many times into thinking something doesn’t have chicken broth and then I taste it and arrrrgh!!!!  But these mushrooms never tasted to me like they had any chicken broth.  But one day I checked them out on the internet and there it was… the description every vegetarian dreads:

Stuffed Mushrooms
Jumbo mushroom caps stuffed with spinach and topped with our seasoned breadcrumbs and house cheese; served in a white wine chicken broth.

Could it be that I had never read the menu when I ordered them???  Possibly… nonetheless, I was scarred for life…

And as we are, humans with worldly desires, just knowing I couldn’t have these delicious mushrooms any more with the knowledge of someone drowning them in chicken broth, made my desire of re-creating this recipe the more ever-present in my mind…  YOU MUST BUY MUSHROOMS, YOU MUST COOK MUSHROOMS, YOU MUST EAT MUSHROOMS… and so to Costco I went.

Coincidentally that same afternoon, my friend Jonathan invited me to dinner, and I remembered the huge container of jumbo mushrooms from Costco in my fridge and without giving it too much though… I invited him over for dinner.  I guess the time had come for him to taste my vegetarian cooking.  Would I pass the test?  Would I really be able to recreate these stuffed mushrooms from Maggiano’s while satisfying Jonathan’s carnivore appetite?!?!?!  Check out the results…

 

Better-than-Maggiano’s STUFFED MUSHROOMS

8 jumbo white mushrooms
About 2/3 cup of chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup shredded pecorino romano cheese, plus more to top mushrooms
1/3 cup of whole-wheat breadcrumbs
Salt and Pepper to taste
A pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 yellow lemon

 

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 400F.
  2. Clean the mushrooms well with a damp paper towel.  Remove the stems and place them over an oiled baking sheet.  Set aside.
  3. Chop the mushrooms stems finely and add them to a medium bowl together with the spinach, cheeses and breadcrumbs.  Mix well and season with salt and pepper.  Add the red pepper flakes if you’re into spice, like Jonathan.
  4. Fill the mushroom caps generously with this spinach mixture.  Top with a bit more pecorino romano cheese and drizzle a bit more olive oil on top.
  5. Place in oven for about 20 minutes until the mushroom caps cook and the cheese on top is golden brown.
  6. Serve immediately with a squirt of yellow lemon juice over them.

 

We had these mushrooms with a salad on the side.  I would say the dinner was a complete success… according to Jonathan, these mushrooms are the BEST he has ever had.  And now,  I won’t salivate anymore over any mushrooms out there.  I have what I need at home.


Portobello Mushrooms

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Corn and Spinach Lasagna

28 May

This year’s Mother’s Day crept up on me very unexpectedly…   I had been traveling in India for about a month and when I was making myself at home… POOF! Mother’s Day is here!!!!!

For the last few years, I have been making a big part of our family lunch reunions – partly because I am the food blogger extraordinaire, creator of all recipes delicious, but most of all, because I am the one vegetarian with the least responsibility.  My mom is super busy taking care of my grandma and that consumes most of her day.  And if the vegetarians want to make sure they have something to eat besides salad, I need to take charge.  Besides, it’s Mother’s Day, how am I going to make my Mom or Aunt cook???   

I had to deal with what I had in the pantry and freezer – some lasagna noodles, frozen corn, frozen spinach, a few shredded cheeses, milk (thank God for UHT) and spices.  I was drawing a blank because I didn’t want to make just spinach lasagna again…  I had made one recently at Thanksgiving.  And here comes my friend, Giada Di Laurentiis, with a recipe for mini lasagnas made of sweet corn and mascarpone.  I took some inspiration from her recipe, a quick trip to the 24-hour supermarket, combined with my audacity to use up what I had available and make sure I had enough lasagna to feed 10 people, I came up with this recipe.  It looks like it has a lot of ingredients, but it’s actually super easy to make.  Check it out…

 

CORN AND SPINACH LASAGNA

½ package of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 package of frozen corn, thawed
9 whole-wheat lasagna sheets
A whole recipe of White Sauce (recipe follows)
½ cup heavy cream
3 garlic cloves, chopped
8 ounces cream cheese, divided (we’ll use half for the corn mixture and half for the white sauce)
1 cup of grated pecorino romano cheese, divided (we’ll use part with the corn mixture and the rest for the lasagna assembly)
2 cups of grated Italian blend cheeses, divided (part for the white sauce and part for the lasagna assembly)
The zest and juice of 1 yellow lemon
About 25 fresh basil leaves, well washed and dried
¼ teaspoon of kosher salt
A few grinds of freshly cracked black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil spray for the casserole dish
For the White Sauce:
2 cups of milk
2 tbs of sofrito
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
The cheeses mentioned in the list above (the cream cheese and the Italian shredded cheese blend)
Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Note:  My apologies if I confused you with the ingredients list above…  I just want to let you know that for making this whole recipe you’ll need a bar of cream cheese, a tub of grated pecorino romano and a 2-cup bag of shredded cheese.  I just didn’t want YOU to do the math of how much ingredients you need in total when I already know it.  It’s easier to give you the whole amount for when you’re making your grocery list, even though you’ll use it in various applications within the same recipe.  Cool??  I hope so…

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the lasagna noodles and cook until tender, stirring occasionally to avoid any sticking, about 8-10 minutes. Drain.
  3. Meanwhile we make the white sauce…  In a medium saucepan over medium heat add a bit of olive oil and the sofrito.  Cook a few minutes to remove the raw taste.  Add the milk and 4 ounces of cream cheese (half of a cream cheese bar) and stir every so often to melt the cheese and start to thicken the sauce.  When the cream cheese is incorporated into the milk, add about 1 cup of the Italian shredded cheeses, the parmesan cheese and remove from heat.  Whisk all together to melt and blend the cheeses and thicken the sauce.  Set aside.
  4. In a food processor, blend the corn, spinach, cream and garlic. Add the rest of the cream cheese (you should have ½ a bar left), 2/3 cup of the Pecorino Romano cheese, the lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth. Add the basil leaves last and pulse until just combined. Set aside.
  5. In a 9” x 13” glass baking dish sprayed with olive oil spray, place some ladles of the white sauce to prevent anything from sticking.  Place 3 lasagna noodles at the bottom.  Add ½ of the corn/spinach mixture, add a few ladles of white sauce to cover it all, sprinkle some of the shredded cheeses and some of the pecorino romano.  And we start over again, another layer of noodles, the rest of the corn/spinach mixture, more sauce, shredded cheeses and pecorino romano.  Lastly, top with the last layer of noodles, pour enough white sauce to cover the noodles and allow it to seep into the rest of the lasagna.  Finish off with the remaining shredded cheeses and pecorino romano you may have left.
  6. Place the glass dish on a baking sheet to prevent any spilling in the oven and bake for about 3o minutes, until the filling/sauce is bubbling and the top gets golden brown.  If the top takes too long to brown, just turn on the broiler for a few minutes to get the desired color on top.
  7. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before serving.

 

My aunt and uncle were raving all afternoon about this lasagna.  The funny thing is that you might believe the filling is sweet due to the corn, but its savory and delicious… with traces of corn flavor, but the piquancy of the lemon zest and basil.  It’s different and very, very delicious.


Meatless Spinach Lasagna

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Quesadillas Guillén with Fresh Tomato Salsa

5 May

Guillén is my friend from the yoga center… He lives in Mexico City, but tries as much as he can to come to Puerto Rico, Miami or New York to attend our yoga center activities and retreats.  Last time we saw each other was during our Xmas retreat, which took place last in New York.  We always have a great time together, talking about anything, but mostly about food.

Guillén loves to cook and to share his Mexican delicacies with all of us.  And as soon as we were given the “green light” to eat anything and everything after our retreat, he said he would make some quesadillas for breakfast for all of us.  Quesadillas for breakfast?!?!?  Well, that’s how the Mexicans in the DF (capital city) roll, and I am getting on this wagon for sure.

Something Guillén taught me this time around is that what I have showed you so far as quesadillas – Caprese Quesadillas, French Quesadillas, Quesadillas  Cordon Blue, etc. – are not really quesadillas according to true Mexican cuisiniers…  these are really called “sincronizadas”.  Guillén tells me that Quesadillas need to be FRIED, and made mainly with corn tortillas, while Sincronizadas are made with flour tortillas and are just heated on top of a skillet or on the oven to brown and melt the cheese, but are never fried.  To be honest… this was super enlightening for me because I had seen sincronizadas in Mexican menus during my last trip to Guadalajara and when I asked what was the difference from quesadillas, nobody was super clear on what it was… and according to Guillén is the FRYING part.

So… here is Guillén’s recipe for truly awesome quesadillas.  First, we start with organic sprouted corn tortillas.  These are not too easy to find here in Puerto Rico, but I have seen them in most every health food I have gone to in the US.  This is the brand Guillén prefers and they are truly delicious. 

Then the cheese to use…  Guillén prefers to use pepper jack cheese, but if you have a milder palate, try some Monterrey Jack cheese or even those cheddar/jack shredded cheese blends.  However, what’s traditionally Mexican is to slice the cheese from a block, not use the shredded kind.

And what makes these quesadillas really special is the Fresh Tomato Salsa… it’s super easy to make and it tastes soooooo authentic, I felt I was back in Guadalajara.  Guillén was nice enough to allow me to photograph him while making these quesadillas and salsa.  I have since tried it on my own and the results were extremely reliable.  Look for the freshest, ripest tomatoes you can find.  It really makes a difference… 

 

QUESADILLAS GUILLEN WITH FRESH TOMATO SALSA

8 organic sprouted corn tortillas
16 slices of pepper jack cheese – we’ll use 2 slices per tortilla
Canola oil for shallow frying
2 medium tomatoes, cored
½ yellow onion, chopped finely
The juice of 1 lime
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tbs olive oil

 

We’ll make the Fresh Tomato Salsa first…

  1. In a non-stick skillet, place the tomatoes and roast them on top of the stove at medium-high heat.  Keep moving the tomatoes around to char the skin all over.  This will cook slightly the tomato flesh and impart a great smoky taste to the salsa.
  2.      
  3. After the tomatoes are charred all over, take them off the skillet to cool off a bit.  I peel the tomatoes a bit and take off the very charred skin.  Cut the tomatoes into quarters and place them in a food processor or blender. Blend or process well for about 1 minute.
  4. Take the tomato blend out of the processor and into a bowl.  Add the choppped onion, lime juice, salt, pepper and olive oil. 
  5.  Set aside to allow the flavors to blend well together. 

Now we make the quesadillas… which is really no science at all to it.

  1. In a large skillet, add about ¼” of oil at medium-high heat… when the oil is hot enough for frying, add a tortilla and fry slightly on both sides.  Immediately, add two slices of cheese on one half of the tortilla and fold the other half over to create a half moon.  Fry on both sides until the tortilla is slightly golden brown and the cheese has melted.
  2.               
  3. Drain the quesadilla onto a plate covered with paper towel.
  4. When the quesadilla has cooled off slightly enough to handle, open it up a bit and drizzle about a tablespoon of salsa inside the quesadilla.

 

And that’s it… you could serve these with a nice salad on the side and some sour cream on top.  But believe me, these are perfect just like this.

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Smoky Soft Polenta

1 Mar

Until recently, to me creamy cornmeal was something to be had sweet and for breakfast.  But lately I have learned that this Italian staple is something to be savored as a lunch or dinner and depending on how you season it, it can certainly be very versatile.

I already shared with you a version using blue cheese as a flavoring component… but this time we’re going the smoky route.  When you add a smoky cheese to polenta, it brings a “bacony” taste without the guilt or repercussions to your health and conscience. 

 

SMOKY SOFT POLENTA

½ cup water
½ cup milk
¼ tsp salt
4 tbs quick-cooking polenta
About 1/3 cup smoked Gouda cheese, grated
¼ cup Pecorino Romano, grated

 

  1. I prepare my polentas according to the package directions of the brand I buy…  I first heat up in a medium-sized pot over medium heat the milk, water and salt.
  2. As soon as the milk/water mixture is starting to boil, add the polenta in small increments, whisking constantly with a hand whisk.  The polenta I buy thickens pretty quickly, in about 1-2 minutes of whisking.
  3. Add the cheeses and mix well to ensure they melt into the polenta.  If you find the polenta too thick, you can stir in a bit more milk if you want.

 

The taste is salty, creamy and smoky all in one bite…  I had this originally with these Braised Bell Peppers.

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White Truffle Mac and Cheese

22 Feb

I loooooove Mac & Cheese… and now that I am grown-up, I look for ways to make mac & cheese but with twists and turns that will still satisfy the cravings, yet also attend a more upscale audience.

I have seen on various Top Chef and Barefoot Contessa episodes how a little bit of truffle butter can give you the essence of truffles without the steep price.  Hey… still, a little container of truffle butter is not cheap at $7 each, but it’s not as expensive as shelling out $$$ for the real fresh truffle.  Which, to be honest, I do not know if they’re available here in Puerto Rico.

I have been intrigued by the flavor of truffles ever since I had a delicious mushroom risotto with a drizzle of truffle oil at Pikayo’s Restaurant here in San Juan and more recently in a trip to NYC where we had a delicious vegetable cassoulet with truffle butter running thru it.  Truffles have a flavor very difficult to explain for me… I guess that’s why I prefer, if you can and dare, to experience it.  That’s why they’ve invented a name for this flavor – umami. 

So I have adored this little tub of truffle butter in the fridge since before Xmas time… and a few weeks back I said ENOUGH!!  I am making something with this butter!  And to celebrate the love I feel for my friends, I invited them over to a small Valentine’s dinner party.    

 

WHITE TRUFFLE MAC AND CHEESE

About 4 cups of mushrooms, sliced – I used a combination of white button and cremini mushrooms
3 tbs of butter
About 3 tbs of extra-virgin Olive oil
1 pound of elbow or penne pasta, whole grain preferably
1 small container of truffle butter
A little bit less than ¼ cup of whole wheat flour
1 quart of milk
About 1 cup of gruyere cheese, grated
About 1 cup of Italian Blend of cheeses, shredded
About ½ cup of Parmesan cheese, grated
Sea Salt and Freshly cracked Black Pepper

 

  1. First we cook the mushrooms… in a large skillet heat the regular butter and a bit olive oil to prevent the butter to burn too quickly and sauté the mushrooms.  I had to do this in batches because my skillet is not that large.  When you place them on the skillet, move them around to make sure the butter/oil coats them, but after that leave them alone.  Do not touch them for a while and allow them to cook and get browned on both sides before seasoning them with salt and pepper.  Set them aside.
  2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Salt generously and cook the pasta until al dente for about 6-7 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, we create the cheese sauce for the mac & cheese… in a medium sauce pan add the truffle butter… the smell will intoxicate you, in a good way!!!  When the butter melts, add the flour in small increments.  I scooped out ¼ cup, but I did not use it all.  Whisk the flour into the butter to create a smooth paste and allow it to cook for a few minutes to make sure the flour doesn’t taste like flour in the sauce.
  4. After about 3-4 minutes, add the milk to the flour/butter paste, called a roux by the cooking gods.  Whisk away to make sure you have no lumps and to thicken the milk and crate a creamy béchamel sauce.  Bring to a boil for the sauce to reach it’s creamy consistency.
  5. Remove sauce from heat and add the grated cheeses slowly, whisking as you add to make sure they melt perfectly.
  6. When the cheese sauce is ready, drain the pasta well, return to the same pot and add the cheese sauce.  Add the reserved cooked mushrooms and mix well.  Transfer to a greased 9” x 13” baking dish and top with some extra grated Parmesan and Gruyere cheese.
  7. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes at 350F until the cheese on top gets browned and crusty.

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