Tag Archives: mushroom

Mushroom and Goat Cheese Pastelillo

18 Jan

I have an “obsession” with puffed pastry…  I admit it.  It’s super versatile and easy to use, particularly when you’re cooking for company.  Just add your favorite filling and you have a nice dish.

This time around I decided to mix together the ingredients of my favorite appetizer of the Xmas season and make it into a meal… balsamic mushrooms and goat cheese.  Envelope everything inside squares of puffed pastry, add a great green salad and you have a complete meal for a girl’s night together.  Here’s how I did it…

 

MUSHROOM AND GOAT CHEESE PASTELILLO

1 sheet of puffed pastry, thawed in the refrigerator since the night before
½ recipe for Balsamic Mushrooms
4 oz package of goat cheese
2 tbs butter, melted
A bit of flour or cornstarch to roll out the puffed pastry
  1. I’ll be honest… I do not measure a lot.  So I do not know how large I roll out the puffed pastry, but just enough to make 4 medium sized squares to make into these pastelillos.  Each pastelillo serves one not so big eater.  
  2. So before you start rolling out, dust your surface and rolling pin with some whole wheat flour or cornstarch so the pastry does not stick to either one.  Cut the pastry into 4 squares as even as possible.
  3. Lay one of your squares in a diagonal with one corner facing you directly.  Add about 1 ounce of the cream cheese and about ¼ of you mushroom mixture in the half of the square closest to you, leaving about ¼ inch clearance around the edges.   Now, overlap the free side of the square on top of the mixture and pinch all the open sides with a fork to close tightly. Repeat with the 3 remaining squares.
  4. Lay them flat on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the fridge for a few minutes, while the oven preheats to 350F.  I do this because the climate in PR is too hot and usually my pastry tends to give me a bit of trouble by the time I get to the last few squares.  This way the pastry kind of cools off and we make sure it will turn our flaky in the end product.
  5. Brush them with a bit of melted butter on top to help them brown nicely.  Bake the pastries in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.  The smell will tell you when they’re done.

 

Enjoy them with a great salad on the side for a light lunch or a light dinner. 

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Balsamic Mushrooms

27 Dec

It’s the holidays… as you know, Puerto Rico has the longest holidays in the world, because they last until the Fiestas de San Sebastián, which is until the middle of January.  And if you judge instead by the time people take off their Xmas lights, it could be until the beginning of February even.

I’ve been hosting a few get-togethers and been invited to some others and you never want to arrive with your hands empty.  Especially qhen you’re vegetarian…  because that “something” you bring with you can be your insurance policy to having something safe to eat that evening.  My friends are already familiar with my veggie, red pepper or hummus dips, but every year I want to surprise them with something different.  This was this year’s star appetizer…   

 

BALSAMIC MUSHROOMS

1 8oz packet of white button mushrooms, sliced
2 tbs of butter
1 tbs of olive oil
Salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
1 small sprig of thyme, just strip out the leaves
3 tbs of balsamic vinegar

 

  1.  In a large skillet over medium high heat, heat up the butter and oil.  When the butter/oil is very hot, add the sliced mushrooms.  Toss a bit so the mushrooms are coated with the oil mixture on most sides.  But don’t toss them continually; allow them to get brownish on one side for a few minutes before moving them again.  Add the thyme.
  3. After about 10 minutes of cooking, the mushrooms will have shrunk in size and are golden brown.  Now, add the salt and pepper and toss to combine.
  4. After another minute, add the balsamic vinegar.  Be careful because it splatters a bit and the pungency of the smell can “hit you in the face”.  Toss the mushrooms to combine and allow the balsamic to be absorbed by the mushrooms and evaporated a bit from the heat of the pan.
  6. Turn off the stove and allow continuing to cook with the residual heat that’s there.

 

I thoroughly enjoy these with peppered goat cheese balls on whole wheat crackers.  It’s serves as a great appetizer for a small get-together dinner party or to serve at a night of wine and cheese.

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Tortilla Casserole

18 Dec

I work from home quite a lot… and half the time, by the time I get hungry I am too hungry to prepare something to eat.  So I usually have a fridge full of delicious stuff to cook and I end up having a boiled potato or a sandwich for lunch.  I just can’t spend 30-40 minutes cooking something right in the middle of a work day.

I had a bunch of tortillas I had bought to experiment with a few Mexican dishes I learned in Mexico and got tired of seeing them in the fridge, so I searched several recipes and found a few interesting ones, but of course all included some kind of meat.  I had some left-over tofu-chón in my fridge and I decided to mix and match recipes to see what would work.

I liked one in particular because it needed to chill overnight before baking… I thought it was awesome for lunch because I could just pop into the toaster oven at about 11AM, leave it alone and by the time I would get hungry, it would be ready.  My kind of recipe… 

I am not certain if the overnight soak is essential, but I love that this is an easy assembly you can prepare while making another dish the night (or even a few nights) before.  It’ll be ready when you are…

 

TORTILLA CASSEROLE

7 corn tortillas, cut into ½” strips
6-7 slices of marinated tofu, sliced into small pieces – I used this tofu-chón recipe here
1/2 cup mild or medium salsa
1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 medium onion, finely chopped
½ a packet of white button mushrooms, sliced (about 2 cups)
4oz sour cream
½ cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup of water, if needed

 

  1. Prepare the tofu… first you need to press the tofu for about 1 hour and marinate in the adobo mixture for about an extra 2-3 hours.  So I recommend you making this tofu ahead and save them in the fridge and have them ready for you when you want to make this recipe. 
  3. Add salsa, mushroom soup and onions to a medium bowl and stir to combine.  If you find it too thick, add the ¼ cup of water in small increments to avoid making it too watery.  Set aside. 
  4. Now mix together the sour cream and yogurt in a separate bowl.  Set aside too.
  5. Spread 1/2 cup of the salsa mixture in bottom of a medium baking dish that can fit into your toaster oven. Place half of the tortilla strips in an even layer over salsa mixture
  7. Followed by half of the tofu, half of the mushrooms, half of the remaining salsa mixture, half of the sour cream/yogurt mixture, and half of the remaining cheese. Repeat process with remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
  10. Uncover and transfer baking dish to a 300F degree oven. Bake until casserole is heated through and cheese is melted ad golden brown on top, about 1 hour.

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Mushroom-Stuffed Mushrooms

2 Aug

This is a variation on Stuffed Mushrooms… to me it was a no-brainer that you can use the stems of the mushrooms and used them as your filling.  But people were sooooooo amused by this that it let to the name – mushroom-stuffed mushrooms.  This is basically using up all your produce and minimizing waste.

I made these as hot appetizers for our Francophone get-together, but you can serve them as a side dish too.  My friends teased me on the concept, but they all took home the left-overs.  And still, 5 days later they were still bragging about them.  Not bad, huh?

 

MUSHROOM-STUFFED MUSHROOMS

1 packet of button mushrooms
2oz cream cheese
2 handfuls of grated cheese – Italian-blend
1 tbs of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped finely
2 tbs of butter
Salt and pepper
Herbamare seasoning
2 tbs of whole-wheat bread crumbs (optional)

 

  1. Clean out all the mushrooms and remove their stems.  Set mushrooms caps aside.
  2. In a large skillet over medium heat, place butter and let it brown a bit, about 4-5 minutes.   Meanwhile, chop all the mushrooms stems as finely as possible.  Add the chopped mushrooms to the butter and sauté until the mushroom stems are golden brown.  When they’re almost done… add salt, pepper and Herbamare seasoning.
  3. Pre-heat oven to 400° F.
  4. Transfer the cooked mushrooms to a bowl and add the cream cheese, shredded cheese, parsley and breadcrumbs, if adding.
  5. Stuff each mushroom cap with the filling, allowing the filling to kind-of-overflow.
  6. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes.
  7. Remove them immediately from the oven so they do not sit on the juice they released.   Transfer them to a platter and serve immediately.

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Comme Çi Comme Ça Salade Niçoise

2 Apr

To celebrate my French classmates and to practice the French we learn at l’Alliance Française, I decided to host a French dinner  get-together – French food while speaking only in French…  Parlez-vous français, anyone???  Hey, one of my friends even showed up with her books to look up any word she might forget…  she’s hilarious.I decided to try a few adaptations from the cooking book and TV special that inspired me to take-up French again – Barefoot in Paris from Ina Garten.  I decided my menu would be Comme Çi Comme Ça Salade Niçoise and Croque Monsieur sandwiches.

Comme Çi Comme Ça means in English “more or less” or “so so” – this salad is a karma-free version of the original, which typically includes tuna and eggs.  The sandwich is also an adaptation, using a soy-protein smoked ham in place of the traditional real ham.  I must say that none of my guests were vegetarian and they could not believe the deliciousness of the dinner.

I’m telling you… They were both magnifique!!! 

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COMME ÇI COMME ÇA SALADE NIçOISE

This salad is a composed salad with lots of ingredients.  It might seem like a lot, but if you take it little by little it will not seem as daunting as the ingredients list might suggest.  Please believe me, it’s simple.

1 recipe for French Potato Salad, recipe follows
Roasted button mushrooms, recipe follows
Marinated roasted red bell peppers, recipe follows
Sautéed green beans, recipe follows
1 head of Romaine lettuce
2 handfuls of grape tomatoes
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced thin
½ English cucumber, sliced thin
2 radishes, washed and sliced thin
Handful of olives – niçoise are best, but I also used lemon-stuffed manzanillas
Nicoise Vinnaigrette Dressing, recipe follows
  1. Arrange the lettuce, potato salad, sautéed green beans, roasted mushrooms, marinated bell peppers, grape tomatoes, carrot, cucumber, radishes and olives on a large flat platter.

For the French Potato Salad:

10 baby red-skinned potatoes, washed and quartered
4 tbs vegetable stock
3 tbs white wine vinegar
½ tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp kosher salt
A few grinds of freshly ground pepper
10 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 stalk of green onion, sliced at an angle
4-5 leaves of basil, julienned
  1. Boil the potatoes in a medium pot in salted water.  Cook for about 20 minutes, until they are just cooked through.
  2. While the potatoes boil, prepare the dressing in a medium sized bowl that can accommodate the potatoes comfortably.  Whisk together the vegetable stock, vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper.  While whisking, add the olive oil to create an emulsion. 
  3. Drain the potatoes well and add to the bowl with the dressing.  Add the chopped green onion and basil.  Toss well to combine.  Cover bowl with a plastic wrap and let all the dressing to be soaked into the potatoes.
  4. Set aside until you get ready the rest of the salad ingredients.

Marinated Roasted Peppers

4-5 jarred roasted Piquillo peppers
Splash of extra virgin olive oil
Splash of balsamic vinegar
1 tbs capers
¼ tsp grated garlic
  1. Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and let the peppers marinate while the rest of the salad ingredients are ready.

Sautéed Green beans

½ bag of frozen green beans – I really prefer fresh, but I found non at the market so this is a cool substitute
1 shallot sliced thinly
1 clove of garlic, finely minced or grated
A dash of olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
  1. Fill a medium saucepan with salted water and bring to a boil.  Pour in the frozen green beans and cook for about 3-4 minutes. 
  2. In a medium skillet, heat olive oil and sauté the shallot and the garlic lightly.  Add the drain green beans and sauté with the shallots and garlic.  Season with Salt and Pepper to taste.

Roasted Button Mushrooms

1 pint of white button mushrooms, cleaned with a damp paper towel
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
  1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Cut the mushrooms in half.  Place in a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.  Toss to coat.
  3. Roast in oven (I do this in my toaster oven) for about 20 minutes until mushrooms are cooked and golden brown.

Niçoise Vinaigrette Dressing

1 tbs white wine vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
3 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 scallion, cut in big pieces
4 olives, pitted
1 tsp capers
A squirt of Dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  1. Combine all ingredients except oil in a blender.
  2. With blender running, slowly add oil until completely incorporated and emulsified.
  3. Serve in a dressing pitcher on the side of the salad.

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This salad was so delicious, that my friend’s husband could not stop eating it.  This whole platter served only 4 people.  Accompanied by the Croque Monsieur sandwiches and my friend’s Aniette’s Bull… this was a complete meal.

Bon Appétit!!!

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