Vegetarian | The Humble Onion

Creamy Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

March 8, 2017

CREAMY STUFFED PORTABELLA MUSHROOMS

This poor food blog is so neglected you may be wondering, does she even care about us anymore? Does she even care about food?

The answer is yes, and yes. But if you haven’t heard yet, I’ve been distracted by a certain book release next month and some other news that I will share soon! We also went north for New Hampshire’s February break to go skiing and I forgot my laptop. Turns out the break was really needed – I’ve been glued to it and it was nice to take a real break, and to connect with family and friends in the flesh after we’ve been hibernating all winter.

Since the last time we’ve chatted, Lent snuck up on us, as it always does (except for the Mardi Gras part, which totally gets our attention because hello, party). The one thing I do every Lent that I usually stick with 100% is giving up meat on Friday. Because of this, I thought I would come up with a few recipes that use meatless ingredients but still feel like a meal. Today I am giving you my favorite new recipe: Creamy Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms.

I love portabella mushrooms. In the summer, I soak them in some balsamic, olive oil, s&p and diced garlic clove in a zip lock bag, and then grill them. Inside two hamburger buns, with some blue cheese or lettuce and tomato, you hardly even notice you don’t have meat in your meal.

But this recipe – I’ve made it a few times, and every time I love it more. You know how good stuffed mushrooms are as hors d’oeuvres? Well, imagine sitting down with a knife and fork to a plate of these all your own.

You start by roasting the portabellas with garlic, salt and pepper. Then you start make the filling by sautéing smaller mushrooms with garlic and butter.

You add these dairy beauties:

The ideas is to create a thick creamy sauce, and ricotta does that in a jiffy, along with the melted fontina. You can use milk to thin it out but the cream (I have made it with half and half but this time I had whipping cream) is what gives this dish its decadence, I think. If you don’t have ricotta, you can easily make a sauce starting with a roux, which is roughly whisking 2 T. butter + 2 T. flour for a few minutes, then mixing in 2 cups of milk, plus the cheese but it takes longer and I think the flavor is much better with the ricotta. Also this sauce would be amazing mixed with some pasta for another meal idea.

Then, you add the remaining cheese and broil it until the cheese is browned, about 5-7 minutes.

Creamy Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms (printer version here):
Creamy Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms:

4 Mushroom Caps
2 T. olive oil
s&p
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 T. butter
½ t. tarragon
2 cloves diced garlic, divided
½ cup ricotta cheese
¼ cream or half and half (or milk)
1 cup grated fontina, gruyere, or monterey jack (good melting cheese), divided
2 sprigs of thyme (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place Portabella caps on cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, 1 t. salt and ¼ t. pepper and 1 diced garlic clove. Roast in oven for 20 minutes.

While those cook, heat large frying pan on medium high heat. Add butter and melt. Add mushrooms, garlic and ½ t. salt, ¼ t. Pepper, being careful not to crowd pan or they will steam – use two pans if needed. Saute until fragrant and soft, about 10 minutes.

Add ricotta, cream, and ½ cup shredded cheese, and stir until combined and cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.

Take mushroom caps out of oven and let cool for 1 minute.

Add creamy mixture to mushroom caps, then cover with remaining ½ cup cheese and a few thyme leaves. Broil for 3-5 minutes or until cheese is browned to preferrence. (I love the cheese when it is very cooked).

(Serve with pasta or wild rice and peas.)

Swiss Pumpkin

October 20, 2016

Now that the leaves are starting to look like the color of pumpkins, I am so excited to share this recipe that I actually guest posted on the Ella Claire Blog last year. It is so so good.

I found this recipe in Ruth Reichl’s food memoir Comfort Me with Apples (a sequel to Tender at the Bone). I am a big fan of food memoirs at the moment since I am writing one of my own about growing up in a big Irish family in Chicago (I am one of eight) and we had a huge passion for food. In Comfort Me with Apples, one of the lasting images I had was how her husband said he wanted a divorce, and all she could do was make Cream of Mushroom soup. I just feel like food does that healing thing. She ended up being the editor for Gourmet Magazine and remarrying and having a son. So her story ends well.

Happily, when I made this recipe it was a great story. I made it for my husband for a date night at home. The smell when you take this out of the oven is like nothing else – a mix between pumpkin pie, creamy squash soup, and French onion soup. The fragrance will transport you. After we took the first bite, we just looked up at each other, silent, the fire roaring, and then in unison went, “mmmmhhh”. Or something close to blubbering adults. It warms your insides like nothing I have ever had – the pillow soft pumpkin, creamy buttery soup, and nutmeg infused bread tastes like heaven, all mixed with the saltiness of the gruyere cheese. It is such a special dish. The best part? I wrote all this a year ago, and I can still go back to that exact moment we tasted this and I am there.

This dish is perfect for Holiday parties or special family winter dinners. I’m not hosting Thanksgiving this year but if I was, everyone should start with a little Swiss Pumpkin on their plate. But it also seems like something you could easily bring to a family with an illness or a new baby since it has its own (disposable) transporting vehicle.

I hope you get to taste it. Or at least read Ruth Reichl. Happy fall everyone!

xoxo, Katie

Savory Baked Pumpkin (serves 4)

**Slightly altered from Ruth Reichl’s original recipe.

2 small pumpkins (about 6 – 8 inches in diameter)

Sliced French bread; several pieces, toasted

Grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese (about 4 oz)

Half and half, about 2 cups

2 eggs

1 1/2 t. salt, 1 t. pepper

1/4 t. freshly grated nutmeg (makes all the difference)

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut the top off of your pumpkin leaving the stem intact. With a spoon, scrape out the innards of the pumpkin and discard. (You can reserve the seeds if you like for a latter use.)

Next, rinse the pumpkin both inside and out and pat dry. Place a layer of your toasted bread on the very bottom of the pumpkin cavity. If you need to break up your toasted bread to fit, that is fine. You just want a light layer; you do not need to pack it in. Over the top of your bread sprinkle a bit of your cheese; just enough to cover the bread. You will want to repeat this until you fill the cavity of the pumpkin to its rim, about 2-3 times.

Then, pour the half and half mixture over the layered bread and cheese and into the pumpkin cavity. I like to do this slowly to be sure the half and half is filling in the crevices and not ready to overflow the pumpkin filling. Place the pumpkin top you cut off back onto the pumpkin and place on a baking sheet.

Finally, place the pumpkin on the baking sheet into the center of your oven for about 2 hours. Your baking time will depend on the size of your pumpkin and how much you fill it, so I always check it after one and a half hours of baking. You want to bake it until a knife can easily pierce through the flesh of your pumpkin. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and wait about 15 minutes before serving.

Calzones: Broccoli and Cheese, Turkey and Summer Squash

April 28, 2013

Baby is only a few days away, and I am done packing the freezer. I filled it with my Broccoli and Cheese and Turkey and Squash calzones today. These are actually one of the most requested recipes I have – no doubt because I always give out these beauties when my mom friends have babies. I am ready for the crazy summer nights when I pop these in the oven while cuddling baby, pouring a glass of white wine and hanging with the kiddos.

I first found the recipe for the Broccoli and Cheese calzones in an Everyday Food magazine. And somewhere along the way, whenever I made them, I also made a Turkey and Squash version I came up with for my meat-loving husband. What makes these such great freezer food is that 1 hour in the kitchen makes 16 calzones that handle the freezer so well. You can throw these from the freezer to the oven and in no time have a warm, healthy but comfort-food dinner.

The ingredients are easy to have on hand (you can get your dough frozen or fresh). It is amazing that this simple cast of characters makes such a yummy meal! It is warm, gooey, cheesy broccoli heaven out of the oven, and I stocked up on my favorite marinara sauce for dipping: Rao’s Marinara. All their varieties of sauce are good (Vodka and Arribbiata are favorites in our house too). I wait for it to go on sale for $6/jar, which somehow makes it feel even more luxurious since it is often $8-10. I think I started using it because it is the kind Ina Garten always uses too, FYI.

First you saute the red onion and garlic, then add the broccoli and stir. You can add red pepper flakes but I leave them out for the kids. After you stir this together, you let it cool.

Then you add the cheese mixture: ricotta, parm and mozzarella. (Hence why you let it cool first, so they don’t melt.)

Then you divy up your 2 lbs. of dough into eight pieces.

Stretch them out, then spoon the broccoli mixture on each:

Then you seal them up and put 2 slits in each one. Then wrap each in Glad Press N Seal (no, this is not a sponsored post, I wish!).

Then lay them on a cookie sheet to freeze flat, and after they are frozen solid you can toss them all in a zip lock bag. When you pull them out of the freezer, cook them on parchment paper for 35-40 min at 400 degrees. Don’t forget the marinara!!

SO easy and good. My kids love broccoli, so they are a big hit too, making all the work worth it, of course. The turkey calzones are similar, though I add Fontina cheese for a grown up, gooey delicious factor. And I used whole wheat pizza dough for the grown ups, to make it slightly healthier then the pizza we will no doubt be ordering twice a week.

Here are the recipes, turn on some Pandora, and set your self up for the week/month!

Broccoli and Cheese Calzones (printer version here.)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Flour, for rolling dough
2 packages (1 pound each) balls fresh or frozen pizza dough, thawed if frozen
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded (6 ounces) part-skim mozzarella cheese
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Prepared tomato sauce (optional)
1 medium red onion, finely chopped

Directions

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium. Add onion; cook until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add broccoli, garlic, and pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl; set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Form calzones: Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. On a lightly floured surface, stretch each piece out, first to a 3-by-4-inch oval, then stretch again, this time to a 6-by-8-inch oval. (Let dough rest a few minutes if too elastic to work with.)
Stir cheeses into cooled broccoli mixture; season generously with salt and pepper. Assemble calzones: Spread a rounded 1/2 cup broccoli mixture over half of each piece of dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border; fold over to form a half-moon. Press edges to seal. With a paring knife, cut 2 slits in the top of each calzone.
Using a wide metal spatula with a thin blade, transfer calzones to 2 baking sheets lined with parchment or waxed paper; reshape if needed.
Bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Serve with tomato sauce, if desired.

Cook’s Note

To freeze: Prepare recipe through step 3. Tightly wrap each calzone in plastic; freeze until firm. Transfer calzones to resealable plastic bags; label and date. Freeze up to 2 months. To serve, unwrap calzones, and place on parchment-lined baking sheets; bake without thawing until golden, 35 to 40 minutes.

Turkey and Summer Squash Calzones (printer version here.)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, chopped
4 shallots or 1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb. ground turkey
1 zucchini, chopped
1 summer squash, chopped
1 t. onion powder
1 t. garlic powder
Flour, for rolling dough
2 packages (1 pound each) balls fresh or frozen pizza dough, thawed if frozen
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cups shredded (6 ounces) part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup cubed Fontina cheese
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Prepared tomato sauce (optional)
Directions

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium. Add onion and garlic; cook until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add ground turkey. Cook, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink,, 5 to 7 minutes. Add zucchini and summer squash, cook for 5 min. more until they are soft. Season with garlic powder, onion powder, 1 t. salt, and 1/2 pepper. Stir and cook 1 min. more. Transfer to a medium bowl; set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Form calzones: Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. On a lightly floured surface, stretch each piece out, first to a 3-by-4-inch oval, then stretch again, this time to a 6-by-8-inch oval. (Let dough rest a few minutes if too elastic to work with.)
Stir cheeses into cooled turkey mixture; season generously with salt and pepper. Assemble calzones: Spread a rounded 1/2 cup turkey mixture over half of each piece of dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border; fold over to form a half-moon. Press edges to seal. With a paring knife, cut 2 slits in the top of each calzone.
Using a wide metal spatula with a thin blade, transfer calzones to 2 baking sheets lined with parchment or waxed paper; reshape if needed.
Bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Serve with tomato sauce, if desired.

Cook’s Note

Cooking for One

December 16, 2012

I have been thinking alot about Happy Marriages:

And not just my own (which is happy!). More like marrying flavors in cooking. I borrow the phrase from Julia Child, who, in her recipe for leek and potato soup asks, has their ever been a happier marriage then the leek and the potato? I just love her attitude about food, and how she makes it so personal. It is personal! That is why this post is about 2 happy flavor marriages but in a dish you can cook for your self alone: A Mushroom and Gruyere Omelet.

For starters, I think cooking for yourself is so important – to save soul-satisfying cooking only for others is so sad. I bring it up also because a lot of 20-somethings I talk to say, “I really don’t know how to cook” or “I don’t have anyone to cook for”. So this post is for all the Jamies and Rachels out there.

Judith Jones, Julia Child’s editor wrote a whole book about it called The Pleasures of Cooking for One. So to start, I would recommend this (along with Julia’s Cooking Wisdom, which I have mentioned before).

Like Julia, I love her food philosophy. Even with a family, I often cook for myself because my husband is traveling and the kids are begging for something I don’t want to eat, or they are at school. She notes that cooking for one lets you be really inspired by ingredients in the fridge or the farmer’s market. She is totally right – this meal/post was inspired by a package of mushrooms sitting in my fridge.

The mushroom and gruyere (which is a type of swiss cheese, so you could use swiss cheese instead but try to find the gruyere!) omlete is a meal with very simple ingredients that turns out something close to perfection. First you sautee the mushrooms, and for all novices, you’ll see here that Mushroom 101 is when you are sauteeing them, don’t crowd them in the pan or they will steam instead of turn golden brown.

Then comes the happy marriage part: Tarragon.

This herb goes so well with mushrooms, they feel like they are missing something for me if I eat them with out it. (Ina Garten points out that this herb brings out the flavors of chicken salad too, FYI). After sauteing them for a few minutes (flipping them to brown on both sides) they turn into this:

While they are cooking, prepare the omlete. I almost always over cook my omletes, but I like them that way. If you don’t, watch your heat closely. Heat one T. butter on medium heat, being sure to coat the whole pan. Beat 2-3 eggs, add a pinch of salt and pepper, and add to hot pan. Using a fork or spatula, push up the cooked eggs on the edges a bit and tilt the pan to let the uncooked eggs run to the hot pan. When the eggs are mostly cooked, lay down the cheese and turn off the heat. The heat of the pan will continue to cook the egg.

Gruyere and eggs are a such a Happy Marriage! If you are making anything with eggs – a frittata, quiche, souffle, or casserole – it will taste amazing if you add Gruyere to it. Here is an image so you remember it always: Eggs + Gruyere = Heaven.

When the cheese is starting to melt and the mushrooms are done sauteeing, add the mushroons:

Then with a spatula flip the other side over. Voila, breakfast, lunch or dinner is served.

This might just be my favorite meal. Looking at this picture is actually making me crave it! I hope you taste this soon because it is such a testament to simple flavors and ingredients being greater then the sum of their parts. Happy cooking, and to the new cooks out there, don’t let a solo table stop you from learning techniques and flavor combos. You learn something every time you cook!

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