This summer and fall, though I was on an accidental-on-purpose hiatus from posting, I was not on hiatus from cooking. I was, however, dialing back my habit of dramatically over-estimating how many evenings a week I could cook, how long exotic ingredients would keep their freshness or my interest, or how committed I would be to cooking after working a 12-hour day. I started using a lot of ingredients on repeat, mixing and matching them in different variations depending on how whacked out my schedule ended up looking like on any given day. A few of the ingredients I came to rely heavily on were mushrooms, zucchini and yellow squash that were exploding out of my garden at a tremendous clip, chicken breast, and of course, pasta.

If I published every variation of vegetable-y pastas with light cream sauces that I played with last fall, I’m pretty sure you’d think that’s all I ate. (At some point I’ll share some more of them with you, when I actually have more vegetables growing in their prime.) This is one of my favorites that came out of those months, my quick-I-need-dinner-and-what-do-I-have-in-the-fridge-to-piece-it-together season.

What I like most about this meal is the noticeable lack of sauce. There are no swimming noodles here. Really, the liquids that are tossed onto the mushrooms and simmered for a bit are mostly just a vehicle for carrying the earthy, punchy flavor of the mushrooms onto the noodles.

You can also totally make this without chicken if you don’t want it or don’t have any thawed – I consider it a huge success if I’ve actually thawed something in advance. If you need even more time savers or are short on ingredients, you can easily swap the garlic cloves for garlic powder, or the fresh thyme for dried. That’s what dried herbs are there for!

This dish is easy enough that it can be tossed together and modified based on what you have on hand, but it’s also fancy-tasting enough to make for a dinner party. Win-win.

Pasta with Chicken and Mushroom Sauce
Serves 3-4 as a main course

8 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 T olive oil
salt & pepper
8 oz cavatappi pasta (or other twirly shape)
1 T unsalted butter
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T fresh thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
1 tsp course salt
a few cranks of freshly ground pepper
1/2 c dry white wine
1/2 c heavy cream
1 oz freshly grated parmesan cheese
pasta water as needed

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once you’ve started cooking the mushrooms, add pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente. Reserve at last half a cup of pasta water before draining and set pasta aside, covered, while other ingredients finish cooking.

While the water is heating, heat olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Salt & pepper chicken breast and sear on each side until cooked through. Once the chicken is done, remove it to a cutting board and slice into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

While the chicken is cooking, heat butter in a medium frying pan. Add mushrooms, garlic, thyme, course salt, and freshly ground pepper to the melted butter and toss. Mushrooms should release their juices and cook down quite a bit. Once mushrooms have darkened and look soft, increase heat to medium high to sear the mushrooms a bit, tossing frequently. Reduce heat back to medium and add white wine. Cook for 3-4 minutes until reduced by half, then add the cream. Stirring frequently, allow cream to thicken slightly. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese.

Combine pasta, chicken, and mushroom cream sauce in a large pot. Add a bit of the pasta water if it seems too dry. Serve immediately and often!

As much as I enjoy the pride that comes from highly crafty cooking projects, from hand-making pasta and pie crust and pizza dough, it’s just too dang much work most days. It’s not that I’m ready to abandon my stove and commit to microwave dinners. But I am constantly on the lookout for meals that can be thrown together in just a few minutes with minimal chopping, mincing, grating, or cooking time.

Sometimes, those recipes are as close as the back of a package of pasta I bought on a whim. And this one quickly became a household favorite.

You’ll notice that ravioli is at the end of the title of this recipe. Why Because with mushrooms, garlic, and parmesan, this sauce would be delightful over any pasta. We’re particularly fond of cheese ravioli, but you can try any kind of pasta you like.

Butter and salt bring out the liquids and the flavor of the mushrooms, while garlic and pepper simmer along for the ride. Then, instead of using all cream as the recipe originally suggested, I split the quantity and used milk for half of the liquid. I didn’t miss a thing.

Parmesan finishes the sauce before it is tossed over your pasta of choice.

Before you know it, this meal is DONE. Not the most fashionable recipe you’ll ever see (mushroom cream sauce slopped over pasta can only go so far in the aesthetic department), but the flavor is outstanding.

Perhaps I’ll get around to making my own cheese ravioli soon, so that I can marvel once again at my own insane will to make things from scratch. But until then, I’ll continue to enjoy this just as it is, pre-made ravioli and all.

Mushroom Cream Sauce with Ravioli
Adapted from the back of a Giovanni Rana ravioli package

12 oz cheese ravioli
8 oz mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T unsalted butter
1/4 c heavy cream
1/4 c whole milk
salt & pepper
3/4 c parmesan plus additional for serving

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Wash mushrooms and pat dry, then slice. Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms and garlic, then sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Cook mushrooms, stirring frequently, until the liquids begin to release. Increase the heat slightly to allow mushrooms to brown slightly.

Add heavy cream and milk to the pan and stir constantly to prevent burning. When liquid has thickened slightly to a creamy texture, reduce heat to low and add parmesan cheese. Continue to simmer on low until desired texture is reached.

When water is boiling, cook ravioli to al denté. Drain ravioli and add it to the pan with the mushroom sauce. Coat all noodles with sauce.

Serve with a sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

As far as Brad is concerned, they are the only potstickers worth eating – why even bother, he asks I, on the other hand, have yet to find a filling for these fried little dumplings that I don’t like, so I occasionally play with alternatives. This is, currently, my favorite alternative.

If the Pork & Ginger Apple potstickers taste like autumn, these ones taste like spring. The ingredients are fairly simple: crisp green onions and peas accompanied by sautéed spinach and mushrooms. The bright flavors of the onions and peas are balanced out by the dark, earthy spinach and, my favorite, mushrooms sautéed in butter and soy sauce.

Though the filling is mixed, the tedious (and somewhat off-putting) aspect of potstickers lies ahead: assembly. Though it’s not difficult to create these little pouches with a frilly, folded edge, it does take some time and is usually the reason I only make potstickers as a treat rather than a weeknight meal. However, because they freeze so nicely, putting the effort in for a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon can result in multiple super-quick weeknight meals from the freezer.

Plus, folding your potstickers be a simple or as complex as you like. When I first started, I just folded them over and squashed the edges together. I’ve seen fancy ones at restaurants with TONS of folds that must have been created by people with less chubby fingers than me. These days, I like my six-fold method, which provides makes them nice and pretty but also helps the bottom stay nice and flat for a larger crisping area.

Suddenly, after working six at a time, you’ll have a whole army of perfect little pouches.

At this point, you can freeze the potstickers for future quick dinners. Or, you can cook them by crisping the bottom, steaming the dumplings, and then re-crisping the bottom again before serving.

The resulting potstickers are delightfully springy. You could certainly put all the ingredients in a food processor if you want a smoother texture, but I like the contrast between the bright, crisp peas and the soft, salty mushrooms. You can also mix up the ingredients, if you like. Prefer edamame instead of peas Tofu instead of mushrooms They’re quite flexible.

Happy spring dining!

Sweet Pea & Mushroom Potstickers

Makes about 48 potstickers

2 c frozen or fresh peas
1 bunch scallions
1 pound white mushrooms
2 T unsalted butter
2 T soy sauce
1 tsp freshly-grated ginger
4 oz fresh spinach
40-50 dumpling wrappers
canola or vegetable oil
chicken stock
soy sauce for dipping

Pour peas into a large mixing bowl (if using fresh peas, blanch peas and drain thoroughly before adding to the bowl). Chop scallions and add them to the bowl. Slice mushrooms, then wash and pat dry spinach.

Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add butter, mushrooms, soy sauce, and ginger. Sauté until mushrooms have cooked down and are nicely browned. Pour the mushrooms into the mixing bowl and return the pan to the stove, reducing the heat to medium. Add spinach and toss until it cooks down to be quite wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the spinach tot he mixing bowl and mix all ingredients well.

To form the potstickers, work in batches of no more than 6-8 at a time to prevent the wrappers from drying out. Place about two tablespoons of filling on each wrapper. You’ll want enough filling that the pouch will seem like it almost won’t close, but not so much that it doesn’t close. Dip your finger in a small bowl of water and wet the edge of the wrapper all the way around.

Fold the edges together to form a half moon shape by making a small fold in the front flap and pressing that fold against the back flap between your thumb and finger. Create another fold to the right of that and press against the back flap, and then another. Repeat with three more folds down the other side so that the entire pouch is sealed. You can daub additional water onto the wrapper if needed. Place completed potstickers on a cookie sheet and cover with a cloth to prevent the edges from drying out. Continue until all filling is used.

To cook the potstickers, heat a sauté that has a lid over medium heat. Add just enough oil to the pan to cover the bottom and heat until the oil glistens. Add the potstickers to the pan (as many as can comfortably fit with a bit of space in between) with the frilly seam facing up. Allow potstickers to cook without moving them for 3-4 minutes or until the bottom is golden-brown and crisp to the touch. Add 1/4 chicken stock to the pan and quickly add the lid. Steam the potstickers for 2 minutes.

Remove the lid and cook for one additional minute so the bottoms of the potstickers crisp back up. Remove to a serving tray and repeat with remaining potstickers. You may need to add more oil between each batch.

Serve immediately with soy sauce. You can jazz up the soy sauce a bit by adding a pinch of garlic, ginger, or red pepper if you like.

To Freeze: If you want to freeze your potstickers, freeze them before you cook them by laying them on a cookie sheet so they are not touching and freeze until solid. Then place them all in a freezer-safe plastic bag and store. To cook, use the same sear/steam/sear instructions as above, though you may need an extra minute of steaming.

Have you noticed that onion and mushroom pizzas are all the rage these days It seems that every pizza parlour around now features a caramelized onion pizza topped with mushrooms and pungent gorgonzola cheese. And who can blame them The rich, sultry flavors of these three ingredients make for an surprising and exciting change from red- or white-sauced pizzas.

But we’re not here to talk about pizza. In fact, it was the glut of all these pizzas popping up on menus that made me wonder how the same flavors would work when painted on a different canvas… say, perhaps, a knot of whole wheat pasta?

Caramelized onions are, in my book, one of life’s greatest pleasures. From topping crostinis to starring in homemade onion dip, they enrich almost everything they encounter. I’ve been known to eat them plain, with no cares about the odorific consequences that might ensue. As I expected, they make an excellent base for this pasta sauce.

The only challenge to making them It’s really easy to burn the crap out of them, and you could find yourself scraping blackened onions from your frying pan if you don’t keep your patience. The key to making a great batch of caramelized onions is, quite simply, patience. Over low heat for at least 30 minutes, your onions will convert from crunchy white spears to a textured slurry of reddish-brown caramelized goodness.

Mushrooms, on the other hand, need to cook for only a couple of minutes, so I added those to the pan after the onions were completely cooked. Shiitake mushrooms are in season in Ohio, so I used a precious batch of those. You could easily sub in creminis or button mushrooms.

A bit of cream, some balsamic vinegar, and black pepper are finally added to transform this sauté into a sauce.

For the pasta, I opted for a whole wheat spaghetti. Most of the time, I prefer to use regular pasta, but I do greatly love spaghetti with a little bit of extra depth. It’s an easy switch to make, and Brad and I have been eating our spaghetti whole wheat for several years. Penne, on the other hand, not so much, I find that the whole wheat varieties taste more similar to toilet paper tubes than pasta.

But I digress. Mixed together, the color from the onions and mushrooms darkens the pasta for an attractive dish that tastes incredible. For a little extra something, gorgonzola crumbles can be added to the top, though I urge you to tread lightly: it’s a very strong cheese, and a little goes a long way.

I can see why pizza joints are hustling to get onion and mushroom pizzas onto their menus, but after putting this together, I think pasta restaurants should follow their lead.

Spaghetti with Caramelized Onions & Mushrooms

Serves 4-6

3 T unsalted butter, divided
2 large yellow onions
1 tsp salt
4 oz mushrooms, any variety, chopped
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 c heavy cream
1 lb whole wheat spaghetti
1/2 c gorgonzola cheese crumble

Peel the onions, then chop them into quarters. Slice the onions so that the pieces form crescent-shaped strips about 3″ long. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Once butter has melted, add the onions and salt and toss well. Cook onions over medium for about 30 minutes, stirring often to caramelize all the onions.

When the onions have been cooking for about 10 minutes, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook to al dente.

As the spaghetti cooks and the onions are mostly caramelized, move the onions to one side of the frying pan and add the last tablespoon of butter to the cleared side of the pan. Add the chopped mushrooms to the pan and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Mix the mushrooms into the onions and add pepper and balsamic vinegar. Add the cream and reduce heat to low, stirring well to incorporate all the cream.

Drain the pasta into a colander, reserving about 1 cup of the pasta water. Return the pasta to the pot and pour the onion mixture into the pot on top of the pasta. Add about 1/2 a cup of the reserved pasta water and mix well until thoroughly combined, adding more pasta water if necessary. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Plate the spaghetti and add a few gorgonzola crumbles as a garnish.

I’ve grown tired, lately, of regular pasta sauce. Not of pasta, mind you. I crave that all the time. But these days, every time I sit down to make or order a pasta dish, I try to find something that is not marinara or alfredo.

While traipsing about the internet, I ran across a recipe for chicken marsala, which I’ve eaten at restaurants but never cooked myself. The thick, tangy brown sauce, full of mushrooms and drizzled over chicken, looked wonderfully decadent, and I started wondering how it would taste on pasta. It seemed it might be just the breath of fresh pasta-sauce-air that I was looking for.

For those of you out there who love chicken marsala, you won’t be surprised to hear that this dish starts with a large pile of mushrooms. You can use any variety you like, but I love using creminis. Even though they ultimately get drowned in brown sauce, they’re just so dang pretty when you clean and chop them up, aren’t they?

And the other half of chicken marsala The chicken, of course! Chicken breasts are sliced in half to create thin, fast-cooking filets. I dredged mine in a mixture of flour and parmesan cheese to create a golden-brown, slightly crunchy coating.

With a batch of chicken set aside on the cutting board and mushrooms sautéing away in a frying pan, its time for the most important element of this pasta: the sauce.

I confess: I stood, rather perplexed in the wine section of the grocery store for quite a while. Do I need sweet marsala Dry I ultimately selected one that didn’t specify, and not being an avid wine aficionado, I honestly don’t know what I ended up with. Though, the internet seems to conclude that sweet marsala is the correct wine to use for this sauce. For anyone who wants to know.

Once the sauce has thickened, the pasta has cooked, and the chicken has been chopped, everything is mixed back together in the pasta pot. The result is a surprising and refreshing pasta dish, speckled with mushrooms and crisp bites of chicken. And the best news, perhaps, is that it was VERY fast and very easy, coming together in about 30 minutes from start to finish. How exciting when a dinner experiment turns out as such a delight!

It may be a while yet before marinara makes it back on the menu.

Pasta Marsala
Adapted from Savory Sweet Life

8 oz skinless boneless chicken breasts
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
2 T canola oil
2 T unsalted butter
4 oz cremini or button mushrooms, washed and patted dry
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c marsala wine
1/4 c cooking sherry
1/2 c chicken stock
1/4 c heavy cream, at room temperature
2 tsp cornstarch
1 T water
1/2 pound linguine or other pasta
fresh oregano, chopped to garnish

Split the chicken breast through the middle so that you have thin filets. Sprinkle salt & pepper on both sides of chicken. On a small plate, combine flour and parmesan cheese and mix well with a fork. Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour mixture on both sides, ensuring the chicken is fully-coated.

Heat oil in a large frying pan or sauté pan over medium heat until oil glistens. While the oil is heating, slice the mushrooms and set aside. In addition, bring a pot of salted water to a boil.

Add chicken to the frying pan and cook until the first side is golden-brown. Flip each piece of chicken and cook until chicken is white all the way through and both sides are golden-brown. Remove chicken from the pan to a cutting board. If any oil is still pooling in the pan, soak it up with a paper towel and dispose.

Add butter to the pan and melt. Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper and stir well. Sauté for 5-7 minutes until mushrooms are releasing their juices and starting to darken, stirring occasionally. Add marsala, sherry, chicken stock, and cream and stir well. Allow liquid to reduce for 7-8 minutes, stirring often.

While the sauce is reducing, add dry pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente. Once cooked, drain well and return to the pot with a lid until the sauce is done. Use the time while the pasta and sauce are cooking to cut the chicken into bite-size pieces.

Combine the cornstarch and water in a small glass and mix well. Once the liquid on the mushrooms has cooked for 7-8 minutes, add about the cornstarch mixture and stir constantly as the sauce thickens, usually about 2 minutes. If the sauce is still too thin, you can make a little more cornstarch slurry and add it a little bit at a time.

Add chicken, mushrooms, and sauce to the drained pasta and mix well. Serve garnished with chopped oregano.

This is, I think, the first Easter for which I have not dyed any eggs. Not one cup of pigment-stained vinegar has graced my kitchen counter, nor one hard-boiled egg.

But this quiche?

Possibly my new favorite way to celebrate the humble egg.

Previously, I’ve really only eaten quiche in miniature form at catered gatherings and parties, but had never really considered the possibility of making them myself. Or if I had, I became rapidly intimated by the idea of a homemade crust (I’d never actually made one before this). But oh! What a new world lies ahead now that I have quiche AND pie crust in my culinary arsenal!

This crust, as it turns out, is not quite the deep mystery I had created in my mind. Some really cold butter, some flour, salt and sugar, and (and this one has an egg yolk) and a little time in the fridge made this dough, well, downright easy.

The dough has to chill in the fridge for a bit, which is a perfect time to start the filling. This one kicks off with asparagus.

I’ve never been a huge fan of asparagus, but the more I focus on eating fresh, seasonal food, it becomes difficult to resist the excitement when this first herald of spring produce makes an entrance on farmers market tables. It’s like watching a bank run as eager customers line up for the coveted green stalks after months of seeing only sweet potatoes, chard, and carrots for sale.

The asparagus plays nicely with mushrooms and spring onions, so those get chopped up and tossed into the mix as well.

For good measure, some cheese. White cheddar is delightfully tangy in this quiche, but you can use a yellow cheddar if you prefer it.

And then the eggs! Eggs are mixed with a little milk, a little cream, and a little salt & pepper.

The dough has chilled, the veggies are chopped and sautéed, and the egg mixture is thoroughly mixed. Time for assembly!

Don’t be scared of rolling out the dough. Just flour the heck out of the counter and all will be well. You can do it!

And now the most agonizing part… this quiche bakes for an hour and THEN cools for about an hour. Alternately, it can be made the night before as it reheats nicely and can be served cold.

These pretty little slices would make an awesome Easter brunch, or anytime-brunch, really. Brad ate some for dinners, I ate mine for breakfast, and I’m pretty sure it’s a winner anywhere in between.

So if you also haven’t had time to dye your eggs yet either, celebrate Easter this year with a creamy, dreamy, springy quiche!

Asparagus Mushroom Quiche
Adapted from Joy the Baker

Crust
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 egg yolk
3 T milk
1 T heavy cream

Whisk together flour, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add butter and work quickly into flour using your fingers or a pastry cutter. Stop mixing when buttery bits are about pea-sized.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together egg yolk, milk, and cream. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in liquid. Using a fork, combine the liquid into the flour, making sure that all flour bits get moistened. Dump the dough onto a floured surface and sprinkle generously with more flour. Dough will be quite sticky. Press dough into a disc about 1 1/2″ thick and wrap in plastic wrap. Let rest in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Filling
1/2 T unsalted butter
1 c asparagus, chopped into 1/2″ pieces
1/2 c green onions, chopped into 1/2″ pieces (starting with the white end)
1/2 c mushrooms, roughly chopped
6 large eggs
1 c milk
1/2 c heavy cream
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper
1 c sharp white cheddar cheese, grated

Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add asparagus, green onions, and mushrooms and sauté until asparagus is bright green and mushrooms have softened slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, heavy cream, salt, and pepper and mix well. Grate cheese and set aside.

Assembly
Preheat oven to 375 °F. Remove dough from refrigerator and unwrap disc onto a well-floured surface. Flour a rolling pin and gently roll dough into a circle about 11″ in diameter, flipping once and re-flouring the surface as needed throughout the rolling process. Carefully lift dough into a 9″ pie plate. Trim dough so that about 1/2″ hangs over the edge. Tuck this 1/2″ of dough under and shape edges with your fingers into scallops.

Pour vegetables into the crust and spread out evenly. Sprinkle about half of the cheese into the crust. Then, pour the egg mixture into the crust and add the remaining cheese.

Carefully place quiche into the oven and bake for 50-55 minutes or until crust has browned, quiche has puffed up, and only a slight jiggle remains when pie plate is gently shaken. Remove quiche from oven and allow to cool for at least an hour.

You can serve this hot or cold, but I greatly prefer it hot.

There are things I daydream about. Sometimes, they are kitchen things.

In these kitchen daydreams, the sauce pan I need is never at the back of the cabinet. All my spice bottles are the same shape, same size, same color, and they’re all labeled in the same font. Sunshine floods across my countertops and splashes to the floor, filling the room with light. My knives are always sharp, but I never cut my fingers. Avocados grow locally. Also cashews and cocoa beans and grapefruits.

Le sigh.

Some dreams stay that way. But other dreams Pasta-and-mushrooms-tossed-in-sun-dried-tomato-cream-sauce dreams Oh yeah. They’re COMING TRUE.

This pasta is zingy. It’s dotted with crispy bacon and caramelized onions and tender mushrooms and pungent cheese.

I’ve found myself cooking with mushrooms more and more lately. I always thought I didn’t like them, but suddenly, they’re on my grocery list every week. Weird how that happens sometimes.

Sun-dried tomatoes, on the other hand, are new to me. These ones are packed in oil, but I’m curious to try it again with the dehydrated ones I occasionally see for sale at the farmers market. Or better yet, I could dry my own!

The dish comes together with a little cream, some milk, and nice little pile of parmesan. It’s not a sauce for swimming. In fact, it’s really there to bring everything together rather than to drown the pasta.

It’s pretty simple, pretty quick, and as cream sauce pastas go, it’s pretty light. Also, it’s pretty pretty.

Told ya. Dream come true.

Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
Adapted from Epicurious

5 slices bacon, chopped into 1/2″ pieces
1/2 large onion, diced, about 1 1/2 cups
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 c mushrooms, sliced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 black pepper
1/2 c oil-packed sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped into small pieces
1/2 c cream
3/4 c milk
1 pound bowtie pasta
3/4 c parmesan cheese, finely grated

In a large frying pan, cook bacon until lightly browned and mostly crisp. Remove to a plate lined with paper towel using a slotted spoon. Pour off the majority of the bacon grease, leaving just enough in the pan to coat the bottom with a very thin layer. Add onion, garlic, and mushrooms to the frying pan and sauté until onions are tender and beginning to caramelize, about 7-10 minutes.

While this is cooking, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add pasta.

Once onions have begun to caramelize, add salt, pepper, tomatoes, cream, milk to the frying pan and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 3-5 minutes to thicken sauce slightly, then remove from heat.

When pasta is done, scoop out about 1 cup of pasta water and set aside. Drain pasta and return to pot. Pour sauce and grated cheese over pasta and mix well, adding pasta water a little at a time to achieve desired consistency.

Sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.

Simple, savory
And makes enough for lunches:
My kind of dinner

Rice dressed to the nines
Wearing herbs, mushrooms, and nuts
To complete the look

Rice cooks in water
The rest sautés in a pan
Waiting to meet up

Suddenly, dinner!
Full of texture and flavor
Quite worth repeating

Rosemary Wild Rice with Mushrooms & Cashews
Adapted from All Recipes

Makes about 4 cups

1 c wild rice
1 3/4 c chicken stock
1-2 tsp olive oil
1/2 c onion, chopped
1 c mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T rosemary, chopped
1 c cashews, roughly chopped
salt & pepper to taste

In a medium sauce pan, combine chicken stock and rice over medium heat. Once liquid begins to boil, stir once, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes.

While the rice cooks, heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until lightly caramelized. Add mushrooms, garlic, and rosemary and sauté for 3-4 minutes or until mushrooms soften. Add cashews and sauté for 2-3 more minutes.

Once the rice is cooked, remove from heat and fluff with a fork (there may still be a bit of liquid in the bottom of the pan, and this is fine). Add rice and any remaining liquid to the frying pan and combine with mushroom mixture. Stirring often, sauté for 2-3 more minutes.

Remove to serving bowl. Excellent as a side or even as an entrée.

I used to be a mushroom hater. Didn’t want them on pizza, in stir fries, on cheeseburgers, or anywhere else.

But one night during my sophomore year in college, Brad made a batch of stuffed mushrooms. To be sure, it might not have been the best timing to be learning to eat mushrooms stuffed with rich filling: I think it was 1am before a 6am flight across the country for several week or something. But I was hooked!

Mushrooms are so mysterious. Yes, the plain little button mushrooms I used in this recipe are pretty basic, but truly, mushrooms flourish in uncountable shapes, sizes, flavors, and potency. They burst out of the ground sometimes for only a few days and often won’t do so until a perfect balance of moisture, nutrients, and and temperature occurs.

I’d love to learn the art of picking wild mushrooms. Some family friends of ours go every summer, high into the mountains, and return with buckets full of brilliantly-colored mushrooms for cooking, drying, and preserving. What a way to eat locally, to pick something wild and then eat it for dinner! It’s a hobby, though, that I would only want to do with an expert. The mushrooms we can eat are earthy, delightfully squashy, and a dimensional addition to many dishes. But the ones that we can’t eat can, well, kill you.

Perhaps another day I’ll be brave enough to pick wild mushrooms myself. This day, though, I picked my mushrooms straight from the produce section.

Stuffed mushrooms depend on two things: a sturdy little mushroom that can hold a fair amount of scrumptious filling, and scrumptious filling. And I think a crunchy topping is equally important. So three things, then.

Mushrooms, check. Once the stems are popped out and chopped up, they are pretty much ready to go.

Filling, check. A savory blend of mushrooms, shallots, garlic, cream cheese, and chèvre, it comes together quickly and tastes TOTALLY amazing. Seriously, it’s a challenge to get this into the mushrooms rather than just spooning it all straight into your mouth.

But do try. It will be worth it!

Crunchy goodness, check. I stuck the end of a semi-stale baguette in the food processor and whirled it around for a bit to make a few tablespoons of crumbs, tossed in some parmesan and parsley, called it a day.

You can either bake these right away, or, you can stick the whole dish in the fridge and bake them right before you need them. These aren’t so good cold, but they make AMAZING leftovers. I actually think they improve when reheated.

I typically see stuffed mushrooms served as an appetizer or an hors d’oeurve, but after a couple of these, you may just forget the main course.

Chèvre Stuffed Mushrooms
Inspired by Of Chocolate and Mangos, Thyme for Cooking, and weirdly, The Denver Channel.com

8-10 oz white mushrooms
1 large shallot, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
pinch of sea salt
pinch of black pepper
2 oz chèvre
3 oz cream cheese
1 T milk
3 T bread crumbs
1 T parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 T fresh parsley, minced
additional balsamic vinegar (for brushing mushrooms)

Preheat oven to 400 ºF. Wash and de-stem mushrooms by popping the entire stem out of the center. Set mushroom caps aside and dice mushroom stems. Heat 1 T of olive oil in a sauté pan. When oil is hot, add shallot, garlic, mushroom stems, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly and sauté until soft. Remove pan from heat and add chèvre, cream cheese and milk. Stir until cheeses are smooth, adding milk if necessary.

Go ahead and and give the cheese mixture a nice, large taste-test. For science…

In a separate pan, add remaining olive oil and heat. While oil is heating, brush mushroom caps with balsamic vinegar. Place caps in the pan cap-side down and sauté briefly, only 2-3 minutes.

Combine bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and parsley in a small bowl.

Lightly grease a small baking dish (8″x8″ is a bit large, but will work in a pinch). Fill each cap with the cheese mixture and place them in the dish. Once all mushrooms are filled, sprinkle bread crumb mixture over them evenly.

Bake uncovered on top oven rack for 10-14 minutes. Remove dish to a cooling rack and let mushrooms sit for 5 minutes before serving.