Triple Mushroom Ragout

Do you ever experience cravings? I mean CRAVINGS: I- GOTTA-HAVE-IT-NOW CRAVINGS?

Such was the case for me a few weeks ago. I wanted  needed mushrooms, and lots of them. First, I tried Mushroom Ravioli at a well-known Italian restaurant chain. That was not good enough. Close, but no cigar.

Next, a few days later I had them sauteed into a breakfast skillet at a well-known American diner for breakfast. Still, not good enough. I hardly tasted them, they were overshadowed by the spicy chorizo in the dish.

I knew it was time to cook up my own cure. (Physician, heal thyself?)

 

I decided that I needed the most "mushroom-y flavor" on my plate in a hurry. I chose to make a sumptuous Triple Mushroom Ragout. I served it with pan seared smoked pork chops, sauteed garlic spinach and atop cheesy, creamy grits. (Those were their own little piece of heaven)

If you are a mushroom lover, connoisseur and crave them regularly, I have the recipe to fix what ails you. It is so flavorful and meaty that you could enjoy this dish instead of meat and not feel the least bit deprived.

The recipe is below. Prepare for your mind to be blown.

 (I couldn't wait for the photograph.)

Triple Mushroom Ragout

1 Pint Fresh Baby Portabello Mushrooms, wiped with a damp cloth
1 Pint Fresh Oyster Mushrooms, wiped with a damp cloth
1 Pint Fresh Shiitake Mushroom, wiped with a damp cloth (stems removed)
3-4 Sprigs of fresh thyme
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup onion, finely minced
4 Tablespoons Unsalted Real Butter
1/2 Cup heavy cream
1/8 Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salt, to taste


Method:

Using your chef knife, chop all mushrooms to uniform size. (medium chop).

In a heavy bottomed skillet, melt the butter and allow to foam before adding the thyme sprigs. Next, add all of the mushrooms, stirring to coat. Don't worry if it looks as if there isn't enough butter. There is.

Over medium heat, continue to saute the mushrooms stirring occasionally. We are looking for golden edges on the mushrooms. Add the minced garlic and onions and stir again. Continue cooking until the mushrooms have released their juices and have begun to caramelize. Do not allow onions and garlic to burn.

Lower heat and add freshly ground black pepper (yes, freshly ground!) and the heavy cream. Stir, allowing the mixture to thicken and for the cream to become a nutty brown color.

Remove from heat, check for salt. (Salt as needed)

Serve.

(Try not to eat the whole skillet  before dinner is served)

Baby, It's Cold Outside (Chicken Corn Chowder)

Last week, I posted a photo of one of our week night suppers to my Facebook page. I received requests for the recipe via private messages from many. I’m almost ashamed to post how easy the recipe is. But… I will do so boldly. (Insert nervous laughter)

Cold weather is finally upon us for a few days in Central Florida. This would be a good soup to serve your family tonight or tomorrow. This is rich, but not clumpy chowder. (I don’t like my chowders too thick) For thicker chowder, double the amount of butter and flour.

Chicken Corn Chowder
Ingredients:

1 Store Deli Rotisserie Chicken (I used Publix Lemon Pepper) Skin and bones discarded, chopped into medium dice
4 Large carrots, peeled and chopped
8 Large Russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
½ Large onion, minced (I ended up with about ½ cup)
4 Large cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 Stick of real butter
½ Cup AP Flour
1 Maggi Chicken Cube
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
26 oz. Swanson’s Chicken Stock (I used lower sodium)
32 oz. Swanson’s Chick Broth (I used lower sodium)
1 12 oz.bag Publix frozen corn kernels
¼ cup heavy cream
½ cup finely minced fresh parsley


Method:

I recommend doing all of the peeling, chopping and mincing beforehand. The soup comes together quickly.

In a large pot, melt butter. Once butter foams, add flour and whisk to remove lumps. (The goal is to cover every grain of flour with butter fat). Cook on medium heat 1 to 2 minutes without browning, stirring constantly.

Add onions and garlic. Continue to cook for about a minute.

Add carrots and potatoes. Stir.

Add chicken stock and broth. Stir to incorporate, being sure there are no lumps.

Add Maggi Chicken Cube and black pepper.

Add chopped chicken.

Cook over medium heat until potatoes and carrots are tender.

Taste for salt. (Add salt, if needed)

Using a potato masher: Mash slightly some of the vegetables in the soup. (Adds thickness, without gluey texture) Taste once again for seasoning.

Add corn kernels. Bring to a boil.Turn off heat.

Add heavy cream and parsley.

Serve.

Rainy Weekend, Sunny Family Life

This past weekend, I was blessed to be able to create delicious foods for my family. I say it often, but I do count it a blessing to be able to serve homemade, nutritious and pleasing foods to those that I love.

One morning (I forget which...long weekends are sometimes a lovely blur) I served a huge breakfast of thick cut hickory bacon, cheesy potato patties, fruit and toasted homemade Cinnamon Date Raisin bread. I thought about making scrambled eggs, but Young Man doesn't eat them and Young Sir wasn't awake yet.

The bread was made with the same dough recipe that I used for the dinner rolls. I simply kneaded in some pecans and then rolled the dough into a rectangle. I liberally sprinkled the dough with cinnamon, drizzled with a good amount of orange blossom honey and then laid on plumped raisins and chopped dates. Lastly, I rolled it up jelly-roll style, tucked the ends under and left it to rest in the baking pan for 40 minutes before baking at 350 degrees for thirty minutes.

I always bake my bacon for a resulting crispy, flat and evenly cooked result. The cheesy potato patties were made by dredging palmfuls of leftover potato casserole in flour and slowly frying in bacon drippings.

We had planned to barbecue on Memorial Day, but the thunderstorms changed our plans. However, I'm always up to a challenge! We wanted ribs! So... I improvised. We had "oven barbecued" ribs. They were better than I hoped!



I cut the rib slabs into portions of four to five ribs with my sturdy kitchen shears. Then I heavily seasoned them with onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, kosher salt and Mrs. Dash. Then, I put in the oven uncovered to brown quickly at 450 degrees. (I watched them carefully and turned them as needed to brown all sides)

Once they were browned, I added half a cup of water to the pan and coated the ribs with BBQ sauce. I covered them tightly with foil and returned to the oven, lowering the temperature to 300 degrees.

An hour later, I turned the ribs over and added more sauce. Once recovered tightly, they went back in the oven.

After another hour, I again turned and re-sauced the ribs.

Finally, at the end of the second hour I removed the foil and added sauce again. I turned the oven up to 375 until the ribs looked caramelized.

There were none left! And I made TWO slabs.

I hope you try these methods. If you do, please let me know how you liked the results.

Wordless Wednesday