Mushroom Casserole

When it is cold and rainy, like it was last night, all I is some warm, creamy, cheesy pasta. I had some nice Gruyere last night (thanks Idris!) so I wanted to do something more special then my regular old noodles and sauteed mushrooms. I decided to return back to the very first thing I ever tried to make on my own: mushroom casserole. The first time I made this was at some point in high school, so only a couple years ago, but with all the cooking I've done between then and now, it feels like ages ago! It was a recipe that I modified from Rachael Ray, who I used to watch religiously. Now I find her mildly irritating, but that's another story.

Anyway, the recipe turned out much better than I remembered it, and I would definitely make it again sometime soon. The original recipe serves 4, but this one I am posting is a half-recipe and makes either 2 larger portions, or 4 smaller ones. She also uses a mix of different mushrooms, including button, portobello, and wild mushrooms. I only had portobellos and shitakes so thats what I used. I added in a couple artichoke hearts as well, just for variety and they were tasty too. I honestly think you could use whatever your favorite mushrooms are and it would be delicious. In fact, you could switch mushrooms for any other favorite vegetable and this casserole would work just fine. I made several changes to the recipe and I'm posting my version below. You can get the original here.

Mushroom Casserole
adapted from Rachael Ray

Mushroom Sauce:
1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
1 tbsp butter
1 portobello mushroom cap, brushed off with damp towel and chopped finely
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup 1% milk
A pinch nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Casserole:
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 shallot, thinly sliced
2 portobello mushroom caps, halved and thinly sliced
6 shitake mushrooms
1/2 lb artichoke hearts
2 sprigs fresh thyme, finely chopped
salt and pepper
3 tbsp vegetable stock
1/2 lb elbow noodles
1/3 lb Gruyere cheese, shredded

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the elbow noodles. Heat a medium sauce pot over medium heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and butter. When butter melts, add in chopped mushrooms and cook 5 minutes, until just tender. Sprinkle in flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk in chicken stock and bring to a bubble then stir in the milk . Reduce heat to low and gently simmer. Season the sauce with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil then the shallots, mushrooms, and artichokes. Cook for 8 minutes, until tender and then season with thyme, salt and pepper. Add stock to the pan, reduce heat to medium low and let the liquid cook off.

Preheat broiler to high. While the mushrooms cook, drop elbow noodles in water and to al dente. Drain noodles and return to hot pot. Add the sauce and mushrooms and toss noodles to coat in sauce. Transfer the mixture to the casserole dish and top with the shredded cheese. Place the casserole under the broiler and melt and bubble the cheese until brown at edges.

Confetti Crab Cakes

I felt like making crab cakes last night because I have been craving crab and wanting to make this recipe since I first saw it in the July issue of Health (thats right...it's been sitting in my drawer for quite a while). The crab cakes themselves were delicious, but I wish I would have made them a bit larger so they would have held together better while frying. The recipe didn't call for it, but I threw in a handful of fresh parsley when mixing and it added an extra freshness. I served them with a homemade cumin guacamole and mango salsa.

Confetti Crab Cakes
adapted from Health magazine

1 pound lump crabmeat, drained and shell pieces removed
1/2 cup unseasoned dry breadcrumbs
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon canola oil or butter

Combine crabmeat, breadcrumbs, scallions, bell pepper, and Old Bay seasoning in a medium bowl. Add mayonnaise and lemon juice; mix with a fork. Form mixture into 8 patties about 3 inches in diameter. I made them smaller then this, because I liked the idea of a lot of little ones, but this didn't turn out to be so bright because several of them fell apart while frying.

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Fry crab cakes until browned on the bottom (about 4 minutes); turn and cook 4 more minutes.

Makes 4 servings (serving size: 2 crab cakes)

Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet Potato Fries truly are one of my favorite foods of all time. They are so delicious and versatile. They are a great source of vitamin A, vitamin C, manganese, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, potassium, and iron. I also really like mashed sweet potatoes, but the fries can be baked without the tons of butter I am always tempted to add to the mashed version, heh. I made these last night as an accompaniment to the crab cakes and served them up with a honey dijon sauce and a spicy mustard and sweet onion mixture.

I just chopped up two sweet potatoes (I prefer the pieces thicker so they are still mushy on inside...but that's just me), added sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, and finely chopped parsley, and baked at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Delicious!

Tomato Coconut Curry with Tofu

So I bought curry powder and coconut milk last week because I figured a yummy curry sauce would be good with all the tofu I make. I wasn't sure when or how I would use it, but the opportunity presented itself when a cause for celebration was revealed. Nayereh called me at 5 to tell me that she was accepted to the study abroad program which means she spends 2 weeks this January in India. To celebrate, I set out to make a dish. I am proud to admit, after looking at a few recipes online (none of which I had all the ingredients to), I made up my own thing!

Tomato Coconut and Tofu Curry
serves 2

2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp salt
1 box of extra-firm tofu
enough flour to dredge the tofu in
olive oil to coat the pan (a couple times)
1-2 portobello mushroom caps
1 red bell pepper
1 white onion, quartered
a handful of chives
1 can of crushed or diced tomatoes
1 can of coconut milk
a handful of fresh parsely

I first mixed up all the spices and set that aside. I used that mixture to season all elements of this dish at various stages in the cooking process.

After draining the excess liquid from the tofu (see Broccoli & Tofu Stir-Fry), I dredged it in flour and egg and then pan fried it in some olive oil. While that was frying in one pan, I sautéed the mushrooms and red pepper in another. When they were done frying, I added the vegetables to the tofu pan (because it's bigger and better) and seasoned everything heavily.

Meanwhile, I put the onion, chives, tomatoes, coconut milk, parsley, and a bit of the seasoning in the food processor. After that was at a smooth consistency, I added it to the fried tofu-vegetable mixture and let it sit together and thicken. When it was thick enough, I heated up some leftover brown rice from chinese a couple nights ago and poured the curry mixture over it.

Coconut Cupcakes for Sexy Sadiqeh

The lovely Sadiqeh turned 22 this last Sunday and she graced our household with her presence on Saturday night for a birthday dinner. I wanted to bake a cake or cupcakes and I was quite nervous. Apparently in the last year, living with foodies, she has become quite the little baker, and I wanted to impress her. When I think of Sadiqeh, I didn't think of a rich, heavy chocolate cake but something more light and maybe even fruity. I found this lovely recipe which I liked because of the mixing of the coconut (as opposed to coconut extract) into the batter, the generous use of lemon zest and the dropping of fresh strawberries into the cupcakes right before baking. This was my first time making cupcakes with egg whites only and so little flour. The result was a very dense, moist little bundle of coconutty goodness. They were so moist I had a hard time neatly removing them from the muffin cup. As dense as they were, the freshness of the lemon and the strawberries really shined through and made the cupcakes almost light. I didn't feel like going all out and making a buttercream so I just did the old confectioner's sugar/milk duo (which I just recently learned about from Never Bashful with Butter's coconut cupcake recipe) with a bit of food coloring to make them pretty pink, and topped them with a bit of the leftover coconut. I served 8 of them up on this vintage tray I got at my next door neighbor's yard sale earlier that day to form a makeshift cake.

Coconut Cupcakes
from Never Bashful with Butter

9 tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup almond meal (I just made this by putting almonds in the food processor)
3/4 cup desiccated coconut, plus 1/2 cup for topping
1 2/3 cup confectioner's sugar, plus 1 cup for frosting, sifted
1/2 cup plain flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon lemon rind
6 egg whites
6 strawberries, cut into small pieces
3 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 12-hole muffin pan. Place butter in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until it is melted and very light golden in color.

Mix almond meal, coconut, icing sugar, flour and baking powder and lemon rind in a bowl. Add egg whites and melted butter to bowl and mix. Divide up the mixture into the muffin pan and drop the strawberry pieces into the tops of the cakes.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cakes are golden and springy to the touch.

Mix milk and confectioner's sugar and dip the tops of the cupcakes into this mixture. Top with extra coconut (totally optional).