Spinach, Ricotta, and Mushroom Tartlets

I’ve always enjoyed playing with pastry dough. But, crimping the edges of a pie crust, cutting and weaving lattice pieces, or making leaf shapes of pastry for the top of a pumpkin pie is about as far as I’ve taken it. When I received a review copy of The Pastry School: Sweet and Savoury Pies, Tarts and Treats to Bake at Home, I soon realized how much more could be done. These pies and tarts are works of art. For Julie Jones, pastry is her medium of choice, and she’s practiced the skills to produce masterpieces. There are recipes for different types of pastry including shortcrust, puff pastry, choux pastry, gluten-free, and vegan followed by tips for rolling, baking, blind-baking, and decorating. I appreciated the tip for blind-baking a tart shell with overhanging pastry beyond the edge of the tart pan. I’ve seen many pastry shells shrink down below the top edge of tart pans over the years. By leaving extra in place, you’ll have a full height of pastry in the tart pan when you trim the baked excess. And, the suggestion for trimming the edge is to slide a vegetable peeler along it until it’s level with the edge of the tart pan. Such a great idea. Another great tip is to use a pasta rolling machine to get extra smooth, thin pastry. A lot of the decorations are achieved by using very thin sheets of pastry cut and shaped into designs that are then adhered with egg wash to a very thin pastry lid cut to the size of the top needed. So smart. In some cases, the filling becomes part of the design as well. The Apple Rose Tart is made with curled apple slice roses and pretty flower- and leaf-shaped pastry pieces. For the little Mango and Coconut Cream Tartlets, the decorations are very thinly sliced grapes and tiny coriander flowers. The Pistachio Tart with Rhurbarb Tiles, shown on the book cover, is particularly stunning with perfectly lined-up rectangular pieces of rhubarb topped with a pretty profusion of swirling apple slices, blackberries, and pastry pieces. There are also savory pastries, and the Griddled Greens, Cauliflower, and Lemon Triangles made with sheet pastry and baked until shatteringly crisp look delicious. It was the parquet look of the Chicken, Chorizo, and Spinach Pie that I had to try. I decided to limit my first attempt at this type of decorative pastry to smaller tartlets, and I filled mine with a vegetarian mixture. 

I made the shortcrust pastry and let it chill while working on the filling. I sauteed a mix of mushrooms and set it aside. Next, spinach was sauteed with garlic and allowed to cool. I mixed the spinach with ricotta. Next, I rolled out half of the pastry and cut and filled tartlet pans with overhanging pastry. I cut parchment paper to fit into each pan, and filled them pie weights for blind-baking. After 20 minutes, the pie weights and parchment were removed, and the tartlet shells baked for another 15 minutes. Once cool, the overhanging edges of pastry were trimmed with a vegetable peeler, and the pastry shells were cleaned of crumbs with a pastry brush. For the decorative tartlet tops, I rolled the other half of the pastry through my pasta machine. I cut thin sheets of pastry into circles to fit the tops of the tartlets. Those base tops were chilled to firm them up. Next, I used more of the thin, pasta machine rolled pastry to make tile shapes. I measured and cut the rectangles and then placed them in the parquet design on the chilled thin pastry lids. I worked on top of parchment paper, and flipped the whole assembly over onto another piece of parchment paper so I could trim the tiles to the edge of the bottom layer of pastry. I flipped the whole assembly back to parquet-side-up and chilled the finished tops. While the tops were chilling, I filled the tartlet shells with the ricotta and spinach mixture and topped that with mushrooms. I ended feeling like the day had gotten away from me, and I only topped two tartlets with the parquet effect. The other two received plain pastry lids. The chilled pastry tops were set in place and brushed with egg wash and the tartlets went back into the oven until golden and crisp. 

Let me tell you what I’ll do differently next time: I won’t attempt to do all of these steps on the same day. The pastry can be made in advance and refrigerated. The tartlet shells can be blind-baked and trimmed in advance. The thin pastry lids on which the decorative layer is placed can be cut and chilled in advance. And, of course, the filling can be made in advance. With everything prepped and ready, more time and attention can be focused on the fun, decorative layer. I loved learning these tips for working with pastry; I especially loved all the inspiration for amazing pastry art; and I look forward to getting more practice.

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Meatless Meatballs with Quick Tomato Sauce on Zucchini Noodles

That famous line from Michael Pollan, “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” is as simple as nutrition and sustainability advice gets. And now, there’s a new cookbook to help put that advice into practice, and I recently received a review copy. Mostly Plants: 101 Delicious Flexitarian Recipes from the Pollan Family is the second book created by Michael Pollan’s three sisters and his mother, and it includes each of their styles of cooking. That means, some dishes are vegetarian or vegan, and some include meat but with a focus on the vegetables. He described the book as not “dourly anti-meat; rather it is ecstatically pro-plant.” There’s a nice introduction to each member of the family and her preferred way of eating before getting into the recipes that cover dishes from Meze and Salads to Burgers, Vegetable Mains, Seafood, Meat, Sides, and Sweets. Along the way, there are tips for making vegetarian recipes vegan, ideas for replacing meat with a vegetarian protein, and Food for Thought with nutrition information. Overall, these recipes feel like comfort food made fresher. The Mediterranean Crunch Salad has bright bell peppers, cucumbers, tomato, and herbs piled on endive and topped with crumbled feta and crispy, baked chickpeas. The soups all look so good, and I can’t wait to try the Udon Noodle Soup with Miso-Glazed Vegetables and Chicken. In the burgers chapter, you’ll mostly find veggie burgers, but there is a chicken and a tuna option. Among the vegetable mains, there are some pasta dishes that caught my eye like the Penne with Roasted Vegetables and Mozzarella and the Vegan Lentil and Roasted Tomato Pasta. I tried the Golden Roasted Quinoa and fell for the lovely texture. I have the page marked so I can soon try the Salmon Farro Bowl full of crunchy vegetables and Vietnamese flavors. And, the Pina Colada Crumble with pineapple, banana, and coconut is tempting me for dessert. As I was mulling over those pasta options, a few pages later I came upon the Meatless Meatballs with Quick Tomato Sauce and decided to serve them on zucchini noodles to make it very pro-plant. 

To begin the meatballs, Puy lentils were cooked with a bay leaf until tender. At the same time, onion, carrots, celery, and garlic were sauteed, tomato paste was added along with chopped mushrooms, and the mixture was cooked through. The vegetable mixture, the lentils, and rinsed and drained canned chickpeas along with oats, parsley, basil, and salt and pepper were pulsed in the food processor. That mixture was transferred to a mixing bowl, and beaten eggs and wheat germ were added. Bread crumbs and grated parmesan were supposed to be used, but I opted for some wheat germ instead. The meatballs were formed and placed on a baking sheet. I had drizzled the baking sheet with olive oil and I rolled each meatless ball through the oil to coat all sides before placing it on the sheet. The meatless balls baked for about 30 minutes while I spiralized some zucchini. The sauce was a quick simmer of canned crushed tomatoes, garlic, and red pepper flakes. I did serve the meatless balls with a little shredded parmesan and lots of basil. 

This wasn’t my first attempt at meatless meatballs. Previous recipes have also involved mushrooms and lentils and usually some nuts. This was my favorite of any I’ve tried. The consistency was perfect. Past efforts ended in meatless balls that fell apart when served or didn’t maintain their shape while baking. These performed perfectly and had great flavor. There are a lot of great-looking ideas in this book, and it’s going to be easy to keep eating mostly plants.

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Brazilian Slaw

I’m not a vegan, or a vegetarian, but I like to dabble in that space. Most of the time I prefer plants to meat, and a lot of what I cook is meatless. So, I was intrigued by a new book called Smith & Daughters: A Cookbook (That Happens To Be Vegan) from a Melbourne restaurant of the same name that happens to stick to a vegan menu. The goal of the restaurant menu and of the book is to offer “plant-based food the way it should be: big, bold, flavorful, noteworthy, celebration-worthy, and myth-dispelling.” Rather than focusing on the conscientious reasons most people choose to follow a vegan diet, here plant-based cooking is a jumping-off point for creativity. The food is inviting, fun, and hearty. The Breakfast Burrito is made up of a few homemade components and is a great example of the flavorful cooking seen throughout the book. The burrito is made with homemade Chipotle Cashew Cheese, Brazilian Black Bean Soup, Spicy Ground Chorizo made with textured vegetable protein, and Tofu Scramble. Something to note about the ingredient lists is that you will see things like “chicken stock” and “butter.” But, in the Book Notes at the beginning, it’s mentioned that vegan substitutes for those types of items are intended. The delicious-looking Sopa Seca is made with broken angel hair pasta, chipotles in adobo, and vegan chicken stock. Some other dishes I want to try include the Warm Hearts of Palm Salad served with guacamole; the Artichoke and Chickpea Salad with Lemon and Cumin Vinaigrette; and Spanish Meatballs made with brown rice, bell peppers, oats, brown lentils, and chickpea flour. The recipe that got me cooking first, though, was Brazilian Slaw. This brought back a memory of a cooking class I attended taught by Susan Feniger. The title of that class was Inspired by Brazil, and one of the dishes was a Vegetable Salpicon or slaw. I still have the notes and recipes from that class (I keep the notes I receive from cooking classes filed away), and that slaw is the dish I remember most. Feniger’s version was topped with crispy shoestring potatoes, and the mix of vegetables was slightly different. The general concept was the same, and I couldn’t wait to try the version from this book. 

Here, the crispy topping was baked corn tortilla strips rather than fried shoestring potatoes. They were baked until golden and crunchy and set aside to cool. I made a couple of substitutions based on what was fresh and in season right now. So, instead of using corn and apple, I used a mix of radishes. Along with radishes, carrots were also cut into julienne strips. Red and green cabbages were thinly sliced into ribbons. Mushrooms, and I used maitake instead of oyster just because they looked better that day, were seared with soy sauce until browned and allowed to cool. Last, pimento-stuffed green olives were sliced. To make the dressing, first a vegan aioli was prepared. It was made in the blender with silken tofu, garlic, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, and olive oil. The aioli was mixed with lime zest and juice and more garlic to form the slaw dressing. The vegetables were combined in a big bowl along with parsley and cilantro leaves, and all was topped with dressing. The mixture was tossed until well coated and served with tortillas strips on top. 

I’m always a fan of crunch, and it’s abundant here. The vegetables are crunchy, and the tortilla strips are really crunchy, and all that texture made this fun and delicious to eat. The aioli is also a perfect base for other dressings. I used what was left from this recipe to make a green goddess dressing for another salad. And, I also made the Coriander Cashew Cream with added chipotle to use on tacos. I may not be vegan all the time, but thanks to recipes like these more plant-based meals are showing up on my table. 

Brazilian Slaw 
Recipe excerpted with permission from Smith and Daughters: A Cookbook (that happens to be vegan) by Shannon Martinez and Mo Wyse, published by Hardie Grant Books March 2017, RRP $35.00 hardcover. 

As far as salads go, you just don’t get prettier, with more texture, more variety and more fun. 

Serves 4–6 

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 
150 g (5 1/2 oz) fresh or frozen corn kernels 
85 g (3 oz) oyster mushrooms, roughly torn 
1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce 
1 granny smith apple, cored and cut into thin matchsticks 
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks 
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced 
85 g (3 oz) green pimento olives, sliced into thin rounds 
300 g (10 1/2 oz) thinly shredded purple cabbage 
large handful flat-leaf parsley leaves 
large handful coriander (cilantro) leaves 

Dressing 
250 g (9 oz/1 cup) Aioli 
zest and juice of 1 lime 
1 small garlic clove, crushed 

Garnish 
3 corn tortillas, cut into 5 mm (1/4 in) strips (or use roughly crushed tortilla chips) 
olive oil spray
chilli and lime salt  

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a chargrill pan or small frying pan. Grill or saute the corn until lightly charred. Remove from the heat and set aside. 

Heat the remaining oil in a medium-sized frying pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and soy sauce and sauté until golden and slightly crisp. Set aside to cool. 

To make the dressing, combine the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together until well combined. 

To build the salad, combine all of the ingredients in a large salad bowl and add enough of the dressing to lightly coat. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

For the garnish, spray the tortilla strips with olive oil spray and dust with a little chilli and lime salt. Transfer to a baking tray and bake in the oven until crisp. If you are using tortilla chips, just sprinkle with the chilli and lime salt instead. 

Build a small conical tower with the salad and top with the garnish. Big salads are always better, especially when tortilla chips are involved. 

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Vietnamese-Style Portobello Mushrooms

This was our conversation: Me- “I cooked from a new book for dinner tonight. The book is The Essential New York Times Grilling Cookbook (review copy), and it includes recipes and writing related to grilling from the entire history of The Times.” Kurt- “A grilling book! What did you grill?” Me- “Vietnamese-Style Portobello Mushrooms.” Kurt- “You have a new grilling book…and, you made mushrooms?” Me- “Of course!” His hopes for a steak off the grill were dashed, but he did enjoy the portobellos. The book does include plenty of recipes for meats with an entire chapter for Burgers, one for Beef and Veal, one for Pork, another just for Lamb, a Poultry chapter, and one for Fish and Shellfish. But, there are also Starters, Vegetables and Sides, Desserts and Breads, and Marinades Rubs and Sauces. I also have Amanda Hesser’s The Essential New York Times Cookbook, and I haven’t done a page by page search to find out how many recipes are included in both books. One difference between the two books, though, is that this grilling book includes writing in addition to recipes. The first story is about Mr. Gunning’s Barbecue in Mount Vernon which appeared on March 30 in 1887. There are stories and accompanying recipes from over the years from writers and contributors like Craig Claiborne, Pierre Franey, Jane Nickerson, Steven Raichlen, Florence Fabricant, Mark Bittman, Julia Moskin, Sam Sifton, and many more. I particularly enjoyed the story by Sam Sifton about hog roasting in a La Caja China which is a Cuban roasting box. He attempted to track down the reason for the name (the explanation is that “Cubans like to call anything that is unusual or clever Chinese”), and in the process found out about other cultures that roast pigs in boxes. All of this interest resulted in a mojo-brined, roasted pig served with black beans and rice and plenty of rum, and I ended up craving Cuban flavors after reading about it. My Cuban feast had to wait because a few pages later, I was taken with Mark Bittman’s description of various grilled vegetables including Portobello mushrooms. 

I want to mention what I think is an important ingredient in all grilling recipes, and that’s the smoke from the hardwood coals. The convenience of gas grills is great, and I sometimes just grill in a grill-pan inside for nice char marks. But, natural hardwood coals impart added flavor to grilled food like nothing else. With these grilled portobellos, it was an integral part of the resulting dish. To start, a marinade was made with peanut oil, lime juice, chopped mint, minced Thai chile, and fish sauce. I spooned half the marinade over the cleaned mushroom caps and left them to sit while the grill was prepped. Once on the grill, the mushrooms were brushed with more of the marinade as they cooked. They need almost 20 minutes of grilling over medium heat to cook all the way through and become tender. After taking them off the grill, I let the mushrooms sit for a few minutes before slicing them and serving them garnished with sliced chiles and chopped green onion and mint. I served the sliced Portobellos with a Vietnamese rice noodle salad inspired by one found on David Lebovitz’s site. I simplified the salad by only adding cucumber, carrot, chiles, and baked tofu and topped it with chopped peanuts and fried shallots. 

The mushrooms were loaded with flavor from the marinade combined with smoky flavor from the grill. Some of the other recipes from the story about grilled vegetables were Chili-Rubbed Jicama Steaks with Queso Fresco, Teriyaki Cabbage Steaks, Curry-Rubbed Sweet Potato Planks, and Miso-Glazed Eggplant Slices. I want to try those on the grill too. And, yes, I will eventually turn to the meat chapters to grill something just for Kurt.  

Vietnamese-Style Portobello Mushrooms 
Recipe reprinted with publisher's permission from The Essential New York Times Grilling Cookbook.
Time: 20 minutes Yield: 4 servings 

1⁄4 cup peanut oil 
1⁄4 cup fresh lime juice 
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint, plus more for garnish 
1 fresh hot red chili (like Thai), seeded and minced 
1 tablespoon fish sauce 
1⁄2 teaspoon sugar 
Salt and lots of black pepper 
4 large portobello mushrooms, stems removed 

1. Heat a charcoal or gas grill until quite hot and put rack about 4 inches from flame. Mix together oil, lime juice, mint, chili, fish sauce and sugar and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brush mushrooms all over with about half of this mixture. 

2. Grill mushrooms with tops of their caps away from heat until they begin to brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Brush with remaining marinade and turn. Grill until tender and nicely browned all over, 5 to 10 minutes more. Garnish with more mint and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

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Shitake Mushrooms with Sourdough Toast and Rosemary Blue Cheese Creme Fraiche

You know a restaurant takes sustainable sourcing seriously when its recipes are named for particular vegetable varieties grown in their own garden. That was one of things I loved about The Ethicurean Cookbook of which I received a review copy. The Ethicurean restaurant and kitchen are located in two glasshouses of the Barley Wood Walled Garden on an estate just outside Bristol in England. The restaurant is run by a group of four friends who joined together on this mission in 2010 to highlight seasonality and sustainable sourcing. Vegetables and fruits come from the Walled Garden and orchards including 70 varieties of apples, and other ingredients are carefully sourced or foraged nearby. I was confused about the recipe for Sea Robin with Fennel Butter Sauce and Herbed Pink Firs until I read through it and learned that sea robin is another name for gurnard which is a thin, mild, white fish. And, pink fir is a type of waxy potato grown in the restaurant’s garden. Of course, in the spirit of The Ethicurean, it would make perfect sense to substitute ingredients that are local and seasonal to the reader. The book is divided by season, and it’s full of stories about what’s growing at different times of the year. There are also lots of side notes about the history of some ingredients and explanations of food science. In the recipe for Caerphilly and Cider Welsh Rabbit, the authors explain that since Caerphilly is a mature cheddar with a good level of acidity and high moisture content, the casein molecules in the cheese will separate preventing it from becoming stringy when it melts. The photo of the lovely, broiled and cheese-filled sandwich next to a fresh, crisp salad looks delicious. Some other dishes that caught my eye were the Ewe’s-Curd-Stuffed Courgette Flowers with Fennel Sherbet; the Crab Salad with New Potatoes, Pickled Carrot and Smoked Paprika Mayonnaise; the homemade Vermouth; the Globe Artichokes with Hollandaise Sauce and Sumac; and the Chocolate and Salt Caramel Brownies with Cherry and Elderflower Sauce. 

Kurt and I share a fondness for blue cheese, so my first stop in the book was at the recipe titled Wild Mushrooms with Sourdough Toast and Thyme Stichelton Creme Fraiche. I made a few changes to keep the sourcing at least a little closer to home. We have fresh, locally-cultivated mushrooms that are available year-round, so I used local shitakes. I usually have thyme in my herb garden, but it died back during one of our freezes this winter. I substituted rosemary for it since I always have rosemary growing in multiple spots in our yard. And, last, rather than using Stichelton which is a British-made, raw milk, blue cheese, I used Jasper Hill Farms’ Bayley Hazen Blue which is also a raw milk blue. On little pieces of sourdough baguette, these mushroom toasts are a great appetizer. The mushrooms were sliced and then sauteed in some oil with chopped rosemary (or thyme). They were left to brown a bit before being stirred and turned. When fully cooked, butter was added to the mushrooms with a sprinkling of sea salt. The topping is an easy mix of creme fraiche,  blue cheese, and some rosemary in my case that was combined in the blender. The sauteed mushrooms were spooned onto pieces of toasted bread and topped with the blue cheese creme fraiche. My rosemary still had some flowers clinging to the sprigs which I used as garnish. 

I might have made some extra blue cheese creme fraiche and learned that it also makes a fabulous dipping sauce for roasted potato wedges. But, it was perfect with the mushroom toasts. They were crunchy and savory and a nice start to a meal on one of our chilly days. I’ll be looking back to this book for inspiration as the seasons change and different ingredients are at their best. 

Wild Mushroom with Sourdough Toast and Thyme Stichelton Creme Fraiche 
Recipe reprinted with publisher's permission from The Ethicurean Cookbook (Ebury Press).

Serves 4 

2 tbsp rapeseed oil 
300g mixed wild mushrooms, such as slippery jack, penny bun, russula, horse mushroom, sheep’s foot and puffballs, cleaned and sliced into 1cm strips 
leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme 
25g unsalted butter 
8 very thin slices of sourdough bread 
fine sea salt flaky sea salt 

For the thyme Stichelton creme fraiche: 
25g Stichelton cheese, roughly chopped 
75ml creme fraiche 
leaves from 5 sprigs of thyme 

For the thyme Stichelton creme fraiche, put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse to a semi- coarse consistency. Season with salt to taste and set aside. 

Place a large frying pan over a high heat and leave until it is very hot. Add the rapeseed oil; it should begin to smoke. Immediately add the mushrooms and thyme leaves, plus a dusting of fine salt, and toss to coat them evenly with the oil. Leave undisturbed for a minute or so, until the mushrooms colour ever so slightly, then toss and colour on the other side. Remove from the heat and add the butter to the pan. Toss until it has melted and the mushrooms are evenly coated, then check the seasoning. 

While the mushrooms are cooking, put the sourdough bread under a hot grill and toast, turning every minute, until both sides are golden brown. Thin slices of bread will curl under the grill, and the regular turning prevents this happening. Remove the sourdough from the grill and add a couple of slices to each plate. Cover with the mushrooms, season with flaky sea salt and add a heaped tablespoon of the Stichelton creme fraiche.

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Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup

Last fall, I read The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat: Craig Claiborne and the American Food Renaissance after receiving a review copy and learned all about Craig Claiborne’s life. I didn’t realize that his approach to food writing was so revolutionary at the time. After studying at the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne in Switzerland, he sought out “the sublime” in cuisine, service, and dining experiences, and that’s what inspired his writing. He found disappointment in a lot of restaurants, but when his expectations were met, he was thrilled to share what he’d found. He had sophisticated taste that required teaching his readers about unfamiliar foods while not alienating them. After writing pieces for Gourmet, he became the food editor at The New York Times in 1957. His first NY Times Cookbook was published in 1961, and I have the revised edition from 1991. I’d never sat down with this cookbook before since there isn’t a lot of introductory info or many recipe headnotes. But, after reading about Claiborne’s life, I was interested in finding out what recipes were in this book I’d had for several years. There are complicated and fancy things like Truffled Pate and Lobster L’Americaine, but there are also plenty of simple salads, pastas, vegetable dishes, and homey desserts. Most of the recipes have no notes or explanations about their origin, but the wild rice and mushroom soup did. It’s actually called Julie Wilson’s Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup, and Claiborne wrote that it’s “one of the greatest soups ever created.” He also pointed out that it’s a “bit time-consuming,” and he was right about that, but it was definitely worth the effort. I marked this page back in October and just got around to trying this lovely soup. There’s a version of this recipe online at the NY Times, and the quantities are slightly different from those in the book, but otherwise it’s the same. 

This soup can easily be vegetarian if vegetable stock is used, but the recipe was written with chicken stock. There are a few steps that require waiting or simmering, but those things can be happening at the same time. You start by rehydrating dried mushrooms with hot water. While those sit for at least 20 minutes, you can start cooking the wild rice which takes almost an hour. I found some nice, long grains of wild rice from Minnesota, and it was cooked in boiling water with a little butter. Next, onion, garlic, and leeks can be chopped while waiting on the mushrooms and rice. Once the dried mushrooms were hydrated, they were drained into a bowl so the soaking liquid could be saved. The mushrooms were rinsed under running water to remove any grit, and they were squeezed dry before being chopped. Tough stems were discarded. The soaking liquid was poured through a sieve lined with cheesecloth and reserved. Moving right along, olive oil was heated in a Dutch oven, and the onion, garlic, and leeks were sauteed until tender. The chopped, dried mushrooms were added followed by flour. This mixture was cooked for a few minutes before white wine, stock, salt and pepper, some Tabasco (I prefer Crystal), and the mushroom soaking liquid were added. This was brought to a boil and then left to simmer for an hour. Yes, this soup takes some time. At this point, it could be refrigerated until the next day. After simmering, the soup was pureed in batches in a blender. It went back into the Dutch oven and half-and-half was added. As it was re-warmed, fresh mushrooms were sliced and sauteed in butter. Once cooked, they were sprinkled with lemon juice and sherry. The cooked, fresh mushrooms were added to the pureed soup along with the cooked wild rice. Thyme and parsley were added, and the soup was ready to be served. 

Wild rice has always been one of my favorite grains, and I don’t cook it often enough. I love the chewy texture, and it’s a perfect match with mushrooms. This is a hearty and slightly decadent soup, but it’s a meal of a soup. There are layers of flavor from the dried mushrooms to the wine to the herbs added at the very end. I’m glad to have learned more about Craig Claiborne’s life, and I look forward to cooking more things he recommended.

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Tlacoyos with Swiss Chard, Potatoes, Mushrooms, and Salsa Borracha

I had heard lots of good things about Hugo Ortega's Street Food of Mexico and was curious to learn more about the chef and the new book. I made my way to the Texas Book Festival on a chilly Saturday morning in late October of last year for his talk and cooking demo. He spoke about traditional Mexican home cooking as well as the variety of food offered by street vendors in different areas of Mexico. He mentioned how cooking locally and seasonally was a given with the food of his upbringing, and he explained traditional cooking techniques and ingredients and some contemporary updates that can be made these days. For instance, although lard is often used in traditional recipes, he suggests olive oil as a substitute in most of the dishes in the book. I was impressed with the dishes he prepared that morning and couldn’t wait to read the review copy of the book I had received. In the book, you’ll find snacks, tacos, salsas, tortas, ceviches, sweets, and drinks along with stories about how the dishes are prepared by street vendors. Although the food is finished quickly and served to people on the go from vendors, the prep starts in advance so all the parts can be easily combined just before serving. The meats are slowly cooked, the salsas are made fresh, and the masa is portioned and shaped in advance. It’s fast food that isn’t. And, the recipes are very doable at home. The book also offers a visual feast of photos of the dishes, the ingredients, and street scenes in Mexico shot by Penny De Los Santos. After learning about masa and all the different things made with it, I had to decide whether to start with little indented masa bowls called sopes or sweet potato masa cakes for garnachas or thicker gorditas. I’ll get back to the others soon enough, but I decided to try tlacoyos first which are oval masa cakes with a filling of refried beans. They can be topped with any taco filling you like and whichever salsa you prefer, but I went seasonal with Swiss chard, mushrooms, and potato, and a salsa made from dried chiles, orange juice, garlic, and beer.

I made the salsa first since it can sit in the refrigerator for a few days. Dried pasilla chiles were to be used but I only found guajillos the day I was shopping, and I tend to use those two dried chiles interchangeably. The chiles were stemmed and seeded and then left to soak in a mixture of orange juice, beer, and garlic. After about an hour, the chiles and soaking liquid were transferred to a blender to puree. Trust me, use the blender here. My food processor was sitting right there as the chiles were ready to be pureed, so I tried it unsuccessfully. I ended up pouring everything into the blender and washing extra dishes. With this much liquid, the blender is a better choice, and it will produce a smoother puree. Next, I turned to the recipe for refritos. I had some black beans that I had already cooked in my freezer, so I started with those. My thawed beans were pureed in a food processor while finely chopped onion was sauteed in olive oil. Once the onion was translucent, the bean puree was added and simmered for 15 minutes. The refritos were cooled and refrigerated until the next day. For the tlacoyos, I mixed masa flour with a little salt and water and divided the dough into portions. Each ball of dough was flattened, a spoonful of refritos was placed on the dough, and the dough was rolled to enclose the beans. Then, the cakes were formed by pressing the dough into an oval. Mine weren’t very tidy. The dough cracked here and there, and the bean filling squished out in places. I decided not to worry about it. After all the cakes were formed, they were cooked for a few minutes on each side in a cast iron skillet with a little oil. The topping was a quick saute of onion and garlic to which sliced mushrooms, chopped Swish chard, roasted potato chunks, and peeled and chopped roasted poblanos were added. I served the tlacoyos with the “drunken” salsa and some crumbled cotija cheese. 

There are several other things I can’t wait to try from this book like the green tomatillo salsa, the pickled peppers, the cemitas which are sesame seed buns for tortas, the aguachile with shrimp and lime juice, meringue-filled pastries, and rum raisin ice cream. The freshness and flavors and all the great colors in these dishes jump off the pages and make me hungry.

Tlacoyos
Recipes reprinted with publisher's permission from Hugo Ortega's Street Food of Mexico by Hugo Ortega, Bright Sky Press, 2012.

Masa Cakes Stuffed with Refried Beans | Makes 4-8 servings

Tlacoyos are masa cakes stuffed with refried beans — pinto or black. They are usually prepared the night before and the ladies (page 18-19) pack them in baskets to sell the next day. If making ahead, place the raw tlacoyos on a sheet pan lined with a piece of parchment paper; cover with another piece of parchment paper and plastic wrap. Cook on a hot comal right before serving. The papas, champinones y acelgas taco filling (page 96) is another great vegetarian option that can be used as a topping for this recipe.

For the tlacoyos:
1 lb masa (fresh or prepared from mix, page 24)
1/2 cup refritos (page 132)
1 tbsp corn oil

For the tlacoyos (make ahead up to 1 day):
Divide the masa into eight equal masa balls; cover with a moistened kitchen towel while working. Using the palm of your hand, flatten each masa ball into a patty, about 4 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch thick. Place 1 tablespoon refritos in the center and enclose the beans inside each patty by rolling it into a cylinder. Place each cylinder on a clean surface and pat down into an oval shape, about 1/4 inch thick. Store in refrigerator until ready to cook.

Before serving:
Place comal over low heat, preheat 5 minutes. Drizzle with corn oil and wipe off excess with a paper towel. Working two at a time, place each tlacoyo onto the hot comal and cook 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Remove from comal and top each with potatoes, Swiss chard and mushroom mixture, salsa, and garnish with cotija.

Tacos de papas, acelgas y champiñones
Potatoes, Swiss Chard and Mushroom Tacos | Makes 4-8 servings

This vegetarian taco is fulfilling as well as hearty. This recipe shows that tacos are very versatile for any eating lifestyle. This vegetarian Mexican saute can also be used as a substitute for the chicken in the tacos de chile relleno (page 77).

1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 medium white onion, sliced
6 garlic cloves, peeled, minced
1/2 lb white button mushrooms, cleaned, sliced or a mixture of your choice
1/2 large bunch Swiss chard, washed, stemmed
2 chilaca or poblano peppers, roasted, seeded, peeled, deveined, cut into strips
1 large yellow potato, roasted, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tsp kosher salt
8 regular-sized tortillas or masa cakes (page 74), warm
1 recipe Hugo's salsa Mexicana or Salsa Borracha, optional to accompany

Place cast iron skillet over medium heat, add olive oil to skillet and preheat 2 minutes. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes more. Add mushrooms and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Add Swiss chard and allow it to wilt, about 5 minutes. Add peppers and cook for 6 minutes. Add potato and continue to cook 2 minutes. Stir gently as not to mash the potato. Add salt. Divide evenly among the tortillas. Serve with salsa.

Salsa borracha
Drunken Red Chile Salsa | Makes 1 1/2 cups

Traditionally, salsa borracha is made with pulque, a milk-colored alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of the maguey and agave plant. Due to its scarcity, I used my favorite Mexican beer instead, giving it a delicious, tangy taste. This particular salsa will keep in the refrigerator up to three days. Store in airtight jar or plastic container.

6 long dried pasilla peppers, toasted, stemmed
1 cup fresh orange juice
3/4 cup beer or 1 1/2 cups pulque if available
5 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tsp kosher salt

Place peppers in a deep bowl. Add orange juice, beer or pulque if using, and garlic. To completely submerge peppers in liquid, place a small bowl over peppers to act as weight. Allow peppers to soften in liquid, about 1 hour. Strain, reserving 1 cup liquid, discard the rest. Transfer peppers, garlic and reserved liquid to a blender and add salt. Puree into a smooth, thick consistency. 

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Mushroom-Farro Burgers with Tomato-Onion-Peanut Chutney

Mushrooms are easily one of my favorite ingredients. They appear here frequently in dishes of Italian, Chinese, Thai, Spanish, Mexican, or American origin, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten something. When I was offered a shipment of a variety of fresh mushrooms from Kitchen Pride Mushroom Farms, I was quick to say yes. Their mushrooms are cultivated nearby in Gonzalez, Texas, and they’re what I always buy at the grocery store and at the farmers’ markets. It didn’t take long for me to locate a recipe with mushrooms that was on my to-try list. These burgers are from Masala Farm by Suvir Saran, and I’d marked the page when I first read the book. They take some time to make if you don’t happen to have any leftover, cooked farro or potatoes, but you could always space out the steps by prepping some things a day ahead. I also made the Tomato-Onion-Peanut Chutney from the book, and that could definitely be made in advance and refrigerated for a few days. The burgers get a crispy outside surface from the panko coating and being browned in olive oil, and the mushrooms and farro give them a nice, chewy texture inside. The chutney cooks down to a jam-like consistency, and it’s sweet, spicy, savory, and more complex and interesting than ketchup could ever hope to be. I only made half the chutney recipe to go with the burgers, but in the future, I’ll make the full quantity and store any extra in the freezer.

Speaking of storing things in the freezer, I should learn to cook extra farro and store it there too. For the burgers, you need to cook farro and peeled red potatoes separately, and then let them cool before adding the other ingredients. The mushrooms were finely chopped and cooked in butter with rosemary and thyme before being transferred to a large mixing bowl with the farro and potatoes. Then, finely chopped shallots were sauteed, and the pan was deglazed with white wine. The shallots were added to the mushroom mixture with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The mixture was mashed together with a potato masher, and burgers were formed. Each burger was pressed into a plate of panko breadcrumbs on both sides and set aside. While these steps were happening, I was also simmering the chutney. The chutney was started by cooking curry leaves, dried chiles, mustard seeds, and cumin seeds in canola oil. Turmeric was added followed by onion and then peanuts. After a few minutes, chopped, fresh tomatoes, and I used cherry tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, curry powder, cayenne, and salt were added. The chutney simmered for about 40 minutes until thick. The burgers were browned in olive oil over medium heat until golden and warmed through.

These aren’t the kind of burgers you can throw on the grill, but they’re fantastic burgers just the same. They’re not sturdy enough to sit on or be flipped on the grill grate, and grilling wouldn’t result in the same crispy, browned surface you can only get from cooking in oil. They had great, savory flavor from the mushrooms, shallots, parmesan, and herbs. You could serve them on buns, but I chose to pair them with salad for a delightfully different take on burgers and ketchup.

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Baked Stuffed Vine Leaves

I’m so glad I finally pulled the book Food from Many Greek Kitchens out of my to-read stack. This is the latest from Tessa Kiros, and I received a review copy. I was charmed by the photos of life in Greece interspersed among the recipes and food photos. And, I was delighted by the number of vegetable and vegetarian dishes like the Wild Greens Pie, the White Bean Soup, Baked Okra, Beets with Yogurt and Pistachios, and Stuffed Tomatoes to name a few. Seeing the Saganaki recipe brought a smile to my face because it reminded me of my first dinner date with Kurt, and the fresh fish dishes made me want to book a flight to Greece to take in the view of the coast while enjoying the local seafood. The content is organized in a unique way too. Traditional foods appear in Chapter One, and those are the recipes that are typically included in celebrations like Vassilopitta or New Year Wish Cake and Baklava. Chapter Two is Fasting Foods, and these are recipes with no meat other than seafood, which of course appeals to me, and no eggs or dairy like Pureed Yellow Split Peas which I’ll return to soon. The other chapters are Easter Foods, Shared Foods, Baker’s Foods, Soups, Ladera and Salads, Ready-Cooked Foods which are slowly baked or roasted and made in advance, Then and There Foods which are quickly grilled or fried dishes, and Sweet Foods.

I bookmarked several pages, and immediately wrote a shopping list. One of the first dishes I tried was Tirokafteri or Spicy Feta which is a puree of roasted green chiles, garlic, olive oil, and feta cheese. It was fantastic with warm pita and olives as part of a meze. Next, I made the Baked Giant Butter Beans because I can never resist giant beans. After boiling the beans until cooked through, they were then baked with a cooked sauce of canned tomatoes, onion, garlic, parsley, and thyme. The beans became meltingly tender and full of flavor from the sauce, and it was a filling vegetarian stew. The third dish I tried, and the one I want to tell you all about today, was the Baked Stuffed Vine Leaves. I was intrigued by this because both the filling and cooking process were a little unusual for dolmades. The filling was a mix of rice and shredded vegetables including onion, mushrooms, carrot, and zucchini. The grated vegetables were cooked in olive oil with the rice, and grated fresh tomato should have been added but I used canned diced tomato instead. Parsley, mint, and lemon juice were added as well followed by grated kefalotiri cheese. Since I don’t have a vineyard nearby where I can snip leaves as needed, I used a jar of preserved vine leaves. I soaked the leaves in water and drained them before using. Spoonfuls of the filling were rolled into the vine leaves which were then packed into a large baking dish. Dolmades are usually steamed, but here, the dolmades in the baking dish were topped with more diced tomato, a cup of water, and a drizzle of olive oil before being covered with foil and placed in the oven for an hour. The foil was removed, and the dish was left to bake for another ten minutes.

The dolmades were delicious warm from the oven with a dollop of tzatziki on top, and I also loved them cold from the refrigerator the next day. I’m used to dolmades from restaurants that have a filling of mostly rice, so the savory mix of vegetables here was much more interesting. Cooking from this book was as much fun as the daydreams it inspired about an eventual trip to Greece.

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Rice with Wild Mushrooms

There's only one way to keep food traditions alive, and that is by cooking. I was taken in by the following quote from Rustica: A Return to Spanish Home Cooking: "we cooks are simply the vehicles for these dishes to take shape. Without us they would simply remain ideas or words on a page--so whenever we cook these recipes, we invoke the idea of the food itself." This is the latest book from Frank Camorra of which I received a review copy. The goal of the book is to preserve the traditional dishes of Spain where the food ranges from simple, resourceful cooking to postmodernist art on a plate. Camorra set out to gather simple dishes that are "the foundations of Spanish food" and that still fit with the way people eat today. The recipes are mostly from home cooks with a few tapas or pintxos usually found in bars. The chapters are organized by topic or region, and my favorite was Las Huertas or The Kitchen Gardens. Huertas are found all across Spain, and they are small plots where families can grow most of their own food. There are simple vegetable dishes like Green Beans with Garlic Confit and Summer Chickpea Cream with Ripe Tomatoes along with heartier stews as well as desserts like the Red and White Cherries with Fresh Goat's Curd Ice Cream. The other chapters cover dishes with jamon, recipes for preserving vegetables, fish, and fruit, coastal specialties, Basque cooking, cooking over fire with wood or coals, and the Moorish legacy of food from Andalusia. Throughout each section, along with the beautiful photos, there are stories about cooks, markets, ingredients, traditions and more that help to paint the picture of all that Spanish food is.

To get cooking, I started with Las Huertas chapter and a dish that's intended to stretch a special ingredient for several people to enjoy. That special ingredient in this case is a wild mushroom known as trompetas de la muerte, and by cooking the mushrooms with rice you end up with a generous-size paella of sorts. Of course, I wasn't able to find this exact type of mushroom, and really wild mushrooms aren't that easy to come by here, but I did bring home some locally cultivated oyster mushrooms and shitakes. I also just happened to have some Bomba rice in the pantry, and this was a perfect time to use it. The dish is prepared like paella by first cooking onion, garlic, and herbs with saffron before adding some wine and then tomatoes. I used canned, diced tomatoes rather than the fresh ones that would have been flavorless right now. Next, some stock was added followed by the rice. In a separate pan, the mushrooms were sauteed with more garlic and some parsley. After the rice was cooked until tender, the mushrooms were added to it, and it was left to sit for a few minutes before serving.

The rice picked up all the flavors from the onion, garlic, wine, and saffron, and even though the mushrooms I used weren't specially foraged wild ones, they were still a great match with the rice. I'm easy to please with the saffron, pimenton, seafood, and sherry that are all a part of Spanish food. And, I'm happy to keep cooking to help continue food traditions.

Arroz con trompetas de la muerte (Rice with wild mushrooms)
Recipe re-printed with publisher's permission from Rustica: A Return to Spanish Home Cooking.

When you have something good and you want to share it around, but there’s not enough for a big piece for everyone, the Spanish answer is to put it in a soup or a rice dish. Time and time again, right across Spain, there are rice dishes that somehow champion the guest ingredient without detracting from the integrity of the rice. The champion in this case is a wild mushroom called trompetas de la muerte (trumpets of death). These mushrooms are so named not because they herald the demise of the ingestor but because they are black and look like little trumpets!

6 raciones

extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of saffron threads
1 large white onion, finely sliced
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
3 bay leaves
1 1/8 cups white wine such as verdelho
4 ripe tomatoes, peeled and puréed
6 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 1/4 cups Calasparra rice
2 tablespoons butter
a handful of roughly chopped parsley
9 oz fresh trompetas de la muerte (if unavailable, use sliced chanterelle, shiitake, or oyster or other wild mushrooms)

Heat half of the olive oil in a perol or frying pan over mediumhigh heat. Add the saffron and stir for 30 seconds, then add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon of the sea salt and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add half of the sliced garlic cloves, all of the thyme and bay leaves and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes, or until the garlic is soft.

Increase the heat to high, then add the wine and boil for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, add the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes, or until the tomatoes have reduced and thickened. Add the stock and bring to a boil, then stir in the rice and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer very gently, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the butter and the remaining olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the remaining sliced garlic and the parsley and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the garlic is lightly browned. Add the mushrooms, season to taste and sauté for 5 minutes, or until tender.

When the rice has been cooking for 20 minutes and is tender, stir in the mushrooms. Remove from the heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes before serving.

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Grilled Pizzas

Last month, we visited Chicago for a couple of days just because it had been years since we'd spent time walking around that city in warm weather. The most important thing I learned while there is that visiting the Art Institute of Chicago on the day after Labor Day is a delight. The museum was empty since the long weekend had just ended. Unlike visiting it around the holidays when you'll be squeezing between many thick, winter coat-clad elbows in every attempt to view a major work of art, you'll have space to move about and view the art from different angles. I was thrilled to have Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte all to myself for several minutes. That was my favorite thing about our Chicago visit. The most important thing Kurt learned during our visit is that you should always go with your first instinct when choosing something from a menu. We had dinner one night at Avec, and he first thought he wanted a flatbread with speck, blue cheese, and arugula, which is a favorite combination of his, but he then changed his mind and went with the pasta. When he saw one flatbread after the next being delivered to other diners, he was green with envy. This is why when I decided to make grilled pizzas a couple of weeks ago, one of them had to include speck, blue cheese, and arugula. I also made a mushroom version and one with sauteed shishito peppers and fresh mozzarella, and I used my new Camp Chef cast iron pizza pan that was provided by CSGrills.com.

There are a couple of tricks to grilling pizza. First, you need to cook both sides of the dough since the intense heat doesn't reach the top side very well. So, the pizza dough is placed on the grill pan, in this case, and cooked for a few minutes, then it's flipped. The second trick is that you need to work quickly so the crust doesn't burn. The cheese should be added to the browned side of the dough first and then the other toppings. By the time all the toppings are in place, the pizza is probably almost done. Therefore, any vegetables that you'd like to have somewhat cooked on the pizza should be cooked before going on as a topping. I sauteed sliced mushrooms and whole shishito peppers before heading to the grill. I also grated, chopped, or sliced all the cheeses I intended to use. Everything should be prepped and in reach. For the mushroom pizza, I used grated quadrello di bufala cheese, for the speck, the cheese was chunks of smokey blue from Rogue Creamery, and the shishito pepper pizza was topped with slices of fresh mozzarella and shards of parmigiano reggiano. The dough for these was made from the recipe in the A16 book which I've made before, and it's easy to make but needs to be started in advance. By starting the dough two days before you plan to use it, and storing it in the refrigerator after mixing and then after folding and turning, it develops great flavor.

Of course, you can grill pizza directly on the grate, but having the cast iron pan made it a little easier. The dough didn't stick at all to the cast iron, and it was very easy to scoop under the crust with a peel for turning the dough and removing finished pizzas. I always love a mushroom pizza especially when it's drizzled with a little truffle oil as this one was, and Kurt was finally able to forget his menu choice regret.

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