Veggie Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

With the passing of Memorial Day last weekend, grilling season has officially commenced.  Oh, how long we've waited!  It's a time when the thoughts of long, warm summer nights and outdoor patios that danced in our heads all winter long finally become a reality.  I mean, is there really anything better than a cold beer in one hand and a pair of tongs in the other as you smell the delicious magic happening on the grill in front of you?  I think not.  Summer eating is an ultimate dining experience.  

We are often quick to think of all of the delicious cuts of meat we can doctor up to put on the grill during the summer.  Veggies, however, are the unsung hero of the grill.  Simply seasoned and tossed on the grates, vegetables can transform into a top notch summer grill-meal.

Portobello mushrooms are a great way to try out a veggie version of great grill contenders.  They can be just as savory and satisfying as a burger, or can be doctored up as a great side too.  Its bowl-like shape is practically asking to be filled up with as many things as possible to create an ultimate stuffed delight.  The possibilities are endless (my roommate has already asked my why I didn't put bacon in this recipe).  You could even think of it as a mini pizza - whatever topping you're in the mood for; blue cheese! arugula! walnuts! sausage! tomatoes! basil! asparagus! - throw it on, Grillmaster.


Merry Grill Season to all!

Veggie Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms 

Ingredients

8 large Portobello mushroom caps

2 large yellow onions, sliced

3 large red bell peppers, sliced

1 10oz package frozen chopped spinach

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1 lemon

1/3 cup olive oil

½ cup crumbled feta cheese

2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Chopped fresh chives and a squeeze lemon juice to garnish (optional)

Method

Remove the stem from the mushrooms and remove the dark brown ‘gills’ inside the cap by scooping them out with a spoon.  Remove any traces of dirt with a damp paper towel. 

Whisk together the olive oil, juice of the lemon, garlic, and thyme.  Season liberally with salt and cracked black pepper.  Pour marinade over mushrooms and rub the mushrooms with your hands to completely cover them with the marinade.  Ideally you could have these marinate for an hour before cooking them.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium low heat.   Add onions and slowly cook until they become very soft and caramel colored (about 30 minutes), stirring every few minutes to avoid burning at the bottom.  Season liberally with salt.  I like to add a splash of red wine if I’m drinking some while I’m cooking, or a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce if I have it to add that depth of savory flavor.   Set onions aside.

Cook the red bell peppers using the same method as the onions, but for less time.  Cook the peppers for about 10 minutes until they become soft with slightly caramelized edges, but still have some body (think the consistency and texture of a roasted bell pepper).  Set aside.

Defrost the spinach and squeeze out any excess water (it will have a lot).  Preheat the broiler in your oven to high or heat the grill to medium high heat.

Grill or broil your mushroom caps for about 6 minutes on each side.  Remove from oven or grill to build your mushrooms.

Divide the filling ingredients evenly between the mushroom caps following this stacking order:  spinach, feta cheese, caramelized onions, red pepper, parmesan cheese. 

Place the now stuffed ‘shrooms back in the oven or to the grill to heat through and slightly brown the parmesan cheese on top.  Garnish with chopped chives and a squeeze of lemon juice, if desired, and serve.  

Got leftovers? They are excellent the next day on top of a green salad and topped with fresh chopped chives.

Chimichurri Baked Fish with Lemon Shallot Rice and Guaca-churri

After an extended amount of time living in Buenos Aires, you figure out that steak is almost its own food group.  You're able to not only get it whenever and wherever you want, but it's often the only thing you smell as you walk down restaurant-strewn streets.  It's equally as likely to walk by restaurant patios and see people eating a mammoth slab of bife de choirzo for lunch at 2pm as it is to see the same scenario for 'dinner' at 2am.  Although fantastic if you are craving a perfectly grilled piece of cow, it is clearly not something you would necessarily want to indulge in every day.   

One of my favorite things about having steak down here, however, are the condiments they serve with it.  The most popular and my ultimate favorite is the chimichurri sauce, as it speaks to my heart with it's bright acidity from red wine vinegar, smooth edge of good olive oil, and flavorful herbal punch of oregano and parsley.  It is a perfect accompaniment to a rich and savory cut of steak, but incredibly versatile as to what else it could pair up with as well.

...like fish and guacamole!  One night my roommate and I decided we wanted to make an argentinean inspired dinner at our apartment, but without using the standard and expected role of steak.  Chimichurri sauce was my required inclusion to the meal, and we realized it would go equally as well with a nice piece of baked fish as it would steak.  The lemon rice was the perfect bright pairing for a starch, and once I realized that chimichurri would not only go great mixed into guacamole, but that I could also call it Guaca-churri, it was a done deal trio.  

It.  Was.  Delicious.  Seriously, we still talk about the meal.  It is so fantastically flavorful that you literally are blown away with every bite, which in turn makes you chew just a little bit slower to be able to taste every flavor element that just came off of your fork.  Bright lemon, herbacious sauce, fresh chive, flaky light fish, smooth guac...es del cielo!  (it's from heaven!).  

And now, you too can taste a lighter side of Argentina.  Buen provecho!  

Chimichurri Baked Fish 
All of these recipes Serve 2, and can be easily multiplied for a bigger crowd.

Ingredients


1 lb fresh white fish filets (cod, halibut, sea bass...)
1 batch chimichurri sauce (below)
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
1 matzo cracker sheet, broken to pieces, or 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Fresh chives to garnish

Method

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place fish filets on a baking sheet and rub with olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Spread chimichurri sauce on top of filets, and top with the thinly sliced shallot.  Sprinkle matzo crumbles or bread crumbs on top.

Bake until filets are flaky and and opaque throughout.  10-20 minutes, depending on thickness of the
filets.

Chimichurri Sauce
The dry spice mix we used was already blended, and was made of up dried oregano, dried parsley, granulated garlic, and red pepper flakes.  All dry mixes will vary, so either taste yours before using and manipulate it to your liking, or mix your own!  Alternatively, you can also make a fresh herb version using all of the same ingredients, just double the amount as the dry herbs are more intense in flavor than the fresh.


Ingredients


2 tablespoons dry chimichurri spice mix
2 teaspoons freshly minced chives
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
pinch salt
red pepper flakes, to taste

Method
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and use on anything!  You can omit the tomato paste and use that version as a serving sauce as well.

Lemon Shallot Rice


Ingredients
2 cups cooked white rice
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
Juice of one lemon
Salt
Pepper
Minced fresh chives to garnish
Lemon Wedges

Method
Heat a medium sized saute pan over a medium flame.  Add butter and oil.  Once the butter melts, add the shallots.

Saute until fragrant and translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and stir for 1 minute.  Stir in rice to coat.

Pour lemon juice over rice and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Plate the rice in the shape of the filets to act as a bed for the fish.  Garish with fresh chives and serve with a big honkin' wedge of lemon.





Guaca-churri


Ingredients
1 ripe avocado
1 tablespoon chimichurri sauce (recipe above)
Splash of red wine vinegar
Salt, to taste
Red pepper flakes, to taste

Method 
Mash the avocado in a bowl and mix in all of the rest of the ingredients.

Lemon-Coconut Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting and Raspberry Filling

The Cupcake is a fascinating being.  Essentially, it's a slice of what would have been a large cake.  Though, instead of baking the cake as a whole and cutting a slice, these 'slices' are baked separately, forming their own little cakes.  They're cute, they're individual, and people just can't seem to get enough of them.  Perhaps it's the intimacy of unwrapping the cupcake before tasting, or the rebellious satisfaction of eating cake with your hands and tossing a fork and plate to the wind.  The cupcake trend that started long ago you would think would have died out by now, but there still seems to be a new cupcake shop popping up everywhere you turn.  And now, there's even a supposed Cupcake ATM?  Good grief.  

But I digress.  I still love the darn things, and this recipe is one to be reckoned with.  It's a conglomerate of a few different recipes and brainstorming ideas that my cousins and I thought up while contemplating what Ultimate Cupcake we could create for a recent party with our aunts.  Vanilla or Chocolate?  Vanilla we decided.  Or wait...what about Lemon?  Or coconut?  Heck, let's combine them.  And we wanted a filling...Raspberry?  A done deal match with Lemon.  Vanilla frosting was the perfect backdrop, and with a toasted coconut dusting to finish?  Outta the pahk. 

Moist, tender, a perfect marriage of flavors...  Regardless if you're on the cupcake trend train or not, I recommend introducing these cupcakes into your life.  You will make friends, and have very happy taste buds.  And you didn't even have to go to the ATM.

Lemon-Coconut Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting and Raspberry Filling

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
Finely grated zest of 3 lemons (about 3 tablespoons), plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup raspberry jam

1/3 cup unsweetened coconut, toasted

Method

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, 1 cup coconut, baking powder, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in zest and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk and lemon juice, and beating until just combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, either inject a scant teaspoon of the raspberry jam into the center of each cupcake with an injecting tool, or cut out a small of the top of each cupcake with a paring knife and spoon a scant tablespoon of the jam into the made divot. Frost each cupcake as desired, and sprinkle each cupcake with toasted coconut to finish.

Vanilla Frosting
Good 'ol Domino's Confectioner's Sugar side-of-the-box recipe.

3 3/4 cups  (1 lb. box) confectioners sugar
1/2 cup - butter (1 stick), softened
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl with electric mixer at low speed, combine sugar, butter, milk and vanilla. Beat at medium speed 1 to 2 minutes until creamy. If desired, add more milk until frosting is spreading consistency.

Soft Rye Pretzels

As my streak of baking experimentation with different types of flours continues, these Soft Rye Pretzels have been my most recent project.  I came across this recipe as I was flipping through Kim Boyce's book Good to the Grain; an excellent source if you too are interested in broadening your horizons from baking with only All-Purpose Flour.  As trusty and useful as our beloved AP flour is, it is amazing to see the transformation of flavor and texture your baked goods can go through once you introduce a variance of flours into their recipes.  Once you start, you'll be hooked, trust me!

There is no need for a stand-up mixer to make and knead this dough - only a wooden spoon and your own two hands.  This is true with any bread really, but this is a great recipe to start with as you practice your hand kneading skills.  A shaggy dough will become soft and elastic as you roll and push it across your kitchen counter - and you will feel the entire transformation under your fingertips.

Then, after it rests and rises, you will start your own mini pretzel making shop as you roll pieces of dough into snakes and twist them into the classic pretzel shape.  A quick boil in a pot of water mixed with baking soda before they hit the oven gives them that classic mahogany pretzel color and flavor.  With a liberal sprinkle of coarse salt on their crust, these pretzels are incredible solo, or dipped in mustard or honey.  Fresh out of the oven, they define the word irresistible.

No matter how you have them, they will be gone quickly, and then all you will want is fresh pretzels at your beckon call for the rest of your life.  Now you can at least know how to make that happen when you find yourself in need.  

Soft Rye Pretzels

These pretzels are best eaten the day they are made, but still delicious resurrected by a toaster oven the day after.  I used kosher salt for the topping since that is all I had - it works perfectly fine, but more traditional and more coarse salt (as suggested below) is worth seeking out as well.  

Ingredients

Dough

1 package (2 1/4t) yeast

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup rye flour

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon kosher salt

Bath

1/2 cup baking soda

To Finish

Maldon, or other coarse salt for sprinkling

Method

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1 1/2 cups of warm water, add honey, then stir in the flours and salt.

2. Dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead.  Add up to 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, as needed, until the dough is tacky (not sticky), soft, and supple.  About 10-12 minutes.

3. Brush a clean bowl with melted butter, oil, or spray with nonstick cooking spray.  Place the dough in the bowl and cover with a towel or plastic wrap until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

4. While the dough is rising, heat your oven to 450 degrees and oil or butter 2 baking sheets.

5. Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured board and divide it into 12 equal sized pieces. Roll each piece into a thin snake with tapered edges about 17 inches long. 

6. To shape the pretzels, fold one third of the left side of the snake over the center.  Then fold the one third of the right side over the left, twisting once where they intersect and laying their ends over the bottom of the pretzel forming its classic shape.  

7. Place the shaped pretzels on the oiled baking sheets, cover with a towel or loose plastic wrap, and let  rise for 15-20 min.

8. Meanwhile, fill your biggest, widest pot with water. Once the pretzels are proofed and the water is boiling, add the baking soda. Be careful, the water will bubble rapidly when you add the soda.

9. To poach the pretzels, gently place them in the boiling water and cook for 30 seconds on each side. Pat off any excess water and transfer back to the baking sheets. Sprinkle liberally with coarse salt.

10. Bake for 15-18 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through baking. The pretzels should be very dark in color.

11. Transfer to a rack to cool and eat warm with desired sides/condiments.  

See below for a particularly delicious trifecta:

Oatmeal Molasses Quick Bread

I cant tell you how thrilled I am to post about this recipe.  I came across this type of bread while perusing the World Wide Web of Food-Information Overload, and upon reading this recipe, my skepticism of its simplicity made me get up from my seat and make it in my kitchen right then.  Really, it's true.  I had to see if it would actually work, and taste good.  And oh, did it so.

The result was a bread that took me probably 7 minutes to put together, with all ingredients that I had in my cabinet and fridge, and in measurements that are so easy to remember that I don't have to use a recipe anymore when I make this.  It has whole grain flours - whole wheat and rye - and is speckled with whole rolled oats, which makes it a powerhouse for the heart and soul.  The only sweeteners are honey and molasses, and buttermilk, my favorite, moistens the bread and balances the flavors wonderfully.  Hearty but not dense, sweet but not sugary.  Perfect for toast, heavenly with butter or cream cheese.

I want to be honest with you here... I almost kept this bread a deep dark secret of mine to keep in my culinary back pocket.  But alas, here I am... for you.  Make it, enjoy it, share it.  ...for me.

Oatmeal Molasses Quick Bread

Apparently I really like bread, particularly when it involves oats and molasses.  You can find a similar Quick Bread type of recipe here that uses oats, or a slightly more complex yeasted bread here that also uses oats and molasses (It's one of my all time favorites.  I consider this recipe below it's little brother since they have similar flavors; but I make this quick bread when I'm too impatient to wait for rising dough).  

Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup rye flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (see Tip below)
1/4 cup honey, can substitute sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 tablespoon vegetable oil




Method


Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x5" bread loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray or coat with butter or oil.  

Mix together flours, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In a separate bowl, mix milk, honey, oil and molasses. 


Stir wet and dry ingredients together just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Don't overmix or bread will be tough.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake, about 45-60 minutes, or until no wet crumbs stick to a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf.

Let cool for a few minutes, then remove from pan. Slice when cool.  (I try every time, but I don't know if ill ever make it that long...)



TIP: No buttermilk in the fridge? Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice for each cup of milk, let sit a few minutes until milk begins to coagulate.  Yes, that's what buttermilk is...soured milk! mmm

Brussels Sprout Chips

We've all had a potato chip, of this I'm sure.  Who doesn't love a salty, crispy handful of Lays with a delicious sandwich?  I sure do.  And I'm guessing the majority of you have experienced the phenomenon of the Kale Chip trend too.  This is when you bake kale leaves until they are as crispy as a potato chip, but it's a leafy green instead of a starchy root.  Kale, something that is usually cooked down or steamed to tenderness, is now in your mouth with a crunch, and yet oh-so delicate snap.  It plays with your mind, and it's awesome.

What I want to tell you though is that this phenomenon is not just limited to kale.  Oh no, you shall be restricted no more!  You can also use the outer leaves of Brussels Sprouts and still follow the same exact method for making kale chips.  When I roast Brussels sprouts I always remove the looser, outer leaves to maintain a tight head of the sprout to stay intact when roasting.  Not to go to waste, one day I roasted the leftover leaves in the style of a kale chip and they worked out fantastically.  Plus, they are a great appetizer to munch on while you wait for your Brussels sprouts to finish roasting.  Crispy, light, flavorful...these chips are arguably better than anything you can find in bag.  

Brussels Sprout Chips

To roast the remaining whole Brussels sprouts after taking off the outer leaves, trim the stems and cut each sprout in half.  Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper on a baking sheet, placing them cut-side down.  Roast in a 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until they are done to your liking (in my opinion, the browner and crispier the outer leaves and cut-side, the better!)

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds Brussels Sprouts

Olive oil

Salt

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Peel off the outer, loose leaves from each Brussels sprout.  Keep the whole Brussels sprouts to halve and roast for later (directions above).  

Toss the leaves on a baking sheet with about a tablespoon of the oil.  Sprinkle with a good pinch of kosher salt.  Bake in oven for 15 minutes, then watch closely until the chips reach your desired doneness.  Dont be afraid of the browning, the more a leaf is brown and curled, the crispier and more delicious it will be! 

Happy Munching

Rice Hippie Treats

I confess, I have an inner hippie.  I mean, I lived in Vermont for four years, what can you expect?  She loves to frolic around in nature, talk to plants, and, such as in this case, likes to put a twist on certain recipes to make them a little more mind/body/soul friendly.


She surfaced recently when I wanted to make Rice Crispie Treats for a potluck dinner.  I knew I had everything to make a batch at home minus the marshmallows; a pivotal ingredient in this childhood treat.  But in both an effort to avoid the store and to improvise, I started thinking about how I could recreate this treat without including the highly processed white puff of an ingredient.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good toasted marshmallow, s'more, or old-fashioned Crispie Treat.  But if we can avoid ingesting things like, say, tetrasodium pyrophosphate when we don't have to, why not see if something else could do the trick as well?


I had been planning to make a peanut butter version of the treats anyway, so I started with that as a base of the binding ingredients to hold these bars together.  To keep with the theme, I used natural peanut butter which contains only ground up peanuts and salt.  Honey came in next, and some butter to pull all of the ingredients together.  For the dry ingredients, I substituted part of the rice crispies with rolled oats, and added dried cranberries for a contrasting tart/sweet taste, and chocolate chips too because, well, who doesn't like the combo of chocolate and peanut butter?  


I had created an almost granola-ish cousin of the Rice Crispie Treat, with all honest ingredients that we can all pronounce and recognize.  My inner hippie was proud.  And you will be too regardless if you have your own inner hippie or not, since at the end of it all these bars are just plain simple, delicious, and worth making no matter what.




Rice Hippie Treats  
My favorite way to eat these is a little cold right from the fridge. Mmmm


Ingredients

4 cups rice crispie cereal

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup dried cranberries 

1/2 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
3 tablespoons unsalted butter


Method
Butter a 9x13 baking dish or spray with nonstick cooking spray.  Combine rice cripsies, oats, cranberries, and chocolate chips in a medium bowl.  Set aside.  


Combine the peanut butter, honey, and butter in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Stir until all is melted and combined.


Pour peanut butter mixture over rice crispie mixture and stir to evenly coat the dry ingredients.  Pour mixture into the prepared pan and pat down evenly with a buttered or non-stick sprayed spatula (or else the treats will stick and the spreading will not be fun).  


Store bars in the fridge to set.  Cut into squares and enjoy.  In your Birkenstocks.