Miso Mushroom Pasta

I was instantly obsessed with Jun and Tonic as soon as I saw this recipe on a Food52 youtube video - this recipe is straight up copied from 

https://junandtonic.com/blog/miso-mushroom-pasta 

Miso Mushroom Pasta

Serves 2

Ingredients

200g dried pasta (I recommend bucatini or rigatoni) (about 8oz)

120g mushrooms (I use an equal mix of shimeji, eryngii, and oyster mushrooms, but most other combinations are good too) (about 4oz)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon sherry vinegar, or balsamic/white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons red miso paste

3 tablespoons butter, softened

5 garlic cloves

120ml heavy cream (about 1/2 cup)

1 stalk of scallion, finely sliced

1 pinch salt

1 pinch black pepper

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Season generously with salt until it's nearly as salty as the sea, then add dried pasta. Cook the pasta until just under al dente (a minute less than on its package directions), then drain the pasta and set aside.

Chop or pull apart the mushrooms into large, bite-sized chunks. Then, heat a large skillet over high heat with a tablespoon of vegetable oil, and sauté the mushrooms for 3-5 minutes until nicely browned. When they are done, add a little sherry vinegar to the pan with the mushrooms, give them a little toss, and set aside. It’s best to cook the mushrooms in 2-3 batches and not overcrowd the pan to allow them to brown evenly.

To start on the sauce, whisk the red miso paste and butter together in a small bowl until it comes together to form a smooth, fluffy paste.

In a medium saucepan, add the minced garlic and a tablespoon of oil, and stir-fry over medium heat for 30 seconds to a minute until fragrant. Add in the sautéed mushrooms. Then, add in the miso-butter mixture and cream, and bring this sauce to a boil, stirring gently. Finally, add the cooked pasta into the sauce, and stir until the pasta is well coated. Salt it to taste, and cook for 1-2 minutes until the pasta is al dente, then remove from the heat.

Portion the pasta into two bowls, and top with sliced scallions and freshly cracked black pepper.

Chicken (turkey/whatever) Por Pie

Nailed it last time and annoed iwthin an inch of my life that I coulsdn't find the recipe I based it off of ... that one had more veg ... the only thing i wouled have changed last time was using less vef.  Let's go ...

Preheat oven to 350*

Thaw 1 Cup frozen mixed veg (maybe more?)

1 can condensed Cream of Chicken soup

2 pie crusts

3 C cooked shredded/cubed/whatever chicken/turkey/whatever

Combine chicken/turkey/whatever, soup and veg - salt and pepper to taste - press one pie crust into bottom of 9 inch pie plate (bonus points: separate one egg - brush bottom crust with egg white only, mix yolk and remaining egg white with a splash of milk and use as egg wash for top pie cruat).  Or you could blind bake the bttom pie crust ... or use any or all of the above in whatever combination you choose.  Or not - I usually don't bother and ...whatever!), pour in filling, top with second pie crust and cust a vent in the center.  Bake 40-45+ min until golden, let set for about 15 minutes before serving.

Yissssssss.

There is also leftover mashed potatoes and fancy potatoes - future variations should include mashed potato toppintg and/or fancy potato incluaions.  There is an orphan pie crust that needs used ... thinking BOTH. Maybe cream of mushroom soup and usine only green beans instead of mixed veg and getting those leftover fried onions into the mashed potato topping for a sort of green bean casserole leaning pot pie ...

Tenshinsan

 Sauce:

3 tsp potato/corn starch
3/4 C chicken broth
1 T sugar
2 T Soy sauce
1/2 T unseasoned rice vinegar
1/2 T Sake

Omelet: 

4 eggs
4 scallions
    whites to cook ahead of omelet
    2/3 greens to add to omelet mixture
   1/3 greens for garnish
Surimi - about 6? sticks - lost track - think it was 6 

1    Heat neutral oil in skillet - add scallion whites - cook until soft

2    Add enough neutral oil to pan to equal about 1 T ... then add about 1 T sesame oil

3    Mix omelet ingredients together -when oil in skillet is hot, add omelet ingredients to skillet

4    Gently stir while cooking into large, soft curd style omelet - when done, turn out onto rice

meanwhile in sauceland ...

Combine all ingredients COLD, bring to boil over med/high heat and reduce until thicker, bubbly and shiny

Omelet goes over fresh, hot, fluffy rice, sauce goes over omelet, reserved scallion greens go over sauce

~fin~

Chicken with Mushroom Cream Sauce

Based heavily off:

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/creamy-mushroom-sauce/

and

https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/chicken-marsala.html

Pretty much chicken marsalla with sauvignon blanc instead of marsalla in the sauce

Ingredients 

2 Chicken breasts, boneless skinless, sliced to half thickness and pounded out to 1/4" thickness
3 T Flour
3/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 T Butter
1 T olive oil

2 small/med shallots
1 T butter
12 oz mushrooms, any kind, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 C white wine
1/2 C chicken broth
2/3 C Heavy Cream

1 T cornstarch + 2 T water or broth
3 T fresh parsley

Directions:

Place the flour, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in a ziplock bag. Add the chicken to the bag; seal bag tightly and shake to coat chicken evenly. Set aside.

Heat the oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. (Use a stainless steel pan for the best browning. Nonstick will work too, but you won’t get that nice golden color on the chicken.) Place the flour-dusted chicken in the pan, shaking off any excess first, and cook, turning once, until the chicken is golden and just barely cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.

Saute shallot in 1 T butter until softened, about 3-5 minutes.

Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Cook until mushrooms have released juices. Add thyme and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the wine to deglaze and loosen any bits off the pan and simmer a few minutes until the wine has almost evaporated.

Add the chicken broth and cream. Simmer 5 minutes or until reduced by half.

To thicken the sauce further, combine cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water (or broth) and mix well. Add cornstarch mixture into the broth a little bit at a time to reach desired consistency. You may not need all of the cornstarch mixture.

Let simmer 1 minute.

Season with parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

Notes - used 20 oz mushrooms so upped to 1 C cream + 3/4 c each of wine and broth - could have used more acid - more wine or finish with lemon.

Knife cut on chicken went wild - wound up with several thin slices each breast, no pounding, great result - I will do this on purpose going forward.

Do the mushrooms the correct way - do not add salt and pepper until they release liquid and then don’t add the additional liquids until the pan is near dry.

Use thickener sparingly

Sherry or Marsala would have been better! Lol

Freezing? Some people say this would freeze well, just be sure to stir continuously while reheating. Have not tied it myself, note for posterity in case I decide to.

Reheating - I packaged the leftovers in a Foodsaver bag and was going to toss it in the freezer only to realize I am running short on freezer space ... so I tossed it in the fridge.  It is 9/15/23 and time for leftovers.  I am reheating sous vide - its already in the bag - it is 100% cooked, it is thin chicken breast cuts in cream sauce ... 155*??? Thinking lower than 165* because of the cream sauce.  We'll see - hopefully I will remember to add notes.  Since I am sous vising which is as passive as it gets, may as well make the asparagus I was too lazy to make the other night and some pan friend yukons ... recipe (read: random musings) incoming.

Baked Cod with Ritz Topping

 Enough Cod (or other similar fish) for 4

1 sleeve of Ritz (26+ - 26 is 2xmini packs)

5 Tbsp melted butter

Parsley - enough to make it look nice

Preheat oven to 400*

Butter a glass/ceramic/corningware/whatever baking dish

combine melted butter, crushed ritz and parsley 

pack on top of cod fillets (boneless and skinless you filthy casual ...) 

bake 20 minutes or until brown and delicious 

Oden

Itadakimasu!!!!!  The finished oden!

It was cold and miserable today - it snowed for a bit and then started raining like it was the end of the world (... still is ...ugh.)  I had intended to make oden today anyway and had purchased all the ingredients the day before (and had the dashi left over from earlier in the week when I made udon), but it was lucky I had chosen today, because this was the perfect meal for a cold, wet winter's day!

Makes 4-6 servings - depends on how much veg and fish cake you add!

6 Cups Dashi
3 Tbsp Usukuchi soy sauce
1.5 Tbsp Soy sauce
1.5 Tbsp sake
1.5 Tbsp mirin

1 Leek - white and light green parts only, 1/4 - 1/2" cuts on the bias
1 HUGE carrot - sliced 1/4 - 1/2" cuts
1 Daikon, peeled, sliced in 1-2" rounds, bevel edges top and bottom to keep it from breaking up
4 scallions - white ends and light green parts only
Fish cakes and balls (And you can use your imagination - add other veg, meat, konnyaku, etc. )

Combine all liquid ingredients - if you have a donabe use that, I already had an enamel cast iron dutch over and it worked great.  Bring to simmer - covered - over low heat and simmer 2-3 hours minimum.  It was suggested that additional salt could be added to taste, but my broth was seriously perfect!  (I recently learned that hard water is not good for making dashi ... an my town has the hardest water on the planet.  My dashi always looked perfect and didn't taste bad ... but it did not have a lot of flavor.  Using a gallon of store brand water instead - the difference was night and day!  So much more flavor!!!)

Just the veggies and broth!

Peel and slice the carrots and trim the scallions and add to the pot.  Wash the leek well, slice and add to the pot. Peel and slice the daikon, but add to a separate pot!  I saw someone recommending to simmer in dashi and someone saying to use the white water from washing rice, but in either case, simmer until you can easily slip a butter knife into the center of the daikon slice.  I elected to go with the white water - mainly because I was intrigued by the promise that it would make sure the daikon was not bitter and that it would give it a nice color, but also because I did not have the dashi to spare - I had just enough for the oden!  Once cooked, add daikon to pot.  Then let all of that simmer!

Fish cakes added!

The various fish cakes and balls I purchased came frozen - I portioned out what I would be using and let it thaw a bit on the counter, about a half hour before I intended to toss it in.  And then I tossed it in!  I let it all simmer together for about a half hour and then it was time to eat.

This oden was AMAZING!  The broth was delicious, the daikon tasted like the most perfect and mild turnip I had ever tasted (a good thing! love turnips), the carrot was soft and sweet and the leek and onion had nearly dissolved into the broth - no exaggeration, the broth alone would have been delicious and satisfying.  But the fish cakes and lobster balls took the broth to the next level and it was such a delicious and filling meal!  It was the kind of meal that made me think of all of the people I want to make oden for, it was that good!  I am seriously excited about leftovers for tomorrow!  Scott asked if he could bring some to his mom!  I am unreasonably happy thinking about the rest of the fish cakes in my freezer just waiting for me to make this again!

Perfection!  Look how much the fish cakes and lobster balls puffed up!

Langostinos!

Things have been a bit lean for me recently, but my luck has changed! I didn't win the lottery, but I am no longer choosing between necessities ... I can even afford a few wants on top of my needs!  I feel like I have been cooking the same few dishes over and over again - the overlap of the Venn diagram of nutritionally sound meals and affordable meals is ... limited. For the first time in nearly a year I can cook according to whim instead of wallet.

I noticed langostinos in the store circular ... they may be on sale this week, but a week ago would have been out of reach of my budget. I haven't used langostinos in years - just kind of forgot about them I guess. But the other night I mentioned they were on sale to Scott and he made one of his happy/yum groans - the man speaks volumes in a single grunt! LOL So I know he will be just as happy as I am with tonight's dinner: Langostinos over linguine with roast asparagus!

Langostinos

3 T butter
3 T olive oil
5 cloves of garlic - minced
1 sm/md shallot - minced
8 oz package of frozen cooked langostinos - thawed
1/3 C dry white wine - pinot Giorgio is nice
1/4 C fresh parsley
Salt, pepper and parmesan to taste

Melt butter and oil together, add garlic and shallots and sautee until soft.  Add plantations and wine and cook until warmed through - 2-3 minutes. Add parsley, cut heat and serve over linguine.

Pork Loin Roast

Pork Loin Roast - 2 - 4 lbs

Rub:
3 T Olive oil
1 t dried thyme
1/2 t dried marjoram
5 cloves pressed garlic
1 t Montreal steak seasoning
1 t kosher salt

Place roast in lined 9 x 13 pan, coat with rub and let stand 30 min

Preheat oven to 450°, roast for 20 min then cut heat without opening oven to 250° and roast 23 - 30 min/lb ( internal temp of 155°)

Let stand, tented, 5 - 10 min before carving.

Apple Pulled Pork

Sounds really good!

http://paleomg.com/honey-ginger-apple-shredded-pork/

Baked Eggplant

I found the tiniest, most perfect (and ridiculously low priced) eggplant the other day at the Asian market. It weighs in at slightly less than a pound, so there is not much to it ... more appropriate for a side dish or appetizer than a main course.

I decided to make my own version of an eggplant lasagna/eggplant and mozzarella tower/eggplant rollatini (unrolled.) Here are my thoughts ...

1. Peel and slice the eggplant into 1/2" rounds (make sure diameter will work with cooking vessel - I plan to use a smallish round casserole dish. Not sure if I am making this as individual servings (as in, using ramekin size casseroles) or sreving family style (all in one casserole.)


2. Lay eggplant slices out on a rack and sprinkle with salt (I will be using kosher) to remove excess moisture and bitterness. Let sit for 10-15 minutes, then rinse off and pat dry.


3. Grill the slices for about 4 minutes on each side (until done) in pan coated with olive oil.


4. Preheat oven to 375


5. Coat the inside of the casserole(s) with patsa sauce.


6. Combine 1 egg, ricotta cheese, salt, pepper, parsley, grated parmesan and some mozzarella (or whatever cheese you plan to top this bad boy with)


7. Drain can of diced tomatoes (or dice some fresh ones - whatever)


8. Steam and drain some baby spinach (or thaw and drain some frozen)


9. Start layering in the casserole: first, lay down a slice of the grilled eggplant, cover with some of the ricotta mixture, top with spinach and tomato, top with some sauce, repeat. When you are done with the last repeat, top the whole thing with mozzarella/whatever cheese you are using.


10. Bake, uncovered, about 15 minutes.

I think I will serve this along with some italian sausage and linguini.

Stromboli

• Ball of pizza dough - enough for one pie should do


• sauce, cheese, etc - fillings of your choice


• olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 - stretch dough to form a rectangle. In the center third of the rectangle, put down a good qty of the filling of your choice, fold over one of the other thirds, add more filling on top and fold over the last third and tuck the ends under. Transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment paper (keeps it non-stick and easy to clean!) with the seam side down. Brush with some olive oil, cut a few slits in the top, bake 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let it sit for a few minutes before cutting so the cheese has had a chance to cool slightly and firm up a little!

Shrimp & Spinach Risotto

• 1/2 C Dry White wine (or broth or water or whatever)
• 1/2 C Water
• 1 Bay leaf
• 12 oz Shrimp in shell, cooked, liquid reserved
• 2 T Olive Oil
• 1/4 C Shallots, minced
• 1 small clove Garlic, minced
• 1 bag pre-washed baby Spinach
• 1 C Arborio rice
• Chicken stock - enough to make 3 C liquid when added to shrimp stock

Bring wine, water and bay leaf to boil, add shrimp, cook until done. Reserve liquid and shell shrimp. Turn on rice cooker and heat olive oil - add shallots and garlic, cook until soft. Add rice and toss in oil to coat, cook for a few minutes until rice has white spot at center. Add spinach and toss for a few minutes to take the raw edge off, add stock and close lid. Stir several times, when rice cooker switches to Keep Warm, add shrimp and stir to combine.

Tilapia with butter, parsley and crackers

Preheat oven to 425

Rinse Tilapia fillets and coat lightly with oil, sea salt and pepper. Sprinkle on fresh chopped parsley and crumble crackers (Ritz) on top of each fillet, top with little pats of butter. Oven for 10-15 minutes.

Vidalia & Swiss Quiche

• 8oz Gruyere (or other Swiss Cheese ... or even a white cheddar is nice)
• Caramelized Vidalia (or other sweet or mild) onions - 2 medium or 1 large
• 6 eggs
• splash of milk - less than 1/4 C - just enough to help the eggs get fluffy
• salt and pepper to taste
• (optional) diced ham or bacon (delicious, but quiche is great without them, too.)
• pie crust - I use pre-made. I can't be bothered to make my own.

Preheat oven to 375. Set up pie crust in deep pie plate - I don't bother blind baking or poking with a fork - can't be bothered. (Though I get better results using dark metal or earthenware pie plates.) Pile onions and cheese into pie crust (and anything else you may be adding to the quiche.) Beat the eggs with the milk and salt and pepper to taste (I like 7 grinds off a pepper mill and a healthy pinch of kosher salt) then pour over cheese and onions. I use my hands to kind of mix and combine it, then smooth it evenly in the dish. Into the oven for 45 minutes. When cooking more than one at a time, mix the egg filling separately so you don't over fill or under fill. If it seems really full, put a baking sheet or foil beneath it to catch any overflow. You can cut back on the onions and use an extra egg to get a more eggy quiche, but the Vidalia are kind of the point of this quiche.

Udon with Shrimp, Renkon, Wakame, Scallion and Naruto

This is an Udon inspired by what I happened to have in the house. I followed the Udon Soup Base that I always use, but to each bowl after popping in a generous serving of noodles (follow package directions) added in about 5 pieces of prepared Renkon, 3 pieces of sliced naruto, a handful of boiled shrimp (I was going to boil them in the soup base, but the soup base was slow to heat and the water for heating the udon was at a raging boil, so I used that water!), a heaping tsp of dried Wakame and roughly cut scallion greens (the whites were tossed into the soup base while it heated for extra flavor. As always, the Udon is assembled with the noodles at the bottom of the bowl, all of the additions resting on top and then the soup is poured over everything. It tastes as good as it looks and I am not just being an egomaniac. I could eat this every day, but Scott and I have decided that Wednesdays will be Udon night from here on out! And the decent pictures? Scott took them! No more crappy phone pics!

Baked Cod

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (or just a tad shy - might be my oven, but I get a better result) and line a baking pan with foil (this is simply to aid cleanup.)

Put the cod in a bowl along with olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix it around to coat the cod.

Transfer cod to baking dish, squeeze half a lemon over it, garnish with a sprig of Italian parsley and a lemon slice. Bake for about 15 minutes - the rule is to allow 10 minutes per inch and fish is done when the flesh flakes and is opaque, yet still moist.

Kitsune Udon

• 4 squares of prepared abura-age (cut into thin strips and/or quarters - halves are delicious, but can be overwhelming. Qty and cut are to your liking, they are not crucial to the recipe!)
• 4 C dashi
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 T mirin
• 2 t sugar
• salt to taste
• 2 scallions cut on the bias
• 4 slices of naruto or kamaboko (fish cakes), cut on the bias (or more - I love the naruto for the taste and because it is adorable.)
• Blanched Kale - about a handful per serving - removed desired amount from stalk, cook in boiling water for about 3-4 minutes, remove and drain.)
• Enoki Mushrooms about 3.5 oz for 2 large servings - trim the ends, cut the stalks into thirds. The top third with the cap waits in the serving bowl to have broth poured over it, the bottom 2/3 are part of the stock!
  

Boil a large pot of water and cook the udon as instructed on package - they should be al dente so they don't get soggy in the soup. Run them under cold water to stop the cooking! Put the dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sugar into a pot and heat to a simmer - taste and add salt if needed. Add the noodles to heat through, then divide into 2 bowls. Top the noodles with the scallions, fish cakes, kale, Enoki and abura-age and then pour the broth over everything.

Linguine with Tomato-Almond Pesto [Pesto Trapenese]

Linguine with Tomato-Almond Pesto [Pesto Trapenese]Adapted from Gourmet

3/4 cup slivered almonds
1 large handful fresh basil leaves
1 to 2 large garlic cloves
Several sprinkles of sea salt
6 ripe plum tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup grated Pecorino or Parmesan
1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil
1 pound linguine

In a large skillet, sauté the almonds in a little olive oil until toasted. Let cool, then blend them in a food processor or blender until they are in coarse pieces. (“The size of orzo,” the original recipe suggests.) Scoop them out of the processor and set them aside.

Put the basil, garlic and a few pinches of sea salt into the food processor and chop. Add the almonds back to the food processor (keeping them separate will keep them from getting too finely chopped as you get the basil and garlic to the right texture) with the tomatoes, cheese and olive oil and whirl briefly. Season it with freshly ground black pepper.

Cook your linguine until it is al dente and could use another minute of cooking time. Reserve one cup of pasta cooking water and drain the rest. Immediately toss the hot linguine with the pesto and mix quickly so that it drinks the sauce up a bit. Add more pasta water if needed. Serve this lukewarm, or at room temperature, with a glass of wine, after you get the baby to bed.

Pork Wellington

I love the sight of pork in the morning! There is the tenderloin, basking in light from my window, already cut in half lengthwise and flipped so that skinny end matches up with fat end on both sides - the pile of yuck is the silver skin and fat - you must trim these off or you will be sorry!

Here we have slices of prosciutto that have been layed out and pressed together - isn't it beautiful?!?!?
Here is the tenderloin laid on top of the seasoned prosciutto, stuffed with cherries - I used slightly more than an ounce of dried cherries and chopped them coarsely with my mezzaluna.







This is what that gorgeous thing looked like all wrapped up in the prosciutto. I wish I had thought to take a picture of the puff pastry spread with the whole grain mustard and then wrapped around the pork, but I didn't. For I suck. you brush that beautiful thing with egg wash, toss it in to oven for a half hour and it comes out browned and perfect! It wasn't until after we had all served ourselves that I realized I had no picture of the finished product! So please excuse the slices - wish I had a pic of the whole thing. You can see the home made apple sauce to its left, the metal bowl has the mashed potatoes (or what is left of them at this point) and out of the frame to the right is the broccoli which took a lot longer than usual to cook, but was worth every second.


Scott and the ex were pleased! I was ecstatic! One thing to note though - the inside of the tenderloin will look very red (scary like its raw) if you use cherries, even if it has gone over the safe temp (140) - prevailing theory in my household is that it is the juice from the cherries staining it. because it is most certainly done! So, if yours looks golden on the outside and a bit pink in the middle, just double check with a thermometer - chances are it is done!

Roast Chicken

After I rinse and pat dry the chicken, I pop it into a large glass bowl and add about 2-3 Tablespoons of olive oil, 2 healthy pinches of kosher salt for the outside of the chicken and 2 small hand fulls for the inside cavity, about 5-7 grinds on the pepper mill and healthy shakes from the dried herbs: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

From here I massage the mixture into the skin and make sure to get up underneath the skin of the chicken breast and to really loosen the skin on the thighs and legs. The skin of the breast will hold in the flavor (and getting the oil between the meat and skin keeps it really moist). Some people add hot water to the roasting pan, I don't - I think the skin browns better when you don't. 350 degrees until it reaches an internal temp of 180 - 2 hours, give or take depending on size.