Stuffed Portobellos

 I am a lover of mushrooms. I always thought everyone loved mushrooms until a friend of mine told me she couldn’t stand them because, "They just lie on my tongue, and my teeth won’t chew them." I thought that was so funny, but she honestly felt that way. I love all kinds of mushrooms, but I particularly love the versatility of portobellos. They make such a wonderful main dish, and with their beefy taste, you won’t even miss the meat. This delicious recipe is the result of my cleaning out the fridge, believe it or not. I had a little bit of cottage cheese left over from the Beef & Noodle Bake, some fresh spinach threatening to go bad, as well as half of a jar of marinated artichoke hearts. I combined all of this, along with one of my favorite ingredients, fire roasted red bell peppers, and cheese (Can you ever go wrong adding cheese to anything?), and came up with this delicious recipe. If you cut it in quarters, it’s a wonderful appetizer; two make a hearty meal, and one, a nice side. No matter how you decide to serve yours, it will be very well received.

Stuffed Portobellos

4 large Melissa’s portobello mushrooms

1 T. olive oil

½ c. chopped onion

1 T. Melissa’s minced garlic

½ c. chopped marinated artichoke hearts

2 handfuls baby spinach, chopped

¼ c. chopped Melissa’s roasted red peppers

¼ c. cottage cheese

¼ t. kosher salt

¼ t. freshly ground pepper

1 t. Frank’s hot sauce

1/3 c. Italian breadcrumbs

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

 Preheat oven to 400°F.

Carefully remove stems and gills from mushrooms. Reserve and chop the stems for the stuffing; set aside. Place the mushrooms stem side down onto a baking pan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the water leaks out of them. Remove from the oven and drain paper towels; set aside. 

In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and chopped steams, and sauté for a couple minutes until the onion is translucent. Add garlic, artichoke hearts, spinach, and red peppers to the skillet and cook for a couple more minutes, until the spinach wilts. Stir in cottage, cheese, salt, pepper, hot sauce, and breadcrumbs, and cook until heated through.

 Use an ice cream scoop to scoop up the stuffing, and divide equally among the mushrooms. Top with mozzarella cheese.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts.

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Dressing for Turkey or Chicken

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 This past Thanksgiving, the dressing was particularly good, if I do say so myself. The guests remarked favorably as well, my daughter-in-law eagerly asking after the recipe. I had to think about that. I told her that, basically, it was very simple. I took one package of Bob Evans spicy pork sausage minus a slice from which I made a sausage biscuit that morning. Then, I diced up the ribs of celery that I had left that weren’t limp, a very large, almost mutant, shallot, more parsley than I thought I would need, a half a bag of Pepperidge Farm stuffing that I found in the freezer, and then for good measure, two small pieces of bread slightly toasted. “That,” my son said, “is a blog post.” It certainly is. I managed to jot it down in a workable form so that I could share it, but trust me when I tell you, this recipe is very flexible.

Dressing for Turkey or Chicken

1 16-oz. pkg. Bob Evan’s Hot Pork Sausage*, with a ½” slice removed for making yourself a sausage biscuit
2 Melissa’s shallots, finely chopped
3 ribs celery, finely chopped
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
¼ t. salt
¼ t. poultry seasoning
¾ -1 14-oz. pkg. Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing**
6 T. melted butter
1 cup chicken or turkey stock

Cook sausage until done (breaking it up into tiny bits all the while), but not brown; drain. Place sausage into a large bowl. Add shallots, celery, parsley, salt, seasoning, and stuffing mix; toss to coat. Stir in melted butter and stock. Stuff turkey or chicken and bake as directed. This can also be baked, covered with foil, in a casserole dish at 375°F for 25-30 minutes. During the last 10 minutes of baking, remove foil to allow the top to crisp up and brown. Drizzle with a bit of Turkey Gravy, and serve.

* Use original if you don’t like spicy.

** Not the cubed variety.

INVOLTINI DI PETTI DE POLLO (Chicken Spiedini from Roberto's Trattoria)

I prepared a romantic dinner for two tonight as it was to be a relaxing evening with no baseball since the Cardinals had a day off after yesterday's Opening Day debacle game against the Padres (and I don't quite get why the day off so soon, but am thankful nonetheless after the performance by closer Ryan Franklin who, I might add, makes less of a closer than Kyra Sedgwick, but I digress). 


When spring hits our eating habits change abruptly.  We are avid baseball fans, so we spend more time watching the games than we do in the kitchen.  As a consequence we do a lot of grilling, make a variety of cold plate suppers (e.g. cold soups, chicken, shrimp or crab salad, cheese and fruit plates, etc.) and have lots of green salads ranging from a simple Caesar to a more complex grilled steak salad, or spicy, meat-filled taco salad. I welcome the change of seasons and this altered way of cooking.  


It's more relaxed and carefree and many things can be prepared early in the day, to be pulled out when it's time for dinner and enjoyed with a glass of chilled wine (or if the game's going badly, a shot of whiskey) with our feet up.  So tonight's dinner is one that will say farewell to winter.  We are looking forward to the lighter fare of spring. This absolutely heavenly dish is from a cookbook I mention a lot called Special Requests.  It is from a local restaurant and while it took a bit of time, it was certainly well worth it.  Treat yourself, and then take the summer off!

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Homemade Croutons

Have you ever wondered what to do with your old buns?  Your old, stale, dried out buns?  And by this I mean hot dog, hamburger, and sandwich buns.  The buns that always seem to come either too many or few to the package and you either never have enough or you have way too many.  If you have too many, consider yourself in luck!  Stale sandwich buns make the best croutons, bar none. They make a great addition to salads, to top soups, as a tasty snack, and the best part is they freeze beautifully so you can make them now to serve at Thanksgiving!

Select an assortment of buns that have seen better days.

Using a bread knife, slice them into half-inch squares.

Gather the spices you'd like to use to season them.  These are the ones that I use, but it's really a personal preference.  Try not to use too many with heavy concentrations of salt or your croutons will be too salty.

One secret to good croutons is butter.  Be generous, but not overly so or they'll not dry properly in the oven.  Put a stick of butter into a large saute pan and add your spices.  Stir everything together as the butter melts.

Add the bread cubes and stir to coat well.  After sauteing them in butter and seasoning, they'll bake in the oven for an hour or so to dry out.

Bake them in a slow oven (250 degrees F) for an hour to an hour and a half.  They should look like this when they're finished, i.e. dry and golden brown.  Remove from the oven and let cool.

Now enjoy them in your favorite soup or salad.

Here's a recipe that I like.

Cream of Spinach Soup with Onions and Mushrooms

(With homemade croutons)

1/2 pound mushrooms, cleaned and very thinly sliced

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 large onions, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 T. butter

1/4 cup dry white wine

1-1/2 T. flour

1 cans chicken broth (14.5 oz.)

1/2 pkg. frozen chopped spinach (10 oz)

1 cup cream

1/4 t. freshly grated nutmeg

Salt and white pepper to taste

In a large pan or Dutch oven, place first 5 ingredients and saute mixture over low heat, until mushrooms and onions are soft and all the liquid rendered, is evaporated. Add wine and cook until evaporated. Stir in flour and cook and stir for about 2 minutes, turning all the while. Stir in broth and spinach and simmer soup for 2 minutes. Add cream and simmer soup for 10 minutes, uncovered. Add seasonings to taste.

(Aren't these little bowls the cutest? I picked them up in the clearance section of Anthropologie for half off! Now I wish I'd have bought more than two, but I always feel guilty picking up yet another dish of some sort even though I love them. I love them ALL!)

Bon Appetit!

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