Crispy Mushroom Napoleons

So you know all those times when you're having a dinner party and you need a simple but delicious appetizer to wow your guests? One where you can just casually reply to your guests, "oh this? You like it? I just whipped it up 10 minutes ago, no biggie"? Yeah, happens to me all the time too. But you're in luck, my friends. This is it.

I made a version of this crispy mushroom napoleon a handful of times a few years ago, but I never blogged it and probably never even wrote down the recipe. And then, this past weekend I had the opportunity to cook something a little bit more special than the average piece of gefilte fish for an appetizer. (Not that there's anything wrong with that every once in a while.) I seem to be on a mushroom kick lately, and I figured I had 2 options for the half-bottle of wine sitting on my counter: drink it up (not that there's anything wrong with that either) or use it productively in a recipe. My better judgment won out and I created a recipe that literally made me say out loud, "oh my gosh, this is so good." The deep rich mushroom sauce could be ladled on anything, but layered between crispy won tons, it was the perfect crunchy accompaniment. No question: this is going to be made again. And soon.

 

Crispy Mushroom Napoleons



serves 4 as an appetizer

 

1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil

3 shallots, thinly sliced

10 oz. sliced mushrooms

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 cup red wine

1/4 cup flour

1 15-oz. can beef broth

salt and pepper

 

vegetable or canola oil

won ton wrappers (4" wrappers, or egg roll wrappers cut down to size; 3 per serving)

 

1. Heat the 1/4 cup of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and mushrooms and sauté for 10 minutes, or until golden and caramelized.

2. Sprinkle the dried thyme over the vegetables and cook an additional 1 minute.

3. Add the wine and simmer until reduced, about 2 minutes.

4. Sprinkle in the flour and stir to coat; cook for 1 minute.

5. Slowly pour in the beef broth and whisk. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes, or until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

6. In another skillet (or later, in the same skillet), heat 1 inch of oil over medium-high heat. Drop in the won ton wrappers one-by-one and fry on both sides for 30 seconds, until golden. Remove to a paper towel-lined pan to drain.

7. To serve: place one fried won ton in the center of a small plate. Ladle on some of the warm mushroom mixture. Repeat twice until there are 3 layers each of crispy won tons and mushroom sauce.

 

Chicken and Mushroom Sauce II

I'm just going to state for the record: I miss snow days. After spending my entire schooling in snow-scared Pennsylvania and Maryland, and then working in Baltimore for five years (where the schools shut down if there are flurries) I'm still not used to this whole suck-it-up-and-take-the-subway-to-work-despite-the-blizzard mentality in NYC. (Okay, 2 inches of snow hardly equals a blizzard, but today would have been an amazing day for hot chocolate, or grilled cheese and tomato soup.....)

But I digress.

This past Shabbos, I had some people over for Friday night dinner and I knew exactly what I wanted to make: chicken with mushroom sauce. Can't tell ya why - I just really craved it. But, as delicious as it is, you do need a good hour to make it - to pound out the chicken and cut it up and dredge it and pan fry it and make the sauce. And last week was not exactly conducive to having excess time on my hands - especially with Shabbos starting at, like, noon or something. But I still wanted those flavors, so I whipped up something new (nothing like experimenting on my guests!) and, if I may say so myself, I think we have a hit on our hands. The gravy was almost like a southern country gravy - thick and hearty, and with the addition of potatoes on the bottom and mushrooms on top, all you really need is a salad on the side and you've got yourself a full meal. (Not that I'd ever only serve a salad on the side here!)

A few notes: In my recipe, I included instructions on how to garnish this - which I completely forgot to do when I served it! I even had the lemon all sliced up and pretty, and the parsley all chopped and ready to go. Oh well, it still tasted great. Also, I could also see myself adding a thinly sliced onion to the bottom of the pan with the potatoes the next time I make this - I'll do that and report back!

Additionally, this sauce is thick - it's supposed to be. If you like a thinner sauce, just dilute it with additional chicken stock, or don't use all the flour in the sauce part of the recipe.

Chicken with Hearty Mushroom Sauce and Potatoes
Serves 8-10

12 pieces of chicken (whatever configuration you like - I used a combination of breasts, thighs, and legs) on the bone, skin removed*

1 cup of flour

3-4 potatoes

2 1/2 cups chicken stock, plus additional 

1/2 cup soy milk

1 tbsp. crushed garlic

3 tbsp. mustard (Dijon is recommended, but all I had was yellow)

2 tbsp. lemon juice

16 oz. mushrooms, sliced

Salt and pepper

3 tbsp. margarine

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Slice the potatoes very thin and shingle them in a roasting pan.

3. Dredge the chicken lightly in flour. Lay it out in one layer over the potatoes.

4. Take the remaining flour (about 1/2-2/3 cup) and transfer it to a bowl. Whisk in 1 cup of chicken stock until it's a smooth paste. Add mustard and garlic and combine. Incorporate remaining chicken stock, soy milk, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Scatter the mushrooms over the chicken. Pour the sauce evenly over the chicken. Take the margarine and break off little pieces to scatter over the chicken, as well. Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour, adding an additional 1 cup of chicken stock around the edge of the pan after 30 minutes. (At that point, baste the chicken in the sauce.)

6. Turn the oven to broil and broil chicken for 10-15 minutes, until browned.*

7. To serve, place chicken pieces on a large serving tray, and top with mushrooms, potatoes, and sauce. Squeeze one lemon over the dish and top with fresh chopped parsley (optional).

*I removed the skin from the chicken and, as a result, it did not brown up as nicely as I wanted it to in the oven - which is why I ended up broiling it at the end to crisp up the top a bit. (I didn't want to keep cooking the chicken for too long and dry it out.) If you like skin on your chicken, don't remove it and it should get brown in the oven on its own.

 

Comfort Food 101: Roasted Tomato Soup

Well, it was bound to happen - it snowed yesterday. Not nearly as much in NYC as in Maryland, my old stomping grounds, but there was definitely a little bit that stuck! I was driving with some friends earlier in the day and you could just see that the snow was a'comin! So I declared that it was a "pajamas and sweatpants and tomato soup and grilled cheese and hot chocolate night."

So, a few people came over and we had a whole "grilled cheese bar" with add-ons (caramelized onions, tomatoes, basil, different cheeses) that I grilled up fresh, and I had a huge pot of fresh from-real-chocolate (not powder!) hot cocoa for dessert. But the real crowd-pleaser was the fresh roasted tomato soup that I made - perfect for dunking those grilled cheese sandwiches! No cans, no tomato juice - this was the real deal and it was oh-so-good.

I came up with this very simple recipe after looking at a bunch of well-reviewed recipes online and put my own spin on, what I think, is going to be on a pretty constant rotation in my apartment this winter!

Roasted Tomato Soup
Serves 8

5 lbs. of tomatoes, any combination of varieties (I used beefsteak and Roma, because that's what was available at a decent price)
1 large white onion, peeled and cut in quarters
8-10 garlic cloves, whole and peeled
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
6 cups of vegetable stock
10-15 fresh basil leaves
1/4-1/3 cup of sugar (depends on the tomatoes; I used a full 1/3 cup)
1/2 cup light cream, optional

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cut tomatoes in half (if they're small-medium sized) or in quarters (if they're large) and scoop out a lot of the seeds, leaving as much of the pulp as you can. Scatter the tomatoes on a large sheet pan in one layer.
3. Add the onion and garlic and toss in a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes, until soft and caramelized.
4. Transfer tomatoes, onion, and garlic to a large soup pot. Add vegetable stock and basil.
5. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer for 45 minutes.
6. Using an immersion blender, process the soup until it's smooth. (If using a regular blender, process in batches.)
7. Taste for seasoning and add salt, pepper, and sugar, to taste. (Optional: add light cream and stir.)

Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies

It took a little while, but it's finally fall. Big time, fall. With the holidays seemingly coming in during beach season, and the weather staying a perfect-for-outdoor-drinks 70 degrees for, like, 3 weeks after we finally got back to 5-day work weeks (what is up with a 3-day yuntif, anyway??), it seemed like fall would never hit. And now it has.....which I'm actually excited about! I am thrilled to finally get to break out my scarves and sweaters and boots! Ah, so many boots :-)

Anyway, if you've seen, pretty much, any post on this blog, you know that I love pumpkin. I love that it's not too sweet, I love that it pairs with spicy flavors like cinnamon and nutmeg, and I love that anytime I make a pumpkin pie, I immediately think of my family and celebrating my father's birthday with his favorite dessert.

When I hosted Shabbos dinner last week for friends, I made a chocolate dessert - an intensely chocolate dessert. It was a "brownie pudding," which is another way of saying "a totally underdone chocolate lava cake that you serve warm and oozey with whipped cream on top." Totally easy and totally decadent, but totally not my speed. I'm just not a chocolate person. Pair it with peanut butter, and I'm good to go. But on its own? Meh. I need something else to counterbalance the overly rich chocolate fudginess. Pumpkin is my go-to flavor for fall, and since I had just been to Costco two nights earlier and bought the largest bag of Craisins ever (hey, the huge bag at Costco costs less than the regular bag at the supermarket! Totally worth it), I decided on pumpkin cookies with cranberries.

Now, baking needs to be precise (cooking is an art, baking is a science) - more precise than I generally am. So I decided to follow a recipe.....well, sort of. I found a recipe that just seemed...meh. So-so. So I doctored it up, made a few substitutions here and there, thought I screwed up the entire thing, and then ended up loving the results. The cookies have this very deep spicy flavor, with lots of pumpkin in there, and they are ridiculously soft. I've had leftovers slowly depleting in my apartment for a week now and they're still little pillows of goodness all these days later. I would normally not post someone else's recipe, but since I took so many liberties, they're mine now :-)

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies
makes approximately 30 cookies

1/2 cup margarine (1 stick), softened 

2/3 cup white sugar  

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder 

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 cup dried cranberries

3/4 cup white chocolate chips 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream margarine and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla, egg and pumpkin. 

3. Add 1 cup of flour and mix until incorporated. Add remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger and mix until fully incorporated. Cut the cranberries in half and stir into mixture along with the white chocolate chips. The dough will be sticky, but if you allow it to rest for about 5 minutes, it eases up. 

4. Drop rounded tablespoons on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, flattening the cookies halfway through the baking and rotating the cookie sheet. They should  be very soft when they come out of the oven. Flatten them lightly one more time as soon as they come out of the oven.

*Editor's note: These cookies don't spread very much and they're a little too puffy for my liking, which is why I flatten them twice. If you want a very puffy cookie, don't bother - they're still delicious, and they will "fall" a bit overnight after you've baked them.

 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Amazingness

Alright, friends. What I present to you today is not exactly groundbreaking or revolutionary. Everyone knows that peanut butter = good, peanut butter + chocolate = awesome, and peanut butter + chocolate + pretzels = amazing. You all also know that peanut butter pie is on the short list of necessary baked goods in my family at any holiday or event where I am involved. This 5-ingredient pie is so easy and such a crowd-pleaser, that it's almost silly NOT to make it.

So when a peanut butter-loving friend invited me to Shabbos lunch and asked me to bring dessert, out of sheer willingness to please (read: laziness and wanting to make the easiest thing I could think of), my mind went to my good old standby. But then I was told that there would be 12 people at lunch, which is just too many for my humble-looking little pie to accommodate. That, and I have a compulsory need to impress people and, as delicious as it is, my PB pie doesn't look impressive. So I decided to amp it up. Big time. A homemade salty pretzel crust, a sheet of gooey chocolate fudge, fluffy peanut butter filling, refreshing whipped cream, more salty pretzels to accent it, abstract chocolate and peanut butter decorations on top....yeah, goodbye unassuming little pie, sayonara to my 5-minute wunderkind. This effort was well worth it.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Amazingness

(serves a lot. Like, a lot.)


Crust:
4 cups of thin pretzels, crushed (just about a full 16 oz. bag), divided
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup margarine, melted

Chocolate Fudge Layer:
2 cups chocolate chips
3/4 cup pareve milk
1 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. vanilla

Peanut Butter Mousse Layer:
1 cup peanut butter
8 oz. pareve cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups pareve whipping cream, whipped

Garnish:
1 cup pareve whipping cream, whipped
1/3 cup peanut butter

To make crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the melted margarine, brown sugar, and 3 cups of crushed pretzels (reserve the last cup for garnish) until the margarine and sugar are evenly coating the pretzels. Pat the mixture into a 9"x13" pan and bake until slightly golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool, about 5 minutes. (It will be soft, but it will firm up as it cools more.)

To make fudge:
In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips and pareve milk in 30-second intervals, until melted, stirring between "nukes." (It took me three 30-second intervals.) Whisk until smooth, and add honey and vanilla, whisking to incorporate. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes, and then pour over the slightly cooled pretzel crust, reserving 1/2 cup of the fudge for garnish. Place the chocolate covered crust in the refrigerator for at least one hour and allow to set.*

To make peanut butter mousse layer:
In a large bowl, mix the peanut butter and cream cheese with a hand mixer. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Add the whipped cream and beat for one minute, until fully incorporated. Pour the mousse over the chocolate-peanut butter crust and refrigerate.

To garnish:
Evenly spread the remaining whipped cream over the peanut butter mousse. Sprinkle the remaining cup of crushed pretzels over the whole dessert. Microwave the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate fudge in a closed ziploc bag for 15 seconds (until slightly warm and runny); snip a tiny bit off the corner of the bag, and abstractly zig-zag over the pretzels to decorate. Microwave the remaining 1/3 cup of peanut butter in a closed ziploc bag for 10 seconds, and do the same. Refrigerate up to 24 hours.

*Note: This dessert has a lot of steps, admittedly. But it can be broken up into stages: the crust can be made and covered in the chocolate fudge and allowed to sit in the fridge for up to a day. (In fact, this might work out great, since you want the fudge to be pretty well set before you cover it in the peanut butter mousse.) The mousse can be added to the crust a day before serving, as well, since you want all the layers to be firm so when you cut/scoop into it, it doesn't fall into a big blob. Not that that would make it taste bad. Literally, nothing will make this taste bad. It's chocolate, peanut butter, and pretzels, for G-d's sake!

My Oh My, Shepherd's Pie

(I couldn't come up with a more creative title; can you tell??)

Okay, so my cousin asked me over Rosh Hashana why I haven't put up a new recipe in, oh, eight months. And then I felt all slacker-y and lazy, but I started wondering the same thing myself! I guess I got into a rut of making the same old thing, over and over. When I'm invited out for a Shabbos meal, I get assigned salad approximately 96% of the time (I do make some good salads, if I may say so myself). I haven't hosted a Shabbos meal in, like, four months. (My roommate and I moved a few months ago to a new apartment - don't worry, we still have a great kitchen - and we've been off the hook since we started packing up the old place.) And lately, even when I cook for myself, all I seem to manage are scrambled eggs and toast....man that sounds sad.

So last night, I convinced myself to actually cook a meal. A real, wholesome, multi-ingredient meal. I decided on shepherd's pie because...well, why not? I've made it in the past, simmering meet with vegetables in a wine reduction with garlic mashed potatoes.....delicious, but labor-intensive. On a Tuesday night, I want something that comes together in an hour, start to finish, and doesn't require me to open a new bottle of wine. (Not that having an open bottle of wine is the worst thing in the world.....trust me.)

Also, since it was just me on a weekday night, I decided to go easy on myself - meaning, I paced the canned-goods aisle for ingredients. The only thing I chopped was an onion. And, my secret ingredient: condensed tomato soup. I like my savory dishes with a bit of sweetness, and I thought that the tomato soup would add that better than, say, tomato paste or tomato sauce. And I used pre-made mashed potatoes from the deli counter at the grocery store. (But, by all means, if you have more time or don't have access, just make up a batch!)

This isn't a traditional shepherd's pie. There's no cubed lamb, no red wine, it's much more liquid-y than a shepherd's pie purist would ever allow for. But it was perfection. And, okay, maybe a bottle of wine did get opened anyway....

Shepherd's Pie
(This recipe is made in a deep 8"x5" pan - perfect for 2-3 people (or one person who wants leftovers!). It can be doubled for more people and made in a 9"x13" standard pan.)

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 lb. extra lean ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 tbsp. minced garlic

2 tbsp. worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup flour

1/2 can condensed tomato soup

1 cup beef broth

1-2 tbsp. sugar, to taste

1/2 can peas and carrots, drained

Salt and pepper

3 cups prepared mashed potatoes (or homemade)

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp. olive oil

Paprika

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large pan, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and cook for 5 minutes, or until mostly cooked through. Add the onions and continue cooking for an additional 7-10 minutes, or until the onions have softened and browned, adding the garlic for the last 2 minutes. Add the worcestershire sauce.

Sprinkle the meat and onions with the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato soup and stir to coat. Slowly add the beef broth and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5-7 minutes, or until thick. Add sugar (to taste), peas and carrots, and salt and pepper (to taste). Pour the mixture into a greased 8"x5" pan.

Add the egg yolk to the mashed potatoes and spoon the potatoes over the meat mixture, being careful to keep it a distinct layer (don't blend it into the meat). Brush the olive oil over the potatoes lightly. Optional: run a fork over the potatoes to create lines that will crisp up in the over. Sprinkle with paprika.


Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. (Optional: bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then turn on the broiler and broil for 3-5 minutes, or until golden.)

Brrrrrr......It's CHILI outside!

Well, winter seems to have finally hit! After some weird weather (including some snow right after Hurricane Sandy, back in November), we had some temperatures that were up and down - even going up to 60 degrees at one point in December.

Those temperatures are a distant memory this week, though. It's been a blustery 25 degrees for days. We finally hit 30 degrees today....but that also seemed to bring some snow, freezing rain, sleet, and all the stuff that makes me not miss driving. (What does make me miss driving, though, is having to walk around in this all over town! I guess you can't have it both ways.)

In this kind of weather, all I want is hot soup. For, like, every meal. And all day long, I was dreaming about coming home, changing into sweats, and making myself a nice big pot of warm, hearty soup to indulge in all week. I wanted something healthy (it is still January, after all, and in theory, I have some New Year's resolutions I'd like to keep, haha), but also something satisfying. And I wanted something vegetarian because I have an aversion to being fleishig during the week. So, I decided to roam the grocery store and see what I could come up with. A thick chili seemed like the perfect thing.

I had some quinoa lying around the apartment and added it to thicken up the final product and also to add a little extra texture and protein. I also used baked beans....yup. The campfire staple, in the sweet-and-sour sauce. We love baked beans in my family, and I use them anywhere I need to use regular beans, since the sauce adds a lot of great flavor. (They're one of my secret ingredients in cholent!) I also love them because I tend to like savory dishes that are a bit sweet. But feel free to use regular black or kidney beans, or omit them entirely.

I served this chili with a side of cornbread, and it hit the spot - it was comforting, but not too heavy, and chock-full of flavor. I'm so happy I have the leftovers to eat for the next few days!!

*Note: I cheated and bought pre-chopped vegetables. Cheat along with me, will you? I bought a 2-cup container of onions, carrots, and celery, and the same of assorted peppers. For the soy crumbles, I used Mexican flavor....because it was the only flavor my grocery store had. But I guess that was kind of perfect for chili! As far as the cornbread goes, I combined several recipes and used skim milk to lighten it up. To be honest, I wasn't super worried about it being too dry because I literally ladled the chili over it to serve. It's such a yummy combination.

Chili Con Quinoa
serves 6-8

2 tbsp. canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 yellow pepper, chopped
12 oz. package Smart Crumbles, Mexican flavor (or any flavor of fake meat)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 cup quinoa
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes, with juice
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
8 oz. (about half a can) corn, drained
1 16-oz. can vegetarian baked beans
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and carrot and cook for 5 minutes. Add peppers and sweat for an additional 5 minutes until softened.
2. Add soy crumbles and spices and cook for 3 minutes. Add quinoa and stir to coat with oil.
3. Add tomatoes and broth and increase heat to high; bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover pot. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until quinoa has fluffed and much of the liquid has been absorbed.
5. Add corn and beans. Season to taste.
6. Serve with cornbread (recipe below).

Cornbread
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 tbsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil

1. Combine flour, cornmeal, and baking powder.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, sugar, and oil.
3. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.
4. Pour into a greased 9x9 baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.