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.)