I am one very lucky wife, to have a Mr. Fix-It kind of husband. On Wednesday, my oven died. Thank you for your sympathy-- you do understand the horror of not being able to bake, roast or broil. Fortunately, my husband was able to buy a new igniter , and my gas oven is working beautifully! The timing could not be more perfect because, most Fridays, Craig and I look forward to having an end-of-the-week cocktail (usually an ice cold beer) and some a tapas style dinner. I prefer to make something that doesn't take much time to put together, but has enough sustenance to count as dinner-- sometime a side salad rounds out the meal perfectly.
I don't use puff pastry on a regular basis, because I know that it's layers of butter that puffs up. Still, puff pastry is such a versatile product to work with. I have no desire to make puff pastry from scratch! I let Pepperidge Farm do all of the work! I've made Ina Garten's easy Cheese Danish, which was a big hit with all of us. I've also made Raspberry Palmiers, which are my son's favorite. For Christmas, this year, I made Salmon En Croute (or you could call it Salmon Wellington) with Cremini Duxelles. The Duxelles are so easy to make, and we loved them. I had extra Duxelles that I decided to freeze-- though I wasn't sure if that was such a good idea. Before I made Ina's very simple looking Savory Palmier's, I decided to see if the Duxelles would thaw well and make an easy filling for pinwheel style h'ors doevres. Enough chit-chat-- let's get on with it!
To make Ina Garten's Savory Palmiers, I toasted some pine nuts and I lightly rolled out a sheet of puff pastry. I like to thaw my puff pastry, overnight, in the fridge. I've done quick thaws on my counter, too. Either way, I try to keep the pastry chilled enough so that it puffs up nicely once the pastry hits a hot oven.
The top left photo shows mounds of thawed Duxelles. I know what you might be thinking-- it's not pretty. It could, potentially, resemble something an animal left that is having some intestinal difficulties. 'Nuff said. Cremini mushrooms, thyme, white wine, shallots and parsley... mmmmm. Delicious!
With another sheet of puff pastry, I made Ina Garten's recipe. I make my own pesto, which I freeze and/or store in a glass jar in the refrigerator. After slathering a layer of pesto, I added the toasted pine nuts (which I almost burned... so watch the dry roasting in a pan very closely). I sprinkled some chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Ina uses goat cheese, but I only had fresh feta. (I opted not to add salt, which was a wise decision.) So, that's what I used. If you aren't sure how to roll up palmiers, I show you how here.
After a rough week, on a Friday night, I'm not going for perfection in how I rolled them. These are for a private party of two people, and we aren't fussy. Slice them up and put them into a preheated oven at 400F for about 14 minutes. I would check these sooner, because it depends on your oven and the thickness of your slices.
Look at that sizzling butter! Allow them to cool for a few minutes...
I am happy to report that the Duxelles are excellent rolled up in puff pastry! C'mon, how could it not be? We really loved Ina's combo of sun-dried tomatoes, pest and toasted pine nuts. I did not feel that salt was missing at all.
I can't say that I favored one version over another.
I look forward to having home grown tomatoes again. I still love Ina's Tomato and Three Cheese Tart-- which is also made with puff pastry. For those of you who watch The Barefoot Contessa on Food Network, you will understand when I say that Craig is my "Jeffrey". It's obvious that Ina cooks for her husband with a lot of love. My husband appreciates everything that I make. We really enjoy our quiet little Happy Hours at home. I hope you try these sometime-- while they're a bit indulgent on butter, we whip up a small batch of these as an occasional treat.
I have some baking and roasting to get busy with this weekend, now that my oven is back!
It's no secret that The Pioneer Woman's recipes are in my RSS feeds. I don't want to miss a recipe! Ree featured a Mushroom Soup that was spotted on her own Recipe Website called "Tasty Kitchen". I had just stocked up on cremini mushrooms at Costco-- about 3 pounds of them, that were such a good bargain. I figured I'd make something out of them! The following day, my sniffles turned into a full-blown cold that rendered my ability to taste and smell pretty into a dead zone. Here it was, Super Bowl Sunday, and I was honking around the house with a tissue box nestled closed to me. I wanted-- no-- I needed soup! But, I couldn't really taste much! You won't find a single can of commercially made soup in my pantry; I just think that homemade soup is super easy to make. Yes, I do buy boxed chicken, vegetable and beef stock, and buy low-sodium stocks, because I want to season soups my way. When I can, I make my own chicken stock and freeze it-- which reminds me, it's time to "stock up" again. Sorry.
When making soup, I typically start with olive oil, onion (in this case, shallots), carrots and celery. Since I was feeling lousy, I used the food processor to chop the veggies for me. Of course, I needed mushrooms, which I washed and sliced-- about 2 pounds-- they'll reduce. In a cast-iron skillet, I heated the oil and began to saute' the shallots. I chose shallots for two reasons-- I had a lot of them, and I like their mild and sweet flavor that doesn't over power the flavor of the soup. Then again, my sense of smell was seriously damaged. I wanted heat! That's when I grabbed a jar of Thai Red Curry paste!
So, here is where the Pioneer Woman and I parted ways, and I ended up adapting the recipe to satisfy my sudden craving for Thai flavors. . I'm very much in the beginner stages of learning how to cook Thai food, and I have learned to love it a lot. My favorite flavors of Thai food includes lemongrass (which I didn't use in this soup), red curry, lime juice, coconut and cilantro. I added about 1 teaspoon of the red curry paste-- this stuff can be hot! Ree's recipe called for white wine. I used Dry Vermouth, because it's a fortified wine and it's perfect for cooking. I added a generous splash-- oh, about 1/4 cup. Leave it out, if you want. The alcohol does burn off.
Now, while the veggies and aromatics are coming together, I started sauteing the mushrooms with some olive oil...
I had used 1/2 can of coconut milk for a recipe that I haven't blogged yet (I'm totally posting out of sequence). I decided to add this to the veggies, to flavor the soup with coconut-- I was totally experimenting at this point.
I gave the coconut milk a stir. P-Dub's soup had tomato juice in it. I deliberated, and decided to go ahead and add that. Then, I added the mushrooms to the soup.
Now that the cooked mushrooms are stirred in, I added chicken stock (you could use vegetable stock to make this truly a vegetarian soup). I added two bay leaves and let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes. Last, I added about 1/2 cup of Half & Half (you could use heavy cream...or milk).
I prefer my soups on the thicker side. I keep a box of potato starch in my pantry. About 2 Tablespoons of potato starch (you can use corn starch), mixed in with some of the liquid and whisked, prevents risks of lumpy soup. I never add the starch directly to the soup! Off-heat, I added the juice of one lime. Ree adds Parmesan cheese to her soup, which definitely made my mouth water. But, somehow, that didn't see to go with my Thai theme...
The finishing touch was to add fresh chopped cilantro. If you don't like cilantro, then use flat-leaf parsley. Fortunately, cilantro is a favorite herb in my household-- and we even grow it!
Stuffy-nosed me took a first taste. Whoa! I could taste it! The red curry paste gives this soup a real kick! I liked it a lot.
TASTING NOTES: I asked my husband to help adjust the seasonings-- which would be salt. It needed a little more, he said. It's a healthy soup, and I believe that spice really helps clear the sinuses. You can cut back on the red curry paste, if you don't like to much heat. I would use sherry, next time, rather than white wine. For some reason, sherry compliments mushroom soup. When I make Golden Cream of Mushroom Soup, that's my choice for booze-- or, you can leave it out altogether. If you'd rather stick with Ree's original soup recipe, the link is here. In reading comments, though, I would have definitely added thyme to the soup. It's my favorite universal herb in soups.
I'm linking this soup to Souper Sundays, hosted by the lovely and very talented Deb at Kahakai Kitchen. I might have missed today's deadline (I forgot about the time change in Hawaii) for her weekly roundup of soups, stews, salads and sandwiches. It's a great place to find new recipes and to meet other bloggers.
It's Valentine's Day, and I'm so thankful to have a wonderful husband to share it with. Wishing all of you a day of "Love". I'm cooking up some "Love" for my husband tonight. You'll see it in a day or two!
The photo of this dish does not do it justice. I served this delicious salmon dinner for our Christmas Eve Dinner. I am just getting around to posting it because I wasn't happy with the final photo. It's really hard to set up a good shot, when you have six dinner guests and all of us have been imbibing in some holiday spirits! With Valentine's Day coming, it seems perfect timing to show you how simple and impressive this is to make. I'm a big fan of Beef Wellington, but one of our dinner guests doesn't eat red meat. I decided to make Salmon En Croute (or Salmon Wellington) using puff pastry. Mushroom Duxelle is a traditional filling for these beautiful puff pastry dish, so let me show you how easy it is to make:
Cremini mushrooms are baby Portobello mushrooms. I love their "nutty" taste-- even more than traditional white button mushrooms. You need fresh thyme, shallots, butter and white wine. Yes, I wash my mushrooms! Alton Brown adequately proved to me, on one of his shows, that the mushrooms do not absorb a significant amount of water. You can hand wipe them, but I take the easy route. You need to pat them really dry. Prep your shallots, by chopping them finely and you need to remove the woody stem from the thyme-- I love thyme, so I used about 1 Tablespoon of the fresh herb.
Stir in cremini mushrooms and simmer for 7–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, allowing the mushrooms to cook down while their moisture evaporates.
Add white wine (I used dry Vermouth), thyme and salt. Simmer for an additional 5–7 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in whipping cream. OMG!! I ate a few spoonfuls, it's so good! Use immediately or cover and refrigerate. Makes 1 cup-- though I doubled the recipe.
Now, let's make Salmon Wellington!
I paid around $30.00 for this gorgeous salmon filet. I didn't weigh each slice, but I cut it into equal pieces-- which yielded 8 slices. I thawed commercially bought (Pepperidge Farm) puff pastry, according to the package directions. Next:
Cut puff pastry into four equal 5" x 8" (13cm x 20cm) sheets. Approximate measurements are suitable. Spread ¼ cup mushroom duxelle evenly onto each sheet of puff pastry, leaving a ½" (1 cm) margin at the edges. Place a salmon fillet in the center of each prepared pastry, seasoning each with a sprinkle of salt.
These are my brother's hands-- who arrived to help me get the dinner together. In retrospect, I cut the filets closer to 8 ounces, so there was little room for a seam to pinch together. No worries, we used a form to seal the edges. I brushed an egg wash (beaten egg with water) over each pastry and baked this at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Next, lower the heat to 325 degrees F and bake for an additional 15–20 minutes until puff-pastry is flaky and golden brown.
I did make Tyler Florence's Beurre Blanc Sauce to drizzle around each pastry, and I will blog that recipe later on.
The Beurre Blanc sauce gave a nice acidity to the buttery pastry and...
The salmon was very moist! The kitchen was a little busy, and my guests were very hungry. So, the photos pretty much stop right here! I will say that I should have cut the filets about half the size-- more like 4 ounces. Most of us could only eat half-- but... the next day, I reheated the leftover Wellington's in the oven (not a microwave). My son took his home, and he did the same thing-- we all agreed that it was delicious!
I froze the remaining Duxelles (I had about 1/2 cup left) and the Beurre Blanc Sauce. Stay tuned-- because I reinvented some tasty treats with these. This dinner was one of the easiest "fancy" meals I've made. Seriously, making puff pastry from scratch is a lot of work. Buying it is a shortcut I have no problem taking. I hope you try this, sometime. The Duxelles... I have to make more of this soon. It's delicious on crostini, phyllo dough or even as pinwheels with puff pastry. Yummy!
By the way-- I am just now feeling better after coming down with a wicked cold, on Super Bowl Sunday. I lost my sense of taste and smell-- which means that I haven't been doing much cooking. I'm finally able to taste again, so I need to get busy planning something special for Valentine's Day Dinner. It's too busy for us, so we'll go out to eat when the restaurants won't be so busy. I'm making something heart-shaped, and it's a first-time attempt for me. Hopefully, it will turn out well and I'll post it on Valentine's Day!
I'm off work until Tuesday...and I'm looking forward to some R&R!
In November, I missed both of the Barefoot Bloggers recipe selections from one of my favorite Food Network Stars-- Ina Garten of the Barefoot Contessa. When I saw that "Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms" was the selection for December 24th's posting, I wanted to make this! I figured that if this recipe turned out as tasty as it sounded, then it would be included with my Christmas Eve festivities. The first change that I made was to switch from Button Mushrooms to Portobello Mushrooms. I think they have a "nuttier" taste--
These beauties are pretty large-- about the size of the palm of my hand.
Food Network's "Alton Brown" did an experiment, on one of his episodes, that disproved the theory that mushrooms should be wiped with a cloth. Alton weighed his mushrooms before washing them, and afterward. The increase of water was so minute, that it didn't make a difference! Since then, I wash my mushrooms, thoroughly-- which is a lot easier, I think. (I have seen what mushrooms grow in, and I want to be sure they are very clean!)
I wipe them dry with a paper towel, pull out the stems (to be chopped) and then I like to use a melon baller to clean out those unsightly "gills". The mushrooms are then placed into a baking dish, and marinated with a little olive oil and some sherry (or Marsala wine is good, too). Next...
The stems are finely minced and set aside...
Green onions are a "must"-- cleaned and sliced thin...
I read the reviews for this recipe, and some folks complained that the filling was greasy. I didn't have that problem, because I used turkey sausage. Removing the casings, I cooked the sausage, thoroughly in a cast iron skillet. Because turkey sausage is very lean, I actually needed to add a little bit of olive oil. There! Are we ready to build flavor? NOTE: This recipe could easily be adapted for a vegetarian by not using sausage and using more chopped mushrooms and bread crumbs.
To the sausage, green onion is added... then finely minced garlic... next, panko crumbs and it's combined. Next...
Cheese, please! Ina recommends Marscapone Cheese. I happened to have some, but cream cheese would work just fine Trust me. That's added, and is blended once the heat makes it creamy. Next, some Parmesan cheese. I added some fresh cracked pepper, but not additional salt. I think the Parmesan and the sausage had enough in it-- your choice. In retrospect, I wish I had added some fresh thyme and red pepper flakes. But, I try not to change recipes around too much-- the first go-round, which this was.
My garden has ample fresh Italian parsley. Mince it, and then add that to the sausage filling. I grabbed a small scoop, and now...
... fill those marinated and "cleaned" mushrooms to the brim!
I'm getting an idea...
I diverted from the recipe, because I had a bag of shredded three-cheeses. Why not? NOTE: If you notice a toothpick...um, I kinda got aggressive cleaning out the mushrooms...and I "bwoke" one. I patched it back with a toothpick, which worked just fine.
The recipe says to bake these for 50 minutes at 325F. Mine were ready in 25 minutes!
My son said that these reminded him of sausage pizza-- without the crust. I thought about it, and he's right! These were very tasty. Because the mushrooms were so large, combined with a salad, this would make a nice lunch or supper.
I had leftover sausage filling. I think these would be delicious mixed in with scrambled eggs. Or, this could also be used as a pizza topping. However, I think I'll just make these all over again for Christmas Eve. They are very easy to make. I also think this recipe is very versatile. TASTE NOTES: Regular Italian sausage is an ideal ingredient. Just be sure to drain the excess fat. Fresh thyme would be an excellent addition. I'm not sure if panko crumbs are vital. The moisture of the filling defeated the crunchiness of panko crumbs. I think regular bread crumbs would be fine. You can easily make the sausage a day ahead-- which is exactly what I've done.
