Stuffed Portabellos

my favorite author is Nicholas Evans, he wrote the Horse Whisperer. i didn't particularly care for the movie (tho, hello Mr. Redford) but when i read the book, oh mercy, his lyrical prose was moving. i even drove 2 hours to NoVa to meet him at a bookstore where he was promoting his book the Divide. (for reals, loverly brit-ish accent...) anyway, a few years ago he, along with a few members of his family accidentally consumed some poisonous mushrooms, they are now on a dialysis regimen and on the kidney transplant list. oh the horror!

i like mushrooms, i always have. but i've also always had a very healthy respect for not putting random things in my mouth when hiking or camping. (let's be clear, i haven't been camping in forever but if i ever go again, i'm avoiding any kind of foraging of wild vegetation blah blah blah...) for this month's challenge, i used portobellos, big & beefy, a perfect item as a side but really, capable of being a stand alone entree. which is what i had for dinner friday night.

Stuffed Portobellos

adapted from Bon Appetit Hon

once again, no exact measurements

2 big portobellos, gills scraped off

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 zucchini, diced

1/4 fennel, sliced thinly

1 heirloom tomato, diced

1 small apple, diced

splash of olive oil & balsamic vinegar

goat cheese

preheat oven 350F.

drizzle a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar over mushrooms, both sides. bake in oven for 5 minutes, both sides. meanwhile, saute up onions in a bit of oil until softened. add in the apples and zucchini, about 5-7 minutes, until the zuchs are soft. put the cooked mixture in a bowl and cool slightly, add in the fennel and tomatoes, mix well, season with salt. throw in a bit of goat cheese, it'll a melt a bit.

take out the 'shrooms and scoop mixture on top. return to the oven and cook for another 5 minutes. top with a bit more cheese and serve.

just so you know, the 'shrooms shrink a smidge.

asianized enchiladas

remember when i said i wasn't that hot for mexican or latin american food some time ago? the stuff's grown on me. i like it a lot now. i think the combination of rice and beans is almost genius. my long weekend in PR last week solidified that cheese melted over meat topped with salsa is damn good.

be con's challenge of something rolled made me wrack my brain for something latin amercan. enchiladas seemed easy enough and definitely good enough that i could have it for leftover during the week. my spin was to use japanese eggplant for the filling. weird combo, i know but when i was at the asian market they looked so appetizing, i couldn't resist buying them.

i was quite happy with the end result. it was different. i didn't pay much attention to what i used and how much so. sorry! i chopped up the eggplant into bite size pieces. sauteed with chopped onions until soft. i used taco mix and dumped a can of green chili peppers for the added spice. alright, filling done. i had flour tortilla hanging out so i wrapped up the eggplant filling and lined them in a casserole dish, poured enchilada sauce over it and topped with cheese. baked in the oven at 350 til cheese is melted. done. i paired my asian enchilada with avocado. yuuuuuuum.

til next time,
Angry Asian

Organic and what not

This is my first lasagna. I love the dish, but it makes so much and is usually so fattening which I think is why I've avoided it. I really did not follow a recipe. I had a few things at home, picked up a few more things at a health food store (while forgetting even more) and called it a day.

Lately I've been leaning towards going vegetarian (Just cause. That's a whole different post) so I made my lasagna sans meat.

It turned out....well....not so great looking, but the taste made up for it. It looks like a rainbow of a mess really. I ended up dropping my noodles so they were all broken. nice. oh, gluten free noodles by the way. Normally I wouldn't go to that extreme, but we were in the health food store at the time and it's all they had....

My list of items:

ricotta cheese

2 zucchini

parmesan cheese

cheddar cheese

orange pepper

onion

noodles

petite diced tomatoes

garlic

I started out by mixing the ricotta in the food processor with one of the zukes, garlic, and salt. it made a nice light green color. Oh, and I added rosemary to that as well. Second, I sauteed the remainder of my vegs just until a bit soft. The diced tomatoes were pureed with garlic, salt, and tomato paste. I layered the dish starting with the noodles, then the ricotta, vegs, tomato sauce, cheese, and repeat. Honestly I do think I messed up on the order of my layers during the middle of the production.

It cooked for one hour and voila! It looks like more of a veg casserole in the pics, but the effort was there! I topped with parmesan (my fave cheese ever), and had some fresh rye bread from the bakery on the side. Mattie was in for seconds and said he didn't miss the meat at all. I can dig that!

I can honestly say that I did enjoy this meal and I don't feel like I just ate a brick. Next time I hope that I don't break my noodles into little pieces before they reach the pan though. Matt couldn't say why, but he felt that he liked the noodles that you have to cook before assembly better than the oven ready guys. Noted.

I'm off to have hot chocolate with baileys, but until then fellow doorknobs, keep those buns and ovens hot!