Stumbling Into Fall

Happy Labor Day!  I can't believe I haven't blogged anything here in over 4 months.  Things have been pretty hectic around here.  We got engaged at the end of June and have been trying to plan a wedding in 5 months, which is totally doable, but still crazy.  Also, I've been struggling with some health issues.  Back in March I started getting constant headaches, which was a big deal for me as I never really got those in the past.  After many trips to the doctor and many co-pays, turns out I have migraines triggered by a damaged nerve in the back of my head.  I've been on medicine which is helping, but it has made me have no appetite, therefore my desire to cook and create new recipes has completely gone away.  Anyway,  I decided that I still have to eat, and well so does Dan, so I am going to try and post some new recipes and photos of the food that we make.  

I know that it's only Labor Day and summer is still here, but I love Fall and always have.  I can't wait for it to come.  The colors, the smells, and the foods are all my favorites.  I'm working to force fall here as quickly as possible.  I was wanting some mushroom soup the other day, so made up this recipe for a rich, creamy, yet healthy and plant based soup.  It's so easy to make, you'll never by the canned stuff again.  I can see using this in Thanksgiving green bean casserole...hmmm...who needs to wait for Thanksgiving???  Hopefully you'll join me in welcoming Fall, perhaps more gracefully then I do.

Creamy Mushroom Soup
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups mushrooms, sliced (i used a mix of crimini and button but use whatever you have on hand)
1/4 cup white wine or champagne
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1 package mori-nu silken tofu
1 cup vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

In a saute pan with a small amount of cooking spray of vegetable broth, add onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent.  Add mushrooms, salt, pepper and rosemary and cook until mushrooms are tender.  Deglaze pan with wine and cook for another 3-5 minutes.  Allow mixture to cool for 10 minutes or so.  In a blender or food processor, add mixture, tofu, and broth and blend until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish with green onions.  

Enjoy!  I also topped mine with Sriracha for a little added spice!

For those of you who want to keep summer around, this soup is actually really good served chilled as well.  

Mushrooms + Red Wine = Delicious

Growing up my parents had a statue of W.C. Fields.  I thought it was just a weird home decor they had at the time (although I am pretty sure Babs and Big Al still have it up in the attic).  However as of late my mantra has been a quote from W.C. Fields..."I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food".  This post is dedicated to that little statue that will forever be in my head when I think of my parent's living room.    

I set out one night to make the Creamy Mushroom Fettuccini from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s book Appetite for Reduction (it is a must have for sure, I haven’t made one thing out of it that isn’t delicious the baked onion rings are amazing?!?!).  

Well I was making a few tweaks to the recipe, using up some fresh herbs that were going to start going bad, some shallots I had laying around when I got to the step to add some white wine.  So I galloped (yep pretty sure that happened) over to the wine fridge to find that WHAT?!?! I am out of white wine?  How is this possible?  Well in a moment of necessity I used some red wine I had on hand and low and behold this dish was born.  I have made it several times since and even though I now have a well stocked wine fridge with white wine I keep going back to the red.  I know this isn’t the traditional Marsala wine sauce with Marsala Wine, but I am not that traditional lately.

I set out this evening to have some chickpea cutlets on top and although they were okay, they weren't great...more perfecting is needed.  Maybe next time...until then you get the sauce and pasta, your welcome :).

These can easily be made gluten free by using a gluten free past.  The mushroom soup I use here can be found at Whole Foods, it is the Imagine brand and is really quite good(it was on sale last week so I stocked up so be ready for some more recipes starring this awesome soup).  I even used it on Thanksgiving for vegan green bean casserole and the family barely noticed the difference, but with fried onions on top who would?!

Salud!

Mushroom Marsala with Whole Wheat Fettuccini (4 servings)

Essential Equipment

Stock Pot

Large Sauce Pan

1 tbsp vegetable broth

2 shallots - finely chopped

2 cloves garlic - minced

3 cups sliced white mushrooms (cremini or baby bella would work here as well)

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

½ cup dry red wine (better take a sip or a couple sips first to make sure it is just right)

2 tbsp cornstarch

2 cups portabella mushroom soup

8 oz whole wheat fettuccini

Green onions or scallions for garnish

In a large pot, boil water for pasta.  Add a tablespoon of salt to the water and add pasta.  Cook per the instructions on the package.  (this is not included in the photo video).  Drain and place to the side until sauce is complete.

In the meantime, in a large sauce pan on medium heat add vegetable broth, add garlic and shallots.  Cook until shallots are browning, stirring often to not burn the garlic. 

Add mushrooms to the pan and stir.  Add additional broth if need to prevent sticking.  Once mushrooms start to cook down add in the salt, pepper, rosemary and balsamic vinegar.  

Once mushrooms have cooked, add red wine to deglaze the pan.  Cook until wine reduces by half.  

Add cornstarch and stir into mushroom/wine mixture.  Add in mushroom soup and cook until sauce darkens and thickens (about 5-7 minutes).  

Place pasta on plate, top with sauce and green onions.  

Can be refrigerated for up to 4 days (still good reheated for lunch or dinner another day)

Birthday Eve Wild Mushroom, Asparagus & Sage Risotto!

So tomorrow is my 31st birthday.  30 was really easy for me...31 on the other hand is causing me problems.  So why not spend my last night as a 30 year old posting my first blog.  This is something I have always wanted to do and after a little soul searching and a photography class decided this was the right thing to do!  I have no idea why but there is nothing that a little risotto and wine around the christmas tree can't fix.  

I have been for the majority of the past month eating a plant-based vegan diet and really love it (we are going to forget that Thanksgiving ever existed).  I find it to be energizing and completely interesting to cook.  So I am eating no meat or dairy...my boyfriend Dan only eats meat and dairy..this blog is dedicated to the craziness that is our meal-time.  Some how we make it work.  Each meal I will let you know what type of cuisine it was, even throw in some suggestions to make it gluten free, or even non-vegan if that's your style.  This blog is for everyone, making gourmet food out of simple ingredients you can find in most major supermarkets.  Most of my shopping is done at Trader Joe's or Jewel(the local supermarket in Chicagoland).  

With that said, this risotto is both vegan, gluten free, and low in fat as I use very small amounts of oils in my cooking.  But trust me, it has every ounce of flavor that one full of butter and parmesan cheese would have and you don't have to feel guilty after enjoying it.  Hooray!  I am thinking I might try turning them into risotto cakes with the leftovers...stay tuned.

Wild Mushroom, Asparagus and Sage Risotto

2 shallots, finely chopped

½ dry white wine - I use a wine that I will drink although I use half a cup and the whole bottle goes missing

1 ½ cups Arborio Rice

1 ½ cups rehydrated dried wild Mushrooms – roughly chopped (let them sit in hot water for about 15 minutes to rehydrate)

8 stalks of asparagus – roughly chopped

2 tablespoons finely chopped sage

6 cups vegetable broth – I use low sodium as I want to be in control of how much salt is going in there!

2 tablespoon olive oil

In a saucepan, warm the broth.  Usually put this on low heat as you don’t want to boil it.

In a large sauce pan on medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and add mushrooms, asparagus, sage and a dash of sea salt. Cook until the mushrooms are soft, typically 3-5 minutes.  Remove mushrooms from pan and set aside. 

Add additional tablespoon of olive oil and stir in the chopped shallots.  Cook until the shallots appear translucent.  Add the rice and stir to coat.  After 5 minutes, or when the rice starts to take on a golden color, add the white wine.  Stir until all the wine has been absorbed. 

Stirring constantly, add a ½ cup of broth in at a time until it is absorbed by the rice.  Continue this until the rice is cooked and the mixture has taken on a creamy texture.  This will take about 15-20 minutes. 

Remove from heat and add in the mushrooms asparagus and sage.  Season to taste with salt and black pepper.  Serve immediately (although the leftovers of this are sometimes better than the original!)  Works well as a main meal or a side dish.  

Notes:

For a drier almost tangier flavor substitue a dry champagne for the white wine.  It is equally delicious.

For those non-vegans out there: You can substitute chicken broth for the veggie broth easily.  Also after this is complete cooking, you can add in ¼ parmesan cheese or crumble some baked, crispy prosciutto on top.  If you are doing this I would watch how much salt you add to the risotto as you don’t want it to be too salty!  Obviously this would void my vegan, low fat comment but still gluten free!