Portobello mushrooms are, in my opinion, the steaks of the mushroom world. They’re rich and meaty, and are deceptively filling; one mushroom cap is usually enough for one person. The first time I cooked them at home, I paired them with a little bit of pasta in a wine sauce, and a small side salad. My Fi looked at his plate and promptly asked what else I was making for dinner, then ended up eating about 2/3 of the food I’d plated for him, groaning that I’d made too much.

This time, I stuck with the mushrooms and some smaller portions of veggies – asparagus – and salad. Start out by mixing 1/2 a cup of red wine (I used a VERY cheap merlot), 1/2 a cup of extra virgin olive oil, 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of dried minced onion, 2 teaspoons of chopped basil (3-4 leaves if you’re using fresh) 3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt, and roughly 1/4 teaspoon cracked pepper. Whisk it all together, and leave it on the counter for an hour or so to let the flavors mingle a bit.

Next, thoroughly wash the mushrooms and trim down their stems so they’re nice and even. Set them dark side-up in a baking dish or other flat dish with sides, and pour the wine mixture over and around them. Make sure to get some of the mixture into each mushroom cap. Now, let it marinate. This isimportant: Don’t leave them for any longer than an hour. After about an hour, the wine starts to overpower the natural meaty-ness of the mushroom, and they get pretty mushy.

At this point, I turned my attention to the other half of our meal – grilled asparagus. I’d never prepared fresh asparagus before; we’ve always had access to packages of frozen, pre-trimmed stuff from Schwann’s. I must say, I’ll NEVER buy frozen asparagus again! Ever. The fresh kind was just as easy to prepare, and held a lot more snap, even after grilling. I’m getting ahead of myself.  I cooked roughly half of a bunch of fresh asparagus (approximately 14-18 pieces), so double this recipe if you decide to use the whole bunch.

Wash the asparagus in cold water, and trim off the hard, woody parts at the bottom. I removed about the first inch and a half to two inches, which was usually right around the first leaf. Next, mix 1/3 of a cup of olive oil, 3/4 of a teaspoon minced garlic, and 3/4 of a teaspoon of Kosher salt. Coat the asparagus with the olive oil mixture, and give it 15-20 minutes to absorb the salt and garlic flavors.

This makes a perfect time to go light the grill. You’ll be cooking the mushrooms at medium to medium-high heat, and the asparagus at low to medium, so a grill with an upper rack is a wonderful thing. Once the grill is hot, drain the mushrooms and place them dark side-down onto the grill. Warning: You’re cooking with olive oil, which IS flammable, and can cause grill flare ups. You may want a spray bottle of water handy just in case the flares start to harm your mushrooms. Next, put the asparagus spears on the upper rack of the grill. The same flame warning applies here…Just be prepared. Let everything cook for 4-5 minutes, turn, and cook for another 3-4. The mushrooms will be tender, and the asparagus will have some slight browning.

Unfortunately, I made this for our “date night” last night, and in my haste to get a nice candlelight dinner set up, taking close-up pictures of the finished product slipped my mind. I managed to get a couple of table shots before my Fi got home from work. I think the funniest part is our flamingo “wine” glasses. They were a gift from a friend when I moved into my first apartment, and we haven’t gotten around to replacing them yet. Enjoy!

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

3-4 Portobello mushroom caps

1/2 cup red wine

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons minced garlic – or 2 cloves if you’re using fresh garlic

1 teaspoon dried minced onion

2 teaspoons chopped basil (3-4 leaves)

3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon (approx.) cracked pepper

Whisk together oil, wine, and other ingredients; let them rest for an hour or so. If you’re  pressed for time, this step can be done the night before. Wash the mushrooms and trim the stems, then place them in a shallow baking dish. Pour on the wine mixture, and let them rest for no longer than an hour. Drain, and grill over medium heat, dark side-down for 4-5 minutes, turn, and grill for another 3-4 minutes.

Grilled Asparagus

1/2 bunch (14-18 spears) fresh asparagus

1/3 cup olive oil

3/4 teaspoon minced garlic

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Wash and trim the asparagus, and coat it with the olive oil mixture. Let it stand for 15-20 minutes, then grill over low heat (or on an upper rack) for 4-5 minutes. Rotate the stalks slightly, then grill for another 3-4 minutes.

Grilled or Roasted Asparagus

1 bunch (2 ¼ pounds) fresh Victoria island Farms asparagus, trimmed

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Balsamic vinegar (if grilled)

Coarse salt

Freshly ground black pepper

TO GRILL

1.  Preheat grill

2.  Fill a skillet with about 1 inch of water and bring to a boil.

3.  Place asparagus in the boiling water and simmer for 1-3 minutes, or until nearly tender.  Drain immediately and place in ice water to stop the cooking.  Pat dry.

4.  Brush asparagus with olive oil and grill over high heat for 2-4 minutes on each side.  Remove from the grill, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and seasoned to taste with salt and pepper.

TO ROAST

1.  Preheat over to 400°F.

2.  Rinse asparagus under cold water and pat dry.

3.  Place asparagus on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil.  Drizzle with olive oil, then toss to coat asparagus completely.  Spread asparagus in a single layer and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.

4.  Roast for 10-12 minutes, or until tender but still crisp.  Makes 6 servings.

Source:  Cooking in Style The Costco Way.

Like the Neil Young song.

The bad news is that I didn’t end up making the new recipe last night for dinner because I realized I was missing a key ingredient. It was getting late, I’d had a long day at work and I didn’t feel up to making a trip to the store before eating dinner. The good news is that I will be making it sometime this week and I wound up having a delicious veggie filled dinner.

Spaghetti squash I baked on Monday night for the week with some jarred tomato basil sauce (don’t judge- I was hungry) and left over grilled veggies, corn and asparagus.

After dinner I had a bit of a sweet tooth and this locally baked bread starting calling my name.

I don’t know what it is about cinnamon, but I love it. I can’t get enough of cinnamon breads, cinnamon in my oats, cinnamon swirl peanut butter, the list goes on. Things really haven’t changed much because growing up Ccinnamon Toast Crunch and Cinnamon Life were my favorite cereals.

I had half a slice of this heavenly bread (notice the intricate cutting job) with some PB&CO cinnamon swirl peanut butter.

After sitting around the house for a good while reading blogs and debating on whether or not I should go work out, I finally mustered up the energy to grab a book I started on vacay, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and hit up the gym.I was happy that I went because I ended up walking an hour on the mill while immersed in the book. I was nearing the end (about 40 pages left) when I pried myself off the treadmill and headed home. I spent a tiny bit of time scooping a bowl of Julie’s Organic Cinnamon Apple Frozen Yogurt and then settled back into reading. (I just can’t get away from the cinnamon.)

This was a new to me yogurt and I was pleased, as it was smooth and decadent and felt as though I was eating Apple Pie a la mode. I ended finishing both the yogurt and the book. I’ll let you guess which was finished first?

So, the yogurt was good, as for the book- it was heart wrenching, but overall phenomenal. It’s a fictional novel, but I enjoyed the political and historical undertones that were dispersed throughout. It never seemed like a history lesson, but I feel that I learned quite a bit about Afghan culture, their view of women, and what the people who lived there during war endured. It definitely made me appreciate the many things I take for granted in life!

I highly recommend A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

Have you read this one or Hossenini’s other book, The Kite Runner? What did you think?

Happy Humpday!

Risotto is an Italian rice specialty that I think of as pasta because of its rich, starchy creaminess. Arborio rice is the most common one to use. The shape and texture of the rice is unique but it is the process of cooking risotto that transforms the rice into silky bits of pleasure. There are a few keys to perfect risotto.
1. Great stock! I use a homemade stock of dark roasted chicken bones. When you reduce (boil down) liquid you are concentrating the flavors as the water evaporates. Making risotto is essentially a series of multiple reductions. You add a cup of stock at a time until the rice absorbs it and then add another. Each time you are concentrating the flavor! BEWARE if you use store bought stock that is fine but make sure it is low salt or it will be too salty as it reduces.
2. Sauté the rice with chopped shallots and olive oil until the rice is translucent and the shallots are soft.
3. Hit the rice with some white wine and let the rice absorb it all. Now you have a solid, tasty flavor base!
4. Have your stock simmering on the back of the stove so it is ready to add a ladle full at a time. STIR the rice constantly until each ladle full of stock is absorbed.
5. Roast your ingredients separately (mushrooms and asparagus in this case) and stir in at the end. This way you have great flavor from the separate cooking process (roasted mushrooms and grilled asparagus) as well as nice texture. If you try to cook the veggies, meat or seafood into the rice you are likely to end up with it overcooked.
6. Keep tasting the rice towards the end. You want it al dente just like pasta. Once the rice is almost there add one last ladle full of stock. Leave the rice a touch loose as it will firm up quickly once plated.
7. Stir in your ingredients of choice along with a Tb of butter and a few Tb of Parmesan. This last step is key to giving the rice a silky finish and perfect balance. You don’t taste the butter but it is doing its job!
8. EAT it right away. You will be temporary transported to another place…

I take a bite and my mouth is filled with the silkiest, creamiest texture you can imagine. A bite into a firm piece of grilled asparagus which cuts the creaminess with its full green flavor and the smoke of the grill. The mushrooms continue the earthiness with their meaty texture and golden brown goodness. The white wine I used to deglaze the golden mushrooms jumps out and marries perfectly with my glass of white wine (I am still drinking that amazing Albarino from Spain!). The Parmesan I stirred in at the end has that mild nutty, lovely salty finish that is the perfect finish to any great plate of pasta! Enjoy!!

Eat well, enjoy life, be happy.

It was a perfect day. I have tried to imprint it in my mind so I can remember it always! The weather was gorgeous. I ran a good 1/2 marathon with some of my girlfriends. Our son, Tommy, and his girlfriend, Amanda, came over for dinner. This was my kind of day!

Tom & I started our cocktail hour with a cold and fizzy gin & tonic with a fresh wedge of lime. Then, out to the grill to start the steak. We opened a bottle of this Down Under Shiraz, which was the perfect choice for our steak dinner. I also made oven-roasted potatoes (potatoes cut up in chunks with skin, mixed with olive oil and freshly ground salt & pepper, then roasted in the oven for about 90 minutes), and a really delicious fresh salad.  I grilled aspargus on the grill, as well. I also made brownies for dessert with ice cream. Everything tasted delicious.

But, back to the wine. A perfect choice for a grilled steak — full of berry flavors with a  generous complement of black pepper and hints of oak. Excellent!

This photo is dedicated to my daughter Kiah

OK, I’m home.  What an exciting time in La Guardia Airport yesterday.  I realize it’s an “indoors” experience, but thought you all might want to know.  If you decide to fly out of La Guardia, leave some extra time.  I arrived two hours early.  Good thing.  The security line snaked all around inside the building.  Behind the check-in, around by the Dunkin’ Donuts, all the way back around, wall-to-wall people snaked toward the TSA folks in their official uniforms so they could scrunch up their faces and study our identification and boarding passes. 

I said to the security guy (when finally we peered face-to-face):  “Busy day?” and he shook his head, No.  Not busy???  No, he said, when it’s busy the line goes way outside. 

Fortunately, hopefully, we all made our plane to wherever we were going.

Green chairs in park

I had another blog ready to write.  Honest.  All about the first day outdoors back in the beautiful Upper Peninsula!  The words were ready to spill themselves forth onto the computer.  But then I decided to scroll through the photos of the NYC trip, and really really wanted to post a handful more before wrapping up the trip and filing it in Memory’s folder.

Hope you don’t mind…  The photos insisted upon their rights.  They cajoled.  They begged.  And I finally succumbed to their snapshot pleadings…

What do you think of this awesome root statue?

I tried to post the following photo five times from Kiah’s computer.  It always appeared turned sideways or upside down, and it seemed impossible to re-arrange it.  It’s part of a statue down in Battery Park dedicated to the immigrants who settled in this country.  The statue is amazing!  I photographed little sections of it, as the individual faces and expressions seemed equally powerful as the larger statue.  Here is one, hopefully upright:

Prayer of the Immigrant

So the Internet refused to work last night after I returned home.  The Marquette Public Library announced brazenly that it closed at 6 p.m. on Friday nights.  Therefore, even though yesterday’s blog had been written early in the morning, a challenge existed how to post it.  I called Kiah and begged her assistance.  Would she please post?  She agreed.  Yesterday’s blog came to you courtesy of Kiah’s willingness to post.

What possibly could be wrong with the darned computer?  It looked like a discouraging weekend.  How to post blogs, how to get caught up on computer time, how to play Scrabble on Facebook with my son?  Oh the difficult questions of life.

Until we discovered a plain brown box next to the mail.  “What is this?” I asked Barry.  “Don’t know,” he replied, “it showed up in the door one day.”  I unwrapped it, and guess what it was?  A new Internet ethernet system, courtesy of the phone company (our Internet provider).  Apparently we’re blessed with an upgrade!  So we scrambled to figure out how to hook Wire A with Port B.  It still wouldn’t work.  But later, after sitting out on the deck (having my outdoor experience at 9:30 p.m.) we finally figured out why it might not be working. Success!!  Memorial Day weekend could now proceed smoothly, with Internet properly working.

Just look up. and up. and up.

And for you faithful readers who salivated so lovingly over the radish photo from the Green Market in…well, whatever part of the city we were in that afternoon…OK, you can view the asparagus photo.  Tonight we grilled whole asparagus on the grill.  It was yummy.  We even ate outside, although it wasn’t as warm as one might prefer.  But it IS Memorial Day weekend!  Maybe I’ll post more grilling photos as the weekend progresses.  Hurray!  Summer is here!  (yeah, right, maybe not in the Upper Peninsula…but it’s coming closer every day!)

Asparagus, anyone?

Recipe for grilled asparagus:  Buy fresh asparagus.  Organic if possible.  Cut off tough bottom ends.  Drizzle well with virgin olive oil or brush with a pastry brush.  Heat grill.  Put asparagus on sideways (horizontally, not vertically.  Otherwise you’ll lose the asparagus in the bowels of the grill.)  Cook for 6-10 minutes.  Cook until crisp, el-dente, or cook until the asparagus melts in your mouth.  Use a knife and cut off a small portion to determine when the proper moment has arrived.  The asparagus will be tenderly browned and oh-so-good.

Promise.

Grilled Asparagus. A culinary delight.

Roasted Asparagus And Tomato Dressed With Citrus Vinaigrette Recipe.

Avocados and tomatoes seem to be a match made in heaven.  At least that’s what every avocado recipe out there tells me.  Since I ain’t diggin the deadly nightshades (sadly including chili powder which is avocados closest friend), I created a recipe that excludes these and lets the avocado shine on it’s own.

And how did this little number turn out?  Well my father detests avocados.  Even when made into a flavourful guacamole.  After many attempts to include them into his diet by sneaking them into dips, salads and on top of dishes as a garnish I was very curious to see how he would find my soup.  At first I was sad to see at the end of the meal he still had a full bowl.  When I asked him how he liked the soup he replied, “I’m working on my second bowl!  This is really good!”

So there you have it.  But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself because avocados are not a food you want to ignore!

Avocado Soup

Ingredients:

5-6 small to medium avocados (very ripe)

1 Tbsp olive oil (or veg. oil)

2 small onions (finely diced)

2 tsp minced garlic (about 4 cloves)

2 cups of vegetable broth

1 cup soy milk (or any milk you want to use)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp salt

2 heaping tsps cumin

pepper to taste

Garnish:  

Vegan sour cream

tortilla chips

Directions: 

Slice and mash the avocados very well.  (you can also puree them in a food processor).  Set aside.  

Heat the oil in a medium sized pot and dice your onions.  Fry the onions and garlic till soft and browned.  

Add in the vegetable broth, the avocados, and the “milk” and stir well (keeping all this on medium heat).

Add in the remaining ingredients.

As soon as it’s hot it’s ready to serve.  Add some tortilla chips and maybe a dollop of vegan sour cream! 

I ate mine with some grilled asparagus.  Not exactly a complete meal but I had already eaten quite a bit of protein throughout the day.

MMM! For the 4th, I took another spin at grilled pizza. This time, I had a helpful assistant to help take some pictures while we prepped and cooked. We accompanied the pizza with grilled asparagus and corn. Another lousy meal…. HA. Yeah right. Hopefully the following pictures will help you in your own grilled pizza making adventures.

Marinated asparagus, ready to grill. Oil and balsamic with salt and pepper.

Prepared pesto.

Veggies waiting. This round, I used baby arugula instead of spinach, and rather than prosciutto, I used sweet Italian sausage.

Pizza assembly on the grill.

Now THIS…

…is the 4th of July, as it should be.

We really ended the whole show with homemade sweet cream ice cream with hot fudge and fresh, local strawberries…. YUM. A lovely evening of eating.

Avocados and tomatoes seem to be a match made in heaven.  At least that’s what every avocado recipe out there tells me.  Since I ain’t diggin the deadly nightshades (sadly including chili powder which is avocados closest friend), I created a recipe that excludes these and lets the avocado shine on it’s own.

And how did this little number turn out?  Well my father detests avocados.  Even when made into a flavourful guacamole.  After many attempts to include them into his diet by sneaking them into dips, salads and on top of dishes as a garnish I was very curious to see how he would find my soup.  At first I was sad to see at the end of the meal he still had a full bowl.  When I asked him how he liked the soup he replied, “I’m working on my second bowl!  This is really good!”

So there you have it.  But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself because avocados are not a food you want to ignore!

Avocado Soup

Ingredients:

5-6 small to medium avocados (very ripe)

1 Tbsp olive oil (or veg. oil)

2 small onions (finely diced)

2 tsp minced garlic (about 4 cloves)

2 cups of vegetable broth

1 cup soy milk (or any milk you want to use)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp salt

2 heaping tsps cumin

pepper to taste

Garnish:  

Vegan sour cream

tortilla chips

Directions: 

Slice and mash the avocados very well.  (you can also puree them in a food processor).  Set aside.  

Heat the oil in a medium sized pot and dice your onions.  Fry the onions and garlic till soft and browned.  

Add in the vegetable broth, the avocados, and the “milk” and stir well (keeping all this on medium heat).

Add in the remaining ingredients.

As soon as it’s hot it’s ready to serve.  Add some tortilla chips and maybe a dollop of vegan sour cream! 

I ate mine with some grilled asparagus.  Not exactly a complete meal but I had already eaten quite a bit of protein throughout the day.

Sustainable food is always at hand.

 Produce found in the average U.S. grocery store travels nearly 1,500 miles between farm to your home, and some 40% of our fruit is harvested overseas. Vegetables and fruit are trucked across our highways, hauled in freighters over oceans, and flown around the world. Produce shipped from different states and countries can spend as much as seven to fourteen days in transit before they arrive in the supermarket. Vast amounts of fossil fuels are expended to transport foods such long distances with the resulting release of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and other pollutants into the atmosphere.

 Try the healthier avenue of buying local produce.  By buying local, you can support your community and likely receive fresher product.

As spring is upon us, our opening “green” recipe has asparagus as the main event:

                Grilled Asparagus Gribiche 

1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed
Olive oil, for brushing asparagus
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 hard-cooked eggs, yolks only
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon leaves
2 tablespoons capers, drained
6 cornichons, diced
1 1/4 cups extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar

 Preheat the grill to medium. Brush the asparagus with oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Grill for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until just cooked through. Remove from the grill and place on a serving platter. Place the cooked egg yolks, tarragon, capers, cornichons, salt, and pepper in the work bowl of a food processor and pulse until just combined. With the processor running, slowly add the oil until emulsified. Add enough white wine vinegar to make the sauce thin enough to drizzle. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper, if necessary. Drizzle the sauce over the asparagus and serve immediately.

About a year ago we went to a vegan cooking seminar here in Richmond and the chef taught us how to make homemade seitan. Anyone who has done this before knows although it’s worth it, it takes a lot of time to make it. But once again Isa Chandra Moskowitz found a better and faster way of making seitan using vital wheat gluten. There’s a great recipe in Veganomicon so we decided to try that out tonight…and wow. This was the first time in my entire life that I’ve had to use a knife to eat my dinner. A KNIFE. Who would have thought? Josh was really excited about making the seitan.. He got a flavor injector thing at Target because he said he wanted to inject it with margarine and some herbs to make it really moist.. and it did! Here’s a picture of the moistness:

So the recipe for making seitan in Veganomicon gets 4 stars. Hands down. The texture was ridiculous..it really looked like meat. And it tasted soo yummy.. Josh ground up some dried cremini mushrooms (in our new coffee grinder I might add) and then dipped the seitan cutlets in the mushroom powder before searing them (in his new stainless steel pan) in margarine. Josh just leaned over while I’m writing this and said in a weird creepy voice, “That’s what made them so goooood…”

Josh also got me a grill pan for Christmas so we made grilled asparagus and red potatoes. We marinated the asparagus in olive oil, lemon juice, thyme, and sliced garlic. The potatoes were parboiled and then sliced before being marinated in olive oil, rosemary, red pepper flakes, garlic, and fresh basil. Then we grilled them on the pan until they were nice and brown and had those beautiful grill marks. This was also my first time eating asparagus..yum.