Rigatoni al Funghi

I made this recipe last week, and when I went to www.tastykitchen.com to post it here, it was gone! Poof! I don’t know what happened to it, but I remembered it today and thought I would search again and now here it is. This stuff is good! I couldn’t find Enoki mushrooms at my grocery store, so I just used plain old white button mushrooms. This is so easy and really good! I personally think that heavy whipping cream makes everything better in my world. Yours? *Check out Tasty Kitchen – it’s fantastic!

rating: 9

Rigatoni al Funghi
(from www.tastykitchen.com)

* 1 pound Rigatoni Pasta
* ¼ cups Butter (1/2 Stick)
* 1 package Enoki Mushrooms (around 3.5 Oz) (I used button mushrooms)
* 1 package Brown Beech Mushrooms (around 5 Oz)
* 1 package Oyster Mushrooms (around 5 Oz)
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* ½ teaspoons Pepper
* 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
* 1 cup Sliced Onions
* 1-½ cup Heavy Whipping Cream
* 3 ounces Tomato Paste (Half Of The Small 6oz Can)
* 1 Tablespoon Dry Or Fresh Basil (optional) (I omitted)

1. Bring a large pot of water with 1/4 teaspoon of salt to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain.

2. In large pot or deep pan, heat butter over moderate heat. Add all 3 mushrooms, salt, and pepper and stir for 4 to 5 minutes. Add in garlic and onions and cook for about 3 minutes.

3. Pour in the heavy cream and tomato sauce. Simmer on low heat for around 10 minutes or until thick and creamy. Add salt to taste.

4. Reduce heat to low and add pasta. Toss for 1 to 2 minutes (add basil when tossing, if desired), then serve!

Light and Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

I saw this recipe in Paula Deen’s magazine, and I thought, how light and creamy can this be?! Well…Pretty dang light and creamy! This did not taste like you were skimping on anything whatsoever. When Toby started eating it, he said “so tell me how many pounds of butter does this have?” When I told him two tablespoons, he couldn’t believe it. He went back for seconds, and had to stop himself from getting more. He mentioned several times what a good dinner I had made (we also had Riblets, green beans, and rolls). I will be eating this for lunch for the next couple of days (this recipe makes a ton). SO good.

rating: 9

Light and Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
(from the Sept./Oct. 09 issue of Cooking with Paula Deen magazine)

2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I used vegetarian chicken broth)
1 1/4 cups low-fat cottage cheese, pureed
1 8-ounce package shredded 2% sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 16-ounce package elbow boodles, cooked according to package directions and kept warm
garnish: ground paprika (I omitted)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour, dry mustard, and red pepper; cook, whisking constantly, for 2 minutes. Gradually add chicken broth, whisking until mixture is smooth. Cook for 5-6 minutes, whisking occasionally, until mixture is slightly thickened. Add pureed cottage cheese, whisking until smooth. Add Cheddar and Parmesan, whisking until mixture is smooth.

Place noodles in prepared baking dish; add cheese sauce, tossing gently to combine. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Garnish with paprika, if desired. Serve immediately.

makes 8-10 servings

Caesar Salad (vegetarian version)

I actually made this salad a couple of months ago, and have totally forgot to post it! Mommy-brain strikes again! In any case, here it is. It’s from Veganomicon, which is an awesome vegan cookbook. I made the croutons and the dressing first, and was totally making a meal of dipping the croutons into the dressing when I realized that I might need to save some for the actual salad. But, you know, once I got the whole thing made and we sat down to dinner, it just wasn’t as good! It was kind of bland. Toby needed to perk his up a bit with some shredded parmesan, and I later did the same. This recipe gets lots of raves online, so maybe I did something wrong? I was very disappointed.

rating: 5

Caesar Salad
(from the cookbook “Veganomicon” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero)

Caesar dressing:
1/3 cup slivered or sliced almonds
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
3/4 cup silken tofu
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 heaping tablespoon capers
4 teaspoons caper brine
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
Salt

Croutons:
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves roasted garlic
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 medium size loaf French or Italian bread (little less than 1 pound), stale and torn or sliced into bite-sized pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt

Salad:
1 large head romaine lettuce, chopped
Freshly cracked black pepper
Handful or two of spinach and/or arugula, torn into bite-sized pieces (optional)

Prepare the dressing: Pulse the sliced almonds in a food processor or blender until crumbly. Empty the ground almonds into an airtight container that you’ll be using to store the finished dressing. Blend the garlic, tofu, and oil in the food processor or belnder until creamy. Add the lemon juice, capers, caper brine, sugar, and mustard powder, and pulse until blended. Adjust the salt and lemon juice to taste. Put into the container with the ground almonds and whisk to combine. Cover and allow the dressing to chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes, optimally 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

While the dressing is chilling, prepare the croutons: Preheat the oven to 400F. Combine the olive oil, roasted garlic, and lemon juice in a large bowl. With a fork or immersion blender, mash or blend the mixture until creamy. Add the torn bread and toss to coat each piece with the oil mixture. Spread onto a rimmed baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, if desired, and bake for 12 to 14 minutes until golden brown. Toss the croutons twice during the baking process. Remove from the oven and cool the croutons on the baking sheet.

To assemble the salad, place in a large bowl 2 to 3 cups of lettuce/greens per individual serving (amount depending on whether it’s a side or an entree). Ladle on 1/3 cup of the dressing (or more or less to taste), and use kitchen tongs to toss the greens and coat them with dressing. Add the warm croutons, toss again, and transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle with a little freshly cracked pepper. If not serving right away, warm croutons in 300F oven for 5 to 8 minutes before adding to the salad.

Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie

Have you ever cooked with beets? This was my first time, and I didn’t realize that they would create such a crime scene! Other than all of the chopping of the veggies, this recipe is pretty simple. It ended up having a surprisingly good taste! Toby had two suggestions, both of them I agree with: 1. cook the veggies longer (they were still a little crunchy) and 2. make more mashed potatoes! So next time I will cook the veggies maybe 10 more minutes, and I will cook double the amount of potatoes. Yum!

rating: 9

Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie
(from the Oct. 09 issue of Food Network magazine)

6 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
Kosher salt
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 large carrots, cut into 1/2″ chunks
2 stalks celery, cut into 1/2″ chunks
1 bunch baby turnips, halved or quartered if large
6 cloves garlic, minced
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 bunch fresh parsley, leaves chopped (stems reserved)
1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
5 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 cup chopped veggie burgers or vegetarian protein crumbles (I used Quorn Grounds)
2/3 cup milk or half-and-half (I used half-and-half)
Grated Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling (optional)

1. Preheat the broiler. Cover the potatoes with water in a pot; season with salt, cover and boil until the potatoes are fork-tender, 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a stovetop casserole dish or shallow enamel pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, turnips and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the vegetables brown, 8 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups cooking liquid from the potatoes to the casserole dish. Lower the heat and scrape up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Tie the parsley stems with twine and add to the casserole. Cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender, 8 minutes. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, 2 tbsp butter and the chopped veggie burgers and warm through, 5 minutes. Remove the parsley stems and stir in the chopped parsley. Keep warm.
3. Drain the potatoes and mash with the remaining 3 tbsp butter and the milk; season with salt and pepper and spoon over the casserole. Sprinkle with Parmesan, if desired. Broil until golden brown, 5 minutes.

Serves 4

Cheddar-Horseradish Soup

This recipe has taught me two valuable lessons: 1. I don’t like soups with beer in them, and 2. I don’t like cooking with leeks. This is the second soup with beer in it that I have tried, and it’s two for two, people. Ugh. And those dang leeks are a pain! And that horseradish wasn’t particularly easy to cook with, either. I got this recipe from a little booklet insert that was in the Food Network magazine. They didn’t list amounts or measurements for several things, so I guess you are just supposed to wing it. In any case, this one was NOT good. I even made homemade croutons and everything.

rating: 3

Cheddar-Horseradish Soup
(from the Oct. 09 issue of Food Network magazine)

2 carrots, diced
2 leeks
butter
cayenne
salt
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp dry mustard
1 bottle of beer
1/4 cup horseradish
3 cups water
dash of Worcestershire
2 cups half-and-half
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar

Sweat the carrots and leeks in butter. Add the cayenne, salt, flour, and dry mustard; cook 2 minutes. Add the beer, horseradish, water, and the Worcestershire; simmer until thick. Whisk in 2 cups half-and-half and 1 1/2 cups cheddar.

Rosemary Tomato Artichoke Tart

So today I think I made my first tart crust. Like, from scratch. It was scary! But kind of neat. This was almost too much for my little food processor to handle, but it pulled through. It was tough rolling out the dough big enough for the tart pan. It didn’t look too pretty, but boy, was it good! Toby said “wow, this is really good”, like, three times I think. That means it’s good, people! The hardest part is the dough, but if you can make a tart crust like this, you can do just about anything.

rating: 9.3

Rosemary Tomato Artichoke Tart
(from Tracy on www.tastykitchen.com)

* ¼ cups Fresh Rosemary
* 1 clove Garlic
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* 1 cup Unbleached All-purpose Flour
* 1 stick Butter
* 4 Tablespoons Ice Water
* ½ cups Feta Cheese
* 12 ounces, weight Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded
* 7 ounces, weight Artichokes, In Brine, Sliced
* 2 whole Tomatoes, Sliced

First, remove the leaves from the rosemary sprigs. You’ll only need two or three.

Put the rosemary leaves and garlic into your food processor and chop. Add the flour and salt, and chop again to combine. Cut the butter into pieces and add it in. Pulse until the mixture consists of large crumbs.

Add in the water 1 Tbsp at a time and pulsing after each addition. After 4 Tbsp have been added, pulse to see if the mixture will form a ball. If not, add another Tbsp of water. Otherwise, remove the dough from the food processor.

Place the ball of dough in a small resealable bag and flatten it a bit. Refrigerate it for an hour. You can also freeze it at this point if you’d like.

Next, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface into a circle big enough for an 11″ tart pan. Press the dough into the tart pan and trim it to fit.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle the bottom of the tart shell with mozzarella and feta cheese. Sprinkle the artichokes over the cheese, and then set some of the tomato slices on top. Add a second layer of the cheeses, artichokes, and tomatoes. Cover with mozzarella cheese.

Bake until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is golden and bubbly, about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Grilled Corn and Potato Chowder

The soup took ALOT of work. It wasn’t quick at all. It WAS pretty easy, though. Grilling the corn and potatoes beforehand takes a while, but it really does add to the flavor. You could use canned corn and maybe just pan-fry the potatoes instead. I couldn’t wait for it to simmer for 20 minutes, so we dived in after about 10. But it was still good. And very pretty! With this we had a green salad and some yeast rolls.

rating: 8.5

Grilled Corn and Potato Chowder
(from the Sept. 09 issue of Cooking Light magazine)

1 pound small red potatoes, quartered
1 tbsp salt, divided
3 tbsp softened butter, divided
4 ears shucked corn
cooking spray
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
3 cups 2% reduced-fat milk (I used Silk plain lite)
1/2 cup half-and-half
2 thyme sprigs
3 tbsp finely chopped chives
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
2. Place a grill basket on grill.
3. Place potatoes and 2 tsp salt in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Let potatoes stand in hot water 5 minutes. Drain; cut into 1/4″ cubes.
4. Melt 1 tbsp butter, brush evenly over corn. Place corn on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Place potatoes in grill basket coated with cooking spray. Grill corn and potatoes 15 minutes or until slightly charred, turning occasionally.Cool corn slightly; cut kernels from cobs. Place 1 cup corn kernels in a food processor; process until smooth.
5. Melt remaining 2 tbsp butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; saute 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining 1 tsp salt and red pepper; cook for 30 seconds, stirring frequently. Stir in potatoes, remaining corn kernels, pureed corn, milk, half-and-half, and thyme sprigs; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes. stirring occasionally. Discard thyme sprigs. Stir in chives and remaining ingredients.

serves 6

Penne with Sage and Mushrooms

I ran out of penne for this recipe, so I substituted the little corkscrews. What are they called? Rotini? I didn’t realize how LONG this recipe would take, what with the garlic roasting, and the mushroom soaking and all. But it turned out well. When I tasted the mushroom “sauce”, I thought, oh boy, THAT is too salty. But once I combined it with the pasta and cheese, it all worked out. Toby said it was really good and didn’t think it was too salty. Don’t skip the sage leaf part- that really makes the dish!

rating: 8.5

Penne with Sage and Mushrooms
(from the Sept. 2009 issue of Cooking Light magazine)

1 whole garlic head
2 tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil
2 1/2 cups boiling water, divided
1/2 ounce dried wild mushroom blend (about 3/4 cup)
8 ounces uncooked 100 percent whole-grain penne pasta
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
2 1/2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms (about 6 ounces)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth (I used veggie “chicken” broth)
2 ounces fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut top off garlic head. Place in a small baking dish, and drizzle with 1 tsp oil; cover with foil, and bake at 400 for 45 minutes. Remove dish from oven. Add 1/2 cup boiling water to dish; cover and let stand 30 minutes. Separate cloves; squeeze to extract garlic pulp into water. Discard skins. Mash garlic pulp mixture with a fork, and set aside.
3. Combine remaining 2 cups boiling water and dried mushrooms in a bowl; cover and let stand 30 minutes. Rinse mushrooms; drain well, and roughly chop. Set aside.
4. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.
5. Heat remaining 2 tbsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sage to pan; saute 1 minute or until crisp and browned. Remove from pan using a slotted spoon; set aside. Add cremini mushrooms, salt, and pepper to pan; saute 4 minutes. Add garlic mixture, chopped mushrooms, and broth to pan; cook 5 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half. Grate 1 1/2 ounces cheese. Stir pasta and grated cheese into pan; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Thinly shave remaining 1/2 ounce cheese; top each serving evenly with cheese  shavings and sage leaves.

makes 4 servings

Marian’s Savory Vegetable Bread Pudding

This recipe was on the same page as the Buttermilk- Garlic dressing, so I actually served them together. This recipe was pretty straight-forward, no surprises. Toby really liked it, as did I. There’s just something about bread pudding that I love. I think it’s the bread. This recipe is good for when you’ve got some bread you need to use up, and you can also switch the veggies around to use up what you have in your fridge.

rating: 8.5

Marian’s Savory Vegetable Bread Pudding
(from the Sept. 2009 issue of Southern Living magazine)

1 bunch Swiss chard (about 1 pound)
6 large eggs
1 cup milk (I used Silk lite plain)
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
3 cups cubed Ciabatta bread (about 1″ cubes)
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 8-ounce package sliced fresh mushrooms
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove and discard ribs from Swiss chard. Rinse with cold water; drain and coarsely chop.
2. Whisk together eggs and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in bread and half of cheese.
3. Saute mushrooms and next 3 ingredients in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 8 minutes. Stir in Swiss chard, and saute 2 minutes. Fold vegetable mixture into egg mixture. Pour into a lightly greased 11 x 7″ baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
4. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until center is set. Let stand 5 minutes.

Buttermilk-Garlic Dressing

This dressing takes no time at all to make, and I thought it was really good. Toby, on the other hand, said that it tasted “like a watered-down ranch dressing.” Don’t listen to him. I think all the years of eating super-spicy foods have damaged his taste buds. He added Creole seasoning to his dressing and proclaimed it “great.” Whatever. Try this one.

rating: 8

Buttermilk-Garlic Dressing
(from the Sept. 2009 issue of Southern Living magazine)

1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 garlic clove, pressed
salt and pepper

Whisk together the buttermilk, mayo and garlic; and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

makes about 1/2 cup