The Literate Chef

Posts Tagged ‘cremini mushrooms’

,

Aunt Emma’s Sautéed Mushrooms

In Recipes, Vegetables on March 20, 2012 at 1:16 PM

Aunt Emma's Sautéed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

1 lb. Cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp. finely minced garlic
¼ cup chopped, fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley
Kosher salt to taste

Preparation:

1.    Heat the olive oil on high heat in a 12 inch, non-stick sauté pan.
2.    Add the garlic, stir well and reduce heat to medium.
3.    Add the mushrooms and sauté for 12 to 15 minutes, until they give off and then absorb their liquid.
4.    Add the parsley and salt, stir well, and cook for another minute of two.
5.    Remove the sautéed mushrooms to a serving bowl with a slotted spoon and serve immediately.

Please see Anndemma

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Coq au Vin

In Chicken, Meat, Recipes on February 25, 2012 at 12:49 PM

Coq au Vin

Serves 8 or serves 4 with leftovers.

Adapted from several cookbooks, see East Side, East Side, All Around the Town

Ingredients:

2 Bell & Evans Free Range Chickens, quartered, about 8 or 9 lbs. total weight
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 bottles of Côtes du Rhône
3 bay leaves
3 sprigs of thyme
1 large shallot coarsely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
¾ lb. pearl onions, about 16 to 20 depending on size
½ lb. thick sliced bacon
1 lb. Cremini mushrooms
¼ lb. unsalted butter
3/4 cup flour
½ cup cognac
2 & ½ cups unsalted beef stock
6 tbsps. Beef demi-glace

Preparation:

Steps 1 to 7 take about 1 hour and can be performed a day in advance and refrigerated overnight.

1.    Prepare a bouquet garni, by wrapping the bay leaves, thyme sprigs, shallot & garlic in a piece of cheese cloth and tying it off.
2.    Separate the drumsticks from the thighs and cut each breast in half leaving the wings attached to the upper half of the breast. You will end up with 16 pieces of chicken. Liberally salt and pepper each piece.
3.    Place the chicken pieces and the bouquet garni in a large non-reactive bowl and cover with the contents of 1 bottle of the wine. Cover the bowl and refrigerate, marinating the chicken for 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
4.    Bring a small pot of water to boil, add the pearl onions and blanch for 1 minute. Remove the onions and when cooled, remove and discard their skins.
5.    Re-boil the water; add the bacon slices and par-boil for about 3 minutes to remove some of the saltiness. Drain and pat the bacon dry. Heat a non-stick sauté pan on medium and fry the bacon until cooked but still soft about 3 or 4 minutes. Remove the bacon, slice into ½ inch wide pieces and set aside.
6.    Remove most of the bacon fat from the sauté pan leaving about two tablespoons.  Add 2 tbsps. of butter and then the skinned onions, brown on high heat for about 3 minutes, remove and set aside.
7.    Repeat step 6 with the cremini mushrooms, adding 2 tbsps. of butter and browning the mushrooms for about 5 minutes.
8.    When the chicken pieces are finished marinating, drain and pat them dry; reserve the marinade and the bouquet garni.
9.    Dredge the chicken pieces in flour. Melt 4 tbsps. of butter in a stainless steel sauté pan on medium heat and brown the chicken pieces well, for about 10 minutes turning them several times. You will probably have to do this in two batches.
10.    Remove the chicken to a large casserole, or Dutch Oven.
11.    Add the cognac to the sauté pan; bring to a boil and deglaze the pan about 1 minute. Pour the cognac and the fond over the chicken; add the reserved marinade, 2nd bottle of wine, beef stock and bouquet garni.
12.    Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook for 30 minutes adding the mushrooms, onions, bacon after 15 minutes.
13.    Remove the chicken, bacon, onions and mushrooms, set aside and keep warm. Remove and discard the bouquet garni.
14.    Strain the liquid through a fine sieve, and pour off the fat. Clean the casserole, return the sauce to it and bring to a boil, add the demi-glace to thicken the sauce and when it reaches the consistency thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, add back all of the set aside ingredients, stir well and heat covered for about 15 to 30 minutes on low, prior to serving.

Serve with Mashed Potatoes and Côtes du Rhône

Please see East Side, East Side, All round the Town

, , , , , , , , ,

Not Your Mother’s Meatloaf

In Meat, Recipes on November 4, 2011 at 12:38 PM

Dinner is served

(Serves 4 to 6. Preparation time – 30 minutes; cooking time – 75 minutes)

Ingredients:

For the Meatloaf:

2 tbsps. minced garlic
1 cup finely diced celery (2 stalks)
1 cup finely chopped yellow onion (1 medium sized onion)
2 tbsps. of unsalted butter
½ cup of chopped parsley
¼ cup chopped sage
1 tbsp. chopped thyme
½ cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 lb. ground sirloin
1 lb. ground veal
1 lb. ground pork
1/3 cup of sour cream
3 eggs, whisked
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 12 oz. bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce
Freshly ground pepper

For the Gravy:

Two 28 oz. packs (6 cups liquid) of Swanson Beef Cooking Stock (no sodium or less sodium variety).
1 lb. sliced cremini (also called Baby Bella) mushrooms.
2 tbsps. unsalted butter
¼ tsp. dried thyme
¼ cup dry red wine
¼ cup flour (Wondra, preferably, because it dissolves quickly)

Preparation for the Meatloaf:

1.    Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
2.    Lightly sauté garlic, celery and onion in butter until softened.
3.    Add the meat to a large mixing bowl.
4.    Add the sautéed vegetables, chopped fresh herbs and breadcrumbs, mix well by hand.
5.    Add the sour cream, eggs, Worcestershire and Chili Sauce and black pepper, mix well by hand.
6.    Grease a 3 lb. loaf pan and transfer the meat loaf mixture to the loaf pan, patting it down to remove any air pockets.
7.    Cook in oven for 75 minutes until internal temperature is 160 degrees.

In the meantime make the gravy:

1.    In a 3 qt. sauce pot bring the 6 cups of beef stock to a boil, and reduce by ½ from to 3 cups.
2.    Melt the butter in a non-stick pan, sauté the mushrooms until golden brown.
3.    Add the dried thyme and wine to the mushrooms and reduce the wine to about ½.
4.    Transfer the mushrooms and wine to the reduced beef stock.
5.    Bring stock to a boil and slowly whisk in the Wondra or flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.

When the meatloaf is ready, remove it from the pan and set aside, keeping warm. Pour the pan juices into a fat separator (there may be as much as 12 oz.) and let the fat separate. Add the de-fatted pan juices and any solids to the gravy.

We served this with mashed potatoes and LeSueur Baby Peas, real comfort food for a chilly night.

A great wine to make this meal even more special is a fruity and intense Amarone Della Valpolicella!

Please refer to: Meatloaf for Dinner! Again?

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Papa’s Hearty Beef Stew a la Burgundy

In Beef, For Moms on the Go, Meat, Recipes, Stews on October 27, 2011 at 11:11 AM

Ready to Eat

Makes about 5 quarts-preparation time including stove-top browning is 1½hour. Total oven cooking time is 2½ hours. Please refer to A Hearty Stew for Those Chilly Autumn and Winter Nights for some preparation tips.

Ingredients:

1 cup of flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
5-6 lb. roast (bottom round is an excellent choice) cut into cubes of about 1¼ – 1½ inches
½ cup of canola oil
1 head of garlic, cloves peeled and coarsely chopped
5 cups of Pinot Noir or red Burgundy wine
1 quart of beef stock
2 lbs. of Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed to 1½ inches
24 pearl onions (about 1 lb.) outer skin peeled (see step 1 below)
1 16 oz, package of baby carrots
¼ cup of each of coarsely chopped fresh sage and fresh thyme
1 tbsp. whole black peppercorns, crushed
1¼ lbs. cremini mushrooms, stems removed, large caps halved or quartered
1 small (6 oz.) can tomato paste

Preparation:

1.    Prepare the onions – bring small pot of water to boil, blanch onions for 30 seconds, rinse and cool, cut off root end and peel outer skin layer.
2.    In the meantime, peel and cube the potatoes, prepare the mushrooms and chop the herbs and garlic.
3.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4.    Add flour, salt and pepper to a gallon size Ziploc® bag.
5.    Add beef, about 10 pieces at a time, to bag and shake well to coat with flour.
6.    Heat canola oil in a large casserole, preferably enamel coated cast iron French or Dutch Oven.
7.    Add the floured beef cubes to the casserole and brown them in one layer without crowding, for 8 or so minutes on high heat, turning the cubes several times.

Browning the Beef

Fully Browned Beef

8.    Remove browned beef and set aside, add more beef cubes and continuing browning until all the beef is done. If beef sticks to the casserole, or the flour base begins to burn, add a bit more oil.
9.    Add the garlic and lightly brown in the remaining oil and fat.
10.    Add one cup of wine and with a spatula, deglaze the pot. Add a second cup of wine and continue deglazing.
11.    When the second cup of wine has boiled down for about 1 minute, return all of the meat to the casserole to coat it well. Reduce heat to medium.
12.    Add beef broth and stir well, cover and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes, stir well, cover and place in the pre-heated oven for ½ hour.
13.    Add the remaining three cups of wine and the onions, stir well and return to oven covered for another ½ hour.
14.    Add the carrots, herbs and black pepper, stir well and return covered to the oven, for a third ½ hour.
15.    Add the mushrooms and return covered to the oven an additional ½ hour.
16.    Add the tomato paste and return to oven uncovered for a final half hour ½ hour.

The Finished Product

When ready to serve the stew, serve it with a crust baguette and a good red wine, such as a Brunello de Montalcino.

%d bloggers like this: