I’ve been having an amazing amount of good fortune lately, so I thought I would pay the universe back by cooking all of my besties an Italian feast! Also who doesn’t love a good theme night? I made my dads famous Italian salad and sausage with peppers, served a top some pesto linguine.
Friends, vino, peroni, food, and Sinatra. What more do you need!
Drawing out of a hat to decide that the next theme night will be Greek!
This week chanterelle mushrooms were in the box at Hollygrove. These are super fancy mushrooms so I saved them for a belated birthday dinner with my good friend. I now understand why these mushrooms cost a million dollars at whole foods, because they are delicious! I added these spicy exotic beauties in to a cream sauce and slathered it on top of breaded eggplant, add in two bottles of wine and delightful dinner we had!
I love how pretty the chanterelle mushrooms are, they are a beautiful golden color and the larger ones are shaped like flowers.
To make the cream sauce
2 cloves garlic finely minced
1/4 cup butter
2 cups chanterelles
2 pints cream
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp white pepper
1 cup dry white wine
1. In a medium saucepan sautee garlic in butter for about 3 minutes or until butter starts to bubble. Add in wine, cream and spices and bring to a boil.
2. meanwhile dry sautee chanterelles in a separate pan until moisture is evaporated.
3. combine mushrooms in to sauce mixture and simmer for 30 minutes stirring frequently. At the end it should look like this……..
For the eggplant
1 large eggplant peeled and sliced in to 1/4 inch pieces
2 eggs beaten
3 cups home made breadcrumbs (recipe below)
salt to taste
1. to bread the eggplant lightly salt, dip in egg mixture, then coat both sides with the bread crumbs.
2. Cover the bottom of a baking dish with a light coat of olive oil, place eggplant pieces in pan evenly spaced and not covering each other, drizzle olive oil on top and bake at 400 for 45 minutes flipping pieces half way through cooking.
I like to set up an eggplant assembly line that looks a little like this………
Making bread crumbs
Once I made my own bread crumbs my world was changed. It is so easy and they taste so much better! You can also add in whatever flavors you would like taking recipes using bread crumbs to a whole new level. For this recipe I added in parmesan, asiago, and dried basil.
To make bread crumbs simply dry out bread slices in the oven. Cook for about 15 minutes at 400. I used a baguette here but any bread will work as long as it gets nice and crunchy. Place bread, spices, and cheese if you are using in to a food processor, pulse, and voila!
I served all of this over angel hair with asparagus. The asparagus and cream sauce complimented each other quite nicely.
Last weekend at Hollygrove market I came across some interesting long purple bean pods. At first thought they looked like a haunted house prop (reminder for Halloween theme party). After further google-ing I discovered that these curious beans were in fact asparagus beans…..um, yum. Paired with some thai basil, and some other local veggies they made a delicious Sunday dinner.
Asparagus bean stir fry
4 cloves garlic minced
1 bunch green onions cut in to 2 inch pieces and halved
1 red pepper
3 carrots sliced
1 bunch asparagus beans cut in to 1 inch pieces
2 sprigs thai basil
1 tbsp peanut or olive oil
my asian trinity
1. Place peanut or olive oil and veggies in wok or frying pan. A wok works best but a frying pan will certainly do.
2. When veggies begin to sizzle add in 1/2 tbsp sesame oil, 2 tbsp braggs liquid aminos, and 1 tsp sirracha (depending on how hot you prefer)
3. cook veggies in this mixture stirring frequently until softened.
4. remove from heat and add chopped thai basil leaves and more braggs to taste (use this like you would soy sauce) mix all ingredients thoroughly and enjoy! I topped mine with green onions and cucumbers which gave it a nice cool finish
The soup on the side is a simple boiled miso soup packet with shitakes and greens added in. Miso makes for a great soup base if you are looking for a quick and easy way to add some veggies in to your day. I used turnip greens and it was fantastic!
Nothing like a themed dinner party to liven up a Sunday night. This one was done at random, but rest assured next Greek night will include Ouzo and outfits. Heres how take 1 turned out……
3-4 potatoes peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup assorted green, black, and kalamata olives sliced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 tbsp fresh rosemary
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a layer of sliced potatoes in the bottom of a baking dish.
2. cover layer of potatoes with 1/3 of the olive mixture, 1/3 of the garlic, and 1/3 of the feta.
3. Cover olive layer with another layer of potatoes and repeat 2 more times finishing with olives and feta on top.
4. pour chicken broth over layered potatoes and top with rosemary. Cover with tinfoil and bake 45 minutes. After 45 minutes uncover potatoes and broil for 5 more minutes.
5. Enjoy! This is my all time favorite way to prepare potatoes. If you like olives you will love these Greek style potatoes!
1/2 watermelon diced
1/4 cup feta cheese cut in to small chunks
1/4 cup sunflower seeds toasted
1 tsp salt
1 can black olives
2 cups chopped spinach
Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stir thoroughly, refrigerate for 30 minutes and enjoy!
A photo diary from my recent-ish trip home…. Old alley ways, green fields, and a fair amount of adult beverages.
And some music to go along with it all…..
Getting ready for a night full of Frenchman hippie dancing. I’ve got a sweet beaded headband, a shirt that says radical (literally) and some amazing tunes to pump me up. A fabulous Friday night playlist my friends…………
FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Soooo many peppers at Hollygrove market this weekend. As soon as I saw the beautiful variety I knew that enchilada sauce was in my future. Home made is very easy to make, and it’s all local! Since tortillas are unavailable locally, I chose to stuff peppers and cover them in enchilada sauce. It made for a deliciously spicy south of the border meal!
To make the sauce
you will need
1 onion finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
3-4 red chile peppers
1 crushed tomato
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1.Place peppers in a pan and cover with water boil peppers for about 20 minutes. When peppers are remove to let cool, saving the water you boiled them in for later use. Once peppers are cooled halve and remove seeds.
2. While peppers are cooling, sauté onions and garlic in oil until soft, about 5 minutes.
3. Once peppers are cooled place them in a food processor with about 1 cup of the reserved boiling water and puree on high until peppers reach a very fine consistency.
4. Place pepper puree in to pan with sautéed garlic and onions, add spices, salt, and another cup of pepper water , and bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
For the peppers
You will need
5 anaheim, bell, or green chile peppers
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 lb ground hamburger cooked
Veg option, 2 cups shredded cheese instead of beef
1. Cut tops off of peppers and de-seed. If using bell peppers keep their “hats” to top while cooking.
2. Stuff peppers with chosen mixture. I made mine with beef and rice, but cheese would be a fantastic option. Ryals dairy is making a queso fresco now that would be fabulous stuffed in an Anaheim!
3. Place stuffed peppers in a casserole dish, cover peppers with enchilada sauce, cover dish with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove tinfoil and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove, let cool , and enjoy!
And for some reason, this song just seemed completely relevant to the post, hope ya’ll enjoy!
