Mushroom and summer squash gratin

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and go blue cheese and mushrooms - genius! You wouldn't judge me if I did, correct? What if I told you that I dreamt this up in August? I did. That's where the summer squash comes from. Sautéed mushrooms are tossed with fresh raw garlic, layered between summer squash and filled with a blue cheese white sauce. The joy in serving these is in the red, heart shaped personal ramekins.

This recipe is best prepped in two steps. The first step is to prep the vegetables. The second step is to prep the white sauce.  Any great baking vegetables can be subbed in instead of squash. Serve these piping hot as a main course. Perfect for cooler weather.

Mini mushroom and summer squash gratins
Yield: 4-6

Ingredients for ramekins:
butter, enough to butter 4 individual ramekins
olive oil
16 oz (or about 500 g) of brown cremini, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms
2 to 3 medium summer squash, cut into coins (can sub eggplant, tomato slices, or zucchini)
3 cloves garlic, chopped

Ingredients for the blue cheese cream sauce:
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 cups milk
1 tbsp oregano, dried
salt and pepper to taste
2 oz blue cheese

1. Lightly grease individual ramekin dishes. If you don't have mini casserole dishes than grease an 8" by 8" pan. Preheat the oven to 400 º F (200 º C).
2. Meanwhile, brush any loose dirt off of the mushrooms, remove the stems, and slice the mushrooms into thin slices. Slice the summer squash into thin rounds or coins (1/8"), and chop up the garlic.
3. Heat up the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, sauté the mushrooms. They should be done in about 12 minutes. Stir the garlic into the mushrooms, allow to heat up briefly, and remove from the pan once aromatic.
4. Add the summer squash to the pan. There should be enough oil. Lightly sauté for 5 minutes and then remove. Allow both the summer squash and mushrooms to cool off by allowing them to sit on a plate. You can prepare the blue cheese sauce.
5. Take a medium sauce saucepan and heat up 3 tablespoons of butter over medium-low heat. Once hot sprinkle in 1 tablespoon of flour and take a whisk and start stirring the flour into the butter. Sprinkle in a bit more, such as the remaining 1 tablespoon of flour, and stir together until the mixture turns golden. Turn the heat down to low and stir in 2 cups of milk while stirring together with the whisk. The sauce will need to be stirred constantly. If you leave it unattended the flour may start to cook and stick to the bottom of the pan, and you will have a lot of lumps in your sauce. The sauce will gradually begin to thicken, but should take no longer than 15-20 minutes.
6. Once the sauce begins to thicken (about 10 minutes), you can add in oregano, and black pepper. Then add crumbled blue cheese and keep stirring to make sure the cheese melts into the sauce. Taste and adjust with salt if needed. About 1/4 of a teaspoon is all you need to give the dish it's added edge. Turn the heat off the sauce.
7. Prep the ramekins: add about a tbsp or two to the bottom of the mini casserole dishes. Layer the mushrooms and summer squash together, and then top each layer with a bit of sauce. Once filled, top the ramekin with sauce and place in a baking sheet or tray to catch any bubble overs. If you are using a casserole dish you can assemble similarly and top with the sauce.
8. Place them in the oven for 30 minutes or until bubbling and golden on top.

Leeks with white wine and provencal herbs

This is a simple recipe for leeks; elegant, seasonal, healthy, tasty, and dresses up any dish you serve it along. Use any kind of white wine. I had a 2006 South African vintage blend from Spier of Sauvignon blanc, Chardonnay, and Viognier from the Vinifrance Leuven wine shop. It imparted a fruity caramel-ey finish. The butter allows a beautiful caramelization to the leeks.

Wash the leeks well. Cut them into 4" segments, and then cut lengthwise. Peel away outer tougher layers. Rinse the leeks under water by fanning out the layers to remove dirt and grit. A large stainless steel stir-fry pan is ideal. Don't overcrowd the pan.

Leeks with white wine and provencal herbs

Recipe adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Yield: 4; 4 leek halves per person

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

4 small-to-medium leeks or 2 large ones, prepped into 4" segments, that are halved lengthwise. 

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp herbs de provence

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup white wine

Directions:

In a wide skillet melt 2 tbsp butter over medium-low heat. When hot place the halved leeks cut-side down and allow them to brown, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and generous cracks of freshly ground black pepper. Add the bay leaf and the herbs de Provence. Turn the leeks onto their rounded bottoms and continue to allow them to brown another 4-7 minutes.  

Pour in 1/2 cup of white wine on the top. This should result in about 1 cm of white wine on the bottom. Season with a bit more salt and pepper and cover the pan until the leeks pierce easily with a fork. The white wine will reduce into a nice thick sauce coating the leeks and giving them a gourmet feel. Serve immediately. 

Apple and pear galette

A freshly baked apple and pear galette. 

Apples and pears

Galette dough

What is a galette? I've made several galette pies in the past year and to me they are a simple rustic way of making a pie with savory or sweet fillings. The galette dough uses the same techniques as making pie dough but there is no fluting or rolling in between wax or plastic papers. Even better, it doesn't need a pie plate or other baking pan to be set in. I've baked it on the back of a baking sheet, and a pizza stone. It's simple, straightforward, and it's lazy, which are words that I can get behind when baking.

I picked the pears while on a bike ride, but the apples and pears should be in season so this is certainly a pie to welcome autumn. The best compliment I got for this apple pear galette was that it was delicious because it wasn't cloyingly sweet. To me that is a compliment: fruit pie that tastes more like fruit and less like sugar.

Now if you want the recipe just skip down the next few paragraphs until the end. But perhaps you know me well enough and will agree:

I've decided I'm (going to try) avoiding all pre-packaged and prepared sweets and dessert-like foods that were not prepared at home. I mostly do this with foods that I cook (I make exceptions for things like canned beans and tomatoes). I am not a health freak, but my reasons probably have a health/nutrition basis. In a nearby grocery store, I can find mixes for all the items that I can bake, but I can't find half of the raw ingredients. Why? The baking aisle is 3/4 filled with packaged pre-prepared baking kits, and other ready-made baking goods, but actually contains 1/4 of raw ingredients. It's kind of the same exact trend with home-cooked foods, right? The grocery store is filled with ready-made, pre-packaged, heat and eat meals - all marketed and placed strategically for you to take home, and yet the raw goods just sit there waiting to make it into your basket. Every aisle that actually contains raw foods, is outcompeted by ready-to-eat junk. By raw ingredients I mean minimally processed real foods. Any food that has to make a claim to it's healthiness on the front of package needs to be thrown in the trash. It pisses me off that there are entire aisles dedicated to junk foods and sodas. My local grocery store can stock an entire aisle of sodas, but can't carry one brand of almond paste? Has one brand of baking soda? Has one brand of whole wheat flour? Contains two types of raw oatmeal (e.g. the sole ingredient is listed as oatmeal) in the cereal aisle that has hundreds of processed sugary cereals that sit right along with it (the oatmeal is cleverly placed on the bottom aisle)? Contains two types of plain yogurt, and has the next 2 meters dedicated to sugary probiotic processed yogurts all making the same health claims?

While government and industry hash it out, actions that I can take on the local-consumer level are actively avoiding purchasing the crap products, and asking the grocery stores to carry more raw ingredients, and purchasing from stores and sellers that do carry healthier items. Grocery stores should get behind national nutrition guidelines, promoting and selling healthier foods, and making the choices easier. The easy part for me is to blame the food industries with their endless budgets for food research and development, but they are selling their products, are actively trying to locate food trends to hook new customers, and are actually selling their foods that line the shelves of grocery-store aisles. While I have, and will probably continue to use many convenience items (breakfast cereal, ready-made pie dough, bread, frozen pizzas), I do not think that convenience items should replace raw ingredients. Take a look around your grocery store. It is alarming how many foods have been replaced, or outcompeted.

End of rant. Hello Monday. Hello leftover apple pear galette. Now, ready to make some pie dough from scratch (flour, sugar, salt, butter, water)?

Galette pie dough

Yield: 1, 13-14" galette pie crust adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

2 cups all-purpose flour (whole-wheat pastry flour is fine)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tbsp sugar

10-12 tbsp butter

1/2 cup ice water (you will probably not use all of it)

Basically, pie dough is fairly easy to make, but you need patience and practice. You need very cold butter, ice water, and flour with low amounts of gluten. Fat adds flavor and flakiness, the water brings everything together and helps the flour attach to the butter globules (contributing to flakiness). The water also helps to keep the butter cold so that you get a crust with flakiness. You want to avoid whole-wheat flour because it has too much gluten and will create a stretchy dough - which is ok for bread, but not good for pie crusts. We'll prep the butter first, then we'll let it chill in the freezer for a few minutes while we get the flour ready. Then we'll add cold butter to the flour, and cut it in, and finally water is added last to begin the assemblage of flour/butter crumbs to a rollable dough.

Directions:

1. Dice up the butter into small chunks. I have used 7 tbsp to the full 12 tbsp; I find a mixture in between is sufficient. If you use all-purpose flour you will need less butter (around 9 tbsp); if you use whole-wheat pastry flour, or a mixture of whole-wheat pastry with all-purpose, you will need more butter (around 10-12 tbsp). I like having the max amount ready because you can always store the un-used butter. Place the small diced chunks of butter on a plate and pop them in the freezer. 10 minutes should suffice.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together 2 cups of all-purpose flour, salt, and sugar.
3. Fill a 1 cup measuring cup with ice cubes. Fill the cup half-way, let stand 1 minute.
4. Remove the butter from the freezer. In the large mixing bowl, add in 2-3 tbsp of cubed very cold butter, working with a fork or pastry cutter, cut in the butter. The cold plate helps keep remaining butter cold. Add in 2-3 tbsp more (repeat as needed) and continue. If doing by hand it will take you up to 10 minutes to work the flour until it has pea-sized chunks and looks coarse and mealy. Use patience, and take your time. I use a fork, and just push the fork into the butter/flour mixture with my thumb.
5. Once the mixture has good pea-sized chunks, add in 1-2 tbsp of water at a time and using your hands begin to mix everything together. The dough should begin to come together. It is better to have a drier dough than a wet dough, so if some of the dough does not form into the ball, just add in drops of water and press into the bowl. You'll get the ball to come together. Flatten the ball into a disc, place it on a plate, and store in the fridge until ready to use. Now, prep the apple filling while the dough rests.

Apple and pear filling

3 to 4 cups apple and pear slices, peeled and sliced thin (use a tart apple, or a variety of tart apples, usually from 4-5 medium/large fruits)

juice of 1/2 of a lemon (lime is fine too)

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

pinch salt

1 and 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp amaretto, or sweet wine

Egg wash (optional)

1 egg white

1 tbsp milk

1 tbsp sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Set peeled and sliced fruit in a large bowl. Squeeze 1/2 of a lemon to prevent the slices from turning brown.
2. In another bowl, add sugars, cinnamon, flour, salt, and nutmeg. Stir to combine.
3. In a sifter, sift the flour and spice mixture over the sliced fruit. Turn the fruit slices to coat everything.
4. Stir in amaretto or sweet wine. Avoid overmixing.
5. Combine egg white and milk, stir together and set aside. The egg wash will be brushed on last as a glaze, or a sheen, to the un-baked pie. Sugar can be sprinkled on top of the egg wash to give it a nice finish. This step can be omitted. 
6. Bake the galette at 400º F for 40 minutes or until the top is golden. Place another sheet below to catch any drippings.

Now putting it all together:

Rhubarb Cake

Trust me you want to try this. This is one of the best cakes ever, and it's simple to prepare. Recipe and instructions are from my friend, Kyle. I think, I'd make her proud.

Pretty watermelon colors

Rhubarb impresses, even the peels are gorgeous

Peeled 

and chopped

Batter resembles cookie dough more than cake batter

Set in a pie plate

Sifted flour and sugar on top

Rhubarb cake out of the oven

Rhubarb Cake

Rabarberstaart by Kyle M. 

Yield: 1, 9" cake or tart

Ingredients:

approx 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature (100 g)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 brown sugar (together 200 g sugars)
4 tbsp milk
2 eggs

1.5 tsp vanilla (or 2 packs vanilla sugar)

approx 1 and 1/4 cups self-rising flour (200 g)

3-4 rhubarb stocks, peeled and diced

2 tbsp flour and sugar sifted on top, or omit and serve dusted with a bit of powdered sugar.

1 tsp fresh grated ginger, optional

Special tools: mixing bowl, hand mixer, vegetable peeler.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F (180 °C) and grease a 9" pie plate or cake pan.

2. Prep the rhubarb. If it is young you won't need to peel it much. 

3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the room temperature butter, when it gets light and fluffy, add the sugars and beat together until combined and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go. 
4. Add in 4 tbsp milk, and continue to mix. Add the eggs one and a time, incorporating them into the batter. When you add the second egg, also add the vanilla extract, and grated ginger if using. Beat until everything is incorporated. 
5. Add the flour and mix until combined. The batter will resemble a slightly wetter cookie dough batter (it will not look like cake batter).
6. Stir in the chopped rhubarb, and remove the batter to a greased pie plate or cake pan. Smooth the top, and lightly sift 2 tbsp flour and sugar on top.

7. Bake 30-40 minutes, until golden on top, or a fork or toothpick inserted comes out clean.


This recipe was updated on March 23, 2012 to reflect steps that made the preparation much easier. 

Mushroom and Arugula Garlic-bread Toasts

Tonight at dinner while Karl and I were savoring these mushroom-arugula-garlic bread toasts, we started talking about our favorite ingredients. These are the things you can’t live without, or just things you never think about, but you cook with over and over again. For me, garlic, onions, and olive oil are my top contenders.  My top 5 would be:  

1. Garlic
2. Onions
3. Mushrooms
4. Bell peppers
5. Olive oil

What are yours?

I felt inspired to make these mushroom toasts after I had tried a similar style dish (Nico, I will ask you to elaborate on what it was?) in Brussels while my in-laws were visiting. It was day-old toasted bread smothered with steaming hot sauteed mushrooms, parsley, and tomatoes. It was ridiculously delicious and simple.

Serves 4
For garlic bread:
3 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped or grated
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp chopped parsley
1 tsp chopped oregano (dried is fine)
8 large slices whole grain country-style bread
Preheat oven to 350 F

1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 shallots, chopped or ½ cup red onion chopped
2 cups mushrooms, quartered (cremini mushrooms, or any variety of mushroom will work)
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1-2 tbsp white wine vinegar (more or less, you decide)
4 eggs, or substitute 1 14 oz can white beans, rinsed and drained)
2-3 cups arugula, washed and set aside

Directions:
1. Put the butter, chopped garlic, chopped parsley and oregano in a small bowl. Mash everything together until you have nice garlic butter.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.  Preheat oven.
2. Heat up 1 tbsp of olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add in shallots or onions and saute until fragrant (2 minutes). Add in mushrooms and continue to cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile butter the bread with the garlic butter and place the toasts in the oven.
3. Turn heat down to medium and continue cooking the mushrooms until reduced or the edges begin to turn golden. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the white wine vinegar on top and cook another minute. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and set them in a bowl. Add a dash of olive oil to the pan and crack the eggs one by one into the pan. Cook them sunny-side up until done. I like to flip my eggs overs and get the yolks cooked.  You could use any kind of beans instead (or add beans along with eggs, why not) just heat them up.
4. Once the eggs are cooked, add the mushrooms back to the pan and heat it all up.
5. Once the garlic bread is golden brown, pull them out and place 2 slices on a plate. Top with mushrooms, eggs, and arugula. Serve immediately.

A chilled dry white wine is delicious with this meal (I would recommend a sauvignon blanc or a palatte cleansing slightly rosier beaujolais).

Buttercreamed

A cake that was iced to mimic a Duvel bottle. I know I lack crafty-artsiness. Ba-humbug.

This is the real thing. Last Friday, I made the first real frosting of my life. I managed to successfully make an ultimate French chocolate buttercream.  This kind of indulgence can/should only be enjoyed once a year because I am going to share this recipe, and after you read it, you might shit your pants.

I have an unbelievably dorky collection of recipes (really an old binder that has been filled with recipes). At the beginning of the year, I usually tear out all the recipes that I never managed to try the year before and allow the book, er, binder to collect new ones. Last year, before moving to Belgium, I modge-podged a bunch of recipes onto a page and shoved them in.  The buttercream one has been in my collection since 2006 or 2007 (I think it was a snipped from the Durham Herald Sun). As you can see, I was always hopeful that I may have the excuse and nutritional reasoning to make this.

Nutritional reasoning. Ha. This frosting calls for 8 egg yolks, 2 cups of sugar, and 1 POUND of butter. This frosting is a series of wonderful chemical reactions that must be carried out at lightning speed. Printed along with the recipe was a chef’s note telling the baker (me) to have everything ready to go as soon as you get started (including the room temperature eggs and butter).



This frosting was made for a friend’s 30th birthday cake. I, the ever-horrible baker, baked a yellow-layer raspberry cake which was then iced with the ultimate French chocolate buttercream.

Before you begin, read the entire recipe through. Have all the ingredients prepared and measured out (including the eggs and butter at room temperature). You will not have any time to measure or prep once you start. Buttercream icing stores well for several days in the fridge and freezes well.



The Ultimate French Chocolate Buttercream
Yield: ~2 cups or enough to frost one 8-or-9 inch two-layer cake
Ingredients: 8 large egg yolks ¼ cup water 2 cups sugar pinch of salt 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled (mine was kept over a double-boiler and wasn’t cooled down, this allowed me to scrape out all the chocolate in the pot). Use the highest quality baking chocolate you can find. The original recipe suggests these: 99 percent Scharffen Berger, Durig Grand Caraque 99 percent, Michel Cluizel Amer 99 percent, or Lindt 99 percent Excellence, or Ghirardelli unsweetened. I used Cote D’Or baking chocolate. 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 generous tbsp instant espresso melted in 2 tbsp hot water (the small addition is meant to bring out the chocolate taste) 1 pound unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
Special tools: A stand mixer with a whip attachment (I got away with my hand-mixer). A candy thermometer that can read above 300º F (essential). Rubber spatulas to help keep the edges of the bowl clean. A pastry brush and a small bowl of water (to be creative, I used a new toothbrush). Patience.
Directions:

1. Put the yolks in a large mixer bowl. Fit the mixer with the whip attachment.
2. Pour the water, then the sugar and salt into a small saucepan.
3. Clip the candy thermometer to the side of the pan so the sensor is immersed in the sugar. Have a cup of water and heatproof brush handy.
4. Set the saucepan over medium-high heat. Start beating the yolks at medium speed. As the sugar heats up, it will become clear. Do not stir the syrup at any time. Every so often, use the water dampened brush to wash down any crystals on the side of the pan. This heating mixture will look like you are boiling Sprite, and should take between 8-10 minutes to reach temperature.
5. By the time the syrup reaches 245º F, the yolks should be about three times their original volume. Flip the beater speed up to medium-high.
6. When the syrup’s between 248º and 250º F, immediately remove the thermometer and pour the syrup into the beating yolks along the inside of the bowl. Turn the speed to high, and beat 5 minutes. Turn speed down to medium, add the vanilla and beat until close to room temperature.
7. Now add the melted chocolate and espresso, beating until blended. Finally beat in the butter, a generous tablespoon at a time. Beat until smooth. If the frosting seems too soft, refrigerate 20 minutes. When you are ready to frost the cake, bring the buttercream to room temperature so it will be fluffy and silken.

Sage chard with lemon feta rice

Sage is fried in some butter, then added to some stir-fried swiss chard, onions and tomatoes. The sage-chard mixture is served along with some brown arborio rice. It tastes like inside out grape-leaves. The chard and tomatoes come from the garden.

Get the rice going first. Then prep the swiss chard, onions and tomatoes.

Ingredients

1 T butter
6-8 sage leaves
1/2 onion, diced
1 bunch swiss chard, stems and leaves chopped and separated.
1 cup cherry tomatoes
fresh black pepper

For the rice:
1 cup brown arborio rice (you can use white too)
1 quart of water
1/3 cup feta, crumbled
juice of 1 lemon

Directions.

1. Heat water until boiling and then add the arborio rice. Cook over medium-high heat for 30-45 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, prep the chard, cut up the onions, and leave the tomatoes whole.
3. Heat butter in a wide skillet over medium heat. Once hot, fry sage leaves until fragrant or about 1 minute. Set the fried sage leaves aside.
4. Add in chopped chard stems and diced onions to the same skillet. Cook 8 minutes.
5. Stir in the chard and continue to cook another 8 minutes.
6. Add in tomatoes, and turn down heat to low. Continue cooking another 8 minutes. Now focus on the rice.
   
7. Place feta and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl.
8. Once rice is cooked, add it into the mixing bowl and toss together. Season with pepper.
9. Top the chard mixture with the fried sage leaves and serve alongside the rice.

Notes: I didn't add salt because the feta is salty/brine-y enough.
For the chard - wash and dry the leaves. Separate the stems from the leaves. Chop the stems like you would chop celery. For the leaves, place the leaves one on top of the other and then roll into a "burrito" then slice across into 1/2" ribbons. This will give you nice chard ribbons.