Stuffed Mushroom

I just made something delicious- Stuffed mushroom.

I love mushrooms, it's so hearty and so delicious. I came up with this recipe last minute and it couldn't have tasted any better…

Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil, more for drizzling
1 portabella cap
stem of the portabella, chopped
1/4 cup of onion, chopped
1 large clove of garlic, minced
3 pieces of sun dried tomato, chopped
1/4 cup of shrimp, chopped
1/2 tbs of truffle oil
1/2 tbs gorgonzola (more if you wish)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

On medium-high heat, cook the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Add shrimp, stem of portabella, and sun dried tomato and stir until shrimp is cooked, about 5 more minutes. Add the truffle oil, salt and pepper.

Place the portabello cap on a aluminum foil lined baking sheet, and drizzle a little olive oil over it. Place the shrimp mixture on top of the cap and top it with gorgonzola. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

and…. ta da!

Sooo yummy and filling. So perfect.

Creamy Mushroom Risotto

Okay, I am pretty much a confident cook, meaning that things tend to turn out well every time I attempt something new. Last night, I faced a challenge for the first time in a long time. I made risotto.

I made a mushroom risotto based on Tyler Florence's recipe. Let me just first say, it turned out okay, it was actually quite delicious. But man, I definitely need to be more careful making it the next time.

I guess the problem was that I didn't start off making it with extra care and love. With risotto, I learned that you really need to stand there and just stir the rice in broth the whole time. My problem was that I didn't wait until all the broth in one batch was absorbed, and just poured in another batch... my mistake. Nevertheless, I learned my lesson, and thank goodness it still turned out yummy!

Oh, and let me just tell you how wonderful truffle oil is, it's wonderful.

I made a few alterations from the original recipe, and here is the way I did it (I also halved the recipe)-

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken broth, low sodium
• 1.5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/2 onion, diced, divided
• 2 garlic cloves, minced, divided
• 1 pound fresh portobello mushrooms, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tablespoons dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon truffle oil
• 2 cups Arborio Rice
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions  

Heat the chicken broth in a medium saucepan and keep warm over low heat.

Heat 1/2 tbs of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1/2 onion and 1 clove of garlic, cook, stirring until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, herbs, and 1 tbs of butter. Saute for 3-5 minutes until lightly browned, season with salt and pepper. Drizzle in truffle oil. Season again with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Saute 1 min then remove from heat and set aside.

Coat a saucepan with remaining 1 tablespoons of oil. Saute the remaining 1/2 onion and garlic clove. Add the rice and stir quickly until it is well-coated and opaque, 1 minute. This step cooks the starchy coating and prevents the grains from sticking. Stir in wine and cook until it is nearly all evaporated.

Now, with a ladle, add 1/2 cup of the warm broth and cook, stirring, until the rice has absorbed the liquid. Add the remaining broth, 1/2 cup at a time. Continue to cook and stir, allowing the rice to absorb each addition of broth before adding more. When all the broth is absorbed,  The risotto should be slightly firm and creamy, not mushy. Transfer the mushrooms to the rice mixture. Stir in Parmesan cheese, cook briefly until melted. Top with a drizzle of truffle oil.

Like I said, making risotto is not that easy. Make sure you are being careful and precise. I was lucky that it turned out well, I could totally see it go the wrong way!

Italian Veggie Bake

Seriously, people. Seriously. This is probably one of the best things that I have ever made, and I didn't even expect it to taste this good! It tastes so simple, but so hearty!

So the story is that I wanted to make vegetable lasagna, but I didn't want to bread my veggies nor did I have a lot of different veggies on hand. I only had summer squash, eggplant, and zucchini. After contemplating for a while, a light bulb came over my head- I am going to be creative and make my own version of vegetable lasagna.

So, I roasted up my veggies, and layered them with some tomato sauce and a little bit of shredded mozzarella, and ooo lala, I got myself a weeklong of delicious lunch/dinner.

I am still in shock of how good it tastes, seriously. This stuff is sooo good, light but filling. Please just try it, please. I beg you. You will thank me later.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, sliced
2 small zucchini (or 1 large), sliced
1 summer squash, sliced
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tbs dried basil
1.5 to 2 cups of marinara sauce
1 cup of shredded mozzarella

Directions:
Combine the veggies with olive oil, a little salt and pepper, and basil. Layer the veggies on a baking sheet and roast it in the oven (400 degrees) for 20 minutes.
After the veggies are done roasting, scoop a layer of marinara sauce on the bottom of a baking dish, put on a layer of the veggies, then a layer of marinara, and top with a thin layer of mozzarella. Continue these steps until all the veggies are used. Then top the dish with the last layer of marinara sauce and cheese. Bake in the 350 degrees oven with aluminum foil over the dish for 15 minutes. Take the aluminum foil off after the 15 minutes and let it bake for another 15 minutes.

There you have it, a beautiful vegetarian dish. Just try it. It's to die for.

Caprese

One of my favorites, simple ingredients, simple taste.

Just slice a tomato, some slices of fresh mozzarella cheese. Dress it with a little ground pepper and just drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. So delicious.

Ravioli in Mushroom Wine Sauce

I've got these ravioli babies in the freezer for a while now, so I decided to give them a try.

Good stuff, by the way.

In the fridge, I had baby bello (porcini) mushrooms, white wine, and some frozen shrimps and peas in the freezer. So I decided to be creative and made this-

The meal was delicious, filling without making you feel too bloated. Here is how I made it.

Ingredients-
1 tbs of butter
1 tbs of oil (I used grapeseed, you can use whatever you have)
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 cups of button or porcini mushroom, sliced
1/2 cup of dry white wine
1/2 cup of shrimp, peeled
1/3 cup of frozen peas
1/3 cup of grated Parmesan 

Directions-
Cook the ravioli as directed in the package.
Heat up the butter and oil in the sauce pan in medium high heat. Add crushed garlic as soon as the butter melts. Stir for about two minutes, before the garlic browns. Add in the mushrooms and stir for about 3 minutes until mushrooms are slightly softened. Pour in the white wine and let the sauce simmer for another 5 minutes and then add the shrimp and peas. Let everything cook together until the shrimps are cooked through, about 4-5 minutes. Add in the Parmesan cheese so the sauce thickens. Toss in the raviolis and wa-la, you have made yourself a delicious dinner!

Note: Please excuse those stupid peppercorns… When I ground peppers into the dish, the grinder fell apart and all the peppercorns came out. Didn't want to waste the dish so I tried scooping them out as much as I could. Hahah.