the arugula files

Mushrooms for your Tapas Party, from the Canal House Ladies

Having an 9-month old daughter is wonderful, no doubt, but there's a down side to everything.  A limited social life is one of them.  In my mind, some day, when they release me from nap prison and early bed time purgatory, I will throw a great dinner party.  I will serve Spanish tapas and these mushrooms will be on the menu.  So will this dish.  We will listen to Ojos de Brujo and drunkenly try a go at flamenco dancing. Until then, I'll enjoy these buttons of garlicky goodness for lunch (like escargot without the snails!)

Yotam's Taleggio Stuffed Portobellos

I have a mad crush on Yotam Ottolenghi.  His book, Plenty, is so gorgeous that it's hard not to fall under his spell, smitten by caper mayonnaise and cardamom rice.  I've had his book for a year now, but all we've done is lay around in bed together.  What can I say, I'm a cookbook slut.  This weekend, I finally committed: page 56, stuffed portobello with melting taleggio.  Yes, it was a low commitment cooking date.

Mushrooms Stuffed with Sundried Tomatoes, Basil, Panko, and Parmesan

I've never met a mushroom that I didn't like.  And I especially liked the stuffed ones.  For me, stuffed mushrooms are a perfect meal: savory, meatless, and flavorful--and not so bad for you.  This past week, based on ingredients I had on hand, I made these mushrooms stuffed with sun dried tomatoes, basil, garlic, panko, and parmesan.  They were delicious.  I ate half of them on their own for dinner one night, and served the remaining over spaghetti the next night.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Flavorful.  Meaty.  Savory.  Delicious.  Guilt-free.  (Five words to describe mushrooms).  Oh, how much I love them.  It's not often that you find a vegetable that can carry a dish by itself.  Mushrooms are one of those vegetables.  I put them in (or on) everything: pizza, pies, pasta, polenta.  Add some shallots, thyme, rosemary, or basil and you ring your dinner bell. 

Mushrooms, Thyme, Shallots, and Polenta

We have known for years that too much meat, especially red meat, expands your waistline and upsets your heart.  And, today, the fact that meat is bad for the environment is slowly making its way into newspaper headlines and books. 

The solution? I suppose you could get a second job and buy all your meat from sustainable sources, but, as Michael Pollan and his disciples have written, if you are in it for the earth and yourself, less meat is best. Plus, I'm not sure grass fed meat tastes great (more on that topic later).

 

Giving up meat isn’t easy, and I don’t intend on becoming a vegetarian, but eating less meat is something I’m down with.  Not so down that I want to give up taste.  Taste is always first in my book, and, I think, that it's a losing battle to try to convince someone to eat something that tastes inferior.  Rice cakes are a good example if this.  Who wants rice cakes when chips are around?

So how do you cook meatless meals with lots of flavor?  One simple fungus: mushrooms.  Mushrooms are hearty, flavorful, and go well with most grains.  I put them on pizza, pasta, and in phyllo pie.  Here they are with polenta: my new favorite kitchen staple.

Mushroom Pie

Weeks of winter vegetables at the farmers market inspired this mushroom dish (note to sweet potatoes: we're on a break).  Besides olive oil and salt, you only need five ingredients: phyllo dough, mushrooms (I used 2 containers of baby bellas and and 2 containers shiitakes), a handful of basil, 5 garlic cloves, and 2 shallot heads. 

Shiitake and Cremini Mushroom Pizza with Roasted Garlic and Thyme

Today at the farmers market, I had a hard time finding vegetables that grow above ground.  There were parsnips, pumpkins, squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots, and beets.  Then I came across the mushroom stand.  I bought a box of cremini and a box of shiitake.  The mushrooms matched with thyme and roasted garlic packed this pizza with flavor.  It didn't even need cheese, but I added some anyway because I didn't want my parmesan to feel left out.