Recipe #33 - Wild Mushroom "Ragout" Gravy

We're not big fans of what most people think of as "gravy." But we ARE big fans of mushrooms, and if you use the word sauce instead of gravy, we're there. We're calling it gravy right now because this was Thanksgiving week. We hosted a big dinner for Thanksgiving and decided to make this tasty mushroom gravy to satisfy everyone, including the vegetarians in the crowd.

2 oz. dried wild mushrooms (porcini or morel preferred, but any dried wild mushroom will work here)
Hot water to cover

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 medium shallots, peeled and finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 lb. fresh wild mushrooms (chanterelles, shiitakes, porcinis, portobellos, oyster, morels, preferably several kinds mixed), coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1.5 cups rich vegetable broth
2 tsp. fresh minced thyme
2 Tbsp. fresh minced parsley
1 tsp. fresh minced rosemary
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt & pepper to taste

Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover with hot water. Allow to soften for at least 20 minutes. Drain and reserve the liquid. Coarsely chop the softened mushrooms.

Heat the butter in a saucepan and add the shallots and garlic. Cook until slightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the fresh mushrooms and cook for about 10 more minutes, until the mushrooms have softened and released their juices. Add the flour and stir to incorporate.

Add the dried mushrooms, reserved soaking liquid, wine, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce and cook for a few minutes. Add the vegetable broth and herbs and simmer for up to 30 minutes.

Put about 1/2 the mushrooms and sauce to a blender or food processor and allow to cool for a few minutes. Puree until smooth and add back into the sauce pan with the gravy. Add the cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.

We served this with walnut cheddar loaf (for the vegetarians) and roast turkey (for the meat-eaters).

Recipe #32 - Veggie Bakers

We've been experimenting with different variations of dressed-up baked potatoes for years. There have been more decadent versions involving crab and lobster, and some with the potato left untouched and just veggies piled on top.

What seems to work best is to scoop out all the potato and mash it up a bit, mixing it with other ingredients. The best time to fix this one is when you have several leftover raw veggies that might otherwise end up in the compost bin (or worse, the garbage). What you actually include in your version of the veggie baker is completely up to you!

Makes four servings.

4 large russet baking potatoes
1 Tbsp. room temperature unsalted butter

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 yellow or red onion, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 green onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 cup broccoli florets, cut up in small pieces
1 small zucchini, trimmed and chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, cored and diced
2 jalapeno peppers, all seeds and pith removed, diced
1/4 cup shredded fresh basil (or other herbs as desired)

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 cup half-and-half
Salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 cup parmesan or romano cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Remove all "eyes" and rough spots from the spuds, poke 'em with a fork, rub them with butter, wrap in foil and bake in the oven until completely cooked through, about 45 minutes to an hour. The time will vary depending on the size of the potatoes. Stick a knife in; if it slides in and out easily, the flesh of the potato should be done. You might want to remove the foil from the spuds for the last fifteen minutes to crisp up the skins a bit.

While the spuds are baking, put olive oil in a skillet and heat. Add the onion and garlic and green onion and cook for a few minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the other veggies and stir-fry for about five minutes, until cooked through but not mushy. Add the basil and any other fresh herbs at the last minute.

Cut the tops off each spud and scoop out the flesh, leaving just enough so the remaining skins retain their shape. Put all the potato pulp in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter, half-and-half, salt and pepper. Coarsely mash the potatoes. (The idea here is NOT to thoroughly "mash" them; you want them to be a little lumpy.) Add the cooked veggies and mix well.

Put all the potato-veggie mixture back into the potato shells. Mix the grated cheeses together and scatter on top of each spud. Put the potatoes back in the oven on a large baking sheet and heat until the cheese on top is melted and bubbly. (You might want to use the broiler for the last couple of minutes if you want the cheese to get nicely browned.)

Serve with a nice green salad and a dry white wine.

Recipe #31 - Fennel-Celeriac Soup

Celeriac, also known as celery root, is a bizarre-looking vegetable item which most people would reject out of hand upon inspection at the grocery store, let alone include it in their dinner plans. In its raw state, it's gnarly, dirty, knobby and strange.

However, once you trim away all the ugly stuff and get to the sweet interior, celeriac is a wonderful addition to many recipes, including this smooth, elegant soup.

Makes eight servings.

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium yellow sweet onion, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 large celery root, trimmed down to just the green center and diced
2 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped
1 medium potato, peeled and diced

2 Tbsp. flour
2 cups low-fat milk
2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
4 oz. neufchatel reduced fat cream cheese

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
Salt & pepper

In a large soup pot, heat the butter and olive oil and add the onions and garlic. Saute for a few minutes until soft, then add the celeriac, fennel and potato. Saute the vegetables until softened, about 10 minutes.

Sprinkle in the flour and stir until incorporated into the veggies. Add the milk and stock, and heat the soup over medium heat until it thickens a bit. Break the cream cheese into small pieces, add to the soup, and continue heating, stirring often until the cream cheese has melted and the soup is thick and hot. Add the herbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer soup for a few minutes more.

Now it's time to smooth out the soup. If you use a blender or food processor, make sure to allow the soup to cool somewhat before buzzing it. We prefer to use a hand-held immersion blender, which makes the process much easier as the soup never leaves the pot and you have less clean-up later. The immersion blender doesn't quite do as good a job of perfectly smoothing out the soup, but we like the trade-off in time and clean-up.

You could add some sour cream or pesto drizzle to each bowl. Obviously, this soup would go well with some hot sourdough bread and a green salad.

Recipe #30 - "Forbidden" Black Rice Salad

This is a Post-Halloween special. A couple of weeks ago, Sheri' needed to bring a "scary" dish to her workplace for a Halloween luncheon. Mark found a recipe online and adapted it.

We just happened to have some "Forbidden" black Chinese rice on hand (click here to find it online). The finished dish is truly deep black in color, and flecked with bright dots of orange, so entirely appropriate for Halloween. The flavors are bright with the tastes of lime and spice.

1 3/4 cups black Thai or Chinese rice (also known as "Forbidden Rice")
3 1/2 cups water
1 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tsp. sambal oelek or other Asian hot chili sauce

1 Tbsp. peanut oil
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
2 large shallots, peeled and minced
6 green onions, peeled, cleaned and chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger

1.5 cups raw cashews
1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced

Salt & Pepper

Put the black rice, water and salt in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for about 30 minutes until the rice is tender and the water has been completely absorbed. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice and chili sauce.

In a medium saute pan, heat the peanut oil and add the carrot, shallots, green onions, garlic and ginger. Saute for just a few minutes until cooked through but not browned.

Put the black rice in a large mixing bowl and add the dressing, sauteed veggies, bell peppers and cashews. Gently stir thoroughly and serve either warm or at room temperature (not chilled).

Recipe #29 - Wild Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna

A lot of lasagna is made with tomato sauce and some form of meat. This one is a bit different in that it has neither. Instead, it makes use of a rich mushroom sauce laced at the last minute with spinach.

The rest of the dish is straightforward lasagna, with layered flat noodles and cheese, with the whole thing baked until bubbly. If you added some tuna and peas to this, you'd have a deconstructed (reconstructed?) tuna casserole!

1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. olive oil
12 dried lasagna noodles

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup minced shallots
6 green onions, trimmed, cleaned and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
1/2 lb. mixed wild mushrooms (chanterelle, portobello, shiitake, oyster), roughly chopped

3 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 cups low-fat milk

1 lb. fresh baby spinach leaves, cleaned, stemmed and roughly chopped
1/4 cup shredded fresh basil

2 cups shredded parmesan or asiago cheese
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese



Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add salt, oil and lasagna pasta. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or al dente. Drain and toss pasta with a little olive oil so it doesn't stick, and set aside.

In a wok or large saucepan, heat the butter and olive oil. When it's hot, add the shallots, scallions and garlic, and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add all the mushrooms and cook for about eight minutes, until they've given off their juices and the juices have mostly evaporated.

Add the flour, salt and pepper, and stir thoroughly to incorporate the flour with the vegetables. Slowly add the milk and cook the sauce over medium heat until it's thickened considerably and bubbly. Add the spinach and basil and cook for a couple minutes more, until wilted. Remove from heat.

Spray a two-inch-deep 9-by-13 baking dish with cooking spray. Coat the bottom with the mushroom-spinach sauce, top with 1/2 cup cheese, and top that with three lasagne noodles laid next to one another. Repeat the layering, finishing with sauce and cheese. Put the mozzarella over the top of the whole thing and put in the preheated oven. Bake the lasagna for about 30 minutes until it's hot and bubbly. Remove from oven and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes or so before serving.

We had this with steamed broccolini and a green salad with roasted garlic-buttermilk dressing. But it goes with just about any kind of accompaniment, including garlic bread, Caesar salad, steamed asparagus, you name it.