Mushroom Marsala Fettuccini

Lately I have been back on the Rachael Ray meal train.  It may have something to do with a sick day, a DVR, and a need to "clean up" the hundreds of hours of recorded shows that I never have time to watch.  So, my friend Rach gave me some yummy new ideas to shake up the family mealtime rut, so stay tuned for a few more RR meals in the future.

For Valentine's Day, we experimented with cooking a mushroom Marsala steak sauce with lovely results so it's my current new obsession.  So of course when I saw her make Double Mushroom and Marsala Creme Fettuccini, I knew that would be hitting my table soon!  Of course, I had to change a few things, I don't know where Rach shops but in my grocery store dried Porcini mushrooms are about $8 an ounce!  If you feel so inclined, check out the original recipe, I'm sure it is completely fabulous, but mine was pretty dang good too.  Here we go:

1 8oz package each, whole button and cremini mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced.
1/4 red onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced

2T extra virgin olive oil and 1T butter
Handful of fresh thyme
Black pepper
1/2 C dry Marsala wine (sort of like port and quite tasty, it's helpful to have a small glass for the chef while cooking!)
1 C (approximately) beef broth
1/2 C half and half or heavy cream (I used half and half)
1lb fettuccini (original recipe calls for whole wheat but I had the regular so I just used that)

Heat a non-stick pan to medium heat with butter and olive oil.  Add mushrooms, onions, and garlic.  Saute veggies for several minutes until mushrooms are well browned.  Douse mushrooms with Marsala and cook for a few more minutes or until about halfway reduced.  Add beef broth and cook reduce again.  Add half and half, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gently while pasta cooks.

While pasta cooks and sauce simmers, make the panko topping.  As a side note, panko is my new favorite thing!  It is light and crispy and lovely and magical.  Okay, maybe not magical, but it can make a fish sooo yummy that it happily fed three generations of my family, so that's pretty magical to me.  Stay tuned for magical fish recipe...  Annnyyyway, back to panko topping for pasta:

2 T butter
1 clove garlic, finely minced or pasted
1 C panko
1/2 Parmiggiano Reggiano
Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Heat butter in a small saute pan until bubbly, add garlic and panko, stir around and cook on low until panko gets toasty and golden brown.  Turn off head and stir in cheese and parsley.  This is a heavenly crunchy little "garlic bread" tasting topping for your noodles.




When pasta is just slightly under-cooked, drain and stir gently into the mushroom sauce.  Stir for a minute or two to combine well and thicken the sauce.  Sprinkle toasty topping on individual plates and enjoy!  In order to offset the butter/cream sauce, I made a simple spinach and tomato salad to go with this.  That negates the fat you know!  It should be noted, this is not the best "money shot" of the meal, but I couldn't resist the toddler slurping up his noodles in the background.  There you go, kid approved!

Meatless Monday: Spaghetti Alla Ceci

Somehow, this weekend we had heavy red meat dishes three days in a row.  So by Monday, I was more than ready for a meatless meal!  For inspiration, I scanned some old recipe books and came across a loved but forgotten recipe for spaghetti with chickpeas in Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals.  I didn't have all of the ingredients but it provided a great starting off point for a great pasta dinner, with a little more of a Greek flair than the original.

Here is the original recipe, which is wonderful.  

Here is my adaptation:

1 lb thin spaghetti

1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rough chopped in the food processor
2T extra virgin olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1T herbes de Provence
1/2 T oregano (just a shake or two)

Black pepper

1/2 cup unsalted chicken stock

1 can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes

Small handful kalamata olives, pitted and roughly chopped

1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano

Crumbled feta cheese

Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook spaghetti.  While spaghetti is cooking, preheat a large skillet to medium high with olive oil.  Add chickpeas and saute for a few minutes.  Add onion, olives, garlic, and herbs.  Stir and cook a bit longer or until onions start to color.  De-glaze with chicken stock and reduce down for a minute or two.  Add tomatoes, turn heat to low and cook for 10 minutes or so.  Drain spaghetti and toss in sauce with parsley and cheese.  For an extra Greek twist, add some crumbled feta on top.  Mmmm...this was such a yummy and simple meal, light and hearty at the same time!

Falafel Burgers

So here it is another meatless Monday and I had not planned ahead.  I find myself staring into my freezer and wondering what the heck I am going to feed my family in a few hours.  Then, peeking out from a bunch of other stuff is a box of Morningstar meatless burgers that I bought an embarrassingly long time ago.  Hmmm...I wonder if I could pass that off to the hubby and kids?  What the heck?  Along that same theory, I scanned the refrigerator and found 1/4 tub of sour cream that was about to expire, a bag of salad greens that had almost seen better days, a jar of kalamata olives with exactly 5 left, 1/2 an onion and 1/2 a red bell pepper.  At this point I was feeling pretty creative and just knew that I could come up with something really yummy, and guess what: I did!  The secret is in the sauce; isn't it always really?  So, here it is:

Sauce:
1/4-1/2 cup light sour cream (non-fat Greek yogurt would probably be even better)
1 clove garlic, pasted
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper
5 Kalamata olives, chopped.  Or six, or seven...

Mix all ingredients and let sit for a couple of hours if you've got it.  This was so yummy I could have spread it on anything and been happy!

Burgers:
1 package Morningstar Grillers burgers.
1/2 tub of feta cheese
1/2 package of mixed field greens, or any other greens you like, rinsed and dried
1/2 each red bell pepper and onion, sliced
1T Extra virgin olive oil
1 sprig fresh rosemary or Herbs de Provence (my magic "everything" herb mix)

Heat olive oil in cast iron skillet, add veggies with rosemary and cook 10 minutes or until soft and browned.  Remove to plate.  Add burgers and cook until brown and crispy-ish, about 5 minutes per side.  Once burgers are fully cooked (or warmed, really),  toss a handful of feta on top of each patty, cover with a loose tin foil "tent" and turn off heat.  Feta cheese won't really melt but it will get warm and "smooshy."  Assemble burgers and enjoy!

Looks super yummy, right?  Now, for a bit of a disclaimer:  I served this to my husband, a burger lover if ever there was one.  He took a bite, chewed, thought.  "What do you think?" I asked.  "It's...fine.  The sauce is great."  He added helpfully.  "What you have to do is just not think of it as a 'burger'.  Think of it more as a, as a, well, as a falafel."  He considered this, took another bite, then another.  "It's good."  He declared.  Then he finished his burger and had another. I even heard him saying to the kids "Eat your falafel!"  So, what I am saying is that this does not taste like USDA prime beef.  But, it was really pretty good.  Especially with the sauce and the feta.  Mmmmm....the sauce!  Give it a try.  If you're not a vegetarian this will probably not replace your regular burger, but it did make a nice change.  

Just Another Meatless Monday...

So I don't exactly do it every Monday but I am trying to reduce the amount of meat my family eats.  For one thing, my daughter does not really like most meats anyway and I've never been a huge meat person myself.  I mean, I love a good filet or some bacon as much as the next person, but there are plenty of just lovely veggie meals that I enjoy (pasta primavera, veggie pizza, caprese salad, etc.).  Just don't take away my cheese, that's just wrong!

Anyway, I heard about Meatless Monday a while back and thought it sounded like a  great concept.  Basically you can reduce your environmental impact by eating less meat, not to mention the money and fat/calories you will likely save.  So, here's my Meatless Monday recipe:

Slow-cooker black beans

1 lb dried black beans, picked through (I found 2 rocks in mine this time), rinsed, and soaked overnight

This is all I start with.  My grandma (who was an amazing cook and knew a thing or two about cooking beans, growing up in the Depression and all) told me that if you salt the beans right from the beginning, it makes them mealy and they don't get as tender.  So, set your slow cooker on high and cook the bare beans, covered about an inch deep in water, for about two hours.  After beans have cooked by themselves for a while, turn slow cooker to low and add the seasonings:

2-3 small red or 4-6 green onions with some green tops (I reserve some of the green tops for avocado/tomato topping), sliced or chopped
2-3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 chili pepper, chopped.  I used a banana pepper, just because the jalapenos looked like the had seen better days. 

1t cumin
1t chili powder
1t coriander
1t sea salt
1t black pepper
1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes

Saute veggies in a bit of olive oil until they have some color, then toss them in the pot with the other seasonings.   Stir, check seasoning if you like (I don't really measure so these are approximate), and cook on low for another 3-5 hours.  Because this is meatless, you can let it sit on your counter after it is finished cooking through and then just turn on low again when it's almost time to serve.  I top it with shredded cheese and a salad/guacamole mix of diced tomato, avocado, green onion tops, shredded romaine, parsley, and salt and pepper.  A squeeze of lime would be spectacular but not worth going to the store for!

Here's the final product served bowl-style: 

Hubby has his on a tortilla as a burrito.  My daughter prefers "tiny taco salads" with a spoonful in a few Tostitos Multi-grain Scoops.  You know, 'cuz she's high maintenance like that.  My son really just wants the chips, but I manage to sneak a bean onto his spoon every so often.  Any way you want to eat it is alright by me!  Enjoy.