Wild Rice and Goat Cheese stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

This recipe is definitely a favorite of mine. It has a proven luckiness track record for me. It was the first dinner I cooked for a certain Bengali gentleman about 2.5 years ago, and let's just say that turned out well. These mushrooms involve a good bit of preparation, but the good news is that it can all be done ahead and then thrown in the oven at the last minute. You can assemble the mushrooms (with everything except the bread crumbs), wrap them individually in plastic and keep them in the fridge for up to 2 days. Just take them out of the fridge, add bread crumbs and throw them in the oven.

The recipe for these comes from a lovely little publication called The Vegetarian Times, and I follow it pretty much to the T. It's delicious and really filling.

Recipe:
2 Tbs. olive oil, divided
1 small onion, finely chopped
8 oz. button or white mushrooms, chopped
3 clove garlic, minced (3 tsp.)
1 cup cooked wild rice
1 package goat cheese, crumbled
4 large portobello mushrooms, stems and gills removed (a how-to on this process can be found here)
1 package cherry (or other small) tomatoes, cut in half
2 Tbs. lemon juice
4 tbsp. fine breadcrumbs, divided
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1) Cook wild rice according to package directions. Set aside to cool
2) Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and grease a baking sheet.
3) Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a large skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook for approximately 5 minutes.
4) Stir in button mushrooms and chopped stems from portobellas, salt and black pepper. Allow to cook for about 9 minutes, or until most of the water from the mushrooms has evaporated.
5) Stir in Wild rice and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
6) Remove from heat and stir in goat cheese.
7) Place the portobella caps on the baking sheet and fill each with 1/4 of the filling.
8) Toss the cherry tomatoes with lemon juice, then place them on top of the mushrooms (it helps to push them into the filling a bit. Pour any extra lemon juice on the mushrooms.
9) Sprinkle 1 tbsp. bread crumbs on top of each of the mushrooms.
10) Bake for 30-35 minutes. Serve with extra wild rice or salad.

I hope this recipe is as lucky for you as it is for me!

Until our next dinner,
ceh.

Any word, I show you that the root of that word is Greek.

Spanakopita

My best friend is Greek, and I can tell you for sure that nothing in the world compares with her dad's spanakopita. It's a delicious spinach pie that is lightly spiced with a bit of feta cheese. to. die. for. This is my version, which is (I think) the next best thing. The important thing to remember here is to get as much water out of the spinach as possible before you start to assemble the pies. I make two 8-inch pies with this and then put one in the freezer (for up to a month or so) to whip out for a quick dinner.

This recipe makes 2 8-inch pies

Recipe:

1/2 package filo dough

3 packages frozen spinach, thawed

5 tbsp. garlic

1 large white onion

6-8 oz. walnuts, toasted

16 oz. (approximately) feta cheese

2-3 eggs

8 tbsp. olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp. of nutmeg

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put all of the spinach in a colander, and squeeze out as much moisture from it as you can. After you are done, it should be significantly smaller in volume, but that's good.

2) In a non-stick pan, heat approximately 2 tbsp. of olive oil and add the onions. Fry them until they are soft and just turning brown at the edges.

3) Add garlic, nutmeg, salt and pepper and fry for another 1-2 minutes.

4) Add Walnuts and spinach and stir until everything is incorporated. Then, turn of the heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature

5) While the mixture is cooling, get out your filo dough. For tips on working with this infamously tricky material, I think this is a great resource: Tips on Handling Phyllo Dough Sheets. You can get your station set up with the damp towel, pastry brush and extra olive oil in a bowl.

6) Take the cooled spinach/onion/garlic mixture and mix in the eggs and feta cheese. It's a judgement call on whether it is 2 or 3 eggs. You are looking for a texture that loosely holds it shape, but isn't too sticky.

7) Commence filo dough layering. Put one layer down, brush it with olive oil, then put another down. You want to form a crust that is about 6-8 layers deep in the bottom of each pan. It's also good if there are edges hanging over, these will be folded over the filling later.

8) Divide the mixture in half and fill each pan. Fold the edges of the bottom crust over the top of the filling, making sure to brush oil on each layer.

9) Layer the top crust, again 6-8 layers deep, pushing the edges of the filo dough sheets down into the sides of the pan.

10) Put the pie in the oven, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden.

*A side note: if you are cooking a pie from the freezer, do not thaw in advance. Just put the pie from the freezer in the oven at 350, and bake it for about 40-45 minutes. And there you have it!

Until our next dinner,

ceh.