You and the Sensuous Fungi

Heh! got your attention with that title I bet!  Hey fellow foodies!  It's been awhile and boy do I have serious reasons, from a town evacuation due to fire to a fantastic trip to Costa Rica just this month and a whole slew of others...but the point is, I am ready to resume foodolicious!  I really have liked all those friendly little "prods" from followers..."Robert...what ever happened to your food blog,  Robert...I need some new recipes, Robert...is Foodolicious still alive"...to this I respond simply,

"Si!"

Today I write about my passion for mushrooms.  I would love to write all about how to go out and pic the wild ones, since I do that.  But the truth is I learned from an absolute one-hundred percent "shroom nerd"  Oh my gawd!  This man lives and breathes everything fungi!  I was fortunate enough to cross his path and get him to take me up into our local high mountain ranges last year and show me everything there is to know.  I am so grateful that I can pick in the wilds and not go into hallucinogenically induced spasms or worse...well we know what worse can be.  But my point is, here on my blog, I won't get into the "hows" of wild mushroom foraging because it's just too risky.  The way I learned is the way everyone should...at the side of a willing and knowledgeable Mycologist...like my source...but be warned in my case, that was all the guy could friggin talk about...but that's a good thing for your continued healthy well being!

But the mushrooms you can buy in your local grocery store, sold as button or white mushroom can be real palitable and real cheap if you do like I do.  So I am giving away my secret even if local fellow "los Alamosites" read this.  I go to my local market early in the morning then I go over to the produce department where the loose mushrooms sold in bulk reside.  So that the mushrooms remain fresh in the basket in which they are placed, they bag the old unsold like every two days and sell them for a fraction of the per pound price.  I snag these, sometimes three or four big bags at a time.  At home I slice them up, place them in my dehydrator for 24 hours and then they go into airtight jars.  Voile! 

Now for the fun part...the prior part isn't really that fun...shop, slice, sort, toss. It's the anticipation of what you can do with these dried morsels that is exciting.  Oh and by the way, when you dehydrate mushrooms, the flavors intensify! 

So here are some of my favorite things to do with dehydrated mushrooms:

1)  Take a handful and invent a marinade or use bottled dressing or use bottled dressing and add your personal touch to it, such as chili flakes, dill, fresh lemon juice, etc.  Then simply place the mushrooms in a container with the dressing, give it 24 hours and you have a really tasty snack.

2)  Enhance many meals by simply placing them into your spice coffee grinder and turn them to powder.  Then add this delicous powdered mushroom spice to sooo many dishes. 

3) Rehydrate them and add to soups, sauces, casseroles, etc. Do this by adding boiling water or broth to a bowl containing the mushrooms. At this point simply cover or add spices of your choice for added flavoring, such as garlic powder.  Cover the bowl and give em at least 30 minutes.

4)  Chop em up while dry and top your pizza with them for an almost chewy consistency or rehydrate first and then add for the normal texture.

5)  Make a delicious wintry cream of mushroom soup...you don't even have to rehydrate them for this.  Add them to your cauldron of liquids and spices and just puree the cooked product with an immersion hand blender.

6)  Invite over your vegetarian friends and impress them with re hydrated mushrooms used to make veggie burgers.  There are a zillion recipes on the Internet...or make up your own.

See! the fungi can be versatile and reasonable if you buy them the way I do...heck maybe even a tad sensuous...  ;-)  This year, was not a good one for wild mushrooms here.  I lucked out with one great patch of Oyster Mushrooms but overall, the rain just came too late to New Mexico.  So my dehydrated wild mushroom supplies from last summer have dwindled and I now have to rely on the store bought variety more so.  But I cross my fingers for next year, because there is nothing like a wild mushroom in taste...I suggest finding your own "shroom nerd" or taking a class at the local college.  It's just too risky to go out with mushroom field guide in hand...some in the species that are delectable resemble those that are deadly...just sayin.

Happy Fall!

robert

A repost just for the furry ones in our lives..................

Many of us have at least one of em...they greet us with penetrating eyes no matter what. They are all about unconditional love...and they really mean it too! Well, they do appreciate a treat now and then to keep the unconditional love thing fed.

Today I focus on the love we have for our canine companions and the love they give us in return. I am not as consistent as I should be in making this healthy treat for our three, but when I do, the level of excitement does seem elevated even though all excitement seems to be at the same "happy canine over the top level" for food and hikes and car rides and elk poop. So make this healthy yummy biscuit recipe for your furry ones and get out the excite-o-meter and see if yours don't exude a higher level of happiness when you give them one or two or three or.......

Healthy Dog Biscuits

1 1/4 cups cornmeal

2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried dill

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp dried mint

1 tsp dried oregano

1 1/4 cups water

1 beaten egg for glazing

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Blend all the dry ingredient and add the water and knead into a workable dough or use a food processor with the dough hook attachment.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll to 1/4 inch.

Cut with a cookie cutter (they will still eat em if you don't have a bone shaped one)

Prick with a fork for texture and decoration.

Brush top of cookies with the beaten egg and bake for 25 minutes.

Keep em in an airtight container....there are no preservatives after all. Oh yeah, you can sample these yourself without any weird stigma attached because they are made of ingredients we humans eat all the time.

bow wow wow!

ciao!

robert

TVP!

Oh my...did I ever have more than just an aha moment in the kitchen today.  Ok so my discovery may be nothing new to you vegetarians out there but for me it was an amazing culinary "trick"...and a very healthy one I am discovering from all the delving I have been doing into this "TVP"...among the top features....NO FAT AND NO CHOLESTEROL!

So my mother in law asked me if I wanted a bag of it because she wasn't going to use it after all...she had encountered a meal prepared by Seventh Day Adventist's it seems...and she was very impressed with the flavor and texture of this mystery product...Again, you vegetarians are probably rolling your eyes by about now...well a mystery to us it was.

I am talking about Textured Vegetable Protein.  It's a granulated product that is made of soy and is used as a meat substitute...so those words in of themselves are enough to make me turn the other way but every review I read about TVP was very good...I kept reading things about how delicious it was and how the texture made it a great meat substitute.

So I had this unopened bag of TVP by Bob's Red Mill... you know the brand that has its very own little section in all the grocery stores now Bob's Red Mill TVP.

So it was a toss up between making a veggie burger or taco meat.  I was in the mood for tacos so I just made my taco meat recipe and substituted the TVP.  I will tell you foodie readers right here and now I could fool anyone if they did not know it wasn't beef.  Everything I read was true.  It is delicious and the end result is a texture that is like crumbled ground beef.  This culinary venture is about as far left into the world of vegetarianism as I have every drifted, I shredded some almond jalapeno jack cheese substitute to further the experiment...there was not one negative thing to say about the meal...cept maybe that I wasn't sipping a cold blended margarita or a cold mexican beer.

TVP Tacos ala Villegas

1 cup TVP Granules

1 cup chicken broth

1 medium sized yukon gold potato or any other buttery flavored spud

1 medium sized chopped yellow onion

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 tsp Chipotle Powder

2 tbsp chipotle salsa

1 tablespoon Ground Cumin

1 tsp Ground Mexican Oregano
1 tsp granulated garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder

1 tbsp Knorr Brand "Caldo de Tomate" Knorr Caldo de Tomate

(this is what I use to salt my meat also...don't add any additional salt)

In a bowl, add the TVP Granules to the chicken broth and stir well.

Allow the TVP to soak up all of the liquid for 15 minutes

Either Boil or Microwave the potato and discard skin

Saute in canola oil, the onion, garlic and the spices

Add the cooked potato and mash with a fork, till it's in very small chunks

Add the TVP and the salsa

Mix well

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes

Fill a taco shell with the TVP taco mixture and your regular taco toppings

I hope I find at least two vegetarians that didn't know about this  ;-)

robert

HEALTHY HEALTHY HEALTHY HEALTHY HEALTHY!

Once the hot weather is with us, we begin to crave lighter fare and ice cold thirst quenching drinks to go with.  I for one begin to get experimental with healthy salads.  Sometimes they don't even include lettuce.  I love salads such as cherry tomato salad with feta cheese and fresh basil, carrot salad with pineapple and golden raisins and healthy cole slaws too (and some unhealthy ones...such as my Blue Cheese Cole Slaw post earlier this year)

Today I share with you a very healthy recipe I created from a salad I ate often, many years ago in Los Angeles at a food chain called Koo Ka Roo Chicken...I think they still exist?  I loved their chilled lentil and cucumber salad.  I have changed it a great deal but lentils and cuke's are still the main ingredients.  This dish pairs well with so many things; you could grab a rotisserie chicken at your local market, you could serve it with a fresh crusty loaf of rustic bread and butter and fine wine, you could serve it with humus, greek olives and pita bread...the list is endless, once you try this salad you can decide what you want to serve it next to...

Zesty Lentil Cuke Salad

3 large cucumbers - peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

3 roma tomatoes - cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 green onions - finely chopped

2 cloves garlic rough chopped

2 cloves garlic - put thru a garlic press

1 cup green lentils

2 bay leaves

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 small onion - finely chopped

2 tsp sumac powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp fresh flat leafed italian parsley - finely chopped

1 tbsp dried crumbled mint

1 tbsp cumin powder

3 fresh limes

1 large lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Place the Lentils into a pot of water (water should be twice as high as lentils)

Add the bay leaves, the chopped garlic cloves and the small chopped onion

to the water - I add some MSG free chicken stock paste..about 1 heaping tablespoon

Cook the lentils over high heat just till boiling point is reached, then lower heat to medium low for 45 minutes uncovered.  Check for doneness...lentils should have a slight firmness to them...(you don't want them to get mushy)

Strain lentils in a mesh strainer, discard the bay leaves but do not rinse

Allow the lentils to cool to room temperature

In a large bowl add the chopped cucumber, tomato and green onion

Using a garlic press, press the two remaining cloves of garlic into the bowl

Add the dried mint and the chopped parsley and mix well

Place into refrigerator to chill till the lentils cool

The Dressing

Juice the lemon and the limes into a pouring cup

add two tsp of sumac powder

2 tsp of Ume Plum Vinegar

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

With a wire whisk, mix the above together while drizzling the 1/4 cup olive

into the cup.

Once emulsified, add to salad mixture and mix well.

Refrigerate for several hours, making sure to remix the mixture a few more times...the dressing quickly settles on the bottom of the bowl

Zesty Zesty healthy salad eatins to you!

robert





Easy, Cheesy & Elegant!

Greatings all!  eeeerrrrr... greetings that is...hmmmm or perhaps I do mean "greatings" cuz I can only hope that you find my food blog posts are simply and tastily "great - things" to introduce to your palate....clever or corny?......hmmm...anyhow...

Greatings all!

So this morning I have another breakfast recipe at popular demand...people want me to write about more breakfast ideas it seems.  So here you go!  This one is soooo easy and soooo cheesy and soooo elegant in presentation that it always gets raves before and after eating.  This especially does well for a special occasion brunch or mother's day or for one of those events where you suddenly decide "tonight we are having breakfast for dinner!"

This recipe is so versatile you can decide which ingredients to use depending on the taste's of individual family members.  Here I list my slant on the recipe...I find it to be a burst of fantastic flavor with just a few ingredients...but like I said, the skies the limit!

Elegant Eggs in Ham Cups

Eggs

Slices of ham from deli section of your local store

(I have them slice black forest ham at the slicer setting of "2")

Minced Onion

Shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Chipotle Salsa

Chives - dried or fresh

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

A muffin tin

(recipe presents itself best in small sized tin because the egg fluffs to the top ridge of the ham, but the large works if that is all you have)

Spray the muffin cups with a non stick cooking spray

Carefully form a slice of ham down into each cup...they don't have to be perfect, in fact I think having them not wrap into each cup perfectly adds a bit of good rustic-ness. If you get a tear in the bottom of the ham...not to worry, it will still hold the egg intact

Sprinkle a bit of minced onion, chipotle salsa and shredded cheese into the bottom of each

Crack an egg into each well, being careful not to break the yolk

Add salt and pepper to taste along with a bit more cheese and a tad of chives

Bake in oven for twenty minutes or longer depending on how well done your guests/family/love interest/doggies/neighbors/strangers...etc etc

want their eggs

The coolest thing about these morsels is that they hold the cup shape as you remove them to plates for a smashing presentation!

Serve this with a tall thin glassed mimosa*** or fresh juice and of course with your

best breakfast potato recipe and croissants or toast and fresh fruit


***I mix cranberry and orange juices with the champagne for an exotic twist
For the non drinkers at your breakfast, you can serve the juices mixed with crushed ice
and a sprig of fresh mint

Great things happen at breakfast too!

robert

Stock without MSG....that's a good thing

Making your own stock is not only easy, but makes everything you cook using this golden herbed liquid taste better.  It really does.  For those of you already making your own stock you know what I mean.  For those that want to but just haven't gotten into the stock groove yet...well once you get the routine down...it be easy!

There are so many good reasons to make your own stock starting with how much money you will save.  One reason I began making my own stock years back was that I found everything that tasted really good off the grocery store shelves also was really good because of the MSG in the ingredients...and not just an ingredient, but almost always, nearly the first ingredient!  OH and did I mention that those products are always expensive!  ;-)

The routine I have gotten into makes it easy to make the stock.  I either make a huge batch once a month or smaller batches twice a month.  SO.....next time you make a roast chicken or purchase one of those pre-made rotisserie birds don't throw out the carcass.  Just chop it up a bit and throw the pieces into a freezer ziploc bag and label it "for stock" and put it into your freezer.  Oh and lets say your cutting up a bird for a recipe and your about to throw out the wings or the weird mysterious looking chicken parts you find sometimes in a pre-cut up whole chicken package...toss those into the ziplocs too.  In no time you will have a good collection of chicken pieces.

The beauty of the process is that you don't even need to thaw out the pieces to make stock.  Just toss them all into a big dutch oven or french oven or a deep stock pot, fill with water to just about an inch from the top. Next add two large onions quartered...technically you don't even need to peel the onions...but I do anyhow.  Add about 5 cloves of fresh garlic, three stalks of celery with leaves...and your just about set.
But the magic to making the stock flavor pop lies in the herbs you wrap in cheese cloth (bouquet garni).  I use two sprigs of rosemary - fresh or dried, 3 big bay leaves, a teaspoon of whole black peppercorns, 4 large dried sage leaves, 5 sprigs of thyme - fresh or dried...now roll up the cloth and tie up the ends with cotton twine, leaving one of the twine ends longer so you can easily pull it out of the pot when it's time.

Easy or what?!  Just cook all the ingredients over medium heat for about four hours.  Strain the ingredients thru a metal sieve into a large vessel.  Now here is what I do to make the process even simpler.  You know those large yoghurt containers... Save them and their lids.  Just about to the top yields four cups.  I fill them up, put on the lids and place them into the fridge.  Next day, remove and skim off the fat from each container and freeze them.  All you do when you need one is to thaw it out on the counter top or in the microwave...although I was told that it's not necessarily a good thing to thaw foods in plastic containers using a microwave...either way...that's all there is to it.  Generally I don't add salt to the stock till I am using it for whichever dish I am preparing...then I add salt as needed...otherwise, you might end up with a salty finished project...and who wants that.....just sayin....

Stock it to em!

robert

After a break in the foodie-ism realm...I am back

So many readers kept asking where my daily blog was.  I was touched that so many had become daily followers of Foodolicious.  So for you fellow foodies, I am back. 

Warm weather is upon us finally and finally using the grill not only makes sense but feels right in this sort of weather...like it's a necessity.  I have many recipes up my big sleeves revolving around the grill...but today...I am keeping you in the kitchen...it's not that hot yet...unless you live in Phoenix or Palm Springs or Saudi Arabia....but soon the grilling recipes...I promise.

Last year in my vegetable garden I grew about 20 plants of basil.  The plants thrived and Basil loves to be picked because it motivates and invigorates the plants to keep putting out new branches during their growing season.  I highly recommend fish emulsion to help Basil thrive.  I love to make Cherry Tomato salads with Feta and Fresh Basil and Fresh Cucumbers...such a taste of summertime!  What I do most with my basil though, is to make huge batches of pesto.  I spoon this green heavenly paste into ice cube trays, freeze them and pop them out and using my food saver, seal them in plastic bags and have them readily available all year long in my freezer.  You only need a few cubes too for so many scrumptious dishes.  In place of regular tomato based sauce on pizza, to make Pesto Focaccia Bread, tossed with fresh pasta and on and on.  As I mentioned before, just a small jar is so expensive off the shelves in your local markets, that your money saving endeavor growing your own Basil will thrill you and your wallets! 

Just last month this simple and extremely savory idea came to me!  Why not spread the pesto on individually sliced eggplant in place of fresh Basil leaves on my Eggplant Parmigiana recipe?  So that is just what I did.  It packed so much more flavor with the pesto enhancement that I knew I had to share it here on Foodolicious.  This recipe is amazingly simple and very healthy too, in my recipe I bake the slices of eggplant which makes for a lighter fare than deep frying the eggplant as many traditional recipes call for. Nor do I do any breading.  Remember not to include any additional salt in this recipe because the pesto is salty enough on its own because of the Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese.   Vegetarians go cwazy for this dish too...it's one dish that doesnt cry out for meat, the eggplant is enough on it's own...(for us meat eaters that is ;-0 )

Pesto Eggplant Parmigiana

Three medium sized Eggplants - peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds

 (I favor the round white with lavender hue but any plump type will do)

2 cups Mozzarella Cheese - shredded

1 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese - shredded

1 cup pesto sauce

Your favorite Marinara Sauce

Extra virgin olive oil

Heat your oven to 350 degrees

Brush both sides of the slices of eggplant liberally with olive oil and bake them on cookie sheets until they begin to turn golden brown

In a medium sized rectangular glass baking dish,

spread out a layer of the marinara sauce

followed by a layer of eggplant, each slice spread with pesto sauce

Place a layer of the cheeses over the eggplant

Repeat the layers twice or if you want extra thick Parmigiana, use more eggplants

and a larger baking dish and make more layers making sure to finish with a layer of the cheeses

Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes

Note:  I don't sweat my eggplant slices, as many recipes call for... frankly I don't notice  any difference doing so first.  It is also time consuming...this recipe is very very easy and very very tasty...you'll see...Oh! and serving this with a green salad such as the amazing salad I posted in early January http://foodolicious.blogspot.com/2011/01/wild-mamas-of-tuscany.html and a good expensive bottle of red wine will make this complete...

Buon Appetito!

Robert