Brie with Mushrooms

Connie accuses me of never following a recipe.  I say never say never.  LOL In all honesty, I rarely follow a recipe as written.  Either I have an ingredient I want to use up so I substitute or I just use the recipe as a suggestion and fill in the blanks myself.  That’s what happened with a recipe in Chef Recipes Made Easy.  It was for camembert with a wild mushroom fricassee.  It sounded wonderful but I had a wheel of brie and not one of camembert.  And, I just had a box of cremini mushrooms, not all kinds of fun, wild mushrooms.  And, last but certainly not least, it was going to be dinner along with a lovely bowl of room temperature ratatouille.  That meant if I was to use the sage and walnuts, I’d be introducing a totally different herb.  Fine.  A recipe had totally become a suggestion.   

What did we think?  WOW!  This was an incredible dish.  In fact, it was so good that I made it again a few days later for a pitch in.   

Ingredients: 

Wheel of brie (I used a 21oz wheel from Costco) 

2 T butter 

12 oz very thinly sliced cremini mushrooms 

1 shallot, minced 

¼ c prosecco, dry sherry or dry white wine 

1 large sprig rosemary 

½ c chopped pecans 

Pecan oil 

baguette 

 

Directions: 

Preheat your oven to 350.  Put the brie in a tart pan.  This is what you’re going to serve it in also.  Melt the butter in a medium skillet.  When it’s foaming add the mushrooms and shallot and saute until they’re well softened and the pan is relatively dry.  Remove the pan from the heat and pour in the alcohol.  Put the pan back on the heat and add in the rosemary sprig.  I tucked it under the mushrooms.  Stir regularly.  Once the pan is again almost dry, add in the pecans and heat through.  Pour the mushroom mixture over the brie and put the tart pan in the oven.  Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.  After I took this out of the oven I drizzled it with pecan oil.  Really any nut oil should work.  Serve with baguette or sourdough toasts or party rye or whatever you please.   

 

Adapted from Chef Recipes Made Easy 

 

Mac and Cheese Quiche

Six tomatoes were sitting on the counter getting a bit old.  And, a bunch of asparagus was having the same problem in the fridge.  What to do with them?  I kept picturing a kind of quiche with a mac and cheese crust.  Couldn’t come up with a recipe on Eat Your Books or by searching the internet.  So, I decided to make one up.  By the time the box mix of mac and cheese was made I realized that using a pie plate and trying to have the “crust” come up the sides wasn’t going to work.  I pulled out a casserole dish instead.  A sprinkle of cheese on the bottom, the mac and cheese, the roasted tomatoes and asparagus, the egg mixture and then, finally, another sprinkle of cheese.  We gave this a solid four on a scale of one to five.  Connie asked during dinner if I’d written it down and I assured him I’d taken photos every step of the way and that I’d write the recipe down today.  Because this is absolutely a make again! 

 

Ingredients:

1 box macaroni and cheese prepared according to the package directions.  (I always toss in a handful of grated cheese)

2 large tomatoes, quartered

1 bunch asparagus

Olive oil

6 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated

4 eggs

¼ c sour cream

1 ½ tsp Italian seasoning

 

Directions:

Prepare the mac and cheese.  While that’s cooking, roast the tomatoes and asparagus for about 15 minutes at 450.  I drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled them with freshly ground pepper prior to roasting.

Grate the cheese on the large holes of the grater.  Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese in the bottom of a casserole dish.  Add another 1/3 to the mac and cheese.  Reserve the last 1/3 for the topping

Mix the eggs, sour cream and Italian seasoning.

 

Pour the mac and cheese into the casserole dish and even the top.

 Put the roasted vegetables on top.

 Pour over the eggs.  Sprinkle on the last 1/3 of the cheese. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

 

 

  

 

 

 

Watermelon, Queso Fresco and Mint Salad

 

This salad is SO refreshing.  I used a melon baller since not only is it easier than trying to get the watermelon out of the rind, it also looks pretty.  The recipe didn’t specify the size of the cubes so I made both the jicama and queso fresco cubes about ¼” max.  The recipe also said to mix the dressing separately.   I didn’t do that.  And, I added the watermelon juice to the whole mix.  Then, at the table we added some Penzey’s Pico and Salsa salt-free seasoning.  That was to make up for the lack of salt in the dish.  Thanks to our low-salt diet!

 

 

Ingredients

8 c cubed watermelon

1 c peeled and cubed jicama

¼ c coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

¼ c chiffonade of basil

1 T freshly grated lime zest

1 T chopped fresh chives

1 T sliced scallions, white and pale green parts

1 jalapeno chile, seeded, deveined and minced

3 T extra virgin olive oil

2 T freshly squeezed lime juice

1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

Salt and pepper

½ c crumbled queso fresco

1 T chopped fresh mint

Directions

Mix well. Serve chilled.

 

Adapted from Casa Marcela

 

Where has this been all of my life?  And, why did my hubby from Boston not know about this?  Well, the good news is that now Nantucket Cranberry Pie is indeed in my life.  It’s super easy to put together and so very tasty!

 

 

Nantucket Cranberry Pie

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan

2 heaping cups cranberries

¾ c pecans, chopped

1 2/3 c plus 1T sugar

2 large eggs

1 t pure almond extract

1 c all-purpose flour

¼ t kosher salt

Ice cream or freshly whipped cream for serving

 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350.

You can use a 9x9 cake pan or a deep pie pan or another similar sized oven safe dish.

Butter the pan.  Sprinkle the cranberries over the bottom of the pan.  Then, add the pecans followed by 2/3 c of sugar. 

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs.  Add in the melted butter and almond extract and whisk.  Next, add in one cup of sugar and the flour and salt.  Stir gently until the ingredients are combined.

Next you pour the batter over the cranberries and the pecans.  Be sure to fully cover them.

Sprinkle on the last tablespoon of sugar.

Bake for 45-50 minutes.  Test to make sure a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. 

Serve with the whipped cream or ice cream.

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

 

Milk Bread

Also known as plain, old, white bread.  I realized they were one and the same when I made the Japanese Egg Salad Sandwich.  Had one of those ah-ha moments.  Now, I’m fortunate to have a bread maker because I certainly don’t have the time to make bread from scratch.  Once I figured out that the order is wet, dry, yeast, my breads have turned out so well.  As it was for this loaf. 

This is for a two-pound loaf

Ingredients:

1 ¼ c milk

¼ c water

2 T butter, cut up

4 c bread flour

2 T sugar

1 t salt

1 ¼ t yeast

 

Directions:

Layer the ingredients in the bread maker according to your manufacturer’s directions.  Mine calls for wet, dry, yeast. 

adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Bread Machine Recipes