Mushroom Bourguignon

Happy New Year! Here's a veggie one for those of you looking to start the year off right...
My dear friend Mary came for dinner, so I combed the internet for the best possible vegetarian recipe I could find.  I settled on Mushroom Bourguignon from Smitten Kitchen, and it was a earthy, hardy take on vegetarian that worked for Mary and my larger-than-average husband (he's 6'6".) 
While this was quite tasty the first time around, the leftovers were not great- the mushrooms became a little slimy - so I would scale this up or down to exactly what you need to cook.

Here's what I used for 5 large portions:
2 TB Olive Oil
2 TB butter, softened
2 lbs portobello mushrooms, cut into 1/4 in slices, stems discarded
1/2 carrot, finely diced
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup full-bodied red wine
2 cups beef or vegetable broth
2 TB tomato paste
1 tsp fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried
1 1/2 TB flour
1 cup pearl onions (thawed if frozen)
Egg noodles for base

Tomato Paste Tip: I was tired of buying tomato paste, using one TB and throwing the rest out after it went bad.  So I spooned the tomato paste out by the TB onto a sheet of parchment paper and laid them down in the freezer. After they were frozen, I wrapped them in plastic and popped them in a ziplock.  Now, when I need a TB of tomato paste, I can just grab one of my frozen TBs from the freezer and not feel so wasteful.

A close-up of these beautiful mushrooms and carrots post my trip to Brooklyn Kitchen for an excellent knife skills class!

 Ok, enough about the ingredients.  To get going, heat a large dutch oven (I used the 4.5 qt one that Mary's mother gave me) with one TB olive oil and one TB butter. Once those are melted together, add the mushrooms to give them a sear.  You'll want to let them turn dark brown, but take them back out of the pan before they start releasing any juices.  While I did this all in one go, it would probably be a bit easier to do in batches.
Once all the mushrooms are back out of the pan, add the second TB of olive oil and add the carrots, onion, thyme, and some salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Turn the heat down to medium and let them cook for about 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and let that cook for an additional minute.

Stand back and add the wine, making sure to scrape up any deliciousness on the bottom of the pan.  Turn the heat up and reduce until it's about 1/2 the liquid - it should take about 15 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and broth and add back the mushrooms (plus any juices that have collected in your bowl) to the pot. Let those simmer for 25 minutes.  For the last 10 minutes, add the pearl onions so they get nice and soft.

Finally, combine the flour and butter with a fork until it looks like a paste.  Add to the pot to thicken and let it cook for a final 10 minutes. Season to taste - mine needed quite a bit of salt.
Serve over egg noodles or rice and feel free to garnish with sour cream, parsley or thyme.
Enjoy!

Fettuccine with Creamy Sausage Tomato Sauce

Again, another long break! Work has been too busy to cook and blog.  So I have been cooking, just not blogging! I am trying to use the holidays as a chance to get caught up and clear some of these pictures out of my phone!
This was a delicious treat that I made that does NOT fall into the category of health food.  But we were both craving a delicious pasta without heading out of the apartment, so I used this recipe from Epicurious without really changing much.  It was creamy, hardy, and an excellent treat for a cold day.  It's a rare day that I cook with cream, but this was worth every calorie. 

Here's what I used:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 shallots, chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausages, casings removed
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes in juice with Italian seasonings
• 1 tablespoon dried sage
• 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

• 1 package of fresh fettuccine

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

I started by chopping my shallots and garlic and adding them to a hot pan with a swirl of olive oil.  I let those sweat until they were softened, about 3 minutes.

Then I added the sausage, working to break it up into small pieces with the back of a wooden spoon.  The smaller the better here, so that it can hold all the delicious sauce. It took about 10 minutes until the sausage was no longer pink in the middle.  Then it's time to add the rest of the sauce. If it looks extremely greasy here, you can use a big metal spoon to get any sausage grease out of the pan - I got about one small spoonful out before I added the rest of the sauce ingredients. 

To this, add the cream and incorporate before adding the tomatoes (make sure you crush them with your hands as you add them), the tomato juices, sage, and red pepper. Stir and incorporate, bring just to a boil, and turn the heat down to simmer for 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, get your pasta water boiling so that you can add it at the appropriate time (8-9 min out for dry, 3 min out for fresh pasta.)  While I remembered to reserve some pasta water, I did not need to use it. Once the pasta is cooked, strain and add directly to the sauce to coat.  I like to use my silicone kitchen tongs to make sure all the pasta is evenly coated. You can add a little salt and pepper if you need to, though I did not have to add any additional salt. Instead, I topped with a little salty parmesan cheese to serve. 

Buon Appetito!