Bulgur Wheat Salad

This Salad is fine as a meal by itself or as a side with grilled meats and fish. With the fresh chopped herbs it really packs a lot of flavor.  Its one of my fave for the former for a quick lunch.

Bulgur wheat is simply cracked wheat berries. It used to be a staple at the hippy stores, but I've  been finding it in mainstream grocs these days.  Yeah...and its cheaper that way too.  Nice complete grain and its easy to cook.  If you can do rice, you can do this.

I always have chicken stock on hand so this isn't entirely vegan, to make it that way simply use a good veggie stock.  As you don't know how much salt is in the stock, hold off salting the bulgur wheat until you taste it.

Bulgur Wheat Salad

• 1 c bulgur wheat
• 2 c veggie or chicken stock
• 1/4 t black pepper
• Salt
• 1 c sliced mushrooms
• 1 small zucchini quartered and sliced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 3 T chopped cilantro
• 3 T chopped mint
• juice of one lemon
• 2 T olive oil

In small sauce pot bring stock to a boil.  Add bulgur wheat and reduce heat to low and simmer/steam 20 minutes. Remove from heat and lest stand 10 minutes covered.

Add mushrooms to a large non-stick fry pan with a tablespoon of oil.   Sautee over med/high heat until the mushrooms start to brown, about 3-5 minutes.  Add zucchini and cook 3-5 minutes until they start to brown.  Add onion and cook to translucent.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

Prepare dressing with lemon juice, olive oil, herbs, and black pepper.  In large salad bowl add bulgur wheat and fluff with a fork.  Pour over the veggie mixture and toss lightly to combine.  Pour over the salad dressing and toss to dress the salad.  Test of salt and add as needed.  Serve warm.

Mushroom Lasagna...tastes way better than it looks

So today was one of those days where I tore through recipe books trying to figure out what to do for dinner.  I was in the mood for cooking so I wasn't too worried about it being fast nor easy.

This recipe is a combo of a few different recipes.  I included the thyme, as well, thyme plays so well with mushrooms and the inspiration recipe didn't include it for reasons I don't understand.  I'm glad I did include as that subtle grassy flavor of thyme plays well through out the dish.

I used cremini mushrooms also called "baby bella" or "baby portobello" mushrooms.  It really is just a tiny version of the huginormous portobella's out there.  Same 'shroom just a different size.  And if you can find the already sliced variety like I do at the market your work is even shortened a bit.

Mushroom Lasagna
12 lasagna noodle cooked according to package directions
1 c grated Parmesan
White Sauce
1 stick butter
4C whole milk
1/2 c all purpose flour
1T sea salt
1 t black pepper
1 t fresh grated nutmeg
Mushroom Filling
1 lb sliced cremini mushroom
1 t salt
1 t black pepper
2 T loose packed fresh thyme leaves (or 1 T dry)


Preheat oven to 375F
Cook noodles according to package directions.  Set aside.


To make white sauce heat milk over medium heat.  Melt butter in large sauce pan until melted.  Add flour and cook until dissolved.  Add hot milk all at once and whisk until smooth.  Add salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir constantly over medium high heat until  thick and starting to bubble, about 3-5 minutes.  Set aside off flame.


In large skillet add olive oil and 1T butter over medium high heat.  Add half the mushrooms, salt, pepper and thyme.  Stir often until mushrooms have lost most of their moisture and starting to brown, about 5 minutes.  Pour out into bowl. Repeat with remaining mushrooms.


Constructing the Lasagna.  Lightly spray with Pam a 9X13 baking dish.  Place about 1 cup of white sauce in the bottom of the pan.  Add 3 noodles to the bottom of the pan.  Spread on 1/4 the white sauce on top of the noodles.  Add 1/3 mushrooms, 1/4 C Parmesan.  Repeat with next two layers.  The final layer will be noodles with white sauce and Parmesan.  Bake in oven until golden brown on top and bubbly at the edges about 30-45 minutes.

Mushrooms and Thyme are bestest friends

No kidding, mushrooms and thyme really play well together in terms of taste. One of our favorite recipes for dinner parties or pot lucks is "Big Pasta and Mushrooms". Its an adaptation of a recipe from Nigella Lawson that hits the flavor profiles, but in a smaller quantity (hers calls for 3 lbs of pasta) and without the fuss of making a bechamel sauce.

I'm inherently lazy and will take short cuts where appropriate. Canned cream of mushroom soup is the short cut here that saves a ton of time in prepping the dish.

For my version I kept the amount of mushrooms similar to what the original recipe called for. Why? Because I love freaking mushrooms and felt that my ratio gave you more of a sense of the mushroomy goodness than the original.

The mushrooms I chose were those that looked best when I went to the market on the day I made this batch. The type of mushroom you use isn't as important as getting the quantity right and using those that are freshest when you are in the market. You can even fudge with the weight as an extra ounce more or less won't hurt the final outcome.

Big Pasta and Mushrooms

• 8 oz portobello caps sliced
• 6 oz cremini mushrooms sliced
• 3.5 oz oyster musroom sliced
• 2 c loosely packed dried shitake mushrooms
• 1 stick butter
• 2 T olive oil
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme tied in a bundle - plus extra for garnish
• nutmeg
• 1 t herbed sea salt (regular sea salt can be substituted)
• 1 t fresh ground black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 c vermouth
• boiling water
• 1 1/2 c fresh grated Parmesan
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• 4 c milk
• 1 1/2 lbs large pasta (I used stuffing size rigatoni)
• 1 1/4 c fresh chopped parsley
• Preheat oven to 400F.

Put dried shitakes in a measuring cup and cover with boiling water. Allow to steep for at least 5 minutes. Put salted water on to boil for pasta. Cook pasta to "al dente".

In large sauce pot add butter and olive oil. Over medium heat melt butter and then add garlic and thyme bundle. Cook one minute. Add the sliced mushrooms and fresh cracked pepper. Using microplane add 10-12 good scrapes of nutmeg to the mushrooms. Cook 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally until they have released their moisture and the liquid has nearly evaporated.

Drain the shitakes, reserving liquid (should be about 1 cup). Add shitakes with the sea salt to the pan and cook 1 minute folding them in constantly until evenly distributed. Add vermouth, cook 2-3 minutes until absorbed by the mushrooms. Add the reserved shitake liquid and cook 5-7 minutes until nearly evaporated. Remove thyme twig bundle.

Add cream of mushroom soup, milk and 1 cup parsley to the mushroom mixture stir until soup is dissolved. In large mixing bowl add the cooked and drained pasta. Add the mushrooms and fold gently until well distributed. Sprinkle on 1 cup of Parmesan and fold until well distributed.

Pour into 12X17 baking dish. Sprinkle 1/2 c Parmesan across the top. Bake 30 minutes until parts are browned and crusty.

Remove from oven and garnish with 1/4 cup parsley and 6-8 thyme sprigs.

Chicken Mushroom Soup

Yesterday was a cold (well 58 is cold for the LA area) and rainy wet until later in the afternoon. What better for a soup day?

I raided the pantry and put together this quick soup. Tasty. Filling. Doesn't get much better.

Chicken Mushroom Soup

• 1 lb cooked chicken - coarse chop
• 1/2 large onion - diced
• 2 C coarse chopped carrot
• 1 1/2 C coarse chopped celery (including tops)
• 4 oz dried mushroom - coarse chopped
• 2 cup fresh spinach leaves
• 2 C wide egg noodles
• 1 T chopped garlic
• 1 t black pepper
• 2 t thyme
• 1 t rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 T parsley
• 8 C chicken broth - low sodium
• salt to taste
  

Coat bottom of large stock pot with olive oil. Heat over medium high heat. Add onion, black pepper and cook 4-5 minutes. Add carrots and celery cook another 4-5 minutes until oil is getting some browned bits. Add garlic, stir for a minute.

Add chicken, mushrooms and broth. Simmer 30 minutes until mushrooms are soft. Add noodles and cook another 10 minutes until al dente. Add spinach leaves and stir 1-2 minutes until wilted. Serve with some fresh parmesan grated on top.

I like this soup for a few reasons, first it is full of stuff. Second is it is big on flavor.

I keep several of the 1 lb bags of ready to use grilled chicken from costco on hand for quick meals during the week.

Costco also has these HUGE bags of dried shitake mushrooms that are so cheap. They are really handy to have around. Toss them into soups as is like I did here. Chop them coarsely in a food processor and add to your marinara sauce to help thicken it. Whirl them until fine and add to your beef stew instead of flour to thicken the sauce like a gravy for another layer of flavor.