So since my previous recipe ended up serving at least 2-3, and I was only cooking for one, I was left with the best inspiration for culinary creativity... LEFTOVERS!!
And this morning I was in need of a nice, hearty hangover breakfast, so I made myself a nice latte (this mysterious $2 Ikea contraption actually makes an admirably rich foam out of microwave-warmed milk), busted out my leftover polenta, mushroom concoction, and a few other key ingredients, and got cookin'.
I've been craving bacon like 24/7 lately, so along with the now infamous mushrooms and polenta, I also grabbed a package of gorgeous, uncured Niman Ranch center-cut bacon on my last TJ's excursion, so this morning I busted it out and fried up one glorious, juicy slice. I left the bacon to drain on a paper towel, and in that glorious, hot bacon grease, I fried up two more slices of the polenta and plated them up. Then I cracked an egg into the same heavenly-scented pan, and while the egg was frying in one half of the pan, I dumped in some of my leftover mushroom mixture in the other half, and crumbled the bacon in with the mushrooms. Once the egg was done and the mushrooms were thoroughly heated and bacon-scented, I laid the egg over the fried polenta, dumped the bacon-y mushrooms on top, and finished it with a generous grating of Parmigiano-Reggiano and a sprinkling of fresh black pepper. Obscenely rich? Maybe so. Ridiculously delicious? OH yes.
In case you missed it, all you need in addition to your leftover mushroom mixture, chilled polenta, pepper, and cheese, is:
- one slice of bacon (preferable from happy, free-range piggies)
- one egg
I think you can handle that ;)
Alas, no photo of this one either. I promise I'll get better. That's all for now - happy eating!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Back in action!
Well, well, well. So I've been MIA for more than a year now (oops), in part because I've been away from my number-one eating mecca, NYC (I'm currently in LA working with my dance company, Boom Kat), and because, as one of the many young professionals to have been unlucky enough to graduate into the glorious job market of 2009, I am working with a even tinier budget, and thus have been cooking at home far more often than going out. That's not to say that I've lowered my standards - I've just been experimenting with recreating my favorites at home. And in light of a recent gourmet kick I've been on, I thought I'd start to document my trials and triumphs in my Los Feliz kitchen, because, frankly, I miss writing about food. Cuz food is AWESOME. So in the spirit of living richly (on the cheap), I begin my culinary adventures with a meal that happens to be both incredibly rich and surprisingly cheap.
On my most recent trip to NYC, I made a stop at one of my standbys, Bread in NoLIta. I personally had the fresh tagliatelle with lamb ragu (I know, I'm cruel. But baby animals just taste so GOOD!), but an appetizer that was shared (read: scarfed) by the whole table was crispy polenta squares smothered in fontina cheese and sauteed mushrooms. That meal was still haunting my subconscious on my most recent trip to the good ol' Silverlake Trader Joe's, and as a result, a log of their pre-cooked polenta, some fresh thyme, and a container of sliced baby portobellos ended up in my basket, just begging my to try my own version. I did some research and combined elements from a few recipes that looked good - head chef at (the now discontinued - waaaahhh!!) Gourmet magazine Sara Moulton's recipe for Crispy Polenta with Exotic Mushrooms, Deborah Madison's recipe for the mushroom filling of her Dried Porcini and Fresh Mushroom Tart from my favorite cookbook, Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen, and a recipe for Pan-Grilled Polenta With Wild Mushroom Ragout from my favorite food website EVER, Cookthink. I threw together some items I already had in my kitchen and came up with this recipe:
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- one medium shallot, diced (or half a white or yellow onion)
- one garlic clove, minced
- 1/8 oz dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in warm water for 30 mins (reserve the soaking water!)
- 8 oz sliced baby portobello mushrooms (or other small white/brown button mushrooms, thinly sliced)
- 4 medium shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps thinly sliced
- 1/2 to 1 cup dry white wine (like Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc)
- a few sprigs of fresh thyme (or whatever fresh herb tickles your fancy)
- fresh-ground black pepper and sea salt
- vegetable stock (optional)
- 1 package pre-cooked polenta, chilled (or fresh-cooked polenta, chilled in a square or rectangular baking dish)
- salty Italian cheese (fontina, parmigiano, or asiago all work well)
Heat 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; throw in your diced shallot, sauteeing for a minute or two. Add the minced garlic and saute with the shallots for another minute or two, until the shallots are slightly translucent and the pan smells ridiculously good :)
Throw in your porcini and fresh sliced mushrooms, sprinkle in a bit of sea salt, and stir to coat them with the butter and oil that's left in the pan - the pan may look kinda dry at this point but that's ok, the mushrooms will release a bunch of their own liquid (mmm, fungus juice!!!), so no worries. Stir occasionally.
After about 8-10 mins the mushrooms will have released all of their liquid, and the pan with start to look dry again; pour in a few glugs of your wine (about 1/2 cup) and continue to stir occasionally until the 'shrooms soak up all the wine, too. At this point you have some choices - you can add some of the reserved soaking liquid from the dried porcini if you want a richer, earthier flavor; you can add some vegetable stock for a milder flavor; or you can add more wine for a brighter, sharper flavor - whichever you choose, add about 1/2 cup, and continue stirring occasionally until the mushrooms soak up your liquid of choice.
At this point I'd taste and season - add some salt and fresh black pepper if you like, and some fresh thyme leaves, either minced or ripped straight from the stem; stir in your last tablespoon of butter, reduce the heat to low (or even turn it off), cover, and keep warm while you fry the polenta.
In another pan, heat your remaining tbsp of olive oil over medium-high to high heat; while the oil is heating, slice your polenta into rounds about 1/2 inch thick (if it's the prepackaged kind; if you chilled fresh-cooked polenta in a pan, squares or triangles might be easier). After a minute or two, add the slices to the hot pan, reducing the heat a little if the oil is popping too much. Fry the polenta until it has a golden-brown crust, about 4-5 minutes on each side.
Plate up the polenta slices, generously grate your cheese over the top, and smother with the succulent mushrooms. Add a sprig of fresh thyme for garnish, a grind or two of pepper over the top, (and another sprinkling of cheese if you're feeling decadent, which I ALWAYS am), pour yourself a glass of fruity red wine (Nero d'Avola is my personal fave), and ENJOY!!!
While I was working on the mushrooms, I also roasted a few beets that I got at the Hollywood Farmer's Market last week, so I sliced up a few of those and threw them on a bed of baby spinach with some goat cheese and a simple red wine vinaigrette, but any simple salad or green veggie (asparagus? green beans?) would go wonderfully as well.
Why I took no pictures of this glorious creation, I will never know. I guess it just means I'll have to make it again :)
On my most recent trip to NYC, I made a stop at one of my standbys, Bread in NoLIta. I personally had the fresh tagliatelle with lamb ragu (I know, I'm cruel. But baby animals just taste so GOOD!), but an appetizer that was shared (read: scarfed) by the whole table was crispy polenta squares smothered in fontina cheese and sauteed mushrooms. That meal was still haunting my subconscious on my most recent trip to the good ol' Silverlake Trader Joe's, and as a result, a log of their pre-cooked polenta, some fresh thyme, and a container of sliced baby portobellos ended up in my basket, just begging my to try my own version. I did some research and combined elements from a few recipes that looked good - head chef at (the now discontinued - waaaahhh!!) Gourmet magazine Sara Moulton's recipe for Crispy Polenta with Exotic Mushrooms, Deborah Madison's recipe for the mushroom filling of her Dried Porcini and Fresh Mushroom Tart from my favorite cookbook, Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen, and a recipe for Pan-Grilled Polenta With Wild Mushroom Ragout from my favorite food website EVER, Cookthink. I threw together some items I already had in my kitchen and came up with this recipe:
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- one medium shallot, diced (or half a white or yellow onion)
- one garlic clove, minced
- 1/8 oz dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in warm water for 30 mins (reserve the soaking water!)
- 8 oz sliced baby portobello mushrooms (or other small white/brown button mushrooms, thinly sliced)
- 4 medium shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps thinly sliced
- 1/2 to 1 cup dry white wine (like Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc)
- a few sprigs of fresh thyme (or whatever fresh herb tickles your fancy)
- fresh-ground black pepper and sea salt
- vegetable stock (optional)
- 1 package pre-cooked polenta, chilled (or fresh-cooked polenta, chilled in a square or rectangular baking dish)
- salty Italian cheese (fontina, parmigiano, or asiago all work well)
Heat 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; throw in your diced shallot, sauteeing for a minute or two. Add the minced garlic and saute with the shallots for another minute or two, until the shallots are slightly translucent and the pan smells ridiculously good :)
Throw in your porcini and fresh sliced mushrooms, sprinkle in a bit of sea salt, and stir to coat them with the butter and oil that's left in the pan - the pan may look kinda dry at this point but that's ok, the mushrooms will release a bunch of their own liquid (mmm, fungus juice!!!), so no worries. Stir occasionally.
After about 8-10 mins the mushrooms will have released all of their liquid, and the pan with start to look dry again; pour in a few glugs of your wine (about 1/2 cup) and continue to stir occasionally until the 'shrooms soak up all the wine, too. At this point you have some choices - you can add some of the reserved soaking liquid from the dried porcini if you want a richer, earthier flavor; you can add some vegetable stock for a milder flavor; or you can add more wine for a brighter, sharper flavor - whichever you choose, add about 1/2 cup, and continue stirring occasionally until the mushrooms soak up your liquid of choice.
At this point I'd taste and season - add some salt and fresh black pepper if you like, and some fresh thyme leaves, either minced or ripped straight from the stem; stir in your last tablespoon of butter, reduce the heat to low (or even turn it off), cover, and keep warm while you fry the polenta.
In another pan, heat your remaining tbsp of olive oil over medium-high to high heat; while the oil is heating, slice your polenta into rounds about 1/2 inch thick (if it's the prepackaged kind; if you chilled fresh-cooked polenta in a pan, squares or triangles might be easier). After a minute or two, add the slices to the hot pan, reducing the heat a little if the oil is popping too much. Fry the polenta until it has a golden-brown crust, about 4-5 minutes on each side.
Plate up the polenta slices, generously grate your cheese over the top, and smother with the succulent mushrooms. Add a sprig of fresh thyme for garnish, a grind or two of pepper over the top, (and another sprinkling of cheese if you're feeling decadent, which I ALWAYS am), pour yourself a glass of fruity red wine (Nero d'Avola is my personal fave), and ENJOY!!!
While I was working on the mushrooms, I also roasted a few beets that I got at the Hollywood Farmer's Market last week, so I sliced up a few of those and threw them on a bed of baby spinach with some goat cheese and a simple red wine vinaigrette, but any simple salad or green veggie (asparagus? green beans?) would go wonderfully as well.
Why I took no pictures of this glorious creation, I will never know. I guess it just means I'll have to make it again :)
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