Mushroom Pâté

Our good friends Laura and Keith hosted a pool party yesterday.  Though we weren't expected to bring anything, I had two 8 oz packages of sliced mushrooms just waiting for the right opportunity.  The party plan was for heavy appetizers followed by a light, grilled dinner.  With that in mind, I set out to create something I would eat, but would also please the omnivores at the party.

Mushroom Pâté

16 oz sliced mushrooms
1 large onion, diced (roughly 8 oz)
2 T Calvados or cognac
2 cloves raw garlic
3 cloves roasted garlic
3/4 c walnuts, toasted
2 T nutritional yeast
1 t fresh thyme leaves
3/4 t salt
white pepper to taste

Saute onions over low heat until they start to soften. Add the mushrooms and cover, stirring occasionally until the onions and mushrooms start to caramelize, 30 minutes or more.  (See How to Carmelize Onions for more information.) Deglaze the pan with the Calvados or cognac and set aside to cool.

Once the mushrooms onion mixture has cooled, add them to a food processor along with all the other ingredients.  Blend in the food processor until the pâté reaches the desired consistency; this may be as much as 5 minutes. You will need to scrape down the sides of the food processor a couple of times to make sure all the ingredients are properly blended.

Remove the mixture from the food processor and put in the refrigerator to rest; this is best if the flavors have an hour or two to blend.

This recipe is adapted from the following recipes:

• Vegan Mushroom Pate on the Vegan Cooking blog
• Brandied Pâté Forestière from The Mushroom Book

Spanish Tapas

Oyster Mushroom

This week's box contains:

• Cilantro
• Red Butter and Red Leaf Lettuce (traded for more squash)
• Strawberries
• Summer Squash
• Chantenay Carrots
• Loose Spinach OR Loose Baby Chard
• Oyster Mushrooms
• Arugula

Uninspiring mix of food this week.  Sometimes the contents of the box calls out for something in particular, making it easy to decide what to make.  Sometimes, like this week, it does not.  Don't get me wrong, it all looks great.  However, to get through it all I need an inspired plan.

In situations like this one, I'll often pick an ingredient, Google something that comes to mind, like "baked oyster mushrooms" and see what piques my interest.  With that in hand, I'll pick a theme and back into a meal by finding recipes for the remaining ingredients that fit that theme.  Over the past 5 years this has turned out to be a great way to work through the box or ingredients we have on hand.  It also has the side benefit of being an easy way to plan a dinner party.

Today I landed on this recipe, a tapas dish.  I adopted tapas as my theme, browsed a few tapas sites, hit my favorite recipe sites looking for tapas recipes, and the rest is history.  We easily had enough food for six ~ enough for a simple party.  Another great thing about tapas is that most of the dishes can be served a room temperature, another strong feature for entertaining.

 

Spanish Carrots and Olives

Spanish Tapas

• Spanish Carrots and Olives
• Patatas Bravas
• Baked Oyster Mushrooms
• Cauliflower al Ajoarriero
• Garbanzos con Espinacas
• Zucchini Fritters
• Grilled Chorizo

As I'm a vegan, I went for the Field Roast Chorizo sausages, an excellent choice.  We followed the recipes linked above and adapted a few others to our taste.

Patatas Bravas

Patatas Bravas
1 pound of new potatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper

1 can diced tomatoes
1/4 c tomato sauce
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 t Piment d'Espelette
1/4 t cayenne pepper
2 T olive oil
1 t salt

Dice the potatoes and toss with salt.  Add olive oil to coat and roast at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.   Remove from oven and set aside.

Saute the minced garlic in 2T olive oil till golden.  Add Piment d'Espelette, cayenne pepper, and salt; stir.  Add tomatoes and tomato sauce and bring to a boil.  Cook till slightly thickened and set aside.

Place the potatoes in a serving dish and top with bravas sauce.  Best served warm.

Garbanzos con Espinacas

Garbanzos con Espinacas
1 can garbanzo beans
1 bunch fresh spinach
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 t Piment d'Espelette
1/4 t cayenne pepper
3 T olive oil
1 t salt

Clean the spinach and shake off excess water.  Add to a saucepan over medium with the salt and cover; cook till wilted and set aside.  Heat the olive oil in the saucepan over medium heat.  Add garlic, Piment d'Espelette, cayenne pepper and salt, mix well. Add garbanzo beans and heat through. Press and chop the spinach, then add to the sauce pan. Mix well.

Zucchini Fritters

As for the cilantro, strawberries, and arugula...  The cilantro will become cilantro chutney and stored in the freezer for our next Indian meal.   The arugula and strawberries will be combined in a salad later this week.

Cauliflower al Ajoarriero

Grilled Pizza

This week's box contains:

• Strawberries
• Romaine Lettuce (traded for more agretti)
• Red and White Mixed Turnips
• Parsley
• Mystery (shelling peas)
• Leeks
• Agretti
• Red Orach

It's a gorgeous day in Silicon Valley.  We have plans to meet friends later today to grill pizzas and enjoy the sunshine.

Grilling pizza is a tricky, but rewarding, process.  The pizzas that result from this method are beyond compare.  Here are two toppings made from this week's box, but let your imagination run wild.  Instructions on grilling pizzas can be found here.

Two Grilled Pizzas

Lemon-Garlic Agretti with Fresh Chèvre
Tops one 15" pizza.

1 bunch agretti, cleaned and chopped in to bit-sized segments
2-3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, finely diced
2 T olive oil
1 t salt
juice and zest of one small lemon
1/2 cup dry white wine
red pepper flakes to taste

Saute shallot and garlic in olive oil for 2-3 minutes.  Add agretti and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Add salt, wine, lemon juice and lemon zest, cooking till liquid is evaporated.  Set aside.

Spread agretti evenly on prepared pizza crust, top with dollops of chèvre and return to the grill.  Cook till heated through.  Serve with Sauvignon Blanc.


Mushroom-Leek Pizza
Tops one 15" pizza.

1 recipe white bean purée (below)
1/4 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
2 T olive oil
1/2 pound white button mushrooms, sliced (~ 3 cups)
2 large leeks, or several small, cleaned and sliced (~ 3 cups)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup dry white wine
parsley, finely chopped

Soak the dried  porcini in hot water for 30 minutes or more.  Remove from soaking liquid and finely chop; set aside.  Porcini can be gritty, so take care to discard any undesirable pieces.

Heat half the olive oil in pan over high heat; add white mushrooms and sear, stirring as little as possible (you're after the carmelization).  Cook till golden brown and the liquid released by the mushrooms as evaporated.  Add the porcini soaking liquid (avoiding any grit from the mushrooms) and simmer till the pan is nearly dry.   Remove from pan and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium and add remaining oil to the pan along with the leeks and salt and pepper to tasted.  Cook for 3 minutes till the leeks begin to soften.  Add the garlic and porcini, cover, and cook till leeks are tender, about 5 minutes.  Add the wine to deglaze the pan, cooking till pan is nearly dry.  Remove from heat.

Spread prepared crust with white bean purée and top with sauteed mushrooms and leeks.  Return to the grill and cook till heated through.  Serve with Chardonnay.

Recipe adapted from adapted from Fields of Greens by Annie Sommerville, page 172.


White Bean Purée

1 pound white beans
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1.5 t dried savor leaves
vegetable stock or water

Add all ingredients to stock pot, bring to a boil, then simmer till the beans are tender.  Drain the beans and reserve the cooking liquid.  Combine the beans and 1/3 cup cooking liquid in a blender or food processor.  Process till it reaches the desired consistency, adding more cooking liquid as necessary.

Recipe adapted from The Vintner's Table by Mary Evely, page 149.

A quick note on wine pairing.  Hands down, the very best reference I've ever found on the topic is the Mary Evely book noted above.  The book is organized by varietal and at the beginning of each is a "profile" for each, clearly summarizing food affinities and food conflicts for the varietal across each of the following categories: seafood, meat and poultry, herbs and spices, sauces, cheese and nuts, and finally, fruits and vegetables.  She also recommends the best methods of preparation.  Commentary on substitutions are peppered throughout the book.  While the recipes are great, I use this book to tweak recipes to pair well with the wine I've chosen or to choose a wine for the meal we have planned.

As for the rest of the box contents, our plan is as follows:

Strawberries
Cleaned and frozen for smoothies.

Red and White Mixed Turnips
Stored for roasting, or perhaps a turnip purée, later this week.

ParsleyWe'll reserve some to garnish the pizzas, but the rest went immediately into parsley-walnut pesto (one of my all time favorites).

[Herb of your Choice]-Walnut Pesto
... makes 25 - 2 tablespoon servings

3/4 cup walnut pieces, toasted
1 bunch herb of choice, ends trimmed
1 large garlic clove, pressed
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon mellow barley miso
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a blender, adjust salt and pepper and use or freeze.

Shelling Peas
Going to try to make tarts to serve for lunch tomorrow.  My good friends are coming over to do a little work related brainstorming, so the least I can do is feed them well.  I got the idea from the 101 Cookbooks entry Fresh Shelling Peas: Four Ways. 

Red Orach
We use this just like spinach.   Some night this week it will be cleaned, chopped, and tossed into whatever we are eating to sneak in a few more veggies.