Melissa's Cooking!

How’s it been going? Anyone have any recipes they’d like to share? I apologize for my absence in posting for the past few months. I’ve cooked a lot of veggies lately (like I’ve previously shown you how to cook) and a lot of what’s already on here.

I HAVE eaten at some yummy new places…INCLUDING Michael Chiarello’s restaurant, Bottega, in Napa Valley. That place was amazing. I had the Risotto del Giorno, which had halibut, peas and cauliflower in it.

Dave and I also shared the Polenta Under Glass dish that they make, includes caramelized wild mushrooms, balsamic game sauce. AMAZING!!!

In San Francisco, our first meal in California, we at The Plant Cafe. I had their DELICIOUS signature california PLANT burger. The PLANT burger alone is house made from lentils, mushrooms, beets, cashews & bulger wheat, topped with roasted onion, lettuce tomato and aioli. This particular on came with avocado and white cheddar cheese. MMMMMM….

OH! And I can’t forget the Irish Coffee we all enjoyed in SF at the Buena Vista. My husband took a video clip of the authentic guy creating our drinks.

Yeah, so in California we were mainly in Sonoma and visited quite a few wineries with OH-so-good wine. For lunches, we would get a bottle of white wine at whatever winery we would happen to be at, and then have gourmet bread, basil, cheeses, tomatoes, apples, sausage and olive oil. Tie those awesome lunches with the amazing sceneries….GREAT TIMES!!!

Also during the past few months, another place I’d like to mention is The Farm, near St. Clairsville, OH. We ate there 2 times and BOTH times I had their home made mushroom ravioli. I love it!

And then for my birthday in February, Dave took me to Salt Tavern in Baltimore. I had their gnocchi with butternut squash. SO GOOD!!!

So that’s about it for that (or at least the only photos I can find of my food I’ve eaten haha). I guess I can mention other places we’ve eaten too.

The City Café for Easter Brunch. I had their Tuscan Omelet that had Mushrooms, Sundried Tomatoes, Cheddar & Basil. Dave loves and always gets their Baltimore Benedict that has Two Poached Eggs, Toasted English Muffin, Lump Crab Meat & Hollandaise Sauce.

For Dave’s birthday, we ate at Iron Bridge Winery in Clarksville, MD. I had a risotto dish there, and Dave had their bison burger of the week…both paired with wines, of course.

We tried, one Saturday, a place over in Olney, MD, called Ricciuti’s. That place was good. I had a fish dish. Dave had a pork dish. They’re one of the restaurants in Maryland area that does the farm to table thing.

We’ve also eaten at Iggie’s Pizza a lot for lunch. TOTALLY our favorite Baltimore pizza.

La Palapa in Ellicott City is great for the Mexican food. I always get their Vegetarian Burrito and Dave gets their Steak and Chicken Fajitas.

Minato Sushi is our favorite place to get lunch time sushi.

Great Sage in Clarksville, MD is our favorite place to get Sunday brunch. I LOVE their roasted vegetable wrap, which has red onion, zucchini, sweet potato, balsamic reduction drizzle, mesclun greens and chickpea hummus served in a grilled flour tortilla served with Kettle potato chips. Dave has been tending to get their Huevos Rancheros, which is a rancher’s breakfast of tofu scramble, roasted corn, black bean salsa, fresh corn tortillas, sour cream and guacamole served with both red and green chili sauces. Then we just head over to our grocery store, Roots

Ok…I think that’s about it for where we’ve dined in recent months. Please check out those links and if you’re in the areas of those restaurants, we HIGHLY recommend eating there.

Another risotto recipe!!! We sure do love the risotto!!! How can I top the Tomato Risotto? I can’t, I don’t think ever, but since I have my awesome risotto pan, I’m going to keep trying new recipes

Ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)
• 1 head of garlic
• 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil
• 6-8 cups reduced sodium vegetable broth
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided into 4 Tbsp and 1 Tbsp
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups of chopped crimini mushrooms
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 1 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese + more to liking
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Slice the top off the head of garlic. Put it on a large square of aluminum foil and drizzle 1 teaspoon of the extra-virgin olive oil over the exposed cloves. Wrap the foil around and over the garlic. Roast until it is soft, about 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let cool. (For more information on how to Roast Garlic, I found this web page: http://whatscookingamerica.net/rstgarlic.htm.)

For the RISOTTO portion of the dish. Heat broth in medium sized saucepan and keep warm over low heat. Melt 4 Tbsp of butter in a large saucepan; add onion. Cook over medium heat until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook until the mushrooms release their juices, about 5 minutes.

Add the Arborio rice to the onion-butter mixture and mix well, so all the rice grains are coated, about 1 minute. Add the white wine to the rice mixture and continue stirring constantly to ensure that none of the rice sticks, until the wine has been completely absorbed and the rice is soft but not sticky, about 1 minute.

Add a few ladles of broth, just enough to barely cover rice. Cook over medium heat until broth has been absorbed. Continue cooking and stirring rice, adding a little bit of broth at a time, cooking and stirring until it is absorbed, until the rice is tender, but still firm to the bite, about 15 to 20 minutes. I use all 8 cups of the veggie broth.

During the last minutes of cooking, once the rice has absorbed all the liquid and is nice and creamy, stir in the butter, Parmesan and the garlic pulp. Serve immediately. Add salt, pepper and more Parmesan cheese to your liking.

Enjoy!!!! (Oh, when you get a garlic pulp bite during eating, it tastes amazing! Next time, I will probably figure out a way to be able to stir up the garlic a little better, whether it is to mash the garlic or add more when stirring in the risotto, but the garlic really makes it taste great.)

Creamy Mac & Cheese

I had a hankering for Mac & Cheese the other day. But how many times have we all resorted to the stuff in the box??! Um, not anymore!!! I looked for recipes online, but most of what I found had too many ingredients. Too much to it. All I wanted was simple. I wanted to use pasta, some butter and gourmet cheese…so I decided to just wing it and do it how I think I know how to and it turned out exactly what I had in mind!

Mac & Cheese Ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)
(I cooked enough for 2-3 servings, but make enough for what you need and wing the amount of ingredients like I did…)
• pasta
• 2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 TBS of butter
• 2 TBS of milk
• Sea salt and pepper

Prepare pasta as directed. Once pasta is drained, return to pot on warm burner. Add butter, milk, cheese, salt and pepper and stir until all is melted…and perfect and creamy!

Steamed Green Beans & Carrots

So in addition to Mac & Cheese, I needed a couple other parts to this meal. Dave suggested Salmon, so he prepared the Salmon (which how to make is described here: http://www.melissascooking.com/2009/09/01/broiledsalmondish/)

Veggies were also needed to round out this meal, so I healthy steamed fresh green beans and carrots. I’ve described how to healthy steam before, but I’ll describe again…

Steamed Green Beans & Carrots Ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)
• Fresh Green Beans (about 20-25 beans)
• Fresh carrots (about 4-5)

(Mediterranean dressing which includes…)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Healthy steam your veggies! (This is a gentle way to prepare your veggies to enhance their flavor, bring out their color, make them tender and preserves most of its ingredients.) Chop off the ends to your fresh picked green beans. Peel and chop your carrots up to about .5-1 inch chunks. Bring steaming water to a boil in your steamer pot. Add your beans and carrots. Cover and steam for 5 minutes…adding the garlic to veggies for the last 2 minutes of steaming. Transfer to a bowl and toss with the remaining Mediterranean dressing ingredients while veggies are still hot. They give you the amounts for the dressing, but I wing it….do what you want to what you like!

Enjoy!

We have fellow soup night makers posting under my Mushroom Barley Soup posting. Be sure to check out these yummy recipes!!!

http://www.melissascooking.com/2010/01/09/mushroom-barley-soup

Fairly easy dinner tonight…Bruschetta! So yummy…and until I got my food processor, I used to not mind paying the $6-10 that you do at restaurants for this, cause chopping up all the ingredients yourself is a huge pain…BUT with the food processor…easy.

Ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)
• pint of cherry tomatoes
• about 1/2 cups of fresh basil leaves
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil & enough to brush on the bread
• 4 slices of gourmet bread
• slices of cheese (we used sharp cheddar, but mozzarella would work too!)
• salt and pepper

Turn the oven on to 350 degrees.

Throw the tomatoes, basil leaves, garlic, olive oil and a bit of salt into the food processor. (Or if you don’t have a processor…chop those babies up…and combine!) Get the consistency of the tomatoes being about 1/8 inches thick…gets a bit watery too and that’s ok.

Brush some olive oil onto your bread on both sides. Spoon some bruschetta to cover the bread. Place some sliced cheese on top. Grind some salt and pepper on top and stick in the oven for about 10-13 minutes (or until cheese is melted and bread is toasted).

Enjoy!!!

I’m trying to get back to my weekly new dish thing, like I was doing a couple months ago…so here I go with another one. (Does 2 in one weekend help me catch up any?!)

I came across this recipe and wanted to try. We like mushrooms. We like pasta. So why not little itty bitty pasta with mushrooms? I was having a heck of a time at the store today finding ingredients that I needed, so instead of Orzo, which I couldn’t find, I found this other little bitty pasta instead. I threw the bag away before I grabbed what sort of pasta it is, but by the look of the image, just find anything as small as this…or find the orzo! haha…

Ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)
For the mushroom stock:
• 1/2 cup of dried porcini mushrooms (about 1 ounce)
• 1 sprig fresh thyme

For the itty bitty pastas (or orzo):
• 2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cup of mixed wild mushrooms (I used only crimini mushrooms), chopped into 2 inch pieces
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp coarse-ground black pepper
• 2 TBS of dry vermouth
• 1 1/2 cups orzo

To finish the dish:
• 2 TBS butter
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 TBS parsley
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Method:
For the mushroom stock: In a small pot, immerse the dried porcinis in 4 1/2 cups of water. Add the sprig of thyme whole. Bring the mushroom mixture to a boil over high heat, then remove immediately from the stove and set aside for 5 minutes (or until you’re ready for it).

For the little bitty pastas: Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepot. Add the onion and cook over medium heat until it takes on a light golden color, about 3 minutes, stirring to prevent burning. Add the crimini mushrooms and stir well to combine. Sauté on medium high heat for 1 to 2 minutes, until the mushrooms are just starting to color. At this point, but not before, add the salt and pepper. Mix well to combine and continue cooking for another 30 seconds or so, until the mushrooms have started to reduce and color.

Move the pan away from the heat and add the vermouth. Stir to combine and then return to the heat for just a few seconds, until the vermouth and mushroom juices form a syrupy mixture in the bottom of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and add the pasta and mix well, so the grains are all coated with the pan juices.

Remove the thyme sprig from the porcini mixture and discard. Pour the porcini and liquid over the pasta. Return the pan to the medium-high heat and bring up to a low boil, stirring well to combine. Turn the heat down to low, and keep the mixture at a very lazy bubble for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The pasta is done when it’s swelled up and becomes tender. There should be just a little bit of syrupy liquid on the bottom, but the pasta mixture should be a bit wet.

To finish the dish, remove the pot from the heat. Add the butter and mix in well, then add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and continue stirring. Add the parsley and thyme leaves and mix well until the texture of the dish is softer and richer from the butter and cheese and all the ingredients are well combined. Serve quickly as possible and top with more cheese.

I served with a side of quick-boiled spinach which you can find under the Yummy Veggie Wrap here. Enjoy!

We are off to a Soup Night later on at our good friend’s, Dave D. Ever since a local winery has hosted soup days during the winter, where they have several soups available paired with wines, we decided it’d be cheaper (well maybe not after buying all the ingredients and wine) and more fun to do it ourselves! So every so often someone hosts a Soup Night where everybody brings a soup they’ve made and a bottle of wine that goes well with your particular soup, and shares with that with everyone.

I’ve decided to make a Mushroom Barley Soup for tonight. It’s a good hearty soup that goes perfectly with the cold winter days. I’ve made this before following one of 3 particular recipes, but today I’m making this my own.

Ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)
• 2 TBS of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 1 TBS of minced garlic
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• 5 medium carrots, chopped
• 1 cup of crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup of pearled barley
• 1 bay leaf
• 8 cups of Vegetable Broth (reduced sodium)
• 2 TBS of soy sauce

Prepare your ingredients. Put your olive oil into a soup pot over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper for about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and carrots, and cook until the mushrooms get brown (about 5 minutes). Stir in your barley and stir constantly for about 5 minutes, until the barley starts to toast and stick. Add your veggie broth and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Cover and Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the soy sauce, taste and adjust the seasonings. Serve and enjoy! (Now since this has a few hours until we are heading to the gathering, I will pour into a crockpot and leave on warm until everyone gets to enjoy.)

First of all, I hope everyone is having a joyous holiday season and best wishes for the coming New Year. I apologize I haven’t posted anything in a few weeks. I’ve made this risotto a couple times, and also have taken it easy by making recipes that I’ve already posted…so except for my delay in posting this, I haven’t had anything else to really post in awhile.

So, I made this risotto a few weeks ago, and my husband said this was the best thing I’ve ever made. And I can’t lie: this dish is VERY delicious.

It’s risotto, so that means that it does take a good bit of time to make, and with this particular recipe, it takes extra time for roasting tomatoes beforehand. So save this for a weekend to make and enjoy. If it’s the 2 of your, you’ll have plenty of leftovers. If there’s a family, there will be plenty for the meal.

There are 3 parts to this: Baked tomatoes, a tomato topping and the risotto. The timing of preparing each part is tricky. You want to start with roasting the tomatoes (which takes an hour, not including prep time), stove-top cook the tomato topping (which takes about 40 minutes), as well as making the risotto…which requires the baked tomatoes (which, again, takes an hour in itself to bake). So, again, start with baking the tomatoes, then get the tomato topping going, then by that time the roasted tomatoes should be about done and you should be ready to prep and start the risotto portion.

For the BAKED TOMATOS – Ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)
• 1 pound tomatoes (about 8 small beefsteak)
• 1/4 tsp each sea salt and coarse ground black pepper
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 clove garlic, sliced Goodfellas thin

For the TOMATO TOPPING – Ingredients include:
• 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
• 2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
• pinch of salt

For the RICE- Ingredients include:
• 6-8 cups  reduced sodium vegetable broth
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided into 4 Tbsp and 1 Tbsp
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. SO, to start, you want to BAKE THE TOMATOES for an hour. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the beefsteak tomatoes in half and lay them face-up on a sheet pan. Sprinkle them with the sea salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary. Lay a slice or 2 of garlic on top of each tomato half. Bake the tomatoes on the middle rack of the oven, uncovered until they’re a bit grilled-looking and soft and yummy (about 1 hour). Remove the tomatoes from the oven and allow to cook a bit. Chop the tomatoes roughly and reserve them in a bowl, along with as much liquid as you can retain.

2. After you get the roasted tomatoes in the oven, move on to the TOMATO TOPPING. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and throw them in a pan, then add the olive oil and salt. Cook this over low heat until the oil is bubbly, the tomatoes are soft and the mixture looks like a chunky sauce. I preferred cooking this for about 40 minutes (while the risotto cooks).

3. Now for the RICE/RISOTTO portion of the dish. Heat broth in medium sized saucepan and keep warm over low heat. Melt 4 Tbsp of butter in a large saucepan; add onion. Cook over medium heat until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes to the onion-butter mixture and stir to combine.

Add the Arborio rice to the onion-butter mixture and mix well, so all the rice grains are coated, about 1 minute. Add the white wine to the rice mixture and continue stirring constantly to ensure that none of the rice sticks, until the wine has been completely absorbed and the rice is soft but not sticky, about 1 minute.

Add a few ladles of broth, just enough to barely cover rice. Add the chopped BAKED TOMATOES with their liquid. Cook over medium heat until broth has been absorbed. Continue cooking and stirring rice, adding a little bit of broth at a time, cooking and stirring until it is absorbed, until the rice is tender, but still firm to the bite, about 15 to 20 minutes.

During the last minutes of cooking, add remaining tablespoon of butter and 1/3 cup Parmesan. At this point the rice should have a creamy consistency. Add salt to taste. Serve with remaining grated Parmesan. Add some rosemary, salt and pepper. Mix well, so the risotto becomes rich and well combined. If the risotto is too thick for your taste, add a little leftover stock or water.

Serve in individual bowls, topped with the TOMATO MIXTURE and a little more Parmesan cheese and rosemary for garnish on top.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

This soup is very tasty and light. It’s pretty quick to make and has lots of nutrients in it.

Ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup diced yellow onion
• 4 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 (32-ounce) box reduced-sodium vegetable broth
• 4 cups packed chopped kale***
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can Italian-Style Diced Tomatoes
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• two large carrots, peeled and sliced

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes longer. Add broth, kale and tomatoes and fresh carrots and cover. Cook 5 minutes or until kale is tender. Add beans and heat thoroughly. Serve hot.

Add fresh Parmesan cheese and extra salt if wanted. Enjoy!

***I’d like to add a note after having the leftover soup sit overnight in the fridge. You might want to add only enough Kale that you will be eating the evening that you cook up the soup. If you have leftover Kale, it will turn brown on you and then it’s just gross to look at, not to mention, I’m sure all the nutrients are probably gone.

My suggestion: Add only the amount of Kale that you will need for your first batch, and then if you have leftovers for the next night, cook up new Kale for that next batch.

So I wanted to try a couple recipes to maybe make to contribute a dish for Thanksgiving dinner, so I tried the Butternut Squash Apple Cranberry Bake. It turned out to be quite a yummy dish. Watch out on the amount of Cranberries you use, because they can be rather tart. So with each bite, limit the cranberries and you will get a very seasonal and delightful taste in your mouth! This is almost appetizer like, but can definitely be used as a side to your meal.

Ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 large tart cooking apples cut into 1/2-inch thick slices (I used Granny Smiths)
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (half a stick) butter
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F. Slice and peel squash and apples.

Put squash cubes in ungreased 7×11-inch baking dish. Place apples on top and then cranberries. Mix the flour, salt, sugar, and nutmeg and sprinkle on top. Dot with butter. Bake 50-60 minutes.

Plenty for everyone! It kept well in the refrigerator over night, so it can be eaten the next day too.