Mushroom-Artichoke Casserole

this is not my recipe. first time i had this my sister-in-law donna made it, a long time ago. i've made it many times since.

1 or 2 small jars of marinated artichokes. 2 if you like it more “artichoke-y”, but 1 jar is ok too. Drain them in a colander, you don’t want that nasty cheap oil and vinegar they pack them in. If the chunks look too large, cut them in half if you want. Set aside.

About 24 oz of fresh mushrooms, whatever kind you like. You can mix different kinds too. Or not. It looks like a lot, but they shrink down. 24 oz would be probably 3 of the medium size containers. If you buy them already sliced, that’s fine too.

In a big enough skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil, then add the mushrooms. Add chopped garlic to taste if you like it. Or chopped shallots are good too. Sometimes I add a little pancetta or bacon or salami to the mushrooms while they are cooking. Pork = flavor. Cook the mushrooms on medium high until they have given up their water and they are done. It should be pretty dry when they are done.

In a mixing bowl, put the cooked mushrooms and the drained artichokes. Add maybe a half a cup of bread crumbs, more or less, and mix it. You don’t want too many bread crumbs, but you need some. After adding the bread crumbs, if it looks too dry, add a tablespoon or so of olive oil to the mix.

At this point you could eat it right away, as it will be warm. I think it’s better if you bake it in the oven though. So put the mixture in a Pyrex oven dish or something like that, and put a couple of pats of butter on the top, and cook it at 350 or so for maybe another 20-25 minutes.

Options: you can add anything you like to it: pignoli nuts, a little roasted or fresh red pepper, onion, whatever you have around that you want to use up.

rolled & tied pork tenderloin

so this is a copy mostly of a recipe i saw in some italian cookbook, and i remember making it for the first time for a new years eve dinner that we had here. back maybe 20 years ago or so. the stuffing or filling can be as changeable as whatever cold cuts and cheese you have in your house. first time i made this it was a large enough roll of meat - maybe it was beef - that i had a hard-boiled egg in the middle so when you cut the slices, everybody had a little sun in the middle of the meat. i believe that first recipe was probably in gourmet magazine. anyway i made it again and wrote it down in my notebook in september 2007. then i used mortadella, salami, and provolone. this time, tonight 2-20-10, i used smoked ham instead of the salami, plus the other two ingredients. in addition, i slathered the inside of the two butterflied tenderloins with grey poupon dijon mustard. just enough to flavor it, and add a little moisture. then a thin layer of mortadella, then the ham, then the provolone. then roll it up tight and tie it. refrigerate until 1 hour before cook time.

so to assemble the roll: two pork tenderloins, close to the same size and weight. remove the silverskin and trim the ends to match up. season with your house dry rub, all sides. refrigerate for a half a day at least. remove from fridge. butterfly from the side so that you wind up with a piece of meat about 8-9 inches long, about 4-5 inches wide, and about a half-inch or less thick. set the two tenderloins next to each other on a clean cutting board or counter. fit them together into a pretty even rectangle, with a slight overlap. cut your butcher's twine into 5 pieces each about 15 inches long. slide under the meat into 5 equidistant places. roll the meat as tight as you can, making sure to pick up the 2nd tenderloin half-way through. tie the first string in the middle, tight as you can. good time for a third hand. finish tying up the meat roll. cut horizontally into 5 pieces. each should have a string around the middle. the slices will be an inch or two thick. 

in your skillet, heat a small amount of evoo. when hot, add the slices you want to cook. you should hear a real good sizzle when you put them in the pan. if not, your pan isn't hot enough. heat the friggin pan! so after about 4 minutes of not moving the meat around, you should have a real good sear on the bottom; done so you can keep the melting cheese inside the meat. flip it over, another 3 minutes or so, still sizzling real good. then into your preheated 350 degree oven. set timer for 12-13 minutes. when it buzzes, take a look. if you think it needs another 2 minutes, put it back in. i would say 15 minutes maximum though. out of oven, to the plate. let it sit for a minimum of 5 minutes before you serve.

served with sauteed crimini mushrooms and piquillo pepper strips. and tempranillo. oh yeah

morcilla crostini

morcilla is a spanish black sausage. a rich earthy taste, made with onions and/or rice. this is a very easy to make tapa. cooked sausage on a slice of toasted crusty bread, garnished with a strip or two of piquillo pepper. the dijon allioli is optional but recommended.

4 morcilla sausages, casing removed
16 quarter- to half-inch slices of good bread, about 3" x 4", toasted
4 piquillo peppers, quartered lengthwise
a little evoo
salt & pepper
a little dijon allioli (see below) to spread on the toast

in a 9-10 inch non-stick skillet over medium heat, place the sausages into the pan and start breaking them up with a wooden spoon. as they start cooking they will continue to break up until you have a pretty fine mix of meat. you can lower the heat a bit once the morcilla is broken up. add a little evvo, maybe a tablespoon as it cooks, to keep it moist. continue cooking the morcilla for a total cooking time of about 5-6 minutes. that's it. take your toasted bread, spread a small amount of the allioli on each piece. use a big spoon to top each slice with some of the morcilla. top each one with a piece of the piquillo pepper. you're done. should be enough to make 16 pieces. enough for 8.

to make the allioli: in a small bowl, about 3 tbs of mayonnaise, about 1 tbs of dijon mustard, 1-2 garlic cloves finely chopped., a pinch of pimenton. mix well.

morcilla is a little hard to find. i get it from latienda.com. any good spanish food store will have it. day-old bread is fine too. enjoy.

from the notebook: jack shrimp

i wrote this into my first notebook with a date of 11/9/91. andrea, ron, barbara, and steve were here for dinner. i have gone back to this recipe many times since. it's basically the traditional spanish appetizer gambas al ajillo, with a shot or two of JD added. it's not very original, but it's easy, quick, and oh so good. a great first course. use medium to large shrimp, nothing too big or too small. at least 45 minutes before you cook them, you season the shrimp. even as much as 2-3 hours before you cook them you can season them, infusing flavor into the shrimp. another requirement is good crusty bread to sop up all the juices. and serve it hot right out of the pan; your guests should already be at the table when you start it. cooks pretty quickly. don't walk away while this is cooking.

ingredients for 4 :
1.5 to 2 lbs of shrimp, peeled & de-veined (or not, your call)
salt, pepper, spanish paprika (pimenton), ground cumin; a pretty heavy hand with all of it.
good spanish evoo
at least 4-5 cloves garlic chopped fine, more if you are a real garlic lover
an oz or two of jack daniels
chopped parsley
a big enough skillet or saute pan so that the shrimp are not much more than one layer deep. like 10" at least.

to season the shrimp: on a big piece of aluminum foil, spread out the shrimp in one layer. sprinkle all the seasonings all over the shrimp. pick up the ends of the aluminum foil and toss the shrimp around to coat all sides with the seasoning. or figure out your own way to get it done.

heat the skillet on medium heat. add about 4-5 tbs of evoo, might seem like a lot but it's pretty much all the liquid that will become your sauce. when the oil is shimmering, add the shrimp, making sure they are spread out into one layer, and be careful, they can splatter the oil. if your pan and oil were hot enough, within about a minute, you will need to be turning the shrimp to the other side. as soon as you turn them, add the garlic. it should all be sizzling pretty good, after another minute, give it all a good stir, or toss the pan. add the whiskey, being careful not to set yourself on fire. you can light a match and flambe it if you like, but either way, the alcohol will cook off or burn off just leaving the flavor. another minute and you're done. toss in the parsley and mix. so i would figure total cooking time is about 4 minutes. to serve, just plate it on a small dish, then go back and spoon out the remaining sauce. you should get at least a tablespoon of sauce on each serving. if not, increase the amount of evoo next time. don't forget the bread. i love this with ice-cold - like 20 minutes in the freezer cold - spanish or portugese white wine.

what can go wrong? if the garlic starts to brown, bad thing. add some olive oil and take the pan off the heat to slow it all down. the only other bad thing would be to cook the shrimp too long and dry them out.

the true essence of this dish comes from the spanish pimenton. if you don't have any, get some from la tienda.com, or probably gourmet stores will have it. comes 3 ways: sweet, bitter-sweet, and hot. if you like hot, go for it. it's not that hot. i like to mix in a little hot along with one of the other two.

three tortillas

 we love tortillas. three for the super bowl.
regular - potato, onion, and egg (bottom).
sweet potato, onion, and shrimp (right).
morcilla, onion, a little red pepper, and pignoli (left).






mmmmmmmmmm

Braising Chuck

perfect day to do this. snowing since last night, more to come today. this is a winter dish for sure. nothing like a 2nd rate cut of meat cooked for a long time in aromatics and liquid. we're talking chuck. your mother and grandmother might have made pot roast. same thing. this piece of meat that i had was almost 3 pounds, about an inch and a half thick. probably 4-5 separate muscles held together by the sinew and fascia in this one large piece of meat. really the only way to cook this and have it edible is by braising it.

so, mis en place:

sliced carrots, not too thin, about a cup, maybe a little more
3 medium onions, quartered
5-6 ribs of celery, including some of the leaves, in half inch pieces
4-6 shallots, outer skin removed, ends trimmed, but left whole
3-4 cloves of garlic, smashed
4 oz of pancetta, quarter to half inch cubes ( buy 1 slice about a half inch thick and cube it yourself)
3-4 oz of wine, whatever you've got leftover
about 3-4 tablespoons of simple tomato sauce (Classico works for me, or make your own)
2 cups of beef broth; i used a cube. if you have home made stock, great
about 2 tablespoons of dijon mustard
about 1 tablespoon of anchovy paste (yes anchovy paste)
about two tablespoons of dried herbs, i had oregano, basil, thyme, and parsley
salt and pepper
evoo

salt and pepper the meat both sides, bring to room temperature before you start.
in a big saute pan, one that has a lid and that can be used in the oven as well, heat about 2 tbs of evoo over med-high heat until it is shimmering. gently place the meat in the pan and brown both sides. once you place it, don't move it, just let it sit there and get a crust on it. take care not to splash yourself when you turn the meat. about 4-5 minutes each side. remove and reserve.
next the pancetta, lower the heat to medium-low and brown it, but this one you need to move around the pan a bit while it is rendering. after 4-5 minutes, or when it looks like cooked bacon, remove and reserve. leave the rendered fat in the pan.
now veggies: add the carrots, return heat to medium-high, toss to coat with the oil. cook about 2-3 minutes. then add the onions and celery, again toss to coat with the oil. cook another 4-5 minutes. salt and pepper. you want to hear the sizzle when this is cooking. if it's not sizzling, your pan is probably too low. after 4-5 minutes they will start to wilt.

make a space in the pan for the shallots and garlic. cook them moving them a little to get a little color on them, once they color a bit (2-3 minutes), mix them into the rest of the veggies in the pan. should be sizzling pretty good. now you are ready for the liquids.

add the wine, and scrape the bottom of the pan with a spatula or wooden spoon (deglazing the pan) to get up any brown bits that are stuck there. once you add the liquid, the sizzling will subside. after 2 minutes or so, add the tomato sauce, mix well. add the pancetta back in, mix well. the broth should be warm when you add it so you don't stop the cooking process. if it isn't warm, nuke it now for a minute. add about half the broth, about 1 cup. bring back to a simmer. make a little spot in the middle of the pan and add the anchovy paste, mix well to dissolve into the broth. add the mustard and herbs, ditto. mix together everything in the pan, give it all a good stir.

preheat oven to 300 degrees.

<  ready for the rest of the stock and then into the oven
 
place the chuck back into the saute pan, making a little valley in the veggies to accommodate the meat. pour in enough of the remaining broth so that liquid comes about halfway up the side of the meat, but not so it is completely covered. cover the pan and put in the oven for about 2.5 hours. about halfway through, you can turn the meat over if you like.

remove from oven, let it sit for 10-15 minutes before serving. the vegetables should still be in pretty good size pieces to compose your side dish for the meat. with all the delicious broth and juices left in the pan, you could reduce it and make a gravy, or serve the veggies and broth over some pasta or rice. i made some farfalle and put them right into the veggies and broth. really good. just don't throw the liquid away; there is so much flavor in there, you have to use it for something else. of course, a piece of bread works too. enjoy. with the half pound of pasta that i made, this would serve 4 people very well.

as far as time, seems like a lot, but not really. the prep took me about 30 minutes max. the steps prior to putting it in the oven took about 45 minutes. then you are done for almost three hours, except for making a little pasta or whatever at the end.