Day Fifty

She Said:

We have sort of been out of synch with our own Julie/Julia Project. Things have gotten in the way of our cooking but we did do a tiny bit last night. After all, we had gone to the farmer's market on Saturday and had fresh things we needed to use. So we did.

We had a couple of buffalo hot dogs, just cut up on the plate. We got them from the farmer's market, of course. They did not taste like hot dogs. They tasted more like summer sausage, and that's not bad. I made up a side dish of Rice-a-Roni Rice Pilaf, which is always good. And then came the scary part.

This is from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Warm Mushroom Salad

8 cups arugula leaves (we got this from the farmer's market)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound mixed mushrooms, quartered or cut into wedges (we had a half pound each of crimini and dried morel mushrooms from the farmer's market - we reconstituted the morels before cooking, naturally!)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried (it was raining and I was tired so I didn't go out to pick fresh thyme - I used dried)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Freshly shaved Parmesan

1. Put the arugula in a large salad bowl. Drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the lemon juice. Toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide among four salad plates or arrange on a large platter.

2. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and let cook undisturbed until golden on the bottoms, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme, stir, and continue to cook until the mushrooms are tender throughout, about 4 minutes longer.

3. Stir in the vinegar and let cook until the vinegar is mostly absorbed. Season to taste with more salt and pepper.

4. Spoon the mushroom mixture over the arugula. Top with a few curls of shaved Parmesan. Serve at once.

I knew that this was going to be awful for me. I am iffy on mushrooms and they really can't be the star of the show for me to eat them. But I gave it the old college try. And you know what? It was pretty damn good. This was my first taste of morel mushrooms and, oh yes, I will be back! They are fantastic!

(But I learned that you mustn't eat them raw - be sure to cook your morels!)

I doubt that I would ever suggest that we make this again but He might want it again some day and I will be happy to partake.

Oh, and this was also our first taste of arugula. (I know, where have we been living? Under a rock??) Wow - what a flavor! I wouldn't have thought you could get that much distance between a plain lettuce like iceberg and a powerful green like arugula, but there you have it. Distance with a capital D! It was quite tasty.

Day 50/365:Recipe 28/175

One Local Summer, Week 5 Ends

This was our last meal for the week and it was a nice local meal.  We love these!  I've been very anxious for the sweet corn to hit the farmer's markets and it finally did!

Creamy Corn and Chorizo-Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed Mushrooms

$4.19 for two mushrooms

She Said:

I don't like going to the Giant supermarket here any more. It's always so crowded and I'm old and I get anxious in a crowded store. Plus, I'm bound to punch someone right in the throat if they annoy me too much, so it's best if I stay away from the crowds, no? But, the Giant was the closest store tonight and we went in for salmon.

While we were shopping for the salmon, I spied their famous stuffed mushrooms. They stuff them with crab imperial and they are absolutely fantastic. They're just about the same size as my head, too, so that's nice. We got two of them.

We brought the salmon home and gave it a coating of some ancho pepper dry rub and stuck it in the fridge to season. In the meantime, we indulged in these stuffed mushrooms. Hello! They were just amazing. And quite enough for a meal!

We left the salmon in the fridge for an early dinner tomorrow night.

___________________________

He Said:

Back in the day, if you bought pre-made food stuff from the grocery store you were really going out on a limb. The quality was a little, let's say, sketchy. Not to mention, risky. These days, however, it's quite another story. These days you can actually buy some pretty great stuff at the grocery store. I put the stuffed mushrooms from Giant in that 'pretty great' category. Simply pick up a couple of those overstuffed babies, stick 'em in a hot oven for 15 - 20 minutes and voilà! You are now an appetizer hero.

Bask in the glory, my friends. Bask in the glory.