mushroom | Kitchenbelle

Spring Pasta with Fresh Arugula Walnut Pesto

Posted on April 14, 2010 by kitchenbelle

My husband is running the Boston Marathon on Monday and I could not be more proud! He has worked so hard training over the past several months and as great of a runner he was when he started training he has improved quite a bit and shown serious promise for race day.

I know how important diet is for athletic performance so I was sure to stock up on loads of lean proteins, fresh fruits and fresh vegetables at the grocery store this weekend. For this meal I decided to give him his fill of nutrients (as well as a few carbs!) to keep him healthy for race day. He loves red peppers, peas, and mushrooms so I created this meal around those. I LOVE arugula and what could be better or more nutritious than combining it with omega-laden walnuts?!

This meal was very delicious and enjoyable. The freshness of the arugula, vegetables, and chives was what stood out for me. I know it sounds dorky (but I’ll say it anyway): I have been cooking for years, yet still I continue to be amazed by the PUNCH and ZEST of the flavors in fresh vegetables and herbs. Mother Nature is pretty incredible if you ask me. 🙂

Spring Pasta with Fresh Arugula Walnut Pesto:

12 ounces of fresh pasta (I used Capone Foods Fresh Pasta Spinach Linguine from the Whole Foods refrigerated section)
a few tablespoons of olive oil
6 ounces of sliced portabella mushrooms
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 scallions, sliced
1 red pepper, chopped
2 cups frozen peas
1/2 pint grape tomatoes, sliced in half
fresh chives, roughly chopped

Pesto

2-3 cups fresh baby arugula
2 cloves fresh garlic
2/3 cup walnuts
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup shredded cheese (you could use fresh parmesan for a strong flavor, mozzarella for a mild flavor or anything in between)
salt to taste

Make the pesto:

In a food processor combine the arugula, garlic, and walnuts. Pulse until combined. Slowly pour in the oil while continuing to pulse. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula if necessary. Add the cheese and continue to pulse until desired texture is reached. Add salt to taste. Set aside.

Prepare vegetables:

Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a medium pan over medium heat. Add the mushroom and a few pinches of salt. Cook stirring frequently until browned. Add the garlic, scallions, and chopped pepper. Continue to cook until peppers are tender but still crunchy.

Meanwhile boil pasta in salted water according to package directions.

Add peas to sauce pan and cook until warmed through. Then add tomatoes. Stir to combine and let the heat soften the tomatoes, about 30 seconds. Season with salt and pepper.

Drain pasta and return to pot. Add pesto to pasta and toss gently. Then add vegetables and gently toss again to fully disperse vegetables and sauce. Garnish with fresh chives. Serve immediately.

A Kitchenbelle.com original!

Filed under: arugula, chives, Main Dish, mushroom, pasta, peppers, tomato, VEGETARIAN | 10 Comments »

Mushroom and Wild Rice Casserole

Posted on April 12, 2010 by kitchenbelle

I am crazy about wild rice and I always have my eye out for recipes that incorporate it. I was reading this recipe over at 101 Cookbooks where Heidi suggests trying any of your favorite grains in her mushroom casserole recipe. I saw it as great opportunity to use some wild rice!

This recipe calls for three cups of cooked rice–I replaced that with two cups of cooked wild rice plus one cup of cooked brown rice. (For added flavor cook your rice in chicken or vegetable broth instead of water.)

One mistake I made that I will warn you against is this: When I was making the rice to use for this recipe I was not thinking straight and I measured out two cups of DRY wild rice plus one cup of DRY brown rice and then cooked them in two separate pans according to their respective package directions. Well, DUH. Rice expands while cooking and nearly triples its volume! So, unless you want to have lots of leftover rice, only prepare enough dry rice to yield a total of three cups cooked! (I see some new wild rice recipes in my immediate future!)

I intended to serve this as an accompaniment to some flank steaks I purchased from Whole Foods, however, as I was about to put the steak onto the grill pan I realized I wasn’t that hungry. My husband wasn’t that hungry either so we decided to eat this as a main dish. We both really liked it! It is a very lightened-up version of the old school cream of mushroom soup recipes that we all love so much. (Don’t expect that canned-soup level of moistness, though.) The flavors were great and I plan to eat the reheated leftovers for lunch this week!

Mushroom and Wild Rice Casserole:

2 cups of cooked wild rice
1 cup of cooked brown rice
8-10 ounces of mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 large eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup of grated cheese (you could use Parmesan, mozzarella, or a combination of the two)
a few tablespoons of fresh chives, roughly chopped
2 scallions, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Coat a 9 x 13 glass baking dish or casserole with olive oil and set aside.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat saute the mushrooms in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Sprinkle with some salt. Stir every few minutes and cook until the mushrooms have browned a bit and released their liquid. Add the onions and cook for 4-5 minutes or until they are transluscent. Add the garlic, cook for another minute then remove from the heat.

Add the brown rice and wild rice to the skillet. Stir until combined.

In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream and salt.

Combine in the rice/mushroom mixture with the cottage cheese mixture. Stir until well combined and pour into the prepared 9×13 dish. Sprinkle with 2/3 of the grated cheese. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 20 more minutes or until bubbly and golden around the edges. Sprinkle with chives, scallions, remaining cheese. (Add some chicken or vegetable broth if you’d like some additional moisture.)

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks.

Filed under: cheese, chives, Main Dish, mushroom, rice, Side, VEGETARIAN | 8 Comments »

Spinach Squares

Posted on December 17, 2009 by kitchenbelle

This time of year, over and over I find myself searching for “good” appetizer recipes. “Good” usually means the following:

not too difficult
does not require too much time
travels well
people will actually want to eat it

I recently found myself Googling like crazy and I could not find something that fit the bill. I have a few go-tos (like this Layered Greek Dip, for instance) but I just get sick of the same thing over and over. (By the way, if I had a nickel for each time I made that Layered Greek Dip I could buy Greece and all of its feta…and olives…and olive oil…you get the picture.)

After much frustration and interchanging of the words “appetizer” and “hors d’oeuvre” in Google (because technically *I think* an appetizer is something that is served as a plated first course and hors d’oeuvres are more of finger foody snacks, or at least that’s how I distinguish them) I conceded that Greek Dip it would be. But then for some reason I remembered to consult my green binder. My green binder is a vinyl, school binder and it is bursting at the seams. It contains recipe printouts and handouts and tearouts and recipe cards and papers and clippings from all walks of life. And there it was:

A little old fashioned recipe card with a little duck wearing a ruffled apron on it and my 8 year-old penmanship staring up at me. A recipe from the 1980s. A recipe that reminds me of first communion parties and birthday cookouts and grandparents’ anniversaries. A recipe that I transcribed from an aunt on June 25. (It is dated!)

SPINACH SQUARES. Spinach Squares are the perfect appetizer (or shall I say, hors d’oeuvre). They travel well, they are versatile, they are delicious and they are straight out of the 1980s–what could be cooler than that! (That’s almost retro, right?) I promise never to forget these little bites of cheesy goodness again.

Spinach Squares:

4 tablespoons of butter
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon dried onion
2 packages chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
2 8-oz packages grated white cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Melt butter in a glass 9 x 13-inch dish. In a medium bowl, mix the remaining ingredients together and spread into dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Let stand for 30 minutes before cutting. Cut into small squares. May be served warm, cool, or at room temperature.

Filed under: Appetizer, cheese, VEGETARIAN | 9 Comments »

Arugula, Cranberry, and Goat Cheese Stuffed Turkey Cutlets

Posted on November 11, 2009 by kitchenbelle

This is another delicious and easy weeknight meal. I made it up in my head on my way home from work based on ingredients I knew we had on hand. The panko crumbs make the cutlets very crispy, though you could certainly substitute any type of bread crumbs. The filling is a delicious little surprise! I think this is a perfect fall meal. I served with roasted maple and olive oil acorn squash.

Arugula, Cranberry, and Goat Cheese Stuffed Turkey Cutlets:

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups fresh arugula
1 leek, rinsed clean and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
coarse salt and pepper, to taste
1 1/4 cups panko bread crumbs, seasoned to taste with coarse salt and pepper
3 teaspoons of mango chutney (I use Major Gray’s)
2 teaspoons honey mustard (or Dijon mustard)
4 turkey cutlets, rinsed and dried with a paper towel
1/4 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
2 tablespoons grated mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Heat olive oil in a sauce pan over low heat. Add leek and cook until tender. Add garlic and cook until soft. Add arugula. Add salt and pepper and use a spatula to move arugula around the pan. Cook until just wilted and then add chopped dried cranberries, goat cheese and mozzarella.

On a baking sheet place a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil.

In one small shallow bowl combine mustard and chutney. Mix with a small spoon until combined. Pour breadcrumbs into a second small shallow bowl. Dip cutlets, one at a time, into chutney mixture. Then pat breadcrumbs onto one side of the cutlet. Place on cookie sheet and scoop 1-2 tablespoons of the arugula filling onto one side of the cutlet. Fold top portion of cutlet onto filling and secure with a toothpick. Repeat for remaining cutlets.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until turkey is done and juices run clear. Garnish with dried cranberry pieces and goat cheese crumbles.

I love the beautiful contrast of the fresh arugula and the dried cranberries.

Scoop filling on the bottom end of each cutlet so that you can easily fold over the top portion.

Fold over cutlet and secure with a toothpick.

Oozing with fresh arugula, cranberries, and cheese!

Filed under: arugula, cheese, cranberry, Fall, Main Dish, mozzarella | 10 Comments »

Pumpkin Seed Pesto and Squash Sauce over Fresh Pasta

Posted on October 18, 2009 by kitchenbelle

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My colleague takes part in a community garden in Jamaica Plain where she grows all sorts of herbs and vegetables. I believe we are closing in on the basil season here in the northeast because yesterday she very generously offered to give me a gigantic amount of basil from her garden. And I mean a gigantic amount–I think she gave me nearly an entire bush! I have been wanting to make pesto for a while now, but I don’t have my own basil plant and I would have to buy about 25 of those plastic snap containers (you know how basil is sold in grocery stores?) to get a half cup of pesto. A free bush of basil is almost exciting as dark chocolate Reese’s peanut butter cups! I couldn’t wait to make pesto!

However, basil is so summery to me. I wanted to put an autumn spin on our dinner. It immediately clicked on how I could do it: Use PUMPKIN SEEDS instead of PINE NUTS! Perfect. I also wanted to incorporate some squash and fresh pasta. Using these ideas and ingredients I sequestered myself in the kitchen and I pretended to be on Top Chef. (I am really enjoying that show lately–I love all of the discussion about “notes” and “building flavor.”)

The result was awesome. This was one of those meals that while I was eating it I got super excited and giddy! It was so delicious. Not just delicious but so much more delicious than I ever expected. (Don’t you love when that happens?) And it was easy and didn’t take very long to make. My favorite part was the contrast of the mild creamy squash sauce with the sharp garlicky saltiness of the pesto. They really worked well together. The fresh chewy pasta was a major asset as well–it really jived with the creamy squash sauce. The risk of using all of these ingredients, which could have been overkill, really paid off. And this made for a pretty fall plate. The green of the spinach pasta with the orange sauce on top was very cool.

Although I tried to keep track of my methods and ingredients, I didn’t measure everything. If you want to try to replicate this feel free to email me. That said, it was pretty easy and I don’t think you could go wrong with such a delicious cast of flavor characters.

Pumpkin Seed Pesto and Squash over Fresh Pasta:

1 pound fresh spinach pasta (If you are feeling ambitious, make your own! I bought some from Whole Foods for $4.99)

Pumpkin Seed Pesto

several bunches of fresh basil
3 cloves garlic
~3/4 cup fresh shredded parmesan reggiano cheese
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
~ 3/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Squash Sauce

2 cups squash (you can use canned or fresh)
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup chicken broth (use vegetable broth instead and this dish is vegetarian)
1.5 teaspoons nutmeg
a handful of fresh shredded parmesan reggiano cheese

Boil water for pasta. Be sure to add salt to the water.

Make the pesto

Toast pumpkin seeds in a large pan over medium heat.

In a food processor chop basil, garlic, cheese, and all but two tablespoons of the pumpkin seeds. While food processor is running, pour olive oil into food processor in a steady stream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Make squash sauce

In the same pan in which you toasted the pumpkin seeds, cook squash, milk, and chicken broth and stir together until smooth and creamy. Add nutmeg and cheese. Continue to stir until heated through and cheese has melted.

Add pasta to boiling water. Cook until done and drain. Immediately add pasta to pan containing squash sauce and toss to coat pasta.

Portion pasta into individual bowls. Scoop about two tablespoons of pesto on top of each serving. Garnish with reserved pumpkin seeds. Serve immediately.