Tuscan Pine Nut and Mushroom Bruschetta

John and I hosted a tasting at The Market last week of Tuscan wines and foods.  I had so much fun with the menu and the wines from Lanciola were fantastic! 

I paired Lanciola Chianti with the Tuscan Pine Nut Mushroom Bruschetta, Lanciola Chardonnay with Truffled Mac & Cheese and Lanciola Vin Santo with Pistachio Biscotti.  An easy menu to prepare in advance and keep warm during the tasting and simple to serve to guests.  The mushrooms with the young, fruity Chianti was a great pairing!  The bruschetta would also be great served on a grilled steak and served with Chianti! 

John's favorite was the Tuscan Pine Nut Mushroom Bruschetta.  We are big mushroom fans and this was especially nice with a mix of mushrooms.  I did run my  finished dish through the food processor for ease of serving to a crowd, but for at home I would have left them in slices.  Whichever way you choose is perfectly fine.  I served the mixture on a slice of rosemary bread, which was a nice change from a baguette.

TUSCAN PINE NUT MUSHROOM BRUSCHETTA

12 ounces of mixed mushrooms, sliced  (I used oyster, cremini and button)
1 Tablespoon dried Porcini mushrooms, crushed into powder
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Fresh Sage, chopped
2 cloves Garlic, minced or crushed
Salt & pepper to taste
2-3 Tablespoons Sherry or Marsala
1/4 cup Pine Nuts, toasted
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 ounce Pecorino Romano, made into curls with vegetable peeler, or grated

Heat oil in a saute pan over medium high.  Add garlic, porcini mushrooms and fresh mushrooms and season with salt & pepper.  Cook about 5 minutes allowing mushrooms to release their juices.  Add lemon juice and sherry or marsala. 

Continue cooking about 5 more minutes until most of juices have evaporated.  Stir in pine nuts and fresh sage and remove from heat.  Allow to cool a few minutes, taste and adjust seasonings.

Place a tablespoon or so of the mushrooms onto a small slice of crusty bread and top with a cheese curl.

Enjoy!

Here's a fun photo of Giancarlo and his Lanciola wines at The Boulevard Market a couple years ago!  Get them if you can, his wines are fantastic!  I'll share the rest of the tasting menu recipes later this week!

Hungarian Beer Dip & Chorizo Mushroom Queso Dip

We had a great time at The Boulevard Market yesterday cooking up some easy entertaining dips!  Sandy deserves ALL the credit!  Both of these recipes are so tasty and unique yet familiar ingredients that guests will just gobble up!  I can't wait to make them for my family over New Years!  I'm sorry I didn't get any photos to share as the recipes looked very impressive too!  Especially the Hungarian Beer Cheese Dip in the loaf of bread!  Enjoy!

Hungarian Beer Cheese Dip

16 oz cream cheese
16 oz shredded Grafton Village 2 Year Cheddar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup Brown Ale
1 small, round loaf of bread (about 7 oz size)

Mix all ingredients untul smooth.  Hollow out bread , reserving pieces for dipping.  Spoon cheese mixture into hollowed loaf. Replace bread top and scatter remaining bread pieces around loaf for dipping.

 

Chorizo Mushroom Queso Dip

Olive Oil for coating pan
1/2 pound Spanish Chorizo
1/2 pound mushroom caps, quartered
1 cup diced Cabot Cheddar with Habanero or other pepper cheese
2 scallions, thinly sliced
Chips for dipping

Heat skillet and oil. Dice Chorizo and add to pan to render fat. ( remove casing if you like) When crumbly and brown, add mushrooms and cook until just tender, 6 to 7 minutes. Transfer to small casserole or baking dish and top with cheese. Bake until bubbly. Remove from oven and top with scallions. Serve with chips for dipping.
 

Asian Noodle Soup

The cold winter turned to a cold spring and here we have stayed.  Noodle soup is necessary for me to keep a positive attitude at this point. Add remodeling Four Corners Creamery kitchen to our plates and noodle soup becomes medicinal.  It's hard to be stressed out when you are eating this soup.

One of my very favorite celebrity chef/cookbook author is Nigella Lawson.  I think her sense of adventure and creativity in the kitchen is inspiring and her humor makes reading her recipes great fun! 
I am always looking for ways to up our vegetable intake during the cold months and the bright green of the baby bok choy and sugar snap peas really looks spring like! 

I hope Nigella doesn't mind that I changed her "Noodle Soup for Needy People" recipe to fit my tastes, but if you'd like the original, it can be found in Nigella Express, page 167.  

This recipe goes together QUICK!!!  Really less than 10 minutes to eating.  We always seem to have a loaf of bread and a few bites of cheese (big surprise) along side the soup bowls.

6 ounces Udon Noodles, I've also successfully used Soba, Rice and plain ol' chinese noodles
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 cup sugar snap peas, cut in half
1 cup shitake mushrooms, sliced  I've used button, cremini, shitake even portobella
1 cup baby bok choy, chopped

In a small saucepan, cook noodles according to directions.  Drain and fill bottom of bowls.
In a large sauce pan, bring stock, soy sauce and ginger to a boil then add vegetables.  It shouldn't take more than 2-3 minutes to cook through.  Pour broth and vegetables over noodles and enjoy!

Love that bright green of the peas and bok choy!

Steamy Soup!!

Chicken...a mistake or two and WOW!

Last evening was chilly and rainy and as 6pm came around, I still had no idea what to make for supper! Jamie suggested a chicken en croute recipe she really likes so I began preparing it, only to find...I pulled out phyllo dough instead of puff pastry and I was out of homemade pesto. It is a bit of a running joke in our house that we have shelves of food and nothing to eat!

I scavenged the fridge a bit and came up with a little something new, yummy, done in 35 minutes and beautiful!

1 whole chicken breast (2 halves)
1 package phyllo dough
4 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup mixed mushrooms (shitake, cremini, oyster, portobello)
2 Tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper

1 package smoked scamorza cheese, sliced 1/4 inch thick


I filleted whole chicken breast and cut each fillet in half for 8 pieces, each about 4X4 and 3/4 of an inch thick.

In a saute pan, I melted the 2 tablespoons of butter and sauted the seasoned mushrooms until tender, adding the minced garlic about the last 2 minutes of cooking.

Lay out the phyllo dough, 3 sheets thick, and brush the top piece with melted butter. Top with chicken, a slice of cheese and about 2-3 Tablespoons of mushrooms. Fold the phyllo dough into a packet and brush all with butter, you want to make sure you don't have any open spots.

Bake 20-25 minutes on 375 degrees until well dough is well browned. Do not over bake, you want a juicy, moist piece of chicken.

I served with a bit of white and wild rice blend and a green salad dressed with Extra Virgin Olive Oil!