Bamboo Sushi Happy Hour

November 4, 2013 by 4 Comments

Food porn from a happy hour at Bamboo Sushi. My intention that day was to go to Salt & Straw for their monthly special ice cream, and by combining forces with my friend, try all the flavors of the month. The friend I was meeting was a little late (say, leaving at the time she said she would meet me there :P) And it was a day where it was raining super hard too, which is unusual for Portland even with its reputation for Pacific NW rain because it usually is “misting” not full on rain that soaks you in a minute. Usually I might walk up and down window shopping, but with the rain, I wanted shelter. I already sort of anticipated and was even slightly hoping for both of these reasons, because I know Bamboo Sushi is right next door to the Salt & Straw on NW 23rd, and it was happy hour time. Now I had 3 reasons to go in to add to the knowledge of Bamboo’s reputation!

Bamboo Sushi Cocktail of the day and complimentary edamam

3? Right. Besides, rain, and happy hour, there’s Bamboo being a business with a conscience. You probably have already heard all the accolades about how Bamboo Sushi not only offers delicious food, but also focuses on sustainability, and has been for about 5 years now. The founder of the two locations of Bamboo Sushi (one in NW 23rd that I went to, the other at SE 28th) Kristofor Lofgren has a background in environmental science, and besides operating the two restaurants, also works to partner with others and promote environmental responsibility in policy.

They know where all their seafood comes from, how it came to them including how their vendors operate, and all their seafood menu items are chosen according to the Seafood Watch list from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean Institute then certified by The Marine Stewardship Council. This miniature video film at 4 minutes, the Story of Sushi, made splashy news last year in marketing the importance of making smart choices as a seafood diner, especially of sushi.


The Story of Sushi from Bamboo Sushi on Vimeo.

So how could you not be a fan? Especially, if you can make happy hour, which included for my friend and I

  • Daily Hand Roll and cocktail of the day… what you don’t see is that I already consumed the complimentary edamame bowl. Shh don’t tell my friend.
  • From their signature cocktail menu, the drink Purple Haze. with fresh blackberry puree shaken with vodka and lemon-lime juice, served on the rocks
  • Imo koroshi—“potato killer” roasted yam press box, garlic-soy-butter, sesame chili powder, $4 instead of $6 at happy hour. Tastes as wonderful as it looks.
  • From House Signature Roll section: Green Machine Roll (vegetarian) of tempura fried asparagus and green onions topped with avocado and cilantro sweet chili aioli. Amazing.
  • $6 instead of $10 at Bamboo Sushi Happy Hour: “karashi” hanger, a marinated and grilled St Helens hanger steak with asian mustard mushrooms and puffed rice
  • Also on the happy hour menu, char grilled shishito peppers tossed with miso butter and bacon and topped with bonito flakes, $4 instead of $6 at happy hour
  • Okonomiyaki, a traditional Japanese savory pancake with shrimp and mushrooms, topped with fried oysters, drizzled with aioli and eel sauce, $5 instead of $8 at happy hour

Bamboo Sushi in Portland happy hour, Daily Hand Roll and cocktail of the day From the Bamboo Sushi signature cocktail menu, the drink Purple Haze. with fresh blackberry puree shaken with vodka and lemon-lime juice, served on the rocks Bamboo Sushi in Portland happy hour, Imo koroshi— 'potato killer' a roasted yam press box, garlic-soy-bu From Bamboo Sushi's House Signature Roll section: Green Machine Roll (vegetarian) of tempura fried asparagus and green onions topped with avocado and cilantro sweet chili aioli. Amazing. $6 instead of $10 at Bamboo Sushi Happy Hour: “karashi” hanger, a marinated and grilled St Helens hanger steak with asian mustard mushrooms and puffed rice Also on the Bamboo Sushi happy hour menu, char grilled shishito peppers tossed with miso butter and bacon and topped with bonito flakes, $4 instead of $6 at happy hour Okonomiyaki, a traditional Japanese savory pancake with shrimp and mushrooms, topped with fried oysters, drizzled with aioli and eel sauce, $5 instead of $8 at Bamboo Sushi's happy hour

I also had from the signature cocktail menu a sample sip of the Sparkling Blossom (prosecco, shiso schochu, elderblossom nectar, rhubarb & lemon bitters, lemon juice, with a toschi cherry in a flute, as delicate and beautiful as it sounds), a sip of the super refreshing Shiso Serious (muddled cucumber, shisho infused shochu, lemon-lime juice and soda, garnished with a cucumber), and Sempai Mojito (muddled red grapes, mint and sage, with rum, lemongrass rum and sage simple syrup- very dangerous as it comes in a pint glass and took me over the line in my happy hour libations, oops! The hazards of a happy hour review!).

So we definitely… or maybe me as I pre-ordered everything but the rolls before she arrived to get happy hour prices… over-ordered. But at the same time, I was pleased to see the variety of items on the happy hour menu and could have easily ordered more. I didn’t even get any sashimi because I was so tempted by all these other options!

For happy hour there were 17 options there for food, of which more than half were vegetarian or could be vegetarian by omitting bonito flakes, one choice can even be made gluten free! The rest of the menu includes more of the same so that anyone with any diet can dine at Bamboo Sushi happily. It does get busy and has a hip, trendy vibe, so prepare your arrival/eating time accordingly. It’s obviously not going to be priced like a conveyor belt sushi place- but I think their cause is worth it. If you have the opportunity, come support this great local business with a conscience and enjoy incredible food for happy hour and dinner!

Do you like sushi and/or sashimi? During your visit would you go the raw route with sushi and sashimi and hand rolls, or go with the alternate options like I did during this happy hour? How much does a business with a conscience factor into how you select it as a destination?

Signature

Filed Under: Cocktails, Food and Drink, Restaurant Review Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Butternut Squash Lasagna Recipe in Béchamel sauce

October 29, 2013 by 11 Comments

This recipe is my take on the butternut squash lasagna recipe by Giada de Laurentiis. The fact she includes amaretti cookies has always been very curious to me, so this has been bookmarked for a while. Now that the Indian Summer is over and it is cool and the leaves browning from their previous glorious colors of red, orange, and yellow and falling, this comfort dish moved up to the top of my list. It seemed appropriately perfect for a Sunday night dinner at my house as we were making plans for Thanksgiving. This dish yields about 8 servings.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, this will be the first of a series of posts of recipes I am going to cover on dishes to consider for Thanksgiving! They will all be vegetarian, so you might consider it for a side dish or if you have a vegetarian at your table like I do, be a way to provide something more hearty than the usual sides of rolls, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Check out my Recipes Index page for other dishes that I have covered in the past.

Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce

The original recipe calls for basil, but I love the taste of sage for fall, not to mention when I buy a bunch of fresh sage, I love just crisping them up in a brown butter sauce for a simple weekday dinner. So I switched out the basil for sage.

Also, the original recipe also instructs you to take a 2 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 inch cubes which are then tossed in oil on a skillet then boiled/steamed until the squash is tender. The whole end result is to make a squash purée though, and I just didn’t want so spend all that to clean and cut. So I just cut it in half and roasted it in the oven until it was soft and I could scoop it into the food processor. If you wanted more of a shortcut you could probably start out with frozen squash.

Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce

In retrospect, although the recipe calls for no boil lasagna noodles, at least with the way mine turned out they were not the texture I was looking for- they were still firm and very doughy. If I make this again in the future I would take the time to use regular lasagna noodles and boil them before the layering step.

To lower the fat, you could do a mix of skim or fat free milk instead of whole milk, but I think having some portion of creaminess is nice for the sauce, not sure you would get that with a 100% substitution. Giada calls for whole-milk mozzarella cheese, but I used Tillamook Part Skim shredded mozzarella, and you could do a variation of using skim ricotta, or Gruyere or whatever cheese you’d like. For gluten or paleo diets I’ve heard of using zucchini instead of the lasagna noodles, and you could even use scrambled eggs instead of the cheese, and she suggests spinach lasagna sheets!

The amaretti cookies add a hint of nuttiness and crunch to the butternut squash- amaretti cookies are almond paste cookies, so you could switch it out for just using nuts instead if you can’t find the cookies. Honestly, I think I would add more cookies!

Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce

Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 (~2-pound) butternut squash
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 amaretti cookies, crumbled
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
  • 3/4 cup lightly packed fresh sage leaves
  • 12 no-boil lasagna noodles
  • 2 1/2 cups (10 ounces) shredded whole-milk mozzarella cheese
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
Instructions
  1. First, making the squash purée. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Trim the stem part at the top and button, then cut the squash in half lengthwise. If you have a hard time cutting it, peel some of the skin. Scoop out the strings and seeds until the skin is clean and smooth. You can roast the seeds if you want, but you don’t need them for this lasagna. Rub each half of the squash flesh with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil,. On a pan lined with foil, place each half flesh side down for about 45 min or so, until the flesh is soft, so that you will be able to scoop them into the processor. Cool slightly and then transfer the squash to a food processor, since of course you don’t want to process hot food in there! Add the amaretti cookies and blend until smooth. Season the squash puree, to taste, with more salt and pepper. Set aside.
    Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce
  2. While the squash is roasting, this can be béchamel sauce making time. Melt the butter in a heavy medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the nutmeg. Cool slightly for at least 5 minutes.  As usual when blending hot liquids, when you transfer the liquid to the blender or food processor make sure you fill it no more than halfway (the food processor may have a marked liquid line). If you are using a blender, release one corner of the lid to prevent the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions! I didn’t have this problem because around this time I was processing the squash with the cookies, which gave time for the sauce to cool down some before getting to this part. Anyway, put half the roux in your blender, add the sage and blend until smooth. Return the now half a batch of sage sauce to the rest of the sauce in the pan and stir to blend. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Position the rack in the center of the oven and set the oven to 375 degrees F.
  4. Lightly grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish. Spread about a cup of the sauce over the dish, and arrange 3 lasagna noodles on the bottom. Spread about 1/3 cup of the squash puree over the noodles. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. Drizzle 1/2 cup of sauce over the noodles. Repeat layering 3 more times.
    Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce
  5. Top with the rest of the sauce, and then tightly cover the baking dish with foil and bake the lasagna for 40 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses over the lasagna. Continue baking uncovered until the sauce bubbles and the top is golden, 15 minutes longer. Let the lasagna stand for 15 minutes before serving.

This dish looks gorgeous with the colors- and I cursed that all I have is my point and shoot camera and the dark late October lighting because I don’t think these pics do it justice. I think it’s time to commit to making a light box/light tent with cardboard  and some white plates at least!

Every week until Thanksgiving I plan to post a recipe for a vegetarian dish that can served, so stay tuned! Have you ever had butternut squash lasagana? Did you have it with white sauce or marinara? And what do you think of the addition of amaretti cookies?
Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce

Summary of the Vegetarian Thanksgiving Sides Series 2013:

Thanks for reading!

 

Signature

Filed Under: Cheese, Cooking, Food and Drink Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Summer Picnic Recipes that Travel Well for Two and a Group

July 29, 2013 by 10 Comments

Picnics- a meal outside, in the sunshine/shade and open breezes. Shoes off, legs stretched out, the feel of the beach of the sand or blades of grass underneath you. The images that come to mind are wicker baskets and slightly rumpled gingham blanket and a glass of wine and certainly for me, a cheese plate (of course).

It might be a special occasion like the concerts on the lawns I used to attend multiple times during my summers in Chicago- the orchestra filling the air with a symphony while you lie back on the blanket staring at the clouds. Or, it was on the 4th of July, with fireworks, and the buzz of people around you sharing that experience and joining in group “oooos” while you still have your own space.

It doesn’t have to be a special occasion though. It might be a matter of logistics on a long day hike. It might be a romantic getaway where you can focus on just the two of you. Or maybe, it’s just a celebration of a normal day and beautiful weather.

The last time I had a picnic, it was at Wildlife Safari in Winston, OR after walking with a cheetah, and it was a breakfast picnic that included soft doughy marionberry scones, fresh fruit, and fixings for mimosas on a safari printed tablecloth. Overall, it was a picnic recipe for fun!

Wildlife Safari, Winston OR, breakfast picnic with marionberry scones, fresh fruit, and mimosas Wildlife Safari, Winston OR, breakfast picnic with marionberry scones, fresh fruit, and mimosas

For a July picnic with the Portland Bloggers group, I decided to go more out than the typical “gathering” of cheese plate and various deli items from stores with a few items I would put together at home. Here are my picnic recipes, geared towards being picnic recipes that are easy to prep, require little effort, travel and keep well, and can be healthy. They can easily be made for two, or a group.

First, I started out for myself with a Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Salad sandwich, and a Vegetarian Hummus Avocado Tomato and Greens Sandwich for F. I only made enough for one sandwich for F, but I made a larger yielding batch of the buffalo chicken so that I could eat more of the sandwiches all this week (or in some cases, just eat the buffalo chicken out of Tupperware).

For the group, I wasn’t sure how many people would be there and decided to lean on the generous side. Worst case scenario, I would have some to bring to work the next day. I like these because you can put these together while watching TV, they are relatively healthy and fresh, and they are easy to eat on the skewers/toothpicks and can be refreshing if it happens to be a hot day. Mine are all red, but if you got a mix of colors from heirloom tomatoes this would be so much prettier!

Picnic Recipe 1: Vegetarian Hummus Avocado Tomato and Greens Sandwich

Ingredients (yields 1 sandwich):
Vegetarian Hummus Avocado Greens Sandwich ingredients Vegetarian Hummus Avocado Greens Sandwich

  • 2 slices of your favorite bread
  • 1/4 cup of hummus of your choice
  • 1/2 large avocado
  • 1 teaspoon of lime juice
  • 1/2 cup microgreens (or you may choose 1/2 cup spinach, arugula, or whatever greens you would like)
  • Tomatoes- I used grape tomatoes, but you can also use regular slices of tomatoes, or roasted tomatoes, or sun dried tomatoes. You want enough to be happy with your sandwich 🙂

Directions

  1. Spread the hummus on one side of the bread, and top with the microgreens
  2. In a bowl, mash up the avocado (for 1 sandwich you only need 1/2, but I mashed a whole one and used the other half for my sandwich below) and add 1 teaspoon for half the avocado, or in my case 2 teaspoons, of the lime juice. Mash and mix well, and then spread on the other slice of bread

Vegetarian Hummus Avocado Greens Sandwich Vegetarian Hummus Avocado Greens Sandwich

Picnic Recipe 2: Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Salad with Avocado and Greens Sandwich

Buffalo Chicken Salad with Avocado and Microgreens Sandwich

Ingredients (yields 4 cups of chicken salad, I overload my sandwich with almost 1 cup each but you also just use 1/2 a cup and be sensible about it):

  • 1 pound of skinless chicken breast (2 chicken breasts) for poaching
  • 5 oz non-fat plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/3 cup Franks Red Hot Wings Buffalo sauce
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup (2 oz) crumbled blue cheese
  • 4 slices of your favorite bread
  • 1/2 cup microgreens (or you 1/2 cup chopped celery or whatever greens you would like)

Directions

  1. I started by poaching the chicken. Alternatively, you can also buy cooked chicken or reuse other leftover chicken of course to get you started a little faster. I like poaching in that it still keeps the chicken tender, and it lets me multitask as I’m cooking it low and slow with other kitchen prep. You can choose to poach it in just water, but that doesn’t add any flavor. So you can use the stock of your choice in the pot (I started with 2 cups, and then poured in a smidge more to cover the chicken by another inch) that I also added a tablespoon of chopped basil, a tablespoon of rosemary, and some ground pepper. But you can choose to also/instead add a little sherry, or wine, or fresh vegetables, whatever you want to add. After bringing the liquid to a boil, reduce heat to a bare simmer, partly cover the pot. Cook longer for about 10 minutes, then turn off the heat, leaving the chicken to finish cooking in your liquid of choice for 15 more minutes. Remove chicken, then shred it for the chicken salad.
    poaching chicken breasts in broth and herbs
  2. In bowl, whisk together the other ingredients: the yogurt, buffalo sauce, garlic powder, and black pepper. Stir in chicken, celery (if you are using it), and blue cheese.
  3. For my sandwich for the picnic, I decided to use some of the leftover avocado lime juice spread I still had for the other half of my sandwich (so half an avocado with 1 teaspoon of lime juice mashed together). I also added the radish microgreens, though again any of greens you enjoy would work here. And let’s say I forgot to add the blue cheese earlier so just decided to put it on top of my avocado (you can omit the blue cheese altogether if you are not a fan or want to make it optional for those eating the sandwich). Overall, of the buffalo chicken salad there was enough left for probably 4-5 more sandwiches for me to put away for the rest of the week. Refrigerate until serving or up to 5 days in the fridge.
    Buffalo Chicken Salad with Avocado and Microgreens Sandwich Buffalo Chicken Salad with Avocado and Microgreens Sandwich Buffalo Chicken Salad with Avocado and Microgreens Sandwich Buffalo Chicken Salad with Avocado and Microgreens Sandwich

Picnic Recipe 3: Caprese Skewers

Ingredients (yields 136 skewers):
Caprese Skewers, appetizer, picnic food Caprese Skewers, appetizer, picnic food

  • 4 pints (~40 oz) of cherry tomatoes
  • 12 ounces of fresh mozzarella
  • 2 ounces of fresh basil, which was about 6 stems for me, depending on how full each stem is of leaves
  • olive oil (approximately 1/3 cup)
  • balsamic vinegar  (approximately 1/4 cup)

Directions

  1. Cutting: Cut all the cherry tomatoes in half. Also cut the mozzarella into small pieces about 1/3 inch squares. Also, remove the basil leaves from the steam, for the larger basil leaves you may want to cut them in half as well.
  2. Assembly: On each toothpick, in between the cherry halves add one piece of the mozzarella and one medium or 1/2 of a large basil leaf.
  3. After filling your first row (in case you decide to do a pile like I did), use a spoon or a pastry brush to carefully add a little drizzle line or light touch of olive oil, and then the balsamic.
    Caprese Skewers, appetizer, picnic food Caprese Skewers, appetizer, picnic food

F helped a friend moved, so the sandwich disappeared before any photo could be shot of the sandwich cut in half.The best I can show you from our afternoon picnic with the Portland Food Bloggers was our additional tray to accompany our sandwiches. I like to always bring cheeses, and this time went with two cheeses (Fiscalini Hopscotch Cheddar a cheddar soaked in Devil’s Canyon Scotch Ale and Mariposa’s Chubut a mild Argentiean cheese).

I also like a little protein, and I picked a Chop Butchery & Charcuterie farmhouse pate (not shown, on another board to separate from the vegetarian options, and I think the best pate in Portland). I rounded out this picnic with hummus, and organic seedless green grapes (anything you eat the skin on be it fruits, vegetables, potatoes I believe are worth buying organic), cut up some artisan seedy bread and Mary’s Gone Crackers. This part of the picnic recipe is easy- just a matter of gathering some good individual ingredients together.

Thank you Portland Bloggers group for making me put together a Family Picnic, and setting up this event! It was very laid back with no agenda other then just a little chatting to see the people we read online in person, and the new Portland Bloggers logo was also unveiled. Check out the twitter hashtag #portlandbloggers for more photos from this event. I’m sure there will be posts coming soon too, and I’m excited to read all about all the other perspectives!

Signature

Filed Under: Cooking, Food and Drink Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Honoring President Lincoln with vegetarian Chicken Fricassee

February 8, 2013 by 9 Comments

President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is February 12, and his favorite foods (at least per the first page of google results of my internet research) included simple plain food like fruit, nuts, crackers and cheese, as well as Chicken Fricassee with biscuits, oyster stew, and apple pie. So I decided to make a vegetarian version of chicken fricassee.

As my base, I decided to follow this recipe of Thomas Jefferson’s Chicken Fricassee via CD Kitchen in order to also pay respects to also past awesome president Thomas Jefferson (sometimes called “America’s founding foodie” because he was such a lover of food) and which seasons the chicken at the start, while also reducing it to feed 4 people. Reducing the recipe made it easier mathematically so I could also combine it with what was the deliciousness of Martha Stewart’s version that uses a mirepoix and fresh tarragon. I knew that since I was using fake chicken instead of actual chicken that meant I needed to up the flavor of the broth in some way.

Cooking fricassee is in between making a sauté and a stew where you need to let the flavors get absorbed over a long time- so the first half is all sautéing, and then there is 30 minutes of just letting the flavors open up while it all stews together.

I happen to like Quorn‘s chicken (which they call chik’n) the best- they have both basic meat substitute options like what I’m using here so I can cook my own versions of recipe but I also love their prepared meal options particularly their breaded fake chicken line that includes cutlets that are with gruyere or stuffed with jalapeno and three cheese. Clearly it doesn’t taste like real chicken, but even for someone like me that still knows what meat tastes like (unlike F who has been without for more than a decade), the taste is still pretty good.

The original recipe called for various pounds of chicken, which I loosely translated to two 12 ounce packages of the frozen chik’n pieces Quorn offers. Each package is listed to supposedly have 4 servings, but I think that is only possible if you are serving the chik’n in the same quantities as you would actual chicken meat as part of a meal that included other dishes- and consider that each serving is 80 calories.

Ingredients

  • 2 12 ounce packages of Quorn “chik’n tenders”, which you can find in the healthy/natural freezer section
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 4 tablespoons butter, separated in 2 2-tablespoons
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup of diced onion
  • 1/2 cup of diced carrot
  • 1/3 cup of diced celery
  • 8 ounces of fresh cremini mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/3 cups water
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 2 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley, or 1 teaspoon of dried chopped parsley
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon of dried chopped thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2/3 cup half and half cream
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • biscuits or noodles or rice, dealer’s choice

Directions

  1. Sprinkle the chik’n pieces with salt, pepper, nutmeg and paprika and mix.
    the still frozen Quorn chick'n, seasoned for vegetarian chicken fricassee
  2. On medium high heat, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter with the tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a good size pot as everything is going to eventually go into this pot, use a Dutch oven if you have one. I don’t, so I used my super XL deep pan. Warm the chik’n until it no longer looks frozen and could passable look like chicken pieces and is fragrant, depending on how much surface area you have try to brown the chik’n if you can. I admit I added a little smidge more of butter because it got absorbed to get a little hint of browning, but I was also heating this in a pot to start until I realized I had a giant pan. Remove just the chik’n to a plate.
    cooking Quorn chick'n, seasoned for vegetarian chicken fricassee cooking Quorn chick'n, seasoned for vegetarian chicken fricassee
  3. Next, add the other 2 tablespoons of butter and melt, and add in the mirepoix (onion, carrot, and celery) to your Dutch oven/humongo pan and let it sit on the heat for a while until the onion is golden and has specks of brown. Be patient, as sweating these down will take about 8 to 10 minutes and you only want to stir every once in a while to scrape/even out the brown bits.
    Mirepoix Mirepoix sweating
  4. Now add in the mushrooms and continue to stir occasionally until the mushrooms have darkened and begun to release their liquids. At this point, reduce heat to medium, and add the 2 tablespoons off flour, and cook for another minute until all the flour disappears.
    mushrooms ready as they release juices for flour step of chicken fricassee
  5. Add in the water and wine. Return the chik’n to the pot and add the parsley and thyme (I used dried herbs here) and bring everything to a boil. Now cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer, simmer, simmer it for 30 minutes. While this is happening, feel free to make your biscuits, or noodles, or rice, whatever you want to serve this chicken fricassee with.
    dry white French wine making chicken fricassee, adding wine and water and beginning the stew part making chicken fricassee, adding wine and water and chik'n and beginning the stew part
  6. Now, the finishing touches. Reduce the heat to your lowest setting possible, and slowly pour in the cream to thicken the sauce, stirring constantly (so you could possibly use other options such as yogurt or silken tofu in theory).  Add the fresh tarragon and sage, and the lemon juice.  Bring to a simmer, stir gently to combine, and serve.
    sage and tarragon making chicken fricassee, after 30 minutes or so of simmering Adding sage, tarragon, lemon juice after a touch of cream to chicken fricassee

Let me assure you now that even though this uses chik’n, this dish is phenomenal tasty. F liked eating it just out of the pan, so the carbs are quite optional. But President Lincoln liked it with biscuits, so here we are. Lincoln didn’t really drink, but feel free to enjoy the rest of the dry white wine (I used a French bottle of Vignobles Fontan Domaine de Maubet Blanc Sec) with your meal.

Chicken fricassee, with vegetarian chik'n by Quorn Chicken fricassee, with vegetarian chik'n by Quorn

Signature

Filed Under: Cooking, Food and Drink Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tofu and Mushrooms A La King

December 19, 2012 by 1 Comment

I decided to try a vegetarian version of a gorgeous Chicken A La King recipe I saw on Pinterest and which originated from the blog Get off your Butt and Bake! I increased the cheeseiness from the recipe because I love cheese and it has never worked negatively for me when I have upped cheese. Nope, never ever ever. Anyway, this ends up yielding more sauce, so based on how many shells are in a package the recipe below is enough to yield enough sauce for two packages of six shells, or approximately six people if everyone has two puffs each along with another  side.

It is very rich, so would be wonderful to paid with another dish that has some acid to cut through this such as a salad with a citrus vinaigrette. I chose to use tofu and mushrooms, but having a variety of color and shapes in vegetables you choose, such as sliced carrots, peas, diced peppers, etc could make this really visually stunning. You could put anything into this sauce. Really, seriously, anything. This sauce is so good.

Ingredients:

  • 2 package of puff pastry shells (6 in a package).
  • 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water, beat together
  • 1/3 cup of butter for the sauce
  • 8 ounces of sliced cremini mushrooms
  • Optionally, add in any other vegetables, such as peas, carrots, etc.
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water
  • 1/2 cup vegetable broth
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of chopped dill
  • 1/2 teaspoon of  chopped parsley
  • 3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 2 cups milk
  • 12 oz (3 cups) of shredded cheddar cheese- I used a mild cheddar which is also why I upped the amount
  • 1 extra firm tofu, diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon diced chives

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Beat together 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water. On parchment paper or foil on a baking sheet, lay out the thawed puff pastry shells. Beat together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water, and brush the tops with the egg and water mixture. Per the instructions on the package, bake the puff pastry for 20 minutes. After that time, remove the top of the pastry from the pan using a fork to help cut it out and place aside, and then  bake the shell portion for another 5 minutes or so just to make sure they are cooked through. Baking these shells could be done while preparing the sauce.
    Tofu and Mushrooms A La King Tofu and Mushrooms A La King
  2. Meanwhile, optionally prep and cook any additional vegetables (microwave, sautee, or steam them, or however you want to cook the veggies. I considered cooking the mushrooms sauteed in a butter sauce, but then decided since they were so fresh to not cook my tofu or mushrooms at all.
    Tofu and Mushrooms A La King
  3. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter, and then add the cornstarch water mixture, broth, milk, and all your seasonings of salt, pepper, dill parsley, pepper, onion powder, and sugar. You can be creative with the seasonings to suit your taste and the flavor of the broth you used. Stir until the sauce has all mixed and thickened so that if you draw a line on the back of your stirring spoon, holding it vertically the sauce should not drip and cross the line.
    Tofu and Mushrooms A La King Tofu and Mushrooms A La King Tofu and Mushrooms A La King
  4. Turn the heat to low, and make sure the sauce does not boil. Add in the grated cheese 1/2 at a time, stirring as the cheese melts.
    Tofu and Mushrooms A La King Tofu and Mushrooms A La King
  5. Combine the mushrooms and diced tofu now into the sauce. I didn’t need to cook my tofu and mushrooms, but obviously you are using meat it has to be cooked beforehand. Stir everything to mix.
    Tofu and Mushrooms A La King Tofu and Mushrooms A La King
  6. Plating time! This was the hardest part for me- spilling little drops of sauce from the pot to the plate! Pour with a spoon the mixture into the puff pastry shells, top with a little bit more cheese if you’d like, but I topped mine with some fresh chopped chives.
    Tofu and Mushrooms A La King  Tofu and Mushrooms A La King Tofu and Mushrooms A La King

This happens to have been done with puff pastry shells, but you can also use any kind of carb you want- toast, biscuits, english muffins, croissants, rice, pasta… Yum. I love how this particular meal plates in a more fancy fashion that you could have at a dinner party, or just for a romantic evening thanks to the pastry shells. As mentioned since you can fold anything into this sauce, you can use any leftovers you would like such as leftover turkey or ham or chicken, etc.

Tofu and Mushrooms A La KingTofu and Mushrooms A La King

Signature

Filed Under: Cheese, Cooking, Food and Drink Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »