Barefoot Bloggers Stuffed Mushrooms

This week we have Michelle of Welcome to the Club to thank for our Barefoot recipe. She very wisely chose a great appetizer that I am certain will be making an appearance on many a holiday table. Ina's Stuffed Mushrooms proved to be a simple recipe, but we had a difficult time finding the mascarpone here in the north country, but we made a substitute out of cream cheese, heavy cream, and butter. The next time we throw this together, we will certainly look for larger mushrooms to ensure that not a bit of the delicious filling goes to waste!

Stuffed Mushrooms
courtesy of Ina Garten

16 extra-large white mushrooms
5 tablespoons good olive oil, divided
2 1/2 tablespoons Marsala wine or medium sherry
3/4 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from the casings
6 scallions, white and green parts, minced
2 garlic cloves minced
2/3 cup panko crumbs
5 ounces mascarpone cheese, preferably from Italy
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop them finely. Set aside. Place the mushroom caps in a shallow bowl and toss with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and Marsala. Set aside.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, crumbling it with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook the sausage for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until it's completely browned. Add the chopped mushroom stems and cook for 3 more minutes. Stir in the scallions and garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the panko crumbs, stirring to combine evenly with all the other ingredients. Finally, swirl in the mascarpone and continue cooking until the mascarpone has melted and made the sausage mixture creamy. Off the heat, stir in the Parmesan, parsley, and season with salt and pepper, to taste, Cool slightly.

Fill each mushroom generously with the sausage mixture. Arrange the mushrooms in a baking dish large enough to hold all the mushrooms in a snug single layer. Bake until the stuffing for 50 minutes, until the stuffing is browned and crusty.

$6 Dip

Last Spring when I was home visiting family, I got the chance to have dinner with my good friend Maria. Not normally ones to order an appetizer (rather have a cocktail!), we couldn't pass up the leek dip they had on the menu that night. It came to us piping hot and to our surprise, the base of the dip was goat cheese. Now readers, I know I have mentioned my love of goat cheese in previous posts, but let me reiterate: I ♥ goat cheese!

I knew that I would have to try to recreate this dish at home. Here is what I came up with:

Leek and Goat Cheese Dip

8 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. goat cheese
1 stick butter
3 c. leeks, chopped
1 small head garlic, roasted
salt
pepper

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add leeks and saute until tender. Stir in garlic and over low heat, fold in the cream cheese and goat cheese. Season with salt and pepper. We usually throw this in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, but you certainly don't have to. Our favorite way to serve this is with homemade bread, but crackers or pita chips will do in a pinch.

A Big Piece of Pig!

Let me introduce myself before I get going on the current post. I am Matt, Coco's husband, and I love to cook and eat just as much as my wife. Coco asked me to be the guest blogger on tonight's post, A Big Piece of Pig.
Occasionally, the wife needs a night off from the kitchen. This is where we usually decide to order Chinese or get a quick sandwich out somewhere, but last night I decided that I was going to make dinner. I stopped at our local market and perused the sale items. That is when I saw it. A large piece of pork loin, about 4lbs, that was on a crazy sale. I had no idea what I was going to do with it at this point, but when I see 4lbs of pork loin for $6.83, I will find something, believe me. After picking up some other items I cruised home to show Coco my find. I was as proud as a cat bringing its master a freshly killed bird. "Look Coco," I yelped. "4lbs of loin for $6.83! Don't you think that's a great find?!" Coco was happy with my pick, but reminded me that 4 lb's of pork for 2 people is a little much. Even though I have to agree, I was thinking of the leftover pork sandwiches, the diced pork in my salads, the ground pork for homemade sausage. I could harldy contain my glee.
I decided a simple rub of salt, pepper, and jerk seasoning would suffice for the pig. I rinsed it off, patted it dry, and sprinkled the seasoning on. I proceeded to throw this in the oven at 250 for an hour. After that hour, I added a 1/2 cup of Worcestshire and threw it back in to slowly bake in it's own juices for another 2 hours. In the meantime......
This is where my cooking can get downright dangerous. When I have a large piece of meat that is cooking slowly for multiple hours, my mind whirls like a dirvish thinking of all the glorious sides that can accompany the main meat course. I decided on a couple things. With about 3lbs of fresh asparagus in the fridge, this was a no brainer. Fresh asparagus is one of our all time favorites. The only problem is coming up with a new and refreshing way of preparing it. I decided to blanch the aparagus and then pan fry it with some bacon and jalapeno pepper. Not really a new and exciting method, but when you put bacon in anything, you are guaranteed a sure winner. Next I had a 3 lb sack of B size red taters. I chose to simply boil until about halfway cooked and then finish them under a skillet of onions and about a T. of the bacon grease I had from the asparagus dish.
I tossed together a green salad and I was thinking that I was done. Now, I could have easily grabbed a beer from the fridge, sat down on the couch and waited for all of this to come together. But the last time I opened the fridge, I saw last night's leftover sitting in a tupperware container. 1 large filet of Tilapia looked at me as if to say,"If you don't use me tonight, more than likely I will find my way to the garbage can. Please! Please! Please, find something to use me up in." That is when it came to me. Why not really surprise the wife with an appetizer?! I grabbed the tilapia out of the fridge and proceeded to grind it up with my stick blender. When the fish was ground up finely, I added a T. of mayonnaise, and a few pieces of crusty day old French bread, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and a small dash of Tabasco. I whipped this up and served it on pieces of crusty bread. Viola! Poor man's whitefish spread! Tasty indeed!
The wife enjoyed the meal and she was right when she told me that we would have tons of leftovers.

Super Bowl Snackin'

I love snacks.
If I could eat snacks for all my meals I would be one happy camper.
Since I don't follow NFL football I am using the Super Bowl as a perfect excuse to eat lots of snacks and experiment with some recipes I have yet to try. First up is roasted grapes. I got the idea for this at Zingerman's Roadhouse in Ann Arbor. They serve roasted grapes as an accompaniment to the cheeseboard and I figured I could re-create them at home. I used small, seedless red grapes and tossed them with a small amount of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and roasted them at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes. Voila! I posted a picture below and although they aren't pretty, they are sweet and tangy and will pair well with the cheese I am using.

Next, I have a Boston Butt in the oven and will be using it to make Pulled Pork Sandwiches topped with Coleslaw.