I enjoyed this chicken meal I made ages ago, while the air was still chilly and snow was on the ground. I made some changes to the original recipe, including adding sausage to the pot, and mushrooms and brussel sprouts. It’s a comforting meal, and I love the bright lemon and the warm rosemary, the dominant flavours. The sausage, of course, was a great touch too!

I definitely recommend marinating the chicken overnight, if possible. If not, then at least a few hours. I used skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs and thought the chicken and resulting dish was a bit too fatty. Next time, I would use chicken breasts, which would probably be a better cut for this dish. I did enjoy the crisp on the skin from cooking the chicken on the stove before popping the whole dish in the oven, where all the flavours melded together.

Rosemary Chicken and Sausage Skillet adapted from Food Network

3/4 pound small red-skinned potatoes, halved, or quartered if large
Salt
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus 1 1/2 tablespoons leaves
2 cloves garlic, smashed
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Juice of 2 lemons (squeezed halves reserved)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (6 to 8 ounces each)
2 cups cremini mushrooms, halved
2 cups brussel sprouts, halved
1 large onion, sliced
2 italian sausages

1. Preheat the oven to 450. Cover the potatoes with cold water in a saucepan and salt the water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until tender, about 8 minutes; drain and set aside.

2. Pile the rosemary leaves, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt and the red pepper flakes on a cutting board, then mince and mash into a paste using a large knife. Transfer the paste to a bowl. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon and the olive oil. Add the chicken let marinate, at least 30 minutes, better if it`s a few hours, or even overnight!

3. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin-side down, cover and cook until the skin browns, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken from pan.

4. Add the sausages to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove sausages from the pan.

5. Add the mushrooms, brussel sprouts, and potatoes to the skillet, place chicken over mushrooms and potatoes and drizzle with any marinade remaining in the bowl and the juice of the remaining lemon.

6. Add the rosemary sprigs and the squeezed lemon halves to the skillet; transfer to the oven and roast, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.

It seems like just yesterday I was saying how hot it was, and now I’m bundling up in sweaters and scarves to go out in the evenings. Fall is definitely here, and I can’t say I’m that pleased about it. However, even though the weather is just going to get colder and colder, all the fall produce that is becoming available cheers me up a little. And what says fall better than the apple?

It seems I’ve become allergic to apples (as well as cherries, almonds, peaches and plums), so that when I eat them in their raw form, my mouth and throat get intolerably itchy. When I cook these foods though, the allergen seems to get cooked off. So rather than suffer through an apple-less fall, I decided to turn a big bag full of apples (fresh off a neighbour’s tree, and a little questionable in their quality- -scaly bits on the peel, lots of bruises, etc) into apple butter. Though it took some time and work, spending my chilly Labour Day over a stove simmering apples with cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins for hours was just perfect.

I love the final product! It took a whole lot of apples to get just one pint of apple butter, but what else would these apples had been good for? I don’t have a foodmill, so the apple butter has a just few chunks of apple in it, along with juicy, plump raisins. The butter is thick and rich – sweet, but not overpoweringly so, so the apple is still the number one player. I added a nice dose of cinnamon and nutmeg, which I loved. I was going to add some rum while it was reducing, but after tasting it, I decided it was too delicious to add alcohol to. Imagine! Am I saying that?

This stuff is great on toast, or my favourite, with a good, salty cheese. A grilled cheese sandwich with this and sharp cheddar would be heaven. Soli wants to use it with pork, and I’ve enjoyed it with pate. If I can stop eating it straight out of the jar and have enough left, I would love to make some cinnamon rolls with it. But whatever we do, I’m sure it’ll be just fantastic.

Cinnamon Apple Butter with Raisins
adapted from Chickens in the Road

APPLE PULP

Measurements are a bit tricky for this, because it’s hard to tell how much apple pulp all your apples will yield. I would just go with however many apples you want, and figure out the measurements for your apple butter once know how many cups of apple pulp you have

4 pounds apples, cored and cut into chunks (I had about 20 smallish apples, but because I had to cut away a lot of the apple to throw away on account of holes, I ended up with a lot less apple pulp, only about 4 cups)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
Water

1. Fill pot halfway with water (make sure it’s a big enough pot that all your apples chunks cook evenly). Add cup of apple cider vinegar and apples.

2. Boil until apples turn soft (but make sure they don’t turn to liquid!)

3. Remove apples and put through a foodmill (or, if you don’t have a foodmill, push the apples through a fine sieve. A lot of the peel will just fall off, though it did take me a long time to pick the apple peel out of the sieve…next time, I would peel those apples!)

APPLE BUTTER

I ended up with about 4 cups of apple pulp, so these are the measurements I used. All of it can easily be increased.

4 cups apple pulp
1 ½ cups sugar (this depends on taste, of course)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup raisins

1. Combine apple pulp, sugar, spices and raisins in a heavy-bottomed large pot. Simmer slowly until mixture thickens and rounds up on a spoon. (May take a couple of hours.) Stir frequently.

2. You can choose to can this, if you wish. Just follow your regular canning procedure. Since I didn’t have much butter, it wasn’t worth canning it, so I just filled my jar and stuck it in the fridge. Next time, I’ll definitely make more and can some for later use.

This is a recipe for chicken tetrazzini that I’ve used many times. It doesn’t take all that long to make, it doesn’t call for a ton of expensive ingredients, and it makes enough to fill a hungry table of eight. And on top of all that, it’s a great-tasting pasta dish!

If you’ve never eaten chicken tetrazzini, it’s a creamy pasta-casserole dish with juicy chunks of chicken, buttery mushrooms, fresh parsley and peas, topped with a crisp Parmesan topping. It’s garlicky comfort food, and I could eat this every week. I made it recently for my mother’s birthday dinner, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. The recipe comes from Giada De Laurentiis at Food Network, but I have made a few changes to it. I find hers to be a bit lackluster, so I recommend upping the amount of seasoning and flavours in it.

If you’re searching for a substantial, warm, creamy dish for a family dinner, this would be an awesome choice! You can always speed up the prep time by buying a rotisserie chicken and using that..I’m sure the roasted chicken flavours would only improve the dish!

Creamy Chicken Tetrazzini
adapted from Food Network

9 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 pound white mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, finely chopped
7-8 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk , room temperature
1 cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
12 ounces linguine
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup dried Italian-style breadcrumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spread 1 tablespoon of butter over a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish.

2. Melt 1 tablespoon each of butter and oil in a deep large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper on each side. Add the chicken to the hot pan and cook until pale golden and just cooked through.

3. Transfer the chicken to a plate to cool slightly. Coarsely shred the chicken into bite-size pieces and into a large bowl.

4. Meanwhile, add 1 tablespoon each of butter and oil to the same pan. Add the mushrooms and saute over medium-high heat (salt the mushrooms with 1/2 teaspoon for the salt) until the liquid from the mushrooms evaporates and the mushrooms become pale golden, about 12 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme, and saute until the onion is translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until it evaporates, about 2 minutes. Transfer the mushroom mixture to the bowl with the chicken.

5. Melt 3 more tablespoons butter in the same pan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk, cream, broth, nutmeg, remaining teaspoon salt, and remaining pepper Increase the heat to high. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 10 minutes.

6. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the linguine and cook until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 9 minutes. Drain. Add the linguine, sauce, peas, and parsley to the chicken mixture. Toss until the sauce coats the pasta and the mixture is well blended.

7. Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared baking dish. Stir the cheese and breadcrumbs in a small bowl to blend. Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the pasta. Dot with the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Bake, uncovered, until golden brown on top and the sauce bubbles, about 25 minutes.

I have a terrible habit… cooking for 50 when only five are around. I think I topped out at 12 liters in my last attempt at soup. Small pots help keep me honest, but I seem to always find a way. This is true with spaghetti – mounds of it left over – always.

This is not a bad thing, especially considering the convention of the frittata!

These are many ways to approach this. I like the day old spagettes, but any older and you might want to freshen the mix by inviting some fresh veg into the equation. Try wilting spinach, frying onions, or adding fresh tomatoes.

Spaghetti Frittata

Start by sparking the broiler and getting an oven safe skillet to medium-high heat.

In a bowl, whisk as many eggs as you need (i.e. about 1 per serving @ 6 – 10 servings). I’ve seen recipes that might discard every other yolk, but I don’t. Depending on your original pasta sauce, you might not need to season the eggs – a softer sauce might require you to add salt, pepper, etc… use your judgment.

Now the fun part – it’s best to work with a slightly warmer leftover so pull your spaghetti earlier or warm in just a tad in the microwave. Fold the spaghetti into your egg mixture and ensure and even coating.

On your medium-high hot skillet, gently and evenly add the mixture. Let in cook on the stove-top for 5 -7 minutes and follow up with another 3 – 5 minutes under the broiler. I like to pull it in the last 2 minutes to add a coating of any gritty sharp Parmesan. Keep an eye on it as broilers are mean, loud, and pushy

Slice like a pizza – um – a pie? A pie.

Serve with a salad or a quartered and salted tomato – all doused with your best olive oil.

The play of textures in this crispy, flavorful, and tender point is bliss and makes a great snack, light meal, or easy take-with-you lunch idea.

I miss writing, especially here. Been gone, but where?

These were the days of my life since… last October. I am a foodie, but a keener of the sort. I have loved food since the start – easy hobby I figured. My mom didn’t really “love” food, but she loved the people eating it, and it showed. She gave me a head start on the whole ethnic palette idea – foreign color, flavor, and texture on a regular basis. I explicitly remember the breaded and baked calf brains served with a highly acidic, but still un-cured green/white cabbage salad. I was 7. I was not happy.

Pied de Cochon make a great calf brain omelet soufflé thing – fantastic

Taken from www.rawfish.com.au/brains-and-bacon/ - this is about what it looked like, but my mom served this with a cabbage salad and did not use any bacon.

Anyway, I started cooking and eating everywhere/everything. Traveling as a foodie is too good, especially if stop as you go… so after taking to as many markets, tables, sidewalks as there are types of bread, I decided to take a few sporadic plunges.

The Ritz Carlton – as far I know, my mentor. I worked there as a banquette server, always between the kitchen and the client. The kitchen was – the best. It’s where I saw my first 400 liter stock pot.

Other restos followed. I served mostly, but that implies always near the kitchen. Italian, Sushi, Chinese, tapas, bars and pubs – all different; all fascinating.

I eventually managed a couple for restos, but most recently, in the last year in fact, I was a chef. I cheffed for fifty, everyday.

They loved it. I loved it. Here a short list of some of what I served: Sample Menus

Why am I telling you all this? Because I went from foodie to pro, and thought you should know. Plus, I just sort of want to say thanks to all the people who truly love food and have shared with me their experience and passion – professionals and foodies, diners and dishers, servers and savants… thanks. My palette will forever know the amalgamation of texture and flavor one uses to taste the art of life…

…and with that, one of my favorites from the last year:

Crepes Terrine with Spinach, Mushroom, and Smoked Turkey

Crepes are my favorite and are in fact the first thing I learned to make after the fried egg. I know it as a breakfast food or dessert and love the way you can fill them up and roll them on your plate, blanketing them in any of many syrups, sauces, or jams. But the rich and sumptuous crepe is far more ready for a savory setting than I had earlier thought, dans la forme d’une… terrine? Sorta. Not exactly right, but serves the purpose.

So, first – prepare you fillings:

Mushrooms and Spinach

I like to use a mix of mushrooms that have been roasted and chopped with a bit of salt and pepper or a mushroom duxelle – nothing too fancy required, but feel free to experiment. Be wary of over flavoring as the finished dish is quite complex from a flavor perspective. Same goes for the spinach – roasted with salt and pepper. I mixed both of these with some onions rendered in butter for some extra flavor. Again, any approach to creating a delicately flavorful filling is good.

Smoked Turkey

I did this dish with shrimp when I was working (cooked then minced with green onion and garlic), but the deli-slice is far easier to work with. Use any you like, i.e. smoked turkey, but nothing too crazy. Finding something with little salt and fat is a good start.

Cheese

Buying sliced cheese is fun, but pricey. I like to get a few small chunks, grate, and mix (at work, this was replaced with a saffron roux and wilted spinach with onion). I also included a few intermittent layers holding brie as their prize. Remember to save some cheese to top the terrine.

Crepes

¾ cup all purpose flour (you can use any basic flour, but the texture will change)
1 cup milk
3 eggs
½ tablespoon sugar (optional, but I like the bit of sweetness)
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons melted butter

Whisk the eggs and milk together – you can optionally do all this in a blender or using a hand blender. Add the sugar, mix again. Temper the hot butter and add to the mix. Add remaining ingredients and mix for a last time. Store this in your fridge for one hour. This is required for a moist and tender crepe as the flour will have the time require to sponge-ily absorb the wet stuffs. Drink flour, drink (evil laugh)…

Heat a non-stick pan, butter it, and drop a teaspoon of the batter in the middle. Leave there until firm and then wipe it around the pan and throw it away (well, eat it, but for some reason the first crepe is never a nice one). Heat up your oven to the minimum setting and leave the crepes in there with a slightly damp towel overlying to keep them from drying.

Once done, and in an oven safe vessel, start the layering. Make sure to double or maybe triple the crepe count at the bottom so that you have something of a base. Use an intermittent method, is this case, mushrooms, turkey, cheese, mushroom, turkey, brie, as so on…

Top the last crepe with your reserved cheese, some crushed oregano, and finish in a 350C oven for a few minutes, just to melt the cheese. Remove, let rest 10 minutes, and then slice with a bread knife or another super sharp or toothy knife – enjoy.

You have the option to top with a hollandaise or other like sauce, but I like a drizzle of truffle oil and maple syrup. Serve with a sharp crisp white wine.

Now, I was sort of mentioning a shrimp based approach, but there are many options here. Enjoy ham, smoked salmon, spinach, avocado, other cheeses, other sauces, and of course – any dessert manifestation.

This is a quick and easy meal – not to mention cheap (probably under $10), tasty and healthy. Oh, and now that the chill of winter is here, it’s a perfect hearty, warm-you-up kind of meal.

Not to mention it’s vegetarian (and easily made vegan, with one minor adjustment.)

The “mediterranean” flavour comes from the addition of pesto, though that flavour doesn’t stand out as the primary one (though it adds a fantastic dynamism). The lack of meat in here is appreciated – that fatty, oily feel of the sauce is gone, but it’s still thick and chunky enough to call it a stew. I laughed at this expression once, but now I understand it – this tastes “healthy,” and in a delightful way.

I added some extra pesto to the sauce, as well as some chili flakes, because I like things with a little bit of heat. Served with some nice hunks of crusty bread, and this becomes the weeknight winter meal of champions!

Mediterranean-Style Vegetable Stew
Adapted from a recipe found in the Montreal Gazette
Serves 6 (if you like small portions, that is – I would say it serves 4)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium green pepper, diced
1 or 2 garlic cloves, chopped (I used 3 cloves)
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups vegetable stock
1 19-oz can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I used red kidney beans)
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
2 medium white-skinned potatoes, cubed
1 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and thickly sliced
2 tablespoons homemade or store-bought pesto
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
salt, freshly ground black pepper to taste (I also added chili flakes)

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic and cook three to four minutes.

2. Mix in flour and cook two to three minutes more.

3. Slowly, stirring constantly, mix in the stock.

4. Mix in the remaining ingredients and simmer the stew on the stovetop, uncovered, 15 to 20 minutes (mine took about 40 minutes at a stovetop setting of 4), or until the vegetables are tender. Adjust seasoning and serve.

I hate eggs. Can’t stand them, especially perfectly poached, atop a crispy French baked starch, delicate, slightly sweet, partial to the moment, and often impossible to resurrect. Who wants that?

No, no, love them…

I only recently learned that you can take a pound of mushrooms, cook them, and eat them, so mushroom duxelle is becoming my Marmite, only delicious (kidding, actually sorta like Marmite).

Mushroom Duxelle
1 lbs mushrooms (your choice)
2 tbs butter
salt
pepper
¼ cup wine or 2 ounces of vodka (optional as this is breakfast)

Heat skillet; add very clean, finely chopped mushrooms, salt, and butter (the butter, seeing as the mushrooms won’t stick in the beginning, can be added at the end). Give it 10 -15 with some good heat behind it. Add a good splash of wine and move it around until it reduces.

I’ve reviewed poaching eggs before, try Eggs if you need to follow up.

The croutons… don’t know what happened, by a stroke of tasty genius hit me. These are, by far, the best crouton ever! But they are somewhat rich, so maybe they won’t fly in all crouton-ish applications.

Fried Croutons
French Baguette (in France them just call them baguettes)
2 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste

So cut up your fresh baguette into pieces the size you like, but not too small. We are going to need a bit of moisture and a small piece would dry out too quickly. Melt the butter in a bowl large enough to hold all your croutons. Add the oil, salt, and pepper, and whisk it up. Toss your croutons in the quasi-emulsion. Bake in an toaster over (or oven) at 350F for about 15 minutes.

Using this method, the croutons fry while toasting. I can’t say I’m sure, but it seems the butter adds a light nutty flavor and nice kind of crispy browning while the olive oil goes the distance in adding a firm chewiness.

Plate up! and DO NOT go back to bed; common problem I have – rich sleepy weekend breakfasts that insist Monday race itself back. This dish is light and breezy. Out the door and off to market

ADD: Omitted from this post was the drizzle of truffle oil to finish. Truffle oil is the best money you can spend, if you think you like truffles. Dizzle here, teaspoon there, infusions, finisher, starter, star and support, pfft… anyway. I hate to know there is none in the kitch.

What to say… it’s rare a city gets to say it is the best at something, but when it can, its residents become an enviable demographic. Montreal gets two such honors – bagels and smoked meat. I was vegetarian for a long time – barely a flexetarian these days, but even in my most equanimous moments of lightest step, I knew I’d still grab a Schwartz’s or Reuben’s sandwich when presented with the opportunity. Just too good!

Now, sandwich aside, my favorite thing to do in bring a steaming heaping pound of this stuff home and – make pie (or poutine, remember poutine = pizza, but another post)! It all starts with a hop down the street to 3895 St-Laurent, where you’ll find Schwartz’s Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen. You’ll know you’re there when you see the lineup. There’s always a lineup – always.

But chin-up, most of the queue is filled with those who wish to be crammed into a small chair at a shared table in bright noisy diner. A great time, but not this day – this day I get to wait in the shorter & faster takeout line, and I mean wait… you know the Soup Nazi? This is close… stay small and quiet and say thank you! And tip!! Oddly, I’ve ask for a pound every time, but always get a little more. It ain’t free, but somehow, I still appreciate it.

This meat, in a medium fat, is unlike anything you’ve seen. Keep the bag closed! Run home! No nibbling! This pound of meat is not a bag of chips! Go home!

Pizza dough – not my thing, yet, so on my way home, I buy some dough from some bakery (cooked or uncooked, it’s $1.00, so it’s hard to argue).

Pizza Sauce
1 pound/can tomatoes – crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ pound mushrooms
1 onion
1 bud roasted garlic
1 bunch basil – fresh
2 – 3 anchovies
5 – 10 grates of Parmesan cheese
pinch salt & pepper & dried basil

Start the garlic roasting (tightly wrapped in foil and roast at 350C for 30 minutes). If using fresh tomatoes, blanch, peel, and crush your tomatoes. If using a canned tomatoes, just crush and look for peels or any hard bits. Peel and diced your onion, smaller the better; same with the mushrooms. In a hot pan, add your oil, onions, salt, pepper, and dry basil. Get a bit of color in the onion – golden hue – then add the mushrooms. When it’s ready add the garlic and toss; add the tomatoes. Let this cook for 30 – 45 minutes. You want a nice dry sauce. Tomato paste is often used to help achieve the right consistency. I like fresh or canned tomatoes. In the last 5 – 10 minutes add the remaining ingredients: julienned basil (save some basil for later); minced anchovies and a bit of anchovy oil; Parmesan.

Roll your dough or whatever has to happen and brush with olive oil, front and back, and pre-toast. All we have to do later is melt cheese, so it’s nice to get a crispy chewy head start on the dough. The oil starts to fry while baking the dough and that’s a good time. Pull the early golden dough out and add your sauce. I gotta say, this is good to eat just like this, so this next step in mind blowing: open the bag; add the meat, reserving the bestest slices for, um, garnish.

Grate the best mozzarella you can find and toss with the remaining julienned basil and some dried oregano. Place the cheese on you pizza and bake at 350C for 10 – 20 minutes. As stated before, we are melting cheese, so keep an eye on it. Let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing in – use a graceful hand; there’ s a lot of meat here. Add the, um, garnish, and…

To describe the taste: the fats are like a fleshy butter, bedded in sun-wind scarred fields; earthy; sweet and rich; rooted in sacrifice; blatant submissive independence. Uff… it is like a poem.

Schwartz’s Smoked Meat – Pizza – Part 2 – Breakfast

This pie – it takes 3 – 6 people to eat it, and leftovers are often a given, so… wake up, take your last slice(s) and heat in an oven at 250C for a short time (starting with a room temperature slice is better).

Fry eggs. Place eggs. Share. Go back to bed.

These snowy winter days call for comfort food. Not much else fits that bill like cheesy, creamy, hot macaroni and cheese. I couldn’t find a recipe I liked enough to follow exactly, so I created my own, using these two as my base. What came out what a slightly spicy, extremely cheesy pasta dish.

Using three different cheeses added dimension to the dish – every bite is completely unlike the other! The blue cheese really gave it a punch. I also really enjoyed the panko breadcrumbs over the usual sandwich-breadcrumbs; they were lighter, and weren’t at all in competition with the pasta.

A salad goes great on the side. A version of Soli’s tabouleh made an excellent match this time around.

Baked Mac n’ Cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

¾ pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 ½ tablespoons dry mustard
2 ½ cups milk
½ cup cream (10%)
1 onion, sliced
1 bay leaf
1 ½ teaspoon paprika
1 ½ teaspoon cayenne
12 oz cheese (I used about 6 oz sharp cheddar, 4 oz emmental and 2 oz blue cheese
Salt
Black pepper
TOPPING:
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the paste to al dente.

2. While the pasta is cooking, in a large saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving until there are no lumps left. Stir in the milk, cream, onion, bay leaf, cayenne and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

3. Grate / crumble the cheese together and mix. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese mixture and stir until the cheese is melted. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Drain the macaroni and pour cheese mixture in with the pasta, stir together. Pour macaroni into a 13x9x2 baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.

5. For the topping, melt the butter and toss the bread crumbs in it until they are coated. Sprinkle over top of macaroni.

6. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remover and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Soli ( <3 ) made another awesome soup this week, and because he’s still behind (where’s the fish taco post?!?), I’ll do my best to report on his incredible wild mushroom soup.

Using a mashup of two recipes and some of his own cooking-intuition, the recipe went something like this:

Wild Mushroom Soup

8oz shitake mushrooms
8oz white mushrooms
8oz oyster mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 small onions, chopped
3 – 4 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
½ cup white wine
6 cups vegetable broth
1 cup cream
1 bay leaf
1 cup fresh parsley

1. Remove stems from mushrooms and cut the mushroom caps into quarters. Toss mushrooms with the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the thyme. The salt and the pepper. Spread evenly on a baking sheet and roast in an oven at 400 degrees F, or until tender and golden, about 30 minutes. Keep your eye on them though, and toss them occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat the butter and add the garlic, potato, onion, thyme and salt and pepper. Cook until onions are softened, about 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the wine, stock, roasted mushrooms, bay leaf, thyme and cream; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender.

4. Puree the soup, and return to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. To serve, add ¼ cup of chopped parsley to each bowl, with a drizzle of truffle oil.

YUM!

The parsley really makes this soup interesting and fresh, but it’s fantastic without as well.