Pages

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Cooking My Way Through My Pinterest Recipes Board(s): Baked Mushrooms With Parmesan and Rosemary Over Polenta

 Beginning to cook my way through my Pinterest food boards is more like it.  They are labelled:
YUM (everything that looks good to me)
YUM:  Seasonal Eating Winter (squash recipes)
PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD (from my own rice krispie sushi pics to anything else that could pass for both something entertaining as well as yummy)
and
Fungus Love (I love mushrooms)

Yes, I love me the fungus.  Hubby hates it.  As in, he walks into the kitchen and says, "Ew!  Fungus.  I can smell it."  It's a texture thing.  Same as I have heard from other friends-who-are-also-haters.

I pinned this recipe for Baked Mushrooms With Rosemary and Parmesan.  All ingredients I love, and, conveniently, had in the house.  Well, the rosemary is technically outside of the house, on the porch.  Yes, in winter.  Rosemary's second successful winter on the porch.  Bizarre. 


Things I make in batches and keep in the fridge to pick on all week:  brown rice (boil in a bag, 10 min in the microwave, you can do it at work in an emergency), quinoa, polenta, bean and rice patties.  I ate polenta with mushrooms til the mushrooms were gone.  So delicious and so very easy.  


Here's the secret to the polenta: Turn the heat way down as soon as you can.  It bubbles, and when those bubbles burst, they burn you and leave a scar.  Trust me.  


Adapted recipe:

Baked Fungus with Parmesan and Rosemary
  • lemon juice (1-2 T squeezed fresh from 1 lemon or the lemon juice from that plastic yellow lemon I keep in my fridge and you should keep in yours for when you have no lemons)
  • 3-4 stalks of fresh rosemary, chopped fine, save the naked stalks
  • 1 T Olive oil, enough to lightly coat
  • 1 lb sliced button mushrooms(pre-sliced and packaged if you are short on time, or buy in bulk and just slice them.  If you have an egg slicer, toss them in there if you are OCD and like nice perfect cuts.)
  • 1/4 c Parmesan, grated
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  1. Preheat oven to 400. 
  2. Slice mushrooms if you did not buy pre-sliced. 
  3. Place the sliced mushrooms on a cookie sheet.  Toss in the olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, and add the nekkid rosemary stalks, then mix to coat. Season with 1/8 t salt and a few grinds of pepper.
  4. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes. Then sprinkle the grated Parmesan over the mushrooms and continue to bake for five more minutes until the cheese has browned lightly. 
  5. Remove rosemary stalks.  Transfer mushrooms to a serving dish and dig in/serve over polenta or pasta, and save some for lunch tomorrow, too.
Polenta:

Follow the side of the box. Seriously.  So easy.
Water, polenta, bring to a boil. IMMEDIATELY tun heat to lowest simmer.  Stand back if you see bubbles forming, until the heat is low enough to prevent them.  A whisk works best.  Stir frequently.  Do NOT cover (this causes the polenta to steam rather than cook).

If you would like, add a few tablespoons of butter and/or some Parmesan (fontina is also excellent and turns super creamy in polenta).  Add a healthy teaspoon of salt (I use kosher salt), or more, to taste.


I smooth mine into a baking dish and let it cool.  Then I slice it up and put it in containers in the fridge and just pull it out a square or two at a time during the week. 
This is the polenta I used.  It belongs on the counter.                 



This is my kitty.  She does not belong on the counter. But it's better than when she gets on the range hood.
Have a great day, friends and let me know if you have any questions at all about safe polenta preparation and enjoyment or cooking fungus.

Mwah!
JPV

3 comments:

  1. I would eat your fungus :) I love mushrooms! I am totes trying this recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Meghan, your love of fungus is just another example of your spectabularness. you will so gobble this up. Make bunches to bring to work (think: microwave them, then put on a salad or on some hummus to munch with pita ... soooo yummy). But make sure you only do one layer of shrooms per cookie sheet, or they won't crisp up juuuuust right. More fungus to come!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What an excellent recipe and those fungus look delicious.

    I like nuggets recipes:
    http://pinterest.com/chickenmcnugget/nuggets-recipes/

    ReplyDelete