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May 11, 2012

Nebrodini Mushroom Fazzoletti

I was cruising the news from 40 Paper’s website online recently and noticed they were offering a dish made with Nebrodini Bianco mushrooms. I’ve noticed them spelled Nebrodini and Nebronini. Not sure which is correct. One thing is for sure… they taste great! I need to get down to 40 Paper for a meal; I’ve never made it past their bar since the cocktails are so darn good. But evidently the kitchen has it going on too. And kudos to them for bringing forth a dish made with these lovely mushrooms.

These scrumptious mushrooms, the Pleurotus nebrodenis, come from the limestone rich mountains of northern Sicily. Once a staple of Italian kitchens, now they are a rare find. Until recently they were found only in the wild. I have recently learned that Oyster Creek Mushrooms is receiving cultivated Nebrodini mushrooms from an associate mushroom grower in Sebastopol, CA, called Gourmet. They are for sale in Maine through Oyster Creek Mushroom Farm, owner Candice Haydon told me in a recent phone interview, and will be appearing in her stall at the outdoor farm markets soon.

A part of the oyster mushroom family, these mushrooms are more tender than the oyster mushroom, delicately sweet, earthy yet tenderly robust. I have seen them fire-roasted with a bit of truffle salt to bring out the complexity of the mushroom.

I had not, however, considered them as a vegetarian main dish “en brodo” or “in broth”. Fazzoletti is the Italian word for handkerchief, and this hearty yet delicate meal in a bowl embodies all that I could ever dream of for a light yet lux dinner.

The recipe is from Philadelphia’s 10 Show, and it was brought to my attention by my city dwelling (but equally gourmet) sister from the Philadelphia area.

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image courtesy of gourmetmushroomsinc.com

Nebrodini Mushroom Fazzoletti
Laura Cabot, Laura Cabot Catering, Waldoboro

1/2 pound Nebrodini mushrooms, or substitute King Oyster mushrooms
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 Tablespoon minced shallot
Salt and fresh pepper, to taste
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup vegetable stock
A few frozen peas and halved cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup basil, cut into chiffonade

Slice mushrooms very thinly lengthwise. Pour half the oil into a hot sauté pan. Add the garlic and shallots. Sauté quickly but don’t brown.

Add the mushrooms and a bit of salt, sautéeing until browned. Add salt and fresh pepper to taste.

Add the wine to deglaze pan and reduce by half. Add the vegetable stock, peas, and tomatoes. Simmer all for a few minutes to marry the flavors.

Add the basil just before serving. Garnish with the remaining olive oil and serve.

With all this rain, the woods will soon be full of mushroom-y treats, so stay posted for some good foraged recipes from the kitchens of Laura Cabot Catering!

April 3, 2012

First Greens of Spring: Chickweed

My friend and Waterville acupuncturist Joanna Linden and I agree on many things. One is that the plants and herbs that you need will naturally grow for you in your environment. And they are offering themselves up for your medicinal use (which doesn’t mean they can’t be tasty)! The key is to noticing them when they are at their best.

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image: simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com

Working outdoors recently in that quick burst of 80 degree weather, what should I find already growing well for me in my gardens but the simple and abundant herb chickweed, otherwise know as paronychia. Actually there are several types of chickweed. The mouse-eared, upright or jagged leaf types all prevail in Maine. All sport the pretty little white star-shaped flowers that make them so easily identifiable.

My first impulse was to weed it out, then I took a second look at the vibrancy of its growth and Joanna’s words about the herb’s medicinal properties (extremely nutritious, dissolves unwanted  sludge in the body…) and took the plunge. Best eaten before flowering, like most greens, and easy to snip off at the base, I took a bundle of it into the kitchen and washed it gently, spinning it dry in a salad spinner.

I dressed it lightly with walnut oil (toss the greens in the oil first to coat), lemon juice, salt and fresh pepper. Couldn’t be simpler or better for you. Tasted sprightly and wonderful! I felt great for eating something so early and so fresh. I also gave myself points for noticing and understanding the plant offering itself up in my raised beds.

March 27, 2012

Carrot Soup: Cleaning out the Root Cellar

If you like to store a “winter keeper” carrot, as so many gardeners do, this recipe for a sunny carrot soup is a great way to clean up last season’s vegetables and prepare for the new season. This recipe remains vegan without the crème fraîche dollop, but is equally good both ways.

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image: thestonesoup.com Continue reading “Carrot Soup: Cleaning out the Root Cellar” »

February 19, 2012

Hearts of Palm and Avocado Salad

Kalyn Denny of Kalyn’s Kitchen and Slow Cooker from Scratch food blogs has this wonderful and healthy recipe, perfect for a Meatless Monday…or any other time you want a delicious vegan dish. Dressed with fresh-squeezed lime juice, chopped fresh cilantro, and thinly sliced green onions, this will be a favorite salad that you will want to make time and time again. Click on the image below to visit Kalyn’s blog to get the recipe and see her instructional photographs

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Recipe and photograph by Kalyn Denny of Kalyn’s Kitchen blog

January 18, 2012

Fettuccine with Shiitake Mushrooms and Basil

This fresh-tasting whole-wheat pasta recipe utilizes lemon zest, basil, and shiitake mushrooms, which accent each other beautifully. Whole-wheat pastas are higher in fiber than white pastas. They can be found in health-food stores and some large supermarkets.

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Fettuccine with Shiitake Mushrooms & Basil
from Eating Well, Fall 2004

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced (1½ cups)
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
2 Tablespoons lemon juice, juice
¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
8 ounces whole-wheat fettuccine, or spaghetti
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, (1 ounce)
½ cup chopped fresh basil, divided

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil for cooking pasta.
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over low heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant but not browned, about 1 minute. Add mushrooms and increase heat to medium-high; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, cook pasta, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 9 to 11 minutes or according to package directions. Drain, reserving ½ cup cooking liquid.

Add the pasta, the reserved cooking liquid, Parmesan, and ¼ cup basil to the mushrooms in the skillet; toss to coat well. Serve immediately, garnished with remaining basil.

Serves 4.

January 1, 2012

Winter Fruit Salad

Serve dishes with both adult and kid appeal, like this simple and refreshing fruit salad of Asian pears, grapefruit, and pomegranate seeds.
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Winter Fruit Salad
recipe and image courtesy of wholeliving.com

3 pink grapefruits, peel and pith removed, cut into segments
1 pomegranate, seeded
2 Asian pears, quartered, cored, cut into thin wedges
1½ tablespoons raw honey
6 to 8 fresh mint leaves
Flaky sea salt

In a medium bowl, toss grapefruit, pomegranate seeds, pears, and honey.

Top with mint and salt.

Serves 4-6.

December 20, 2011

Holiday Subscripton Offer 2011

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November 25, 2011

Pumpkin Lasagna

Trying to please a mixed crowd this year for the holidays? With my gatherings, there are often a couple vegetarians, a vegan or two, and several gourmands. This recipe for Pumpkin Lasagna will suit everyone but the lactose intolerant.

We love this dish because it may be made ahead, frozen or not, and packs a bundle of seasonal flavor. I can even imagine it layered with a savory stuffing, and cutting back on the noodles…if carbs didn’t matter. If you grew pumpkin this year use your freshly cooked sugar pumpkin or a dry squash like buttercup. Canned works well, too. Make sure you grab the plain pumpkin purée and not the pie mix! The flavors of this lasagna remind me of a sage butter dressed butternut ravioli and is so much easier!

Perfect on its own, this dish does play well with others and I can use my still flourishing Swiss chard as an ingredient. What’s better than eating out of the garden?!

Pair with a Pouilly Fuisse or another great white.

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image: lifecurrents.dw2.net Continue reading “Pumpkin Lasagna” »

November 4, 2011

Portland’s Green Elephant: Appetizer Recipe

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Portland’s Vegetarian Bistro, Green Elephant, was featured in Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine issue Number 8. Here they share with us a very popular appetizer from their inventive menu.

Continue reading “Portland’s Green Elephant: Appetizer Recipe” »

November 1, 2011

Dinner with a Mystic: Vegetarian Posole Stew

My friend Karl is “unique”, that’s a person who is genuinely “one of a kind”. Two friends and I found ourselves at table last evening with this most interesting man. We were in the midst of a power outage, which no doubt set the stage, with flickering candles everywhere. Remnants of his former life in Morocco were in evidence everywhere: nice Oriental rugs, large hammered brass vessels, smaller brass candlesticks, rustic light fixtures and other useful items.

Karl lives on a couple hundred acres in a hand hewn house in the mid coast area of Maine, set well back from the road, with a horse, a goat, and several chickens. If you listen carefully while outside, you can hear a lively stream tumbling over rocks nearby. It’s quiet inside, nice and toasty, too, thanks to a couple of big wood fired stoves, and the house smells great, like sautéed onions and good earth. Not like my house in a power outage…chilly and with no way to cook. This level of “off the grid” comfort really got me thinking.

Before reaching the front door and all those great smells, a series of large garden plots must be negotiated. Herein is the source of all Karl’s great cooking. He is a vegetarian and grows all manner of leafy greens: all his own potatoes, onions, cole crops, corn, apples, berries, tomatoes, buckwheat, teas, and herbs …and a type of special corn called “yellow dent” corn, also called “field corn” or “flint” corn, made for drying and grinding into masa-like preparations. Very similar to posole in Mexican cooking or hominy here at home. In short, literally everything Karl eats is grown in his “dooryard”, save a trip to the health food store for coffee and dairy now and then.

It’s this corn that I found so interesting and delectable. Getting it to the edible stage takes a couple of days of soaking in wood ash, rinsing, and then several hours of cooking on the wood fired stove top. Eventually it gets ground up with a grain grinder to where it can be fashioned into corn cakes, crepes, or stir fried with onions and tamari soy sauce. Or it may be used whole once it’s cooked and softened, like the hominy we know in a can. It seems that the soaking in the wood ash water, containing potassium hydroxide, releases or frees up the niacin in the corn, making the corn quite nutritious, offering a wide range of B vitamins, lots of vitamin A, and a full complement of minerals. Pickling lime can also be used but if you burn wood anyway, it makes sense to use the ash.

We were treated to two different preparations, a corn crepe and a corn stir fry with onion, both delicious and hearty. This was accompanied by a rocket salad with umeboshi vinaigrette, freshly steamed brussels sprouts, winter squash, and a trio of raw heritage apples for dessert.

There was much discussion of spirituality around the table and I had a moment, in Karl’s calm presence, believing that I was in conversation with Carlos Castaneda or a similar Mexican shaman. It occurred to me that if I did share food with someone like that, this meal might be exactly what I would be served: corn cakes, beans, or vegetables and squash.

I left feeling uber-nourished, light, and healthy…feeling… well… divine.

To honor Karl’s commitment to vegetarianism, here is a new recipe for your arsenal. Most of us will go to the store for a few cans of posole or whole hominy to use in this recipe, and that’s OK. Not everyone can be Karl.
Vegetarian-Posole-Soup

image: idealdietrecipes.com Continue reading “Dinner with a Mystic: Vegetarian Posole Stew” »

October 28, 2011

Mache, a New Leaf

When I first began researching for this post, I was astounded by the wealth of information on mache (Valerianella locusta), sometimes known as Lamb’s Lettuce, corn salad, or field salad in Europe. Evidently, mache is a superfood.

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image: kblog.lunchboxbunch.com Continue reading “Mache, a New Leaf” »

October 16, 2011

Vegan Caramelized Onion and Portobello Mushroom Soup

Caramelizing adds a sweetness to the onions, and the portobellos are a meaty and hearty addition to this vegetable soup.

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image: photo by Brian Leatart Continue reading “Vegan Caramelized Onion and Portobello Mushroom Soup” »

September 5, 2011

Vegetarian Mushroom Nut Loaf with Red Onion Gravy

Mary Lake, teacher, writer, vegetarian blogger, and mom is getting creative in the kitchen once again with a recipe that’s says fall comfort food! Her variation on traditional meatloaf, made with mushrooms, leeks, wild rice, and nuts is delicious and very satisfying!

In Mary’s Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine column, “Creative Vegetarian,” she provides the recipe for her Mushroom Nut Loaf, plus her savory recipe for Red Onion Gravy. If you are looking for a hearty and healthy meal, this is it!

MushroomNutLoaf_(485)Mushroom Nut Loaf with Red Onion Gravy
image © Mary Lake 2011

What is especially great about this vegetarian loaf recipe is that it is easy to prepare and comes together quickly. Mary recommends serving it with potatoes and an assortment of roasted vegetables for a flavorful dinner.

If you haven’t checked out Mary Lake’s archive of creative vegetarian recipes on our blog, take a minute to do so now. You’ll want to make them all! She also has a fantastic archive of vegetarian recipes on her blog, mittenmachen.com

Be sure to get your copy of the new issue of Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine for Mary’s recipes and dozens of others, plus great stories, beautiful images, and lots of Maine foodie fun! Order a subscription for yourself today, and purchase one for the favorite chef in your life!

July 22, 2011

Gazpacho

Gazpacho had its start in the Arab world as a bread-based soup, flavored with garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and salt. Tomatoes and peppers weren’t part of the recipe until explorers brought them back from the New World. Purists will tell you that a “genuine” gazpacho includes tomatoes, garlic, bread, olive oil, salt, and vinegar. But really, the beauty of gazpacho is that you can add or subtract whatever you want. If you want to use a lime instead of a lemon, go right ahead. Parsley instead of basil? Sure thing. Hold the cukes? All right by me. After deciding on the lineup, it’s a matter of a quick whiz in the blender or food processor.

The other question to ask yourself is: Will bread be part of the gazpacho? I’ve included details for a bread variation, as it requires an extra step.

gazpacho-ice
image: blog.fatfreevegan.com Continue reading “Gazpacho” »

July 9, 2011

Corn Kernel Salad

The constant in this dish is the corn kernels (and salt). Everything else is subject to cook’s preferences, mood, and availability of ingredients. Tomato hater? Try ½ cup of blueberries instead. No red onion in the house? Use up the scallions. This is a template meant to be played with.

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image: tasytype.blogspot.com

Continue reading “Corn Kernel Salad” »

May 3, 2011

Dill Goat Cheese Spread

This vegetarian friendly recipe has even those who aren’t crazy about goat cheese lined up for more!

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image: realsimple.com

Continue reading “Dill Goat Cheese Spread” »

April 4, 2011

Beans and Rice

In addition to the beloved grilled cheese and soup combo, another perennial favorite at our casa is beans and rice on the fly. In less time than it takes to watch the evening news, you can have supper on the table, and a complete protein at that.

In the spirit of efficiency and on-the-fly improv, I offer a template to work from, with lots of room to play and experiment with flavors and seasonings.
beans-chili-rice-lrgimage: kitchenscoop.com

Continue reading “Beans and Rice” »

April 1, 2011

Risotto with Asparagus and Morels

This fantastic risotto recipe is packed with flavor and nutrition. Great for those out there who suffer from acid reflux.

risotto
image: flickr.com

Continue reading “Risotto with Asparagus and Morels” »

March 8, 2011

Salsify: An Heirloom Vegetable Gets a Make Over

If we were farmers living in the 19th century, we might be headed down to the root cellar right about this time of year to sort through our cabbages and apples to grab a few remaining salsify roots to boil with our pork belly or liven up a meat “pie.” More popular 100 years ago than now and long popular in Europe, this root has begun to make a resurgence into seasonal and heritage menus.

Also known as “Oyster Plant” or “Goat’s Beard” the Salsifies are the genus Tragopogon, flowering plants within the family Asteraceae, and usually considered weeds. The vegetable comes in two colors, the smaller white and stick-like variety and the thicker and longer black root (scorzonera), which has a bark-like brown skin, resembling a brown carrot.

A deep growing and miky tap root with a flavor resembling either artichoke hearts or oysters, this root is available in markets from fall through early spring. Select roots that are smooth and firm. I prefer the larger, darker and meatier roots, which are prepared by scrubbing, peeling, and trimming. Either slice them or leave in chunks to cook, depending on the recipe. Salsify may be steamed, mashed, baked, or roasted and pairs well with other vegetables. I like them boiled with potatoes or grated, seasoned, and made into fritters or in a cream soup. They over cook easily, becoming mushy.

Here is a recipe for pan roasting salsify that I enjoy at home. It serves four to six as a side dish. A great accompaniment to a roast beef.

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image: goinglocal-info.com

Continue reading “Salsify: An Heirloom Vegetable Gets a Make Over” »

March 4, 2011

Edamame Tofu Dip

I almost always have a bag of frozen shelled edamame in my freezer. Here I purée them for a creamy, fresh, protein-packed dip speckled with cilantro.

dip ingredients
image: tastyeasyhealthygreen.com

Continue reading “Edamame Tofu Dip” »