Roasted Broccoli

Happy Memorial Day. I wanted to make sure I got one more post up before we leave for our vacation tomorrow morning. This is a fantastic recipe I stumbled across while looking for a way to use up some leftover broccoli. It is an Ina Garten recipe, so you know that it is good, that I found by way of The Amateur Gourmet. He was practically shouting from the rooftops about this broccoli, so I figured it was definitely worth a shot. I made this as an accompaniment to some grilled trout, caught fresh by my father-in-law, along with some rosemary roasted potatoes. This was one heck of a weeknight meal- super simple, but really enjoyable. Josh went on and on about the broccoli, mentioning to people days later. We both liked it so much I made it again the following week. This is definitely a keeper.

Roasted Broccoli
Recipe from Ina Garten via Amateur Gourmet














4 to 5 pounds of broccoli, washed and thoroughly dried, cut into florets
5 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1.5 tablespoons more
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons julienned fresh basil

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• On a baking sheet, toss broccoli with olive oil, salt and pepper. Add garlic and toss again.
• Roast for 20-25 minutes, until tips of some florets are starting to brown.
• Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, additional olive oil, pine nuts, parmesan cheese and basil. Toss and serve.

My notes: I've given Ina's measurements, ingredients and amounts here, but I followed Adam's version more closely; leaving out the pine nuts and basil. Also, I had far less broccoli than the original recipe calls for so I just eyeballed my olive oil, salt, pepper. I skipped the lemon zest and additional olive oil, and just gave a good squeeze over all the broccoli with half a lemon. I grated the Parmesan over the broccoli till it looked like enough. I can only imagine how good this must be if you go all out, since this half-finished version was so darn delicious.

Granola Bars: Fail

When we were working on the house all the time, but hadn't moved in just yet, we made sure to keep a stock of quick and easy eats in the pantry. That included some granola bars that were no doubt not great for me, but very delicious all the same. I figured that I could surely recreate something similar and a quick Google search turned up a recipe for granola bars from Alton Brown. I decided to give it a go, with a couple of changes. The granola was delicious, but refused to remain in bar form. I don't know if I just didn't press it into the pan hard enough, or if I did something else to cause the poor results. It's not that big of a problem though, since this granola makes a great breakfast with a bit of soy milk. Yum! I'll definitely make it again, maybe give the bar thing another shot. If it doesn't work I won't be too upset. I'll just have a few great mornings ahead of me!

Granola Bars
Recipe from Alton Brown via Food Network; Makes 16 2" bars















2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 ounce unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries

• Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
• Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.
• Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

My notes: I was doing some other stuff in the kitchen at the same time, so I wasn't quite "immediate" with mixing the oat and liquid mixtures. Perhaps therein lies my problem. I bought toasted wheat germ, so I added it to the mixture post-toasting of the other ingredients. And for dried fruit I used apples and cranberries to recreate some of the flavor of the bars that inspired me in the first place.

More Mushrooms

Alright, this is the last mushroom recipe.....for now. Seriously, I'm kind of in love with them lately. And, there are mushrooms growing in my front yard now. Not the edible kind, in fact probably poisonous or something, but still. They seem to have really worked their way into my life, ha. Clearly I can't just write about mushrooms though- talk about a niche! But I do need to share this one last fungi recipe with you. This has been on my to-cook list for a seriously long time. This recipe was one of the reader submissions in the October 2007 issue of Everyday Food. If you don't have this issue you should look on eBay, or order a back issue, something. That is my favorite issue of EF (should a person have a favorite issue? Oh well, I do.) I've gotten a lot of great recipes out of that month's magazine, and there's still a lot in it that I haven't made yet. This recipe finally jumped from the to-cook to the gobbled up column last week though. With a nice salad, and maybe glass of wine and a little fruit for dessert you have such a lovely meal! The original recipe did not include mushrooms, so some alterations had to be made.

Baked Eggs with Mushrooms, Onions and Croutons
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4















3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for ramekins
3 slices white sandwhich bread, cut into small cubes
coarse salt & pepper
1 small onion, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
4 large eggs
¼ cup heavy cream

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter four 8 oz. ramekins or custard cups. Set a kettle of water to boil.
• Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low. Add bread; cook, tossing occasionally, until lightly browned, 6-8 minutes. Season with salt & pepper, and transfer to a bowl; reserve skillet.
• Melt remaining tablespoons butter in skillet on medium. Add onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3-5 minutes.
• Dividing evenly, spoon onion into ramekins, and top with croutons. Gently break 1 egg into each ramekin (keeping yolk intact). Top each egg with 1 tablespoon cream, and season with salt and pepper. Place ramekins in an 8-inch square baking dish, and pour enough boiling water to come halfway up side of ramekins. Bake until whites are set, 15-18 minutes.
• Carefully remove ramekins from water bath, and serve immediately.

My notes: I added a cup of sliced mushrooms, which I just tossed into the skillet with the onions. Also I decreased the onion by 1/2, and used 2 small slices sourdough bread for my croutons. I was only making 2 servings in my 10 oz. ramekins, so I used 1 tablespoon of cream per cup.

Balsamic Mushrooms

It may seem I have gone a bit mushroom crazy lately, but these recipes haven't been prepared as close together as they are being posted. That said, I have a meal with mushrooms on the menu this week, so perhaps I have gone a little mad cap. Get it? Cap, mushroom, mushrooms have caps. Alright, I'll reign in my attempts at humor and just tell you about this delicious recipe. Way back in January Josh had himself a birthday, and I wanted to make him a little something special. Can you believe that I had never made him a birthday meal before? We always have a lot of family dinners to celebrate, so I'd never really had the opportunity. This year though I really wanted to put something together. I wasn't looking for the hardest or fanciest recipe. Josh isn't a foodie frou-frou, he just likes stuff that tastes good. I roasted a pork loin that came pre-stuffed with mild Italian sausage (ohmygodsogood), and roasted up some asparagus along with it since we're both a big fan of that. I didn't really want to make a dessert for him (did I mention we closed on our house just two days after his birthday?), so I picked up some of our favorite Tiramisu from Central Market. Don't worry, we put a candle in it. So, now that you know about all the rest of the meal, here's the side that became the show-stopper. This recipe had been on the to-cook list for a while. It comes from the June 2007 issue of Living, but I stumbled across it online and had printed it out for future use. I thought it would be just the thing, especially since I could make it on the stove top since I already had so much else going into the oven. These mushrooms cook up really fast, and they are just as good at room temperature as they are fresh from the stove. I think that is a great trait for a good side dish to have; I am not always the best at planning my kitchen timeline. Well, I'll stop rattling on and just share the recipe already so you can give it a shot sometime soon.

Balsamic Mushrooms
Recipe from Martha Stewart Living; Serves 4














1/4 cup olive oil
12 ounces white mushrooms, halved (quartered if large)
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Freshly ground pepper

• Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in vinegar, salt, and red-pepper flakes, and season with pepper. Cook 1 minute more. Transfer to a bowl, and serve.