My Tapas Birthday Party: Marinated Mushrooms

This recipe for Marinated Mushroom from Real Simple is real simple, just like the name of the website suggests. They are pretty straightforward and easy to prepare, you can make this when you have a little time to spare and then pop them into the fridge until you're ready to serve them: feel free to make them a day ahead! That's exactly what I did and they were amazing!!

The day after my Tapas Birthday Party I had some Marinated Mushrooms leftover, just like some Pollo al Ajillo and Salsa de Tomate from the Aldbondigas (both recipes will be posted later), so I warmed up all three of them in a pan and served them over some pasta: lovely garlicy pasta dish!!

Marinated Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves. smashed
• 1 1/2 pounds halved button mushrooms
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• Kosher salt

Directions

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic, stirring, until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften, 2 to 4 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let marinate at least 30 minutes.

CEiMB: Easy Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas

This week I got to pick the recipe for Craving Ellie in my Belly. A while ago I saw this recipe by Ellie for Easy Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas on Foodnetwork and since I was in the mood for Mexican food I thought this would be the perfect time to try it!

The recipe was put together quite easily. I bought presliced mushrooms, pulled defrosted chicken out of the fridge (I always buy chicken when it's on sale, cook and shred it, portion it and pop it into the freezer), and started cooking: dinner was served within 15 minutes!

I slightly undercooked the mushrooms by accident, they could have used a bit more time.
Instead of topping one tortilla with the filling and another tortilla I topped half the tortilla and flipped the other half over the filling: this made it much easier to flip over the quasadilla in the pan without major loss of content.

I served the quesadilla with some salsa and sour cream, as suggested by Ellie.
In my opinion this recipe is another keeper: easy to make and tastes great. The cumin, oregano and chili powder work great together. Next time I might just add some fresh cilantro into the mix, I love that stuf!! I ate two halfs, so actually 2 servings according to Ellie.
Overall: two thumbs up!!

One tiny detail.... I got to enjoy this dish again later last night due to heartburn. Luckily for me this was quickly sorted by taking one of the Rolaid Chews that I brought home with me on my last trip to Canada. That stuff really works fast!! I'm not quite sure what caused the heartburn this time, maybe it was the salsa, the chili powder or the cumin....

Easy Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas

4 servings

Ingredients

1 tbsp canola oil

1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)

8 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced (about 3 cups)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups cooked chopped skinless, boneless chicken breast (1 breast half)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp dried oregano

2 cups baby spinach leaves, sliced into ribbons

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

4 (10-inch) whole gran flour tortillas

1 cup shredded Mexican cheese mix or cheddar

1/2 cup salsa

1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

Directions

Heat the oil in a large skillet over a medium heat. Add the onions and mushrooms and cook until the mushroom water is evaporated and they begin to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add chicken, cumin, chili powder and oregano and stir until all spices are incorporated. Add spinach, salt and pepper and cook until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes.

Lay 1 tortilla on a flat work surface and sprinkle with 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Spoon 1/2 cup chicken and vegetable mixture on top of cheese, then top with an additional 1/4 cup cheese. Top with another flour tortilla.

Heat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray over medium heat. Carefully place 1 quesadilla in pan and cook 3 minutes. Using a large spatula, gently flip the quesadilla and cook an additional 3 minutes until lightly browned and cheese is melted. Repeat with second quesadilla.

Slice each quesadilla into quarters. Place two quarters on a plate with 1 tablespoon sour cream and 2 tablespoons salsa.

Check out what my fellow Ellie-istas thought of this recipe here.

Up next:

October 29th: Pumpkin Pie Muffins (pg 21), hosted by Oddball Oven Mitt

November 5th: Linguini with Shrimp (pg 160-161), hosted by Confessions of a Novice Baker

Mushroomragout with baked potatoes

A while ago I made this Weightwatchers recipe, it tasted great but next time I make it I'll probably add some chicken to the ragout and use a little less currypowder. But other than that it was really tasty!

Mushroomragout with baked potatoes (1 serving; 6,5 WW-Points)

salt and pepper to taste1

100 gm potatoes
1 tsp paprikapowder
1 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp Olive oil
4 drops worcestershire saus
1 tbs parsley Peterselie
1 dash currypoeder
1 tsp flour
125 ml milk, skimmed
30 gm grates cheese, skimmed
1 clove garlic
1/2 onion
250 gm mixed mushrooms

Clean the mushrooms and slice them. Dice the onion and the garlic. Cook the mushroom, onion and garlic in 2 tbsp of water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the milk and stir in the cheese. Mix the flour with 2 tbsp of water and mix in with the musrooms. Let this mixture thicken a bit, while stirring. Bring to taste with the currypowder, parsley and worchester.

Slice the potaroes. Heat the oil and bake the potatoes until they're nicely browned. Add some pepper, salt and paprikapowder to taste.

Serve the mushroomragout with the potatoes and sour cream. Enjoy!

P.S. Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!! (Deadline April 10, midnight Dutch time)

Penne with Butternut Squash, Spinach and Mushrooms

Seeing all the recipes and pictures at Foodgawker, Recipemuncher and Tastespotting of beautiful looking dishes with butternut squash, an unknown vegetable to me, made me want to try and make something tasty with just that: Butternut Squash (I will refer to Butternut Squash as BS for the rest of this post, do not confuse it with Bullshit ;) ), or Kalebas as they are called here in Holland.

At Foodnetwork I found the recipe for Farfalle al Rocco, courtesy of Assagio Italian Restaurant, Portland, OR and knew this was the one, it had lots of items

Boy, did I have a hard time trying to get hold of a butternut squash.... But when I have an idea stuck in my head, I will stick with it. So I visited 3 different supermarket: no BS, I went to the Natuurwinkel (Nature Shop, that's where all the nature freaks with their grey wollen socks buy outlandish and uberhealthy things like pumpkin and so on): no BS. My last attempt was the turkish supermarket, because I knew they have a great variety of exotic foods. At last: Succes was mine: lots of BS!!

1 small butternut squash

1 pound good quality dried farfalle, preferably Italian (I used Penne, since that's what I had)

1/4 cup pure olive oil

1 pound mixed wild mushrooms, cleaned and chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 bunch spinach, cleaned, stems removed and chopped into 2-inch squares

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated fine (I used Pecorino Romano, since it was on sale)

Sea salt

Black pepper, freshly ground

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the butternut squash on a baking sheet for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until you can easily slide a knife into the upper part of the squash. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes. Cut off the ends of the squash and pare away the skin. Cut the squash in half, removing the seeds. Dice the remaining flesh. Allow to cool completely.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package instructions. In a saute pan large enough to accommodate all of the pasta, over medium-high heat, add the oil, mushrooms, butternut squash and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for several minutes until the mushrooms begin to soften. You may need to add more oil, as the mushrooms may absorb the liquid. Add the garlic and mix to combine until garlic begins to brown and the sides of the butternut squash become brown as well.

If the pasta is not finished yet, remove the saute pan from the heat and wait until the pasta is done. When the pasta is done, return the pan to high heat, quickly add the spinach and deglaze with the white wine, which will help wilt the spinach lightly. Season with salt and black pepper. Quickly drain the pasta, add it to the pan and toss to combine the ingredients, mixing in most of the grated parmesan while you are tossing. Transfer to a serving dish. Top with more grated cheese and freshly ground black pepper. Serve at once!

I don't get the American portion sizes..... This recipe is supposed to be 4 servings. Since that is way too much for me I halved the recipeand should have had 2 servings, right?? WRONG, I got 3 servings!!! O well, I won't complain since I loved this dish!

Just one question for you: I still have 2 cups of roasted and diced Butternut Squash leftover, what would you suggest I do with them?