Tag: mushrooms

SAY WHAT?

Retro to present day.

I was going to sub out the main product of this nibble until I saw my most recent issue of Food and Wine where they showcased, wait for it, SPAM. Yup. Sizzle, Pork and MMMM. So I figured if it is good enough for Food and Wine, it is good enough for Nibbles and Bits. If SPAM isn’t your thing, I will have a few subs at the end of the post.

As funny aside, we had a LUAU party at my condo here in Florida and we purchased a case of SPAM to use as centerpieces along with pineapples and palm fronds. We told the guests that the pineapples and SPAM were party favors to anyone who wanted to take them. Guests were fighting over the SPAM. Pineapples went unloved. Go figure.

In Hawaii, where for some reason post WW11 the product became a staple of the diet, SPAM is treated with far more respect than it is here on the mainland. In fact, there is a dish, Musubi, where SPAM is the principal ingredient. And that is what I have for you here today. Here are your basic ingredients. Count ’em, 2.

That’s it. And that 90 second rice can be replaced by more traditional 20 minute rice, but it works really well in this little nibble. Cook the rice according to package directions. Decan SPAM and slice. Brown, or as the commercial says, sizzle until your desired crispness.

Mold the rice using whatever you have as a mold. I actually have a musubi mold because I am a kitchen toy junkie, one can be purchased on Amazon or at an Asian market for very little and can be used for dishes other than musubi when you want to mold something. Your finished dish will look like this.

I served it for breakfast with some fresh mango. In Hawaii, they wrap it with nori but I plated it just like this. If you like SPAM, it was delicious, but if you don’t, here are some options. Thick mortadella sliced across the diameter and browned and placed atop rice. If meat is not in your diet, you can use a thickly sliced king oyster mushroom or portabella mushroom browned the same way and placed on the rice. If you use the mushrooms or the mortadella, you can top that with a bit of balsamic vinegar that has been boiled down to a syrup. Don’t like mango? Use pineapple. Or thinly sliced apple. Think of what goes with pork and use that with the SPAM or any of the other subs. And there you have. Like the song says, everything old is new again. Enjoy!

LAS TAPAS SOBRAS

Leftover Tapas for breakfast.

I decided to restart my blog as a New Year’s resolution and then promptly boarded a plane and went to Spain where the rains fall on the plains. So posting from Madrid while my sister and BIL let me crash at their pad, I bring you my first night’s dinner leftovers (sobras) meal for breakfast.

First of all, if you have never been to Spain (which I have not), the first thing that becomes evident is the price of dining out. In three words, after one day, I tell you it is very, very affordable. Ok, more than three words but you get my point. For my first meal in Madrid, I wanted tapas. So my brilliant sister did some research and we came up with a place called La Casa del Abuelo (plug for the place). We ordered a myriad of dishes ( 7 in total) with 4 glasses of rio Tinto — 81 Euros which is roughly 85 dollars.

Missing from this photo are the grilled shrimp, the mushrooms, and the fried calamari. What you see here from top left and clockwise are a plate of chorizo, a plate of Iberian salami, patatas bravas and croquettas stuffed with Iberian ham. The bread came with the meal, and let me tell you, dripping that bread into the wine was like having another course! We had leftovers and today I used them for breakfast.

When I say today, I mean yesterday. Any day. I heated the salami, the mushroom and the patatas braves in a pan. Scrambled 2 eggs. Added S+P. My BIL who does not eat eggs with yolks wanted to know if there was any more. As an aside, you do not have to go to Madrid to make an omelet. Any good leftover stuff works. But this was really good because of the shared meal in Madrid the night before with my sister and BIL.

Eggs any time! As they say in Spain, Buen Prevecho!

It’s Back!

After a bit of a hiatus, you know, Covid (blame everything on Covid), life, laziness, the usual, I am restarting my bitty blog about nibbles. Those of you who subscribe may be happy (I hope so), hopefully some new followers may appear. With a New Year and resolutions pushing at me, the time seems right. So without further ado, let’s get started

RED WINE MUSHROOM RAGOUT.

This will be an easy start. I made this mushroom ragout with an excess of what I purchased for my duxelles for Christmas Beef Wellington (another post). Fairly simple, but so delicious, I served it along with chicken cutlets coated with garlic breadcrumbs which were made with leftover bread for the same holiday. You can serve it on toasts, topped with an egg for a Sunday brunch , or toss in pasta. The world is your mushroom!

Back to the mushrooms. I had an assortment. In addition to chopped and shredded mushrooms, I minced a garlic clove and a scallion. You can use shallot or onion, I had some scallions left so I used them before I lost them. A sprig of rosemary or thyme A bit of chicken stock or just water and 1/2 cup red wine whatever you have. I had some Beaujolais and I used that. Salt and pepper to taste.

Heat skillet over medium high and then add some neutral oil along with some butter (you can use any fat, but add a bit of neutral oil like grapeseed or canola to raise the heating point). Toss in the mushrooms taking care not to crowd. If you can see some space between the shrooms, you are ok. Otherwise, they will steam and not brown (thank you Julia Child).

As soon as the mushrooms start to brown (about 5 minutes or so) add the garlic and scallion. Waiting after the cooking process has started will prevent the garlic from burning. Allow the scallion and garlic to soften and flavor the mushrooms. Toss in the chicken stock or water to deglaze and then add the red wine and the rosemary. It should look like this.

Let the red wine cook down until the sauce becomes a purple color and thickens the dish. Salt and pepper to taste and that’s it.

Not the best photo but you can see the purple hue of the finished product. The wine has cooked off and all you have is the flavor.

So there you have it. Nibbles and Bits.2 for 2025.

3 January 2025

This is a great recipe for a spread or something more exotic (that comes later). When I a make my weekly visits to Chinatown, I always end up buying more mushrooms than I need. So there are always packages clogging up the veggie drawer in the fridge. Here is a really tasty and easy way to use them. The finished product can either be used immediately or can be frozen to reuse at a future date. MUSHROOM DUXELLES. What you need for 1 cup of duxelles are 8 ounces of mushrooms of any type or a combination thereof. An aside here–mushrooms generally come in 5 ounce packages so a couple of packages will suffice with a bit left over. Just use the whole package. You won’t go to Duxelles Jail, I promise. Also you will need 2-3 Tablespoons butter, a garlic clove, minced, 2 large shallots, minced (about 3 Tablespoons) and a Tablespoon of chopped parsley. Shallots are the traditional ingredient, but if you don’t have shallots, a small white onion or a few chopped scallions will work to the same quantity. See above comment re Duxelles jail. Now on to how to make. First, chop the mushrooms. I generally do this in the food processor with a few pulses, much easier. You need a fine chop, don’t go overboard and make mush, see photo below. Remove and set aside. Next, also in the food processor, chop the garlic and shallots. You want as fine a mince as you can get, again , see below. At medium heat, melt the butter in a skillet large enough to hold your ingredients, add the garlic and shallots and sweat, don’t brown. The best way to do this is to add some water to the pan with the butter and the garlic/shallot mixture. The water will boil away and while it does that, it will sweat the vegetables. Listen for a sizzle, the louder the sizzle, the closer you are to the right stage. Now add the mushrooms, another pinch of salt and pepper and cook down for about 10 minutes. The mushrooms have alot of water, you need to cook all that out. You want a dried finished product. Stir occasionally and scrape the bottom of pan to avoid burning the mushrooms. After 10 minutes or when mushrooms are dried (see below), add the parsley. Stir through and take off heat. Set aside to cool. At this point, the duxelles can be frozen if not used right away. I generally store in 2 Tablespoon servings in a freezer bag. Here are some great ways to eat. Idea 1: Mushroom crostini are a very popular snack to go with aperitivi in Tuscan cuisine. Just toast some baguette slices and top with duxelles. Idea 2: Seve to your vegetarian friends as mushroom fried rice. Why not, cauliflower fried rice is all the rage, and this is soooo much better! Idea 3: use as a filling for Sunday brunch omelets. Idea 4: thicken gravy to use with roast chicken or for whatever you may be making gravy (that Thanksgiving turkey comes to mind). And now for the mother of all uses. At the beginning of this post I promised you something exotic. As a topping for beef. But not just any beef, easy Beef Wellington. Remember those sheets of puff pastry we used to make straws the other day? Here is another use for them. Traditional Beef Wellington utilizes a large and costly cut of meat. Rather than buying the “chateaubriand”, buy individual filet mignons, one per serving. Cook in your traditional manner until the steaks are 1/2 done. Allow steaks to cool completely. You can do this hours even a day before serving. You need the beef cool because it will help the puff pastry puff and you don’t want to over cook the beef when it goes into the oven a second time. When ready to serve, preheat oven to 350. Melt some butter to top the Wellingtons. Lightly roll out a one of your squares, one for each serving. Place a tablespoon of duxelles on top of each steak and lay a square of pastry on top of all. You can fuss with wrapping if you like, but I promised easy. Place each Wellington on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and top with melted butter. If you are artsy, you can slice a design on top of the pastry but DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY THROUGH! Also, if you have cooked your steak for different degrees of doneness for your guests, you can mark the Wellingtons with either their initials or R for rare, M for medium, or, God forgive me, W for well. Cook for about 20-25 minutes or until pastry is golden and cooked through. Pour yourself a glass of Gigondas, Chateauneuf-de-Pape, Cabernet, whatever you like. You’ve earned it. Your dinner will be gorgeous, easy to prepare, and you will look like a rock star. Bon Appetit!

Multipurpose Marinated Mushrooms. These are more than a nibble or a bit. They can actually can be used as is, as a sauce, a spread, or eaten with a spoon out of the jar. This recipe requires an overnight rest before eating, but the result is worth the wait. You will need a box of white mushrooms, generally speaking they are about 10 ounces (you can get fancy if you want, I am just giving you the basics), 1/3 cup best olive oil you have, 1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, a clove of garlic minced or shaved over a microplane if you prefer, a pinch of red pepper flakes or more for a bit of heat, 1 Teaspoon of fresh thyme, salt, and parsley for finishing. First off, if your mushrooms are large as those shown in the photograph are, halve or quarter them, if not, leave them whole. Bring a pot of water to boil and add about 2 Teaspoons of salt. Drop mushrooms into the water and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from water and set aside to drain and cool. Meanwhile, make the marinade. In a measuring cup, combine the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, pepper flakes, thyme, and salt. Taste and add more of what you feel it needs to suit your taste. When mushrooms are cooled, press the excess moisture out using a paper towel. Don’t mush them, you want them to retain their shape as much as possible. Add them to a bowl along with the marinade and combine all. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bring to room temperature for serving and top with parsley to finish. They can be served skewered with a toothpick, chopped to be used as crostini, tossed with cooked pasta and a bit of the pasta water and maybe the yolk of an egg if you are adventuresome, they can be pulsed and made into a spread for crackers, they can be used as a topping for pizza Bianca with maybe a bit of sausage crumbles and some caramelized onions, or used just as part of an antipasto plate. A glass of Beaujolais? Yes please!