Roasted Butternut Squash - pg. 324
You would think that at my age I would be able to simply saute mushrooms successfully. I've done it at least 200 times. But mine usually end up soggy, awash in a sea of mushroom juice. This morning I was making myself a somewhat fancy brunch: thick-cut smoked bacon with scrambled eggs. Since I'd found some at a fabulous marked-down price at the supermarket earlier this week, I decided to add a few (7, to be specific) sliced mushrooms to the eggs. As long as it was in the pan after cooking the bacon, I threw the mushrooms into the bacon fat to saute. Whatever it was (the pan? the heat? the bacon grease? just a few slices in the pan?), the mushrooms sauteed perfectly to a golden brown, nice and dry, just greasy and delicious. I proceeded to scramble the eggs right in the same pan after adding a little butter for total decadence. So at least once in my life I've successfully sauteed mushrooms.
I'm taking it easy today, having detected a somewhat scratchy throat last night. It figures that after 3 weeks of travel, it was probably the flight home from Miami that did me in. Airplanes, especially in winter, are like epidemic wards. Give me a long flight and you'll usually give me a cold. Well, with luck and good behavior, I might be able to fight it off.
Nevertheless, we went to a movie this afternoon. "Invictus" with Morgan Freeman playing Nelson Mandela. I suppose that after playing God a couple times, there's nowhere up to go but to play Mr. Mandela. It's a well-crafted (except for some overlong, under-explained rugby scenes), feel-good movie, perfect for the holidays. I know I can't watch "It's a Wonderful Life" one more time.... But I don't mind at all basking for a couple hours in the public persona of Mr. Mandela.
Randy made a simple, tasty pasta dish with the last of the Costco roasted chicken. That chicken yielded 3 or 4 meals! And was tasty, too. I followed Alice's recommendations for making Roasted Butternut Squash, although I used herbs de provence rather than sage. I also used a locally grown heirloom squash, Sucrine du Berry, grown and sold by Dragon Spring Farm in Cambria. Sucrine du Berry is from France, is larger, and has a darker interior color (much like a good carrot) than our well-known butternut, although it's from the same group of squash and has the same shape. I cooked 2 pounds of the stuff, so there will be plenty of leftovers. It was very good, although I probably overdid the herbs. I'm not sure it was really necessary to cut it into 1/4" dice, either. That's a lot of cutting!
So happy to be back to cooking! Who knew it would be so?
26 recipes down; 279 recipes to go
1 comment:
Do you salt the mushrooms first? Or wash them? Either of those things will make them soggy and, often, rubbery. The best bet is to wipe them down with a towel and toss them in a pan with oil only. Once they're browned, they can be seasoned. I hope you feel better soon. :-]
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