Mushroom Marsala Lasagna

If you don’t already know this about me, I LOOOOOVE mushrooms. This decadent lasagna is just my latest in a long list of meals centered around my favorite fungus.

If you, like me, can't get enough mushroomy goodness in your life, scroll down beyond the lasagna recipe for links to some other delicious recipes!

Mushroom Marsala Lasagna 
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped shallots
2 teaspoons salt
2 pounds cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 pound portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 cup marsala wine
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups milk
½ cup cup grated Parmesan
⅓ cup chopped Italian parsley
3 cups mix of grated Fontina and Gruyère
9 no-boil lasagna noodles
Fresh cracked pepper, to taste (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In Dutch oven or other large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add shallots and salt and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add half the mushrooms to the pot and saute for about 5 minutes before adding the remaining mushrooms and cooking for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the marsala and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in flour and nutmeg and cook for a minute. Add milk and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes or until sauce has thickened a little. Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan and parsley. 

To assemble the lasagna, spread some of the sauce in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Layer the dish with a layer of 3 lasagna noodles followed by mushroom sauce and grated cheese. Cover dish loosely with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil from dish and bake for additional 15-20 minutes, allowing cheese to brown. Remove lasagna from oven, season with fresh cracked pepper, and allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.

You might also like:

• Wild Rice Casserole with Chicken, Mushrooms and Broccoli  
• Scalloped Potatoes with Mushrooms and Thyme  
• Mega Mushroom Risotto with Peas and Parmesan 
• Million Mushroom Skillet Burgers 
• Mushroom Barley Soup 

Golden Beet and Sunchoke Soup

Spring is in the air, skies are blue, the sun is shining … Yes, I know we’re all pumped for summer salads and barbecues, but how about a delicious bowl of soup before the weather heats up too much? This soup takes only about 30 minutes to make and is great when you’re craving a bowl of something hot and tasty that’s also veg-friendly and dairy-free.

Golden Beet and Sunchoke Soup 
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound golden beets, peeled and chopped
1 pound sunchokes (also called Jerusalem artichokes), peeled and chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups (or more) vegetable broth
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon white pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Shelled pumpkin seeds, toasted

Warm olive oil in soup pot over medium heat. Add beets, sunchokes, onion, garlic and salt and sauté for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 4 cups vegetable broth, nutmeg, white pepper and cayenne. Increase heat to high, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the beets and sunchokes are tender, about 20-30 minutes. Working in batches, process the soup in a blender until smooth. Add more broth if you want to thin the soup a bit. Season with salt. Divide soup among bowls (yields 4-6 servings, depending on how hungry you are) and garnish with pumpkin seeds.

Sticking to resolution with superbly smoky soup

This is how Milk Pail Market, one of my favorite Mountain View grocery stores, encouraged visitors to kick off 2015:

That’s a resolution I can get behind every year, and sure enough I recently picked up some fantastic oak-smoked cheddar from these guys. Great on its own, but also quite delightful melted into this soup.

Smoky Cheddar Potato Soup 
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced small, ¼ cup reserved
2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and diced
48 ounces vegetable broth
2 cups grated smoked cheddar
Salt and pepper, to taste

Warm olive oil in a large pot. Add garlic, onions, smoked paprika, cayenne and bell peppers and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes. Increase heat, add potatoes and broth to pot, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Using a ladle or glass measuring cup, scoop three cups of soup into blender. Puree soup and stir back into the pot. Remove soup from heat and stir in cheese until it’s melted into the soup. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish each serving with a sprinkling of red bell pepper.

Miso makes everything taste better

Y’know that broiled salmon I made a while back? Turns out the miso marinade from that recipe also tastes pretty flippin’ good with tofu and asparagus! Baking tofu is a relatively new thing in our house, but lemme tell you, it is wonderful because it comes out of the oven toasty on the outside and soft on the inside. Give it a try!

Miso Asparagus and Tofu with Black Rice 
½ cup white miso paste
2 tablespoons minced ginger
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon agave syrup
1 tablespoon sesame oil
14-ounce package firm tofu, cubed and patted dry with paper towels
1 bunch asparagus, tough ends peeled and/or removed
3 cups cooked black rice
Non-stick cooking spray
Sliced green onion, for garnish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and mist two cooking sheets with non-stick cooking spray. Whisk first six ingredients together in large bowl. Working in batches, add a few tofu cubes to bowl at a time, stirring gently with slotted spoon. Use spoon to remove tofu from bowl, allowing excess sauce to drain back into the bowl, and arrange cubes, in a single layer and so that they’re not touching, on one of the coated baking sheets. Put tofu in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove sheet from oven, flip tofu cubes, and continue baking for an additional 15 minutes.

Use slotted spoon to mix asparagus with remaining miso sauce until lightly coated. Distribute asparagus on second baking sheet. Put asparagus in the oven 10 minutes before the tofu’s done, and everything is ready to serve at the same time. Divide rice evenly among four plates or bowls, then top with asparagus and tofu, and garnish with green onion.

Tabbouleh Thursdays

I try to be good and bring my lunch from home on work days, but there some days when I just don’t feel like eating what’s waiting for me in the lunchroom fridge. I make a deal with myself on these days: I can go out to eat, but only if I walk (as long as it’s not raining or searingly hot). A 10-minute stroll is all it takes to reach a shopping center occupied by all sorts of tempting options. I try to fight off the urge to get a cheeseburger or jumbo froyo, opting instead for a big salad or the ready-to-eat section of Whole Foods. One of the dishes they seem to only offer on Thursdays is a flavor-packed bulgur tabbouleh that has quickly become my favorite summertime lunch. Here’s my attempt at recreating it.

Tabbouleh
8 ounces quick-cooking bulgur (I used Trader Joe’s 10 Minute Bulgur)
4 medium tomatoes, seeds removed, diced
4 medium Persian cucumbers, diced
1 bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 bunch mint, chopped
2 green onions, dark green parts thinly sliced
Juice of 2 large lemons (about ⅓ cup)
3 tablespoons olive oil

Cook bulgur according to package instructions. Combine cooked bulgur with tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, mint and green onions. Whisk lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl before stirring into bulgur mixture.

Feeding colleagues a family favorite

“Family Favorites” was the theme of a recent work potluck. Some of my mom’s top dishes are of the casserole variety, including the deliciously filling bake I recreated for my colleagues using my mom’s recipe.

Green Chile and Cheese Rice Bake
8 ounces shredded Monterey Jack
2 cups light sour cream
8 ounces canned diced green chiles
2 teaspoons garlic powder
4-5 cups cooked white rice (this dish works best when using day-old, cold rice)
1/2 cup grated cheddar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first four ingredients in a bowl until blended. Alternate layers of rice and chile-cheese mixture in a greased 8-by-8-inch glass baking dish, starting and ending with rice. Top dish with grated cheddar and bake for 30 minutes.

Going meatless? Go with mushrooms

It’s an odd day when there’s not a mushroom to be found in my kitchen. We go through them like they’re going out of style, and my ears always perk up when I come across recipes calling for any sort of fungi. Mushrooms are just so versatile, and have a wonderful flavor, no matter if you grill, stuff or sautée them. I find myself using them more as a substitute for meat -- grilled portobello caps make great burgers, and I like my fajitas with sliced creminis as much as I do chicken or steak.

I came up with this super-simple, meat-free dinner the other night in an attempt to use up the rest of my Thanksgiving-stuffing herbs. Sure enough, I also had a pound of white mushrooms in the fridge.

Farro with Mushrooms 
2 cups farro
6 cups water
4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 pound white mushrooms, sliced
1 cup vegetable broth
½ cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
¼ cup grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine farro and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce to low heat, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until farro is tender. Drain farro and set aside. Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms and thyme and sautée, stirring occasionally, for 4 or 5 minutes. Add broth to pan with mushrooms and simmer for a few minutes. Lower heat and add cooked farro to pan, stirring to mix. Stir in the parsley and Parmesan, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Quick, easy and veg-friendly weeknight winners

Some of the tastiest meals I came up with during our (now long-forgotten) vegetarian month were quite quick and simple.

For example, I made a speedy tomato sauce that worked well with back-to-back weeknight dinners. All it took was one 28-ounce can of plum tomatoes, one red bell pepper, diced, and a handful of garlic cloves, minced. I crushed the tomatoes by hand and simmered them (and the juice in which they were canned) with the pepper and garlic for a few minutes before puréeing everything.

This sauce tasted great simmered with some sliced Tofurkey Italian Sausage and a can of cannellini beans (rinsed and drained), served atop a huge plateful of spinach which I wilted with a couple dashes of soy sauce and some red pepper flakes.

The sauce tasted equally delicious the next night with Trader Joe’s Meatless Meatballs and whole wheat spaghetti.

Some other successful veg-friendly meals that I’d make again even if I wasn’t trying to avoid meat:

• Trader Joe’s Masala Simmer Sauce heated up with a can of chickpeas and a few handfuls of fresh spinach and poured over brown rice. A piece of masala tandoori naan (also from TJ’s) on the side was great for soaking up the sauce.
• Sandwiches with Trader Joe’s Masala Veggie Patties (toasted in a frying pan), tandoori naan, micro greens and spicy hummus
• Quinoa with Black Beans and Cilantro, wrapped in wheat tortillas 
• And assembling this trusty lasagna took just a couple minutes without cooking up any Italian sausage.

My favorite meat-free menu items

Keeping meat out of my kitchen wasn’t too much of a struggle during our vegetarian stint in January. Avoiding it when dining out? Not quite so easy.

As mentioned in my previous post, we don’t typically keep a lot of meat in the house, so as long as I kept up with my meal planning and grocery shopping we didn’t have any must-have-meat-now! breakdowns.

I don’t know about you, but when going out to eat I try to order something I wouldn’t normally have at home. I’m going for elaborate, rich, and, in most cases, meatier-than-usual options. It’s tough to focus on the roasted beets when you’re normally cruising the menu for filet mignon.

However, we stepped outside of our routine when dining out in January and were rewarded with some wonderful dishes.

We finally got around to checking out Andy Nguyen, and the Buddhist-inspired vegetarian offerings were fantastic.

Buddha Rolls: Lemongrass-infused shiitake mushroom, rice noodles, carrots and daikon wrapped with lettuce in rice paper and served with a soy ginger dipping sauce

Limitless Compassion: Spicy Mongolian “beef” (they have a lot of vegetarian “meats” on the menu) sauteed with broccoli, bell peppers and carrots

Universal Love Lemongrass: Sauteed mushrooms, onions, tofu and mixed vegetables with soy chicken in a spicy lemongrass sauce

We headed to the mountains a couple weekends ago searching for snow and discovered the Cottonwood Restaurant and Bar, which overlooks downtown Truckee -- you can see the glowing red sign atop this ski-lodge-turned-eatery’s roof from the bottom of the hill. Chris and I were impressed with our meal from start to finish: roasted polenta gratin with fresh mozzarella, tomato and roasted garlic with an almond and red bell pepper romesco; a salad of warmed chevre cheese, spiced pecans, roasted garlic and spring greens; and some heavenly butternut squash enchiladas with ancho chile mole sauce, cilantro, white cheddar and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Orphan serves the best breakfast (at least, in my opinion) in Sacramento. Ordering is always tough because their menu is amazing. On a recent Sunday brunch I opted for the soy chorizo breakfast, an amazing pile of scrambled eggs, soy chorizo, jack cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, green onions, cilantro and avocado served atop corn tortillas and black beans. So good!

Meat-free month good way to start 2012

“Why would you do that?” is the typical reaction I’ve received when telling people that I was giving up meat for 28 days. 

Cutting meat out of our diet for 28 days (Chris and I kicked it off January 4 so as not to waste already-prepared meat dishes in the fridge) felt like a good way to kick off 2012, to repent for some of the overindulging that happened during the holiday season, to test myself in the kitchen.

We don’t eat a lot of meat to begin with, and definitely don’t keep a lot of it in the house, but it’s still been a fun challenge to find veg-friendly recipes and to stick to the meatless entrées at restaurants. 

I must confess that neither of us get a 100 percent for sticking to the meat-free diet -- we both put the diet on a one-meal hold for Chris’ work holiday party at the ever-delicious Hawks -- but I’m still proud of what we’ve done over the past couple weeks. We’ve definitely gone through a lot more vegetables, and I’ve spent more time menu planning in order to waste less produce. I made my own vegetable stock, brought barley and quinoa home for the first time, and have consumed more tofu in the last month than I probably did in 2011.

I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t looking forward to Feb. 1 and the promises of cheeseburgers, deli sandwiches and chicken enchiladas it brings, but I’m still happy with how our meat-free month turned out.

As previously mentioned, I finally got around to buying barley this month, which I used to make this super-hearty soup (recipe adapted from Epicurious) that would be perfect for a frosty winter's day. 

Mushroom Barley Soup
1oz. dried chanterelles (I used Fungus Amongus)
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs celery with leaves, diced
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces fresh cremini mushrooms
6-7 cups vegetable broth
2 cups whole barley
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper, to taste

Soak the dried mushrooms in at least 2 cups hot water, to cover, for 30 minutes. Strain through a filter and reserve 2 cups of the mushroom water. Coarsely chop the dried mushrooms.

Melt the butter in a large pot (I used my Le Creuset Dutch oven) and sauté the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, thyme and fresh mushrooms until soft, about 5 minutes. Add vegetable broth and barley, reserved mushroom water and bay leaf to the pot and bring to a boil. Stir well and add salt and pepper to taste. 

Simmer, covered, for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally, until barley is tender and soup thickens. Remove bay leaf and season with adjust seasonings to your liking.