Tasty garlic mushrooms and Parmesan zucchini

Here are a couple favorite vegetable sides that Charlie and I love. Can't say I acquired them anywhere, these are of my own trial-and-error creation more than anything.

These mushrooms are perennial fall favorites. SO flavorful. Just make sure everyone eats them, because they are garlic-riffic!

Tasty mushrooms with garlic, thyme, and sherry

2-3 cups crimini mushrooms (the little brown ones). For this recipe, try to find the smallest ones you can, I'm talking ½" across MAX, otherwise halve- or quarter- larger ones. They need to be bite-sized, but still with some substance for nom-ing. This may look like a ton of mushrooms for two people, but they cook down a LOT. And you will eat a LOT of them J

2 Tbs Olive oil

4-5 Large garlic cloves, finely minced (or, better yet, smooshed through a garlic press)

2-3 Tbs Sherry

½ Tbs Butter

2 Tbs minced, fresh thyme

¼- ½ tsp red pepper flakes

Coarse ground salt and pepper to taste

Put olive oil into skillet, and heat to medium-high.

While pan is heating, cut larger mushrooms in half, and, if necessary, into quarters.

Grind in salt and pepper. When oil is hot, add minced garlic and mushrooms.

Let mushrooms cook until they begin to release some of their liquid.

Add sherry. The pan should still be hot enough that it sizzles and boils. Continue cooking over medium to medium-high heat until most of the sherry evaporates. If it evaporates extremely fast, add a little more.

Add butter and thyme. Butter should melt around mushrooms, combining with the olive oil and thyme to create an amazing "sauce."

Serve in any of the following ways:

- With toasty bread that's been brushed with olive oil.

- On a warmed pita with hummus, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, red onion, and dill-yogurt dip (see Kefta kebab recipe below)

- As a stand-alone side

Alternative: use a marinade of the above ingredients (excluding the mushrooms, of course), to soak Portabella caps in before grilling on the barbecue.

Parmesan Zucchini rounds

Again, another easy side dish, and a simple variation of the garlic-salt-parmesan-vegetable combination. This is a staple for Charlie and I. We probably have it once a week—especially during the summer. The key is to use high heat to sear/brown the zucchini rounds so that they don't get mooshy.

1 small zucchini

2 cloves garlic (optional)

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

Parmesan cheese

Slice the zucchini into ½ - ¾ inch rounds. Heat olive oil in a large pan (preferably not Teflon) over medium-high to high heat. Lay zuch's in pan, so that they do not overlap. Sprinkle with minced/crushed garlic if you so choose at this point. Season zuch's with salt and pepper.

Cook until pan side of zuch starts to brown. Flip rounds, sear on reverse side. Remove from heat and grate desired amount of parmesan over the top of zucchini, allowing it to melt.

Devour.

The recipe that started it all

Since Ms. A mentioned this recipe below, I figured what better concoction to include for my first post!

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

4 cups crimini mushrooms (you can use whatever variety you would like, but I recommend mostly crimini. I've also wondered what throwing a few morels in would do...)
1 large onion, chopped (enough for approx. 1-1.5 cups chopped)
4 tsp paprika (I use more!)
4 tsp dill (ditto)
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
6 tbsp butter or olive oil
1/3 cup flour
1 3/4 cups milk
2 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sour cream (would also be fabulous with creme fraiche!)
Fresh parsley or chives

Directions:
Heat large skillet or 5 1/2 quart pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coarsely chop onion(s). When pot is warm add olive oil, or butter if you prefer.
Add onion, paprika, dill, sea salt, and pepper. Cook until onion begins to get tender. Stir in flour, taking care not to let it burn.
Add milk, water, and mushrooms. Bring almost to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered.
Remove from heat and add soy sauce, lemon juice, and sour cream.
Serve garnished with more sour cream if you desire, and parsley or chives.
Best consumed with freshly-baked bread!

Edited to add: Most of these measurements are really approximations. You can add more seasoning, milk, water, sour cream, whatever as you like!

This recipe is from L'ivre de Cuisine, a compendium of recipes from the French American International School community, where I used to work. I cook from it regularly, so you'll most likely see more recipes from that book here.

A few favorite recipes.

Here are a few that we've made recently and have been stunning.

First, the infamous Chipotle brownies. Oh holy yum. They have heat, and kick, and lots of tasty.
Thank you Smittenkitchen.
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/the-baked-brownie-spiced-up/

Also from Smittenkitchen, a really knock-out recipe for Kefta Kebabs.
These knocked my socks off. I know all of you don't eat meat, but you really should. JUST for these. Then you can go back to being a vegetarian. Pleeeaaaaase? You can even use humane, friendly-raised lamb?
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/kefta-and-zucchini-kebabs/
I wasn't sure I'd like the mint sauce (it was really good, though), so I made an additional sauce for dipping, identical except substituting dill in for the mint. It was awesome. I've made the sauce again to use as a condiment for some awesome pita sandwiches I might have to share with you later. Which CAN be made vegetarian, if you use mushrooms instead of chicken. You'll just toot a lot between that and the hummus. But, yes, more on that later.

Finally, one last recipe we've made recently: MIGAS!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/09/ree-drummond-migas/
We were both feeling low the other night and made them as Tex-Mex breakfast-for-dinner. MMM. TASTY. And VEGETARIAN. Anyhow, ultimate comfort food. And make sure you really kick up the spice, because 1 1/2 jalepenos didn't do much for me.

Southwest black bean and corn salad.

I originally posted this over on portlandiaquill, and I'm pretty excited about it. It's the first recipe that I've wholly created on my own that I've put down into firm, scary type.

We've made it twice now, and Charlie and I are so excited about it. After it's first spin as a main course one night for dinner, we tested it out on Devon when she came to visit last weekend, and it was fantastic then too.

I hope you try it out and adore it. From my heart to yours!

The "I just moved to Idaho" Southwest black bean and corn salad:


2 cobs of fresh, sweet corn (not frozen corn, it just doesn't cut it)
1 can black beans
1/2 C diced tomatoes
Chipotle chile powder, blended chilies in adobro sauce, or a chipotle sauce of some sort
1/4 C of your favorite salsa (I had Mrs. Renfro's mild salsa on hand, you could use fresh tomatoes instead if you wanted, I suppose--it's kind of used as a sauce or "dressing")
about 1/2- 1/3 C minced yellow onion (use red onion if yellow is too strong, and you add more or less depending on personal tastes)
1/4-1/3 C mined cilantro (again, adjust to your personal taste)
1 diced medium red bell pepper
1 diced medium avocado
Juice from 1/2 a large lime

Boil corn on cob for just the briefest amount of time--enough to slightly heat through, but not so much as it loses its CRUNCH. Remove corn from heat and let cool.

Meanwhile, heat beans in saucepan over medium heat with diced tomatoes, chipotle, and a little salt and pepper to taste. Add Chipotle according to your heat preference. ALTERNATIVE: we made this last weekend without the diced tomatoes, and it was awesome, too.

When beans are warmed, and flavors are all mixy and tasty, remove from heat. Don't let your beans get mooshy from overcooking.

Cut corn kernels from cobs.

Combine all ingredients except lime in large mixing bowl. Squeeze lime over the top. Refrigerate to cool, or serve warm.

We ate this with cornbread and a simple green salad, and it was AMAZING.