Downhome Goodness

So I am continuing my quest in forcing myself to try new things on the cooking side of my culinary adventures. Yesterday while I was at the store I bought an absolutely gorgeous Anaheim Chili, a Sweet Potato, and the most plump and delicious looking Portobello Mushroom I have seen since I left Portland (New Seasons I miss you madly!).

So ever since last night I have been thinking up different dishes to try. A gratin? Stuffed roasted pepper? Lasagna? All of them sounded delicious, but not quite what I was craving, due to the simple fact that it is the most beautiful sunny day in weeks. And what could be better on a warm summer day than a burger?! I may not be Vegan or even Vegetarian anymore, but my diet will always lean and go in that direction when given the choice. I just naturally prefer it and I feel better eating that way. So the game plan quickly became making a Southwest Style Portobello Burger with Spicy Sweet Potato Chips!

I have got to say, it’s not often that I really knock myself over with my own cooking, but this dish today was the money maker! And I am pleased to say that 100% of the dish came from scratch and is completely healthy!

Southwestern Portobello Burger with Spicy Sweet Potato Chips (Yield 1 hungry guido)

Chips:

• 1 medium-small Sweet Potato
• 1 tsp Dark Brown Sugar, unpacked (Honey is also delicious)
• 1/2 tsp Paprika
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• Salt & Pepper
• 1-2 tsp Olive Oil
• Optional: Fresh squeezed lime juice

1. Preheat your oven to 425F
2. Slice the ends off of the sweet potato and proceed to slice the potato into equal size rounds. It is very important to keep these uniform or they will not bake evenly.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine the potato slices, sugar, spices, salt, and oil (lime juice as well if using). Toss the potatoes until they are evenly coated and spread out on a sprayed or parchment lined baking sheet. Be sure to give these guys breathing room, otherwise they will steam and not get crisp.
4. Bake for 13 minutes then turn over with a spatula and reduce heat to 350F (Lowering the temperature dries the chips out and makes them more crisp) and continue to bake for 10-12 minutes checking on the chips periodically. Remember the outer chips will cook faster so you may need to do some rearranging if you do not  like burnt chips.

Thousand Island Dressing (Vegan!)

• Eggless & Low-fat Mayonnaise (I use Trader Joe’s and I love it!)
• Organic Ketchup
• Zesty Dill Pickle Spears
• Red Rooster or Tapatio Hot Sauce

1. Forgive my measurements on this. There aren’t any! Ha! Start small and make the sauce in the storage container that you plan to keep your dressing in.
2. My Thousand Island is typically a ratio of 1:1 for Ketchup and Mayo. This time I made 1 cup Mayo, 1 cup Ketchup, 3 dabs of hot sauce, and 3 pickle spears finely diced plus about a teaspoon of pickle juice (this is the secret right here folks!)
3. This produces a lot of sauce, but if you are like me, Thousand Island won’t last long. I have an unholy obsession with this sauce. It goes on EVERYTHING!
4. Remember the longer this sits around the better it tastes.

Roasted Anaheim Chili

• 1 large Anaheim Chili

1. If you have a gas stove, awesome. Turn your burner onto a medium-low heat and rest the chili on the grate turning with tongs every so often to get an even black char around the entire pepper. I do this while I am making the dressing.
2. Once an even black char has been achieved, immediately drop the chili in a plastic bag and seal tightly. Allow the pepper to steam itself for 10 minutes.
3. If you do not have a propane stove. I feel your pain. You can put the chili under your broiler! Set the rack so the chili is 2-3 inches away from the burner and proceed to turn just like you would if it were on your burner.

Portobello Burger

• 1 medium/large Portobello Mushroom
• Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Optional: Light Havarti Swiss Cheese or Pepper-jack Cheese (Vegan or Cow!)

1. While you are charing your pepper and making your dressing, preheat your grill. If you have a BBQ, I envy you. I have a cast iron grill, which I absolutely adore! I may have to put a post on here just to rant about how much I love cast iron cookware. Some other time. It is very important that you always preheat your grill, just like you would your oven to ensure even and full cooking. Stove top/grill temperatures are the last thing you want to be fighting or constantly adjusting.
2. To remove the stem of the Portobello Mushroom, grip the stem with your index and middle finger and secure with your thumb (think “I’ve got your nose” game). With your free hand gently cup the cap of the mushroom as your delicately wiggle the stem in a circular motion while pulling upward. You do not need to force this too much, the stem will literally pop off when it’s ready.
3. Take a spoon and scrape out the gills on the underside of the cap and discard along with the stem.
4. Brush the mushroom with olive oil and season. Do the majority of your seasoning in the cap as the salt and pepper typically fall off when on the dome of the mushroom.
5. Place on the grill, dome side down and leave to get nice grill marks. Rotate after a few minutes to achieve a crosshatch pattern.
6. Once you notice the cap begin to flatten and moisture begin to build up inside of the cap it is ready to flip. Allow the mushroom to cook through, you may need to press down lightly to get a good sear on the inside of the cap and not just on the rims. Once cooked through, flip back over and top with cheese and allow to melt completely.
7. While the mushroom is grilling remove the Anaheim Chili from the plastic bag and using the back side of a knife scrape off the black char and discard. Chop off the top of the pepper where the stem is and remove the seeds and pod from the interior of the pepper. Slice the pepper in half so you have two flat, soft slices. I rewarmed my chili and put grill marks on mine by grilling it along side the portobello burger.

Time to Put it all together!

• Take your bread of choice (Ciabatta is optimal, I used whole wheat this time around and it was wonderful) and grill with olive oil or butter. Spread both slices with the Thousand Island and top with desired veggies! For me, I love spinach, arrugala, vine ripened tomatoes, and red onion. Place the portobello burger on top then the roasted anaheim chili.
• By now your spicy sweet potato chips should be ready to go! Place those bad boys on your plate with the burger and enjoy with ketchup or even more Thousand Island!

I had the time of my life making and eating this today! From start to finish this meal took me about 30 minutes and none of the steps are overly complicated or require too much attention. It can easily be adapted to serve one or a large crowd! Bon Appetite!

Inspiration Friday!

Happy Easter weekend everybody! These are just a very small collection of photos that inspired me this week! Haha, I spend entirely too much of my time looking at beautiful photographs on the internet! I hope that you all get to spend time with loved ones and eat delicious dishes this weekend!

It seemed like a good idea.

Let’s be honest. When we find something that we love, it’s hard to stray far from it. I will forever be a Baskin Robins mint chip kind of girl, I only chew Bubble Gum flavored Trident, and yes I will buy that stripped top even through I have seven at home just like it. We want to be happy and safe, so trying adventurous new things can be daunting. Especially when it comes to home cooking! I could blame the fact that I’m Italian for always going back to the wonderful pairing of Marinara, Basil, and Balsamic Vinegar for my rut, or the fact that it’s just magical, but that’s hardly fair when there are so many delicious pairings out there!

I should know better too, being known for my crazy cake flavors and pairings, you would think I’d be more adventurous with my cooking explorations as well. Recently I’ve been getting bored with the same routine so I set out to buy only ingredients that I have never worked with before. I have this fabulous cookbook that my lovely Anya bought me for Christmas called Family Meal by Tyler Florence. I have made many recipes from this book and all have been complete and delicious successes. He has a recipe for roasted Fennel with mint, green olives, and feta cheese. But that got my mind working. I wanted to try something different than mint and feta. So I called upon my favorite book in my arsenal, Culinary Artistry by Karen Page and her husband Andrew Dornenburg. This book is FILLED with food parings. Oh my goodness, I have never read or seen anything as inspirational as this book! So I flipped to the page on Fennel and it had a list of over 25 pairings! The ones that jumped out to me where tomato, garlic, onion, lemon, black pepper, parmesan cheese, and potatoes. So I set out to combine Tyler Florence’s cooking process with the parings from Culinary Artistry, and let me tell you what…I can’t even, there aren’t any words it was so delicious! The lemon makes the dish lively, potatoes were like silk, the fennel is sweet and mouth watering, and the saltiness of the parmesan pulls all the flavors together!

My roasting temperatures alway lean on the high side because I love the caramelized and heightened flavors that come from the more extreme temperatures. You will also have to bear with me on my measurements for my cooking recipes, because as I mentioned before, I’m Italian and the way I was brought up was go with your gut and throw in as much as seems right.

Roasted Fennel and Fingerlings (Yield, One hungry Guido)

• Fennel Bulb, halved & tough core removed, reserve fronds for garnish
• Two large Garlic Cloves, smashed, skin removed, and halved
• 1/4 cup Red Onion, thick slices
• Juice of half a medium Lemon
• 1 large vine ripened Tomato, quartered
• 5-6 Fingerling Potatoes
• Fresh Thyme
• Salt n Pepper
• Good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Shredded Parmesan Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 450F
2. Take your Fennel Bulb and cut off the green stem then halve the bulb vertically. At the base of the bulb you will see a “v” shaped core, this is tough and unappetizing so cut it out following the natural “v” shape of the core.
3. In a glass casserole dish toss in your fingerling potatoes, lemon juice, and 1-2 teaspoons of Olive Oil, using a wooden spoon stir the potatoes around until they are coated. Take your halved fennel bulbs and rub the cut side down around in the olive oil in the casserole dish. Turn the fennel over and season the potatoes and fennel with salt and pepper. Turn the cut side back down and roast for 30 minutes. Turn the potatoes over as they will get a nice sear on the bottom.
4. Roast for another 5 minutes then toss in your garlic, onion, tomatoes, and a few sprigs of the fresh thyme. Continue to roast the veggies for another 15 minutes or until the onion and garlic are soft and beginning to caramelize.
5. Pull the dish from the oven and turn on your broiler. Pull the sprigs of thyme and throw away. Carefully turn the fennel bulbs cut side up and  evenly sprinkle the vegetables with the shredded parmesan cheese. Return to the oven and broil until the cheese is melted and starting to turn golden brown.
6. Transfer to serving dish and garnish with the reserved fennel fronds!
7. Bon appetite!

Quick Tips

• The times posted are estimates, be involved in the cooking process and get a feel for the different stages the vegetables go through.
• Don’t be afraid to push the limits. Caramelizing vegetables deepens the flavors, so don’t be afraid of those darker colors and lines!
• Remember, the smaller you cut the garlic the more garlic-y it will taste. Leaving the cloves in larger sizes will make the garlic more sweet and not as overpowering.
• This dish pairs excellently with poultry and seafood/fish.
• For my Vegan buddies, I have not tested this recipe with Vegan Parmesan Cheese! But if you want to give it a shot and post your results here I would LOVE that!
• Cook with your ears and your nose, when you hear it crackling or when it begins to smell like heaven, that means it’s time to either go to next step, or that it’s ready!