Monthly Archives: May 2009

Morels are secret ingredient in Wild Rice Baked Eggs

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I just got home from spending a couple of days away with a group of friends. Imagine a dozen women in one house for a sleepover. Lots of chatter, laughter and food.

Breakfast this morning was an egg bake. It wasn’t the typical egg bake made with lots of bread, eggs, cream of something soup and cheese. This breakfast dish was something special.

The woman who prepared Minnesota Wild Rice Egg Bake for our large group has a lake home on an island in Lake of the Woods. The wild rice she used was gathered there. The mushrooms that she stirred into the eggs and rice were not mushrooms she purchased from the grocery store. She used morels that she had gathered herself somewhere in North Dakota. Of course, like every other morel hunter, she would not tell us exactly where she found the prized mushrooms. It’s always a secret.

The recipe, though, is not a secret. My friend had clipped the recipe a few years ago from a Minnesota Monthly magazine. It had been shared by the owners of a Bed and Breakfast Inn in Chaska, Minnesota.

Ann mixed all the ingredients together earlier in the week in her own kitchen. She baked them in individual ramekins and stored them in the refrigerator. This morning, she put all the chilled ramekins in a couple of baking pans with a little water on the bottom of each pan. She covered them and warmed them in an oven heated to a low temperature. At serving time, the warm egg mixture slid easily out of each ramekin. With some fresh fruit and bite-sized muffins (all washed down with yummy mimosas) made by another person in our group, we had a delicious breakfast.

If you are a lucky person who has successfully foraged for morels, you could use some of them to flavor this egg bake. If you don’t have morels, of course you can use your favorite fresh mushrooms from the grocery store.

Minnesota Wild Rice Baked Eggs are the answer when you need to feed a large group for breakfast or brunch. This recipe was doubled to feed a dozen hungry women.

P.S. I’ve foraged for morels just once. It was a couple of years ago. I took these pictures of the unusual-looking morels. I can’t tell you where they are, though. I was sworn to secrecy.

Minnesota Wild Rice Baked Eggs

  • 1/2 pound bacon
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, chopped
  • 5 to 6 green onions, chopped
  • 3/4 cup cooked wild rice
  • 3 ounces (3/4 cup)shredded Swiss cheese
  • 2 ounces (1/2 cup) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
  • 1/2 cup herb-seasoned stuffing mix
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 9 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1-1/2 cups whipping cream or half-and-half

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 5 to 8 individual remekins or one 9-inch square baking dish. Cut bacon into small pieces; fry until crisp. Drain on paper towel. Reserve a small amount of bacon fat in pan. Add butter to pan. Over medium heat saute mushrooms and green onions until tender, 2 to 3 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine wild rice, cheese, stuffing mix, parsley, nutmeg, eggs and cream. Add mushrooms, green onions and fried bacon. Place mixture into prepared ramekins or baking dish.

Bake 30 minutes for individual ramekins or 40 to 45 minutes for 9-inch square baking dish. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

 

A Pizza of Another Kind

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I grew up eating my fair share of great Chicago pizza. My family made the drive from St. Paul to Chicago a few times each year to visit all the relatives living there. Laden with spicy Italian sausage and creamy cheese that stretched in long strings as I pulled the slice away from my mouth, I thought Chicago pizza was the best food in the world.

With that in mind, I feel a little silly calling this concoction of mine a pizza. It’s nothing like the Chicago pizza I grew up on. But it is on a flat piece of dough with several ingredients piled on top along with mozzarella cheese.

Arugula on my pizza was only a thought after I’d prepared an Arugula Salad for this week’s newspaper column. I had a small amount of the green ingredients left from the salad — arugula, spinach and tiny fresh green peas. Along with a few other little odds and ends from my refrigerator, I decided to create a pizza.

I’ve noticed lately that the deli at my local grocery store has been carrying more specialty breads. One of these is Tandoori Naan, an Indian flatbread that get its name from the Tandoor, or clay oven, it is baked in. With two oval-shaped pieces of bread in one package, it is perfect when cooking for just one or two. I get the whole wheat variety. I often get an extra package to put in the freezer. It’s nice to have when I want to use up some leftovers or just want to prepare an easy, light meal.

I put the Naan on my baking sheet and pulled veggies, opened jars of roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts, and some cheese from the refrigerator. They all went on top of the bread. After only 15 minutes in the oven, the pizzas were ready to eat.

The beauty of the Naan is that it is sturdy enough to hold just about any toppings you have to put on it, and, it’s already made.

Use any topping you like. I used the leftover green mixture on one and all arugula on the other. Spinach is a great substitute for arugula.

Leftover Arugula Pizza reheats well in the microwave oven on a low power.

Arugula Pizza

  • 1 package of Naan
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2  cups shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1 cup baby arugula, washed and dried
  • Red onion slices
  • Roasted red pepper, sliced
  • Artichoke hearts in marinade, drained and chopped
  • Grape tomatoes, cut in half
  • Parmesan cheese, grated
  • Cracked pepper and salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place both of the Naan breads on a baking sheet.

In mini-food processor or blender container, process garlic until very fine. With machine running, add oil all at once through the feed tube or blender lid. Process until ingredients are blended together. Use a brush to spread oil and garlic mixture over both of the Naan.

Divide 1 cup shredded mozzarella and sprinkle over each of the pizzas.

Top with baby arugula, onion slices, roasted red pepper slices, chopped artichoke hearts and grape tomato halves. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella over the top of each pizza.

Bake pizzas in preheated 400-degree oven for about 15 minutes, until edges are golden brown and cheese is melted.

Remove from oven. Sprinkle each pizza with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Season with freshly ground black pepper and salt. Cut into serving-sized pieces and eat while hot. Makes 2 small pizzas.

 

 

 

 

A dilly of a burger

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It is only right that during International Pickle Week we should all eat at least one pickle. You’re probably thinking, "National Pickle Week?" Yep. It’s true. International Pickle Week was founded more than 60 years ago by the Pickle Packers International, a trade association serving the pickling industry.

I’ve already started celebrating with one of my favorite pickles — Black Pepper & Garlic Babies sold with both Del Monte and Gedney labels. I love them. But, then, I’m a pickle person. I think my dad had me eating pickles and olives as soon as I had teeth to chew them.

With Memorial Day weekend just ahead, the grills will be heating up. And many of them be cooking burgers.

Years ago, my friend, Micky, gave me a recipe for ground beef burgers that had horseradish mixed into them. I’m not sure where she got the recipe. She is a cookbook collector and I know she especially likes Junior League cookbooks. Maybe the recipe came from one of them.

The original recipe produces flavorful and juicy burgers. I’ve discovered Black Pepper & Garlic Babies can be chopped up and added to all kinds of dishes, adding a big burst of spicy flavor. They are a perfect match for the horseradish in these burgers.

It seems I wind up with the juiciest burgers when I use ground beef that has some fat in it. I used 80% lean when I made the burgers last night. Sometimes I’ve used 85% lean, but I wouldn’t recommend using ground beef that is any leaner than that. You’ll wind up with pretty dry burgers that crumble on the grill.

Use any pickle that is your own favorite. I also like the Zingers. They add a real hot kick to the burgers.

I’ve been developing pickle recipes for all the celebrating this week. You can get more of my pickle-icious recipes at pickleweek.com. When you visit that site, you can also watch a few videos that show me preparing the best recipes using Gedney and Del Monte pickles.

Oh, don’t forget to check out the Slice and Grill Bacon Cheeseburgers that are in my newspaper column this week. With these big boys, I eat my pickle on the side.

Make these burgers that have the pickles on the inside and have a dilly of a Pickle Week!

Dilly Burgers

  • 1 pound ground beef, 80% or 85% lean
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped Black Pepper & Garlic Babies
  • 2 tablespoons catsup
  • 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons prepared mustard

With clean hands, use a gentle touch to mix all ingredients together. Shape into burgers. Grill over hot coals until cooked to desired doneness. Makes 2 to 4 burgers, depending on how big you want them to be.

Wouldn’t some sauerkraut be a good topping on these burgers?

 

The blog gremlins stole the cookies

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Something very strange is going on.  I set this post to appear very, very early last Sunday morning. I’m positive, well, almost positive, that I checked it to be sure it was on my blog as planned, and all was fine. This morning, as I went back to write a new post, the cookies were nowhere to be found. What in the world?  Not only that, the sidebar on my home page looked totally different. Who’s been playing with my blog?

The little blog gremlins will not deter me, though, from sharing this so good cookie recipe. So, here goes. I am posting it once again. Enjoy, but be quick before the gremlins sneak back and take it away!

Most years, I get to the local nurseries to purchase herbs to add to my garden at the time I’m ready to plant them. In northern Minnesota, it’s pretty risky to plant them outdoors before Memorial Day. That means I’d be on my herb hunt late in May or early in June. Apparently, all the experienced gardeners go shopping for herbs much earlier. Each year I would get the few plants left behind — maybe some parsley, a spindly basil plant or two and a pot of limp-looking rosemary. All the good stuff was long gone. No unique varieties of basil, no cilantro, no lemon thyme. Each year I would vow to get out shopping for herbs much earlier the next year.

This is the year it finally happened. I came home with two flats of a great variety of herbs. They bask in the sun in their little pots out on my deck during the day, but each night I bring them into the sunroom to protect them from the cold.

I’ve already pinched a few leaves from one of the three pineapple sage plants. I sliced them and tossed them into a spinach salad which included the grilled asparagus and shrimp that I wrote about in this week’s newspaper column.

The other day I made my favorite chocolate chip cookies and stirred in some chopped leaves from the chocolate mint plant. The result was the same delicious cookie with just a hint of fresh mint flavor. Perfect.

I’ve been making this chocolate chip cookie recipe for many years. I had just gotten my first Cuisinart food processor and was experimenting with my new machine, using it to mix up cookies and pastries. In this recipe, the oatmeal, chocolate chips and sliced almonds get added at the end and after a few pulses in the processor, they get chopped just enough to still offer lost of texture and crunch with each bite of chewy cookie. This time, the mint leaves were added as the last ingredient with just a pulse or two.

I really do need to get these plants in the ground soon. I’m worried I’ll keep pinching off the leaves to boost the flavor of the foods I’m cooking and baking, and before I know it, I’ll have nothing left to plant.

With the chocolate mint plant, there is double danger. Not only does this variety of mint add great flavor to chocolate chip cookies, the leaves are a delicious nibble all on their own. Yikes!

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Almond Cookies with Fresh Chocolate Mint

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten to blend
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup sliced almond
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh chocolate mint leaves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Cream butter with sugars in food processor. Blend in egg and vanilla with a couple of pulses. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Add to processor and mix until just combined. Add almonds, chocolate chips and chopped mint. Mix, using 20 on/off pulses.

Form dough into 2-inch balls. I use an ice cream scooper. Place on prepared baking sheets. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Cool on rack. Store in airtight container. Makes 12 to 15 cookies.

 *Traditional mint leaves can be used in this recipe if you don’t have chocolate mint.

 

Flake, flake. Crunch, crunch. Tropical Cream Phyllo Tarts. Yum, yum.

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 Flake, flake, crunch, crunch. Buttery thin layers of pastry that melt in your mouth. That’s phyllo dough.

After making Chocolate Banana Strudel for this week’s food column, several sheets of phyllo were wrapped up and sealed in a zip-top bag in my refrigerator. Although thawed phyllo dough keeps well in the refrigerator for up to a month, I was anxious to use it up.

One of the things I appreciate about phyllo is its versatility. It can be wrapped around sweet or savory ingredients. It can be rolled into logs, folded into triangles or layered in a baking dish to form a thin, delicate crust.

To make Tropical Cream Phyllo Tarts, the phyllo is shaped into cups to hold creamy filling. I layered three sheets of phyllo, brushing melted between each layer. The sheets are cut into 4 equal pieces. Each piece is gently pushed into a buttered cup of a muffin tin and then baked. This step can be done ahead of serving time. If you make them early in the day, just let them sit out on a cooling rack on the counter.

The pudding mixture can also be prepared early in the day. You can fold in the whipped cream when it’s time to put the dessert together. Tropical Cream is quick to make with instant vanilla pudding mix. I enhanced the tropical flavors of the dessert by adding some Zola Tropical Blend Energy smoothie. I had some in my refrigerator. (A few sips in the afternoon is a refreshing pick-me-up.)  I find Zola in the refrigerated case in my local grocery store. If I hadn’t had the Zola on hand, I would have used pineapple juice.

Fruit becomes sweeter when it is grilled. I hadn’t had grilled pineapple since last summer. I almost forgot how delicious it is. I had never thought about grilling mango, but it works.

To prepare the fresh pineapple for grilling, cut off the top and base. Use a sharp knife to cut wide strips of the peel away from the fruit. Cut just deep enough to remove the skin. Remove any remaining little eyes with the tip of the knife. Slice the pineapple into 8 disks. Then use a coring tool or sharp paring knife to remove the tough center portion of each disk. I find that a small (1 1/2-inch) round cookie cutter works great for this job.

To get the mango ready for grilling, just cut off the stem end to form a flat base. Stand the mango upright on work surface. Cut both cheeks away from the flat pit inside, getting as close as you can to the pit. Use a grapefruit spoon or a teaspoon to slide underneath the fruit, gently removing it from the skin. You’ll wind up with two large pieces of mango to put on the grill.

This is a great do-ahead dessert. Phyllo cups can be prepared early in the day along with the Tropical Cream. Get the fruit ready so that at serving time, all you have to do is brush the pieces with butter and place them on the grill.

Tropical Cream Phyllo Tarts with Grilled Mango and Pineapple are light and refreshing.

Flake, flake. Crunch, crunch. Yum, yum.

Tropical Cream Phyllo Tarts with Grilled Mango and Pineapple

  • 6 sheets phyllo dough
  • 6 tablespoons melted butter
  • 2 (3.4-ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
  • 3 cups milk
  • 1/2 cup pineapple juice or Tropical Blend Smoothie (such as Zola brand)
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 pint heavy whipping cream, whipped
  • 1/2 cup shredded coconut, toasted
  • 1 whole ripe pineapple
  • 2 ripe mangoes
  • 8 whole strawberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush 8 cups of a muffin tin with some of the melted butter.

Place one sheet of phyllo dough on work surface. Brush it lightly with melted butter, then lay a second sheet on top. Brush with melted butter. Lay third sheet on top and brush with melted butter. Cut phyllo in half crosswise and then lengthwise to create 4 equal pieces. Press each piece into a buttered muffin cup. Repeat with remaining 3 sheets of phyllo.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until phyllo is golden brown. Carefully remove phyllo cups from muffin tin and cool on wire rack.

Combine pudding mix, milk and juice in a large bowl. Beat at low speed with an electric mixer until thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Fold in sour cream. Cover pudding mixture and refrigerate.

Prepare grill for direct cooking over medium to medium-high heat. Brush pineapple and mango with remaining melted butter and place directly on grill rack. Grill about 2 minutes per side, or until fruit is heated through and cut sides are golden.

Remove pudding mixture from refrigerator and fold in whipped cream.

Place a slice of grilled pineapple on each dessert plate. Chop grilled mango into small chunks. Spoon tropical cream into each phyllo tart. Place a filled tart on top of each pineapple slice. Arrange chopped mango around outside of tart. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of coconut over each tart and around pineapple slice. Top each Tropical Cream Tart with a whole fresh strawberry. Serves 8.

  • I like to toast coconut by placing it in a heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring until golden. As soon as it reaches the color I want, I transfer it to a shallow dish to cool.