Father's Day Brunch: Three Cheese Mushroom Strata and Insalata Rucola

For Father's Day this year I made brunch for my in-laws.  My father-in-law spent several years living in Rome when he was younger with his father and step mother, so I am always trying to impress him by making my version of Italian recipes.

The first time I ever had strata was at a bridal shower that my mother-in-law threw for me.  She bought a delicious strata from a local Italian market to serve for brunch.  (If you're not familiar with strata, it's basically a brunch casserole in which bread is layered with cheese, eggs, and other ingredients to form several layers or "strata").  I loved the combination of cheese, egg, and bread all baked together and vowed to try my hand at making it one day. 

Here's my first attempt:

Three Cheese and Mushroom Strata

1 medium sized baguette, cut into cubes (as you would cut bread for dipping into fondue)
2 1/2 cups of milk
8 oz baby bella mushrooms, stems removed, sliced
8 oz shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups of half and half
5 eggs
1 4 oz. package of chives, finely chopped
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper (to taste)
4 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan
1 cup grated fontina

Cut a medium sized baguette into large cubes, as you would for fondue:

(I used a sourdough baguette from local San Diego bakery Bread & Cie):

Pour milk over bread and let sit, turning once to coat thoroughly, until bread cubes have absorbed milk (about 10 to 15 minutes):

While bread cubes are absorbing milk, wash baby bellas:

And shiitakes:

Remove stems and slice:

Melt butter over medium heat:

Add mushrooms and garlic and season with salt and pepper to taste:

Saute until mushrooms have absorbed butter and are tender (about 8 to 10 minutes) and remove from heat:

Heat oven to 350 F and spray a 13 x 9 inch casserole dish with non stick spray.  Place half of bread cubes in a single layer on the bottom of the casserole dish (they will not completely cover the dish):

Top bread crumbs with half of the sauteed mushrooms and garlic:

Top with half of the grated parmesan, fontina, and crumbled goat cheese:

Whisk half and half, eggs, chives, thyme, and salt and pepper together in a medium sized bowl:

And pour half of this mixture over bread crumbs:

Repeat layering with remaining ingredients (casserole dish will be full and bread cubes will be poking through the top, like so):

Bake for 1 hour, until cheeses have melted and bread cubes have started to brown:

For brunch, I served the strata with an Insalata Rucola (Italian for arugula salad) that I have based on the version at my favorite Neapolitan style pizzeria, Settebello.

Insalata Rucola

8 oz container of baby arugula
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon
shaved parmesan (as a garnish)

Whisk olive oil and lemon juice together in a small bowl to mix:

 
Pour mixture over rinsed arugula and toss to coat.  Top with grated parmesan cheese:

Hope you and yours had a wonderful Father's Day!

Weeknight Wonder: Mustard and Brown Sugar Salmon with Oven Roasted Onion Potatoes

I don't know about you, but during the workweek I am always looking for quick and simple recipes that I can whip up with as few ingredients as possible that involve as little prep time as possible.

This week I came home from another 12 hour workday (exhausted, as usual) and was determined not to give in to my urge to order pizza or run to Chipotle.  I scoured my cabinets and fridge for something as quick, easy, and semi-healthy as possible to whip up.  Luckily, I came across a bag of these adorable little Dutch Yellow potatoes from Trader Joe's that I had leftover from a soup that I had made recently:

And a box of Lipton Onion soup mix:

If you've got potatoes, onion soup mix, and olive oil, you whip up these tasty potatoes in no time!

Oven Roasted Onion Potatoes

2 pounds small potatoes, quartered
1 packet Lipton onion soup mix
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (if you don't have olive oil, substitute vegetable oil)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Cut potatoes into quarters:

And place into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish:

Whisk oil and soup mix together in a small bowl:

And pour over potatoes.  Toss to coat potatoes evenly:

Place on center oven rack and bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until potatoes are golden brown and starting to crisp, like so:

To go with the potatoes, I made salmon, once again using the ingredients that I had lying around in the fridge and pantry.

Mustard and Brown Sugar Salmon

1 pound salmon filet
freshly squeezed juice of one lemon
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup spicy brown mustard
1/4 cup golden brown sugar

Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over salmon filet seasoned with salt and pepper:

Bake salmon in 425 F oven for 20 minutes.  Whisk mustard and brown sugar together in a small bowl until smooth:

(I used this mustard from Trader Joe's, but you could use any spicy brown mustard):

Remove salmon from oven and pour mustard/brown sugar mixture over baked salmon:

Turn on your oven's broiler (my broiler only seems to have one setting - Hi):

Broil salmon for about 3 minutes, until the mustard/sugar mixture starts to caramelize and bubble:

Plate salmon and potatoes and enjoy your 7 ingredient weeknight wonder meal!

Chilaquiles: The Best Thing I Ever Ate (Breakfast Edition)

You know that show The Best Thing I Ever Ate on the Food Network?  The one where famous chefs talk about their favorite meals?  Well whenever I watch this show, it always spurs a conversation in my house about what the best thing I ever ate was.  For someone who loves food and traveling as much as I do, trying to narrow down my favorite meals is usually no small task.

But I have to say that when it comes to breakfast, there is one meal that stands out above all others in my mind: the chilaquiles I had on my 29th birthday at Hell's Backbone Grill in Boulder, Utah.  Even though I had lived in Utah for 4 years at the time, I had never heard of Boulder, Utah or Hell's Backbone Grill until I picked up Bon Appetit's May 2009 issue and read the article The United Plates of America: A Guide to the Best Things to Eat, Drink, and Buy in All 50 States (if you haven't read this article before, I recommend that you click on it - you just might discover something that you didn't know about in your own state too).  After I read the article, I googled Hell's Backbone and saw that it had also won acclaim from Fodor's, the New York Times, and Zagat and I decided that I absolutely had to eat there before I moved away.

So for my birthday we went on a road trip and camped in various parts of Southern Utah.  We ended up at Hell's Backbone on the morning of my birthday for brunch:

 
I ordered the chilaquiles and I was blown away.  Of course I had had chilaquiles before, but none this good.  Maybe it was just because everything tastes better when you've been camping.  Maybe I was on a birthday celebration high.  Whatever the reason, these chilaquiles were the BEST. THING. I. EVER. ATE!

Watching that show on the Food Network gave me a fierce craving for this delicious dish.  Since I'm 650 miles away from Hell's Backbone this morning, I decided that I had better just make some for myself.

Chilaquiles (pronounced chee-lah-kee-less)

vegetable oil (for frying the tortillas)
8-12 small corn or flour tortillas (if you don't have tortillas on hand, you can use tortilla chips instead)
salt (to season the tortillas with)
1 14 oz can of red chile sauce (if you can't find red chile sauce, substitute salsa or enchilada sauce)
6 eggs, scrambled
1 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
grated cheddar cheese (as a garnish)

Pour enough vegetable oil into a large skillet to cover the bottom and heat over medium heat.  Cut tortillas into quarters:

Once oil is heated, fry tortilla pieces in three separate batches for about 2-3 minutes per side (until starting to lightly brown and crisp slightly).

When you first put the tortilla pieces in the oil, they'll look like this:

After 2 -3 minutes, flip them over (they should be light brown and slightly crisp, like so):

Remove tortilla pieces from skillet and season with salt.  Drain tortilla pieces on a paper towel lined plate (to remove excess oil):

Remove excess oil from skillet and add red chile sauce:

Heat until just boiling, then reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes to heat sauce through:

As the sauce heats, whisk 6 eggs and 1 Tbsp cream together in a medium sized bowl:

And scramble over medium heat in a separate skillet:

Once sauce has heated, add tortilla pieces, turning to coat:

Cook until tortillas start to soften slightly (about 3 - 5 minutes).  Remove tortillas and place at the bottom of a shallow bowl:

Top with scrambled eggs:

Drizzle with more red chile sauce:

Top with cheese and enjoy!

Soup's On!

After three decadent pasta posts in a row (here, here, and here), I figured it might be time to lighten up a little (because even though I'd absolutely love to, I probably shouldn't eat pasta for dinner every single night).

I grew up in a fairly small town which was your typical suburb on the outskirts of a big city.  It was full of strip malls, fast food chains, and mass market retailers.  Like most suburbs, it was hard to find local shops and even harder to find multi-cultural restaurants (a.k.a. anything but pizza and burgers and chain restaurants).  Because of this, there were a lot delicious foods that I never had the opportunity to try until I moved away to "the big city" for college (sushi, spanakopita, pho, and chana masala, just to name a few).

But there were a couple of hidden gems out there.  One was called the Great Wall (and served, as you may have guessed, Chinese food).  As a kid I loved getting to try all of the fun, exotic dishes that my parents never dared try to make at home - General Tso's chicken, Kung Pao shrimp, egg drop soup.

But far and away my favorite dish was always the wonton soup.  The other day I got a craving for some, and being 150 miles or so away from the Great Wall, I decided to try to whip some up myself.

I had these chicken gyoza/potstickers from Trader Joe's in the freezer, so I decided to use them instead of attempting to make my own from scratch:

Wonton Soup

5 cups chicken stock
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions (use both the pale and dark green parts of the onions), chopped
8 oz shitake mushrooms, sliced
1/2 16 oz package of frozen gyoza/potstickers (about 10 potstickers)
several tsps sesame oil (as a garnish)

Bring stock, minced garlic, and chopped green onions to a boil over medium heat.  Add mushrooms and cook until tender (about 5 minutes).  Add potstickers and cook for about 5 minutes (or until potstickers are tender and cooked through).  Ladle soup into bowls, garnish each bowl with 1 tsp sesame oil, and enjoy!