Warm Mushroom, Sun Dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad

How many really interesting recipes have you looked at and thought "gee, must try this - it looks pretty appealing"? I've bookmarked, saved to favourites, printed with and without photos and keep a bucket list folder of must try recipes. I'm slowly even organizing two folders - one is a must try folder and the second is a must post folder.

When I saw this recipe at one of my daily visits to Kevin at Closet Cooking, I knew this was going to be right up my alley. I made the recipe and all I can say is BIG WOW... If you're a lover of mushrooms and sweet red onion, this recipe is a must try. The flavours are rich and meaty and the slow melt of the goat cheese on the top adds a pretty remarkable dimension of both flavour and texture. It's a very easy recipe to put together - about 15 minutes prep time and guaranteed to awaken appetites at any meal if served as an appetizer. I actually had it as a full meal and found it very filling and satisfying. And of course, kudos to Kevin's sister who introduced him to this dish.


Ingredients:

3 tbsp. butter
1 - 8 oz. package cremini mushrooms (sliced)
1 - 5 oz. package shitake mushrooms (sliced)
1 - red onion thinly sliced
1 - 5 oz. jar oil packed sun dried tomatoes (drained and chopped) - reserve some of the liquid for the dressing
2 - tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 - tbsp. oil (from the sun dried tomatoes)
1 - package spring mix salad greens (I used romaine)
1 - package crumbled goat cheese

Process:

1. Melt the butter in a pan
2. Add the mushrooms and onion and saute until the mushrooms are golden brown and slightly caramelized, about 10 minutes
3. Add the sun dried tomatoes, vinegar and oil
4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes
5. Pour the mushroom salad onto the lettuce and top with the goat cheese and serve warm.

In reading over the glowing comments on Kevin's blog,one commenter noted how nice this would be with a glass of wine. Far be it from me to miss an opportunity.

Presto Pasta Night: Pasta Salad

This week will be the 51st week of Ruth's Presto Pasta Night. I've only contributed to 4 previous weeks (see the selections, here, but it has been a great way to share my pasta meals and get ideas for future meals.

This past weekend, I went overnight camping with a group of 9 others. Each person brought some food that, at most only required warming up (e.g., vegetable soup). Being that we were only using a wood oven, we made a point of avoiding boiling water or trying to fry anything.

I offered to bring a pasta salad. Although it's more of a summer dish, being that it is served cold, it made for a great option when cross-country skiing into the cabin. I was able to leave it in the snow for a couple of hours and it tasted great at dinner.

Pasta Salad
(I made a double recipe...but couldn't fit it all into the container)



1 box of fusili or rotini
about 1/2-3/4 cup of pesto
1-2 plum tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes, cut in half)
1/2 english cucumber, slided into half moons
1/2 head of brocolli
feta (as desired)

I know it's not very attractive in the container. It wasn't very easy to take a good picture of the plate of food either. Between relying solely on candle light and my flash, this is all I could get:



The menu included a mixed green salad with mandarin and poppy seed dressing, carrots and celery slices, sweet potato soup, sliced baguette with swiss and chedder cheese, pasta salad, brownies and chocolate chip and cinnamon muffin tops. No one went hungry.

I'm going camping again next weekend, where we will share a warm pasta meal, cheese fondue and selection of other courses.

Fruit and Nut Drop Cookies

I spent a nostalgic day going through old cookbooks. It seems I've been collecting cookbooks for a very long time without realizing how addicted I really was. There was a period of time that my affinity was for local lodges and ladies' guild type cookbooks that were representative of their rural community and the composition of the people who lived in the community. This recipe for fruit and nut drop cookies caught my eye for several reasons. Firstly, it's from a German community in Manitoba called Steinbach. Secondly, I can't remember the last time I actually used shortening in a baking recipe.


Thirdly, I rated this recipe and my notation said "really easy, large quantity and tastes decent".


2 cups dates or raisins
1 cup water
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1/2 - 3/4 cup nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans) chopped

1. Roughly chop dates (or raisins), combine with water and cook for 5 minutes to soften. Remove from heat.
2. Add baking soda to dates/water and allow to cool slightly
3. Cream well the shortening, sugar and eggs.
4. Add date mixture to mixer.
5. Add dry ingredients and nuts
6. Drop by heaping tablespoons on parchment lined cookie sheet




7. Bake at 350 F for 12-15 minutes (mine were done in 12 minutes). Allow to cool on wire rack.




Note: It's really okay to load these up with more dates and nuts. This recipe makes about 4-5 dozen cookies.

Note: These are soft cookies