Basic Cheese Quiche

Recipe: Basic Cheese Quiche // How to Cook Everything

Rating:

The last time I made quiche, I added a lot of extra fillings and removed one egg. Turns out ALL the eggs are needed for the quiche to set properly. And a variety of fillings really didn't taste as a good as a basic one- or two-ingredient quiche. Bittman mentions this in his book, so I should have known better. Anyway, this one had only cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, pecorino) and sauteed mushrooms. It turned out quite well.

Mushroom Risotto

Recipe: Mushroom Risotto // How to Cook Everything

Rating:

This dish didn't particularly thrill me. I probably won't make it again.

Fried Rice

Recipe: Mushroom Fried Rice // Serious Eats

Rating:

This was the best homemade fried rice I've ever had. It was only loosely based on the linked recipe. We did not use oyster sauce, but had some black bean garlic sauce in the fridge that was a great substitute. We used mirin instead of rice wine vinegar, and we added only four meager mushrooms, because that's what we had on hand. The cooking methods made all the difference--high heat and vegetables cooked in batches.

This is going to be the new standard for fried rice at home. Excellent.

Roasted Green Beans with Mushrooms & Walnuts

Recipe: Roasted Green Beans with Mushrooms & Walnuts // Oh My Veggies
Rating: 

This was a side dish we made to go with orzo dinner tonight. I liked the flavors -- the walnuts added a great nutty sweetness. However, our green beans were a little tough. I would remedy this in the future by using more tender green beans and roasting them a little longer. All in all, a nice veggie side.

Mushroom Bourguignon

Recipe: Mushroom Bourguignon // Smitten Kitchen via Serious Eats

Rating:

I really wanted to love this recipe, but I think it was just too mushroom-y for me. We used shiitake & white mushrooms in addition to portabella. Perhaps we needed more seasoning, and we only had one garlic clove. Seth says he would like to eat it again, but I'm not convinced.

Update: I lowered the rating to two kitties. Edible, but I don't plan on making it again.

Tomato Basil Soup with Rösti

Recipe: Tomato Basil Soup // Serious Eats
Side Recipe: Crispy Potato, Onion & Mushroom Rösti // Serious Eats

Rating:

We liked this meal very much! The soup has a nice texture and was easily put together with ingredients we had on hand. We used half & half instead of heavy cream. My mom recently gave me an immersion blender and I used it to mix the soup right in the pot. It was fabulous--thanks mom!

We tried making the rösti in our cast iron skillet, but it must not be seasoned properly. It got stuck and we had to mush it all up to get it out, so ours wasn't layered as intended. It still tasted great, and reminded us of latkes. We ate it with sour cream! Definitely tasty.

Slow-Cooker: Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna

Recipe: Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna // Slow Cooker Revolution (pg 232)
Rating:  

This was the best lasagna I've ever had. It had excellent flavor, wonderful texture, and it wasn't overly cheesy. A real winner, and I'm not usually a lasagna fan.

This recipe required all the prep for a lasagna cooked in the oven (pre-cooking noodles, sautéing vegetables and the like), so the only real convenience is that you come home and your meal is already cooked. The authors do not try to disguise the fact that most quality slow cooker recipes require a fair amount of prep work. Regardless, I can't wait to try more from this cookbook.

I have been looking for a quality slow cooker cookbook, and I think I have found one worth purchasing from the fine folks at America's Test Kitchen & Cooks Illustrated.

Pumpkin & Porcini Soup

Recipe: Pumpkin & Porcini Soup // The Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home (page 35)

Rating:

Great, earthy soup. Came together quickly (30-45 min). I added the optional cream/milk at the end, and preferred it that way. I will make this again.

I had to visit a few grocery stores to find dried porcini, but whole foods came through for me in the end. I would consider trying a different dried mushroom or dried mushroom mix in the future if I couldn't find porcini.