Portobello Mushroom Escalopes / Soften Brown Sugar Without a Microwave / Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds

Recipe: Portobello Mushroom Escalopes

Serve with polenta, or potatoes, or cous cous, or even in a bun as a veggie burger.

Blog Post & Recipe: How To Soften Brown Sugar Without a Microwave

As you can see, the sugar softened to the point where I could mash it easily with a fork. (It took just a few minutes.)

Video: VIDEO: How to Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds

Todd Coleman shows us an amazing trick for peeling an entire head of garlic in less than 10 seconds — no acrid fingernails, no knife required.

20 Sandwiches / Veggie Summer Rolls with Shiso & Thai Basil / Buckwheat-Filled Mushrooms

Recipes: 20 Fun Sandwiches for Your Sack Lunch

Steak Sandwich with Cucumber, Ginger Salad, and Black Chile Mayonnaise »
Grilled Portobello and Peach Sandwich »
Roasted Tomato and Lentils in a Pita »
Salame ala Diavolo »
Avocado and Sprout Club Sandwich »
Curried Egg Salad »
Roasted Beet, Goat Cheese, and Avocado Sandwiches »
Roast Beef Sandwich with Boursin »
The TMT: Tomato, Mayo, And Toast »
Tomato Mozzarella Sandwich »
Whatta Tuna Sandwich »
Bacon, Pear, and Cheese Sandwich »
Turkey and Coleslaw Sandwich »
Asparagus and Bacon on Buttered Toast »
Grandmother's Egg Salad (Sandwich) »
Deconstructed Club Sandwich Salad »
Deviled Ham Salad Sandwich »
Crunchy Chicken Salad Sandwiches with Bacon »
Broccoli Rabe, Roasted Red Pepper, Mozzarella, and Arugula Sandwich »
Flounder Sandwich Marinated in Fish Sauce, with Sriracha Mayo »

Blog Post & Recipe: Fresh Veggie Summer Rolls with Shiso and Thai Basil

In order to make summer rolls, though, you must have at least two essential ingredients: rice wrappers, and mung bean starch noodles ... You basically make like a burrito.

Blog Post & Recipe: Buckwheat filled mushrooms

I love the crunchy buckwheat and I rather under-cook it just a little than let it go all mushy and porridge-like. Pared with rosemary (a little garlic and lemon zest too , if you wish) and tiny bit of cheese they are such a simple thing to enjoy.

Cheesy Chickpea Quesadillas / Portobello Mushroom Eggs Benedict / How to Peel a Peach

Blog Post & Recipe: Cheesy-Chick Quesadillas

My daughter likes them simple with chickpeas and cheese only. I prefer my cheesy-chick quesadillas with the addition of roasted veggies.

Blog Post & Recipe: Portobello Mushroom Eggs Benedict

Roast the mushrooms while you’re making the sauce. Meanwhile, have a pan of water simmering away so you can crack your eggs into it when you’re ready.

Blog Post & Recipe: How to Peel a Peach

First, get everything ready to go. You're going to need a bowl with some ice water, a pot of boiling water, some fresh peaches, a paring knife, and a slotted spoon.

Squash Blossom Pesto / Sweet Potato Fries with Orange-Nutmeg Salt / 6 Vegetarian Recipes for the Barbeque

Blog Post & Recipe: Squash Blossom Pesto [ via ]

I simple converted my standard pesto recipe, with the addition of saffron from the abandoned sauce recipe, and magic! A vivid orange sauce, nutty with parmesan and pine nuts with this mysterious undernote. Squash blossoms.

Blog Post & Recipe: Sweet Potato Fries with Orange-Nutmeg Salt [ via ]

The best success I had came at the end of my experimental process. I found that a screaming hot oven, a preheated, well-oiled baking sheet and straight or crinkle-cut sweet potatoes turned 3 or 4 times in the oven yielded the best results.

Blog Post & Recipes: Throw Another Melon on the Barbie

The grill, as everyone knows, is the best place to cook a steak, but that doesn’t mean you have to cook a steak every time you fire up the grill.

Vietnamese-Style Portobello Mushrooms ... Watermelon Burgers With Cheese ... Curry-Rubbed Sweet-Potato Planks ... Teriyaki Cabbage Steaks ... Chili-Rubbed Jicama Steaks With Queso Fresco ... Miso-Glazed Eggplant Slices

Portabello Mushroom & Basil Pesto Panini / Roasted Sweet Potato Salad / Escabeche & Savory Granola

Blog Post & Recipe: Portabello Mushroom and Basil Pesto Panini [via]

I decided to have a vegetarian dinner for my family last night and picked up some big beautiful portabello mushrooms for our paninis. I also added fresh basil pesto, mozzarella, tomatoes and sweet vidalia onions to them.

Blog Post & Recipe: Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

And it definitely takes the right kind of potato salad to make me realize that it’s ok to eat something warm on a hot day. I simply have no patience for chill time when there are sweet potatoes, black beans, red peppers, cilantro, and lime involved.

Blog Post & Recipe: Escabeche + Savory Granola (+ Las Manas Tamales)

So, you can imagine our delight when a plate of pickled asparagus, beets and carrots topped with a mess of puffed millet, seeds and spices arrived at our table. After our first bites, we both nodded in agreement. This is so good ...

The vegetables were sharp, intensely flavored and very vinegary. The granola is toasted, salty, sweet, and umami.

Concept: use that grill as a sandwich press. (Or has this already occurred to you, M?)

Gala Pie / Prepare Portabella Mushrooms / Growing Peas & Sweet Pea Gnocchi

Blog Post & Recipe & Pictures: Gala pie: king of the picnic blanket?

I sat under a table on beer-soaked carpet and wondered at the infinite egg. How was it possible that every slice of the yard long, loaf-shaped pie had a perfect slice of egg in it?

Blog Post & Video: Knife Skills: How to Prepare Portabella Mushrooms

When cooking the cap whole, it's best to score it lightly on the top side. This allows steam from inside to escape more easily, which both hastens cooking, and makes it more even.

Blog Post & Recipe: In defense of shelling peas

Well, for one thing, shelling peas have a more complex and interesting flavor than the more prevalent sugar snap peas. Freshly picked, they’re just as sweet, but not so one-dimensional. They are the first vegetables to be planted in spring ... Because they are planted and mature earlier than most spring vegetables, they feature prominently in many classic early-spring dishes from around the world.

Sweet Pea Gnocci

Roast Mushroom & Bread Salad / Grilled Tofu Sandwiches / Grow Unusual Vegetables

Blog Post & Recipe: 9 things you probably don’t know about mushrooms + roast mushroom salad [5 ingredients]

roast portabello mushrooms ... roast mushroom & bread salad

Blog Post & Recipe: GRILLED TOFU SANDWICHES WITH LEMON AIOLI

I always forget how much I like tofu as a sandwich filling. I think of it for stir-fries and curries but somehow sandwiches fall off my tofu radar.

Blog Post: New life on the veg patch

Don't devote your precious outdoor space to growing cheap, ubiquitous vegetables, says River Cottage head gardener Mark Diacono. There's a whole world of delicious, easy to grow exotica out there

Extracts from Mark's Taste of the Unexpected:
• How to grow and cook Chilean guava
• How to grow and cook yacon
• How to grow Szechuan pepper and make Chinese five spice

Salted Chicken with Scarlet Risotto / 5 Pea Recipes / 10 BBQ Recipes

Blog Post & Recipes: Salted Chicken with Scarlet Risotto

Once the stock has absorbed and the rice is cooked beat in a wad of butter and watch it turn glossy like a tin of Dulux paint.

Blog Post & Recipes: Spring Green: 5 Snappy Recipes with Fresh Peas

Pea Salad with Radishes and Feta ... Smashed Peas with Mint Bruschetta ... Chilled Spring Pea Soup ... Plump Pea Dumplings ... Leek, Bacon, and Pea Risotto

Blog Post & Recipes: Ten Grilling Recipe Ideas for Memorial Day Weekend Grilling!

Very Greek Grilled Chicken ... Grilled Middle Eastern Turkey Burgers ... Grilled Salmon with Asian Dipping Sauce ... Kubideh or Grilled Ground Meat on Skewers with Middle Eastern Spices ... Grilled Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed with Sausage, Spinach, and Cheese ... Grilled Halibut with Southwestern Rub and Tomatillo Salsa ... Spicy Grilled Eggplant with Red Pepper, Parsley, and Mint ... Greek-Seasoned Pork Chops with Lemon and Oregano ... Grilled Chicken Sanpete Kabobs ... Grilled Salmon Packets with Tomatoes, Olives, Garlic, Thyme, and Saffron.

Care for Your Knives / Roasted Radishes / Greek Mushroom Pie with Leeks

Blog Post: How to Take Care of Your Knives

Yes, it's nice to have an impressive arsenal of knives at your disposal, but for most home cooks, there are three that are truly important: a chef's knife, a paring knife, and a serrated bread knife.

Article & Recipe: Roasted Radishes: So Who Knew?

Look under 'Related' for the link to the recipe.

I gave it a try, roasting a bunch of halved radishes in a hot oven with plenty of butter and lemon juice. One mouthful, and I immediately got the appeal. Instead of spicy, crisp and crunchy, these radishes were sweet, succulent and mellow, vaguely like turnips but with a softer bite.

Blog Post & Recipe: Manitaropita me Prassa (Homemade Greek Mushroom Pie with Leeks)

I sauteed the leeks first, together with garlic and spring onions and cooked them with balsamic vinegar until they were soft. I used two kinds of mushrooms: white portobello and white agaricus (button mushrooms). I added fresh rosemary which matches well with mushrooms and as the mushrooms released a lot of fluids, I added some flour to absorb the juices.

Rib-Eye, Potato and Portobello Kebabs. Carrot and Chantarelle Quiche. Cooking in a Hotel Room.

Blog Post & Recipe: Rib-Eye, New Potato and Portobello Kebabs

The recipe makes four skewers, with about 3 1/2 ounces of steak per skewer. That might seem a little chintzy, but since the rib-eye and mushroom pieces are marinated together, the recipe makes the most of the mushroom’s “meatiness.”

Blog Post & Recipe: Carrot and Chantarelle Quiche

A week or two ago I was staring at a pile of yellow chantarelle mushrooms and a bunch of young orange carrots in my fridge, trying to decide which one should become the centrepiece of our dinner table. Earthy wild mushrooms or succulent sweet carrots? [...] I [...] combined them both in a quiche ...

Blog Post & recipe: Cooking in Your Hotel Room - Foodie Flicks

British comedian George Egg recently posted a YouTube video in which he cooks dinner in his hotel room.

We're not talking about a quick salad and sandwich here. Without bringing any special tools from home, Egg [...] makes pasta and biscuits in his room -- from scratch. No hot plate. No microwave. If it wasn't captured in a video, we probably wouldn't believe it.

The entrée? A tortellini pasta with spinach, rocket and crème fraîche that he cooks in the room's tea kettle.

Portabella and Brie Burgers. Pistou Sauce. Bread Baking Basics.

Recipe: Grilled Portabella and Brie Burgers

Layer mushroom caps on bottom of your buns, top with slices of zucchini, squash and roasted red peppers. Top with 3-4 basil leaves. Spread brie on top half of warm bun and serve.

Blog Post & Recipe: Another Option for Freezing Fresh Basil: French Pistou Sauce in Honor of Julia Child

What's the difference between pesto and pistou? A little quick research using Food Blog Search turned up many variations of pistou. Some recipes include tomatoes, parsley, or other herbs, and pistou may or may not have cheese. Most times though pistou doesn't contain nuts, and pistou usually has more garlic in proportion to basil than pesto. does.

Blog Post: Bread Baking Basics

Have been on a sourdough binge since the purple cabbage post [...] and loving Carri's ratio of 1 part starter : 1 part water : 2 parts flour with 1% salt by weight ...

Mixing/Kneading ... The First Rise ... Shaping ... The Second Rise ... Baking

Mushroom Pizzettas. Homemade Ricotta. Homemade Paneer. Homemade Queso Blanco.

Blog Post & Recipe: Portobello Mushroom Pizzettas

I saw some beautiful portobello mushrooms at Trader Joe's and instantly thought they would make tasty pizzas or pizzettas. My kids were very excited to make their own creations. It was extremely easy to make and loads of fun for my kids. We all chose our own toppings ...

A similar recipe:
Blog Post & Recipe Portabella Pizza

I piled it high with diced zucchini, onions, and a heirloom tomato. I tossed some Italian turkey sausage in, just about 1/3 cup, then I added some Penzeys Pizza seasoning and salt, tossed it again. The secret to loading the caps is to use your hands…that way you can press it firmly into the caps and really pile it on high.

Blog Post & Recipe: Homemade Ricotta Cheese

But for those of us that occasionally make recipes calling for a large amount of ricotta, there aren't any 2-pound tubs available, just tiny plastic containers in the supermarket. [...] Making ricotta really is easy and for the price of a quart or two of milk, you can have a lovely mound of freshly-made, still-warm ricotta with very little effort.

Blog Post & Recipe: Paneer

You just bring some whole milk to a boil, mix in an acid such as lemon juice and let the milk curdle. After it has curdled you drain the liquid, form the curds into a block in some cheese cloth or muslin and let it sit with a heavy weight on it for a few hours. At this point you have a brick of fresh paneer cheese ...

One poster afterwards adds:

I believe the only difference between paneer and ricotta is that the paneer has been pressed and more water has been removed.

A few days later I added this because it seemed sensible to have all these cheeses together:

Blog Post & Recipe: Making Queso Blanco with goat milk

Today I am going to show you how to make an acid precipitated cheese called Queso Blanco. This is similar to paneer (Indian Cuisine) and is quite popular in latino cooking. We also have Queso Fresco which is different.

And later, this:

Blog Post & Recipe: I am a Queso Cabeza...Fromage la Tete...Cheese Head

Queso Blanco is a fresh cheese, made from direct acidification (adding acid to the milk). It is then drained &/or pressed into shape. This makes it a great crumbling cheese...but it doesn't melt! So, you can fry it up in a pan ...

Grilled cheese sandwiches. Leeks with mustard and crème fraiche. Chicken with Herb Butter.

Article & Recipes: Grilled cheeses on the grill

For something to go with the wine, consider grilled (literally) cheese sandwiches ... Truly great sandwiches must begin with great bread ... Get creative with fillings ...

Grilled chicken and Gouda with arugula and chutney ... Grilled Cheddar with bacon, portobellos and grilled onions

Blog Post & Recipe: Poireaux aux moutarde et crème fraiche (Leeks with mustard and crème fraiche)

Though grown year-round, leeks are traditionally used in hearty winter soups and stews, from pot au feu to potage bonne femme. Steamed and served at room temperature with a sharp, mustardy vinaigrette, they could almost pass as a warm-weather starter.

Blog Post & Recipe: Slashed Chicken with Herb Butter. When Jeff makes this, that man owns me.

With a slashed chicken, you slice into the chicken in key places so that the flavors don’t just sit on top of the skin, they get into the meat. You massage the herb butter into those cuts, and then you stuff them with bay leaves and sliced garlic. By the time you close the oven door, the chicken inside is literally bursting ...