Baked Mushroom and Zucchini Quesadillas with Cool Cilantro Lime Pesto

There is hardly a bad time for quesadillas.  They can be the all-so-necessary in-between daytime snack, or a satisfying dinner.   Typically, you’re only option is cheese.   This is where the record starts skipping.   Sure it’s simple, but you can only enjoy processed cheese for so long.  If you are lucky, maybe you will also get some chicken thrown in there too.   But do not fret!  As the greenery in the produce section diversifies and multiplies, now is the time to add vegetables to everything – even your quesadillas.  Turn the record over; we’ve got a new song to play.

For this particular batch of quesadillas I chose portabella mushrooms for their meaty taste.  Zucchini was more of a frugally driven choice.  Besides corn, it’s one of the cheapest items in produce during the summer.   Carrots or bell peppers have potential as well.  

What really sets these quesadillas apart is the cilantro lime pesto.  I know I have been on a pesto kick recently, but for good reason.  No hassle, great taste.  It’s like buying quality products for half price!  This pesto – which I served cold – gave great contrast to the taste and texture.  So if you find yourself stalling out on plain old cheese quesadillas, there is hope.  Just add pesto, and presto!  You have yourself an old tune with a new twist. 

Cilantro Lime Pesto

Ingredients:

1 cup cilantro, chopped

1-2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

1 jalapeno, chopped

Zest of one lime

Juice of one lime

Salt

Enough olive oil to reach desired texture

Instructions:

1.       In a blender or food processor, add all ingredients.  Blend until you have reached desired consistency. 

Makes about ¾ cup.

Mushroom and Zucchini Quesadillas

Ingredients:

1 medium zucchini, sliced

2 cups portabella mushrooms, sliced

¼ cup olive oil, divided

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 ½ cups Monterey, Cheddar, or Mexican blend cheese, shredded

4-6 whole wheat tortillas (depending on how you portion)

Optional: Sour cream or salsa

Instructions:

1.       Heat a frying pan over medium heat, until you can feel heat.  Add 2 T olive oil.

2.       Add in zucchini and mushrooms (may have to add mushrooms first, then zucchini if space does not allow both – just don’t crowd the vegetables!) Sautee for about 5-7 minutes, or until vegetables are tender but not soft.  Remove from pan.  Keep pan warm if you wish to fry your quesadilla and not bake it.

3.       Spread pesto on tortilla (or if you want to keep the pesto cold, skip this). 

4.       Layer vegetables and cheese on tortilla.  Either fry or bake your quesadilla (I did mine in the toaster oven).

5.       If you have not added the pesto, add it now.  Slice the tortilla in quarters.  Serve with sour cream salsa, more cheese, etc.

Mushrooms and Cream Sauce

For those adjusting the amount of meat they have in your diet, but still craving substantial flavor, I suggest mushrooms.   Mushrooms adapt well to their dishes, creating a meaty sensation.  Seldom do you find a dish negatively dominated by their flavor.  Each mushroom has its own distinctive ‘earthy’ quality, but the taste truly varies full spectrum: from the bold and meaty shiitake to the soft, woodsy flavor of white buttons to the rich and almost creamy morel.  Some people are turned away from mushrooms due to their smooth, spongy texture.  Cooking them will alleviate many of these concerns.   They add a hearty tone to your sauce, side, or main dish. 

Before cooking them, make sure to always wash all the remaining dirt off your mushrooms.  Do not be afraid to use the stems as well as the buttons; though make sure that the bottom stems are not too tough.  Mushrooms can be forgiving during the cooking process, which is good news for many new cooks.  Make sure not to crowd them while cooking, giving each a space on the hot pan.  Use them in place of or alongside chicken, beef, seafood, pasta, or rice. 

The mushrooms and white cream sauce I made over pasta was a quick, savory meal that was made mostly with things already in my pantry.  Even without any meat, the meal was filling and satisfying.  The buttery cream sauce balances the aromatic earthiness of the mushrooms.  Add a splash of white wine or lemon juice for an entirely new facet of flavor.  This is the basics recipe, add and experiment at you leisure!

Mushrooms and Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil

¼ cup finely chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

2 T water

About 8 cremini or white button mushrooms, sliced

2 T butter, unsalted

½ cup heavy whipping cream

1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper, to taste

¼ cup fresh chopped parsley

Instructions:

1.       In a 9 in skillet, heat 2 T olive oil over medium high heat. 

2.       Add onions and garlic, cook for about 3-4 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium.

3.       Add mushrooms, making sure that they are not crowded.  Cook for about 5-7 minutes, or until mushrooms are fork-tender.

4.       Add butter, cream, and parmesan to skillet, stirring frequently to coat mushrooms and achieve creamy consistency.  About 2 minutes. 

5.       Season with salt, pepper, and parsley. 

6.       Serve over angel hair or spaghetti.  Garnish with more parmesan and fresh parsley.

Vegetable Lasagna Even Guys Enjoy

“Vegetable Lasagna” is like false advertising…or so some of my friends told me.  Delicious lasagna, by definition they say, must include greasy sausage or ground beef.  But when Italian sausage is $5 a pound, meat isn’t making the menu.   

**For all those already mourning the loss of flavor, I promise that it returns by the time you take your first bite. **

Meat consistently makes a dish tasty.  To make up for lost meat, I had to be elitist with my vegetable recruits.  I carefully chose the finest, firmest zucchini; went for the $2 splurge on brown Cremini mushrooms; got my money’s worth on frozen spinach and canned olives; and took on my trusted pantry standbys, onion and garlic. Other recipes might recommend red pepper, broccoli, or tomatoes, which are all excellent additions.  But alas, they are additions.  If you are looking to maximize the quality of your lasagna and not the quantity of your bill, this recipe is what you need.  Also, this recipe has the added health benefit of less cheese – notice that you don’t even need mozzarella!

The plate was a kaleidoscope of colors and flavors.  This meatless lasagna retained all the hearty taste, without leaving you bulging at the belt.  Even the carnivorous skeptics at the table were silent, mouths full of delight.  It was the type of dinner where you heard only the scraping of utensils.  It was the type of night where you redefine “delicious lasagna”.  

Vegetable Lasagna

Ingredients:

½ box of lasagna noodles

2 T olive oil

½ cup onions, finely chopped

1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped

1 cup zucchini, coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

¼ cup sliced black olives (from the can)

1 10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed  

Basil

Oregano

Salt and Pepper

1 can pasta/marinara sauce

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 egg

Pinch of nutmeg

Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1.       Preheat oven to 350˚.

2.       Prepare the vegetables; meanwhile heat pasta sauce in small pot over medium. 

3.       In a large pot, boil water for the pasta.

4.       In large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat.

5.       Add onions, mushrooms, zucchini – cook for about 3-5 min, then add garlic and cook for until vegetables are fork tender (less than 5 min).

6.       Reduce heat to medium.  Add olives and spinach, toss until warm.

7.       Meanwhile, mix together ricotta cheese, egg, and nutmeg.

8.       Season with basil, oregano, salt and pepper until achieve desired taste.

9.       In a deep dish – at least 4 in (i.e. Corning Ware) – layer lasagna noodles, vegetables, pasta sauce, and ricotta cheese mixture.  Repeat as needed.  Sprinkle top with parmesan cheese.

10.   Bake for about 45 min.  Consume!

Japanese Udon Soup with Chicken

Trying a new recipe, especially a foreign one, is not what I would recommend when planning a dinner for company. The novelty will wear off as soon as you finish converting measurement from the metric system. If your company happens to have the necessary patience and tender encouragement however, you may be able to trudge through. In my frantic attempt to create this Japanese meal, I learned to never again go with a recipe that says “please reference this other recipe”. This makes it at least twice as confusing and severely unnerving, as you are always wondering if things apply to both? Either/or? Will the madness ever end?! Luckily, this frustration was just concerning these Japanese Green Tea Rolls I wish not to mention due to their malignant recipe.

The story resolves itself at the table place with a big, steaming bowl of Japanese Udon. Swirling my soup around, smelling the pungent ginger-and-sesame-infused broth seemed to compensate for everything. The simple-minded western cook in me is tempted to call this recipe Asian Chicken Noodle Soup, but I know it would be heresy. It had much more body and unique character than typical chicken noodle: shiitake mushrooms, leeks and spinach [also sriracha or hot seasonings if you choose]. The mushrooms, ginger and touch of sesame oil and soy sauce give it a pleasant oriental taste, as I am sure the additional heat would as well. The white udon noodles were about half the size of regular fettuccini, but about the same width; they were very salty, even when dry. I kept them separate until serving so they would not become bloated and limp by soaking in the broth for hours. Homemade chicken or vegetable broth is always better than canned and quality matters with this broth-based soup. There are many varieties of udon, as well as varying methods and ingredients. I wanted chicken in mine, so I was inspired to use this recipe.

I paired the meal with those Japanese Green Tea Rolls, which were quite yummy, and their unique green shade did become a talking point of the table. However, I sincerely believe that this recipe was intended to be my culinary chagrin of the night. It sent me on a wild goose chase of multiple recipes and odd ingredients, so I have decided against including such a recipe. Once I find a simpler one, if it exists, I will post.

Japanese Udon Soup with Chicken

Ingredients:

4 tsp olive oil, divided

2-3 tsp sesame oil

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced

3 leeks, cleaned and sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp fresh ginger, minced

1 ½ cups shiitake mushrooms, sliced

6 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sriracha [Asian hot sauce], optional

10 oz package udon noodles

2 cup fresh spinach

Instructions:

1. Heat 2 tsp olive oil and sesame oil in large pot over medium heat.

2. Add chicken; cook until just browned. Remove.

3. In same pot, add remaining oil, leeks, garlic and ginger. Cook until leeks are almost tender, add mushrooms. Cook another 5 min until mushrooms are soft.

4. Add broth, soy sauce, and sriracha. Return chicken to pan. Boil, then reduce to low for about 25 min.

5. Meanwhile, prepare udon noodles according to package instructions.

6. Just before serving, add fresh spinach. Once spinach has wilted, ready to serve.

7. Serve over bowl of noodles.

Serves about 5-6 people.

First Homemade Dinner in Seattle: Braised Pork Shoulder and Sautéed Morels in a Red Sauce

The gift Seattle bequeathed to me was a bounty of sensory perceptions. When I bit into my first Northwestern peach, I thought I had stumbled upon the land of milk and honey. This was all I wanted to eat…until I had the cherries, no this must be it! I listened intently to soulful musical performances and had meaningful conversations with unnamed persons. Everything was throbbing with life. I don’t know if it was this city, this summer, this attitude I was taking, but “best” simply could not be pinned to one thing.

The city continually presented me pieces of its beauty: from the hand-made trinkets and hand-picked strawberries, lively hoola-hoop performances or fortune telling in the local park; I connected with all these trade masters in some way. Seattle was an experience for all my senses. My eyes glided to the tops and window ledges of buildings where I found leafy greenery erupting. My nose directed me to the mouth-watering, inviting scents of warm bread or Asian-inspired cooking. The people I met greeted me with familiarity, making available all the privileges of a long-awaited guest. It was odd staying in a hotel when so much of me thought I was home.

However, the hotel felt nothing like home. The tiny joke-of-a-kitchen was equipped with an easy-bake sized oven, a cheap stovetop with only two working burners and two pans, one mixing spoon, no knife. When I requested one, I got the awkward love child of a serrated and butter knife.

The better news was that the food I purchased from Pike Place Market was quite the spread. In my grocery bag was a French baguette, a tin of olive oil, a can of pureed tomatoes, two cuts of pork shoulder, three delightful little cipollini onions, a handful of brown, foam-like Washington morel mushrooms, purple garlic, fresh basil and a pasta artisan’s Rosemary Garlic linguine. Everything fresh or local; I could not be more pleased. Granted, I was handicapped by this awful excuse for a kitchen, but I would not let Seattle rain on my dinner parade [actually it didn’t rain until the day I left]. I brought the same sunshine and flavor to the table, even 3000 miles away from home.

Working with the bare minimum – we are talking salt and pepper packets – I created a phenomenal meal. The pork shoulder was bought from the last butcher in Pike Place; he was closing up shop that very day. The price was dirt cheap but the tenderness and taste were worth much more. The sweet cipollini onions and garlic complimented the braised pork and tomato, while the morels and Rosemary Garlic pasta acted as wonderful accents to the savory red sauce. With a dash of salt and pepper and some thinly sliced leaves of basil it was complete. Even out of my element, I still was able to create yummy delicacies. The following recipe is to be followed roughly, as I was not able to record everything at the time. But there is always room for experimentation!

Braised Pork Shoulder and Sautéed Morels in a Red Sauce

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1 28 oz can pureed tomatoes, with juice

2 pork shoulders, bone-in

3 cipollini onions, chopped

2 cloves purple garlic, minced

5-6 morel mushrooms, sliced

Fresh basil, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper

Rosemary Garlic Linguine

Instructions:

1. In frying pan over high heat, heat olive oil for about 2 min.

2 Add pork shoulders; fry until well-browned on both sides – about 5-7 min.

3. Add can of tomatoes, onions, garlic, reduce heat to medium low and cover; cook until desired tenderness, about 15-20 min.

4. Meanwhile, heat water and cook pasta al dente.

5. In another pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add morels and cook until tender, but still retaining most of their shape and firmness. Add to red sauce. Heat for about 5 min.

6. Place pasta on plate, add pork, cover with red sauce, top with basil, salt and pepper.

VWAHLAH!

7. VWAHLAW!!!

Go Big With the Garlic: Garlic Pasta with Spinach, Mushrooms and Peppers

Ever tried to eat a whole clove of garlic? Let’s just say you won’t be going after the opposite sex for a while…

The original recipe I looked at for tonight’s dinner called for nearly two heads of garlic. Two HEADS of garlic. Not two singular cloves of garlic, two entire heads of garlic cloves. I could already taste two weeks of stinky breath ahead.

Needless to say, I personalized the recipe and drastically cut down on the garlic, for two reasons: I was only cooking for two people and I have learned to respect the power of garlic. This time though, I boiled the garlic until it had become tender. By doing this, I took the edge off the taste and replaced the sharp bite with a smoother, sweeter flavor. Depending on the size of your dinner crowd, I could definitely see making an entire head of garlic; it seems not be as potent as previously feared. Add some vibrant red peppers, fresh green spinach and buttery mushrooms, toss with parmesan cheese and you’ve got yourself a meal. Even my omnivorous dad enjoyed it!

Garlic Pasta with Spinach, Mushrooms and Peppers

Ingredients:

1 head of garlic

2 cups water

2 red bell peppers

1 bag [1 lb] fresh spinach

8 mushrooms

1 T olive oil or butter

Thyme

Salt and Pepper

Pasta

Parmesan Cheese

Instructions:

1. Peel and separate the cloves of garlic from the head. Boil garlic with water, covered, until very tender – about 30 min. [May have to add more water, check often]. Remove garlic cloves, RESERVE WATER. Put cloves in food processor [or use immersion blender] with less than a tsp of salt. Mix until forms a paste.

2. Broil bell peppers in oven at high heat until skin bubbles on all sides [about 10-15 min]. Take out of oven and let cool.

3. In skillet, heat oil/butter over medium heat. Cook mushrooms until tender, about 5 min. Remove.

4. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package instructions.

5. Rinse spinach. Place in skillet with reserved garlic water, cook until just wilted. Sprinkle salt, pepper and thyme to taste.

6. Peel skin off bell peppers and chop into bite-sized pieces.

7. Add the mushrooms, peppers and boiled garlic paste to the skillet. Mix with spinach until incorporated.

8. Place over bed of pasta, grate parmesan cheese on top!

Dill Shrimp and Mushrooms: No Small Feat

Poor dill, eternally confined to pickle seasonings. Tonight I sprung him from that stereotypical prison and together we wrecked delicious havoc on my shrimp and mushrooms. Our accomplices were few; admittedly, dill did most of the work. So, you might want to rethink your preconceptions about his “pickle past”; dill’s influence is sure to grow in your kitchen after your first few encounters.

Dill has a very aromatic smell and a grassy, crisp taste, with some lemon, caraway or even pine aftertastes. It is best used in its fresh ferny form I am told. However, when your budget for herbs and spices is limited, a tiny bottle of dried dill will serve you well. Also, while we are on the topic of fresh foods, I also used frozen shrimp even though the ‘fresh’ ones were on sale. Why? Well, first off because I have developed a bad habit of letting fresh things go bad because I buy too much food on a regular basis. Second, frozen shrimp is flash frozen when caught. You could think of these shrimp in a state of suspended…freshness? Maybe that’s pushing it. The point is that they taste the same, but are usually cheaper and stay longer in the freezer. There is no “use ‘em or lose ‘em” game.

The recipe itself is simple. The cooking process, however, can get a bit tricky. Overcooking mushrooms or shrimp can turn light delicacies to pieces of chewy leather. Mmmmm. So be aware of these signs:

-mushrooms should be darker in color and just fork-tender

-shrimp should be light pink throughout – once they have curled, take them off!

Enjoy this dish by itself for a light spring/summer meal, or pair it with cucumber, mild cheese, cream sauces, potatoes or some fluffy lemon rice for a side. Just remember that the shrimp and mushrooms cook relatively quick, so plan your other dishes accordingly – cold shrimp and mushrooms, yuck!

Either way, dill will fit your dinner bill.

Dill Shrimp and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

9 raw shrimp

8 mushrooms, sliced about ¼ in thick

2 T olive oil

1 T butter

1 T lemon juice

1 t or so of dill [to taste, really]

Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Thaw shrimp in cold water for about 15 min. Clean and devein shrimp.

2. In large skillet, heat 2 T olive oil over medium heat. Meanwhile, wash and slice mushrooms.

3. Once oil is hot, add mushrooms. Cook for about 5 min, or until brown and fork-tender. Remove and keep warm.

4. Add butter and lemon juice to skillet. Add shrimp; cook for about 2-3 min, or until pink throughout.

5. Season with salt, pepper and dill. Add mushrooms back in, toss.

6. Serve!

Makes 1 serving. NOM: 9.5