mushroom bourguignon

From Smitten Kitchen

Serves 4

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 pounds portobello mushrooms, in 1/4-inch slices (save the stems for another use) (you can use cremini instead, as well)
• 1/2 carrot, finely diced
• 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup full-bodied red wine
• 2 cups beef or vegetable broth (beef broth is traditional but vegetable to make it vegetarian; it works with either)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup pearl onions, peeled (thawed if frozen)
• Egg noodles, for serving

 Sour cream and chopped chives or parsley, for garnish (optional)
Heat the one tablespoon of the olive oil and one tablespoon of butter in a medium Dutch oven or heavy sauce pan over high heat. Sear the mushrooms until they begin to darken, but not yet release any liquid — about three or four minutes. Remove them from pan.

Lower the flame to medium and add the second tablespoon of olive oil. Toss the carrots, onions, thyme, a few good pinches of salt and a several grinds of black pepper into the pan and cook for 10, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for just one more minute.

Add the wine to the pot, scraping any stuck bits off the bottom, then turn the heat all the way up and reduce it by half. Stir in the tomato paste and the broth. Add back the mushrooms with any juices that have collected and once the liquid has boiled, reduce the temperature so it simmers for 20 minutes, or until mushrooms are very tender. Add the pearl onions and simmer for five minutes more.

Combine remaining butter and the flour with a fork until combined; stir it into the stew. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 more minutes. If the sauce is too thin, boil it down to reduce to the right consistency. Season to taste.

To serve, spoon the stew over a bowl of egg noodles, dollop with sour cream (optional) and sprinkle with chives or parsley.

RESULTS: 
Pretty tasty. I don't know that I've ever had beef bourguignon, so I can't compare, but now I want to try it. I think the quality of the wine is pretty important, though. There's a real strong winey taste, even though the alcohol cooks off, so if you use, say, a box wine (guilty), then you end up tasting it and then think, "wow, this could have been so much better."

Gratin Aux Epinards (Spinach Gratin)

From Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking:

Spinach
2	tablespoons finely minced shallots or green onions
2	tablespoons butter
1 1/4	cups chopped blanched spinach or frozen spinach (drained)
1/2	teaspoon salt
1/8	teaspoon pepper
1	pinch nutmeg
Egg Custard
3	eggs
1 1/2	cups whipping cream
1	pinch nutmeg
1/8	teaspoon pepper
1/4	cup grated swiss cheese
1	tablespoon butter, cut into pea-sized dots

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cook the shallots or onions for a moment in the butter.
3. Add the spinach and stir over moderate heat for several minutes to evaporate all its water.
4. Stir in salt, pepper and nutmeg and taste carefully for seasonings and set aside.
5. Beat the eggs, cream and seasonings in a mixing bowl.
6. Gradually stir in spinach mixture.
7. Sprinkle with cheese and dot the top with butter.
8. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes.
9. The quiche is done when a knife plunged into the center comes out clean. Serve immediately.

RESULTS: Well, let me tell you. The French apparently love butter. This is from my new cookbook that I got on Thursday, and it's really just a fun book to read, Julia was really funny. You can also make this in a pie shell (making this a quiche), but I didn't think it needed the extra fat and calories. Having said that, it was really good, very tasty and buttery and moist-- perhaps a little too moist. I would make sure you cook off as much liquid from the spinach as possible. I used shallots because I've never used shallots before, and I really liked the nutmeg/shallot combination. Those suckers really made me tear up, though! Bottom line, this was delicious for special occasions, but the huge amount of cream and butter makes it not an everyday thing.

Suz and I went to the farmer's market yesterday and bought our plants for the year. I got two tomato plants (one roma and one cherry) and I'm going to pot those with a couple of the basil, since I heard they like each other's company. I also broke down and bought some better looking parsley. Mine is just not looking good, the stems can't support the weight of the leaves. I might keep one of the seedlings and keep it inside, just to see what happens (I don't want to put any of my seedlings outside because they'd be just pulverized in a good rain, their stems are so weak). Suz got thousands of plants, like a couple lavender and tarragon, some parsley, some oregano, chives. Should be a fun summer!