Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese

Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese

No one is half way when it comes to beets; you either like them or you don’t. Beets may be a generational thing, a food that your mother or grandmother ate but one for which you can’t muster much enthusiasm.  But that doesn’t explain why they appear on the menus of so many “hipster” dining joints (insert name here).  (Also trending in these hipster hideouts is brussel sprouts as an appetizer/ first course. Brussel sprouts as an appetizer?) ( I know, they’re cheap and they make money).

We humans appear to have evolved to be “hard wired” to prefer sweet, which would include beets, but why is there an aversion to them? In the wine world, there is a term for the relationship that  geography, geology, and climate make on wine grapes and how that influences the taste and nose of the wine. It’s called terroir.  (I worked with a sommelier who used to say, “You pay for that dirt.”) I know that no one would talk about the terroir of a beet, but is the very earthy taste of beets part of the aversion? I don’t know. I’m not here to change anyone’s mind. I came around to beets but I am alone in this in my family.

These were made with a bunch of baby red beets, which makes a serving for two. (The bunch had seven baby beets).

Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese
For two servings

One bunch of baby red beets
Olive oil, salt and ground black pepper and several sprigs fresh thyme for roasting the beets

The dressing:
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon honey
salt and  ground black pepper

3 to 4 Tablespoons goat cheese, crumbled

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Cut off the beets greens; save for use as a side vegetable. Rinse the beets under cold water. Cut off the spindly end of the beet. Place the beets in one layer onto a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle the beets with a tablespoon or two of olive oil; season with salt and ground black pepper. Add the thyme to the beets. Wrap the foil around the beets and place the package onto a baking sheet. Place the beets into the oven and roast for 30 to 40 minutes until tender; the point of a knife should easily pierce the beets. (If you are roasting larger beets, they will take longer to cook). When the beets have cooked, remove them from the oven and let cool completely. Clean the beets by trimming off the stem end of the beets and peeling the skin from the beets. (This part could stain your hands so use rubber gloves if you wish). Slice or dice the beets, depending on their size; I cut the beets into quarters or sixths, depending on their size. Set the beets aside.

2.  Prepare the vinaigrette for the beets. Place the oils, vinegar, honey salt and pepper into a small bowl and whisk until combined. Add the beets and stir. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.

3. To serve, stir half of the crumbled goat cheese into the beets. Place a few lettuce leaves onto two plates; divide the beets between the two plates. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoons goat cheese over the two salads and serve.

Gazpacho of Green Vegetables

Inspired by the market: Gazpacho of Green Vegetables

Everything for this recipe came from this past Saturday’s trip to the local farmer’s market. There were cucumbers, zucchini, onions, and basil. I had garlic scapes leftover from last week’s trip. This was pretty much improvised based on my experience of making gazpacho but since tomatoes aren’t yet in season I chose a few green vegetables and treated them in the style of gazpacho- raw, pureed and spiked with vinegar and olive oil.

When you shop at a farmer’s market, you can’t weigh the produce you pick, so be flexible. Your amounts needn’t be exactly the same as mine. I included them only because most people expect to see measurements given in a recipe. Follow the basic outline, taste and adjust the seasonings as you go.

If you don’t have garlic scapes, use garlic. If you don’t like a strong, raw garlic flavor, sauté the garlic in a little olive oil first. If you don’t want a strong onion flavor, put the chopped onions into a strainer and rinse them under cold water.

When tomatoes arrive, I’ll pass on a more traditional-style tomato-based gazpacho recipe.

Green Vegetable Gazpacho                                
Makes about 6 cups soup

2  cucumbers, one peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and sliced into 1” pieces
Leave the skin on the second cucumber, slice it lengthwise, remove the seeds and cut into 1” pieces; this
will make about 2 cups cucumber
2 cups zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1” pieces
2 Tablespoons chopped garlic scapes (or 1 Tablespoon chopped garlic)
½ cup diced onion
14 to 16 leaves fresh basil
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
1½ cups water (1 cup to puree the peeled cucumber, ½ cup for the other vegetables)
¼ cup red wine vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
salt and ground black pepper, to taste

1. Place the peeled cucumber and 1 cup  water into a blender; puree until smooth. Pour this into a bowl and set aside. Place all of the remaining ingredients into the blender (or a food processor) and puree until smooth; don’t expect a completely smooth consistency. If necessary, you can process the soup in batches. Pour the contents of the blender into the bowl with the pureed cucumber and stir together. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Transfer the soup to a container and chill. Taste again before serving. Serve the soup very cold.

The soup can be garnished in many ways. Use croutons, or some crab meat or cooked chopped shrimp. Swirl a little extra virgin olive oil over the soup, or garnish with chopped basil leaves, or some diced cucumber. Top with some crème fraiche, sour cream or perhaps a little quark.  You get the idea; there is no correct way.

Risotto with English Peas and Morels

                             “There is a season, turn, turn, turn,”

Before they are all gone: Risotto with English Peas and Morels
(Listening: Linde Consort- “Altenglische Consortmusik”)

When you shop at a farmer’s market you are made aware of the shortness of the season for different vegetables. Last week, one farm had English peas, but this week they were replaced by snow peas. But another farm brought their just picked their peas. Morels are still appearing, but for how much longer?

Time to make this risotto.

If you are using fresh peas, save the pods and turn them into a broth to use in the risotto. Rinse the pods and place them into a medium-sized saucepan. Add a piece of onion and some chopped celery; exact quantities aren’t important, more a matter of what you have in your refrigerator. Fill the pot with 5 to 6 cups of cold water and season with ¼ teaspoon salt. Place the pan onto the stove and simmer the broth until reduced by half. Strain the broth, pressing on the vegetables to extract any extra juices. Discard the vegetables and reserve the broth for the risotto.
For this recipe, I decided to cook the morels separately; you can stir them into the risotto at end or use them to  garnish the risotto.
I mentioned before in another recipe that I use a timer set for 18 minutes when I make risotto. Here is where using a timer comes in handy. When there are five minutes remaining, add the peas. No guess work needed in figuring out when 5 minutes remain.
And as I often do with risotto, I left most of the cooking to my youngest daughter.

Risotto with English Peas and Morels                                                      
For two servings:
¼ pound morel mushrooms
1 teaspoon minced shallot
a few sprigs fresh thyme

2/3 cup Arborio rice
3 cups pea broth (or chicken or vegetable broth)
2 Tablespoons minced shallot
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup peas
2  Tablespoons unsalted butter

2 to 3 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
olive oil, for cooking
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Clean the morel mushrooms; trim off the bottom of the stems. Slice the morels in half or quarters, depending on their size. Place a small sauté pan over medium heat. When pan is hot, swirl in about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the shallots and sweat for 30 seconds. Add the morels and the thyme sprigs to the pan; season with salt and ground black pepper. Cook the morels for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender. Set aside.

2. Place the broth into a saucepan over medium heat and bring it to a simmer. Keep it at a low simmer as you cook the risotto.

3.  Place a second saucepan for the risotto over medium heat. When hot, swirl in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the shallots and sweat for 2 to 3 minutes; adjust heat if necessary. Add the rice and stir to coat it in the olive oil.
Pour in the white wine and stir. (If using a timer, start it now). Stir until the wine is almost absorbed. Ladle about ¼ cup of the hot broth into the rice. Now begins the process of stirring the rice and adding the broth, about ¼ cup at a time. Adjust the heat to keep the risotto at a gentle simmer. Add broth when the liquid is almost absorbed into the rice; stir throughout at this point of the cooking.

4. Continue cooking the risotto by adding more broth as needed. After about 10 minutes cooking time, you won’t need to stir constantly but watch that there is enough broth in the pot and that  the risotto isn’t sticking to the bottom of the pot.                                      

5. When 5 minutes cooking time remain, add the peas to the risotto. With the peas in the risotto, you may have to add a larger amount of stock to cover the rice and peas. Season the risotto with a little salt.

6. After about 18 minutes, taste the risotto. The rice should be firm but it shouldn’t have any undercooked crunch to it. If it does, continue cooking for a few more minutes.


7. When the risotto is al dente, remove risotto from heat. Stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons butter. Add the Parmesan cheese and freshly ground black pepper and stir. Cover the pot and set it aside for two minutes. After two minutes, check the risotto. Add a little extra broth if you like your risotto a little loose. Stir in the morels or hold them for garnish. Portion the risotto into two bowls. Garnish with the morels. Drizzle each serving with a little extra virgin olive oil and additional grated Parmesan.

               When I was studying music, I played lute in an Renaissance music ensemble, wearing red tights, no less.  There are photos which my daughters won't let me live down.          

Blueberry Crumb Pie

Blueberry Crumb Pie
(Listening to- Clogs: “Lantern”)

The history of the cultivated blueberry is tied to the daughter of a cranberry farmer. Elizabeth Coleman White is one of the two people responsible for the cultivated blueberry. White, a self-taught scientist, was the daughter of cranberry farmers in New Jersey.  In 1911, she read a USDA report written by Dr. Frederick Coville detailing his work on cross breeding wild blueberries. Coville was carrying out his work on his farm in New Hampshire. After reading Coville’s paper, White invited Coville to continue his research at her family’s farm in Whitesbog. Together they worked for five years, finding wild bushes in the Pine Barrens and offering cash rewards to other farmers who successfully propagated blueberries of a certain size.  In 1916, White and Coville presented their first crop of blueberries.
With blueberries arriving, it’s time for pie. Blueberry is one of the easiest.

“What kind of pie this going to be, a pie with a top crust or with a crumb top?”
I took this to be a not-so-subtle hint from youngest daughter.
“Uhhh.. a crumb top?” I ventured.
Right guess.
“Can we make ice cream, too?”
“Sure.”

Blueberry Crumb Pie                                                        
For one 9“ pie
Needed: One recipe pie dough for a 9” pie

Filling:
2 pints blueberries (4 cups)
½ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Crumb Topping
1 cup  all purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ pound (one stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1. Roll out the pie dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of  1/8th inch. Be sure to roll the crust in one direction, turning the dough as you work, using additional flour as needed. Fit the crust into the pie plate. Lift and place the dough; do not stretch it in place. Trim the edge then crimp the edge of the dough. Refrigerate or freeze the pie shell.

2. Rinse the blueberries under cold water. Pick over the berries, remove and discard any stems that may still be attached to the berries. Place the blueberries into a bowl. Add the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice, and stir to combine. Set aside.

3. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

4.  To make the crumb topping, place all of the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix the ingredients together. Add the butter and mix until the mixture comes together and forms medium-sized crumbs. Set aside. (Alternately, this can be done by hand using a fork or a pastry blender).

5. Remove the pie shell from the refrigerator/freezer. Fill the shell with the berries, scraping out any of the sugar/cornstarch mixture that may have sunk to the bottom of the bowl. Top the pie with the crumb mixture. Place the pie onto a baking pan and place the pie into the oven. Bake the pie for 50 to 60 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling. Remove pie from oven. Let cool before serving. Don’t forget the ice cream. There will be ice cream recipes in the weeks to come, too.

Before the end of blueberry season, freeze one or two pints of blueberries on a baking sheet, then store them air tight in a freezer bag.  This fall, when fresh cranberries arrive, I’ll pass along a recipe for blueberry/cranberry pie, celebrating the collaboration of a cranberry grower’s daughter and the blueberry.

Eating what you make is such dirty work and luckily we have two friend who meet us to help out on what has been called Wednesday Pie Nights. This week, they brought us a gift of Rhuby, a spirit from Philadelphia's Art in the Age. Admittedly, if I came across this in the store, I might pass it by but our friends tried their "Snap." Rhuby is made with rhubarb and other botanicals. It is surprisingly good, similar to a dessert wine in its complex flavor, but not as syrupy sweet.
                                                             http://www.artintheage.com/

Clogs is a musical project of National's guitarist Bryce Dessner. It is a quartet of Yale musician friends: Padma Newsome (violin, viola), Rachael Elliott (bassoon), and percussionist Thomas Kozumplik.
                                                              http://www.clogsmusic.com/

Brewpubs and Pub Grub

                                                “Yes, baby, I’ve  been drinkin’ " *

Of Brewpubs and Pub Grub: Lamb Burgers with Tomato Chutney &

Cumin Dusted Sweet Potato Oven Fries

(listening: Bonnie Raitt  “Slipstream”)

Philadelphia, like most cities, was a city of beer. At one time there were 700 breweries throughout the city. Today, while there aren’t as many breweries in Philadelphia as before, thanks to craft beer brewing over the past two decades, once again Philadelphia is a city of great beer. From Dock Street, the first microbrewery in Philadelphia to Yards Brewing and numerous brew/pubs (Nodding Head, Triumph, Earth and Bread Brewery) you don’t need to go far for great beer.

The micro brew revolution has spread out to the suburbs, where breweries and brewpubs such as Victory, Sly Fox, and Iron Hill have garnered national reputations. More continue to spring up as experienced home brewers take a chance on their own ventures. Round Guys Brewing Co. in Lansdale is now selling their beers several days a week. In Perkasie, Good Will Brewing brews and sells its draft beers locally. After a considerable wait, Ambler’s Forest & Main recently opened their doors. This June 23^rd will mark the third annual Beer Tasting Festival in Lansdale, with a (literally) mind numbing 75 breweries participating and pouring.

Clearly we have quickly reached the point where there is more beer than we can possibly drink. How better to celebrate all of this beer than with a little brewpub-style food?  Let’s put the beef on hold and grill lamb burgers.  And we’ll replace the ketchup with some tangy tomato chutney and add some sweet potato oven fries on the side.

Lamb burgers on sea salt rolls from Alice Bakery

Lamb Burgers with Tomato Chutney

For two servings:

10 or 12 ounces ground lamb

salt & ground black pepper

burger rolls

1. Form the ground lamb into two patties; season with salt and pepper. Grill the lamb burgers to desired degree of doneness. Remove from the grill; toast the rolls then place the burgers onto rolls and top with some of the chutney.

Tomato Chutney

1 medium onion, chopped

1 to 2 cloves garlic, chopped (about 1 Tablespoon)

red pepper flakes or diced jalapenos, to taste

One 28 ounce can tomatoes

¼  cup white vinegar

¼ cup light brown sugar

One  3” cinnamon stick

Grated zest of 2 limes

Salt and ground black pepper

2 Tablespoons oil, for cooking

1. Place a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. When hot, swirl in the oil. Add the onions and sauté until to soften; do not brown. After 2 to 3 minutes, season the onions with a little salt. Add the garlic and hot peppers; stir and cook until fragrant.

2.Cut the stem end off of the tomatoes and crush them. Add the crushed tomatoes, along with the juice from the can into the pan. Add the brown sugar, vinegar, and lime zest and stir to dissolve sugar.; season with ground black pepper. Simmer the chutney until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally as the chutney cooks. When the chutney has reduced and thickened, remove from heat. Unused tomato chutney will keep stored in a container or jar in the refrigerator for several weeks. It is also good with grilled fish and chicken.

Sweet Potato Oven Fries Dusted with Cumin

One orange sweet potato (yam)

Olive oil

Salt and ground black pepper

Ground cumin

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the sweet potato in half lengthwise, then cut each half into quarters lengthwise. Line a cookie sheet with a sheet of parchment or a silicone baking mat. Arrange the sweet potatoes on the baking sheet.  Drizzle the potatoes with about 2 tablespoons olive oil; season with salt and black pepper. Place the sweet potatoes in the oven and roast for 20 minutes; check the potatoes for doneness by inserting a knife point into the flesh of the potato. If the potatoes need more cooking, return them to the oven for a few more minutes.  Remove sweet potatoes from the oven. Sprinkle the sweet potatoes with a light dusting of ground cumin. 

                                                       










*lyrics from “Guilty,” lyrics by Randy Newman          

Those of us who grew up in the Philly area have a special place for Bonnie Raitt. We remember her local appearances (with her bassist, “Freebo”) at the Main Point, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, on Gene Shay’s Sunday night folk music show, or opening for other acts at larger venues. She’s back after a break of seven years, a time in which a number of personal losses occurred her life. She returns, still in great voice; an impeccable musician. She has been an influence on many younger musicians (sorry about the word, “younger,”) such as Susan Tedeschi.  But where Bonnie plays slide guitar, Susan had to marry her own slide guitarist. Welcome back.




http://lansdalebeerfest.com/
http://roundguysbrewery.com/
http://freewillbrewing.com/
http://forestandmain.com/

Swordfish with Spring Vegetables

How sweet it is… tiny English peas and yellow cherry tomatoes

Inspired By the Market: Swordfish with Spring Vegetables
(listening: Ambrose Akinmusire  “When the Heart Emerges Glistening”

                                                                           

Each week at the farmer’s market brings new arrivals. At Jett’s Produce there were baskets of English peas and yellow cherry tomatoes. Curling out from a container of cucumbers were bunches of garlic scapes. Farmer Thad Jett uses high tunnels on his farm so tomatoes so early in the season are not unusual for him. The peas, the sweet-as-sugar tomatoes, and some garlic scapes would get used as part of dinner.

After you shell the peas, you could save the pea pods and turn them into a simple broth. Rinse, then toss the pea pods into a saucepan with a bit of chopped onion, chopped celery; exact ingredients aren’t crucial. Whatever you have hiding in the fridge will work. Fill the pot with 6 cups water, add ¼ teaspoon salt, and simmer until reduced by half. Strain, saving the broth. Press on the vegetables to release more flavor, then discard the vegetables. Store the broth in the refrigerator and use for this recipe, or freeze for a future use in soup, risotto, etc.

If you don’t want the bother of shelling peas, fresh sugar snap peas are also beginning to show up at markets and they could be used just as easily. You will use about 6 to 8 sugar snaps per serving, sliced in half. They will require a slightly longer cooking time, but they are an easy substitute for the peas.

What are garlic scapes? Garlic scapes, sometimes called green garlic, are the tops of the garlic plant. You use them the same way as garlic cloves. You can also chop them and puree them with some olive oil and you will have green garlic oil to use for cooking. Substitute garlic scapes for garlic in pesto.

Add the peas only a minute or two before serving since they don’t require much cooking time.
This was made with swordfish, but would go well with chicken, too.

If you are pairing this with fish, you could add some clam broth (bottled is fine) as a cooking liquid for the vegetables. If you make this with chicken, you could use chicken broth. This is optional since water will help form a broth as the vegetables cook.

The vegetables and their cooking liquid form the basis for the sauce for the fish. Reduce the sauce slightly and enrich it with a tablespoon or two of cold butter swirled in just before serving.
The recipe can be adapted to other vegetables as they make their way into the markets. Be inspired.


Swordfish with Spring Vegetables
For two servings:

Two  6 ounce swordfish steaks
1 Tablespoon thinly sliced garlic scapes, or 1 or 2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tablespoons minced shallot or onion
14 to 16 yellow cherry tomatoes
½ cup peas (or sugar snap pea substitution)
salt and ground black pepper
olive oil, for cooking
water or pea broth
1 Tablespoon cold unsalted butter

1. Place a medium-sized sauté pan over medium heat; when hot, swirl in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the garlic scapes and shallot/onion. Lower the heat a sweat the vegetables for 4 to 5 minutes until softened. Add the cherry tomatoes, season with salt and ground black pepper. Add ½ of water, cover the pan and cook the tomatoes until they begin to blister and begin softening. Watch from time to time and add additional water/broth as needed. Once the tomatoes have softened and given off some of their juice it’s ready for the peas, but wait until the swordfish is done.
2. Grill the swordfish until cooked to the desired degree of doneness; about ten minutes an inch total cooking time for well done. Remove fish and keep warm.
3. Add the peas to the sauté pan, and additional broth and cook the peas until tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pan from heat and add the cold butter to the pan;  swirl the butter around until it has melted and the sauce is a creamy consistency. Divide the vegetables between two plates. Top with the swordfish and spoon some of the sauce over the fish.

                                                   
                                   

  

                                                      http://www.ambroseakinmusire.com/


Ever since Miles Davis, the problem for young trumpeters has been "where do you go?" Davis moved in so many directions during his long career that to even put a harmon mute into a trumpet and slur a note or two drew suspicions. For his 2011 "When the Heart Emerges Glistening," trumpeter Akinmusire heads down his own adventurous path, one steeped in tradition (he won the Thelonious Monk competition in 2007) and also fully aware of the parameter pushing avant-garde of the '60's and '70. Teamed with Walter Smith III on tenor sax, Gerald Clayton on piano, Harish Raghavan on bass and Justin Brown on drums, Akinmusire is a generous leader. It is an equal collaboration by like minded musicians.  This is music of edges, not smooth curves. Akinmusire prefers solos with angular moves. The polyrythmic drumming of Justin Brown keeps the music moving forward but always askew. The influence of co-producer Jason Moran is evident, but wasn't Monk's music first perceived as angular and off kilter? The album, except for a trumpet/ piano duet of the standard, "What's New" is comprised of compositions by Akinmusire with one by Raghavan. Lately Ambrose Akinmusire has been working with a big band, the results of which should be interesting. This is a major label debut filled with promise.
                                             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNzE2nTCtxE


                             Jett's Produce:  http://www.localharvest.org/jetts-produce-M30120

Porcini Mushrooms

“Sunt tibi boleti:”*
-Martial

Porcini Mushrooms

Porcini,. cepe, penny bun, steinpilz, Herrenpilz,
prawdziwek…..These are only a few of the many names throughout the world for boletus edulis (“edible mushroom”). I don’t know why we don’t have a name for it. Porcini seems to be our name of choice. Perhaps it’s the influence of the large migrant Italian population.





Eaten and prized for centuries, porcini are among a group of wild mushrooms that have yet to be cultivated commercially. And here comes the detour but I need to talk about the too-often-found menu description:  “wild mushrooms.” Most often these are cultivated mushrooms—a portabella, though good, is not a wild mushroom. I know that almost everything we eat was at one time a “wild” food until we learned to grow it but unless it was foraged, it’s not a wild mushroom. It doesn’t mean they’re not good. It only means that it isn’t “wild”.


Enough of the lecturing, please…

Porcini appeared at our local farmer’s market so a splurge was in order. Porcini are used in all manner of ways. Since I recently wrote about asparagus risotto, I thought of a dish of pasta for the porcini instead. (“Mmmmm...porcini risotto…”).  I have been making fresh pasta lately, but you don’t have too, of course. Any pasta you choose will work. If you want to make fresh pasta and need a recipe, one follows. It makes 9 ounces of dough, which when cooked, makes a sizable portion for two. Oddly, it works out just right for three people. Since our youngest daughter is home, it will be enough for the three of us. But she’ll get vegetables. She’s not a mushroom person. And since this is a splurge, I’m using some light cream to finish the sauce.

If you want to bolster the mushroom flavor, you can make a little broth using a few dried porcini mushrooms. Simmer the mushrooms in one cup of water. Season the water with ¼ teaspoon light soy sauce. Cook until reduced by half. Slice the hydrated porcini and add them to the pan with the fresh porcini. Add the mushroom broth when adding the cream.

Tagliatelle (or fettucine) with Porcini Mushrooms
For two

4 ounces dried tagliatelle or fettucine pasta
4 or 5 ounces Porcini mushrooms
1 Tablespoon minced shallot
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
salt and  ground black pepper
¼ cup white wine
¼ to 1/3 cup light cream
2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon salt
Olive oil, for cooking

1. Place a pot of lightly salted water over high heat. When the water boils, add the pasta and cook according to the directions on the package. (If using fresh pasta, cook the pasta for 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Clean the porcini with a paper towel. Slice off the bottom of the stems. Slice the mushrooms into pieces. Place a medium-sized sauté pan over medium-high heat. Swirl in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the shallots and cook until they begin to soften, about 1 minute. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the porcini. If the pan gets dry, add a little more olive oil. Add the thyme to the mushrooms, season with salt and black pepper and continue cooking until the mushrooms soften, about 5 or 6 minutes, depending on the thickness of the sliced mushrooms. Pour the white wine into the pan; cook until the wine is reduced by half. Add the cream and the Parmesan cheese; reduce the sauce slightly.  If the pasta isn’t ready, remove the pan from the heat. (If the sauce gets too thick, you can thin it by using some of the pasta water).

3. When the pasta is ready, drain it and add it to pan. Toss the pasta with the mushrooms and sauce. Divide the pasta between two bowls and serve.

Fresh Pasta:
2 cups all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs

1. Place the flour and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment. mix the flour and salt together. On low speed, add the eggs and mix until a ball of dough is formed. Remove the dough from the mixer. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it comes together and is smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour before rolling and cutting the pasta. (This can also be made in a food processor with the plastic blade or by hand).



*”You eat the choice boletus:” Martial,  1st Century A.D.


Mainly Mushrooms:
http://www.doylestownfoodclub.org/shop/producers/chris.php