So for my birthday I got a package of dried Bolete Mushrooms that my Uncle Jim picked from the forests of Central Arizona. I was directed to this website which has a few recipes. The Creamed Potatoes and Mushrooms were the inspiration for the gravy I made here. The rest of the recipe was just a simple Port Tenderloin (bought in the package pre-seasoned and ready to roast) and some frozen Broccoli. I will just focus on the preparation of the mushroom gravy and potatoes.
6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 milk
salt
pepper
1 cup dried boletes
1/2 cup cooking wine, (I mixed some red and white just for kicks)
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 Tbsp butter
1 package brown gravy mix
So I cooked up the potatoes, but just boiling the peeled and cubed potatoes until they were tender, draining them, then adding milk, butter, salt and pepper and mashing until smooth.
For the boletes, I sauteed them in a little butter for a few minutes, then added the cooking wine and chicken stock. The mushrooms had a lot of moisture to absorb so I covered them and let them simmer for about 10 minutes. I then opened them up and let the liquid reduce down for another 5 minutes. A few pieces were still a bit big so I spooned them all out onto a cutting board and started chopping until they were in small pieces. Meanwhile in the uncleaned pan, I made the gravy by following the directions on the package. After it just started to thicken, I added the mushrooms back and kept whisking until it was gravy.
The taste of the boletes wasn't at all like typical button or brown mushrooms. Instead they had a real nice sweet nutty flavor. Pretty rich as well. When I heated the left overs today for lunch, I put some on the pork and it was very nice. So if you ever find yourself in the possession, or even possessed by, bolete mushrooms this is a good recipe to make. Also, I have 1/2 a package left of the mushrooms so if you have a suggestion for what I should do with them, let me know.
So I'm doing a restaurant review here.
For my birthday, my family and I went to The Breadfruit in downtown phoenix.
For my birthday, my family and I went to The Breadfruit in downtown phoenix.
The place is a pretty modern upscale tiny restaurant. There were about 5 tables when we walked in and they had to push two of them together to fit out party of five. One thing they promote is that they get all their ingredients from a local farm down on 24th st and Baseline. The prices weren't absurd. Most entrees were 10 dollars and some were 13 to 14. We didn't try any of the desserts because they each ran close to full entree prices. The portion sizes for a few of the dishes were a little small but others weren't. I want to go back to check out a few of the dishes we didn't get, namely the Curried Chicken and Dumplings.
I got the Escovitch Fish and Festival which is pictured above. Before going in I knew this is what I wanted to get to compare it to Jeremy's Island party fish escovitch. The fish was talapia and the festival in the name referred to the sweet bread stick sitting on the cabbage and carrots. Right above that in the picture you can see a small bowl that contained the escovitch sauce. This was quite a few degrees hotter than Jeremy's sauce. It didn't have bell peppers, only onions, habenero and whole all spice berries. I actually preferred Jeremy's escovitch over this one, which isn't to say this one was bad. The talapia was just a lot thinner so you didn't get that good full bite feeling from it, and the fish itself wasn't as full bodied as the red snapper. In Jeremy's, he had enough veggies to eat with the fish, while this, the onions on top only added a slight seasoning to each bite of fish. But enough about the comparisons. Now we talk about the other good stuff here.
My dad and I both got a mango mint lemonade that was really tasty. There were quite a few chunks of mint and mango pulp but the flavor was awesome.
My mom got the Jerk Chicken off the Grill. It was maybe my favorite thing I tasted. The chicken had a mango chutney stuffed into the crevices of the breast and on top that was killer. My dad got the Jerk Shrimp off the Grill that I didn't get to try because he ate it fairly quickly. I did try his corn on the cob that came with it. It tasted like are really nice fresh grilled corn but had another layer that tasted like it had been marinating in coconut milk before being cooked up.
My sister and Tarrin both got the Brown Stew Chicken which was pretty good. The serving size on this dish was much larger. It was filled out with basmati rice and red beans which I finished off both of their plates when they couldn't eat any more. It was seriously good, especially when it mixed into the Brown chicken sauce. The chicken was really soft and fell apart, and the stew sauce was dark and tasted like a beef stew that had been cooked down to a much richer gravy. Super good.
So yeah we didn't get any desserts but on the way home we stopped at the Churro Station and got like 6 churros filled with a variety of sweet stuff and since they were closing for the night, they tossed in like 4 extra regular churros for free. So I guess this is also a Churro Station review.
Ingredients
24 to 30 pearl onions
4 chicken thighs and legs, or 1 (5 to 7-pound) stewing chicken, cut into serving pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
6 ounces salt pork, slab bacon, or lardon, cubed
8 ounces button mushrooms, quartered
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 (750-ml) bottles red wine, preferably pinot noir
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 medium onion, quartered
2 stalks celery, quartered
2 medium carrots, quartered
3 cloves garlic, crushed
6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups chicken stock or broth
Directions
Cut off the root end of each pearl onion and make an "x" with your knife in its place. Bring 2 to 3 cups of water to a boil and drop in the onions for 1 minute. Remove the onions from the pot, allow them to cool, and then peel. You should be able to slide the onions right out of their skin. Set aside.
Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the chicken pieces, a few at a time, into a large (1 or 2-gallon) sealable plastic bag along with the flour. Shake to coat all of the pieces of the chicken. Remove the chicken from the bag to a metal rack.
Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the pearl onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until lightly brown, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside. Next, brown the chicken pieces on each side until golden brown, working in batches if necessary to not overcrowd the pan. Transfer the chicken into a 7 to 8-quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven.
Add the mushrooms to the same 12-inch saute pan, adding the 1 tablespoon of butter if needed, and saute until they give up their liquid, approximately 5 minutes. Store the onions, mushrooms and pork in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Pour off any remaining fat and deglaze the pan with approximately 1 cup of the wine. Pour this into the Dutch oven along with the chicken stock, tomato paste, quartered onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Add all of the remaining wine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the chicken is tender. Maintain a very gentle simmer and stir occasionally.
Once the chicken is done, remove it to a heatproof container, cover, and place it in the oven to keep warm. Strain the sauce in a colander and remove the carrots, onion, celery, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf. Return the sauce to the pot, place over medium heat, and reduce by 1/3. Depending on how much liquid you actually began with, this should take 20 to 45 minutes.
Once the sauce has thickened, add the pearl onions, mushrooms, and pork and cook for another 15 minutes or until the heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, remove from the heat, add the chicken and serve. Serve over egg noodles, if desired.
Cook’s Note: If the sauce is not thick enough at the end of reducing, you may add a mixture of equal parts butter and flour kneaded together. Start with 1 tablespoon of each. Whisk this into the sauce for 4 to 5 minutes and repeat, if necessary.
It turned out really nice, I thought. I served it over mashed potatoes rather than egg noodles. The "wine" flavor actually wasn't all that strong at all. Most of the flavor was like a brown gravy but it was more full than just a simple gravy. Really the Beef Marsala I made a little bit ago had a stronger red wine flavor to it. This was just rich and filling, though once I did get full I thought the gravy was a bit much. Probably should have just stopped eating before I got to that point.
Open-faced pot roast sandwiches folks. That's what you're looking at. Plus some corn, and some brussel sprouts, and of course the veggies that cooked with the meat.
-4lb. bone-in chuck roast.
-2 14oz cans of beef broth.
-1 and a half cups grape juice.
-1 bag of baby carrots.
-3 cups chopped celery.
-1 medium onion, chopped.
-4 cloves garlic, minced.
-Flour, for dredging.
-Olive oil
-Cornstarch.
-Good bread.
So you dredge the pot roast in the flour. Then you take that roast and brown it in a pot with the heated olive oil. After its browned you dump in your veggies, and shortly after that you add your grape juice. Hey, about after that you add that beef broth you've been saving. Whatchoo waitin for anyway, christmas? So then you take all that, and you put it in the damn crock pot alright? That okay with you big shot? I'm sorry, I got carried away just now. We cool?
Okay then you let the thing go for like, I don't know, 6 hours. Get it in there and just walk away. That's right, you just walk away, got a problem with that? What? What are you supposed to do for 6 hours? Geez, I don't know, take a nap or something. Christ, what am I your day planner? Near the end of the cook time you can do your veggies. Weren't nothin special about these veggies, just frozen little guys boiled in some water. You want something fancy you cook it your own damn self. Hey, after your meat is good and cooked, you pull it right outta there and you let it rest. While you were nappin it was doing all the work alright? Give it a break. Hey, then you drain that cooking liquid, and skim all the fat off the top. You take that liquid and you add it to a sauce pan and you add some flour, or maybe a little cornstarch, I don't know what you like, and you stir the thing, and bring it to a boil. Add some salt and pepper while you're at it. When it reaches a boil, you reduce the heat, and you simmer till that baby gets nice and thick. There's your gravy. Then you take some meat, put it on your bread, we used these nice big rolls but you can use whatever crap you like, and then you hit it with the gravy. Load up some veggies, and wham, you got yourself some supper. Ring the bell.
