All the Best in 2026!

 

Scalloped Potatoes

The family is here for Christmas, so R and I did some cooking and baking together...something we enjoy. We had ham for Christmas Eve dinner, and I knew that scalloped potatoes go well with ham. Usually I make Julia Child's Pommes Savoyard, a dish where thinly sliced potatoes are baked in broth in a casserole with a bit of onions and some Swiss cheese. This time I decided to jazz it up a bit by adding some milk, thyme, peppercorns and extra Swiss cheese. I infused the milk with the thyme and a few peppercorns, but then strained it into a large bowl, then added the broth.  Immediately after slicing them, we coated the potatoes with that mixture. This allowed the starchy potato juices to blend into the liquid as well as allowing the liquid to coat the potato slices to keep them from turning brown. That extra starch thickens up the sauce just the right amount. Most of the rest of the recipe was Julia's recipe.

Look at this close up! Tender, flavorful potatoes, golden top crust, crispy bits of browned cheese at the edges. So good.

We enjoyed a delicious potato casserole with tender potatoes well flavored by the milk, broth, thyme, pepper and cheese, plus some butter and onion and garlic. Most of the liquid was absorbed by the potatoes as the casserole cooked with the rest forming a delicate sauce, and the cheese on top makes a golden crust that is appealing in looks and taste.

All of this takes a bit of work, including peeling and slicing the potatoes, but it's worth it for such a delicious side dish. My family loved it...and I'll bet your family will, too.

Scalloped Potatoes

1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
5-6 peppercorns 
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons finely minced onion (I used about twice this amount...I love onions)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chicken broth (I used a bit more -see note below )
3 all-purpose potatoes (about 1 pound), peeled ( I used Idahos)
salt and pepper to taste
nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
1 cup grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese (about 4 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small pot heat the milk, thyme leaves and peppercorns until mixture simmers, then turn off heat and let sit while you continue to work on the recipe. 

Combine the butter, onion and garlic. Use on third of the mixture to grease a shallow 1 quart baking dish. (A shallow dish is important so that you get plenty of browned topping!)

Use a large fine-mesh strainer to strain the milk mixture into a large bowl. Add the chicken broth. Discard the residue in the strainer.

Take peeled potatoes and slice them 1/8-inch thick. Put them into the bowl of milk/broth mixture and turn until all the slices are coated with the milk mixture. Leaving the milk mixture in the bowl, remove half  of the potatoes and spread in the baking dish on top of the butter mixture, and season to taste with salt and pepper and nutmeg.

Sprinkle a third of the cheese over the potatoes. 

Arrange the remaining potato slices in an even layer over the cheese; season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Top with the remaining cheese.

Pour the milk and broth mixture over all and dot/spread evenly with the remaining butter mixture. Note: I made sure that the milk/broth mixture comes up almost to the top of the layered potatoes so that they will cook evenly throughout...you may need to use more broth than the recipe calls for but it is worth it and the broth cooks into the potatoes and cooks off so the potatoes keep their shape and are not soggy, so it's OK. No need to add additional milk; just more broth.

Cover and bake for 1 hour, then bake uncovered for another half hour or until the potatoes are tender throughout and golden brown on top and the milk/broth mixture is mostly absorbed. Serves 4 - 6.

Sweetie Loves Mushrooms

 It's mushroom season. We actually found a few poisonous red capped mushrooms under our oak tree last week. Pretty to look at, but that's it. Let's do a recipe that uses mushrooms from the market. If you are lucky enough to have wild mushrooms that you can trust, use them for half the mushroom mixture in this Mushroom and Stilton Galette.

I often am inspired by recipes that I find online, as I suspect you might be. Today's recipe is a variation on one posted by Smitten Kitchen and she got it from the Williams-Sonoma Season Celebration Series - Autumn. As usual I made quite a few changes because this mushroom galette was going to be dinner (so I added cubed cooked chicken - a great way to use up leftovers), I put a layer of sour cream at the bottom for extra richness and creamy mouthfeel...plus a sprinkle of garlic salt to season the sour cream. The original recipe had green onions and I only had yellow onions (so I switched in a half of a large onion, peeled and chopped). No wild mushrooms available, so I used a full pound of fairly large crimini mushrooms...and it worked well. Last, but not least, I added a tablespoon of brandy to the pan once the mushroom filling was cooked. The pan was hot enough that the alcohol pretty much cooked off as the brandy helped deglaze the pan. The flavor went so well with the mushrooms and the pungent blue cheese.

I have a bunch of photos to show you how I put this together. It makes a tall gallette the way I did it, but if you want yours to be shorter and wider (perhaps to feed more people?), just put the fillings further out, away from the center, when you add the fillings.

Don't usually use pre packaged pie dough? Check out the bottom photo to see how flaky it is. It's delicious, too, so no reason to not use it if you have it around. Only you will know that it isn't made from scratch.

Mushroom and Stilton Galette

·      Servings: 6

·       Time: 1 hour plus rest time 

·      Based on: Williams-Sonoma Seasonal Celebration Series, Autumn

·         1 pre-made pie dough round (I use Pillsbury Crusts), at room temperature

·         1/4 ounce dried wild mushrooms, such as chanterelles, porcini or shiitakes

• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 pound assorted fresh wild mushrooms, such as chanterelles, porcini and shiitakes, brushed clean and large mushrooms thinly sliced (or another 1/2 pound crimini)
• 1/2 pound fresh crimini mushrooms, brushed clean

and thinly sliced

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• sprinkle of garlic salt
• 1 cup cooked, cubed chicken or turkey
• 5 ounces Stilton or other good-quality blue cheese
• 1 large egg yolk, whisked with 1/2 teaspoon water (optional)

 Make the filling: Place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl and add the boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes until softened. Drain the mushrooms and mince finely.

 Heat oven to 400°F.

 In a large sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onions and sauté, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, rosemary and thyme and continue to cook, stirring, for 1 minute more. Increase the heat to high, add the fresh and rehydrated mushrooms, season well with salt and pepper, and sauté until the mushrooms are tender and the liquid they released has completely evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate and let cool.

 On a floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 12-inch round. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. Spread the sour cream in an even layer, leaving at least two inches of dough uncovered all around the outer edge of the dough. Sprinkle with garlic salt. This is the first layer.

 Crumble the blue cheese into a bowl.

Spread half the mushroom mixture over the sour cream on the dough, keeping the border. That's the second layer.

Top the mushroom layer with the chicken in a single layer...third layer.

 Distribute the crumbled blue cheese evenly over the chicken layer...fourth layer.

Evenly spread the remaining mushrooms over the blue cheese...last layer.

Fold the border over the mushrooms and cheese, pleating the edge to make it fit. The center will be open.

 If you’d like, brush the outside of the dough with the egg wash for a deeper, shinier color. (Egg wash is 1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water.)

 Bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

 Do ahead: Galette keeps well in the fridge for 4 to 5 days.

Last of the Garden Bounty

It's been quite a year for produce from the garden. I grew potatoes for the first time and was successful with both heirloom Bodega Red and with regular small white potatoes. There were plenty of tomatoes and it was a pretty good year for zucchini, too. Lots of cucumbers were much appreciated for salads and we even had a few golden beets. 

The last thing to be harvested is the broccoli I planted in the late summer. This is another new crop for me and we had the first head last night. It was delicious! So much better than what we get in the store. I still have some to eat tonight and some still in the garden, but they are all ready to harvest at the same time. Next year I'll try to space them out a bit more. The one crop that didn't work was the sugar snap peas that I planted with the broccoli. The deer decided that I planted the peas for them, so they ate all of the small plants before any flowers even could bloom. Next year I'll be sure to protect them with a fence of something.

We like our broccoli cut into florets and steamed briefly until bright green and just tender. Didn't get a photo of that, but we enjoyed them. There are also numerous recipes using broccoli. My favorite is a quiche like this Chicken and Broccoli one. There is also a recipe for a great salad where broccoli is the star HERE. It's similar to a deli version that I quite enjoy. 

Yay for broccoli!

Elf Time

Hard to believe that we are a week into December. Seems like Halloween was just yesterday and then, Whoosh!, here we are less than three weeks away from Christmas.

Time to become an honorary Santa's Elf. In the kitchen that means starting to make delicious things for when the family gathers...and a few things that might just be for me.

Sweetie and I are looking forward to a week with three of our daughter's family; our daughter, her husband and their son. At the end of their visit we'll be hosting a family-centered lunchtime gathering the day after Boxing Day. Sonoma Co. family will be joined by those from San Francisco, Sacramento area, LA area and maybe further away. Still getting responses to the invite.

After watching the current season of the Great British Baking Show with Kate, we have a list of baked goods we'd like to make together and with my grandson. I'll post those when we make them. My elf job right now is to make things that can be frozen, will keep, or actually need time to mellow (like fruitcake). Maybe it's time to try Lane Cake again.

Today's bake will be breakfast treats using blueberries and raspberries that can be frozen and reheated in the toaster oven or microwave as needed. I know that doesn't sound all that Christmassy, but there will be a number of mornings leading up to Christmas when things will be so busy that a cup of tea or coffee, some fruit and one of those scones or muffins hits the spot. 

The first bake is for a raspberry muffin. The last time I made these I included a surprise dollop of sweetened ricotta cheese in the center, but this time I went with simple and just made a nice muffin with fresh raspberries. A sprinkle of sanding sugar on top gives a bit of extra sweetness, plus a pleasing crunch when you bite into the muffin.

The second bake is fresh blueberry scones with pecans. This one has both regular and whole wheat flour, plus a bit of dried lemon peel. More sanding sugar, this time held on by brushing buttermilk over each scone once they are cut and on the baking sheet. There's buttermilk in the scones, too, which gives them a nice tang...goes so well with the fresh blueberries. I baked mine on 12-inch pizza pans, greased with butter flavor baking spray, which allowed the scones to be separated enough so they didn't touch when they rose and spread slightly.

These goodies are going to be frozen so they keep until Christmas week. Sweetie and I each had a taste of each kind. I liked the blueberry scone the best, but I think he liked the raspberry muffin most. Bake them and see which one you like best!

Raspberry and Lemon Muffins
Makes 12

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
zest of 1 lemon (Meyer if available)

2 eggs, beaten 

1/4 cup unsalted butter or margarine, melted and cooled

1 cup  buttermilk, at room temperature

1 heaping cup fresh raspberries, washed and drained

about 1 tablespoon clear sparkling or sanding sugar (optional)

 
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with baking spray. Set aside.

In a bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Add the lemon zest and stir to distribute.

In a second bowl, whisk together the egg, butter, and  buttermilk.

Add the wet ingredient mixture all at once to the flour mixture and stir together with a fork, just until all the dry ingredients have been moistened. Don't overmix.

Stir the raspberries gently into the batter, then put mixture in the pans, distributing evenly. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired, distributing evenly.

 Bake in preheated oven for 17 - 25 minutes until tops are golden brown and the center springs back when pressed down with a clean finger. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack 3-5 minutes, then removed carefully from the muffin tin and serve.

Fresh Blueberry Pecan Buttermilk Scones
a variation on Blueberry Buttermilk Scones from Baking in America by Greg Patent
Makes 16 scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans 
2 to 2 1/4 cups buttermilk, plus a bit more for glazing the top
1 tablespoon sanding sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with cooking parchment or a silicone liner; Set aside.

Sift the flours, baking soda, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Grate the butter using the shredding disc on your food processor if butter is frozen, or cut the butter (which has been cut into tablespoon-sized pieces) into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or two knives. Be gentle. Use your finger to work the butter rapidly into large flakes. Add the blueberries and chopped pecans and toss with your fingers to coat evenly.

Pour the buttermilk into the blueberry mixture and stir and fold gently with a rubber spatula. Use your fingers, spread out, to gently work the last bit of very moist dough into the last dry bits. The dough will be thick. Scrape dough onto a lightly floured surface and dust it lightly with flour. If needed, blend any remaining dry bits into the moist dough with your fingers. Use a bench scraper or knife to divide the dough into two pieces. Shape each piece gently into an 8-inch disc. Use a bench scraper or sharp knife to cut each disc into eight pieces.

Transfer each piece carefully to the prepared pan, setting the scones slightly apart. Brush a bit of extra buttermilk over each of the scones with a pastry brush and sprinkle on a pinch of sanding sugar, if using. Bake in the preheated oven 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to cooling racks with a large spatula and serve warm or at room temperature. These are great without any additional embellishments, but do taste good with butter, jam or lemon curd added.

A Busy Time at the Farmhouse

Over the years, especially since the pandemic when we did major upgrades, we have had visitors now and then who stay in the farmhouse. With the exception of our daughter's family, it's usually only for a night or maybe a few days. This past week we had heavy use. As a matter of fact we had four turnovers.

To begin we hosted one of our grandsons and his sweetie as they made their way to Oregon. Almost as soon as they headed up the road the next guest arrived, a friend of mine who was visiting with her sister. Her sister is also my friend and lives in a one bedroom house, so this arrangement is a repeat of other times Louise has stayed in the farmhouse. Louise left at noon on Thanksgiving. We had enough time to again change the sheets and other linens and swab down the kitchen and bath when our nephew from San Francisco came for a few nights. Once he left Saturday morning we again changes linens out and cleaned for the return visit of our grandson as he and his sweetie returned home. Mixed in there were meals with each of them so we had some fun with each visitor! Looking forward to a full week at Christmas with our daughter and her husband and step-son.

Since this all took place during the week of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a photo (top of post) of what we had on Thanksgiving. We went for fairly simple and this photo doesn't show the pumpkin pie with whipped cream that finished off the feast. Hope you had an equally delicious feast if you were celebrating Thanksgiving. Hope that your week was just a bit less hectic than mine!

A Special Quiche

Sweetie and I were blessed this evening with a visit from our middle grandson and his sweetie as they made their way back home after spending Thanksgiving with his Mom. Because they had been on the road all day and still have many miles to go tomorrow, I wanted to give them a dinner that would be enjoyable but also relatively quick. A quiche that was baked this afternoon was just the thing.  It was after dark when we sat down to eat and I was only able to get a photo of the last piece - we really enjoyed it! - so it isn't the best photo set, but it gives you an idea of how it looked.

I love baking quiche and have made many in the past. This one was special because it was for them. It had a lot of great ingredients including chicken thighs that Sweetie had grilled yesterday, cooked onions and bacon, lots of Swiss cheese, some spinach because it goes so well with the other ingredients, and the usual egg custard that is classic in a quiche.

I used the Pillsbury pie dough circle that is so easy and tastes so good, blind baking it to a golden brown on the edges and pale gold in the interior. Of course you can always make you own pie crust or even buy one that is in a pie pan and frozen, but I find the Pillsbury one tastes fine and is super easy.

Because there is a lot of filling, I used a deep dish pie pan and rolled the crust circle out a bit so there was dough to turn under and crimp before baking. I used a pound of lentils as the pie weights, cool them after baking, and keep them for the next pie shell I need to blind bake.

Feel free to change out the filling ingredients. I've made this with chard or asparagus instead of spinach, with different cheeses, with mushrooms (which I cook with the onions), with ham instead of the chicken and so on. Keep the proportions about the same and you, too, can have a special quiche!

Quiche with Chicken, Spinach, Swiss Cheese and Bacon

1 9-inch pie shell, blind baked at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes (recipe follows or use refrigerated pre-made pie dough circles)

1/2 yellow onion, peeled and cut into ¼ inch dice

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 slices bacon, cut into small pieces and cooked until crisp, then drained

1 cup cooked chicken, diced in 1-inch dice
½ cup cooked, and drained chopped spinach, frozen and thawed OK
1 ½ cups Swiss cheese, cut into ¼ inch dice
3 eggs (or equivalent egg substitute)
1 ½ cups evaporated milk (I used non-fat) or light cream
¼ teaspoon salt
dash pepper
Dash nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

 In a large skillet sauté the onion in the olive oil over medium heat, stirring often, until translucent or slightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle the bottom of the pie shell with the sautéed onion, bacon, chicken pieced, drained spinach, and Swiss cheese, distributing evenly. Set aside.

In a bowl, beat the eggs lightly, then add the milk and beat with a fork to combine, add the salt, pepper and nutmeg and beat with a fork or whisk to combine.

Pour the egg/milk mixture over the ingredients in the pie shell. Place on a baking sheet and put in the preheated oven and bake 30-45 minutes, or until set and lightly browned. Cool for 10 minutes before cutting to serve.
Serves 6-8

Pastry Pie Shell

1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chilled butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons ice water
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender, or two knives, until particles the size of dried peas are formed.

In a small bowl mix together the egg, ice water and lemon juice (if using). Sprinkle over the flour mixture and toss with a fork lightly. Do not over mix. Gather the particles together in a ball. Wrap airtight and chill in the freezer for 10 minutes. Roll out with a rolling pin on a floured surface until large enough to fill a 9 inch pie pan with some overlap.

Fit into a 9 inch pie pan, smooth to fit, trip excess , tuck edges under and crimp as for any pie crust. Prick lightly all over the surface with a fork. Freeze 10 minutes. Remove from freezer and cover with a circle of parchment paper. Fill the paper with beans or pie weights (blind baking the crust).

Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 – 12 minutes. Cool slightly. Remove and save the beans or pie weights. Fill with filling as called for in recipes needing a pie shell. 

A Pie And A Mistake

 For those of you who have been dear readers for a while, here is another post where I show just how flawed I am. If you are new here that might surprise you since lots of social media is about showing how perfect you and your life are.

The latest version of how flawed I am revolves around the Thanksgiving pie. I decided to make a pumpkin pie since

1) I love pumpkin pie

2) Sweetie loves any pie, and

3) It's easy and delicious!

The mistake was trying to bake the pie early in the morning on Thanksgiving when I hadn't slept well the night before. I made the crust just fine because I was using the pre-made pie dough already rolled in a circle. Since I was using a deep dish pie plate I did roll it out a bit more, but even that was easy. Making the filling was slightly more challenging but still easy. Where I got in trouble was the baking. You bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. No problem there, either. But here is where I went wrong. I reset the timer for 35 minutes but forgot to turn down the heat to 350. My poor pie baked for about 25 minutes at 425 instead of 350 and so the crust in some places was burnt and the top also had areas that darkened considerably (see photo above). It's a good thing that I checked on it early! 

The whole thing went into the fridge once it had cooled a bit and I decided to serve it anyway, with some dollops of whipped cream to distract from the burnt buts. I expected the filling to be overcooked and rubbery, but instead we found that the filling was firmer than usual, but still tender and delicious with no burnt taste! The guys had two slices!

Just goes to show you that I make mistakes but sometimes I get lucky and the results are still OK.

Hope that you and yours had a great Thursday.

XO, Elle

Pumpkin Pie 

1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
10 oz. evaporated milk or light cream
1 unbaked 9 inch pie shell - OK to use your own recipe, or store-bought pie dough or pie shell

Prepare the pie shell in a fairly deep 9-inch pie pan, or use a pre-made pie shell if desired.

In a mixing bowl beat the eggs slightly, then add the brown sugar and beat to combine. Add the salt and spices and combine well.

Take the pumpkin puree out of the can and add to the egg mixture and combine. Slowly add the evaporated milk or light cream. When blended, pour the filling into the unbaked pie shell (which has been placed on a baking sheet), making sure to leave at least ¼ inch of the sides unfilled to allow for expansion during baking. If you have remaining filling, you can bake it in a buttered ramekin or custard cup as a treat for the cook!

Place the cookie sheet with pie in a preheated 425 degree F. oven for 15 minutes. Then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. and continue baking for another 35-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. It's OK if it still jiggles a tiny bit in the center.Cool on a rack at least 45 minutes, up to 2 hours. Serve at once or refrigerate.

Lots of Mushrooms

 Sweetie loves to eat mushrooms. He often chooses menu items with mushrooms when we eat out and he loves it when I add mushrooms to what I'm cooking. When I saw this recipe from Smitten Kitchen for a UnStuffed Mushroom Casserole where mushrooms are the star I knew that I had to make it. I'm a fan of mushrooms, too.

The recipe made much more than we could eat, given that it is fairly rich, so I made 1/3 of it and that was just right. We each had a hearty portion for dinner last night and then he had leftovers for lunch today. The recipe below is the actual recipe from her blog, so it serves 8. The concept is that you take a lot of the items that you would stuff individual mushrooms with and combine them with cooked mushrooms to make a casserole. It works!

I found that I needed to add about 1/4 cup very hot water to the bowl where I was mixing the cooked mushroom mixture and the cream cheese. Maybe I let the mushroom mixture cook too long? Anyway I think you are better off with the full recipe.

This is a really delicious and fairly rich dish. If you love mushrooms, do make this! I used fairly large crimini mushrooms instead of button ones, so that may be why mine was drier, too, but the brown mushrooms really have a good solid mushroom flavor.

I messed up by adding the minced parsley to the crumb mixture that goes on top of the mushroom mixture once its in the casserole, but I did add some minced parsley to the mushroom mixture once I realized my mistake. It meant that I didn't add any on top after it was cooked.

This makes a great main course if you serve it with a whole grain and some greens or a salad or green veg. Sauteed winter squash would go well with it, too. A crusty bread served with it allows you to scoop up any sauce that doesn't cling to the mushrooms. We served it with bread, spinach and pork chops, but I only ate half the pork chop because the casserole is fairly filling!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Unstuffed Mushroom Casserole

• Source: Adapted from the Food Network
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• Servings: 8 as a side
•  Time: 1 hour
• 
  
•  
• 
  

This is doubled from the original recipe and exactly as you see it here (filling a 2-quart baking dish) because the original makes way too little to share. You know that joke about spinach? It turns out white mushrooms reduce about 1/3 of their original volumes after cooking; don’t be disappointed.

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 pounds medium white button mushrooms, quartered
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 8 ounces cream cheese, cut into pieces
• 1 cup grated gruyere, comte, or cheddar etc.
• 2 cups panko-style breadcrumbs
• 1 cup grated parmesan
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Heat your oven oven to 350°F.

In a large frying pan (12-inch is ideal here) over medium-high heat, heat half (3 tablespoons) of the olive oil. Once it’s very hot, add half (1.5 pounds, but seriously, just eyeball this) of your mushrooms but don’t move them yet. Give them 1 to 2 minutes to brown underneath before adding 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, a few grinds of black pepper, and half the garlic, then moving them around, trying to get them to brown on more sides until they begin releasing their liquid. Some have a little, some have a lot; in both cases you can to cook the mushrooms, stirring, until the liquid mostly, but not fully, cooks off — a thin puddle should remain. Scrape these mushrooms into a large bowl and repeat the process with the remaining olive oil, mushrooms, and garlic, plus more salt and pepper.

Once the second half of the mushrooms have mostly cooked off their liquid, add everything in the pan to the first half of mushrooms in the bowl. Add diced cream cheese and stir just until combined (the remaining liquid from the mushrooms should help it get saucy), then half of the panko (1 cup), all of the gruyere, half of the parmesan (1/2 cup), and most of the parsley (reserve some for garnish) and stir to combine. Transfer to a 2-quart baking dish.

Combine the butter and remaining panko (1 cup) and parmesan (1/2 cup) in a bowl with a couple pinches of salt. Sprinkle over top of the mushrooms

and bake until the breadcrumbs are light golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining parsley and eat right away.

To make this ahead of time, please read: Since I’m usually making this to entertain and like to get things out of the way, I pause the recipe (in the fridge until needed, covered with foil) where you transfer the mixture to a baking dish. To finish cooking, I first get the mushroom mixture warm without the crumbs, leaving the foil on, about 10 minutes, and then bake it the rest of the way with the crumbs on, until they’re a light golden brown, usually another 25 minutes. If you put the crumbs on sooner, they get too dark. If you finish baking the dish with crumbs and later rewarm it, the mushrooms get a little overcooked and the crumbs too toasty.

Pies and Soup!

 

For me Thanksgiving is all about being grateful and, of course, the turkey, but for the rest of my family I think it might be all about the pies. I also love soup so this season has both.

I do love the make pies. Last week I was even given the delightful opportunity to help bilingual kindergarten children make pumpkin pies. There were two tables, right next to each other with one being the pie crust table and the other being for making the filling. It was a lot of fun and the teacher, who is also my next door neighbor, brought over some of the leftover pie for me and Sweetie. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo...or a taste. Sweetie thought that it was all for him and ate it up while my neighbor and I were having tea in another room. He said it was good!

I also made a pumpkin pie for us and we finished it off this weekend with one of our grandsons and his girlfriend. They stayed overnight on their way to be with his mom for Thanksgiving. It was such a delight to meet his girl and to get to visit with them. We finished the pumpkin pie...and still no photos!

I did get a photo of the clam chowder I made last week (see top of post), but there isn't a recipe. I promise that soon I'll have a 'normal' post with both a photo and the recipe, but it's been that kind of week plus.

Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving with Straight Shooter, up from San Francisco. There will be turkey, of course, but also more pumpkin pie. Maybe this time I can get a photo.

Have a great Thursday dear reader. If you're an American or live in the U.S., I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. I give thanks for you all, even the 'lurkers'.