Jägerspätzle (German Noodles with Mushroom Sauce)

The Hubs and I recently took a trip to Germany. To celebrate his upcoming 40th birthday, he really wanted to go to Oktoberfest (the real one), so we headed off to Munich! Now, I expected this leg of our trip to be more focused on the beer (or bier!) than on the food. And there was plenty, PLENTY, of beer. But I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the food, particularly one night when we ate at a biergarten called Augustiner-Keller. If you are ever in Munich, I highly recommend it. Anyway, since we've been back I've thought about German food in a new way, and that's what led me to try this recipe for Jägerspätzle. Well, that and how delicious the photo looked on this Savory Nothings blog where I found the recipe. Even though we have a pretty solid spätzle recipe (here's the link), we decided to give this new one a try. It made a lot more spätzle, but it didn't have the flavor that our other recipe had, and it was a bit chewy for me. But the mushroom sauce was really good. As always, I could have reduced it a little more to get the sauce a little thicker, but the flavor was nice and warming. Perfect for the cooler weather we've been having, and it definitely reminded me of our trip to Germany.

Spätzle Ingredients

2½ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

⅓ cup water

⅓ cup milk

3 eggs

Butter for finishing

Sauce Ingredients

5 tablespoons butter, divided

1 shallot, finely chopped

1½ pounds mushrooms, sliced

1 ounce white wine

2 cups broth (I used chicken, but you can use beef or vegetable)
1 tablespoon tomato paste

½ cup cream

We started with the spätzle dough so that it could rest a bit while we started the sauce. Whisk together the water, milk and eggs first, then put the flour, then salt on top of the wet ingredients and use a spoon to gently mix the dry ingredients together a bit before mixing everything together. I personally added a little white pepper and a little nutmeg to the dough, and I felt they could use probably a half teaspoon more of salt. Use a wooden spoon to rapidly stir the dough until there are no more lumps and bubbles start to form. You'll also feel like your arm's about to fall off. Cover and let it rest for about 30 minutes. 

Next you can start on your sauce. Melt three tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium high heat, then add the shallot and cook until it begins to brown. Then add in the mushrooms. Cook for about 7-9 minutes until the mushrooms begin to soften and get a little color, then deglaze with the white wine and reduce. Next pour in the broth and tomato paste and let it simmer until it becomes a thick sauce. I could have been a little more patient with this part, I believe. Finally, add in the last two tablespoons of butter and let them melt, then pour in the cream. Let the sauce warm back up, and it's ready to go.  
To make the spätzle, get a large pot of salted water on to boil. We have a $7 spätzle maker that works awesomely and is so worth the money, but if you don't, just use a coarse grater. Gently use a spoon to help the dough fall through the grater into the water. It will fairly quickly float to the surface and it's done. Use a slotted spoon or a small mesh scoop to get them out. Melt a little butter in a skillet and lightly fry the spätzle for a few minutes until it gets a little bit of color, and then move to the plate. Top with the mushroom sauce, and enjoy a little taste of Germany. 

Short Rib Ravioli with Mushroom Sauce

I believe you can read the stages of someone’s cooking based on pasta. Think about it. When you’re just starting out, making spaghetti probably involves dry pasta and a jar of sauce. As you progress, your next step is to make your own sauce. Then, you might start making your own pasta. The next stage, in my opinion, is making your own complicated pasta. Ravioli for example. This is generally not something that your average home cook attempts. But as you get more serious about cooking, it’s definitely something you want to try. Well, the Hubs and I reached this stage recently, and while it certainly is worth the trouble, I have to be honest: it IS trouble. They make ravioli look so easy on Iron Chef, but in real life it’s a whole situation. Make the filling, mix the pasta, roll it out, form the raviolis, cook the raviolis, make the sauce, and finally… devour. To quote the Hubs, “5 hours, 10 pots, pans, and plates used during the prep. Stand mixer, pasta roller, two burners and the oven. Consumed in under 10 mins, and I would do it all again.”

            This is not easy, but it’s really good, and satisfying on a culinary level. Plus it’s just damn homey. I mean, it doesn’t get much more homey than braised meat inside pasta, covered with a rich, meaty mushroom sauce. A little fresh parmesan on top. This is living.

Short Rib Filling

2 lbs boneless short ribs

1 tsp olive oil

Salt & pepper, to taste

1 leek, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 carrot,  diced

2 celery stalks, diced

1 cup dry red wine (I used merlot)

6 sprigs thyme, divided

4 cups beef broth

We got the idea for this recipe from the Busy in Brooklyn blog, but used Tyler Florence’s pasta recipe for the dough. Start this early in the day since it needs to cook for 3 hours before it’s ready to put in the ravioli. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper. Heat up your handy Dutch oven and drizzle in a little olive oil before searing the short ribs on all sides. Remove them from the pot and toss in the leek, garlic, carrot and celery. Saute for 5-7 minutes and then deglaze the pan with the red wine. Add the short ribs back into the pot and pour in the broth, 4 sprigs of thyme, and a little salt & pepper. Bring the pot to a boil, before covering and putting it in the oven for 3 hours at 300 degrees. Don’t forget to wrap a little foil around your lid handle to protect it.

After the meat has cooked for three hours, remove it from the pot and shred it, getting rid of the bones and any large fatty pieces. Use a sieve to strain the cooking liquid from the vegetables and add those to the meat. Remove and toss the sprigs of thyme. You’ll use the reserved cooking liquid for the sauce, so keep it. You can put it in the freezer for about twenty minutes to let the excess fat congeal, then skim it off. Or, if you are like me, you can get a $10 gadget that is made to separate fat from gravy and use that. It’s pretty magical. Either way, get rid of the fat and then set the liquid aside to use in the sauce.

Pasta

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

2 tablespoons olive oil

1-2 Tbsps water

1 yolk & 2 Tbsps water, for egg wash

Using your stand mixer with the dough hook, combine the flour and salt before adding the eggs one at a time. Continue to mix as you drizzle in the olive oil and then add a little water until the dough starts to form into a ball. Then sprinkle some flour on a work surface and knead the dough for a few minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic. Finally, wrap it in plastic and let it (and you) rest for about a half hour.

We cut the dough into fourths to form our noodles. Dust the counter and the dough with flour. You want to do this often to keep the dough from getting sticky. Roll it through the pasta machine on it’s widest setting a few times, then slowly reduce the setting, running the pasta through twice each time. Tyler’s directions said to go until the machine was on its lowest setting but we only went to 7 (ours goes to 9) and it was really thin. Use your judgment.

Lay out the sheet of pasta on the (floured) countertop and brush the surface with the egg wash. Put about a tablespoon of filling on half the pasta sheet in tight little piles two inches apart. Fold the other half of the past sheet over the top of the filling. Try to get the air out of the pockets around the filling and make a seal. May God help you with this because it was impossible for us. Finally, cut each pocket into squares using a crimper or plain old knife. These stick like crazy so if you are not cooking them immediately be sure to dust them in cornmeal or flour.

To cook the ravioli, get a big pot of salted water boiling and cook them a few at a time. They float to the top when they are done. Tyler’s instructions said to cook them 10-15 minutes, but I only had to cook mine about 4-6 minutes. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon. Make sure to have the sauce done and ready as soon as the raviolis are done because they get cool super fast.

Mushroom Sauce

2 large shallots, peeled and sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

6 cups chopped assorted mushrooms (I just used baby bella)

1 tbsp flour

To make the sauce (last part, promise), sauté the shallots and garlic for a few minutes, making sure not to burn the garlic. Then add in the mushrooms and cook over high heat until the liquid evaporates. Sprinkle in the flour and mix it in, sautéing until the mushrooms start to get some nice golden color. Then add in the cooking liquid, 2 sprigs of thyme, and a little salt and pepper. Cook a few more minutes until it reduces and thickens. Then pour it over the ravioli, grate a little fresh parmesan on top, and enjoy! The eating process is much quicker than the cooking process but very delicious.

We actually ended up making about 15 raviolis and using the rest of the dough to make noodles. Then we mixed the leftover meat into the mushroom sauce to top the noodles. This was also a delicious way to eat it, and practical since we had so much leftover meat.

Mushroom Parmesan Farro

I have a sixth sense. And right now it's telling me that you want to ask something... it's becoming clearer... you want to know..."What in tarnation is farro, anyway?" Did I get it? Yeah, I thought so. Ok, so, good question. I really didn't know what farro was either until recently, but here is the lowdown. Farro is a grain, basically a kind of wheat, similar to barley. You can buy it (from a higher end grocery store like Fresh Market or Whole Foods) and it comes in three kinds: whole, semi-pearled and pearled. Whole is the most nutritious, but takes the longest to cook. I used whole for this recipe and based on how good it tasted, I think I would stick with whole. It's always good to have something healthy also taste great! I found this recipe on Cusineous, and only modified it to add mushrooms to make it more of a robust meal, and I used part chicken broth and part water instead of all water, for flavor. I was the most worried that the Hubs wouldn't be into it at all, but he really enjoyed it. It was a lot like risotto, very creamy, very homey. It had a bit more "tooth" than risotto does, a little more chewy, but I liked that. It really filled me up and that full feeling lasted for a while, so it's not only healthy, it keeps you satisfied. If you are looking for a healthy meal, give farro a shot!

1 cup farro
3 cups liquid (I did 2 cups chicken broth and 1 cup water, but use any ratio you like.)
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup (give or take) mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 tbsps olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Salt & Pepper to taste

So, we weren't exactly sure if we were supposed to soak the farro or not. Some people say soak overnight, some say just cook it, so we hedged our bets and soaked it in cold water for about an hour. I don't think you need to do this step, it just might lower the amount of time you need to cook your farro. Maybe. Do it if it makes you feel better. Then add the farro and liquid (chicken broth and water in any ratio you desire as long as it makes 3 cups) to a pot, cover and bring to a boil. Then turn it down to simmer and simmer until the farro has absorbed all the liquid. For us it took about 45 minutes. About 10 minutes before your farro is done, you can start the rest. In a pan over medium heat, heat your oil and add the mushrooms. I also like to salt the mushrooms just a touch. Cook them for around 7 minutes until the mushrooms start to get golden brown, then add in your garlic. Cook that for another couple minutes, making sure the garlic doesn't brown or burn. Then add the farro, cheese and parsley and stir. Add some pepper and taste to see if it needs more salt (ours didn't) and then serve right away. Like risotto, it doesn't do well just sitting out for awhile, so keep that in mind. I hope you will love it and give farro a chance!

Mushroom Bruschetta

You really don’t have to do much to mushrooms to make them really mouthwatering. A little salt and pepper, sauté them in butter, toss in some garlic for good measure and viola—mega deliciousness for your mouth! It’s always wonderful when something good is also so simple. I found this Mushroom Bruschetta on Everyday Maven. It has a few more ingredients but is still relatively simple to make and definitely looks and tastes absolutely wonderful. My parents really enjoyed it, as did I, and I will definitely make it again. One caveat, which is true of all mushroom dishes, is that it needs to be served and eaten warm.

Ingredients

20 oz mixed mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

2 Tbsps finely chopped parsley

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Baguette, thinly sliced

Garlic salt (optional)

1 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon kosher salt

Pepper to taste.

1 Tbsps Butter

½ Tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 Tbsps grated Parmesan cheese (plus more for serving)

Splash of lemon juice

Start by prepping all the ingredients: clean and slice your mushrooms, chop parsley, prep garlic and slice your bread. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees to toast your bread. Put the slices on a baking sheet and spray each with olive oil (I just sprayed with olive oil flavored Pam cause I’m that person). Sprinkle a little garlic salt over the slices if you are so inclined and then toast. It only takes a few minute per side. Just keep an eye on them so you don’t burn them.

In a pan over medium heat, heat up your olive oil and then add in the mushrooms. You want to cook them until they are nice and golden brown, which should take about ten minutes. Set them aside. Add the butter to the pan and once it’s melted add the garlic. Cook about 30 seconds, making sure you don’t burn the garlic. Drain any liquid from the mushrooms and add them back into the pan along with the salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and parmesan cheese. Cook, stirring, for just another minute and then remove from heat. Splash with a little lemon juice, if desired. Spoon the mushrooms onto the toast and the mushroom mega deliciousness!

Garlic Mushroom Cream Sauce

Garlic. Mushroom. Cream. Three amazingly delicious words. It’s not hard to see why I was drawn to this recipe when I found it on Sweet Paul. The recipe itself is incredibly simple, almost frighteningly so. I always worry with a really simple recipe that it’s going to end up bland. But when you have ingredients like garlic, mushrooms, and cream, it has to be good. And this was good. It was fine. I had two helpings. However, I feel like if something is going to be this bad for me (a cup and a half of cream! Yikes!) then it can’t just be good. It has to be so good. I want to marry it good. Rub it in my beard good. (Don’t worry, I don’t have a beard. It’s just an expression of mine.) It really has to blow me away. And this didn’t. But it was good, and worth a shot. It might just be a personal preference. Maybe you will want to rub it in your beard, and I’m not going to stop you!

2 Tbsps olive oil

½ pound mushrooms of choice (I used portobellos)

1 small onion

4 cloves garlic

1 ½ cup heavy cream

½ cup chicken stock

2 Tbsps fresh dill, chopped

Pasta of choice

Salt & Pepper

To start, roughly chop your mushrooms and then finely chop the onion and garlic. Heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté the mushrooms, onion and garlic until the mushrooms turn a golden brown, about five minutes. Next, pour in the cream and chicken stock, and add in the dill, stirring well. Let it simmer for about five minutes and then add salt and pepper to taste. We added a good amount of salt, and also felt like we wanted to invite our friend cayenne pepper to the meal so we added about a half-teaspoon of that as well. Pour the sauce over your cooked pasta and stir to combine, then serve topped with some parmesan cheese. I was hoping that the sauce might be a little thicker, but it never really seemed to thicken up. Not sure if maybe simmering for a bit longer, or cutting the amount of liquid might help.

Baked Eggs in Portobello Caps

Man, this looks good, doesn’t it? The Portobello cap is just a perfect place for an egg to rest, and it looks so happy and delicious sitting in there. Well… sadly this is one situation where eating with your eyes doesn’t match up to eating with your mouth. We ended up overcooking the egg a bit (I think the temperature she called for was off), but the real flaw in this meal is the total lack of flavor. I found the recipe on Fuss Free Cooking, and I guess I’ll just chalk it up to a taste buds difference since she calls this her favorite breakfast recipe.

So why am I even posting it? Well, two reasons. One is that the spirit of this site is to post failures along with successes in the interest of learning to be better cooks. But two is that I think this could be saved. So I’ll post the original recipe below, followed by some tips that might make it move from the “looks delicious” category into the “tastes delicious” one.

Ingredients

2 Portobello Mushrooms

2 Eggs

2 small stalks of thyme

Salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

Here are the original instructions: gently clean the mushrooms and remove the stalks, making sure not to tear the sides of the mushroom (or your egg will just run out). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the mushrooms there. Preheat the oven to 300 (this seems really low to me). Drizzle olive oil over the mushrooms and season with salt, pepper and thyme leaves before carefully cracking your eggs into the caps. It’s easiest if you crack them into a small dish and then transfer them from the dish to the caps. Then cook for 15-20 minutes.

Here’s what I would do to make them better. Season the mushroom caps but also season the eggs with salt and pepper. You could put thyme on the eggs as well, I didn’t even taste it. If there’s room in the cap a tablespoon of cream wouldn’t hurt, and maybe even some parmesan on top for more flavor. I’d also start with the oven at 350 and cook for 15 minutes. I can’t say I’m going to try this again, but if you do and find that it’s better with these adjustments, let me know! 

Risotto Rosso

I’ve made risotto once before, and it was definitely delicious enough to make up for the time it takes to actually prepare it. But for whatever reason, I haven’t made it since, until now. And I think I’ve found the secret to really good risotto! Ready? Here it is: get your husband to stir. That’s it! You can do everything else, but leave the stirring to someone else and it tastes even better.

This recipe is not too different from the other mushroom risotto that I made, but this one also includes red wine and pancetta, which just sends it over the top. It’s warm, creamy, filling and full of flavor. I found the recipe at food52 and it was the winner of their best risotto contest! I have to concur. I think it was named for the red wine that the author used to make it. The only thing I changed was to use 4 oz. of pancetta instead of 2 because the package I got was 4.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided

3 Tbsp. butter, divided

4 oz. diced mushroom caps, shiitake or cremini (or both!)

4 oz. diced pancetta

1/4 cup diced shallots

1 cup carnaroli rice, or use vialone nano or arborio

1/2 cup fruity red wine (I used Merlot)

2 cups beef broth

3 cups chicken broth

1 oz. Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated

2 Tbsp. chopped Italian parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Start by getting everything prepped and ready so that you can follow the steps smoothly. In a separate saucepan, combine the two broths and bring to a simmer. Keep it at a simmer throughout. In large pan, heat 1 tablespoon each of oil and butter over medium heat and then add the pancetta. Cook just until the fat begins to cook (about 5 minutes) and then add the mushrooms. You want these to get golden and slightly crisp. Use a slotted spoon to remove the pancetta and mushrooms and set aside.

Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan, move the heat to medium high, and add your shallots. Cook them just until they begin to get soft and then add the rice. We used Arborio since that’s what we had from the last risotto. Cook the rice until it’s completely opaque but not golden. Steve and I had a lively discussion about the difference between opaque and translucent at this point, which was fun. Once your rice is ready, pour in the wine and cook until the rice is pink and the wine has evaporated.

Now turn your heat down to medium low. Here’s where the time gets invested. Add ½ cup of the broth to your pan of rice. Stir it continuously until the broth is completely absorbed by the rice. This happens quickly at the beginning but much more slowly as you move along. Continue to add the broth ½ cup at a time until there is only 1 cup of broth left. At that point you can add the mushrooms and pancetta back into the mixture before continuing to add in the broth. When all the broth is used, your rice should be creamy. If it seems way too thick, you can always add a little more broth. If it’s too loose, just cook it longer.

Add your last 2 tablespoons of butter and stir until they melt in, then do the same with the Parmesan. Finally, stir in the parsley and salt & pepper to taste. You don’t need as much salt as you might think, as the pancetta gives it a good saltiness. Serve it right away, perhaps with a little more Parmesan on top if you are so inclined (as we are). It’s a labor of love, but that’s love you can taste. And isn’t that the best kind?

(Click for printable recipe)

Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup

I actually made this soup a while ago, when the weather was still appropriate for a hearty soup like this. But I didn’t post it because there was one little ingredient that the original recipe (found on The Kitchn) called for that completely ruined it for me: rosemary. Now I like rosemary in certain situations. However, adding dried rosemary to a soup is something I’ll never do again. Those little pieces never soften so you end up being very aware of them, and not in a good way.

This time I omitted the rosemary and I think the soup is a real winner. It was maybe a little too hot to make it last night, but I don’t regret it. One major change I made (reflected below) was to use two boxes of Rice A Roni Long Grain Wild Rice, because I couldn’t find actual wild rice. I think that this change made the soup taste even better though. The seasoning packet helped make it even more flavorful. I also used vegetable broth the first time, and decided that chicken broth tastes better. I also cut down the amount a little. This soup takes some time, so take that into consideration when you are planning to have it for dinner. We didn’t eat until almost 8.

Ingredients

2 boxes Rice-a-Roni Long Grain Wild Rice
1 large onion, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
1 pound sliced mushrooms
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup white wine
1 bay leaf
3 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken broth/stock
1 cup whole milk or cream
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Salt to taste

I dice the celery and onion pretty small so they sort of disappear into the soup, but if you want a chunkier soup, just rough chop them. You can either cut up your mushrooms or leave them in slices, which is what I would recommend. Big meaty slices of mushrooms—yum!

So, get your rice started by following the instructions on the boxes. Then get out your Dutch oven or trusty soup pot and heat up a little bit of oil over medium-high heat. Add in the diced celery and onion and cook, stirring, just about 4-5 minutes until they start to get tender and translucent. I also added in salt and pepper at this point. Turn the heat down to medium and stir in your mushrooms. You’ll want to cook the mushrooms for a good 20 minutes to get them nice and brown and caramelized. That’s where the flavor of the soup really comes from so don’t get impatient. Don’t feel like you have to constantly stir it, but you should mix it up about every 8 minutes or so to make sure nothing burns. Leaving it sit actually helps the caramelization.

Next add in your garlic and oregano. The recipe says cook until fragrant. I never know what that means but they recommend about 30 seconds. Now you want to sprinkle the flour over the vegetables, and stir it up. You want the flour to soak up the liquid and stick everything together. Once that happens, turn up the heat to medium high again and you can pour in your wine and deglaze the pot (scrape up any delectable brown bits from the bottom of the pot). Let this simmer for a little bit until it thickens up and some of the wine evaporates, about 5-8 minutes.

Put in the bay leaf. Just break it in half, but don’t crumble it. You’ll want to remove it later (people shouldn’t eat bay leaves.) And add in the broth or stock. The original recipe called for 4 cups of stock, but it always seems a bit too much to me, so I cut it down to 3 ½ cups. Bring this to a boil, then turn it down to simmer for 20 more minutes. (See, I told you this would take awhile.)

Now, add in your rice, which should be done by now, and the milk or cream. Simmer AGAIN for 15 more minutes. It’s worth it, I swear. Finally, add the vinegar and salt to taste. It makes a lot of soup, but the leftovers last and it’s definitely tasty enough to have a few nights in a row.


(click for printable recipe)

Arugula Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette

It’s January, and with the New Year comes a lot of new resolutions to start exercising, lose weight, and eat healthier. If you know me at all, you know that these are all challenges for, especially the “eat healthier” part. But I’m making an attempt, and that’s why I tried this salad. I’ll admit, a bacon vinaigrette probably isn’t the MOST healthy thing I could have chosen, but come on. Baby steps.

All in all, it was pretty good. In the future I would add a little more seasoning to the dressing, since it was pretty bland. But I love the hot ingredients and dressing with the arugula. The original recipe (from The Pioneer Woman) called for spinach, and I made a second version for my husband with romaine so I’m sure this will work for any lettuce you love.

Ingredients:

Arugula

Bacon

1 red onion, sliced thinly

Mushrooms

Black pepper

Parmesan Reggiano (optional)

Dressing:

3 Tbsps. Reserved bacon grease

3 Tbsps. Red wine vinegar

2 Tsps sugar

½ Tsp Dijon mustard

Dash Salt

Start by frying up your bacon. I made the mistake of trying to get fancy and using some pancetta, but it did not make enough grease for the dressing, so I would recommend sticking with bacon. (We ended up cutting up some bacon to add to it). When that is nice and crispy, remove to a paper towel and remove all but about 2 Tbsps of the grease to a small saucepan. Now start caramelizing your onions over medium-low heat. This should take awhile, around 20 minutes. We didn’t let ours go that long because we like ours slightly less brown. Remove the onions and set aside, then brown your mushrooms over medium heat. Don’t let them get completely soft, just enough so that they are well browned. In the meantime, whisk together the ingredients for the dressing over medium heat until they are combined and heated through. No need for this to simmer; it just needs to be warm.

Now simply assemble the salad with the lettuce, bacon, onions and mushrooms. Pour the warm bacon dressing over the top and toss to coat. Then give it a dose of cracked pepper and if you want, grate a little Parmesan Reggiano over the top. There you have it. Maybe not the healthiest salad in the world, but at least it’s a small step in the right direction. 

(click here for printable recipe)

ps. 200th post! Woohoo!