Mushroom & White Bean Crostini

Posted on November 14, 2013 by melsmosaic

A cold afternoon can only get better with the amazing aroma of mushrooms and fresh herbs! I was having some friends over the other day and we always enjoy hummus as one of our snacks so had to do something different. I came across a new recipe that has one of their favorite foods in it — mushrooms — and then it has the beans of hummus, too. Perfect! So I whipped up a Mushroom & White Bean Crostini. I made a few changes to the original recipe based on what I had on hand and lactose intolerance.

Ingredients

1 (French) baguette, sliced 1/4 inch thick
3/4 cup garlic infused olive oil — just used the regular stuff and sprinkled the bread with garlic powder
1 Tablespoon butter — didn’t use any
1 Tablespoon olive oil — ‘some’ — accounting for no butter
8 ounces sliced mushrooms, cleaned and patted dry — picked up a pack at Trader Joe’s
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pinch Kosher salt
1 15.9 ounce can Bush’s Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed — used Cannellini Beans
2 Tablespoons Italian Herbs — went with flat leaf parsley and fresh rosemary — totally more than 2 tbsp
1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese — nixed that for my own reasons — let me know how it tastes

Time to cook!

I put the slices of baguette under the broiler — translation nice and quick vs. extended toasting.

Next, per the recipe, heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add olive oil, <butter> and mushrooms. Sauté for 5-10 minutes or until mushrooms release their moisture and begin to shrink. Continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated. The kitchen started smelling so good!

Then, get those herbs ready! Now, aroma overload. This is one of the reasons we cook!!!!

Next, add minced garlic, salt, herbs and beans. Stir and cook over medium heat until mixture is heated through.

Finally —

I served this in a bowl and let guests dish it onto bread on their own or just put it on their plate and eat it with a fork. Otherwise the recipe mentions…To assemble each piece of Crostini, place a spoonful of mushroom bean mixture on top of a slice of toasted bread. Top with shredded baby swiss cheese.
This was so, so good. Would be great to serve at upcoming parties and can be easily transported if not served on bread if you want to take it somewhere. You can easily make it ahead of time and heat it up when you arrived at required location.

Great Wine Find

Posted on November 8, 2013 by melsmosaic

Was looking for a bottle to open last night and checked out a couple labels in my wine rack and finally decided on one that I’d seen a few times and had no idea about it. WOW! I don’t have a clue where or when I bought this. It’s the Tarima Hill 2010 Red (from Spain). On the label it said it received 93 points and I am in complete agreement with that! Amazing. Dark fruit, spicy, a bit of smoke and leather, a bit chewy.

One quick review:

“The opaque purple-colored 2010 Tarima Hill exhibits notes of chocolate fudge, pen ink, graphite, blueberries and blackberries. This full-bodied, 100% Monastrell should drink well for a decade or more.” 93 Points – The Wine Advocate

I have no idea what I paid for this (though I’m guessing mid teens). Many of the reviews say this should NOT cost this little, but more like $30-$50. I can’t agree more! Need something to do this weekend? Go on a wine hunt…

Simple (Dark Chocolate & PB) Pleasures

Posted on November 7, 2013 by melsmosaic

Simple things for simple minds? Or simple, old school favorites tweaked to make lactose intolerant people thrilled? Maybe they go hand in hand. When I was at the store the other day there were some (unfortunate?) free samples of peanut butter cups. Normally I just walk by them because they are the typically milk chocolate. But, these looked a bit darker than usual. Then I saw the display bag — dark chocolate. I did some investigative work by reading the label because (too) many companies say their product is dark chocolate and have milk, lactose, cream, etc in them. Oh, no, heaven be thy name. There is no dairy in these things! Thank you Justin’s. You have brought me to eternal peanut better cup bliss! And, aside from the little sample pieces, the store was giving away full size treats. Simple things…

Living (the) Social (Life)

Posted on November 6, 2013 by melsmosaic

Last weekend in DC, LivingSocial had a deal that looked good, almost too good. Per the email, for $39 you could get a luxurious 1.5 hour Wine & Chocolate Tasting AND 4 bottles of wine to take home? The tasting part included 6 tastings and nicely paired chocolates. Then 4 FULL SIZE bottles to take home. I figured even if they were roughly $10 bottles you break beyond even. Only Two (or Three) Buck Chuck would make it a bad deal if you’re that picky.

So, a few friends and I took the plunge and checked it out. It was nice! Gorgeous set up, you check in, get a nice tasting glass (plastic, ergonomic with finger ‘area’ and stemless — SMART!) and wine tickets. You travel from stations 1-6 and get a rundown on the wine and the taste, of course, and unique chocolate paired with it. The whole place was not too loud and very laid back.

The wines we tasted were 3 whites (Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Moscato) and 3 reds (blend, Malbec, Merlot):

Before we left, we each turned in our last tickets and were handed a box of 4 random bottles of wine. They weren’t necessarily ones we tasted that night. Between my friends and I, each of us had at least one of the bottles we sampled. After some research, I found that the average cost of the bottles was about $9. Not bad considering the price of the event. Would love to see more of these come to town!

“It just doesn’t taste the same.”

Posted on November 6, 2013 by melsmosaic

There are those things or that dish that can be so easy/basic/simple to make that just don’t taste the same unless a specific person makes them. From spaghetti & meatballs to apple pie to chocolate chip cookies. Many times those thoughts comes from people who don’t cook, but it can come for those of us who love the kitchen.

My favorite dish to pin this thought to is my friend’s ceviche. It’s like a comfort food to me (that food/dish in general). She’s from Costa Rica and they/she just have/has magical ceviche hands, or something to that effect. All that’s in the dish is white fish, onion, red bell pepper, cilantro, lime juice…and patience. For the juice, she hand squeezes every…single…lime. And, her ceviche must sit overnight (some recipes vary).

I make ceviche every so often and it never, ever, ever tastes the same, just because it’s not HER ceviche. I’m likely missing the patience part. I have been enjoying this the past few meals and just keep smiling. Muchisimas gracias amiga!

A Pre-Halloween DC Tradition

Posted on October 31, 2013 by melsmosaic

Note: This post has nothing to do with food. But, it’s fun to change gears sometimes. I have been living in the DC-area for over a decade and finally made it to the High Heel Race this year. It takes place the Tuesday before Halloween and is a huge tradition in the city. The weather was perfect, the costumes put most of us to shame by just going to the costume store and the entertainment was phenomenal!

Some local news (recap) links are at the bottom, too.

Lots of pictures (there was so much going on that the quality isn’t great on all of them because I was in constant motion)!

http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/23824780/thousands-cheer-on-runners-in-27th-annual-high-heel-race#axzz2jKPGttyH

http://www.voanews.com/content/washington-dc-halloween-race-features-high-heels-drag-queens/1780650.html

Napa General Store

Posted on October 30, 2013 by melsmosaic

Checked out a great new place recently that in an area I don’t recently — Napa General Store.

(image source: napageneralstore.com)

The first two orders of business from the menu were coffee and mimosas, since I had just come from the other side of the country.

The menu had several great choices and mine came down to the salmon vs. huevos rancheros. I chose the latter.

Farm-fresh eggs sunny-side up with house-made corn tortillas, salsa verde, pico de gallo, black beans & pepperjack cheese (mixed that). Delicious. So fresh and amazing.

My friends did everything from waffles to omelettes to eggs benedict. There was almost silence at the table when the food arrived. So good, pure happiness.

Beer and Bike Tour

Posted on October 30, 2013 by melsmosaic

Being in San Francisco doesn’t mean you’re only near wine country. You are also around some good craft breweries. I came across a tour that was worth checking out — Small-Group Craft Brews and Bike Tour. You get to taste local stuff, check out some of the city ‘on foot’ and attempt to burn some of what you enjoyed with exercise. Can’t go wrong, right?

So you get to the tour office and get quickly fitted for your bike. The small tour is max of 8 people, we had 6. As we were leaving, one of the best parts was seeing the tour guide’s helmet — a hockey helmet! He said he just couldn’t find a bike helmet that really worked for him so this was best. Loved it!

So our first stop was 21st Amendment. It was a about a 5 minute ride from the start/office. The tour included one free beer and this is where we got it. I took some quick sips of a couple before deciding on the 5 South (this is a different beer, so mine was a different color/look).

Then we had about a 10-15 minute bike ride. Next stop was ‘just’ a bar that tapped local brews (all of CA), Zeitgeist. The staff was a bit arrogant and we only found out when we arrived that they only take cash. After snapping a picture of the board, I also was told you can’t take pictures after the sign just said no phones. I took that as no using phones to talk. Anyway, I went for the Baby Daddy. Nice beer. Good and bad on the bar, though. We went outside to the patio to enjoy our brews. You can smoke at this place…and you can smoke anything…

To get to the next stop we had a very fun 20+ minute bike ride getting to see more of the city. The we arrived at Cerveceria de Mateveza. Great place to try a flight. Opted for the Yerba IPA, Morpho, Local Honey and Spring Bloom Single. All were very good but it was the end of the tour and all were starting to blend.

We then got to ride back to the office and most was downhill. It was a 30+ minute effort but very relaxing. Fun day in San Francisco!

You say dolmades, I say dolmas

Posted on October 29, 2013 by melsmosaic

In the end, they’re all the same. I was making dolmas the other night for a supper club, for the 2nd time in about 8 years because they are a food that I do not enjoy preparing but thought I’d give them another try. I have wondered about the difference in the two names so did a bit of research. And, it’s not rocket science. Based on various sources, dolmas OR dolmades is just the plural form of dolma. So on we go.

I checked out several recipes and after weighing my options I went for Tyler Florence’s.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/dolmades-stuffed-grape-leaves-recipe/index.html

I made a couple substitutions because I had them on hand and they wouldn’t alter the taste too much:

-almonds vs. pine nuts

-veggie vs. chicken stock

-dry vs. fresh dill

So to begin, prep the onion, fennel, lemon zest.

Saute the onion, fennel, nuts, zest and rice…ahh, smells good. Then add some stock and when done stir in dill, parsley, S&P.

Then you blanch the grape leaves. I think this is what the recipe I used years ago didn’t have me do so that caused tearing (both ripping and water coming out of my eyes from frustration) issues. You do that for 5 minutes.

Then the true work begins. Get those leaves separated. Have one ready, put about 2 tablespoons of mixture in the center, be strategic in rolling (all in the recipe), then place in a dutch oven. You roll and roll, then roll some more. Eventually you run out of filling.

You put the pot on the stove, put some stock to cover the dolmas half way, some olive oil and lemon juice.

They cook for about 30-40 minutes and voila! I was a bit disappointed in mine. The rice wasn’t quite done, but I didn’t determine this until too late. I made, I ate, I will next time and thereafter forever enjoy them from elsewhere (aka restaurant or storebought).

From CO to MD

Posted on October 29, 2013 by melsmosaic

I visited the breweries in Colorado then went less than a hour north of Washington, DC to check about another great beer producer’s house of heaven. This time it was Flying Dog. Now, did you know they started in Colorado and moved to Maryland to grow/expand/make people around here even happier? Oh, ok, maybe that last part wasn’t the true strategy but I don’t hear any complaints.

So when considering checking out the Flying Dog Brewery, pull out next year’s calendar. They have a several month wait list/lead booking time. I lucked out because I was going alone and was able to snag a spot from a cancellation. So, if you want to go that route, contact them a day or so before you’d be interested in checking it out. They only do tours Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

You get there, get carded, get your nice bracelet.

Pay $5 and get a great glass that you keep (this is jumping ahead as it has delicious fluid in it). Then the tour begins.

You get the scoop on the entire history, from the founder, the owner, the random tidbits, the alcohol, drugs, prison time, name, etc. Neat stuff. The hallway depicts all of this. There are more paintings that the camera didn’t quite pick up.

You continue into the beer processing area and learn about all steps of the brewing process, from when water and hops might initially collide, how they determine each brew (what goes into each one), when/how long it’s in vats, how the bottling process works and the final ‘boxing’/putting it in cases or kegging so we can enjoy it.

When the tour was done, we headed to the bar where we could pick whatever we wanted. For $5, we got 5 samples. Big samples. I had the staple, Raging Bitch. Went with the White Wheat. I tried the rarities — Orchard Ale. Then some of the seasonals, which were hit or miss. There were love/hates in the tour group as we discussed them. The seasonals I tried were this beer and wine funky thing (can’t remember the name) — interesting. One glass would be all I’d want and then the awesome Dogtoberfest Marzen.