[Stuffed Mushrooms] Red Lobster style mushrooms stuffed with shrimp, rice and broccoli

 A couple of weeks ago, our team had a lunch at Red Lobster to celebrate a colleague's retirement. I ordered  "Fresh Tilapia roasted with crab-and-seafood stuffing" and was hesitating whether to order an appetizer or not. Then a couple of people recommended this dish called "seafood stuffed mushrooms". As it looked delicious in the photo already, I placed an order for the stuffed mushrooms... and guess how the dish was. Yes. as you had a good guess, I just loved it. It was amazingly tasty and very filling. 

But! even though I couldn't  finish my Tilapia, which was also delicious, I was glad that I had had a great appetizer quite filling. While eating the seafood stuffed mushrooms, I also checked ingredients. The indisputable ingredients were crab, broccoli, red pepper, rice, and cheese. As it didn't look much complicated, so I came up with my own recipe. Believe it or not, my stuffed mushrooms were just scrumptious!!! You should try my recipe for stuffed mushrooms, and I am confident that you will like this dish. Oh, actually, I tend to like any kind of stuffed vegetables such as stuffed tomatoes.(I thought I had posted a recipe for stuffed tomatoes, but I hadn't! I should better do it very soon)

Here goes the recipe for the seafood stuffed mushrooms.

Ingredients

1 lb fresh mushrooms

1/6 - 1/4 red pepper, finely chopped

4-5 florets broccoli, finely chopped

1/2 lb shrimp or crabmeat

1/4 cup basmati (or long grain) rice, soaked in the tepid water for 20 minutes

1 cup white cheddar or mozzarella cheese

salt and pepper

Directions

1. Wash and soak rice in tepid water

2. Preheat oven to 350-375 F (= 180 - 190 Celsius)

3. Wash and dry mushrooms and remove stems.

4. Cut out the edge of the mushrooms with a small teaspoon so that you can stuff more filling.

5. Chop shrimp, red pepper, and broccoli as fine as possible.

6. Combine shrimp, red pepper, broccoli, and drained rice. 

Season with salt and pepper. 

Red pepper and shrimp will emit nice flavour while being cooked.

7. Stuff the mushrooms with the prepared filling.

8. Pour 1/4 C half & half or table cream in the baking dish before placing mushrooms in the dish.

9. Sprinkle mushrooms with generous amount of grated cheese.

10. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven.

11. Broil for 1-2 minutes to brown the tops of the mushrooms.

Then, that's it. Some delicious stuffed mushrooms are ready!

It's really easy, isn't it? Nonetheless, it's wonderfully delicious.

Enjoy!

Shrimp Stuffed mushrooms

[Gnocchi with Blue Cheese Sauce] Easy way to make potato gnocchi

I make gnocchi a few times a year mostly upon Remi's request, who loves gnocchi, especially with blue cheese sauce. He has always liked it since he heard that one of Roger Federer's favourite foods were gnocchi with Gorgonzola cheese sauce. Did I say before that Remi and I were the two die-hard Federer fans? :) 

Since kids liked gnocchi very much, I bought and tried frozen gnocchi pasta a couple of times, but none of us liked the texture of it. I wanted to have a quality gnocchi like what I could have at an Italian restaurant. I underwent trial and error before I acquired my own know-how . Before, I was so ignorant that I used potato masher to mash the potato! You shouldn't never ever ever do it. Deconstructed potato has to be as light and fluffy as possible. 

There are two things you need to remember when you make potato gnocchi. 

i. as I mentioned above, potato needs to be as light and fluffy as possible when dismantled.

ii. potato has to be still hot while being handled.

It's a bit of work, but the texture and taste of the pasta are incomparable to the frozen one. Here goes my recipe for potato gnocchi and blue cheese sauce.

(Partly adapted from Giallo Zafferano)

Ingredients

1 pound russet potatoes

1 egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Blue cheese sauce

1/2 cup 18% or 10% cream

60 g (2 oz)  blue cheese, preferably Gorgonzola

Directions

1. Fill a large pot with water. Add 2 tablespoons salt. Place potatoes in the pot. Bring the water to boil and cook potatoes until tender. It takes about a half hour. Or you can bake it for 40-45 minutes in the 425 degrees F oven. (Oops, I didn't take a photo for this step)

2. Remove the potatoes from the water and let sit just until cool enough to handle, but still hot. 

Peel the flesh out. (Be careful! Don't burn yourself!)

3. Pass the potatoes through a potato ricer/food mill, or grate them on the box grater. Make a mound of potatoes on the counter.

4. Make a well in the middle, and add flour, an egg, and salt.

5. Fold the mass over itself and press down. Repeat folding and pressing just a few times until the dough just holds together.

7. Roll out the dough into 1/2 inch thick circle(oval).

8. Cut the dough into stripes. To make it prettier, you should cut into 1/2-inch in diameter. My ropes were twice thicker.

Then, roll them into ropes.

9. Cut the ropes into small pieces. 

10. Form gnocchi into the classic gnocchi shape with a gnocchi board or the tines of a large fork turned upside down. Take each piece and squish it lightly with your index or thumb while rolling it away from you.  

Indentation holds the sauce better. 

Gnocchi look like cocoons, don't they?

11. When ready to cook, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt. Drop in the gnocchi and cook for about 90 seconds from the time they rise to the surface. 

Remove the cooked gnocchi with a skimmer, shake off the excess water.

You can serve gnocchi with any kind of sauce you like.

Pablo likes it with tomato sauce while Remi likes gnocchi with blue cheese sauce.

Blue cheese sauce is very simple to make.

Pour cream in a skillet.  When the cream is heated, add crumbled blue cheese and mix it thoroughly until there isn't any lump! That's it.

Mix with gnocchi and serve hot!

At Italian restaurant and in Italy, gnocchi is served as primo piatto (first course). But, I serve it as a main meal when I make it as gnocchi itself is very filling. I love soft elasticity of homemade gnocchi.

Enjoy!

Gnocchi di Patate in Salsa di Gorgonzola

[Dolmades] Tasty Stuffed Grape Leaves with meat & rice filling

I still remember that I was fascinated by the unknown Turkish person who had first thought of cooking rough and stiff grape leaves, to make edible food. He (or she) must be a genius to come up with this idea using abundant grape leaves. It's not only edible, but also tasty.

 I was wondering how come each of Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Egypt insist that stuffed grape leaves are their own traditional food. 

All these countries have three things in common: first, all these countries border the Mediterranean sea. Second, they all use more or less the same ingredients for their traditional food. And third, historically, all of the countries mentioned here were ruled by Ottoman Empire, i.e. Turkey of today. That must be why the Turkish word Dolma is from the Turkish verb dolmak which means 'to be stuffed'. (reference: Merriam-Webster). Dolmas (or dolmades) are one of the items I always pick at deli, olives & antipasto bars. It's glossy and refreshing at the same time. Gloss must come from meat and refreshingness must be from young mint leaves. When a Greek colleague of mine explained how her mom was making dolmades, it sounded pretty easy and doable. I got suddenly encouraged and decided to make my very own dolmades. Then I used a half jar of grape leaves to make lots of dolmades! It was soooooooo good and delicious. Here goes the recipe for Mediterranean stuffed grape leaves! :)

 Dolmas

(adapted from Greekfood.about.com)

Ingredients

1/2 jar of large grape leaves in brine (about 30-40 leaves)

8 cups of water

1 pound of lean ground beef

1/2 cup of uncooked short-grain rice, rinsed 

1 medium-large onion, finely chopped

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of fresh mint, chopped

1 tablespoon of flat leaf parsley, chopped

juice of 1 lemons

1/8 teaspoon of pepper

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

1 cup of water

Directions

1. Bring 8 cups of water to a boil in a large pot, add juice of 1/2 lemon and the salt. Turn off the heat when boiled, and put 1/2 jarful grape leaves in the pot. You don't need to separate them. 

Leave for 5 minutes before remove and rinse under the running cold water. 

Drain and pat the leaves with kitchen towel.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Sauté the onions in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until translucent. 

Add rinsed rice and sauté for 3-4 minutes. 

3. In a bowl, combine the onions, ground beef, rice, remaining olive oil, parsley, mint, juice of 1 lemon, and pepper. Mix well.

4. Gently separate one leaf and place it shiny side down on a work surface. Place 1-2 teaspoons of the filling on the leaf at the point where stem joins the leaf. 

Fold up the bottom of the leaf over the filling, then each side inward in parallel folds, 

and roll up the leaf. 

Roll should be firm, but not tight, to give enough space for the filling to expand during cooking. Repeat the steps.

5. To prevent the leaves on the bottom from burning while the filling cooks, place a few layers of damaged grape leaves in the bottom of a heavy-bottomed pot. 

Layer the dolmades in the pot, packing them closely together, seam side down. 

6. Add 1 cup of water and cover. Bring the water to a boil. 

Add remaining lemon juice and reduce heat to low, and simmer for 45-50 minutes. 

(Check to see if done)

7. Serve dolmades warm or at room temperature with lemon wedges, tzatziki or Greek yogurt.

Dolmades store well for a few days in the fridge, if there's any left. :)

Enjoy!

Dolma - Dolmades