The Mexican Mushrooms You Neven Knew

Along with the beans previously-listed for the dinner party I had for my friend Traci, I found a delicious and utterly new (to me at least) way of serving mushrooms in Mark Miller's Tacos. I don't know about you, but when I think of Mexican food, the first thing that comes to mind certainly isn't mushrooms. True, I've read about Huitlacoche, the exotic fungus that pops up occasionally in Mexican recipes the same way morels and porcini do, the authors seemingly blind to expense or availability. Yet, there it was "Portobello Mushrooms with Chipotle." As an aside, the recipe in the book confusingly specifies "small portobellos", which really aren't portobellos, they're criminis (aka those brown mushrooms usually found next to the white mushrooms at your local grocery store. If you can't find criminis, white mushrooms will work as well.) Although I had never had a mexican mushroom dish before, I LOVE mushrooms, and chipotles and mushrooms certainly didn't sound bad. To make matters even more interesting, the mushrooms were not served as a side dish, like sauteed mushrooms on a steak (yet another thing I LOVE), they were the MAIN dish, served as a taco filling. So, I thought, "Why not?"

I am sooooo glad that I tried this recipe. These mushrooms are amazing! The smokey chipotle flavor only enhances the luscious mushroom flavor and the herbal flavor of the cilantro only heightens the experience. Added to that toasted corn flavor of the tortillas adds a sweetness that serves to add the perfect note to the entire taco. To make matters even better, this is a very easy and quick recipe to make that will make both your meat eaters and your vegetarians happy.

For two people, this recipe definitely makes leftovers, which is at the better. I happily at these for lunch for two days afterwards!

CRIMINI MUSHROOMS WITH CHIPOTLE
as adapted from Mark Miller's Tacos

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. crimini mushrooms (if you can try to buy the smaller ones with closed gills)
3 tbls. butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tbls. chipotle puree (a can of chipotles in adobo, pureed in your food processor--will keep for up to 1 month in a sealed container in the refrigerator)
1/8 c chopped fresh cilantro leaves
8 soft corn tortillas

DIRECTIONS

1. Clean mushrooms (if the gills aren't showing, you can rinse them in a colander, otherwise, wipe the caps with a damp paper towel). Then, quarter medium and larger mushrooms and half the smaller ones.
2.  Preheat a heavy skillet large enough to hold all of the mushrooms in a single layer. (If you do not have a large enough skillet to do this, you can do this in batches, but you will need to add extra butter.) Melt butter, then add mushrooms, salt and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes. Then, turn mushrooms, and cook for another three. Then, add minced garlic and allow to cook for another 2 minutes, cooking until the garlic is fragrant. Then add the chipotle and cook for another 2 minutes, or until the chipotle is fragrant.
3.  Remove mushroom mixture from the heat and mix in the cilantro.
4.  Serve alongside toasted corn tortillas.

Those Coy Beans

Usually, when I make beans I throw a ham hock, a jalapeno, some garlic and onion, and maybe then stems from a bunch of cilantro into a pot with beans and water and let time do the rest of the work. A few hours later, they're done. Easy. So easy, in fact, that I have been absolutely blind to any other recipe for ages. "Uck," I'll think. "That looks like more work than it's probably worth." Then, I recieved Tacos, by Mark Miller, as a birthday present. In it, there is a recipe called Charro Beans with Blackened Tomatoes. When I first saw it, I thought, "What's a blackened tomato?". Looking more closely, I wondered, "Wheres the meat?" If you can't tell from other recipes, I am definitely one who is guiltly of planning my meals around protein. Period.

However, I live in Seattle, where dinner invitations are often accepted with codicils from those who specify food allergies ranging from dairy to strawberries but also often include food sensitivities (a food allergy that cannot be proven by immunological tests), the occasional vegetarian who still eats seafood and bacon, and my friends who don't eat pork that's overtly in a dish (aka bacon) but otherwise have a don't ask don't tell policy. So, when my friend Traci (who falls into the gluten sensitive category) agreed to come to dinner, I immediately thought of Tacos. Excepting flour tortillas, which often lands one in huge debates over whether flour or corn is better, much like people arguing over whether green or purple is a better color, tacos can be made easily without gluten. Even better, these beans can be made either as a taco all their own (giving one a flavorful vegetarian option) or as a side dish.

CHARRO BEANS WITH BLACKENED TOMATOES
as adapated from Tacos by Mark Miller

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. dried pinto beans, rinsed and picked over for rocks
3 whole cloves garlic
1 onion, halved
8 cups water
1/8 c. olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
2 jalapenos
1 lb. tomatoes
1 tbls. chipotlee puree (buy a can of chipotles in adobo and puree in food processor; the excess will last for up to 1 month in a container in refrigerator)
1 tbls. tomato paste
1 tsp. smoked salt* (optional)
1/2 tsp. dried mexican oregano
1/8 c  chopped fresh cilantro
16 - 5 1/2 corn tortillas

DIRECTIONS

1.  To cook the beans: in a large pot (at least 6 qt.), simmer the beans, 3 whole cloves of garlic, 1/2 of the onion and water over medium-low heat,  partially covered, for around 3 hours, or until the beans are almost falling apart. Add water as needed. After the beans are cooked, drain the bean liquid into a sauce pan and return the beans to the pot (turn heat off under beans). Reduce the bean liquid by half, around 10 minutes on high, and reserve.
2.  Place oven rack on the highest shelf. Set broiler to high. While the broiler is coming to temperature, remove any green stems from tomatoes. Then place tomatoes and jalapenos in a heavy, oven-proof pan (ideally, a cast iron skillet). Then, place pan into oven. Broil tomatoes and jalapenos for around 12 minutes on each side, so that both sides are black and blistered. Remove from oven and roughly chop.
3. Turn heat under beans to medium, and add chiles, tomatoes, tomato paste, chipotle puree, smoked salt, oregano, cilantro and thickened bean liquid.
4.  Then, cut the remaining 1/2 onion into a fine dice. In a skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat and saute the diced onion until it begins to caramelize, around 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Then, remove from heat and add the onion and garlic to the bean mixture.
5. Allow bean mixture to cook for 20 minutes. Then, serve or turn heat to low until ready to serve.
   To serve, I like to let people make their own tacos. So, I place the beans on the table, along side toasted tortillas (toast either in a skillet or over a gas flame) and salsa.

Dungeness Crab & Cheddar Souffle

 And now, for the star of the show!

I know, I know, souffles are not the stars of the beauty pageant. Especially these days, when we're used to receiving plates who composition was created with the aid of tool from squirt bottles to surgical tweezers.  Still, there is a reason making a good souffle is something to be proud of. Because of this, they still sneak into far more evolved menus as specials and dessert options whose exclusivity as something requiring extra preparation heightens its otherwise lackluster allure. Thus, behold the best souffle that I have ever made! Yes, I should probably not admit that, but I don't care. It's true. My previous attempts either fell a bit flat or tasted odd, especially when it came to cheese.  The former was probably due to a lack of cream of tartar, which, barring the presence of copper, is the miracle drug for egg whites (if you see a recipe using whipped eggs that doesn't specify it, add some anyway), and the latter had more to do with rather dried out blue cheeses of various types.

This lovely happenstance you see before you came about because dungeness crab is in season in Seattle and is currently cheaper than steak. Along with a loaf of bread and some bananas, I came upon crab for around $5 per pound.  How could I say no? Usually, my excitement over dungeness crab is so high that I cannot be bothered to do much more than create a butter sauce of some sort to dip it in. There is still nothing wrong with this approach, but I was quite taken with the idea of a crab dish I made a few months earlier. Featured in the 1970's Joy of Cooking, you essentially make a mornay sauce, throw in a little dry sherry, fold the crab and broil just until the top is brown. When I made this a few months ago, it was excellent, but a bit too rich.  So, I thought that a souffle might be just the thing.  The problem was that I couldn't find any recipes for dungeness crab souffle that looked very good. For instance, the top example listed in Google search featured margarine. My feeling about margarine is that if you want to substitute it, that's your business, but no one puts it in actual recipes these days. (Sorry margarine lovers.)

Fortunately, I redoubled my efforts and focused on finding an excellent cheese souffle recipe.  Epicurious had an well-reviewed example featuring Gruyere and Parmesan. Using the template of the recipe and drastically changing the flavor profile, I substituted Tilamook (I LOVE Tilamook cheese) sharp cheddar for the Gruyere and went from there.  Suffice to say, not only was the end result marvelously brown and puffed, but my husband I couldn't stop eating it!

Dungeness Crab & Cheddar Souffle with Bourbon & Thyme

Ingredients:

2 tbls grated Parmesan cheese + 1/4 c

1/4 c butter (1/2 stick)

5 tbls all purpose flour

pinch smoked paprika

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1 3/4 c whole milk

1/4 c bourbon

6 large egg yolks

a pinch of kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 cup freshly-grated, sharp cheddar cheese, packed

1/4 grated Parmesan cheese

the meat of 1 - 1 1/2 lb. cooked dungeness crab (or roughly 6 oz. lump crab meat)

8 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Procedure:

1. Pick crab meat over to make sure that all pieces of shell or cartilage have been removed.

2. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°F.

3. Generously butter one 10-cup soufflé dish or six 1 1/4-cup soufflé dishes; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to coat. After doing so, place the souffle dish into the freezer.

4. Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, smoked paprika, nutmeg and dry mustard. Cook without browning until mixture begins to bubble, whisking constantly (I use a gravy whisk, instead of a balloon whisk), about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, then the bourbon. Cook until smooth, thick and beginning to boil, whisking constantly, about 2 minutes.

5. Remove from pan from heat, and add salt, pepper and thyme. Mix yolks with a fork in a small bowl and add to sauce. Then, whisk quickly to blend. After that, fold in the cheddar and Parmesan cheese (the cheeses do not need to melt). Following that, fold in (with a heat-proof rubber spatula) the crab meat; do so gently, trying not to tear apart the lumps of crab meat.

6. Remove prepared souffle dish from freezer.

7.  Using electric mixer, beat whites in large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold 1/4 of whites into lukewarm soufflé base to lighten. Fold in remaining whites. Transfer soufflé mixture to prepared dish.

8. Place soufflé on top of jelly roll pan (to catch any drips) and into oven; reduce heat to 375°F. Bake soufflé until puffed, golden and gently set in center, about 1 hour for large soufflé (or 30 minutes for small soufflés).

9. Using oven mitts, transfer soufflé to a trivet, or, if using small souffle dishes, onto salad or dessert plates, and serve.

Along with a green salad, this makes an excellent dinner or lunch, and would make a decadent brunch, requiring much in the way of mimosas.

For wine options, pair with a dry Gewurztraminer or dry sparkling wine.