Mushroom Flatbread with Pesto, Goat Cheese, and Balsamic

Perfect Pairing:  Girls' Night

A couple weeks ago Chris was out of town for the night on a mini “bro-cation”.  For the record, he did not call it this, that is 100% me.  He headed to Champaign/Urbana to watch the Fighting Illini play.  

That meant I had a night by myself at home.  I was going to miss him, but I was also going to make the most of it by making it super girly.  I was going to make the girliest thing I could think of for dinner, enjoy a mini bottle of champagne, and watch a chick flick that featured Bradley Cooper as a chef.  I was pumped.

I formulated my plan for a girly dinner as I perused the grocery store.  What is girlier than flatbread with goat cheese?  I mean, it is actually just pizza, but we call it flatbread so it sounds classy.  If I was making pizza for my husband it would most definitely have some kind of meat on it.  If I am making it for me it is going to be overflowing with mushrooms.  Chris is not a huge fan, so this was the perfect time to go fungi-wild. 

Instead of traditional pizza sauce I used a basil pesto.  So much flavor!  I always keep pesto in the freezer, it is a great ingredient to have on hand.

The sautéed mushrooms are finished off with a caramelization of balsamic, and then the whole flatbread is dotted with tangy goat cheese. 

So good.  So girly.  Dudes, if you want to make and enjoy this flatbread…. No judgement here!

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Brussels Sprout and Pear Salad with Bacon and Candied Pistachios 

Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Chocolate Sauce

Three years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Butternut Squash Risotto

Four years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Oven Roasted Salmon in Lemon Broth with Pea Puree

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Red Curry Chicken Noodle Soup and a little bit about the Chicago Bears

Perfect Pairing:  Garbage disposal cleanup          

 

Chicago was at its finest this weekend!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and I think that puts everyone in a fabulous mood.  I had a great weekend with friends and family.  On Saturday I made my annual trip to Gethsemane, an extraordinary nursery that spans an entire block.  I have written about my garden woes in the past.  I am determined to make things grow this summer.  We took home our fair share of flowers and herbs!

Saturday night I was lucky enough to attend my 4th Chicago Bears Care Gala at Soldier Field.  This was the 18th year, and they have earned over $10 million towards cancer research.  The gala is always fantastic.   This year was certainly no exception!  Everything including the food, entertainment, and auction is flawless.  Getting solo access to the field is pretty amazing too.

 

I was lucky enough to go on a private tour of the locker rooms with some of the players.  Here are some of the highlights!

Entering hallowed ground....

Martellus Bennett was kind enough to act as our unofficial tour guide.  He was great!  He definitely had everyone laughing.

I don't think I look like a natural in these things.

I can always count on my mom to promote my cooking blog.  When Martellus talked about cooking, my mom was all over it.  He was kind enough to act interested and even asked me to email him the site!  Just another one of the highlights of my night!

I think it is safe to say we all geeked out over meeting Brandon Marshall!

I even walked away with some game gloves! 

Obviously, it was a pretty special night and I feel so honored to be a part of it.  

Anyway, back to the soup!  About a year ago I wrote about this Thai Chicken Noodle Soup. 

 

My original plan was to make that soup again but it evolved into this Red Curry Chicken Noodle Soup.  They are very similar, except this version does not use coconut milk, so it is a bit lighter.  It would be a great soup for summer.  It is spicy and full of bright flavors.

You will have a few juiced limes after making the soup, so toss them in the garbage disposal to clean it a bit.  I think this is a pretty common trick but I am always surprised at how much it freshens it up. 

The perfect pairing from the coconut version works here as well.  Use tongs to pick up the noodles after they have cooked and snip with kitchen shears to make the soup easier to eat. 

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Sweet Potato with Kale, Mushrooms, and Pancetta

Perfect Pairing – Deli Counter

Well I have stuffed potatoes with arugula and parmesan….

Fajita inspired ingredients…

And all of this stuff…

 

BUT I have yet to do anything with sweet potatoes.  Until now!

This was one of those random dinners you throw together to try to use what you have on hand.  In this case I had kale, mushrooms, and sweet potatoes.  I was thrilled with the result.  It was super hearty and healthy (ignore the small amount of pancetta).  Kale and sweet potatoes are powerhouse ingredients, full of nutrients.  It may not be beautiful, but it was darn tasty.

Freshly grated nutmeg is a great complement to dark greens, so I used that in my version but it is optional if you don’t feel like investing in nutmeg.  Personally, I love having a few whole nutmegs on hand and I grate them on my microplane.   

I topped the potato off with a dollop of ricotta mixed with parmesan and salt and pepper.  It kind of acts like sour cream here.  If you are following the paleo diet, which is incredibly popular right now, you could leave the ricotta off. 

One of my biggest annoyances is waiting at the deli counter at my grocery store. There is always a line and I swear they could move much faster.  I hate pulling my number out of that little machine and realizing I am 12 people from the front of the line.  Ugh.  I decided to stick it out when I was making this, because I knew I could save a fair amount of money.  I bought the pancetta and ricotta from the deli.  I was able to get the exact amount I needed and I think I saved about $7.  Totally worth the wait.  You could also use bacon if you are not feeling the pancetta.

If you have leftovers they are great repurposed for breakfast.  I chopped up the leftovers (potato, kale, mushrooms, and pancetta) and sauteed them in a skillet until lightly browned and topped it off with some ricotta and a fried egg.  Whoa.  It didn't suck.

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Autumn Salad

Perfect Pairing:  Help from the grocery store

The alternate name for this salad was Maple Roasted Butternut Squash, Thyme Mushroooms and Roasted Chicken Salad with Toasted Walnuts and Cranberries.  While informative, it proved to be bit of a mouthful.  I decided to stick with Autumn Salad.

I am a bit of a sandwich and salad snob.  Lunch meat on bread just does not do anything for me.  I need to have something exciting on it like caramelized onions, sriracha aioli, sprouts, etc.  You get the idea.  Apparently I think things like caramelized onions are “exciting”.  Don’t judge.  The same thing goes with salad.  I like to add lots of different vegetables, textures, and flavors without adding a lot of fat and calories from cheese or fried toppings. 

This Autumn Salad is chock-full of good stuff.  The ingredient list may look long but chances are you have a lot of this in your kitchen already.  Often salads feel like a warm-weather thing but this salad is perfect for cooler weather.  It is almost comfort food.  I kept all of the components separate and ate the salad for dinner over a few days.  I looked forward to dinner each night!  The maple roasted squash would actually be a great side dish on its own. 

The Perfect Pairing for this salad is to take some help from the grocery store.  Buying pre-peeled and cubed squash, cleaned and sliced mushrooms, and rotisserie chicken will cut down on some of the prep time.  When I made this my plan was to use rotisserie chicken but they were out.  So annoying.  I actually had to cook my own chicken.  You could also use your favorite store bought dressing if you don’t want to make your own.  Yum!  I think I will be making this again very soon!

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Portobello Eggs with Goat Cheese and Herbs

Perfect Pairing: Wire rack and aluminum foil

Whew, what a weekend!  I had so much fun with family and friends over the last few days, but I felt like I needed to get back to work to relax.  I think we filled every minute with something fun. 

I loved spending time with all of my nieces and nephews this weekend.  Of course, I also enjoyed their parents!  This breakfast is one I served to my family recently and it went over well with kids and adults.

Without a doubt, my most popular blog post has been the Customizable Bread Bowl Breakfast. 

I think this post is so popular because people like the idea of diners taking charge of their own meal.  Your guests or family can completely personalize their bowl so there are no special orders.  It also makes great use of leftovers.  I know my family is always trying to clear out the refrigerator, so this is a wonderful recipe for inventory control. 

Portobello Eggs with Goat Cheese and Herbs has a similar concept to the bread bowls.  I used goat cheese and a combination of rosemary, thyme, chives, and basil, but use whatever cheese and herbs you have on hand.

I am a huge fan of mushrooms so I loved the meaty Portobello with the creamy cheese, fresh herbs, and slightly runny egg.  Serve these along with some fruit and you have a well-rounded breakfast that is fit for company or a breakfast with the family.

The Perfect Pairing for this recipe is a wire rack and aluminum foil.  When I started thinking about this recipe I realized that the mushrooms were going to produce a lot of liquid once they started to cook.  To avoid this you place the mushrooms stem side down on a wire rack in the oven.  The liquid will cook out and collect under the rack.  This also helps to soften the mushrooms before adding the eggs.  This is a good and bad thing.  It is good because if you tried to fully cook the mushrooms with the egg inside, the egg would overcook.  It is bad because once the mushrooms start to soften it is hard to keep the raw egg in place.  Enter aluminum foil! 

Make a nest out of foil for each of the mushrooms. 

Add the goat cheese and herbs.

Top with a raw egg and bake!

 

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Oven Roasted Mushroom Tapas with Goat Cheese

Perfect Pairing:  Spanish Rioja Wine

I love tapas.  When I go to dinner I enjoy trying a few different things rather than settling on one entrée.  Tapas are perfect!  Everyone gets to sample multiple dishes.  This roasted mushroom dish is really simple but full of good things like exotic mushrooms, garlic, shallots, chile oil, thyme and goat cheese.  The flavorful mushrooms are best served up on crusty bread. 

The Perfect Pairing for this recipe is a Spanish Rioja red wine.  Riojas are probably the most popular Spanish wines.  They are primarily made with Tempranillo grapes.  It has a bright, fresh flavor that goes really well with this savory mushroom dish.

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Broccoli and Mushroom Sauté

Perfect Pairing:  Chicken base

I am always looking for side dish recipes that are healthy, tasty, and quick.  Does anyone remember the Uncle Ben magazine ad that showed a beautifully prepared main dish served alongside some store-bought chips? Basically it was alluding to the fact that so many people spend all of their time creating lovely entrées and neglect what else is on the plate.  I thought it was pretty brilliant. 

This broccoli and mushroom sauté is really simple but the addition of sherry, shallots and garlic adds a lot of flavor without adding many calories.  It pairs nicely with grilled chicken or fish.  I think it would also be tasty on top of whole wheat pasta with freshly grated parmesan cheese and lots of black pepper. 

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