Tag: mushrooms

Gemelli with Mushrooms + Arugula by Gordon Ramsay

Meet your new favorite weeknight dinner: pasta mixed with earthy mushrooms and peppery arugula. If you’re like me, you’ll find yourself making it over and over again.

Gemelli with Mushrooms and Arugula is the kind of pasta recipe that really has no business being as good as it given how simple it is. It comes together quickly with just 7 ingredients (including the option parmesan on top!), and is incredibly forgiving.

Pasta is the perfect neutral backdrop for earthy mushrooms sauteed with plenty of garlic. Peppery arugula adds a dose of freshness to your plate and crushed red pepper and freshly cracked black pepper add heat and dimension.

In short, it’s the kind of recipe that’s perfect for a weeknight.

Fresh mushrooms are the star of this recipe, so it’s important to choose a variety that you’ll enjoy. I personally love using a wild mushroom blend with lots of chanterelles, but I mix it up based on what’s available at the store. This time, I picked up two packages of mixed cremini, shitake, and oyster mushrooms.

The second most important ingredient is the pasta. I adore gemelli for this pasta dish. It’s small enough to mix well with the mushrooms, but it still has a nice, chewy texture. You can also use bowties (farfalle), fusilli, or campanelle. You can also use gluten-free rotini to keep this entire recipe gluten-free.

In terms of technique, this pasta dish is very similar to pasta aglio e olio. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil, then cook the pasta until just shy of al dente.

While the pasta cooks, saute the garlic and mushrooms in olive oil until they’re soft. Next, stir in the cooked pasta and some reserved pasta cooking water to create a luscious sauce. Finally, stir in a ton of baby arugula and season the dish generously with crushed red pepper flakes, salt, and freshly cracked black pepper.

If you’re feeling extra indulgent, you can stir in another tablespoon of olive oil and top the pasta with shaved parmesan.

Leftovers are great reheated gently or served cold, like a pasta salad.

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound gemelli, or other small pasta (can use gluten-free)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
8 ounces mixed mushrooms, roughly chopped
3 cups loosely packed arugula
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and cracked black pepper
shaved Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

Instructions

Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook it according to the directions for al dente (about 12 minutes for gemelli). Reserve 1 cup of water water, then drain the pasta.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook 2-3 minutes, until softened and fragrant. Stir in the mushrooms and cook 5 minutes, until deeply browned and softened.
Over low heat, stir in the pasta and reserved cooking water. Cook 2-3 minutes, until the water is reduced. Stir in the arugula and red pepper flakes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If desired, top with Parmesan cheese.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 247 Total Fat: 10g Saturated Fat: 3g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 6g Cholesterol: 14mg Sodium: 402mg Carbohydrates: 29g Fiber: 3g Sugar: 2g Protein: 10g

Gluten-Free Goddess Recipes: Quinoa “Pilaf” with Mushrooms by Gordon Ramsay

Quinoa pilaf recipe with mushrooms, scallions and bell peppers

Quinoa with a Pilaf Twist. But first, love.

It has occurred to me this week that I lack the sentimentality gene. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy a lively romp down memory lane now and again, just like any crow-footed post-mid-life goddess with a lively past and a healthy sense of curiosity. It’s amusing- even illuminating- to look back down the road once in awhile. To catch the rear view. To shuffle through old photographs, to listen to a song that evokes the summer of ’69. That night in the back seat at the drive-in. Peter Fonda on the big screen. The bolt of first love.

But I am not wistful or gauzy eyed, thinking about the past. I don’t romanticize it. Though I had an awfully good time of it (I admit I embraced my tender freedom with gusto).

What is astonishing to me, hitting me upside the head in a virtual shakabuku, is how good my instinct was, way back then. At the tender age of 15. And 17, come to think of it. I made some pretty fine choices back in the day. My teenage heart seemed to know a thing or two about love. Though my complicated childhood made it inevitable I would eventually feel undeserving, and soon enough gravitate to the familiar territory of exploitation. The roots of self-sabotage are sown in the shadow of the dysfunctional family altar. Just when the individuating soul is awakening, the unconscious rumbles from its slumber of innocence and stirs up the familial ghosts to hook its ugly claim on fate. It whispers, You think you got out free and clear, eh?

Some never pry themselves free. Some simply give in to momentum. Some accept less, willingly, and swell with stoic pride. Some find religion and pray to angels. Some choose work. And some replace love with sentiment. The pale excuse for love. The embroidery of nostalgia and its rose-tinted ribbons, investing in a picture that looks pretty to strangers. It is not perfect, but it looks good.

Love isn’t mediagenic. It’s messy and complicated and often the timing sucks. Love asks us to get dirty. To risk authenticity, not sugar-coat its opposite. Love doesn’t depend upon perfection. Or what the neighbors think. Love seeds itself in the broken places. It prefers the company of weeds above roses. And love doesn’t require being polite, being correct, being right, being the best. Love asks us to hurt. To stretch beyond what is bearable. To feel scared. To lose control. To be ridiculous.

It took me twenty-five years to find it again. That deep, true love. And this time I grabbed it.

And after twenty-five more years, I hold it tight, still.

So dear reader.

On to pilaf! No rice in sight.

Quinoa Mushroom “Pilaf” Recipe

BY Karina Allrich January 2010.

You can use either broth or water to cook this quinoa recipe, but for a hearty, flavor-rich quinoa pilaf, use your favorite broth.

First:

As the quinoa cooks, gather and cut up your vegetables.

Ingredients:

Olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 small to medium yellow bell pepper, diced fine

1 small to medium green bell pepper, diced fine

2 cups sliced mushrooms

Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

1 teaspoon Greek Seasoning (mint, lemon, basil, oregano mix)

2 scallions (spring onions) sliced- white and light green sections

Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Extra virgin olive oil, to taste

Option:

Toasted pine nuts, for serving

Instructions:

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in a fine sieve. Drain. Place in rice cooker or pot with two cups fresh water. Cover and cook until all the water is absorbed.

When the quinoa is almost done, heat a splash of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, yellow and green pepper; and stir over medium heat until slightly softened. Add in the mushrooms. Season with sea salt, and ground pepper, to taste. Add the Greek seasoning. Stir and cook until the mushrooms are tender.

Scoop the cooked quinoa out of the rice cooker and add it into the mushroom- pepper mixture. Add in the sliced scallions. Stir to combine. Squeeze fresh lemon juice all over the quinoa and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Toss to coat the quinoa.

Taste test and add more salt or seasoning if it needs it.

Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts, if desired.

Serve immediately; or allow it to cool, then cover and refrigerate it to eat as a salad.

Note on chilling this quinoa: Before serving this quinoa cold, taste test again and adjust seasonings; chilling often dulls the flavors in these kinds of salads. I usually allow quinoa salad a few minutes out of the fridge before serving; letting it to come to room temperature helps the flavors. If making ahead as a salad, I’d use water instead of broth- personal preference.

Cook time: 30 min

Yield: Serves 4

Spinach Pesto and Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms by Gordon Ramsay

For a quick and easy entree, try these flavourful stuffed mushrooms with one of kitchen essentials – Pesto, homemade or storebought and Cheddar cheese. Field mushrooms have an intense, robust flavour and a dense, meaty texture which make them a perfect container for the recipe, but flesh tomatoes would work just as great.

	Spinach Pesto
4 Jumbo field mushrooms 60 g Kerrygold Cheddar dices	70 g Baby spinach leaves 30 g Toasted pine nuts 30 g Parmesan, grated 2 Garlic cloves, crushed 60 ml Olive oil Black salt & freshly ground black pepper

To make the spinach pesto, place the spinach, pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic and oil in the bowl of a food processor and process until well combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Trim stems from mushrooms. Spoon the prepared pesto onto the mushrooms and top with Cheddar. Bake for 25 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and cheese is melted.