Poor Girl's Pate: Mushrooms, Chicken Livers and Truffle Oil

Poor Girl's Pate.
Yes, I had it for breakfast this morning. Too, too good!

Back when Izzy was a newborn, she had a hard time with dairy products, and her Mom, who was nursing her, had to give them all up. This is a tough thing in this family; we are all Francophiles, and while we can do without a lot of things, good cheese is dear to our hearts. We came up with a lot of alternatives for Susan, --dairy-free cakes, cookies and I even changed up my favorite pate recipe to eliminate all the dairy products. Now that Izzy is older, and has gotten past her dairy issues, I am back to the original recipe, more or less, and I have to say, while the dairy free one is delicious, this one hits the ball out of the park. How can you go wrong with chicken livers, mushrooms, and truffle flavors? Ball out of the park? Can you tell I fell asleep last night watching the Phillies with Chuck?

I call this Poor Girl's Pate because, while I'd like to be able to afford to use real truffles and duck or goose livers to make it, my budget (and probably yours) is a lot happier with chicken livers, truffle oil and truffle salt. This is wonderful as a snack, hors d'oeuvre, or with a soup or salad for lunch or dinner. I admittedly had it for breakfast this morning. Mea culpa.

Poor Girl's Pate

2T butter
2T extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 large shallots, chopped fine
8 to 10 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms
kosher salt
1 lb. chicken livers
1/4 cup brandy or cognac
1-1/2 tsp. Herbes de Provence
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 scant tsp. black truffle salt
1/3 cup crème fraîche, homemade or purchased
4 tsp. Black truffle oil

Heat the butter and oil together in a 12" skillet over medium heat, and when the butter is melted, add the shallots and garlic, and stirring, cook until the shallots begin to look translucent. 

Add the mushrooms to the pan, add a pinch or two of kosher salt, and cook until they give up their juices and soften. Add the chicken livers to the pan, stir well to mix evenly with the mushroom mixture, and carefully add the cognac or brandy. If you have a gas range, if you tilt the pan away from you slightly toward the gas fire, and flame the brandy. If you have an electric or induction range, you can either use a match, or just let the alcohol cook out for a minute or two. 

Flaming the brandy or cognac.
Keep back, and keep a lid handy to smother it if the flames get out of hand.

When the brandy is mostly gone, add the Herbes de Provence and the white wine, stir well, and cook the liver mixture until the livers are just pink inside. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the truffle salt.

Dump the contents of the skillet into a food processor, and puree. Add the crème fraîche and black truffle oil and puree until completely smooth.

Serve with baguette, toasts, crackers or on pear slices. 

Makes about 2 cups. 

Another Green Smoothie: The Great Green Morning Goo

A couple of days ago, I was sitting in my little red Subaru, stopped at a traffic light, when I notice a kid up in the big SUV beside me staring intently at me. What the heck??? After the light changed, and the vehicle sped off, I realized the kid wasn't looking at me, he was looking at my bright green breakfast, the green smoothie, AKA the Great Green Morning Goo I was sipping while stopped. Nothing like grossing out a kid first thing in the morning. Made my day.  I drink one of these virtually every day, because, well, as the day goes on, my eating gets worse. From my healthy start in the morning, I'm usually eating chocolate by bedtime. And it's something I can consume on the way to work. It gets in a good dose of all sorts of nutritious things, it's quick to make and it tastes won-der-ful. 

Seriously, though, most of the Green Smoothies I see are nothing but a giant carbohydrate load, generally having too much fruit in them just hide the flavor of the added leafy greens. It's a lousy way to start the day, because in order to be sustained for a few hours, i.e., until lunch, you need some protein, fiber and fat, not a bunch of carbs your body converts quickly to sugar. A standard fruit and greens smoothie is not an adequate meal replacement. Somehow, the delivery system for nutritious greens has turned into a sugary drink.

While a Green Smoothie, or a Green Monster is a great way to get a good dose of healthy greens, the rest of it is pretty much, like it or not, sugar in the form of fruit. All fruits and vegetables are carbohydrates, but the ones most commonly used in these drinks are especially high carb ones --bananas, orange juice and pineapple.

The one I like to make in the morning is delicious, relatively low in calories and carbs, and high in protein and fiber. It's a real breakfast. Keeps me going for a good 3-4 hours, and I work on my feet not sitting at a desk. I do use fruit, but always berries, which, besides being considered super foods, are lower carb choices. Greek yogurt (2%) is included for both its high protein, and some good fat, and it makes a really rich, creamy tasting drink. Rather than load it with bananas for sweetness, a packet or two of vanilla stevia makes this pretty green drink both sweet and healthy. As the Goo stands for a few minutes, usually while I look for my keys, it actually changes to a very pretty color green, from dull green, as the acid in the berries makes the green "greener".

Just like for any sort of green smoothie, you need a blender for the great Green Morning Goo, and if you are neurotic like me, a scale, as I weigh all the ingredients right into my blender container. And yes, if you have a VitaMix, this is a perfect drink to make in it.  The more powerful your blender, the smoother this will be. I get my psyllium powder at Trader Joe's, and my vanilla stevia at Whole Foods Markets. And if you like my BPA free travel cup, you can get it here--it can handle either cold OR hot drinks...

Keys, check, purse, check, Green Goo, check...ooops, where
are my sunglasses??!!

Great Green Morning Goo

1 cup (140g) frozen strawberries
2T (12g) psyllium powder
6 oz. (3/4 cup) 2% plain Greek yogurt
2 cups packed baby spinach or baby kale
1-2 packets of vanilla stevia powder
8 -10 oz water or unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Place in the blender in the order given, and puree until smooth. Pour into a glass, and enjoy.

Serves 1

Spinach, Mushroom and Bacon Strata

As most of you know, I work in a kitchenware store, and the long hours coming up for the next couple of weeks are keeping me from experimenting in the kitchen. So what you'll find posted here is just like TV in the summer: reruns. I'll be posting some of my more popular and interesting posts for the next couple of weeks, and will be back with new recipes and rants in the New Year. May you all have all the best and happiest things in your life for the Christmas Season and in the New Year. And thank you for coming along for the ride with me so far.


Sometimes, I get lazy. Even though I love to cook, often I'd rather hang out with a cup of coffee in the morning, or with a glass of wine in the evening and not have to fuss much over a meal for the assembled family. This usually happens over the holidays or on vacation. Unfortunately, I also have a solid case of Italian Guilt, instilled most thoroughly by my mother years ago that I haven't been able to shake. Its forced me to find something delectable to serve the gang that won't force me to run around the kitchen at the last moment. Usually it ends up being a make ahead dish, and a good one. A strata.

In case you aren't up on just what a strata is, I'll explain. A strata is a layered dish, involving bread, eggs and usually cheese, plus whatever other goodies (generally pre-cooked) you want to add in. As it bakes, it puffs, almost soufflé-like and then settles into a rich, puffy, creamy dish that you can have for pretty much any meal. You can make them savory or sweet, both versions are great additions to your cooking repertoire.

The nice part is that a strata is much better if you assemble it hours in advance, or the night before, and let it set in the fridge until baking time. It bakes in about an hour, which gives the cook time for that second cup of coffee, or glass of wine. For breakfast or brunch with a savory strata, all you need is some fruit on the side, and maybe some pastry; for lunch or dinner, a good salad or a side vegetable, or a cold soup before the strata  is nice. If you choose to make a sweet one, it makes a wonderful breakfast  or a fabulous dessert for a light meal. I promise to give you a sweet strata recipe later into the Autumn.

I've been making this version for years, but I've adopted a technique from Cook's Illustrated recently that adds some weights on top of the casserole while it chills. I think it really does improve the texture. I always chill the assembled strata at least 8 hours before baking to be sure all the stale bread has had a chance to soak up the eggs and cream. I just make it up before I go to bed, and let it rest while I do.

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Spinach, Mushroom and Bacon Strata
Serves 6-8

Spinach, Mushroom & Bacon strata. Cheesy and easy to make ahead, 
and so delicious1

Ingredients

8 slices of stale Italian bread, sliced 1/2" thick
4T unsalted butter, softened
6 slices of smoked bacon, roughly chopped
8 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 10oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
8 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded
6 large eggs
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup light cream
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. kosher salt
ground black pepper
cooking spray or butter for pan

Instructions

Spray an 8" square baking dish with cooking spray or butter liberally. Spread one side of each slice of bread with a half tablespoon of butter, and set aside. In a large non-stick frying pan, cook the bacon until just crisp, and then remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain, leaving the bacon fat in the pan. Add the onions and mushrooms to the fat, and cook until the onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes over medium high heat. Add the spinach to the pan and stir until heated through. Turn off the heat, and mix in the bacon. Set the pan off the hot burner.

Place 4 slices of the bread in the bottom of the prepared pan, buttered side up. Distribute 1/2 of the spinach mixture over the bread evenly, and then sprinkle over 1/3 of the shredded Gruyere. Arrange the remaining 4 slices on top of the cheese, more or less in the opposite direction from the bottom slices. Top with all the remaining spinach mixture, and then 1/2 of the remaining cheese.

Whisk together the eggs, the milk, the cream, the nutmeg, kosher salt and black pepper to taste, and por the mixture carefully over the top of the bread and spinach mixture in the baking dish. Place a large  sheet of plastic wrap flush on top of the top cheese layer, and place a small, heavy frying pan ( or as Cook's suggests 2 1-pound boxes of sugar) on top of the plastic wrap to weigh down the bread. Chill it weighed down for at least 3 hours, or overnight. When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 325ºF, remove the weights and the plastic wrap and sprinkle over the remaining Gruyere cheese and bake for 55-65 minutes, until browned and puffed.  Serve hot or at room temperature, and remember, it will deflate just about as soon as it comes out of the oven, and that's supposed to happen...

For Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner: Spinach, Mushroom & Bacon Strata

Sometimes, I get lazy. Even though I love to cook, often I'd rather hang out with a cup of coffee in the morning, or with a glass of wine in the evening and not have to fuss much over a meal for the assembled family. This usually happens over the holidays or on vacation. Unfortunately, I also have a solid case of Italian Guilt, instilled most thoroughly by my mother years ago that I haven't been able to shake. Its forced me to find something delectable to serve the gang that won't force me to run around the kitchen at the last moment. Usually it ends up being a make ahead dish, and a good one. A strata.

In case you aren't up on just what a strata is, I'll explain. A strata is a layered dish, involving bread, eggs and usually cheese, plus whatever other goodies (generally pre-cooked) you want to add in. As it bakes, it puffs, almost soufflé-like and then settles into a rich, puffy, creamy dish that you can have for pretty much any meal. You can make them savory or sweet, both versions are great additions to your cooking repertoire.

The nice part is that a strata is much better if you assemble it hours in advance, or the night before, and let it set in the fridge until baking time. It bakes in about an hour, which gives the cook time for that second cup of coffee, or glass of wine. For breakfast or brunch with a savory strata, all you need is some fruit on the side, and maybe some pastry; for lunch or dinner, a good salad or a side vegetable, or a cold soup before the strata  is nice. If you choose to make a sweet one, it makes a wonderful breakfast  or a fabulous dessert for a light meal. I promise to give you a sweet strata recipe later into the Autumn.

I've been making this version for years, but I've adopted a technique from Cook's Illustrated recently that adds some weights on top of the casserole while it chills. I think it really does improve the texture. I always chill the assembled strata at least 8 hours before baking to be sure all the stale bread has had a chance to soak up the eggs and cream. I just make it up before I go to bed, and let it rest while I do.

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Spinach, Mushroom and Bacon Strata
Serves 6-8

Spinach, Mushroom & Bacon strata. Cheesy and easy to make ahead,
and so delicious1

Ingredients

8 slices of stale Italian bread, sliced 1/2" thick
4T unsalted butter, softened
6 slices of smoked bacon, roughly chopped
8 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 10oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
8 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded
6 large eggs
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup light cream
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. kosher salt
ground black pepper
cooking spray or butter for pan

Instructions

Spray an 8" square baking dish with cooking spray or butter liberally. Spread one side of each slice of bread with a half tablespoon of butter, and set aside. In a large non-stick frying pan, cook the bacon until just crisp, and then remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain, leaving the bacon fat in the pan. Add the onions and mushrooms to the fat, and cook until the onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes over medium high heat. Add the spinach to the pan and stir until heated through. Turn off the heat, and mix in the bacon. Set the pan off the hot burner.

Place 4 slices of the bread in the bottom of the prepared pan, buttered side up. Distribute 1/2 of the spinach mixture over the bread evenly, and then sprinkle over 1/3 of the shredded Gruyere. Arrange the remaining 4 slices on top of the cheese, more or less in the opposite direction from the bottom slices. Top with all the remaining spinach mixture, and then 1/2 of the remaining cheese.

Whisk together the eggs, the milk, the cream, the nutmeg, kosher salt and black pepper to taste, and por the mixture carefully over the top of the bread and spinach mixture in the baking dish. Place a large  sheet of plastic wrap flush on top of the top cheese layer, and place a small, heavy frying pan ( or as Cook's suggests 2 1-pound boxes of sugar) on top of the plastic wrap to weigh down the bread. Chill it weighed down for at least 3 hours, or overnight. When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 325ºF, remove the weights and the plastic wrap and sprinkle over the remaining Gruyere cheese and bake for 55-65 minutes, until browned and puffed.  Serve hot or at room temperature, and remember, it will deflate just about as soon as it comes out of the oven, and that's supposed to happen...