Cheesy Chicken with Mushrooms

The boyfriend has been finding lots of new recipes for us to try lately.  This is one of the recent ones.  I wasn't thinking clearly at the store that evening, so I grabbed regular chicken breasts - next time I will definitely take the poster's advice of getting tenderloins.  A bit of browning the breadcrumbs on the chicken and layer in the pan with mushrooms and mozzarella cheese - add a bit of broth to keep it moist and you're done!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup (112 grams) Italian bread crumbs
• 16 ounces sliced mushrooms, divided
• 4 tablespoons (57 grams) salted butter, divided
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 cup (237 ml) chicken broth

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spread half of the sliced mushrooms over the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish.
3. Place the eggs and bread crumbs in two separate shallow dishes (pie plates work great for this).
4. Dip the chicken breasts in the egg, then into the bread crumbs, patting them to adhere.
5. In a 12-inch skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat until melted. Add half of the breaded chicken to the pan and saute until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet and place on top of the mushrooms in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining butter and chicken breasts.
6. Sprinkle the remaining sliced mushrooms over the chicken, then top with the shredded mozzarella cheese. Pour the chicken broth into the bottom of the pan.
7. Bake until the cheese is melted and browned, and the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.

RECIPE NOTES:

• I recommend using the thin sliced chicken breasts, or chicken tenders.
• This dish is also great with Swiss cheese instead of mozzarella.
• You can choose to cover the dish with aluminum foil while baking to retain the juices, however the mozzarella cheese will not brown.

Portobello "Steaks"

This recipe comes from The New Vegan Cookbook.  A friend was mentioning mushrooms today and I thought of this recipe.  I haven't made it in years, but now I'm thinking it might be good to make again.  I remember them being a bit messy, as the gills hold the oil, soy sauce, and vinegar, but tasted good...as long as you like mushrooms.

2 Tbsp olive oil, plus oil for preparing the pan
4 large portobello mushroom caps (5-6 inches in diameter)
2 Tbsp Japanese soy sauce (shoyu or tamari)
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper

Place the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 450*F.  Oil one or two shallow roasting pans large enough to hold the caps in one layer.

Lightly wipe the portobello caps with a damp kitchen towel.  Remove any stems the prevent the caps from sitting flat on the pan.  With the gill sides down, tap the mushrooms gently on the kitchen counter to dislodge any dirt caught in the crevices.  Arrange on the roasting pan with gill sides down.

In a small bowl, use a fork to combine and emulsify the oil, soy sauce, and vinegar.  Liberally brush the mixture onto the tops and sides of the caps.  Season with salt and pepper.

Roast until the color of the tops and edges deepens, 5 to 6 minutes.  Flip over.  Give the oil mixture a good stir, and then brush the bottoms.  Roast until cooked through and tender (they will look slightly collapsed and yield to the touch), 3 to 5 minutes more.  Serves immediately, whole or sliced.

Also, you can sprinkle the portobellos with fresh or dried thyme when seasoning with salt and pepper.

Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms and Crab Cakes

Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms

Crab Cakes

When my sister was here in September, I knew we would LOVE to make these crab-stuffed mushrooms!  They were exactly the kind of thing we like.  And this recipe was fabulous!

Chris isn't a mushroom fan, but he loves crab cakes.  As soon as I tasted the filling, I knew it would make the perfect crab cake.  So I used the rest of the crabmeat from the mushrooms to make crab cakes.  After pressing them into cakes, I coated them in breacrumbs and brushed them with olive oil.  I baked them for about 30 minutes or so at 350, turning them half way through.  They were my first attempt at homemade crab cakes, and they were the best I've ever had!

We didn't make the horseradish sauce that goes with this.  I couldn't find plain horseradish at the grocery store, so I bought horseradish sauce from Heinz.  It was delicious.

This recipe comes from the blog Neo-Homesteading.  Check it out for some more yummy recipes.  I originally found this recipe posted on Pinterest.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

6 medium sized portobello mushrooms about 2" in diameter
4-6 button mushrooms (I skipped these)
extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper

8 ounces crab meat

2-3 tablespoons diced red bell pepper
2-3 tablespoons chopped chives
1 egg
1 teaspoon mustard
2 tablespoons mayo
1/2-1 teaspoon old bay seasoning
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs (I used regular bread crumbs)
(I skip the salt) 1/2 teaspoon salt
*fresh cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl combine crab meat, pepper, chives, egg, mustard, mayo, old bay. Stir to mix and add panko, do not add too much you just want enough for the mixture to bind together. 

Remove stems from the mushrooms, using a spoon hollow out the centers and then toss mushrooms with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Using about 1-2 tablespoons of filling stuff crab filling into the mushrooms. Place on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the filling is golden. You don't want to over cook the mushrooms or they will be too moist and the filling will become soggy.

Horseradish Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream

2-3 tablespoons mayo

1 tablespoon horseradish (or to taste)

1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2-1 teaspoon hot sauce 

Stir to combine. For a fuller fat version you can use more mayo or substitute the mayo in this recipe for horseradish cream. 



Cream of Mushroom Soup

This is from the Central New York Time Warner News Channel. And they've fairly recently updated their site to include video of the segments. Which is always helpful I think. We couldn't find mushroom broth *anywhere* so we went with vegetable broth. And we picked up packages of pre-sliced mushrooms, and they were 5-8oz sizes, so it's even more mushroom heavy than called for.

SERVES: 4

INGREDIENTS:

* 5-6 ounces sliced Portobello mushrooms

* 5-6 ounces sliced white mushrooms

* 5-6 ounces sliced shiitake mushrooms (or see hints below)

* 1 large onion, peeled and thinly chopped

* 2 minced cloves garlic

* 4-5 Tbs butter total (added at different times)

* 1 Tbs chopped fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme)

* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

* 4 cups mushroom broth (or chicken or vegetable broth)

* 1 cup heavy cream

* Salt and pepper to taste

PROCEDURE:

Melt 3 Tbs butter in a large, heavy bottomed soup pot on medium high heat and add 1 large thinly chopped onion and 2 minced cloves of garlic and get those going.

Once the onions have softened up a bit, add 5-6 ounces each of sliced Portobello mushrooms, sliced white mushrooms and sliced shiitake mushrooms.

Add a couple more Tbs of butter to the pan and also add 1 Tbs of fresh chopped thyme.

The mushrooms will take 8-10 minutes to cook down and brown up a bit and, at that point, sift in 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour....stir that in and let it cook for a minute or so and then add 4 cups of mushroom broth and 1 cup of heavy cream and bring it up to a simmer.

Use your spoon to scrape up the flavor bits on the bottom of the pot and, as the soup simmers along, the flour will help it thicken up, let it go for 10-15 minutes, season with salt and pepper to taste and it is good to go!

HINTS:

You could use 1 pound of just one type of sliced mushroom instead of the three different kinds. If you do use shiitake mushrooms make sure you remove the stems because they are too woody to eat.