mushroom quiche - again.

This recipe - from Moosewood - modified:

1 (9 inch) pie crust - deep dish, still frozen - and despite it being deep dish, I still had extra filling

1 1/2 cups grated cheese  - about two thirds swiss and the rest aged Havarti
1 medium onion, chopped
oil for frying
1/4 lb sliced mushrooms[I would have perhaps used more mushrooms and fewer onions]
salt and pepper
thyme


Egg Custard Ingredients

4 eggs  - i used three and a half jumbo - I doubled the recipe
1 cup milk, 1/2 cup half and half (or all half & half)
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder

freshly grated nutmeg

Sautee onions for a bit, then add mushrooms and thyme and salt and pepper and sautee til soft. Meanwhile, make up custard mixture and grate cheese. Preheat oven to 375*

Dump veggies into crust. Mix cheese with custard mixture, stir, and then dump over veggies while cheese is still evenly dispersed. Bake forty to forty-five minutes.

This also totally works without a crust if you use a good amount of oil spray in the pan - it comes out fine and is solid enough to be sliced. 

chicken and sage and onions and stuff

This was really tasty:

3 frozen chicken tenders, mostly defrosted, sliced into small pieces
marinated in:
juice of half a lemon
soy sauce
ground sage

then,
most of an onion, sliced
one carrot, sliced
maybe 5 mushrooms (which had been frozen, just thrown loosely into a plastic container and left for 3-4 months!), sliced
one small potato, microwaved to pre-cook it, sliced
and the chicken,
sauteed in some oil with some added paprika, with a lid on the pan

I added a bit of water at one point after the natural juices seemed to be drying up.
At the end I added this roux-ish thing I made out of a TBS of butter and some flour, which was a bit...odd, since I don't really know my way around roux.

But damn, the whole thing was super tasty. I think sage is my new favorite herb. And next time I'd like to try it without the roux. I'm curious how much the butter added. I hope it'd be tasty without it.
ETA: I made it again and it was fine without the butter mixture. I added an extra potato, also pre-cooked, which broke apart a bit and added some thickness. It doesn't look glamorous, but it's gooooood.

Black-eyed beans with mushrooms

From Madhur Jaffrey's terrific book Indian Cooking, with very very slight changes

8 oz dried black-eyed beans, washed and drained
2 pints water
8 oz fresh mushrooms, chopped through the stems (1/8" thick)
6 TBS veg oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 inch cinnamon stick
1 med-to-large onion peeled and chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
14 oz tomatoes peeled and chopped (I didn't peel them because I'm a lazy bastard)
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp salt try using less --1.5 was slightly too much
ground black pepper
3 TBS chopped fresh parsley

Place beans and water in pot. Bring to boil, cover, turn down heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Turn off heat, let sit for 1 hour. (I did this last night so I could prepare everything else while the beans were actually cooking the next day)

Bring beans to a boil again, cover and turn down heat, simmer for 20-30 minutes or til tender.

[meanwhile] Put oil in frying pan over med-high heat (I used a heavy-bottomed pot that can serve as one.) When hot, put in the cumin seeds and cinnamon stick. Let sizzle for 5-6 seconds, then add onions and garlic. Stir & fry until the onions turn brown at the edges. Add mushrooms, stir/fry til they wilt. Add tomatoes, coriander, turmeric, and cayenne pepper. Stir/cook for a minute, then cover and turn heat to low. Allow mixture to cook in its own juices for 10 minutes. Turn off frying pan.

Add mushroom mixture to bean mixture (or as I did, add the beans to the mushroom mixture - that's where the heavy-bottomed pot used in place of a frying pan comes in handy - so that you can sort of deglaze the pan and get any of the nice oils from the cooked onions/mushrooms/spices.) Add salt, black pepper, and parsley. Stir, bring to a simmer, and cook uncovered on med-low heat for 30 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick before serving.

I felt like it could use something sharp/sour (like lemon juice) as a counterpoint, but haven't tried it.

Update: I made this for the second time, many years later, with the following modifications: maybe 1/4 tsp of cinnamon instead of the stick, and a bunch of cumin powder instead of the cumin seed. (I just added these after sauteeing the onion & garlic for a bit.) I also used fresh tomatoes this time, very overripe, probably closer to 1.5 lbs. It was really delicious this time.

Red lentil, mushroom and spinach curry

From MSN's online edition of the Australian Women's Weekly (thanks, Google!) Modified slightly.

They say it's best made just before serving and not good for microwaving, but I disagree. It's better the second day.

1 cup dried red lentils
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 small onion, sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 small green chili pepper, sliced thinly
½ lb mushrooms, halved
1½ cups vegetable stock
½ cup water
½ teaspoon garam masala
1 10-oz or 1-lb package of frozen spinach, defrosted

YOGURT SAUCE
1 cup yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon salt

Heat oil in wok or large frying pan. Add seeds, stir-fry until fragrant. Add onion, garlic, ginger and chili; stir-fry until onion is soft. Add mushrooms; stir-fry until browned lightly.

Add drained lentils, stock and water; bring to the boil. Reduce heat, simmer, uncovered, for about 5 minutes or until lentils are tender.

YOGURT SAUCE: Meanwhile, combine all ingredients in a small bowl.

Add garam masala and spinach to curry, stir until spinach is wilted; transfer to a serving dish.