Walnut Mushroom Casserole Recipe

When I was growing up, my parents took me and my sister to all kinds of restaurants but rarely ones with "kid's menus." We regularly came into San Francisco to eat Chinese food, tried sushi long before it became popular, and celebrated birthdays and school graduation at fancy French restaurants. Unlike many kids who probably longed for Taco Bell or McDonald’s, I enjoyed eating at  The Good Earth, a casual restaurant near my house. The menu had a mix of salads and sandwiches and some very unique entrees. It wouldn’t necessarily be considered “health food” by today’s standards but there were quite a number of vegetarian dishes. 

At The Good Earth, pretty much anyone could find something they would like to eat, and that made it perfect for dining out with everyone from my teenage girlfriends, to my grandmother. The Good Earth was famous for it’s spicy cinnamon tea which you can buy to this day. Although the restaurant chain was sold and very few restaurants remain, I remain haunted by the memory of Walnut Mushroom Casserole. It was my go to dish.

I like to think of myself as fairly adventurous, but really, when I find one dish I love, I have a hard time straying beyond it on any menu. The Walnut Mushroom Casserole at The Good Earth restaurant was my absolute favorite. It’s still on the menu at just one remaining restaurant in Southern California. Here is the dish description:

Walnut Mushroom Casserole spinach fettuccini tossed with broccoli, mushrooms, onion and water chestnuts, blended with sour cream and sherry sauce. topped with two cheeses, walnuts and scallions

I found a recipe online but it didn't seem right to me, so I adapted it as best I could to fit with my memory of it.  I used Al Dente spinach fettuccini and it was perfect. I also tested out Al Dente's bonachia spinach fettuccine, and that worked great too. Note: Do not overcook the pasta! 

Walnut Mushroom Casserole

Serves 6 

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

1 medium onion, cut into quarters and thinly sliced

1/2 lb small button mushroom, halved or quartered into small chunks

3 cups thinly sliced broccoli, stems and bite-sized florets

8 ounce can sliced water chestnuts

1 clove garlic, minced 

2 Tablespoons sherry

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons sour cream

6 ounces dry spinach fettuccini (such as Al Dente brand), cooked until barely tender

1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Heat a large skillet over low heat, add walnuts and stir until lightly toasted and fragrant, then remove and reserve the nuts and return the skillet to the stove.

Add one tablespoon oil to the hot skillet and the onions and mushrooms and cook until just beginning to brown, remove with a spoon and reserve. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan and the broccoli and sauté until crisp-tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in the reserved onions, mushrooms, water chestnuts, garlic and spinach fettuccini. Remove from heat and add the sherry, soy sauce and sour cream. Stir gently to coat without breaking the noodles

Place mixture in a greased, shallow 2 1/2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with the reserved walnuts and then the cheeses. At this point the casserole can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bake until cheese melts and casserole is heated through, about 15 - 20 minutes. 

Note: you can bake the mixture in any type or combination of casserole pans you wish. If you use large individual ramekins,  bake only until the casserole is hot and the cheese melts, about 10 minutes. 

Enjoy! 

Warm Winter Farro Salad

When I first got married  I used to ask my husband if he wanted salad with dinner, the answer was usually "no." After a few years I wised up and started serving him salad without asking first. But often he didn't eat much of it, despite my raving "Have some salad! It's delicious!"  Lately I've hit upon a solution. I serve salad as a main dish, or pile everything onto it so it's an integral part of the meal. Main dish salads, if only someone had told me 12 years ago! 

During the Winter or whenever it's cold outside salads, either side salads or main dish salads are not top of mind, but they should be. Just as Summer is the perfect time for cold soup, Winter is the ideal season to try a warm salad. I like to start with a cooked grain like farro or quinoa then use seasonal fruits or vegetables and add some heartier elements too, in this case feta cheese and almonds. 

I have to admit, this salad sounds a bit like a parody, it's filled with trendy ingredients and super foods, all that's missing is a little chocolate and kale! I love the sunny colors and hearty crunch to this salad, it's kind of the antithesis of a tossed green salad all floppy and wilted. It's bright and cheerful and yet very hearty. I like combination of citrus, pomegranate, almonds and feta with a touch of ginger but feel free to change up the ingredients in the salad or use a different dressing or spice if you prefer. 

Warm Winter Farro Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 cup pearled farro

1 cup pomegranate seeds

1 cup diced feta, about 6 ounces

1 cup toasted sliced almonds

2 tangerines peeled and segments cut in half 

3/4 cup sliced celery about 2-3 stalks

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Bring a pot of water to boil and add the farro, cook for 10- 15 minutes or until al dente (or cook according to package instructions). In a bowl combine the feta, almonds, tangerines (remove any seeds) and celery. Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil and ginger in a bowl. 

When the farro is cooked, drain it and toss it in a bowl with the other ingredients and dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Enjoy!

Rocky Road Recipe

Did you know that Rocky Road was invented in Australia? It seems like such an American candy, but there are different versions in other parts of the world. In Australia the candy has things like coconut and fruit jellies in it. The Rocky Road in the United Kingdom has marshmallows, cookies (or biscuits as they call them), chocolate, raisins and a dusting of powdered sugar. While I like the idea of adding crisp cookies to Rocky Road, it just does't seem like Rocky Road to me without nuts, and toasted walnuts in particular.

I blame Tori Ritchie for making me take on Rocky Road. Her email newsletter this week had a recipe for it and after that I was a goner. Rocky Road is one of those things you can't really mess up. I think the easier the better. With all due respect to Michael Ruhlman, the ratios are a bit fluid here, you can add more or less chocolate or nuts as you like. I've seen recipes that have 1 part chocolate to 1 part marshmallows and others have 2 parts chocolate to 1 part marshmallows. Of course, the better ingredients you use the better it will taste. But honestly I made this with supermarket chocolate chips and it was pretty darn good! 

This would be a fun thing to make with kids and makes a nice gift too. My version uses nuts, marshmallows and cookies, but no raisins or powdered sugar. The cookies really add a nice crunch and make the candy seem a little less rich somehow (so I end up eating more?). Try it with different kinds of cookies and let me know what you think. I used Anna's Orange Thins in mine but I bet Ginger Thins or Almondina cookies would be good too. 

Rocky Road

Ingredients

3 cups chocolate chips, bittersweet or semi sweet or a combination

2 cups mini marshmallows

1 cup toasted chopped walnuts

1 cup crushed shards of thin crunchy cookies such as Swedish thins or Moravian cookies

Instructions

Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes at 50% power. Remove from the oven and stir, then repeat as necessary until the chips are melted and smooth. Do not overheat them. 

Add the marshmallows, toasted walnuts and cookies to the bowl melted chocolate and stir gently with a rubber or silicone spatula until all the ingredients are coated in chocolate. Spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet and allow to cool and harden. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container. 

Enjoy!

Easy Almond Cookies Recipe

This is the easiest almond cookie recipe ever. And I bet you could use an easy cookie recipe about now. It requires only a few ingredients and you prepare the dough in the food processor so making them takes maybe 10 minutes and there's barely any clean up. They are a variation of almond macaroons, rich and chewy with just a little crunch from the almond on top. The secret is a hint of almond extract, and to really processing the ingredients until they make a very easy to work with dough.

I was recently sent some almonds from the Almond Board and I was looking for a good way to use them. There are lots of similar recipes to this one, but the comments on Epicurious led me to make a crucial change in the recipe. I cut the sugar in half. I also made slightly larger cookies than the recipe calls for and skipped dusting them in confectioners sugar. It might seem odd to add almond extract to almond cookies, but without it they can be a little bland. Because they are such dense little bites, they won't crumble making them good for travel or shipping. They are gluten free and have no added oil or butter.

While no one eats cookies for health purposes, these are pretty healthy. Lots of research has been done on almonds and they are a true nutritional powerhouse very high in manganese, vitamin E and magnesium and eating them lowers cholesterol and reduces the risk of heart attack. So eat them in good health!

Easy Almond Cookies
Makes 14 cookies, but recipe can easily be multiplied
adapted from a recipe published in Gourmet magazine, 1997

Ingredients

1 cup blanched almonds, whole or slivered
1/3 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 egg white
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
14 whole almonds

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor combine the almonds, sugar and salt. Process until very finely ground. Add the egg white and almond extract and pulse until the dough comes together. Roll the dough into 14 evenly sized balls, and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Press one almond into the center of each cookie, pressing down slightly.

Bake for 10 minutes or until just starting to show a hint of gold. Let cookies cool on the pan, then transfer to an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Banana Nut Oat Muffins Recipe

These Banana Nut Oat muffins are some of the best muffins I've ever made.I got out of the habit of baking when my stove was replaced. I use my bread machine and my Breville Smart Oven but it's too small for many things. Fortunately I have a muffin pan that makes 6 muffins that fits in it perfectly. And you know what? Making 6 muffins is much better than making a dozen! 

Muffins, like cupcakes are really good when they're fresh, but they get dry and stale quickly. So making smaller batches more frequently makes good sense. These muffins use lots of healthy ingredients like oatmeal, oat bran, bananas, walnuts and a little bit of olive oil so you can feel good about eating them. I used extra virgin olive oil because it's what I have on hand but you could use any olive oil you like. Olive oil is great for baking, especially in muffins and quick breads. The muffins are moist, with a little crunch from the nuts, a little chew from the oats, and have that buttery texture that comes from using bran, perfect to take when you're running out the door.

I adapted this recipe adding oat bran, increasing the amount of nuts and swapping out olive oil for melted butter but I'm not sure where the original recipe came from. It might seem like a lot of ingredients, but it comes together very quickly. The reason I used rolled oats, oat bran, bananas and walnuts is because they all contain magnesium. Many people are deficient in magnesium, over half the population in California according USDA research. But the combination is also really delicious, even if you don't need more magnesium in your diet. Just about everyone (unless those with nut allergies) can benefit from more nuts in their diet. Walnuts in particular have amazing heart healthy benefits.

Do you have a favorite walnut recipe? You could win fabulous prizes if your family recipe is chosen in the Gift of Gather contest. 

Banana Nut Oat Muffins

Makes 6 large muffins

Ingredients

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup oat bran

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup mashed very ripe bananas (the skins should be brown)

1 egg

1/4 cup olive oil 

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, oat bran, oatmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, eggs, oil and vanilla. Add the banana mixture and walnuts to the flour mixture, stirring with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over mix. 

Spoon batter into a well greased or paper-lined muffin pan (grese the top of the pan to make removing the muffins easier). Bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center muffin comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove muffins from the pan and let cool completely or better yet, eat warm.

Enjoy!

Hot Chocolate Cookies Recipe

The drinks and dishes I tried on my trip to Avery Island inspired me to think about Tabasco in new ways. Of course you can use it in things like in guacamole or in a bloody mary, but how about something unexpected, for example, cookies?

I made François Payard Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies twice during Passover this year and they were gobbled up so quickly that I didn't even get to snap a photo. After following the recipe closely, I decided to put my own twist on it. The cookies are mostly powdered sugar, cocoa powder and egg whites. They are crisp and crackly on the outside but moist and fudgy, almost like brownies on the inside. But perhaps not surprisingly, they are a bit sweet.

To temper the sweetness I added Tabasco and cacao nibs. The Tabasco gives just a hint of heat in the background. You'll barely notice it, but it definitely takes these cookies to the next level. While the toasted walnuts add crunch and a contrasting bitterness, unsweetened cacao nibs help to balance the sweetness even more. Though I wouldn't call these cookies spicy, they do remind me of hot chocolate. The original recipes calls for Dutch process cocoa, but I tested it with natural cocoa (Hershey's and Valrhona) and it worked fine. I make the cookies smaller than Payard does because I'd rather have two cookies than one, but feel free to make them whatever size you like best. You can also make a half batch.

Hot Chocolate Cookies (adapted from François Payard)
makes about 40

Ingredients

2 cups walnut halves
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch-process or natural)

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce

2/3 cup cacao nibs


Instructions

Preheat oven to 320 degrees. Chop the walnut roughly, place on a parchment lined, rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for 7-10 minutes, just until they are golden and fragrant. Let walnuts cool slightly. In a large bowl, whisk the confectioners’ sugar with the cocoa powder and salt. Add the egg whites, vanilla and Tabasco and stir just until the batter is moistened (do not overbeat). Fold in the walnuts and cacao nibs using a spatula. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of batter onto the baking sheets (or make them as large as a tablespoon if you prefer) and bake for 15 minutes, until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked. Let cookies cool then peel off the parchment paper.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I created this recipe on behalf of Tabasco and I was compensated for it. The choice to post it here, was my own.

Citrus Quinoa Salad with Toasted Almonds Recipe

The most challenging thing about quinoa is learning how to pronounce it, "keen-wah." After that, it's smooth sailing. A super healthy Peruvian "grain," quinoa is as delicious as it is healthy. While quinoa tastes and cooks as if it were a grain, it's actually a seed and has a light, mild flavor and somewhat chewy and creamy texture. It does a wonderful job of absorbing the flavors in dressings or vinaigrettes. Think of it as a healthier version of couscous that you can serve hot, at room temperature or cold.

I used to visit a shop on Grant Avenue in North Beach that had lots of vintage ephemera. The postcard that said "California, land of fruits and nuts" always cracked me up. Fruits and nuts. You have no idea. California is such a magnet for weirdos, and I mean that in a good way. As an agricultural state, we also happen to have lots of actual fruits and nuts. We are the top agriculture state, and the nation’s sole producer (99 percent or more) of a large number of specialty crops, including almonds, artichokes, dates, figs, grapes, raisins, pistachios, clingstone peaches, dried plums, sweet rice, pomegranates and walnuts, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

I used the sunny California combination of almonds and tangerines in this salad, but you could use segments of navel orange, clementines or any other sweet citrus fruit. This salad is good at room temperature. It would make a perfect accompaniment to grilled fish or roast chicken, but it would also be a good potluck dish. You could go even more "California" and serve it piled high in an avocado half. It will keep for a day or so, but it best eaten soon after you make it.

Note:This recipe calls for the juice and zest of half a lemon. Zest the lemon while it's still whole, then cut it in half and juice it.

Citrus Quinoa Salad with Toasted AlmondsServes 4

Ingredients

1 tangerine, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks (remove as much of the membranes as you can)
1 cup white quinoa, rinsed well
1/2 lemon, preferably organic
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium scallions, thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon flat leaf parsley, minced
1/4 teaspoon sriracha, or more to taste
2 Tablespoons thinly sliced toasted almonds

Instructions

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly, then toast it in a dry pan over medium heat for a few minutes until it is fragrant.

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 3/4 cups water, the quinoa, and 1/2 tsp. salt to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is translucent and tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Spread out the quinoa on a baking sheet to cool to room temperature.



Finely grate the zest from the lemon and then squeeze the juice into a mixing bowl. Add the olive oil, scallions, parsley and sriracha. Fold in the quinoa and tangerine pieces, season to taste with salt and top with almonds just before serving.

Enjoy!

More fruity quinoa salads

Quinoa Salad with Pears, Baby Spinach & Chickpeas and Maple Vinaigrette from Gluten Free Goddess

Quinoa Salad with Grapes from the Kitchn

Pineapple Quinoa Salad with With Sweet Curry Vinaigrette from Poor Girl Eats Well

Quinoa Salad with Mango & Herb Marinated Shrimp from Well Fed

Winter Cobb Salad:Recipe

Last year I had the pleasure of having breakfast with Michael Symon at a demo that he did at Williams-Sonoma. From recipes in his cookbook, Michael Symon's Live to Cook, he made creamy scrambled eggs with goat cheese, potato pancakes and of course, plenty of bacon. Michael Symon loves bacon, it features prominently in many of his recipes.

The next best thing to eating Michael Symon's food, is seeing him cook, so you can replicate his recipes at home. Right now you can see a number of videos with Michael Symon at EatWisconsinCheese.com, where he demonstrates some very interesting techniques. For example, he makes gnocchi that is cooked in a pan, with no need to parboil.

I'm always looking for more salad recipes and I like his version with arugula, apples, radishes and Wisconsin blue cheese. Symon's salad is a side dish, but with just a couple more additions, it actually makes a great main dish. To the salad I added crunchy jicama, creamy avocado, toasted walnuts and in honor of Symon, smoky bacon. The result is a very substantial "Cobb" style entree salad, with rows of seasonal ingredients. I'm not going to lie to you, while not hard to make, this salad does take a fair amount of time to prepare, but it is absolutely worth it. Even the least enthusiastic salad eater will love it.

Winter Cobb Salad
Serves 4, as a main dish

Ingredients

1 shallot, minced, about a tablespoon
3 Tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup radish slices
1 Granny Smith apples, cored and diced
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
1 cup jicama, peeled and diced
6 cups arugula
1 cup Black River blue cheese, crumbled (Buttermilk blue would be good too)
1 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional)

Instructions

Dressing
Place shallots and large pinch of kosher salt in mixing bowl. Add vinegar, honey and mustard. Mix. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Taste for seasoning then put in a small pitcher or ramekin for serving.

Salad
Make a bed of arugula on a large serving platter. Place the radishes, apples, avocado, jicama, blue cheese, walnuts and bacon on top of the salad in rows. Serve with the dressing on the side. Alternatively you can create individual servings of the salad if you prefer.

Enjoy!