Brussels Sprout and Mushroom Ragout with herb dumplings

Ok. How's this for an impulse buy? I was at the supermarket yesterday, and I saw these beautiful, bright green brussels sprouts, and I just had to have some. I knew I had a recipe to do that featured them, but I had no idea what else was in it. I have never cooked a brussels sprout in my life, but for reasons unknown, I had to have them.

Well as it turned out, I had everything else for the recipe in the house - sort of. We just got some gourmet "royal trumpet" mushrooms in our CSA box, so I figured those could stand in for the mushrooms called for in the recipe. I was supposed to have 3/4 pound of mushrooms for the recipe, and I only had 4 ounces of the gourmet mushrooms, so I went to my pantry and pulled out a small handful of dried porcini mushrooms. I covered them with hot water, let them soak for 15 minutes, and then drained off the mushroomy broth to use in the recipe.

For those of you who haven't made friends with brussels sprouts in your adult life - now is the time. They are delicate and delicious when not boiled into a mushy mess. This dish is warm, earthy, and satisfying. I used sweet onions which made the broth pleasantly sweet and went well with the tarragon. It took me about 40 minutes to make, but would be closer to an hour if you make the stock.

This recipe begins by asking you to make mushroom stock - which is delicious and well worth the extra time, but I happened to have some on hand from the last time I made it. Yay! (You can find the instructions for the mushroom stock here.)

This was also my first time making dumplings, which are much easier than I imagined. This meal did feature a lot of dirty dishes, but it was well worth it. There are several steps, so I'll do this more like a regular recipe.

1. Make the mushroom stock. See above.

2. While that is cooking, put on a pot of water to boil for the brussels sprouts. Rinse the brussels sprouts and cut them in half or quarters. (I cut them in half, but then they were too big to eat in one bite in the finished ragout. I think quarters is better unless your sprouts are quite small.) Set them aside to be ready when the water boils.

3. Heat 1 T. olive oil in a skillet and slice up 2 onions. I highly recommend sweet onions for this dish. Saute the onions over medium heat until nicely colored - 12 to 15 minutes.

4. While the onions saute, chop 5 T. parsley and 2 T. tarragon. Separate the herbs into 2 piles: 3 T. parsley and 1 T. tarragon will go in with the onions; the rest will go into the dumplings.

5. Mince 1 clove garlic, and the mushrooms. Use 3/4 pound white, crimini, shiitake, or a mixture. (Or whatever you have on hand.)

6. When the onions are nicely colored, stir in the herbs, garlic, and mushrooms.

7. Squeeze half a lemon over the onion and mushroom mixture. Turn up the heat and saute until the mushrooms are browned in places (5-7 minutes.) Then lower the heat to low.

8. When the water boils, add salt. Cook the brussels sprouts for 5 minutes, or until they are tender when you poke them with a fork. Drain.

9. Add the brussels sprouts and the mushroom broth to the pan with the onions and mushrooms. (I used about 2 cups of broth, but it could handle a little more than that.) Taste for seasoning.

10. Turn off the heat while you make the dumplings.

11. To make the dumplings, combine the following dry ingredients, and then stir in the wet ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 t. baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup milk warmed with 3 T. butter or oil
• 1 egg
• the tarragon/parsley mixture you set aside earlier

12. Return the ragout to low heat, and drop spoonfuls of batter into the warm liquid. Cover (or tent with foil if you need more room), and cook on low for 10 minutes or so. Don't add any more than 12 dumplings or it will get too bready and messy. I only used 8. You'll have leftover batter which you can fry up later.

I learned that the dumplings don't need to be down in the liquid. They can sit on top and they'll still cook if you leave the cover on.

Serve in low, flat bowls if you've got them, including 2-3 dumplings per bowl. I just used regular soup bowls, but it would be really pretty though to see all the different ingredients.

The tarragon, mushrooms, sweet onions, and brussels sprouts are really wonderful together. This would go great with some kind of winter squash as a side dish.

Things I'd do differently next time: Try the dish with more mushrooms, of the recommended variety. I'll definitely continue using the sweet onions if I have them around.

Approximate cost to prepare:

1 pound brussels sprouts - $2.00

3/4 pound mushrooms - $2.25

2 medium to large onions - $1.00

5 T. parsley, and 2 T. tarragon - $1.00

1/2 lemon - $.25

garlic, olive oil - negligible

Mushroom stock - $1.50 or so

The dumplings

1 cup flour - $.25

3/4 cup milk - $.20 (?)

parsley and tarragon (inc. above)

1 egg - $.25

salt, baking powder - negligible

TOTAL - $8.75 for 4 people

Dried Porcini and Fresh Mushroom Tart

January 24th, 2010

I made this dish (and a few others) for my friends, Rhonda and Eric. This one is a little time consuming because you have to make a tart shell, which is actually pretty easy, but it has to go in the freezer for 20 minutes, and then in the oven for 30 minutes before you put any of the goodies in the middle. That turned out to be fine, because I was making a lot of stuff that day and it took several hours. I don't know how long this one dish would take by itself. Probably a little over an hour. You can make the tart shell and freeze it a day ahead to speed things up.

This dish uses dried porcini mushrooms, along with fresh crimini mushrooms, so it has a nice earthy, woodsy flavor. I made a mushroom stock to give it an even more intense flavor. It turned out a little dark in color, but still very tasty.

The tart shell and the mushroom stock are 2 separate recipes in the book, so this post accounts for 3 recipes. If you don't want to take the time to make mushroom stock, you can use half & half or cream (2/3 cup.)

Here's how you do it:
Make the tart shell. In a food processor, combine 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour, 1/2 cup + 2 T. all purpose flour, and 1/2 t. salt. Pulse in 5 T. of cold butter, cut into little cubes. Then pulse in 3 T. sour cream and a little ice water. It will look like course crumbs. Dump it out onto a board, shape into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Start the mushroom stock. Cover 1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms with 3 cups hot water and set aside. Heat up a little oil. Roughly chop 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 garlic clove, 2 mushrooms and all the trimmings from the mushrooms in the recipe. Saute over high heat until well browned. Reduce heat to medium, stir in 1 t. tomato paste, 1/2 cup white wine, and some marjoram or oregano. Sprinkle on 1 T. flour and some salt and pepper. Add the porcini and their soaking water and simmer for 20 minutes.

Since porcini mushrooms are expensive, I fished them out of the stock and used them in the tart, along with a few more that I soaked in hot water. I was supposed to put them in some wine and bring them to a boil, but soaking them in hot water worked out just fine. When they're soft, chop them and reserve the soaking water.

Take the dough out of the fridge, flour a board, and roll out the dough into a 10 inch circle. Lay it over a tart pan and gently settle it into the pan. It should be about 1/4 inch thick. Press it into all the crevices. Put it in the freezer for 15 minutes. (It can be frozen wrapped in foil for up to a week before baking.) Preheat the over to 425. While you're making the mushroom filling, bake the tart shell for 20 minutes. Check it periodically so it doesn't get too dark.

Heat some oil in a skillet and fry 1 large, chopped onion until it starts to turn golden. Add 1/2 pound sliced crimini mushrooms, 1/2 pound sliced portobellos, and some salt. Raise heat and cook until they start to color. Stir in 1 t. tomato paste, a few tablespoons of mushroom soaking liquid, the chopped porcinis, and more liquid as needed to keep the pan moist. Cook for about 15 minutes or until mushrooms are completely tender. Add a little parsley and marjoram (chopped) and season with pepper.

Beat one egg with 2/3 cup mushroom stock (or half and half or cream). Pour the mushrooms into the baked tart shell and then add the egg and stock mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes until set. Cool tart for a few minutes and rub a little oil over the top to make it shiny. Garnish with chopped herbs.

This was wonderful with a rose`. Sparkling wine would be good, too.

Approximate Cost:
Tart Shell
1/2 cup pastry flour - $.50
1/2 cup + 2 T. all purpose flour - $.40
5 T. butter - $.40
3 T. sour cream - $.20
TOTAL for tart shell - $1.50
1/2 cup dried porcini - $4.50
1/2 cup dry white wine - $1.50
1 onion - $.25
1/2 pound crimini mushrooms - $2.50
1/2 pound portobello - $2.50
1 egg - $.25
oil, tomato paste (1 tsp.), herbs - negligible
TOTAL for filling - $11.50
TOTAL for 2/3 cup mushroom stock or half & half - $1.50 (?)

TOTAL for dish - $14.50 for 4 people.

This is a beautiful, earthy, tasty dish to make for company.