Napa or Bust - up to you!

Napa is closer than ever!

And we are back!

And we are doing the happy dance.

Remember when I asked for your votes for a chance to win all-expense paid trip to the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, where I get the chance to attend their culinary bootcamp program?

And I asked you to ask your friends, and coworker and everyone you know to head over to the Pacific Natural Foods site to be click-ty happy on my behalf and vote for my submitted recipes?

Well, your efforts paid off, because not one, but BOTH of my submitted recipes have made the cut to the final voting round.

YES!

People, you guys are AWESOME! Actually more then AWESOME, is there a word bigger than AWESOME? Oh, maybe TREMENDOUS! Or GRAND!

You guys are just … ASTOUNDING.

I could not have done this without your help – and I thank you so much for taking the time to do this for me.

But, oh yes, there is but…

It’s not over.

See this is the final stretch, the brass ring people.  I now need your votes again – more so than ever, because this round is the ONE… these are the votes that will get me to Napa baby!  

The top-vote-getter in the final challenge wins the grand prize.

And now I know how those people feel, to have it right there… so close!, I just need all of you guys to push me a little bit closer to grab it!  Because, I got some really tough competition out there.

So head over to the Everyday Chef Challenge Finalists Gallery and be click happy!  Click as you have never clicked before.  You can click today and tomorrow and every day until it’s over.  In fact I will even make it easier.. Just click the pictures below of my submitted recipes and press VOTE at the end of the page.  That’s it, pretty easy right?

 

And tell your friends, family, co-workers, facebook, twitter – heck! Tell everyone you know!  

And come back over and over again and vote!

Send me to Napa!

Wild Mushroom Ragu over a Crispy Rice Cake

Looks pretty amazing does it not?

I love mushrooms, it’s one of my favorite ingredient to cook. They are fast, they pretty much go with anything you mix them with and there are so many to choose from! I’m partial to the wild variety, which are often more flavorful. After many years of cooking them I learn to never rinse mushrooms in water, they will absorb water and turn mushy when you cook them. So the best way to prepare them is to wipe them off. Dried mushrooms are great substitutes for fresh and the soaking liquid can add more flavor to any dish.

And knowing all of this I decided to try my hand at creating the perfect little bite for a dinner party.

I ended up with a powerful small morsel, full of bold flavor, with a fun twist.

The Mushroom Ragu is a blend of wild mushrooms: Baby Bella, Oyster, Portobello and Shiitake mushrooms with the bold taste of dried Cremini mushrooms along with their soaking liquid. I wanted to have the flavorful Ragu pair with a crispy bite, and along came the idea of a rice cake. Made with Basmati rice cooked in Pacific Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth into a creamy consistency then sauté to golden brown.

When put together it creates the perfect little appetizer for any dinner party.

Enjoy

For the Rice Cake:

• 1 Tablespoon of butter
• 2 Tablespoon dice shallot
• 1 Cup basmati rice
• 2 Cups of Pacific Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth (low sodium or regular)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Egg (beaten)
• 2 Tablespoon of chopped parsley
• 2 Tablespoon of Parmesan cheese

For the Mushroom Ragu (you can cook this ahead and then warm up when ready to serve):

• 4 Tablespoon of Olive oil
• ½ Cup of hot Pacific Foods Organic Vegetable Broth (for soaking the dry mushrooms)
• 4 ounces of dry crimini mushrooms
• 2 Tablespoon of butter (unsalted)
• 2 Tablespoon yellow onion (about half of a medium onion), minced
• 2 Tablespoons garlic (about 3-4 cloves), minced
• 8-ounces of wild mushrooms mix: Baby Bella, Oyster, Portobello and Shiitake (you can use any other kind or preferences) remove the stems, wipe clean and sliced.
• 3 Tablespoon of dry white wine
• 1 Tablespoon each finely chopped fresh oregano, rosemary and thyme.
• ½ Cup of heavy whipping cream
• ¼ Cup of shredded gruyere cheese
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (you may use more, so taste the dish in different stages of cooking)
• 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley for decoration

Rice Cake:

1. Line a baking pan with parchment paper or silpat
2. Heat the butter in a medium pot over medium heat, add the chopped shallots and cook until translucent. Add the rice and stir until coated with the butter. Add the Pacific Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth and bay leaf. Cover and simmer slowly for 20 minutes, until the broth is fully absorbed. The rice should look like a paste when done.
3. Transfer the rice to a bowl and let it cool until is warm to the touch. At this point mix in the parley, the beaten egg and the cheese.
4. Spread the rice mixture on baking pan, spreading it into an even layer about ½ inch thick. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper and refrigerate overnight.
5. When ready to make the rice cake. Take cold rice out of the refrigerator and with a 1 ½ -inch cookie cutter cut rounds and place in a plate. Let them sit out about 15 minutes before you cook them.

Mushroom Ragu:

1. Start with soaking the dry crimini mushroom in the hot Pacific Foods Organic Vegetable Broth, put aside for about 5 minutes, then drain (reserved the liquid) and sliced.
2. In a medium sauté pan, over medium-high heat, add the butter and olive oil and let it get hot. Add the onions and garlic and cook for about 2 minutes (make sure the garlic does not burn). Add the slice mushrooms, including the crimini as well and sauté. Season with salt and pepper and taste – if it needs more add more. Cook the mushrooms until they begin to sweat and turn a deep brown. They need to lose some of their own juices, and be a bit dry before you start to add the liquids.
3. Add the white wine and let it evaporate. Add the reserved Pacific Foods Organic Vegetable Broth liquid and cook a bit more until it reduces almost to half. At this point add the fresh herbs and mix. Add the cream and bring to a simmer and let it reduce to about a third. Taste, and if needed add a bit more of salt and pepper.
4. At this point add the shredded gruyere and mix until melted. Take off the heat and put aside.

To put the bites together:

1. Take the rice cakes and place on a serving plate/platter, Top each cake with a dollop of the Mushroom Ragu. Garnish with some of the fresh parsley and served.

New Savory Club Launched and Winner!

As you all may now know, about a month ago I wrote a post about wanting to start a savory cooking club.  I wanted to find a way to cook more savory dishes and in order to do so, I needed a bit of a incentive.  So I wrote a post explaining all about it and calling all cooks to come and join me.

Along the way found a co-host - Jenn from Knitty Baker, and soon 5 more join the flock.

At that time I had not decided on an official name for it so I also asked name suggestions. And boy did we get great ones, well over 30 names!  Great names, weird names, funny names all with the spirit of what all of us were seeking, a fun way to collaborate together and share our experiences from our own kitchens all over the world.  (and know that all of us were going to be doing dishes together, at least once a week.)

And as everything in life goes, out of 30, only ONE could become the winner, which at the end was submitted by Stephanie from Strech.

So say hello to our new Savory Cooking Club: The Gutsy Cooks Club.  We got 6 members (7 including me), from all over the US which are all very excited to GET.THIS.PARTY COOKING.STARTED from our chosen book, The Kitchen Bible.  In fact we already have menus up for the rest of the year - what can I say, I got a dedicated group here!

So now that we got ourself a name and a cool badge. Now we need to pick the winner of our first giveaway. And to do this I decided to let it all out and put it all in video, to validate that this was all on the up and up and because I truly enjoy putting my dorky-ness out there for the whole Internet to see and laugh about it.  So with out any more delays, enjoy my full on dork:

The Gutsy Cooks Club Winner from Monica C on Vimeo.

So there you have it, we have a winner! Congratulations Shandy from Pastry Heaven.  Come on down!  Your $30 Amazon.com gift card it’s on it’s way - enjoy.

It still not to late to join us, you can click on The Gutsy Cook Club in my navigation bar where you will find out club rules, forum (only for the Gutsy Cooks members), Menu Schedule and our roll-call, where you can meet our Gutsy Cooks and link to their blogs.

So to all the new members, WELCOME!  And to our first winner, Shandy CONGRATULATIONS once more.

So, yeah… LETS GET THIS COOKING STARTED!