Kale and Mushroom Stroganoff

Again, AJ asked that I show him how to make this. And I am so thankful! It's been so miserably cold here and I am so tired that some real comfort food, like my mom used to make, is really what the kind doctor ordered. 

***This recipe IS gluten free and can be made vegetarian**

::if you use vegetable stock or mushroom instead of beef stock

and it can be made vegan** 

::if you also replace the butter for vegan margarine or olive oil, sour cream with vegan "sour cream" or plain yogurt and replace the grated parmesan with nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan.

What you will need:

16 ounces of rice flour rotini (curled) or egg noodles 

4 tablespoons of butter

3-5 medium Baby-Bello or Cremini mushrooms, washed and sliced into thin quarters

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 bunch of kale, I used Red Russian because its so pretty and this is a Russian dish!

3 green onions, chopped thin, with the greens separated from the white part (you will use both but at different times)

1 heaping tablespoon of rice flour

16 fluid ounces of beef, mushroom or vegetable stock

1/3 of a cup of grated parmesan cheese

8 ounces of sour cream (or your choice replacement)

Black pepper

Salt 

With one tablespoon of butter, saute the garlic and the kale until the kale is soft and then set aside over very low heat.

In a shallow sauce pan (or deep saute pan, or a cast iron!!) melt the other three tablespoons of butter over medium low heat, then add the sliced mushrooms and let them slowly turn brown.

Stir your kale occasionally. Also, start a pot of water to boil your rice pasta.

Once the mushrooms turn golden brown, add the light/white end of the chopped green onion and let them cook over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes.

Add one tablespoon of rice flour. Stir until it disappears-- it will stick to the mushrooms and bottom of the pan, about 2 minutes. Then deglaze the pan, adding the 16 ounces of broth and turning the heat to medium. Take your wooden spoon and brush the bottom of the pan so as to remove any stuck flour as the broth begins to simmer.

Let the broth/mushroom mixture cook for about 12 minutes, simmering on medium heat, stirring occasionally. It will thicken as it cooks.

At this point, have your water should be boiling for your pasta to cook, add it and cook for 10 minutes (as package indicates, until al dente) because you area about 10-12 minutes out from everything being ready.

Prep the materials for the rest of your sauce. If you haven't already, chop the "green onion greens"

Grate the parmesan cheese

As your sauce thickens it will begin to look like this:

Small simmering bubbles are good, but if it starts popping, blowing big bubbles or sticking you have it on too high.

Have your finishing ingredients handy, as everything is nearly ready:

Check your pasta, and drain it once it is perfectly cooked. Lightly oil it so that it doesn't stick and cover with a lid to keep it warm until you are ready to serve.

Add the sour cream, green onions, parmesan cheese and black pepper to your mushroom/broth mixture and stir over medium heat for 2 minutes, to meld everything together and heat the sauce.

Serve immediately:

This was seriously the most delicious thing I have had in a while :)

xoxooxo

Mom's Cauliflower, Kale and Cheese Pie with Potato Crust

My mom used to make this for us when we were really little, before my dad outlawed dairy in our house-- it reminds me of cold evenings in upstate New York. This recipe is based off of a Moosewood recipe, that my mom used to reference a lot in her meal-making.

You will need for the crust:
2 cups of potato, grated
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 egg white
1/4 cup onion, grated

You will need for the filling:
1 cup of diced onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Thyme
Basil
Marjoram
1/2 of a head cauliflower, chopped and broken into florets
1 small bunch of kale, chopped finely (I used the fancy purple for this recipe because its so pretty!)
1 cup of cheddar cheese, grated (or vegan cheese)
2 eggs and the remaining egg yolk from the crust
1/3 cup of unsweetened almond milk

(Aj took the photos for this post, aren't they lovely?!)

First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and grease a 9" pie dish, or cast iron pan. In this instance I am doubling the recipe and making two pies (you will see in the photos below) and I used one of each. Both worked perfectly well. You really need to use some kind of baking grease or baking spray or else you will end up with potatoes fried to your baking pan.

Next after grating your potatoes, toss them with the salt put them in a strainer for 10-15 minutes. This will draw the water out.

Grate your onion for the crust while you are waiting for the potatoes to get their act together.

Wring out the water from your potatoes with a kitchen towel, paper towel or salad spinner. You want to get as much of the water out of the potatoes as possible in order for them to make a cohesive crust.

Once wrung out, mix the potatoes in a bowl with the grated onion and one egg white. Save the egg yolk for the filling. In these pictures I had doubled+ the recipe, so there are more eggs, do not be deceived.

Smush the potato mixture into your very well greased** baking dish in the shape of a pie crust.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, paint olive oil onto your crust and bake for an additional 10 minutes, so that the crust turns a lovely golden brown. 

After the second round of 10 minutes in the oven, allow your crusts to cool and turn the oven down to 375 degrees.

While the crusts are cooling, prep your cauliflower, onion, garlic and and kale. Saute the onion in a bit of olive oil and then add the cauliflower. Let the cauliflower get soft, about 6 minutes on medium high, add a few tablespoons of broth or water to the pan if the cauliflower beings to stick. Then, once the cauliflower is softening, add the spices and garlic. I don't measure much, so I added a dash of dried thyme, a dash of marjoram, two dashes of basil, salt pepper and garlic. 

Lastly, add the finely chopped kale and saute on medium for about 4 minutes, until the kale starts to wilt a bit.

Grate the cheese (or get your vegan cheese) Then line the potato crust with half of the grated cheese.

Add the cooked veggie mixture on top of the cheese'd potato crust.

Blend the two eggs, the extra egg yolk and milk altogether with a whisk. Pour this mixture on top of your pie.

Then finish it with the remaining grated cheese.

Bake for 30-40 minutes at 375 degrees, until the egg mixture is solid. It will be more or less depending on how deep your dish is.

I think this pie speaks for itself, but you can serve it with hot sauce and simple salad if you so desire.

Bon appetit! (Ps. AJ devoured this, it's a real crowd pleaser)