andy gillette

I made dinner last night for my Aunt Lynne, lil cousin Amelia, my Grandmother and her friend Sue from across the street.  Part of the idea was to impress Sue with my culinary prowess so that she might employ me to cook when she is entertaining guests in a couple of weeks.  I think it worked.

Menu:

Appetizers
Stuffed Mushrooms (recipe below) and Roasted Red Peppers

First Course
Pasta alla Funghi

Entree
Spicy Italian Pork Chops (via Lidia)

Salad
Mixed Greens with Endive and Grapefruit

Stuffed Mushrooms

10-15 mushrooms (white ones, big enough to stuff)
white wine
4-6 cloves garlic
breadcrumbs
olive oil
fresh herbs (parsley, basil, oregano, whatever you like)
salt and pepper

This recipe is really easy to add stuff to, so if you’ve got veggies or whatever in the fridge to get rid of just throw them (celery, onion, tomatoes, etc.).  First, pop the stems off of the mushrooms.  lay the mushrooms upside down in a pyrex dish.  Chop the stems up pretty small, and chop the garlic up even smaller.  Sautee the garlic for a couple minutes in some olive oil and then throw the mushrooms in with it (add veggies now too if you’ve got them, but make sure you chop them pretty fine).  Cook until they start to brown, probably 5-10 minutes.  Add some white wine to the pan (I don’t know, half a cup?).  Cook it down until it’s pretty much dry, like, 10 more minutes.
Mix up the mushrooms and garlic with breadcrumbs until you’ve got a nice mushy stuffing.  If you overdo it with the breadcrumbs, add some oil to moisten it back up.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Spoon this into the mushrooms and put a little bit of wine in the dish so they don’t dry out.
Put the whole mess into a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.  Et voila!