Guest Chef: Ingrid

Welcome to our guest chef Ingrid. Here she is busy in her kitchen attending to my four-course birthday dinner she and her family hosted for me last weekend.

It was all quite yummy. Here is one of the appetizers served.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Everything You Will Need:
1/2 pound of fresh Italian sausage (removed from the casings)
1 1/4 cups of onion (finely chopped).
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 tablespoons of green bell pepper (finely chopped)
1 pound of fresh mushrooms(medium-sized) (save the caps, remove the stems and chop finely)
1 teaspoon salt, freshly ground pepper
1 3-ounce package of cream cheese
2 tablespoons of butter (melted)
1/4 cup of Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
fresh chopped parsley for garnish

In a large skillet, cook the sausage in the olive oil over medium heat for five to six minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon to crumble the sausage. Add the chopped onion, green bell pepper, mushrooms stems, the salt and pepper to taste. Continue to cook for six or seven minutes or until the onion and bell pepper are tender. Turn off the heat and stir in the cream cheese. Fill the mushroom caps with the sausage.

In a small bowl, thoroughly mix the butter and the breadcrumbs. Press the stuffed mushroom
caps firmly into the buttered breadcrumbs. Put two tablespoons of water into a nine inch by thirteen inch glass baking dish. Place the mushroom caps in the dish, breaded sides up. Pre- heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for twenty to twenty-five minutes or until the breadcrumbs are brown. Sprinkle on fresh chopped parsley and serve.

The finish to the meal were these beautiful cupcakes done by one of our other guest chef's Teri.


Editor's note: If you're interested in my other birthday surprises you can visit my blog.

Guest Chef, Mary

Our father Gene/Grandfather was such a good cook that his wife Mary didn't have to bother. After his passing a few years ago she found a new interest in cooking and this has spurred her to try some new recipes. Here is a dish we both cooked together on my last visit.

She was looking for a dish to make for guests and maybe one of those easy standards you could just throw together. We found this recipe in a the William Sonoma cookbook, Pasta: food made fast, and we both thought it was a keeper. It is rich, look at how much cream, and very easy and most important; delicious. We added some leftover chicken and thought some chopped parsley would have been a good finish.

I tried a lower fat version of the recipe substituting the cream with Trader Joe's Fat Free Half and Half with an equally yummy result though admittedly not as rich. I also added chicken and some lightly sauteed zucchini slices. I also picked up some Dolce Gorgonzola from Whole Paycheck. This was stronger than the Cambozola; I'd use either next time. This is one of those you-can-fuddle-with-all-you-want recipes.


Creamy Penne with Walnuts

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 oz. Gorgonzola, dolce (Mary used Cambazola)
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts
1 lb penne pasta

Melt Butter in large skillet, add cheese and melt. Add cream, simmer 3 minutes but do not boil. Sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in cheese and walnuts.
Drain cooked pasta reserving some cooking water. Add pasta to sauce, stir. If sauce needs thinning use reserved cooking water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.



Mary has appeared on this site before when I shamefully used her as my own personal sous-chef.

Easy to print pdf of recipe

Ciao, bella: guest chef Teri

In January we attended a birthday celebration for some dear friends. It was hosted by the younger daughter and son-in-law but both daughters were involved in the planning.

The two birthday people and family will be off for a Tuscan vacation in the spring so the theme was Italian. I was really taken by one of the side dishes and asked the cook to be a guest chef here on PBE.

Here is Teri's amazing menu and sorry if I left anything out. It was abbodanza!

Pasta with breadcrumbs
Eggplant fritters w/yogurt lime sauce
Tortellini kebabs
Arugula salad
Marinated Italian sausage with peppers, olives and cheese.
Sweet and Sour Onions

Sweet and Sour Onions

2 Bags of frozen pearl onions (I like to get some of the liquid out of the onions first in a big skillet)

In a separate pot to reduce
4 Tbsp of butter
5 Tbsp of sugar
1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp of champagne vinegar
salt and pepper

Melt butter and sugar together to dissolve sugar. Add vinegars. Salt and pepper to taste. Let this all reduce down to a syrup like consistency and poor over hot onions in skillet. Let flavors marry in the skillet for 20 mins on low to medium heat.
Can be made ahead of time for you dinner party!