This weekend is a rainy one, and with Autumn full upon us here in NY, I decided to make a “comfort food” — totally full of excess calories, but isn’t that what is called for sometimes?  It’s a simple tuna casserole, like Mom used to make — nothing fancy, nothing new, but uber yummy..with extra cheese ;)

Enjoy

Charlie, the Tuna - Sunkist Tuna (My fav)

Tuna Noodle Casserole

2 cans tuna in water, drained
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup milk
1 cup cheddar, shredded
1 cup peas, frozen
1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms – baby ports, or white capped
1 pound pasta, cooked almost done

Mix the drained tuna, the soup, mayo, milk, cheddar, peas and mushrooms together while the pasta is cooking.  Heat the oven to 400F.

Cook the pasta until it is about 3/4 done.  Drain, and then mix with the tuna mixture.  Place in a baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes at 400F, until bubbly.

I have my notes from the day here beside me now – the only thing that is “exact” measurement was the sausage – everything else was an estimate.  I later made this recipe again, being much more careful about measurements, and the note taking. 

One thing I will say about this recipe —  it goes fast, and I do mean that.  Super fast.  Make extra if you want leftovers.  This recipe should serve 6-8 easily.

Sausage, Mushroom & Sage Dressing

1/2 pound Italian sausage
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 pound mushrooms – sliced
3/4 cup celery, chopped
1 medium onion – chopped
salt and pepper to taste
6-7 cups dry bread, cubed
1/2 teaspoon dried sage or 1 teaspoon fresh sage, minced fine
2 1/2 –3 cups chicken stock
drippings from the turkey

In a frying pan, brown the sausage, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks.  Once the sausage has cooked, remove the sausage and set aside. Drain away the grease from the frying pan, leaving a bit left in the pan.  Add the butter, and melt it.  Add in the onion, celery and mushrooms and cook 3-5 minutes, or until the onion is clear. Add in the sage, and then salt and pepper.  Add the sausage back in, add the cubed bread, and enough of the stock to moisten the bread. 

Place in a greased baking dish.  2 quart casserole dish is best, but a 9×13 cake pan will work fine, too. Cover and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes.  Add in a few teaspoons of drippings from the turkey once or twice, just to give that extra depth of flavor.  Uncover and bake about 10 more minutes.

Notes:

• If the Italian sausage you get is in casings, just remove it and break it up as much as possible.  Well.. cut it into tiny pieces, as it is impossible to actually “break” up.
• Mix up the sausage – use sage sausage, or your favorite sausage
• I don’t really like poultry seasoning, which is why you see drippings from the turkey added into this recipe, but if you do, add in about 1 teaspoon when you mix in the sausage to the onion-mushroom-celery mixture.
• Try other additions:  raisins, currents, any kind of good fresh mushrooms, water chestnuts
• One final note – you can easily double the amount of sausage in this recipe, and it’ll be just as fantastic (if not better – but then again, you all know I love sausage!! :D )

This is one of my favorite things in summer to eat.  I love to grill the vegetables, changing out the vegetables according to what is is season.  It looks really lovely plated.  This is fantastic to serve with grilled fish – salmon or tuna being my preference.

Chilled Roasted Vegetables, with Portobello Mushrooms and Honey-Shallot Vinaigrette

1 Medium Zucchini — yellow or green, trimmed, and sliced
20 Cherry tomatoes, or 2 cups of grape tomatoes.  Blanch and remove skin, if you prefer.  Or, 3 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped into sections.
1 medium red pepper, chopped
1 medium yellow pepper, chopped
1 medium celeriac, or bulb fennel, sliced thin
1 large onion, chopped
6 Large portobello mushrooms – cleaned, but left whole.
2 cloves of minced fine garlic
2-3 tablespoons of oil — a nice olive oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

Okay.. for the vinaigrette..I just kind of make it.  My measurements are imprecise, but tasty ;)

Olive oil
good red wine vinegar (or balsamic, if you like)
1 squeezed lemon
a bit of honey
1 minced shallot

Heat the oven to 450F or about 240C.  Place the vegetables – zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, celeriac, onions and mushrooms evenly on a roasting pan, or baking sheet.  Mix the olive oil, and garlic together and sprinkle over the vegetables.  Salt and pepper.  Roast for about 30-35 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the ingredients for the vinaigrette.  If you have good olive oil, use that, otherwise a good salad oil or vegetable oil will work. Use about 4 table spoons or so. 2 Tablespoons of vinegar.  If you don’t have a fresh lemon, you are really missing out on good flavor.  But if you don’t — use about 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice.  Mix in about 1/2 teaspoon of honey, and the shallot.  Do not use much honey – you do not want the vegetables to be sweet, but just balance the high acidity in the vinaigrette.

Once the vegetables have come out of the oven, set the mushrooms aside.  Pour 1/2 of of the vinaigrette over the remaining vegetables, and refrigerate for about 1 hour. 

To serve, place one mushroom on six plates, and evenly distribute the roasted vegetables among the plates, placing the vegetables on top of the mushroom.  Drizzle the remaining vinaigrette over the vegetables just before serving.

To Grill:

Lightly oil the grill grates.  Chop the vegetables into larger, even pieces, so they won’t slip through the grill grates.  Grill over hot coals, but without flame.  If you are using a gas grill, heat one side of the grill, while placing the vegetables on the opposite side.  Grill the vegetables, turning once, until done. 

Note:

Use any kind of vinegar you like (except White).  Red Wine, Rice Wine, Cider, or Balsamic.  I really like to  use Balsamic, but not every time.

This recipe started out as one of my Grams casserole recipes from the early 60′s.  It contained 2 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup.  I’m not so much of a fan of those.  So, I dissected the recipe, and instead of using the cans of soup, came up with this recipe – which is similar to Grams, but a fresh tasting version.  No sodden and spongy mushrooms, or over thickened gelatinous mass of condensed soupy.. stuff.  This is the grownup and away from Back Of The Label cooking ..as we call it..lol

The original recipe had this served over some sort of pasta.  I actually like it over boiled potatoes, but also like it over rice, even wild rice as this recipe can stand up to it and play with the flavors and texture of the wild rice with ease.

Enjoy!

Chicken & Mushrooms

12 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup White Wine (NOT Cooking Sherry or Cooking Wine!!  if that’s all you have, use chicken broth or water)
1 cup sour cream
ground black pepper to taste

1 small bunch parsley, coarsely chopped

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and mushrooms, and cook until tender. Remove the onions and mushrooms from the skillet with a slotted spoon; set aside in a warm oven (200-225F)

Add chicken pieces to the pan, and sprinkle with garlic. Cook and stir until evenly browned, and cooked through.  Remove chicken and add to onions and mushrooms in oven.

Whisk the flour and salt into the pan drippings until smooth. (Note:  if there are not enough ‘drippings’ add 2 tablespoons butter and 1/4 cup chicken stock, bring to a low simmer and then add flour and salt).

Gradually whisk in the chicken broth and wine, and simmer over low heat until slightly thickened. Stir in sour cream and return the mushrooms, onion and chicken to the pan. Warm until heated through.

Serve over linguini, boiled potatoes, or rice.  Sprinkle the parsley over top, and serve.