Mushroom-stuffed Mushroom with wild rice and goat cheese

Usually, dishes that have a lot of mushrooms in them taste like, well, mushrooms. Which is a taste than can get kinda overwhelming. This one, even though it has lots of mushrooms in it, has a much milder taste. Give it a shot!

Mats
4 portobello mushrooms
8oz white cap mushrooms, chopped coarsely. I ran mine through my food processor, just pulsing them a few times.
1 small onion, diced
1/2c wild rice
1c vegetable stock
1 clove garlic, crushed
4oz herbed goat cheese. If you can only get plain, add 1 tsp fresh thyme and 1 tsp parsley, both finely chopped
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Tbsp bread crumbs
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 425.

In a small saucepan, combine the wild rice and the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove the stems and gills from the portobellos. Easiest way is to twist/snap the stems off, then gently scrape the gills out with the edge of a spoon. Be gentle, the mushrooms can be quite fragile.

Grease a medium sized baking dish with cooking spray and place the mushrooms, cap side down, in the dish. They should look like little bowls.

In a medium pan, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the crushed garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add the chopped mushrooms, stir and cook for 5-7 minutes or until the liquids evaporate.

In a small bowl, combine the cooked wild rice, lemon juice, the onion/mushroom mixture and the herbed goat cheese. Stir to combine. The cheese should break down/melt pretty quickly, just keep stirring until you get an even consistency

Using a spoon, scoop some of the rice mixture into the portobello caps. Divide the mixture evenly among all 4 caps, mounding slightly if necessary.

Place 6 cherry tomato halves on the top of each cap.

Sprinkle the tablespoon of bread crumbs over the tops of the tomatoes.

Bake at 425 for 30 minutes.

Grilled Pork Chops with Plum-Ginger Chutney

It's amazing what cooking for other people will help you dream up. This was my husband's red-meat-allowance for the month. Though pork is not one of his favorites, he still enjoyed it very much. Note to cooks: You will have enough chutney. Don't be tempted to double the recipe.

Mats:
4 bone-in pork chops. Try to get the kind with the pork loin attached to the other end of the bone.

Mats for brine:
1/2c gin
1/2c vermouth
1/2c sugar
1/2c salt
2 bay leaves
1 tsp coriander

Combine the brine materials with 1c water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring well to try and get the sugar and salt dissolved. Cook for 2 minutes, then remove from heat.
Add 6c water and 2c of ice.
Let cool to room temperature, then transfer to a large, shallow dish big enough to hold your pork chops in a single layer.
Place the pork chops in the brine, cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
When you're ready to grill the chops, remove and discard the brine, then pat dry the chops.
Grill on medium high for 10 minutes/internal temperature of 145/when there's no pink in the center of the meat. Trichinosis is bad, m'kay?

Mats for Chutney
6 plums
1/2c sugar
2 tsp ground ginger
1/3c white wine
1/4c rice vinegar
1 small red onion
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

Remove the pits from the plums, then dice the plums into 1/2inch cubes.
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, ginger, white wine, vinegar and onion. Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes.
Add half the plums, bring to a boil and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes.
Add the other half of the plums and cook for an additional 8 minutes. The first half of the plums should be basically liquid at this point.
Remove from heat, stir in the Dijon mustard and serve warm.

I served this with a spinach-arugula salad that I used the chutney as a dressing for and a side of wild rice.

Cajun-style Dirty Rice

My brother and his girlfriend were able to visit this weekend (yay!) and this was the dish I made for them. Lindsay, this recipe is for you :)

Mats
1c wild rice
2c vegetable broth
1lb soy chorizo (I think the brand I use is even called 'soyrizo')
1/2 lb ground turkey
1 large onion, diced
3 medium carrots, cut into rounds
3 stalks of celery, chopped to bite-sized chunks
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp Cajun Seasoning. I use McCormick pre-mixed stuff, but if you don't want to buy a new bottle, it's basically garlic salt, ground black pepper, ground red pepper and maybe a dash of cayenne pepper.

In a small saucepan, bring the vegetable broth to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, stir in the wild rice, cover and gently boil for 20 minutes.
In a large wok/saucepan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook for 4 minutes.
Add the carrots and celery (hey look, it's our old friend mirepoix) and cook for 3 more minutes.
Add the chorizo and stir well, breaking it up into small granules and combining with the mirepoix.
Add the ground turkey and again, stir well, breaking it up into little crumbles.
Add the 2 Tbsp Cajun Seasoning, stir well to coat the mixture and cook for 8 minutes, or until the turkey is cooked through.
Reduce heat to medium low, then add the rice when it's finished cooking.
Stir well and serve, possibly with a dollop of sour cream or Greek yoghurt to mitigate the spicy.