My sister-in-law once said she loved Coq Au Vin. I had never made it, but the thought was stored until the other day. The time was now. So, I put this together. Husband Dennis loved, loved, loved it!
Since all my kids have flown the coup, my office is the lucky group that get my leftovers. I think they are goin’ like it!
4 pieces of bacon or ham slices, coarsely chopped
2 chickens
2 chopped onions
3 tablespoons chopped fresh Thyme
Salt and Pepper
16 ounces large crimini (baby bella) mushrooms, halved
8-12 carrots, chopped into 1 inch chunks
1 fennel bulb chopped into quarters
4 whole garlic cloves
2 bottles red wine. Merlot, Cabernet, Syrah all work.)
1 small can tomato paste
1/4 cup beef gravy mix
Bake for 4 hours at 300 degrees. Move the pot from the oven to the stovetop.
Add Gravy mix to 1/2 cup water, stir to mix and then add to drippings.
Let simmer 5 minutes and serve over mashed potatoes.
If you do not have gravy mix, use flour. Place flour in small cup.
Add 1/4 cup water, stirring until smooth. Add flour mixture to sauce. Cook until sauce thickens, 3 to 4 minutes. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange chicken on platter; stir juices from dish into sauce and spoon over chicken. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon fresh thyme.
I started this at lunch time, and finished it off by making mashed potatoes when I got home from work. This is a keeper.
If you want to make appetizers, just use the baby portabellos instead of the big guys.
Ingredients
1 jar (16 ounces) Whole Pickled Beets
4 large portobello mushrooms (about 1 pound)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs, such as sourdough or whole wheat*
1/4 cup sliced green onions or chopped chives
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°F. Drain beats, reserving liquid. Coarsely chop 1/2 cup beets; set remaining whole beets aside with beet liquid to use in Vegetable Platter With Balsamic-Beet Vinaigrette (recipe follows).
Trim stems flat and remove gills from mushroom caps using a spoon; discard. Place caps, rounded sides down, on foil-lined baking sheet; season with salt and pepper.
Combine chopped beets, bread crumbs, green onions and walnuts in medium bowl; mix well. Spoon mixture into caps and top with cheese. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until heated through and mushrooms are tender.
4 large Portobello mushrooms
2/3 cup Ricotta cheese
10 oz bag spinach, cooked, squeezed and chopped
2 tbsp flour
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup monterrey jack or mozzarella cheese, grated or finely diced
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tsp dried oregano
Instructions
Cut out mushroom stalks at cap. Reserve caps, chop stalks and mix to remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Season to taste. Place mushrooms on a baking sheet, underside up. Mound stuffing on mushrooms and smooth over. Cook in center of preheated oven at 400° F for 20 to 25 minutes until golden.
Sure most of us have had eggplant lasagna or beef lasagna or chicken lasagna, and you can go that direction if you want to, but I had chorizo in my refrigerator and dinner time was approaching…
Lasagna. Bite me!
While many people like plain cheesy lasagna, I think it can be better with a few added ingredients. Not only for taste mind you, but you can add vegetables in there and it is better. When making casserole or a lasagna, there are flavor givers (chorizo, ground beef) and there are flavor sponges like mushrooms, eggplant that absorb the flavors around them. For me, this makes a better dish.
Since chorizo is so rich, I thought by adding eggplant and mushrooms it would provide balance to the dish.Â
2 pounds sauted browned meat and add to the red sauce below. (Chorizo or a combination of ground beef, or chicken or turkey, or italian sausage – removed from the casing.) My husband likes more meat, so he would have liked this lasagna better with more ground beef. He told me this two times!Â
1 diced medium eggplant saute in white wine
8 oz sliced mushrooms sauted in white wine
8 oz fresh spinach
6 cups Cheese Sauce (either four cheese sauce or alfredo sauce)
6 cups Red Spaghetti sauce. (I used garlic and onion sauce. I purposely stayed away from basil or sweet sauce)
3 cups grated cheese. (use Mozzarella or a combination of cheeses. I used cheddar, mozzarella)
8 oz of cottage cheese
1/4 cup parmesan for the top
16 slices pepper jack
1/4Â cup chopped scallions for the top
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes – sprinkle on the top
1 package (16 sheets) no boil lasagna noodles
Once you have the ingredients sauted you are ready to start layering in the pan.Â
Sauted mushrooms and eggplantSauted Chorizo
 Four  layers is your target. I start with a base of red sauce (which has your chorizo in it), top with 4 lasagna noodles or whatever number fits in the bottom of your pan. You can overlap a bit.Â
Next top with cheese sauce, then your vegetables; sauted eggplant and mushrooms; sprinkle with grated cheese. Next add spinach, pepper jack cheese slices and start over.  The cottage cheese is for one of the middle layers. Drop it by teaspoonfuls onto the spinach layer. The cottage cheese lightens the whole mixture and adds texture.
Pepper Jack over spinach
Your last layer should be Cheese Sauce with grated cheese, parmesan and scallions and then sprinkle with red pepper flakes.  It will look nice this way.  You’ll notice small parchment paper tucked in along my baking dish. This lasagna is so deep, and my pan has hand holds, that I need to cover until the dish cooks.
Ready for the oven!
Place in the oven at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes covered with foil until bubbly, then 10 minutes uncovered to finish melting the cheesy top.Â
Hot from the oven.
Let it cool for 15-20 minutes so it holds its shape for cutting.
You can put this together the morning before or even a week before and freeze. If you do freeze, just extend your oven time to 90 minutes or so.Â
Serve with a nice green salad. If you cool it properly you can see all the layers. Â
First time I had this was New Year’s Eve dinner and dance at the Casino while in Avalon, Catalina 2008.
Servings: 4-8 people
Ingredients
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Pearl Onions – blanch and peel
Portabello Mushrooms, ribs and stems removed. Cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces.
Preparation
Arrange one layer of onions and one layer of mushrooms on their own cookie sheet. Sprinkle with Olive Oil and season with Salt and Pepper.
Roast until onions are carmelized and mushrooms are tender. 400 degree oven.
Combine on a serving tray.
Serve warm.
