Couscous and sausage stuffed mushrooms

My meals have been less than inspired lately. It's been difficult for me because not only does Tara have the dietary restrictions due to her Porphyria, but she's pretty picky, too; top that off with the fact that she's still recovering from jaw surgery and you could understand my frustration. Soooo, we've been eating lots of pastas and cobbled together meals of leftovers.

Mark Bittman to the rescue! The NYT recently re-shared Bittman's Top 101 Head Starts on the Day from 2009.  I found so many ideas that I ended up making my own list of favorites.  Expect to see some of them in upcoming posts.  

A few things:

First, I normally have a loooong turn around time from cooking/eating a recipe to blogging about it.  Not this dish.  I made it just a few days ago and it was so good that I had to post about it as soon as possible.  Plus, it's perfect for Thanksgiving.

Second, HUGE apologies for the bad quality of photos.  I was working with the double whammy of my iPhone and bad lighting.  Normally, I wouldn't blog a recipe if the pictures looked like these, but Tara loved this dish, so I had to share. Again, it was that good!

Third, Bittman doesn't give very detailed instructions, so I kinda had to wing it as far as writing the recipe.

Couscous and sausage stuffed mushrooms
Adapted from Mark Bittman, via The New York Times (#39)

I changed a few things in the "recipe" based on what was on hand and how much time I had.  Mainly, I used couscous instead of rice, a shallot instead of onion and garlic, and a mixture of Fontina and Gruyere cheese instead of the Parmesan.  In the spirit of the recipe, I didn't measure, so take the ingredient amounts as a guide rather than an absolute, especially with the couscous, bread crumbs and cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 oz button, cremini, or portobello mushrooms
• 2 smallish mild Italian sausages, removed from casings and crumbled
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
• ~ 3/4 cup cooked couscous
• 1 egg
• ~ 1/4 cup soy free bread crumbs (I used Ian's Panko.)
• ~ 1/4 cup of grated cheese

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Add oil to a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook the sausage until it begins to brown. While the sausage is cooking, trim mushrooms and chop stems (do this first if you're not confident in your speedy kitchen skills).

When the sausage starts to brown, add stems, chopped onion, and garlic (if using).  Stir often.  (Time saving tip: Grate your cheese while waiting for the mixture to cook.)  When the mixture is cooked, remove from heat and transfer to a bowl.  Add cooked couscous, egg, bread crumbs, and cheese. The mixture should stick together a little bit, so feel free to add cheese and bread crumbs as needed.

Spoon the stuffing into the mushroom caps (and ramekins for the extra mixture) and bake until tender, about 15 minutes.

Vegetarian option:  Increase the mushrooms to 12-16oz.  Dice half and cook with the stems.  Season with black pepper and fennel.  

Onion free and garlic free option:  Replace the shallot and garlic with 1-2 stalks of diced celery.

Quinoa and sausage stuffed acorn squash

Woohoo!  It's Fall!!  Around here, Fall is more of an attitude than an actual season because significantly cooler temperatures don't arrive here until November.  Normally, I'm not so excited about Fall, but this year, I've already put some mini pumpkins on display and I've started transitioning from lighter summer recipes  to the heartier fall recipes.  This past weekend, I had a marathon session in my kitchen where, among other things, I roasted butternut squash and a pumpkin and made this very fall-inspired dish.

I actually attempted this dish once before, but it did not turn out very well at all.  I chalk it up more to user-error than anything else: I over-peppered and underseasoned at the same time, I tried to make it vegetarian while missing some of the key ingredients like celery and fresh herbs, and I used a butternut squash as the base, which made it squash heavy.  I'd like to try vegetarian-izing it again, but, honestly, this version is so darn good, I'm not sure that I need to.  

This recipe makes a lot of stuffing - probably enough for 8 servings - especially since I upped the quinoa amount.  So, either scale down the recipe or save the stuffing for leftovers.  I've already had the stuffing heated up plain, wrapped in a burrito with scrambled eggs, and microwaved with an egg mixed in and topped with salsa (most successful version, IMO).   You could also put it in a small baking dish and top it with the cheese Panko mixture.  I plan on doing this next time because I'm not sure how much the acorn squash adds to the flavor.

Quinoa and sausage stuffed acorn squash
Adapted from The Other Side of Fifty

Squash:

• 1 acorn or other small squash (mini pumpkins might work well, too)

Cut squash in half and remove seeds and any stringy pulp. Brush squash halves with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place squash halves, cut side up, on a baking sheet and add 1/4" of water to pan. Roast squash in 375 degree oven for 45-50 minutes, or until fork tender.

Quinoa:
I used red quinoa from the bulk bin at Whole Foods.  If you buy your quinoa in bulk, use the directions below, otherwise follow the directions on the package.  Also, I doubled this recipe, not realizing just how much it made.

• 1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed thoroughly
• 3/4 cup vegetable or chicken broth (I used homemade mushroom broth)

Bring the broth to a boil in a medium saucepan; pour in the quinoa and bring back to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed.

Sausage stuffing:

• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, no sulfur added
• 1/2 lb. chicken sausage (I used 2 1/2 links, casings removed)
• 1 TBSP olive oil (or cooking fat from sausage)
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• salt and pepper
• 1 TBSP all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
• 2 tsp fresh sage, chopped
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped (you could also use thyme)
• 1/4 cup pumpkin or sunflower seed kernels (I used pumpkin seeds)
• 1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 2 TBSP parmesan cheese,grated

Brown sausage in large skillet. Remove from pan, leaving the cooking fat in the pan if you are using it, and set aside.

Return skillet to stove and add olive oil (if using). Add onion and celery and season with salt and pepper. Saute until onion is softened and translucent then add the garlic and saute for another minute or two. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook for a few minutes to ensure that flour loses its raw taste. Whisk in the broth and cook/stir until smooth and bubbly. Stir in fresh herbs and remove pan from heat. Add the pumpkin or sunflower seeds, quinoa, cranberries, and sausage to the skillet, stirring to combine well.

Stir Panko and parmesan together in a small bowl.

Stuff each half of the acorn squash with the sausage/quinoa mixture. Sprinkle the tops with the Panko crumbs. Place squash back into oven for 10-15 minutes to heat through and brown the breadcrumbs.