Month of cooking, day 1 (greens and mushrooms with spaghetti squash)

Slight change of plans already to the proposed menu -- Passover starts on Friday, which means I can't do polenta on Saturday.  Also, we'll be doing seders with friends both nights, so it probably doesn't make sense to cook a separate meal for us, especially on Saturday.  Since I offered to do soup for the Saturday seder, that'll be my recipe for the day.  It's not mushrooms, but hey, the theme isn't a hard and fast rule.

Also, I realized that I'm doing all brand-new recipes this week, and I really don't need to -- the goal is to do lots of new stuff, of course, but really, it's to do something different every day.  I won't change anything else for this week, I don't think, but I'll have to remember for next week.

Today, I got lucky with my choice of recipes. I hadn't actually had time to go grocery shopping, despite my best intentions, but I had all the ingredients I needed already in the fridge.  In top of that, some of the prep work was already done -- Mu had peeled all my garlic for me last week and it was sitting in a ziplock, waiting, and the spaghetti squash was left over from 2 weeks ago and just needed some frying.  That said, I'm gonna have to be better about planning in the future.  I need to set aside time for prep work, and I'm not always good at remembering that.  But today, I got a quick and yummy meal!

Braised greens and mushrooms with spaghetti squash
Ingredients
Baked spaghetti squash (recipe here but I used less garlic this time because I added some to the greens separately)
1 bunch of chard (collards or mustard greens would be fine here)
1 small red cabbage (or some other green if you'd like)
dozen shitakes
handful (say, 10?) oyster mushrooms
garlic for the greens (maybe half a head?)
Neutral oil
Salt and pepper
A couple of slices of lemon or some lemon juice

If you don't already have baked spaghetti squash, bake it now.  It should be scooped out and ready to cook with garlic and butter by the time you start the rest of the recipe.  Wash and roughly chop the greens.  Carefully clean the mushrooms and de-stem the shitakes.  Slice or chop into bite-size pieces.  On high medium heat, heat some neutral oil in a large pan and toss the greens in.  Saute for a few minutes until they begin to cook down.  Add the mushrooms and salt and pepper.  Chop up and add the garlic.  Saute for another few minutes.  Add about a cup of water, turn the heat to low medium, cover and cook until everything softens, about 7 minutes.  In the meantime, take your baked squash and cook it with garlic and butter as per the previous recipe.  When the greens and mushrooms are soft, uncover and cook until most of the liquid is gone.  If your greens are a little bitter, like mine were, add a splash of lemon juice at this point.  Add the squash, adjust seasonings as needed, and cook for another 2-3 minutes to meld the flavors together.  Serve hot!

Aren't the colors pretty?

Recipe summary
Time: It's hard to say, because I had so much done ahead.  With the squash already baked and the garlic peeled (which takes me forever!), it took about 40 minutes, start to finish, though most was hands-on this time.
Serves: 6 as a lunch dish, probably 4 if you want a bigger meal.
Highlights/thoughts: You could use any mushrooms here, but I like the flavor and texture of the shitakes.  The oyster mushrooms don't have a strong flavor, but the texture is nice because it feels meaty and satisfying.  I also liked using the red cabbage for the bit of color.  Oh, and I love how lemon juice takes the edge off bitter greens!  I learned that from someone at the CSA and I use this trick a lot!
Would I make this again?  For sure, in some variation.  We get a ton of greens, and mushrooms go well with them.

I finally went grocery shopping after cooking this, so I'm ready (I think!) for the rest of the week!

I am not a wizard

As you may have noticed, the blogging didn't happen last week.  It was one of those weeks where I'm really not feeling much like a wizard, or even an elephant. :)  I did cook some, but even that didn't turn out as well as I had wished.  And then it was my birthday (weeee!), and I didn't feel like stressing out further about the blog.  So, there we are. 

Today is feeling like the start of a better week, and since April is only a week away, I'm hoping that I will get both the cooking and the blogging mojo back.  I still intend to share the mug cake recipe/experience, since that was awesome, but it requires to actually find the recipe, since it's pretty precise.  In the meantime, here's a brief recipe for spaghetti squash to tide you over!

This recipe is thanks to Cindy and the various recipes she linked me to when I told her, in a slight panic, that I had not one, but two spaghetti squashes living in the fridge.  This is the simplest recipe possible -- there are many other ways of dealing with these things, but this one was the easiest.

Spaghetti Squash with Garlic
Ingredients
Squash (however many you happen to have)
Garlic (lots)
Butter (say, half a stick?)
Parmesan if you like

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Wash squash and put it on a baking sheet into the oven (just like that, no need to cut if you don't want to).  Pierce squash a few times with a sharp knife to let out steam. Bake for at least an hour, turning once midway through cooking, though it depends on the size of the squash.  Mine were large, so it took about 2 hours.  It's ready when you can pierce it reasonably easily with a fork.  In the meantime, peel and cut garlic.  When squash is done, let it cool, then cut it in half.  Scoop out the seeds and the slimy top layer (and discard), then scoop out the rest of the innards to cook with.  In a large skillet, heat some butter, then add about half the garlic.  Fry for a few minutes 'till it's soft, then add the squash, the rest of the butter, and the rest of the garlic.  Saute for 5-10 minutes.  Add cheese if you're using it and cook for another few minutes.  You can also add the cheese on top.  Serve warm.

Recipe summary
Time: 2.5 hours for two large squashes, almost entirely unattended
Serves: varies quite a bit, I'd say one large squash is probably enough for 4.
Highlights/thoughts: It turns out that I really don't like the smell of baked squash.  The whole time I was scooping it out, I kept asking Mu, "is this what it's supposed to smell like?"  It went much better after I started cooking it with garlic and butter, but then again, doesn't everything?  At least this recipe is pretty impossible to screw up.
Would I make this again? If I were stuck with another squash, probably.  As it is, I have a bunch of uncooked squash left over to do something with this week.  I think it'll take some miracle for me to willingly purchase one, though.