Warm Mushroom Salad

Ina Garten is #39 on Gourmet's list of Women Game-Changers in Food. She is known for using fresh ingredients and de-mystifying recipes so that the average home cook can truly make them. Her circular path to the top of the Food Empire is well-known. She spent years in Washington D.C. as a White House Nuclear Policy Analyst. Somewhere along the way there was a seemingly impulse buy of the Barefoot Contesssa (A gourmet food store) in the Hamptons. (This is one smart woman - not sure how much of an "impulse buy" this truly was!) The Barefoot Contessa led the way to creating recipes for her store. She was mentored by such luminaries as Eli Zabar (from Eli's Manhattan in NYC) and Martha Stewart. Cooking and catering led to cookbooks. Cookbooks led to a cooking show and Garten remains on the map as a mover and a shaker in the food world.

(Ina Garten at a book signing in Chapel Hill, NC 2006; photo from Wikipedia)

I own two of her cookbooks. My husband's side of the family is - numerous! When I have a family gathering 40-45 people of all generations will show up.That is not the time to try out your 12-step recipe! I have found  her recipes add elegance to the proceedings and her food is packed with flavor - because the woman is not afraid of using fat!

It's been written that the ease and success of her recipes is because she is very careful to have the recipes tested by others again and again before she publishes them. I chose Garten's Warm Mushroom Salad from Barefoot in Paris. In the opening paragraph, Garten admits, "It's Italian!"

Mushrooms - you love them or you hate them (especially if you are a child). In this recipe - you love them. There's an early spring brewing around the country. Although in Minnesota - we are skeptical.

"Does this mean it will snow for 8 months next year," asks my daughter.

"Does this mean we will have 100-degree weather all summer," I muse.

A smart person would tell us to turn off our thoughts, get outside and enjoy the early warmth. Think of this March as a gift - instead of worrying what Mother Nature in Minnesota is really planning!

The warm mushroom salad is indeed perfect for spring - it's fresh, a tad meaty (and you can certainly omit the prosciutto to make it vegetarian; all right - you want vegan? Eliminate the cheese, too!) Garten suggested cremini mushrooms for this - I used a mushroom blend. Portobello mushrooms would also be delicious in this. It's hearty enough for a proper lunch. And if I had leftovers - I would be nibbling this for breakfast.

Ina Garten's Warm Mushroom Salad - serves 4
16 ounces cremini mushrooms, wiped clean (use your favorites)
2 tablespoons butter (I used Earth balance and I used less)
4 tablespoons olive oil - divided (I used less)
1 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly-cracked pepper
4 bunches (I used 4 cups) fresh arugula - cleaned
8 slices good Italian prosciutto (I used 4)
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (I used a little less but oh do love sherry vinegar!)
Chunk of Parmesan cheese for shaving
8 sun-dried tomatoes - drained and cut into slivers
Italian parsley for scattering

Clean mushrooms by brushing them with a sponge - do not wash or immerse in water. Remove stems and save for another use (I just used them.) Slice the caps 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

In a large saute pan, melt the butter and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. When all is bubbly add the mushrooms, salt and pepper. Saute 5 minutes over medium heat - stirring.  Lower the heat and saute another 2-3 minutes until cooked.

Arrange arugula on plates - 1 cup for each plate. Drape your prosciutto over the arugula. When the mushrooms are cooked, add the sherry vinegar and the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir. Spoon the warm mushrooms on top of the arugula and prosciutto. With a vegetable peeler, shave parmesan on top of all. Sprinkle Italian parsley and sun-dried tomatoes about. Finish with a bit more of the salt and pepper. Serve.

It's perfect. It's spring. It's robins in my backyard, ducks in my front yard and geese flying overhead.

Please check out what the other bloggers are doing for Week 39 of Female Chef Gourmet Game Changers. And if you want to join in the fun, e-mail Mary at  One Perfect Bite. Mary started this delectable journey. 

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Joanne - Eats Well With Others, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed

Susan - The Spice Garden, Heather - girlichef,

Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living, 

Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me

Sue - The View from Great Island, Barbara - Movable Feasts

Kathleen - Gonna Want Seconds, 

Linda A - There and Back Again, 

Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen

Annie - Most Lovely Things, Alyce - More Time at the Table; Amrita- Beetle's Kitchen Escapades

50 Women Game Changers (in Food) - #26 - Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers - Linguine with Crab

For the last 25 weeks, I have been jumping to my computer on Fridays to look at the recipes prepared by the bloggers cooking from Gourmet's list of 50 Women Game Changers in Food. The list has brought about lively debate and discussion throughout blogosphere and now - with life merely at a hectic place, I am thrilled to join the discussion. The first 25 game-changers were chefs and food writers that I was well-acquainted with (Julia Child, anyone?) The last 25 are fairly new to me. Even if I know them, I haven't cooked from/with them.


I thank Mary from One Perfect Bite for starting this extraordinary journey. If you would like to join in the fun, e-mail Mary for information on how to get started. Do visit her blog if you haven't already - her dry wit, honest assessment of recipes, travel stories and scrumptious offerings will bring you back to her blog again and again.


For week #26, we are cooking from Rose Gray (a Brit) and Ruth Rogers (an American). If you've ever travelled to London pre-1987, you likely went for the theatre, the history, the art, the royals, the Thames, the posh accents, the fashion - but you certainly didn't go there for the food. Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers changed all that. When they opened The River Cafe in 1987, the British got their first taste of Northern Italian cuisine on English soil.


Gone were the red sauces that populated London (and I love red sauce) and in its place was pasta mixed with seafood and/or vegetables, focaccia, an all-Italian wine list and an open floor plan that delighted all including the owner-chefs. Rose Gray mentioned  that she felt like she was in an actress with the restaurant as her theatre. Every night was opening night. I can certainly relate to that!

Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers met in 1969 and although their paths crossed many times on both sides of the Atlantic for almost two decades, their partnership did not begin until the opening of The River Cafe in 1987. Described as bohemians, iconoclasts, they were two women who knew their own minds and believed in things passionately - whether it was food, art or politics. They lived many lives before that! Proof positive that life does not offer one direct path. There are forks and detours and one is never sure where the paths will take you but if you have an adventuresome spirit as they did, you can be in for a glorious ride.

I chose to make linguine with fennel and crab. And while crab is not exactly local in Minnesota (although we do get fresh crab from the Gulf Coast through November), fennel is still abundant and has not been trucked in from other countries.


Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers pioneered seasonal and local in London - way before the movement had taken off. This was an offspring of Rose Gray's time in Lucca where she duly noted how the Italians ate, what they ate and when they ate it. They influenced many chefs to do the same - most notably Jamie Oliver who trained under them at The River Cafe. One year after opening, The River Cafe earned a Michelin star which it retains to this day. Not too shabby for two self-taught chefs who would find themselves at the same protest marches for years before they decided to work together!

Linguine with Crab (from The Guardian, UK reprint of easy recipes from The River Cafe))

Linguine 320 grams (about 3/4 pound)

400 grams (about 14 ounces) crab meat - you may use canned - but avoid the $1.99 ones at Trader Joe's - there are better ones to be had - usually at the fish counter

1 fennel bulb

1 garlic clove

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

2 dried chilies

1 lemon

extra-virgin olive oil

Linguine with Crab Preparation

Remove the tough outer part and stalk of the fennel. Slice the bulb as finely as you can across the grain. Keep any of the green tops. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Crush the fennel seeds and crumble the chilli. Grate the zest of the lemon, and squeeze the juice.

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a thick-bottomed pan, add the garlic, fennel seeds and chilli, and cook to soften. Add the crab, lemon juice and zest, and season. Stir through, just to heat up the crab.

Cook the linguine in boiling, salted water for five minutes, then add the fennel slices and cook together until al dente. Drain the pasta, keeping a little of the water, and add to the crab mixture. Stir thoroughly to combine, adding a little of the reserved water to loosen the sauce if necessary. Serve with olive oil.

If cooking crab yourself, buy them live and choose one or two large crabs - it will be much easier to pick the meat out from them than from many small ones. Cock crabs (males) have larger claws and a higher proportion of white meat. Spider crabs are very sweet and good for this recipe, though it takes longer to pick out the meat than from the common crab, as the meat-to-shell ratio is lower.

I did use a good quality canned crab! And in truth, the next time (yes, there will be a next time) I will use more crab. The crab need to hold its own against the anise-flavored fennel and I wanted more of the sweetness of the crab for balance. But I did like the nuances - sweet crab, licorice fennel (somewhat muted from the simmering) all balanced with the mellow linguine. The dish is a wee bit white, so I added some of the fennel fronds for color. As for the ease - it couldn't be easier or faster and that is always a plus for those busy days. 

The River Cafe spawned many cookbooks. Take a look at them here. Sadly, Rose Gray passed away in February 2010. But her presence has been noted and her legacy will carry on to future generations. A moving tribute to her by the New York Times can be found here. And take a look at what the other bloggers are cooking from this dynamic duo. Their links are below.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Joanne - Eats Well With Others, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan - The Spice Garden, Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey, Heather - girlichef,
Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living, April - Abby Sweets
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud, Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me

Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen, Sue - The View from Great Island, Barbara - Movable Feasts

Kathleen - Gonna Want Seconds, Amy - Beloved Green, Linda - Ciao Chow Linda

Linda A - There and Back Again, Martha - Lines from Linderhof, Nancy - Picadillo

Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen

Annie - Most Lovely Things

Swiss Chard and Herb Tart

I keep lavender by the door for luck. Believe if you put basil under your pillow, you will see your true love and build Midsummer bonfires for the faeries. Gardens are magical to me. The transformation of a seed into a fruit, vegetable, flower or herb is part science and part enchantment. You will never convince me otherwise.

It is inconceivable to me that my French thyme would have returned after the brutal, long winter winter of 2010-2011. But it did. And I felt I had to do it justice. 

I am attracted to tarts. If there is more meaning to that fact, I won't explore it. And while I never would pass on a sweet fruit tart or an almond cream tart - when given a choice to bake - I go for the savory. The summer sun still graces us with its strong sunbeams but all is more filtered now. The light seems more delicate. And that is thyme. Faery-twigs of tiny delicate leaves that impart a soft, fragrant flavor. A kiss from the earth. 

The Swiss Chard and Herb Tart hails from Tuscany - a place that I remember of soft light - hidden behind hills and filtered through trees. The recipe is from Bon Appetit's May 2000 issue that was devoted to Tuscany. I almost have that issue memorized. And if you know me - I don't toil in the kitchen. This is easy - using frozen puff pastry for the crust.

Swiss Chard and Herb Tart Ingredients
1 pound Swiss Chard - stems and ribs removed (I used two bunches and only removed the thickest stems)

1-1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove minced (I probably used more)
1 15-ounce container ricotta cheese (whole milk)
1/2 cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh thyme (I used an entire teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon fresh oregano (I again used an entire teaspoon - I have an oregano bush)
1/8 teaspoon fresh nutmeg (I used more)

1-17.03 ounce package frozen puff pastry, thawed (two sheets)

Swiss Chard and Herb Tart Preparation
Need: 9 inch pastry tart pan with removable bottom. Although I used a pie plate because I didn't notice that part!


Bon Appetit has you boil the chard until just wilted, dry it and then saute it. I just sauteed it!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Chop chard.
Heat oil in large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add chopped garlic. Saute 1 minute.
Add chard until just wilted. - about two minutes.
Transfer chard to large bowl. Let cool. Mix in ricotta and next 7 ingredients.

Roll out 1 pastry sheet on slightly floured surface to about a 14-inch square.
Transfer pastry to tart pan. Trim edges leaving a 1-inch overhang.
Fill pastry with chard mixture.
Lightly brush pastry overhang with brush dipped in water.
Roll out 2nd pastry sheet to a 13-inch square. Using tart pan as a guide, trim pastry square into a 10-inch round. Drape over filling. Seal edges.
Bake about 45 minutes until pastry is golden brown.
Cool ten minutes and serve.

 There are a lot of summer greens you can play with: spinach, kale, arugula. Basil would also marry well and I wouldn't argue if found yourself incorporating zucchini and/or tomatoes instead of the greens.

Soft, savory, flaky. Italian rustic. A touch of the wild and the bitter wrapped in sweet pillows of cheese. As you serve this, you feel touched by Tuscany.