Fallen Souffle

I am bringing back the restaurant reviews because I have been to some awesome restaurants in the area and want to share my experiences!

Wednesday night I visited EVOO, I’m not exactly sure how it is suppose to be pronounced…do we go the Rachael Ray route (E-V-O-O?) or say is like a real word (e-vue?) Regardless of how you say it this is one of my new favorite restaurants. One of my Dad’s friends had mentioned this place and commented about how dangerous it was to live across the street from it, and I can see why…I could eat here every night.

The restaurant has a wonderful ambiance, warm mustard/pumpkin colored walls, the popular high ceilings and an extensive bar area. It was the picture of a perfect intimate restaurant.

I have this habit of looking at a menu online and choosing what I will order before arriving at the restaurant. Well, I knew this place would be good because I couldn’t chose just one. Up until I had to order I was still stumped. One thing that was no question was the ordering of calamari as an appetizer, I think I am on a mission to find the best calamari. This was very well cooked, the usual fried coating but was accompanied by a slightly spicy creamy sauce, I was a nice change from the usual marinara which I now seem to turn my nose to.

The bread brought to the table was a bit dry but still had an interesting flavor and as expected a plate of extra virgin olive oil was brought to the table with cracked black pepper. Though the olive oil was not a nice deep green as I had expected it still had a nice fruitiness that kinda grew on me as I tried another piece.

I ended up ordering salmon with a fois gras hollandaise sauce upon a portabello polenta with balsamic reduction and haricot verts. Wow. This dish rocked all the way. The polenta was soft and creamy and had a wonderful saltiness. The salmon had a wonderful crust from searing and I was surprised about how much I liked the hollandaise as I thought this would be a bit too heavy with such a rich fish. But the balance was decadent and I literally cleaned the plate.

The one pitfall was the dessert menu. I was expecting some wonderful concoctions and spinoffs of the traditional dessert fare but was sadly disappointed as I was presented with the usual creme brulee, sorbet, profiteroles and cheesecake. *sigh* I guess it can’t be all perfect, though I appreciate the lack of guilt of a dessert I really didn’t need!

So I would definitely give this place five out of five forks, and I can’t wait to visit again!

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Yes, I am on a mushroom kick, this is no secret. I have also found that I could eat an entire bowl of mushrooms cooked with marsala wine, hence I am adding marsala to every mushroom recipe I make. I saw the tale end of a 30 Minute Meals episode and saw this recipe, I found it online and bookmarked it for a rainy day. Well it hasn’t really rained in a while here in NC but I had 3 packages of baby bella mushrooms in my fridge and figured it was a great time to try the recipe. I made a few small changes, namely the addition of marsala and I used one kind of mushroom while Rachael uses a combination.

This may be my new go-to dish as it was so easy to make and the sauce is sooooo good! I used fat free half and half which helped with the fat count, so this is a pretty healthy dish. I made some creamy noodles to go with it, and heated up some leftover roasted veggies. Yes, dinner was ready in 30 minutes…love it!

Chicken with Mushroom and Balsamic Cream Sauce
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 6 ounces
Pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 package of sliced baby bella mushrooms
1/4 cup of marsala wine
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon thyme leaves, a couple of sprigs, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, eyeball it
3 tablespoons heavy cream or half-and-half, a couple turns of the pan
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, a generous handful

1. Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan. Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper and add to the hot skillet. Cook the chicken for 5 to 6 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken from the pan and cover with foil to keep warm. ( finished baking mine in a 350 degree oven as I had thick chicken pieces and didn’t want the outside to burn)

2. Return the skillet to the heat, turn heat back a bit, and add the butter. Once the butter melts add the mushrooms and brown stirring occasionally for about 4 to 5 minutes. Once the mushrooms are brown season with salt and pepper then add the garlic, thyme and marsala wine. Cook stirring occasionally for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle the flour into the pan and cook 2 minutes more. Whisk in the stock, balsamic vinegar and the cream. Turn the heat up to high and simmer for about 2 minutes or until thickened. Slice the chicken on an angle. Add the parsley and the chicken back to the skillet to heat up, about 1 minute.

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Shrimp and Grits has become one of my favorite meals. When I go out to eat and see it on the menu I have to try it, it has become my baseline dish of a restaurant. I figured it couldn’t be too hard to try to recreate the dish; grits are cheap, cheese comes in a ton of varieties and shrimp takes no time to cook…oh and bacon makes everything better!

I started with a really basic recipe from Bobby Flay. It take no time to make and the results are good. I still need to work on adding my own twist on it, maybe some mushroom or scallops and maybe a different cheese but I didn’t get any complaints from the taste testers.

One thing to note, my grits took no where near 25 minutes to cook, I went by the package instructions and mine took about 7 minutes so read the instructions on your grits! Overall is took about 20 minutes to put these meal together and was perfect for the cold weather that is rolling into NC.

Shrimp and Grits
4 cups water
Salt and pepper
1 cup stone-ground grits
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
6 slices bacon, chopped
4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 cup thinly sliced scallions
1 large clove garlic, minced

Bring water to a boil. Add salt and pepper. Add grits and cook until water is absorbed, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter and cheese.

Rinse shrimp and pat dry. Fry the bacon in a large skillet until browned; drain well. In grease, add shrimp. Cook until shrimp turn pink. Add lemon juice, chopped bacon, parsley, scallions and garlic. Saute for 3 minutes.

Spoon grits into a serving bowl. Add shrimp mixture and mix well. Serve immediately.

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This recipe is much like the lasagna rolls that Giada makes, and the idea for these actually came from a Rachael recipe…but I made a few changes that make it a little more figure friendly and I think add more flavor. I added the marinara sauce to cut some of the richness of the sauce but I almost think I would omit this next time because the gorgonzola sauce isn’t too overwhelming. I used chicken broth in the sauce instead of cream which I think helps a lot. I was so proud of myself because I cleaned out the fridge and pantry with this recipe using gorgonzola, ricotta and mushrooms that were left over.

This dish is definitely a keeper and when I told people I was making this I was asked what time dinner was…the name itself is impressive. This can be made in advance and baked in a 375 degree oven as well…which is what I did.

Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna Rolls with Gorgonzola Cream sauce
16 cremini caps, cleaned with a damp towel and finely chopped in food processor
1 small yellow-skinned onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup marsala wine
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
Salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg or the equivalent of freshly grated
2 cups part skim ricotta
8 curly edge lasagna noodles, cooked to al dente (12 to 14 minutes)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup fat free chicken broth
8 ounces Gorgonzola, crumbled
1 cup marinara/tomato sauce
1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

1. In a medium skillet over moderate heat, saute mushrooms, chopped onions, and garlic in oil until mushrooms give off their juices and darken and onions are tender, about 7 or 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; the salt will help draw water out of the vegetables as they cook. Add marsala and allow alcohol cook off about 5 minutes.

2. Add dry chopped spinach to the pan and heat through for 1 minute. Adjust seasonings with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg. Add ricotta and stir into mixture to heat cheese through, 1 minute longer. Remove pan from heat but leave in the warm skillet.

3. In a small saucepan over moderate heat melt butter then add in flour and cook for about 2 minutes. Add in broth and whisk vigorously. Melt Gorgonzola into broth and bring liquid to a bubble. Spread 2/3 of sauce on bottom of 9×13 inch pan.

4. Place cooked lasagna noodles on a large work surface or cutting board. Spread lasagna noodles with a layer of spinach-mushroom filling. Roll up pasta and arrange the 8 bundles in a shallow casserole dish. Pour the rest of the sauce over roll-ups, top with tomato sauce and then with sprinkled mozzarella. Place casserole under broiler to melt cheese.

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I’m back! I promise! Life is finally starting to settle down and I am back to cooking! It feels soo good to be in a kitchen again and not eating out.

So let me start with this awesome pork dish that I made last week. I had taken a pictures but then I realized this dish is not very photogenic as it is a tan sauce, that I served with roasted fingerling potatoes and garlic cauliflower…yeah…lots of white, not very appealing to look at. But you MUST try this sauce. I obviously used it over pork but you could certainly pour it over chicken or even white fish. I think next time I will saute some mushrooms and add that to the sauce, I think it will add a nice dimension.

I halved this recipe since I only used one small pork tenderloin but you could easily multiply the sauce for a larger cut of meat.

Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Marsala Sauce
2 pork tenderloins
4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, minced (I just used garlic)
1 cup Marsala wine
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 cup heavy cream (I used half and half but you could also use fat free half and half)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat pork tenderloins generously with mustard. Oil a 9×13 inch baking dish.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Arrange tenderloins in pan, and brown the meat. Turn to brown evenly. Transfer meat to prepared baking dish. (I skipped this part and just baked the whole thing, I was lazy and it still tasted great!)

3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Turn, and continue cooking for 20 minutes, or until desired doneness.

4. Meanwhile, melt butter over medium heat in the same pan used to cook the pork. Cook shallots in butter until soft. Stir in Marsala, mustard, and cream, and cook until volume of liquid is reduced by half.

5. Slice pork, and place on a serving dish. Spoon sauce over meat, and serve.

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