A few weeks ago one of Sean's co-workers brought a dish called Chicken Milano that she found on AllRecipes.com to work for lunch. It was very good. Although it was made with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes, it kind of reminded me of a mushrrom pasta dish that I used to get at Brown Bottle (115 E Washington St) in Iowa City while I was in college. I've always tried to find a dish like it at other restaurants or find a recipe for it. In my search I have found a lot of good dishes, but never found anything that was exactly the same.

I decided to try and alter the chicken milano recipe to try and replicate the dish I have been searching for for the last 7 years. As I told Sean, I replaced the tomatoes with mushroom and the chicken with mushrooms. I also replaced the chicken broth with beef broth (I might try mushroom broth in the future, but I think it needs the beefiness). I just found the printout out of the chicken milano recipe that I marked up while expirementing and decided to add it here for all of you to see and for me so I won't lose it. It's not exactly the same as the dish at Brown Bottle, but it's the closest I have come so far. Served with a light salad and a good glass of reisling this is a great dinner.

Pasta with Mushroom Cream Sauce

• 5 Tbs. butter, divided
• 5 cloves minced garlic (you could use less, but why?)
• 1 oz dried porccini mushrooms (I'm sure any other dried mushrrom would work)
• 2 C beef broth, divided
• 2 C heavy cream (also known as whipping cream)
• 8 oz sliced button mushrooms
• 4 oz sliced wild mushrooms
• salt and pepper to taste
• 16 oz fettucini pasta, cooked

In a large saucepan over low heat, melt butter; add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the dried mushrooms and 1 1/2 cups of the beef broth; increase to medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until the mushrroms are tender. Add the cream and bring to a boil; stirring. Simmer over medium heat until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter and saute fresh mushrroms. Cook for about 4 minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked through. Deglaze skillet with the remaining beef broth. Reduce slightly and add to the cream sauce. Toss pasta with the cream sauce and serve.

This was dinner on Saturday. It is super easy to make, but is quite tasty. You can make it in the crock pot as well. However if you use the crock pot, you want to leave out the bread crumbs and butter.

Kraut Bratwurst Casserole

• 1 jar bavarian sauerkraut rinsed and drained (can use caraway kraut)
• 4-6 brautwurst
• 1/2 Tbps. hot or spicy mustard (we use brown horseradish mustard)
• 1 medium dill pickle, chopped
• 1/2 tsp caraway seeds
• 6 oz swiss cheese slices (we use provelone because Sean doesn't like swiss)

Mix together sauerkraut, mustard, pickle and caraway seed. Layer in baking pan with bratwurst. Top with cheese slices. Sprinkle with bread crums and dot with butter. Cover with foil and bake at 35 0 for 45 minutes. Uncover for the last 10 minutes.

This recipie is from Lewis & Clark Restaurant in St. Charles, MO. My mom found it in the paper several years ago. Not healthy, but, really really good. It was dinner on Thursday.

Lewis and Clark’s White Chili

3 lbs. cooked Great Northern beans, canned or bottled
2 lbs. skinless chicken breast
1 tbsp. olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium onions chopped
2 tsp. ground cumin
¼ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. oregano
2-4 oz. cans chopped mild green chilies
4 cups chicken broth or stock
20 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, grated
Sour cream
Chopped Jalapeno peppers, canned

Place chicken in a large saucepan. Add cold water to cover and bring to simmer. Cook until tender, approximately 15-20 minutes. Remove from sauce pan and dice into ½” cubes.

Using the same pan discard water and heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent. Stir in garlic, chilies, cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano, and cloves. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken, beans, broth and 12 oz. cheese, let simmer for 15 minutes. Ladle into large bowls and top with 1 oz. cheese. Serve with a side of sour cream and chopped Jalapeno peppers.

Last night we had Mulligatawny Soup from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. It was very very good. Ingredients include:

• Onion
• Carrot
• Celery
• Green Pepper
• Chicken
• Butter
• Flour
• Curry Powder
• Nutmeg
• Apple
• Chicken Stock
• Clove
• Parsley
• Rice

It was supposded to have tomatoes, but the can we bought the other night is awol.

So, since Sean decided to only post an ingredients list I thought I would come back and edit this post with the actual recipe for anyone who might want to make it. It was really good.

Mulligatawny Soup

, from The Fanny Farmer Cookbook (1979)

"A soup from India found its way into American cookery long before the Civil War. A recipe for it appeared in the original Fannie Farmer cook Book of 1896."

Yeilds Approximately 8 Cups

Ingredients:

• 4 Tbs. butter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 stalk celery with leaves, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 apple, peeled and diced (we used granny smith)
• 1 C (1/4 L) diced raw chicken (approximately 1 pound)
• 1/3 C (50 g) flour
• 1-2 tsp. curry powder
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 5 C (1 1/4 L) chicken stock or canned broth
• 2 cloves, crushed (sean used a plastic bag and a hammer to crush)
• 2 sprigs parsley, chopped
• 1 C (1/4 L) canned or chopped tomatoes
• 2 C (1/2 L) hot cooked rice
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper

Melt the butter in a large soup pot. Add the onion, carrot, celery, green pepper, apple, and chicken, and cook slowly, stirring frequently, for about 15 minnutes. Mix the flour with 1 tsp. curry powder and the nutmeg, add it to the pot, and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring from time to time. Sir in the stock, then add the cloves, parsley, and tomatoes. Partially cover and simmervor about 1 hour. Add salt and pepper to taste and more curry powder if you wish. Pass the rice seperatelyy or spoon some into each bowl as you serve the soup.

We used more rice per bowl than the recipe called for, but that is personal choice.

Last night I made pizza using crust made in the bread machine. It was pretty ghetto. Jarred sauce, jarred sliced olives, canned mushrooms, pre-shredded mozerlla. Flavor was good, but the crust baked down to the pizza stone pretty thoroughly. Uhg.