Chicken with Wild Mushrooms

The day after Christmas, my husband was flipping through the January 2012 issue of Bon Appetit with a friend of ours. I heard them ranting and raving and entered the room to hear them saying, "You start from the back, I'll start from the front, and we'll meet in the middle for a duck dinner!" They were pretty excited about it. After I flipped through it, I agreed- there were too many delish-sounding recipes to NOT cook through the entire magazine. Here is the first in a line of blog posts! I'll be sure to include all of the recipes.

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/01/sauteed-chicken-with-wild-mushrooms

Doesn't look that impressive. I was in a hurry! My son told me he was "hungy" and was being very persistent about eating.

 Admittedly, I am not a chef. Not even close. This dish needed something...

I omitted the porcini powder (didn't have it in the house, although the recipe says that if you have dried porcinis, then you can grind them in your spice mill to make the powder) and I used truffle oil instead of truffle butter. I also probably should have let the mushrooms brown a bit more to give them more flavor (don't crowd the mushrooms!). My husband added a splash of lemon juice to add acidity and cut through the fattiness of the beans, and that helped a lot. It also needs more sauce and next time I will flavor the orzo, possibly with rosemary. Or just have Mike make it:)

Cheese, Wild Mushroom 'n Bacon Pie

First let me say that anything involving bacon is a great idea! I found this recipe in a Rachel Ray mag...It was a contest-winning recipe by Barbara Estabrook.

3 Garlic Cloves (although I used a fair amount of roasted garlic sauce)
4 Bacon Strips cut into pieces(I used 6)
1 Lb of sliced assorted fresh mushrooms (I used 3/4 lb of baby bellas)
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
3 eggs
1- 8oz pkg of Philadelpha cream cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 Pilsbury refrigerated pie crust
1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese (I just covered the top)
1/8 tsp paprika

If you aren't using garlic sauce, roast the garlic at 425 for 15-20 min. You'll want to wrap it in foil and drizzle with olive oil.

Cook the bacon until crisp in a large skillet (I made bacon for breakfast and saved a few slices a couple of days prior). Saute the mushrooms and onions in the bacon drippings until tender. (This grosses me out, so I used butter).

In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Add softened cream cheese and beat well. Mix in salt, pepper and mushroom mixture.

Unroll the pie crust in 9" pie plate. Fill with cheddar cheese and bacon, then add the garlic. Pour bacon and egg mixture over the top. Sprinkle with parmesean and paprika.

Bake at 375 fir 30-35 min until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let rest for 15 min.

Ok, so this was super easy, quick, and delish. "A" for the day! However... it was very rich and did not please my tummy. Verdict? I probably will not make this again for that reason.