I had some mushrooms and onion left over from making quesadillas yesterday and I was on dinner duty tonight. I figured a risotto would be good. I love making risotto. We had picked up some dried porcini mushrooms for yesterday, more than we needed, so I used some of those as well.

Here’s the recipe I used (from Risotto).

Wild Mushroom Risotto

• 1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms
• 5 cups chicken or vegetable stock (use the mushroom soaking water for part of this)
• about 1 pound of fresh mushrooms, cleaned, dried, and chopped chunky
• 4 tsbp olive oil
• 3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 oz butter
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• generous 1 5/8 cups of arborrio rice
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 4 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• salt & pepper to taste

Soak the dried mushrooms. Drain and dry. Heat 3 tbsp of oil. Saute the fresh mushrooms until lightly browned. Add garlic and soaked mushrooms. Cook for a couple minutes, stirring frequently. Transfer to a plate.

Continue on as a regular risotto.

When the risotto is nearing completion, add the mushrooms. Season with salt & pepper. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and cheese. Sprinkle with the parlsey and serve.

Suzanne found a nice looking recipe a while ago on Epicurious: Pan Stew of Scallops, Peas, and Pearl Onions. I thought it looked good so I gathered ingrediants and made it one night our friend Derrick was over.

Give it a try if you like the look of it. It’s tasty.

We had a very cool dinner tonight. It was called “The ‘Wiches”, a Street Fixe event hosted by Heart. As the name implied it was all about sandwiches. It was essentially a sandwich tasting menu. And it was good.

We made reservations a while ago for the 6:00 sitting since the 8:30 was already sold out. We got there a bit early at about 5:50 and were seated pretty quickly. Seating was classic Heart style at communal tables, which can be both fun and not.

first

By Kitchenette

Willey Farm Beet, Cucumber & Persimmon Sandwich
with farmer’s cheese, shaved fennel, apple, walnut

Calling this a sandwich is a stretch: to me a sandwich is eaten by hand, generally surrounded or enveloped by some kind of bread. We discussed this while walking home. Is a wrap or burrito a sandwich (I say yes), what about a low carb burger wrapped in lettuce? (I’m on the fence on this) The thing about this was that the top and bottom layers (i.e. the bread) was a couple slices of cucumber. I hesitate to to call that a sandwich

Despite this, it was delicious. A lovely flavor combination.

second

By Soul Cocina

Sloppy Jose Poquitín with Soul Cocina Chorizo
house queso fresco, pickles, Rancho Gordo midnight beans

Living up to their name, these were pretty sloppy. Crisp, tart pickles, and salty crispy chips. Very tasty.

third

By Good Foods

Crispy Pork Belly Slider
pickled onions, spicy mayo

Mmmm … pork belly. A nice slice of pork belly, with onions, some greens and a bit of sauce. OMG tasty. The pork was perfect, crispy and rich.

fourth

By Toasty Melts

Duo of Melts
spicy cheddar with tomato, cotswold with cranberry

Oh ya, this is where it’s at. Grilled cheese sandwiches!

The cheddar was indeed spicy, it had a very nice kick. I wasn’t so crazy about the fresh tomato on it, however. I found them too juicy and felt that they make a bit of a mess of things. Some dried tomatoes would have provided lovely flavor without the mess. The cotswald and cranberry was over the top delicious. Nice cheese and a beautiful sweetness from the cranberries. Of the two, this was my favorite. The two complemented very well: spicy and sweet.

I will say one thing that may disgust some people: grilled cheese requires ketchup. That. Is. All.

fifth

By Sweet Constructions

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Sandwich
caramel ice cream, cinnamon-swirl snickerdoodle cookies

This was a great finisher to the meal. The ice cream was so yummy, and the caramel was brilliant. The cookies were really good as well. I didn’t think the combination was as good as the individual parts, though. The snickerdoodles were, I thought, too hard for the ice cream. To bite through the two layers of cookie, you end up squishing the ice cream too much. I think a softer cookie would have worked better.

To sum up

In all the meal was a delight. Little bits of a bunch of things, all very different. It was just about the right amount of food. The price was quite reasonable for the caliber of the meal. I can’t say that we’ll be back, as it was a one-off, but I’m glad we went. I’d encourage you all to look up the folks that made the food tonight and drop in on them when you can. I’d not hesitate to.