May 21st - Mushrooms

A small crowd tonight, but still a delicious dinner. But first, let me take a step back. After last night's dinner, we somehow ended up at Jack Brown's, a local beer and burger joint/bar. There, Mike, Mitch and I joined Sarah Smitherman and Clayton Johnson, and stayed until they kicked us out. We also ran into Mike Barber, and got another Cafe Davis reservation on the books for later in the weekend. The reason I tell you this is to give you some insider perspective on Cafe Davis preparation. When we were leaving the bar in the wee hours of the morning, I made the proclamation that we were going hiking at 8:30 am. Instead, at noon upon leaving IHOP, we were finally on our way to the Shenandoah National Park, where I planned a hike on the Stony Man Nature Trail. The speed limit in the park is 35 miles per hour, so after a stop at Big Meadows to check out the visitor center, we didn't actually manage to get to the trailhead until almost 1:30. Oh yeah, and we also had to stop for a while to look at this:

The hike is a little less than 2 miles, round-trip, with amazing views to reward those who put in the effort to get to the top.

After the hike, we exited the park, at 35 miles per hour, and hit the town of Luray around 3:30. That's when the boys decided some food was in order, so we stopped at McDonald's. Don't forget, Cafe Davis starts at 7pm. By the time we got home around 4:15, I started cooking, and kinda freaking out a bit about whether I could get everything done by the time the guests showed up. Luckily, the menu wasn't very complicated. Long story short (too late): I got everything done, but wasn't remotely hungry by dinner time. Of course I still ate (ha ha), but I think the food would be better without a cheeseburger appetizer.

The menu was warm mushroom spread and homemade bread; warm baby spinach and wild mushroom salad; and mushroom and butternut squash lasagna. I forgot to tell Mike about the homemade bread - I think we realized that when Mitch looked up the menu at McDonald's. And you all think I'm on top of things...

I think that the lasagna was the best part of the meal. It had really nice flavors that would nicely complement a fall meal, so maybe I'll revisit this dish again once the leaves start to change colors. The good thing about the lasagna, too, is that it is much lighter than a typical meat-based lasagna. There's no ricotta in it, only light cream cheese.

Mushroom and Butternut Squash Lasagna
Serves 8 (from www.eatingwell.com)

Active time: 55 minutes
Total time: 2 hours

Ingredients:
12 ounce dried or 1 pound fresh lasagna noodles, preferably whole-wheat
10 sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
3/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms (3/4 ounce)
1 cup boiling water
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese (3 tablespoons)
1 cup prepared marinara sauce, divided
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces mushrooms (wild and/or cultivated), sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (1 ounce)
1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and thinly sliced (4 cups)

Preparation:
1. Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water until barely tender (8 minutes for dried, 1 minute for fresh). Drain and rinse under cold water. Spread the noodles on clean kitchen towels, cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
2. Combine sun-dried tomatoes and dried mushrooms in a small bowl. Add boiling water, cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Transfer the tomatoes and mushrooms to a cutting board with a slotted spoon and chop. Strain the soaking liquid through a fine sieve and set aside.

3. Heat 1 cup milk in a saucepan over medium heat until steaming. Meanwhile, put 3 tablespoons flour in a small bowl and gradually whisk in the remaining 1/3 cup milk until smooth; whisk into the hot milk and stir constantly over the heat until the sauce comes to a simmer and thickens. Continue cooking and stirring for 1 minutes. Remove from the heat. Whisk in cream cheese, then 2/3 cup marinara sauce and vinegar. Season the sauce with salt and pepper; set aside.

4. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot and garlic and saute until soft, about 2 minutes. Add fresh mushrooms, rosemary and the reserved tomatoes and porcini; cook until the fresh mushrooms are just wilted, about 2 minutes longer. Stir the remaining 1 teaspoon flour into the vegetables. Add the reserved soaking liquid and the remaining 1/3 cup marinara sauce and cook until the mixture thickens, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
6. Smear the bottom of the prepared dish with 1/2 cup of the sauce. Line the bottom with a single layer of noodles. Spread half of the mushroom mixture over the noodles and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan. Add another layer of noodles, arrange butternut squash on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread another 1/2 cup sauce over all. Add another layer of noodles, followed by the remaining mushroom mixture; sprinkle with 2 more tablespoons of the Parmesan. Finish with the remaining noodles and sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan.
7. Coat a large piece of foil with cooking spray and tightly cover the baking dish. Bake the lasagna for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until lightly browned and bubbling, 10 to 15 minutes more. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

The guests for the evening were Mitch, Shruti Chaganti, and Clayton Johnson. I remembered to take a picture!

After dinner, we headed out to Blue Nile for a Friendly City Food Coop celebration party. We stayed there for a bit, got some free herbs (basil, to be specific... we'll add that to the collection in the yard), and then headed to Clementine Cafe. We were there until they closed, and then finally we rounded out the night at the Artful Dodger, where I photographed Clayton and Shruti again:

And that, I think, is a good final note for mushroom night. We're now at two 2:30am nights in a row. I'm not as young as I once was....