Entertaining Life Daily

Another Meatless Monday recipe, I was looking for something different. I saw we had a puff pastry in the freezer and started thinking, "what can I make, other than baked brie, with the puff?" We always have cheddar in the fridge (we are from Wisconsin after all) so I was thinking some sort of tart. All I needed was some onion and mushroom to make the dish complete.

I began by chopping up shallots and mushrooms. I had some oyster mushrooms and baby bellas, but you can use whatever you find on hand or at the store. I sauteed up the shallots in some olive oil and added garlic. Once those were softened, I dropped in the mushrooms until they were all softened. Some seasoning was added (I believe I added garlic wine seasoning and black pepper) and I set that aside.

I had the puff pastry defrosting while I was prepping everything else, so it was ready to go when I finished up with the mushrooms. I had rolled it out just a tiny bit and cut it into four pieces before placing it on a cookie sheet. A note here - I didn't have parchment paper, but if I did, I would have put that down on the pan. Instead, I very lightly sprayed the sheet and it ended up more greasy than I would have liked. I'm sure parchment isn't needed (or the spray), but if you have, lay it down!

To prevent the puff pastry from, well, puffing up, I pierced it with a fork. I topped it with extra sharp cheddar cheese, the mushroom mix and then a bit more cheddar.

These baked in a preheated, 350 degree oven until they were crispy and golden. Chives add a crisp freshness to the savory tart, and I served them with a mixed green salad dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil to lighten it a bit more. Hubby was starving, but after his salad and one tart, he was surprised with how full he really was. I even got the much anticipated "I didn't even miss the meat!" which I'm sure is due to the variety of mushrooms. And normally, he insists on overloading his food with cheese, but each had at most one ounce and it was more than enough. The leftovers the next day heated up great too - all around, a great meal!

What do you like to cook with puff pastry?

While in Wisconsin, hubby and I always stop at Maplewood Meats and Festival Foods. We stock up our cooler (yup, as Michelle pointed out, we do travel with a cooler!) full of meat from the butcher and around the holidays, seafood from Festival.

Yes - seafood in Wisconsin.

Festival always has amazing products for a great price. We stocked up on Alaskan King Crab legs (two pounds worth and we enjoyed every morsel), prawns and lobster. Honestly, all reasonably priced and fantastic in taste. We had already enjoyed the crab legs, so next up was one of the lobster tails. We bought two of them, each over a pound, and decided to split them into two meals.

As many of you know, I love cheese. I've always said that it is not because I am from Wisconsin - I just love the dairy - but honestly, who knows. All I know is that I love the cheese. So when we were debating on how to eat our lovely seafood purchase, I knew I had to have lobster mac & cheese.

While a variety of noodles cooked (I used what was in our pantry rather than making my own, so we had some rotini and macaroni,) hubby got to preparing the broth to cook the lobster. He added a variety of spices to some water, and then when the time was right, he added the lobster to cook that delicious meat. Now of course, buying the seafood in Wisco, the delicious lobster tail was frozen. And this lobster was also very large, over a pound, so it took about 8-10 minutes to cook .

As Tim prepped the lobster mania, I took control over - you guessed it - the cheese. I began to make a version of the mother of French sauces, Bechamel. Bechamel is a basic sauce of milk, flour and butter plus a few extra flavorings (depending on what you are making.) I began with heating my milk in a small saucepan (don't boil - you don't want it to burn!) as I shredded the cheese.

I used some gouda, sharp cheddar, an Italian mix (Asiago, Parmesan and Mozzarella) and a few tablespoons of goat cheese. I then melted some butter and whisked in flour to get a thickened rue as I cooked it over low heat. I whisked in the warm milk and added nutmeg and pepper until I got a pretty thick sauce. Then, I slowly melted in the cheese - and just like that - a cheese sauce.

After I added the pasta and Tim chopped up the lobster, we were ready to dive into this cheesy mess that we had created. I would have liked to take it a step further and bake it with panko to give it an extra crunch too, but hubby isn't a fan of the baked mac.

It was creamy - I would say maybe even a little too cheesy (I know, I said it, too cheesy) but maybe the baking would have helped it? It wasn't the fantastic lobster mac and cheese from Capital Grille, but it was a great home version for us. And the leftovers the following day hit the spot for me - despite it not being the "healthiest" dish, I still gobbled it up.

What dish have you eaten at a restaurant that you wish you could make at home?

Entertaining Life Daily

Entertaining all aspects of life, one day at a time.

Mushroom & Cheddar Tart

Lobster Mac & Cheese