Mushroom and carmelized shallot strudel

I hosted dinner for my best friend, her hubby, and my BF before we all went home for the holidays. I found this recipe on CL and thought it would make for an elegant vegetarian entree. Since the recipe called for 8 servings I halved the ingredients for this recipes. The servings are not that big so if you are not serving other sides, then I would suggest 8 servings for four people.

Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups sliced shallots (about 8 ounces)
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon water
4 (8-ounce) packages presliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons dry Marsala or Madeira
2/3 cup low-fat sour cream**
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed
Cooking spray
1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs, divided
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°.


Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and sugar; cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Sprinkle with water; cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until shallots are soft.

Add mushrooms; cook, uncovered, over medium-high heat 20 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring frequently. Add Marsala; cook 1 minute. Remove from heat, and cool. Stir in sour cream, parsley, salt, thyme, and pepper.
(I actually am not a big fan of sour cream so instead of sour cream I added two slices of the laughing cow light swiss cheese wedges, it gave it a creamier consistency and added a bit more flavor than I thought the sour cream would have given it)


Place 1 phyllo sheet on a large cutting board or work surface (cover remaining dough to keep from drying), and lightly coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle with about 2 teaspoons breadcrumbs. Repeat the layers with 3 phyllo sheets, cooking spray, and breadcrumbs, ending with the phyllo. Spoon 1 3/4 cups mushroom mixture along 1 long edge of phyllo, leaving a 1-inch border. Starting at the long edge with the 1-inch border, roll up jelly roll fashion. Place strudel, seam side down, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Tuck ends under. Repeat the procedure with the remaining phyllo sheets, cooking spray, breadcrumbs, and mushroom mixture. Brush strudels with butter. Bake strudels at 400° for 20 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Cut each strudel into 4 slices.

In the reviews, some stated that they had trouble with wrapping the mushroom mixture in phyllo. Phyllo is pretty forgiving if you are encasing food in many layers of phyllo, if it rips while you are wrapping the phyllo, just add another layer on top and no one will notice. You just have to make sure to move quickly as phyllo dries quickly which causes it to rip faster. Also, I would check the strudel about after 10 minutes, it might not need as much as 20 minutes in the oven

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Flatbread Dough

I have really stayed away from trying to make fresh bread for a while now. Last time I tried, I put a lot of heart and time into this honey wheat bread and it never rose....so after that I was a bit disheartened and strayed away from any baked products that required yeast. Last week, I thought it was time that I stepped it up and tried to make amends with my long lost friend...yeast.
Seeing that this was my re-entry into the dough world.. I thought I would attempt something less intimidating...flatbread dough. I mean after all if it doesn't rise, it is supposed to be flat right? It was a success and I found a go to flatbread recipe! So thought I would share the wealth!

Flatbread Dough
2 and 1/4 cups flour (divided)*
1 package yeast**
6 TBSP warm water (100-110 degrees)
1/2 cup warm water (100-110 degrees)
1/2 tsp salt
dash of sugar

*I won't lie I didn't bother dividing the flour right away
**I used regular activating yeast

Dissolve sugar and yeast in 6 TBSP warm water in a large bowl, stir in 1/4 cup flour and let stand 30 mins or until bubbly.

Then add 1 and 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup warm water and salt to the yeast mixture, stir until soft dough forms.Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic. (about 8 minutes) Add enough remaining flour to prevent dough from sticking to hands) Place dough in large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top.Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees) and free from drafts.Let rise one hour or until doubled in size.
A couple of important things I realized this time around. I used a thermometer to check the temp of the water - this is very important! I realized that in the past my idea of warm was actually hot and it killed the yeast! This time around having the thermoter really helped!
Also it was really cold in my apartment that day so it was hard to find a warm spot to let the dough rise. My best friend Risa suggested setting my oven to the lowest temp and then placing my bowl of dough on top of the oven. Risa is a genius! Thanks my BFF! (not to be confused with my BF - BFF is best friends forever, and BF is boyfriend..yes I am still in grade school) If you do decide to go the oven route, make sure you don't use a metal/steel bowl because that conducts heats quickly and there is a chance it could start baking the dough)

Chicken Satay

We had a dinner party last week and I thought that chicken satay would be a party friendly finger food to have. Who doesn't like chicken satay with peanut butter sauce!

Here is what you need.

Skewers
4 TBSP peanut butter (I used creamy)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup lemon or lime juice (I used lemon)
1 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP curry powder
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
6 skinless boneless chicken breast cut into long strips

For best results, marinate the chicken in the chicken satay sauce overnight.

Before cooking you will need to soak the skewers in water for at least 20 minutes. (That way if you are grilling them, the sticks do not burn)

I grilled half of the chicken skewers on my george foreman and it turned out great. We also put half in the oven since we had so many and needed them to cook quickly but if you have time, I highly recommend the grill.

I also found a peanut sauce that went well with the chicken satays!

PEANUT SAUCE
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 TBSP hoisin sauce
1 TBSP fish sauce or soy sauce
1/4 cup water

I added a bit more peanut butter and water to this recipe but I would recommend tasting the original one first and then adding whatever you think it might need more of!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I love pumpkin pie and I like cheesecake so I thought it would be interesting to make a pumpkin pie cheesecake, which has more emphasis on the pumpkin than cheesecake.

As per usual, I looked to my fav source, Cooking Light for a pumpkin cheesecake recipe. I mean cheesecake is without a doubt going to be somewhat fattening so I wanted to mediate as much damage as possible!

Here is the recipe below.

Ingredients
Cooking spray
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 4 cookie sheets)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese
1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1/2 cup frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed
Cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 325°.

I was a little wary about just putting the graham cracker crumbs without anything to hold them together, so I found another crust recipe. I used 8 graham crackers and I mixed them with one egg white and a 1/2 tablespoon with sugar and baked this for 8 minutes.



Then Combine sugars and cream cheeses in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add pumpkin and next 9 ingredients (through eggs), and beat well.


Pour cheese mixture into prepared pan. Bake at 325° for 35 minutes or until center is just set. Turn oven off, and partially open oven door. Cool cheesecake in oven 1 hour.

Remove cheesecake from oven, and cover. Chill at least 8 hours or overnight. Serve with whipped topping, and sprinkle topping with cinnamon, if desired.



I did some variations of my own. I omitted the sour cream since I didn't have any on hand and I never really eat sour cream. I added the whole can of pumpkin since I love pumpkin but the cheesecake did taste more pumpkiny than cheesecakey..which was fine with me. If you like more of a cheesecake flavor, I would follow the instructions for only adding one cup then. I did not have any ground ginger so I added a teaspoon of pumpkin spice and did not add additional nutmeg or cloves. I also did not serve it with a whipped topping since I thought it might be rich enough.