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Last year, I struggled with Thanksgiving, in part because I just didn't feel like I had a good sense of how to approach the holiday from a vegetarian perspective. It's one of those holidays that can become rather awkward because all of the side dishes to accompany the turkey tend to be pure carbohydrates. While some people don't seem to mind ([livejournal.com profile] scrottie), I do. I want a centerpiece that I can enjoy that involves the same sort of drama and suspense as a roasted turkey. Tofurky just won't cut it.

So, to the Cafe Flora Cookbook I've gone. The crew team had a Thanksgiving party yesterday evening, so it seemed the perfect opportunity to try out an option, Portobello Wellingtons with Madeira Sauce. I've never had Beef Wellington before, but it also sounds like a lovely little centerpiece for the meat-eating sect: a side of beef wrapped in pastry and roasted, served up with some gravy.

Whatever. Anyway, I've written about the Cafe Flora cookbook a few times. It tends to specialize in amazing vegetarian dishes that are mostly amazing because they're carefully constructed and take a considerable amount of time and effort to prepare. Among the dishes, this one is by far the most complex one I've attempted to date. Good for special occasions, not good for a last-minute supper idea. I started on Friday night by preparing the Mushroom Pecan Pate, roasted portobellos, and pan-braised leeks, which took around 1.5 hours, altogether. I already had some mushroom essence in the freezer, but if I hadn't had any, I would have made it then, as it takes a good hour or longer to simmer down. I continued on Saturday afternoon with the Madeira sauce and Wellington assembly and baking, which took another 2 hours altogether.

The result was tasty and satisfying - the mushrooms, mozzarella, and pecans make the pate proteinaceous, while the sauce and leeks add rich flavor. And it is indeed great with mashed potatoes, as promised by the Cafe Flora cookbook. I'm glad I brought it, too. There weren't many vegetarian items at the Crew Thanksgiving, aside from the pies (though those were tasty, too).


Mushroom Essence
-makes 2 cups. Make a double-batch if you're using this for the Madeira sauce.

1/2 pound whole crimini or domestic mushrooms, including stems
6 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
2 Tbsp tamari

Combine mushrooms, garlic, and 6 C water in a 3-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and cook at a low boil for about 1 hour, or until the liquid has been reduced to ~2 cups. Strain the liquid, and add the tamari.


Roasted Portobellos and Pan-Braised Leek
(You can make either of these by itself; I'm combining them to simplify things for myself.)

3 portobello mushrooms
1/4 C olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (perhaps while you're baking some mushroom pecan pate). Brush the caps on both sides with the olive oil, and sprinkle each side with the salt and pepper. Put the caps in a baking dish and roast until they are completely tender (20-25 mins). When they're cool enough to handle, slice them into thin, 1/8-inch-thick slices at an angle.

1 medium leek, white and pale green part only, sliced in half, rinsed thoroughly, and then sliced thinly.
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 C white wine

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the leek and a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook until it's soft, about 10 minutes. Add the wine and then cook some more until most of the liquid evaporates. Remove from the heat to cool. Now you've got most of a bottle of white wine left over, and no need to save it for cooking. What ever shall you do?


Mushroom Pecan Pate

Think of this as a vegetarian alternative to meatloaf. It's hearty and quite satisfying by itself with some mashed potatoes and green beans. I've also tried adding ~1 C of butternut squash puree, with glorious success, although you'd need to extend the cooking time if you decide to follow suit.

1/2 pound button mushrooms (or crimini)
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C dry sherry
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves (or ~1 tsp dried thyme)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1.5 C pecans, toasted and chopped into fine bits
4 eggs, beaten
2 C mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (somehow, the Cafe Flora cookbook has omitted this step, so this is what I've inferred). Grease an 8.5 x 4.5 - inch loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.

Chop the mushrooms by breaking them into chunks and putting the chunks into a food processor. Process by pulsing until finely chopped. Note that it's better to do 2 batches than wind up with mushroom mush.

In a heavy-bottomed, deep saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent (~10 minutes). Add the garlic and mushrooms, and cook for 8-10 minutes longer, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking.

Add the sherry, stirring to remove bits from the bottom of the pan, and if you're using dried thyme, add it, too. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated; the mixture should be moist and thick. Mix in the salt and pepper and thyme (if fresh), and set aside to cool completely.

Once the mushroom mix is cool, fold in the remaining ingredients until thoroughly combined. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a sharp knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about an hour - first 30 minutes on the countertop, the rest in the fridge. Don't attempt to unmold it until it's cold or it may fall apart…


Madeira Sauce
Start the Madeira Sauce, and then assemble the Wellingtons during the second reduction step. Or do the dishes. Or both. You'll have some time, and that should work out well for having the Wellingtons finish up just when the sauce does.

Note that this calls for 4 C of Mushroom Essence, and also note that it involves a double reduction and fairly extensive cooking time. It's pretty heavenly, though, so if you have some free time in the afternoon, you should make some.

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, chopped
salt
1/2 pound button mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2.5 cups red wine (note: this is most of a full bottle)
8-10 fresh thyme leaves (I added ~1 tsp dried Thyme)
10-12 parsley sprigs with stems (I didn't have this, so I didn't add it)
1 bay leaf
6 whole peppercornses
4 C Mushroom Essence
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 C Madeira wine*
Freshly ground pepper

Heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add the onion and saute until soft and translucent (~10 minutes). Then add the garlic and a pinch of salt and saute until the onion starts to turn brown and soft (another ~5 mins). Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the mushrooms are browned (5 mins more).

Now add the tomato paste, continuing to stir and scrape, and then add the red wine, thyme, parsley, bay leaf, and peppercornses. Now it's time for the first reduction. Cook at a low boil until the sauce has been reduced by one quarter (3 C; will take ~15 mins). Then add the mushroom essence and cook at a low boil again until reduced by one-quarter yet again (~5.5 cups, another 15 mins). Reduction 2.

While that's happening, make a roux: In a small skillet, melt the butter over medium heat, add the flour, and stir until the mixture is light brown and mildly toasty.

Now, add the Madeira to the twice-reduced main broth, lower the heat, and simmer another 10 minutes. Then remove from heat and pour the sauce through a metal mesh strainer, pressing the solids to extract as much of the delicious juices as possible. Discard the solids, perhaps by feeding them to a worm bin.

Return the broth to a pan, add the roux, and bring the strained sauce to a boil until all lumps disappear and the sauce begins to thicken. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm over low heat.

*I couldn't find any Madeira wine, after searching high and low at the local grocery store. So I wound up using some tempranillo that had been sitting around for a while, plus some cabernet sauvignon. From what I've read about Madeira wine, it is often somewhat spiced, so it probably contributes some nice flavor. It originates from Portugal and can vary considerably in its characteristics.



And now, at long last, assemble the Portobello Wellingtons

~2 pounds puff pastry (=2 boxes of Pepperidge farm brand, or look for Dufour brand)
1/2-inch slices of mushroom pecan pate
roasted portobello slices
pan-braised leek

Thaw the puff pastry in the refrigerator overnight, or remove from the freezer about 20 minutes before it's go time. The pastry works best when thawed but still cold. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and lightly flour a work surface.

Cafe Flora has you slice each pastry square in half so you have 2 rectangles of dough, each 5 inches by 10 inches. I wanted to make a larger centerpiece, so I retained whole pastry pieces. You may have to do some fiddling to get things to turn out elegantly if you follow my method.

Regardless - lay down some pate, then top with some slices of portobello, nicely fanned out, and then some leek. Be sure to leave room at the edges to crimp the dough closed.

Bake on an ungreased baking sheet (though the pastry stuck when I did this) until golden brown, 25-30 minutes.

When you're ready to eat, pool some Madeira sauce on a plate, slice up some Wellington, lay it on top, and heap some mashed potatoes by the side. Also some vegetables if you please. YUM!

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