Mushroom ragu and a new cookbook!

Wow- I discovered an amazing new series of cookbooks, Canal House Cooking. You can purchase these seasonal publications individually or subscribe to and receive each volume when it comes out. Volume 5 was just released but I bought volume 2--for now (volume 1 is already out of print. Used copies can be bought on amazon-but for a pretty penny. Whereas the books go for 20$ new, these out of print copies are selling for over 100$ !)

But I can understand why people are willing to pay so much to own a complete series, because the cookbooks are just lovely. The photography is amazing, the colors of the books are gorgeous and the publications have a homemade and scrap-booky feel that is just so comforting in our otherwise clean, glossy, and technological world. I find myself wanting to curl up with this cookbook and just flip through the pages, savoring the images and the colors.

Oh yeah, and on top of all that gushing, the recipes are simple and relatively practical, seasonal, and as I found out tonight, they turn out quite delicious.



I cooked up their recipe for Mushroom ragu on polenta. Here is what they say about this dish:

"We love all sorts of mushroom varieties and this stew lends itself to using a mixture of different shapes, textures, and flavors. If you don't have time to make polenta, serve the ragu over thick slices of crusty toast that have been lightly rubbed with a peeled clove of garlic. Set a poached egg on top of each and grate some parmigiano-reggiano or pecorino over the eggs"


Well it was the middle of the week and I didn't have time to make the polenta and so I went the toasted bread route. I hope to try the polenta version soon, but for now, the toasty-bread/eggy/ragu combo was delicious.

Here's the recipe (with a few adaptations):

For the polenta:
1 cup polenta
Salt
2 tablespoons butter

For the Ragu:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
1 coarsely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 pounds shitake (or other) mushrooms)
Thyme
2 tablespoons sherry (I used wine and it was fine)
4 whole peeled plum tomatoes from a can
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 bunch parsley leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper

For the polenta, put 5 cups of cold water into a dutch oven. Stir in the polenta and salt to taste. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook the polenta. Stir occassionally until it's tender (probably will be 45-60 minutes). Stir in more water as needed if it gets too thick before it's finished cooking. Stir in the butter and season with salt. The polenta can sit like this while you make the ragu.

For the ragu, heat the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter together in a large skillet over medium heat until the butter foams. Add the onions and garlic and cook these until they become soft and translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occassionally, until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the thyme and sherry. Add the tomatoes, crushing them with your hand as you drop them into the mushrooms. Then add in the stock, the parsley, and the other 2 tablespoons of butter. Simmer the ragu over medium-low heat until becomes stewy and thick, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Spoon the mushroom ragu over the warm polenta, or the bread if you are using that.