Porcini Chicken With Wild Rice And Wheat Berries Recipes

Steps:

• Place the dried mushrooms in pot with 2 cups of the stock. Simmer to soften the mushrooms and flavor the stock. When rehydrated, remove the mushrooms from the stock and chop. Reserve the stock, except for the very bottom, which may contain grit from the mushrooms.
• Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper, and then dredge in flour. Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat and add the chicken to brown on both sides. Remove to a plate and add a bit more oil if necessary. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter to the pan and melt. When the butter foams, add the garlic, onions, sage, thyme and some salt and pepper, and cook to soften, 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons flour, then deglaze the pan with the wine. Add the chopped mushrooms and whisk in the flavored stock. Cook to thicken a bit and add the chicken back to the sauce.
• Cool and store for a make-ahead meal. Reheat over medium heat.
• To serve, heat the remaining 1 cup stock, the milk and 1 cup water to a low boil. Whisk in the polenta, and then whisk to thicken, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, some salt and pepper and the grated cheese.
• Serve the polenta in shallow bowls topped with the chicken, gravy and a sprinkle of parsley.

Steps:

• In a bowl, pour 2 cups boiling water over porcini mushrooms. Let stand until water is cool enough to touch, about 20 minutes. Squeeze mushrooms gently to release grit, then lift from water. Finely chop mushrooms. Carefully pour soaking liquid into another container, leaving grit behind. Add water to soaking liquid to make 1 1/2 cups. Discard gritty residue. In a 5- to 6-quart pan, combine onions, thyme, nutmeg, and 3/4 cup of the mushroom soaking liquid. Stir often over high heat until onions begin to brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Add remaining soaking liquid, mushrooms, broth, wild rice, and sherry. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until rice is tender to bite and beginning to split, about 1 hour. Drain, reserving liquid for other uses. Season dressing with salt to taste.

Steps:

• Place wheat berries in heavy medium saucepan. Add enough cold water to saucepan to cover wheat berries by 3 inches. Let stand overnight. Drain.
• Bring 4 cups water, wheat berries and 3/4 teaspoon salt to boil in same saucepan. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until wheat berries are tender but still slightly firm to bite, about 1 hour. Drain.
• Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add rice and garlic; stir 1 minute. Stir in remaining 1 3/4 cups water and 3/4 teaspoon salt; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until liquid is almost absorbed and rice is tender, about 15 minutes. Add spinach and cooked wheat berries; stir until spinach wilts and wheat berries are heated through, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.
• *Also called hard wheat berries. Available at most natural foods stores.
• **Available at Indian markets and many supermarkets.

Steps:

• Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Spread bread in 2 large shallow baking pans and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, stirring occasionally and switching position of pans halfway through baking, until dry, 20 to 25 minutes total. Transfer bread to a large bowl.
• Increase oven temperature to 450°F and butter a 13- by 9-inch baking dish (3-quart capacity).
• Pour boiling-hot water over porcini and soak 20 minutes, then drain in a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl, squeezing porcini and reserving soaking liquid. Rinse porcini under cold water to remove any grit, then squeeze out excess water and coarsely chop.
• While porcini soak, heat butter (1 stick) in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then cook white mushrooms, onion, and shallots, stirring occasionally, until golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Add celery, carrots, garlic, and porcini and cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Stir in thyme, sage, parsley, salt, and pepper, then add vegetables to bread, tossing to combine.
• Add 1 cup reserved porcini-soaking liquid to skillet and deglaze by boiling over high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, 1 minute. Add remaining soaking liquid and salt and pepper to taste and pour over bread mixture, tossing to coat evenly.
• Spread stuffing in baking dish and cover tightly with buttered foil (buttered side down), then bake in upper third of oven until heated through, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake stuffing until top is browned, 10 to 15 minutes more.

Steps:

• To a small saucepan of boiling water add the wild rice, remove the pan from the heat, and let the rice soak for 30 minutes. In a small bowl combine the, porcini and the hot water and let the mushrooms soak for 30 minutes. Strain the mixture through a rinsed and squeezed paper towel set over a measuring cup, reserving 3/4 cup of the soaking liquid, wash the porcini under cold water to remove any grit, and chop them. In a large saucepan bring the cold water and the porcini soaking liquid to a boil, stir in the wild rice, drained well, the brown rice, and the salt,and simmer the mixture, covered for about 40 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. While the rice is cooking, in a large skillet cook the onion in the butter over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until it is softened and stir in the porcini. Add the rice to the skillet with the parsley and salt and pepper to taste and combine the mixture well.

Steps:

• In a small bowl soak porcini in boiling-hot water 20 to 30 minutes, or until softened. Slowly strain soaking liquid through a fine sieve lined with a coffee filter or a double thickness of rinsed and squeezed cheesecloth into a small saucepan, being careful to leave last tablespoon containing sediment in bowl. Boil soaking liquid until reduced to about 1/3 cup. Wash porcini under cold water to remove any grit and pat dry. Chop porcini coarse.
• Bring reduced porcini liquid to a boil with cold water, salt, and rice and simmer, covered, 45 to 50 minutes, or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. (If rice is tender before liquid is absorbed drain in a colander.) Transfer rice to a serving bowl and keep warm, covered.
• In a heavy skillet cook fennel, onion, and mushrooms in butter over moderate heat, stirring, until fennel is tender, about 10 minutes. Add fennel mixture to rice and toss to combine. Rice may be made 3 hours ahead and kept covered at room temperature. Reheat rice in skillet, adding water to prevent it from sticking to skillet.