Mushroom Balsamic Gravy

Something I've learned:
Refuse to allow yourself to have low expectations about what you're capable of creating.  As Michelangelo suggested, the greater danger is not that your hopes are too high and you fail to reach them; it's that they're too low and you do.  Have within you an imaginary candle flame that burns brightly regardless of what goes before you.  Let this inner flame represent for you this idea that you're capable of manifesting miracles in your life.  ~ from '10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace', Dr. Wayne Dyer

Something I've cooked: 
Walking in the door tonight, I realized I was too tired to cook a big meal.  It's been a bit of a trying week already.  But, I wasn't in the mood for leftovers so, what to do?  I checked the freezer and was happy to see that I had picked up chicken and mushroom ravioli.  So, I opened a bottle of Malbec and threw together a quick mushroom and balsamic sauce.  Minimal effort, fresh ingredients, perfect with the ravioli!

Mushroom Balsamic Sauce

1 /2 pint fresh sliced mushrooms

2 tbs butter, divided

1 tbs flour

3/4 cup beef broth

1/4 cup half & half

1tbs balsamic

small handful of parsley, chopped

In a medium skillet, at medium-high heat, saute mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of butter 4-5 minutes until tender.  Add remaining butter and flour to pan and whisk together to make a roux, which serves as a thickening agent for sauces.  Add chicken broth, cook 1 minute.  Add cream, cook another 1-2 minutes to thicken..  Add balsamic and reduce heat to simmer another 2-3 minutes.  Garnish with chopped parsley before serving.

This sauce is great over steak, chicken or fish as well!         

Hollandaise

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. ~ Robert Burns

Sometimes life throws you a change-up.  You have to learn to let go and roll with it.  The plan tonight was to come home, change and head to the store to pick up a few things I needed for dinner. That plan, however, fell apart when I walked through the door and it was 100 degrees in the kitchen. The A/C is out and in Florida, in the summer, that's not cool. No pun intended. So, by the time I'd located the name and number for the A/C company, checked the warranty, arranged a service call for tomorrow and emailed them at work telling them the situation - all while the temperature continued to climb - I didn't feel much like cooking, at least not ambitious type cooking.

So, I dug around in the fridge and found eggs, mushrooms, leftover crumbled sausage from the quesadillas earlier in the week, feta and fresh parsley. All the makings of a killer omelet. I added some homemade hollandaise, cracked open a bottle of white, put my feet up and decided that a little bit of heat wouldn't kill me. Of course, I may not feel that way in a few hours but right now, life is good.

I've included the recipe for the hollandaise, because I really like this one.  Do a search and almost all of the recipes you'll come across require a double boiler and, if you're like me, that's just too much work and who needs the extra pots to clean, right?  This one is great because it's quick, easy and requires one saucepan. A couple of things to note, though. Hollandaise is temperamental. If you don't use it right away it will begin to separate and get globby, so timing is pretty important. You can keep it warm for up to 30 minutes using the double boiler method (metal bowl over a pot of hot water) but then you're back to that extra pot thing. Best to try to time it so you're ready when it is.  If you find that it's too thick, whisk in 1 or 2 tbs of hot water before serving.

Hollandaise
1/2 c butter (one stick)
3 large egg yolks
1 tbs plus 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt
dash cayenne pepper or hot pepper sauce
2 tbs hot water
finely chopped fresh parsley, optional

Heat butter in a heavy saucepan until hot and foamy, but not browned. In a small bowl, whisk or beat egg yolks with lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper or hot sauce. You can use a hand whisk but an electric hand mixer works much better. Gradually beat in butter, then water. If you need to, set the bowl on a damp dish towel to steady it. Return mixture to saucepan and beat over very low heat until mixture is slightly thickened. Serve immediately.  If desired, sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley before serving.

Makes about 2/3 cup of hollandaise sauce.