October 8, 2009

Harvesting Our First Soybean Crop

soybean, edamame

shrimp

mushroom cap

Plus, a recipe for shrimp-stuffed portobella caps

This fall I harvested our first soybean crop; I can't imagine WHY it's taken me so long to grow them! Although I could have cooked them in the pods in salted water to just eat out-of-hand, I shelled them instead.

Then I simmered the beans - aka edamame - for about 20 minutes, dried them very lightly coated with some olive oil and roasted them at 350 for about 30 minutes. Sprinkled with sea salt and then tried to keep from eating them all at once! I will definitely grow much more next year as, like most bean, they grew easily and produced well.

Now, on to the the shrimp recipe. WARNING: If recipes that don't give exact ingredient amounts drive you nuts, turn back now!

Shrimp-stuffed Portobella Mushroom Caps

4 large portobella caps
1 can cream of shrimp soup
a whole lot of shrimp - I probably used 1/2 to 3/4 of a bag of frozen ones
bread
celery
onion
Old Bay seasoning

Most cookbooks tell you not to wash mushrooms before using, just to tap to rid of any dirt. I usually wash them anyway, then remove the stems carefully, leaving all the gills. Grease a small baking pan and set caps upside down.

Thaw shrimp, remove shells if need be. Now, take some onion, maybe a half a big one, and some celery, maybe two ribs, add to the shrimp and chop. Set aside.

Cut up some leftover bread into small cubes, add to the shrimp, onion and celery and add all but a couple of TBSP of the soup, 1/2 c water, and a liberal sprinkle of Old Bay. Mush this all together to mix well. Top the mushroom caps generously, then mix the remaining soup with a smidge of water, maybe a splash of sherry and pour over the stuffed mushrooms.

I baked at 350 for almost 30 minutes so the mushrooms were nice and meaty and the stuffing had a nice crisp crust. Even filling the caps fully, I had a little stuffing leftover, and it was beyond delicious the next day made into a patty and pan-seared. YUM!

We've been pressing cider... we'll talk about that next time, plus our sweet potato harvest.


Mary