Coronado Concerts in the Park: Mushrooms, Flowers and Weeds

Kai and Hillari hosted our second themed Concert in the Park, pairing mushrooms, flowers and weeds with the music of Wild Child, a Los Angeles based act that successfully mirrors the depth, energy and emotion of The Doors concerts as they were live back in the late 1960's.

All of our dishes featured mushrooms, with the exception of Carmen's raw chocolate mint truffles, which resulted in a fairly healthy evening (if you don't count all the empty bottles of wine). 

Thomas Keller has hooked me again with another one of his amazing salads - this time with blanched broccolini, thinly sliced onions and mushrooms, and oil-cured Italian olives, drizzled with sherry vinaigrette, and served with side of rich and creamy burrata cheese. Keller's big-pot blanching method is the key to bright green, tender-crisp vegetables (see video below). 

Broccolini Salad

John continued with his self-inflicted deviled egg challenge and came up with this artsy creation, rolled in porcini and chanterelle powder, stuffed with a smooth mixture of egg yolks, sauteed miatake mushrooms, herbs, soy sauce, and mascarpone cheese, drizzled with balsamic vinegar, garnished with beech mushrooms and Parmesan cheese, and perched on a bed of crispy shallots.

John's Mushroom Deviled Eggs

Alec's Mushroom Strudel

Carmen's Wraps

Brad's Mushroom Soup

Carmen's Chocolate Mint Truffles

Max & Kai

Kellee and the Flower Children, Olivia and Sonoma

Olivia and Hillari

Sonoma & Alec

Wild Child's lead singer, Dave Brock

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Broccolini Salad with Burrata Cheese
From Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home
Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 pounds broccolini
3 large cremini mushrooms, about 2 inches in diameter
1 red onion (I used a red spring onion)
1 cup black Cerignola olives (available at Whole Foods' olive bar)
1/2 cup Sherry Vinaigrette (recipe below)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
One 8-ounce burrata cheese
Extra virgin olive oil
Fleur de sel

Preparation:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (1 cup of Kosher salt to each gallon of water). Prepare an ice bath. Set a cooling rack over a baking sheet and line the rack with paper towels. With a paring knife, cut off the thick ends of the broccolini stalks and peel the remaining stalks. Blanch the broccolini in batches in the boiling water until crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to the ice bath to stop the cooking, and drain on the paper towels.

Cut off the stems of the mushrooms flush with the caps and discard. Cut the caps into paper-thin slices using a Japanese mandoline or other vegetable slicer or by hand, and transfer to a small bowl.

Cut the onion in half through the equator. Slice one half of the onion into paper-thin rings on the mandoline. Select about 20 of the nicest rings, and reserve the remaining onion for another use.

Cut the flesh of the olives away from the pit. Lay the pieces cut-side-down and cut lengthwise into thin slices.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Line up the broccolini stalks side by side on the parchment paper (this will allow you to dress and season the broccolini evenly), drizzle with about 1/4 cup vinaigrette, and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss the mushroom slices with about 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper (do not overdress the mushrooms).

Cut away the top nub of the burrata and put it in a shallow serving bowl that just holds it. Holding a pair of scissors vertically, snip an X into the top of the burrata, reaching the soft center. Open the top slightly and drizzle olive oil over and around the cheese. Sprinkle with fleur de sel and pepper, and place on a serving platter. Arrange the broccolini, mushrooms, olives, and onions on the platter.

Sherry Vinaigrette: Whisk together 1/4 cup sherry wine vinegar and 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, and then whisk in 1 cup extra virgin olive oil. The vinaigrette should look broken - do not emulsify. Refrigerate in a covered container for up to one month.




Recipes featuring mushrooms

• Saveur
• Bon Appetit 
• Gourmet
• Fine Cooking
• Leite's Culinaria