Today I’ve been fixated on marshmallows.

You ever get that way?

Over the weekend I attempted *again* to make homemade marshmallows.

MASSIVE FAIL. sigh

I finally figured out that I’ve been using the wrong gelatin. Ko-Jel (a kosher gelatin available at most supermarkets) must be a plant based gelatin – which means it doesn’t set as well as a beef-based gelatin would. I’ve heard really good things about fish-based gelatins, and am now hunting some down. It’s harder than it looks. Mostly because I don’t want to spend $35 to ship it from MN. C loves to remind me that I’m cheap.

So that has been this week’s obsession.

What did I focus on last week? The David Chang Egg. David Chang, of Momofuku fame, has this technique to make a supposedly perfect poached egg. The kind where you barely touch it with the side of your fork and the yellow gold inside spills out all over your plate. The yellow that tastes of warmth and goodness as it slowly oozes out of the pillow of cooked egg white.

Yeaaaaaah. I can’t make these right either.

This – THIS – is what I fixate on. *sigh*

So between Marshmallows and Poached Eggs I’ve been spending some frustrated time in the kitchen.

For dinner tonight I decided to make Marinated and Grilled Portabello Mushrooms, topped with Broiled Goat Cheese and Fresh Parsley. Served alongside a simple Green Salad topped with two David-Chang-Eggs. Two because I wanted to be fancy.

I cooked the eggs too long. The promise of a silky yellow ribbon spreading across my mixed green salad – the idea I’d held in my head all.day.long. – was dashed by my leaving the plastic wrapped eggs in the water just a minute too long.

pooooooop!

Luckily, the mushrooms were DIVINE. I marinated them in Italian salad dressing (my old stand-by) and a dash of Worcestershire sauce, roasted them gill-sides down at 450º for 5 minutes to help them release their liquids. Then I laid them gill-sides up on a hot grill pan for 5 minutes. I flipped them and cooked them another 2 minutes. I turned the broiler on & sliced some rounds of goat cheese. I laid the mushrooms gill-sides up on that original baking sheet, topped them with the goat cheese and put everything under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese started to brown. I sprinkled a little fresh parsley on top and we ate.

Marinated and Grilled Portabello (is it Portobello?) Mushrooms topped with Broiled Goat Cheese and Fresh Parsley by Me

Printable Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

2 Portabello mushrooms, cleaned **I served 1 per person. Feel free to eat them both yourself!

2 Tablespoons Italian Salad Dressing **I really like Wishbone. Feel free to be all fancy and make your own.

1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

4 Tablespoons Goat Cheese, divided

1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley, chopped **Actually, I hold the parsley over the dish and snip away with my kitchen shears.

How To:

1 – Oven to 450º. Place dressing and worcestershire sauce in a bowl and stir to combine. Place mushrooms in marinade and gently turn to coat. Let sit at least 10 minutes.

2- Lay mushrooms gill-sides down on a baking sheet and roast in oven for 5 minutes.

3- Heat a grill pan on the stove top. Shpritz with Pam/cooking spray. Lay the mushrooms gill-sides up on the hot pan. Drizzle the marinade on top. Leave them sit for 5 minutes. Flip the ‘shrooms and drizzle a little more marinade on their backs.

4- Turn the Broiler on. Grab the baking sheet you used before. Lay the mushrooms gill-sides up on the pan. Top them with 2 slices of goat cheese each and whack the pan under the broiler for a few minutes. Just until the cheese starts browning. Pull out the pan and sprinkle with parsley.

5- Try not to clap as you taste the food!

The David Chang Egg adapted from Macheesmo, who got it from the David Chang Cookbook

Printable Recipe HERE

Basics of this recipe:

You take a bowl.

You lay a piece of plastic wrap/Saran Wrap over it and shpritz it with a little cooking spray.

You crack an egg into the middle of the bowl.

You gather the edges and tie with a length of kitchen twine.

When you’ve cracked and wrapped all your eggs and your big pot of water is boiling away, you gently place your eggs in the water, swirling them a little so they get all cooked but they don’t touch the bottom.

The eggs are supposed to cook 3-4 minutes.

If you’re making these ahead of time you can shock the eggs in ice water to stop their cooking and then reheat in hot water for about 15 seconds just before serving.

When you’re ready to serve them, you simply snip the tie and the plastic and they sorta tumble out.

**As Jumbo eggs were on sale, that’s what we have. Since they were jumbo eggs I figured 4 minutes would be optimal. Nope. Overcooked. Yellows had just started setting and didn’t fulfill my hopes. *grumble grumble*

Now I’ve gotta work on my timing.