Chicken breasts with sun-dried tomato and mushroom sauce

Here's a recipe that I modified from a Campbell's Soup magazine add. I worked it up to 25 servings, which is the number of residents that I feed at work. I also added extra mushrooms to the sauce to boost its flavor.

CHICKEN WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATO AND MUSHROOM SAUCE

25 (5-ounce) chicken breasts
1/2 medium onion, diced fine
1 pound mushrooms, sliced thin
1 (50-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
3-3/4 cup water
1-1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3/4 cup basil leaves, chiffonade
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1-1/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a one or more skillets or saute pans over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook for 10 minutes or until it's well browned on both sides. Remove the chicken waiting hotel pan.

Heat about 1/4-cup olive oil in skillet or saute pan over medium heat. Add onion and mushrooms and cook onions are soft and mushrooms begin to brown. Stir soup, water, tomatoes, vinegar and basil into onion and mushroom mixture. Heat sauce to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Pour sauce over chicken in the hotel pan and place in 350-degree oven. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Serve chicken and sauce over the eggs noodles or steamed rice. Garnish with the cheese and sliced basil.

Vegetable lasagna with roasted zucchini and mushrooms

I an not a vegetarian, nor do I see myself becoming one. The closest I come most days is with my morning cereal with milk and sugar. Other than an occasional meatless meal, I eat meat every day at lunch and dinner.

(Of course, I'm talking about being an ovo-lacto vegetarian, not vegan.)

A vegetarian meal is one where I simply leave the meat out of the dish that I'm cooking. I don't make any effort to make a special vegetarian dish. Any item without meat, like a slice of cheese pizza or scrambled eggs with hotcakes, qualifies as a vegetarian meal in my mind.

I just made the best lasagna ever last night. While I still relish an aromatic tomato-based lasagna with three or four layers of quality Italian sausage sandwiched between layers of ricotta and mozzarella, roasted diced zucchini and crimmini slices did a very good job of substituting for the sausage.

I will use this recipe this summer at camp. I'll be able to use vegetables on-hand to vary the layered dish each week or two. I should be able to purchase no-boil lasagna noodles from Sysco.

Pre-cooking the vegetables drives out excess water and adds flavor. The biggest flavor boost comes from the caramelization of the natural sugars in the vegetables.

Pair pre-cooking technique to the moisture content of the vegetable. High-moisture vegetables, like eggplant and zucchini, are best sauteed or roasted. Blanch, chop and saute low-moisture vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower.

Vary the vegetables as desired: Substitute 1-pound diced eggplant for mushrooms. For spinach and mushroom lasagna, saute 1 pound sliced crimmini mushrooms with a small amount of onion. Season and remove from skillet. Add 10-ounces (12 cups) chopped spinach leaves to skillet and saute until wilted. Season and combine with mushrooms.

VEGETABLE LASAGNA WITH ROASTED ZUCCHINI AND MUSHROOMS

You need 16 no-boil lasagna sheets (approximately 3-1/2- x 7-in.) for the recipe. It takes 4 sheets to cover the bottom of a 9- x 13-in. baking pan. Depending on the size of the lasagna sheets and the baking pan, their may be some overlap.

1 pound zucchini, diced small
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
15 ounces ricotta cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3-1/2 cups tomato sauce
8 ounces no-boil lasagna noodles
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

To roast zucchini and mushrooms, toss vegetables with olive oil and garlic. Spread vegetables in a thin layer on 1 or more greased sheet pans. Season with salt and pepper.

Roast vegetables in a 400-degree F. oven for about 35 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden brown. Yields 3 to 3-1/2 cups roasted vegetables.

Combine ricotta cheese, eggs and parsley until eggs are incorporated in cheese mixture. Season with pepper to taste. Set aside.

To assemble the lasagna, spread 1/2-cup tomato sauce over bottom of 9 x 13-in. baking pan. Lay 4 lasagna sheets so they cover the completely tomato sauce. Spread 2/3-cup ricotta over noodles, 1-cup vegetables evenly over ricotta, 2/3-cup tomato sauce evenly over vegetables and 1-cup mozzarella cheese and 3 tablespoon Parmesan over sauce.

Repeat layering noodles, ricotta mixture, vegetables, tomato sauce and cheeses 2 more times. For the fourth and final layer, lay the final 4 lasagna sheets over the previous layer. Top with remaining 1 cup tomato sauce, 1 cup mozzarella cheese and 2 heaping tablespoons Parmesan.

Cover pan with large sheet aluminum foil greased with cooking spray. Bake covered 40 minutes in 375-degree F oven. Remove foil and continue baking 15 minutes until cheese brown in spots. Remove and let rest 10 minutes. Cut into 8 (2 x 4) or 15 (3 x 5) portions as desired.

Grilled portobella mushroom caps

Earlier this month I reported on Tyrone's working job interview. He is currently looking for work as a chef in the California Bay Area.

After spending the last year and a half directing kitchen operations on the African Mercy, Tyrone moved to the San Francisco Peninsula, where his wife was recently employed as a nurse.

Tyrone was chef for the 499-foot hospital ship, where he fed a crew from 30 nations. His wife, Stephanie, worked on the ship as an operating room nurse.

His first interview consisted of an all-day demonstration of his culinary skills. The venue -- kitchen and dining room of a Stanford University residence hall -- gave Tyrone a chance to demonstrate his culinary skill to house managers and residents.

Tyrone walked into the "kitchen like I had always been there, checked in vendors and the laundry man, started prepping and cooking after getting oriented with the kitchen." His main test came as he cooked lunch and dinner for the house residents.

Large grilled portobella mushroom caps complimented roasted chuck bottom round on the dinner menu. The less carnivorous residents enjoyed a meaty vegetarian alternative to the red meat entree.

I asked Tyrone how he prepared the portobella caps. I figured his explanation would help me add one more vegetarian dish to my repertory for camp this summer.

"I was prepared to make my own marinade when I spotted some ginger-balsamic vinaigrette in the pantry," explained Tyrone.

After breaking the steams off and cleaning the steak-sized mushroom caps, he submerged them in clean water. "I don't buy that mushrooms soaking up all that water theory," said Tyrone.

A bath in the marinade for two hours imparted flavor from the ginger-balsamic vinaigrette. He stacked the caps upside-down in a large see-through container. The caps "held (the marinade) like saucers," said Tyrone.

Tyrone then baked the portobellas in the oven before giving them a quick sear on the flat-top griddle. The sugars in the marinade carmalized as mushrooms sizzled on the griddle.

A final drizzle with reserved mushroom juices added a last-minute burst of flavor for the portobellas as they waited for hungry diners in the chafing dish.

Spinach mushroom fettuccine

Although this recipe would satisfy almost any vegetarian, dedicated meat eaters will love it too. Spinach mushroom fettuccine dishes up a satisfying bit of pep. And it’s a refreshing change from a steady diet of beef and chicken.

This quick dinner pasta dish caught my attention for two reasons. First, I need to build my repertoire of vegetarian dishes for camp. By next summer, I plan to add eight to 12 new recipes to my recipe file.

On the home front, spinach mushroom fettuccine comes together quickly. It only takes 20 to 30 minutes from stove to plate.

I doubled the original recipe (page 106, Northern California edition, October 2008 Sunset) to make sure it multiplies easily for the camp kitchen. Although I haven’t tested a larger batch yet, I’m confident you can double or triple the basic recipe. Adjust the size of the skillet or saucepan accordingly.

I made two changes to the Sunset recipe. First, I felt the addition of extra garlic was needed to give the dish a flavor boost. Reduce the garlic to one or two minced cloves if it’s too much garlic.

And I changed the whole wheat pasta to fettuccine, reminiscent of fettuccine Alfredo, which is made with reduced heavy cream and melted butter. Any whole wheat or plain spaghetti or fettuccine will work for this recipe.

Clean and slice the mushrooms as the pasta water comes to a boil. Then mince the garlic and wash the fresh spinach leaves. Turn your attention to the sauce as the pasta cooks. The sauce and pasta should be ready at the same time.

SPINACH MUSHROOM FETTUCCINE

Carefully stir the sauce after you combine the cream cheese and milk. It takes about 10 minutes the soften the cream cheese to the point where it blends with the milk. Stir gently to avoid breaking up the mushrooms.

Save some pasta water and use it to thin the dish as it absorbs the sauce.

1 pound fettuccine pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
4-8 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds sliced mushrooms
12 ounces cream cheese
1 cup milk
4 quarts lightly packed spinach
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh chives
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Boil 1 gallon water in a large stockpot and cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and mushrooms and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add cream cheese and milk and heat until boiling, stirring often. Add spinach and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour sauce over pasta. Sprinkle with chives and serve with Parmesan on the side. Serves 8.