Mushroom Ragu

I had a great lesson today and Brett video taped most of it.  Once I've had a chance to play with the video I'll post about that but, in the meantime, here's dinner from last night...

I always start by assembling all the ingredients and then doing any prep work.  That way, I don't leave anything out or have to go running for something I forgot half way through the process.  

I started by prepping the mushrooms.  The two large portobellas had the stems and gills removed (easy to do with a spoon).  Then I chopped them into 1/2 inch pieces.

The dried mushrooms were soaked in hot chicken stock for ten minutes.  The I fished out the mushrooms with a fork and chopped them up fine.  I poured the liquid through a sieve lined with a coffee filter to remove the residue.

I put my favorite pan on the stove and began by browning pancetta until it was crisp and the fat was rendered.

Then I added all the goodies: mushrooms, tomato paste, rosemary, garlic and olive oil.  

I let is cook until the mushrooms were brown.

Last, I added in the reserved mushroom soaking broth and some tomatoes.  I let it simmer about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile I pulled the foccaccia  (sprinkled with sel gris and rosemary) from the oven and put it on a rack to cool.  We pretty much ate the whole loaf -- bad, bad, bad.

...and tossed our salad.  Greens and beets from the garden.  

When the ragu was done I tossed it with whole wheat spaghetti and poured us each a glass of red Tuscan wine.

Bon appetit !