If you buy Bill’s SyndeyFood Cookbook, you’ll notice that while the recipes shots and recipes look amazing, the names of the dishes are just descriptions of the ingredients. Let me clarify - there are no “Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies”, or “My Best Friend Fred’s Awesome Corn Fritters”, it’s a bit boring actually, but I can’t deny the great flavor combos. This was another super easy dish, and I’m really loving roasting all this stuff. The taleggio cheese was something new for us, and it’s a great sandwich/melting cheese - it’s not at Trader Joe’s but in the fancy intimidating cheese case at WF, but worth it. So here’s the recipe, with no fun name, for the roast mushrooms and taleggio:

Serves 4

8 large portobello mushrooms

1 tablespoon roughly chopped thyme (I used Rosemary b/c that’s what I had)

4 tablespoons olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

1 large garlic clove, cut into 8 slivers

6 1/2 oz baby spinach, washed (I used arugula which was really nice)

5 oz taleggio cheese, sliced

to serve

4 thick slices of toast

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Place the mushrooms in a roasting pan. Mix thyme, olive oil and lemon juice together and pour over the mushrooms. Place a slice of garlic on each mushroom and bake the mushrooms for 10 minutes in the oven.

2. Meanwhile, place the spinach (undried, with water clinging to the leaves) in a frying panover medium heat and turn with a spatula until wilted.

3. Remove the mushrooms from the oven. Top each mushroom with a little spinach and some sliced taleggio. Return to the oven for 5-6 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Place 2 mushroms on each slice of toast. Drizzle with pan juices and balsamic vinegar.

Sydney Opera House from the ferry

I was supposed to make the pesto pizza yesterday, and have it posted this morning, but I ended up going out to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I have the dough sitting in the fridge, and I’ll make it today, and post it tomorrow, I promise. Meanwhile I’ve been thinking about what to eat next week, as well as what I’d like to learn to cook better. As I said earlier in the week, I’ve been craving breakfast and eggs (maybe after seeing Michael Phelps eat a 5,000 calorie breakfast), so I thought I’d do a week of breakfast for dinner, and work on my egg skills. As I was flipping through cookbooks, I realized there are not a lot of breakfast recipes (if any) to be found in books by Giada, and Jamie Oliver. Everyone is very focused on dinner recipes and sandwiches. I have one breakfast specific book to work from, as well as one from the famous Bill’s of Sydney I visited, which has the best breakfast in town. So this week also requires some creativity. Brunches and egg breakfasts aren’t always the most healthful - think hollandaise, creamy eggs, and lots of melty cheese. So I want to also try to add lots of veggies and seasonal fruit to these sometimes decadent meals. Don’t worry though, there will still be an eggs benedict night, mmmmm….. I also think this could be a way to get the budget down even more, and support the local farmer’s market more than the past couple weeks. Here’s the line up:

Monday - Sweetcorn Fritters with Roast Tomato and Bacon - Bill’s Sydney

Tuesday - Huevos Rancheros - Jess B Recipe (native New Mexican transplanted to Brooklyn)

Wednesday - Eggs Benedict with Prosciutto

Thursday - Kedgeree with Tea-Smoked Salmon (a classic Anglo-Indian breakfast dish)

Friday - Roast Mushrooms with Thyme and Taleggio - Bill’s Sydney