Wild Mushroom Ragu with Mashed Potatoes, Bacon and Carmelized Onions

I am so excited about this recipe!!! It was the first time I attempted this and it came out DELICIOUS! Darren gave it an 8 on a scale of 1-10 (Yay!!) and the recipe doesn't call for any meat. Yup, you heard me right- NO MEAT. Recipes like this don't always go over that well with "D" but he's on a health kick so I was able to convince him to try it (I also had to promise him that I would make steak tomorrow.)

I tried the Skinny Bitch thing for a total of 2 weeks, during those 2 weeks I realized that one can not sustain on salad alone, seriously everything we put in to our body has some kind of animal by product. So even though being a Vegetarian isn't for me I'm always looking for recipes that are tasty and don't include meat. This recipe calls for bacon (which you can omit) and chicken stock which can swap out for vegetable broth.

Ingredients For the Wild Mushroom Ragu:

1 1/2 - 2 lbs Mushroom, cleaned and chopped (I used Oyster, Shitake, Portobella, Chanterelles, and Button)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 peeled and chopped shallots
1 garlic clove chopped
1 Tbsp fresh thyme, rosemary, parsley
salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup good quality red wine
1 Tbsp Tomato Paste

Mashed Potatoes with Bacon and Carmelized Onions

3 Russet potatoes
1/2 Vidalia Onion
3 slices of bacon
1/4 cup of Chicken stock
1 cup Half & Half
1 Tbsp Mayonnaise
4 Tbsp Butter


Bring pot of salted water to a boil, add 3 peeled russet potatoes, cut in half to cook faster. Cook for 20 minutes or until tender enough to pierce with a knife. While potatoes are boiling cook onion slices in olive oil, when onion starts to brown add chicken stock and reduce. When cooked completely set aside. Clean pan and cook bacon as usual. Drain on paper towels, cut into bacon bits.

Remove potatoes from pot add half & half, butter, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Mix all ingredients. Taste, add more and salt and pepper if needed. Add bacon and carmelized onions.

While potatoes are cooking:
In a large sauté pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil and add the shallots and garlic, cook 3 minutes and add the chopped mushrooms, fresh herbs, salt and pepper, sauté about 7 minutes, turning occasionally.

When all the water has been cooked out of the mushrooms add the red wine and reduce, then add the chicken stock, butter, tomato paste and cook another 5-6 minutes.

After writing all these ingredients out I realized that it might seem a little overwhelming but it really was simple. The bacon was precooked from the morning, the potatoes were boiling and the onion was simmering on the back burner. Most of my attention went to the mushrooms. I turned off the the pan with the mushroom while I prepared the mashed potatoes, everything fell together at the same time. I think the whole meal took 30 minutes to get on the table. Try it you won't be dissapointed.