Cooking with friends on a weeknight: Asparagus, mushroom, rice gratin

I hope "cooking with friends on a weeknight" will become a feature of the blog. Cooking with someone else and blogging about it proves it is possible to be an intern and maintain a social life outside of drinking wine and watching TV on my tablet. That said, for someone who counsels patients on establishing and maintaining healthy habits, I know I do not sleep enough and maintain myself on liquid caffeine, daily yoga, and lots of chocolate for extra energy. Basically I'm asking for a daily sugar crash and helping my family history of type 2 diabetes express itself.  For now I think the benefits of spending time with friends outweighs the benefits of 8 hours a sleep a night and ingesting too much processed sugar.  Let's see how I feel in another month...

I am currently on my Emergency Medicine rotation which means I work many night shifts and have some free daytime hours. Though the strange sleeping schedule  will eventually catch up to me, I love having the daytime hours off. I happened to have a full day off on Wednesday.  The weather is perfect in DC with low humidity, high of low 80s, and daylight that lasts until 7ish. With my day off, I offered to bring ingredients for a "surprise dinner" to my friend E's house. My plan was to walk around Trader Joe's and see what ingredients jumped out at me. I am proficient enough in my own kitchen to buy random ingredients, usually whatever is in season, and at home I'll look up recipes or just make my usual meal of roasted vegetables with tofu or eggs.

Today I actually had to walk out of the store with ingredients to make a satisfying meal for other people. When I need inspiration, I usually look at the front page of my current favorite blogs. Before walking into TJ's I checked out Cookie and Kate, Serious Eats, and Smitten Kitchen. Smitten Kitchen has gorgeous pictures and delicious recipes, but can be hit or miss with actually providing accessible after work (I'm tired and have no time) dinner recipes. Today, however, Smitten Kitchen did not disappoint. The home page featured a summer squash rice and cheese gratin inspired by Julia Child.

The joys of cooking an a friend's (much larger) kitchen

Inspiration is the key word. I was unimpressed by the summer squash at Trader Joe's and the Foggy Bottom Farmer's Market (Weds, 3-7pm) that likely was overflowing with summer squash and peaches did not open for another 2 hours. So I made do with Trader Joe's produce. I ended up buying asparagus, mushrooms, rosemary Asiago cheese, and a pork loin as the protein.


Dinner was a success: As an appetizer, pan fried Shishito peppers tossed with lemon juice and salt, followed by roasted pork tenderloin served with asparagus, mushroom, rice gratin, and brownies for a decadent finish. This meal satisfied several senses, as E and I painted with watercolors as the gratin and meat percolated in the oven.

Browning the tender loin and pan frying the Shishito peppers

Here I present an original recipe: Asparagus, mushroom, rice gratin aka a quick and fancy casserole

Ingredients:
1 pound of asparagus
1 package of sliced white mushrooms
1 yellow onion
1/2 wedge of Asiago or Parmesean cheese
1 cup of rice
1.5 cups of water
olive oil
salt
pepper
1/2 lemon, optional
medium sized baking dish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
1) Wash and trim asparagus, chop into 1 inch pieces
2) Dice onion and coarsely chop the sliced mushrooms. Over medium temperature, heat olive oil in a skillet. Saute the mushrooms and onions for at least 5 minutes, so the onions are softened and some water releases from the mushrooms

3) In a small pot, bring the 1.5 cups of water to a boil, add the 1 cup of rice and boil for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes, turn off the heat and allow the rice to sit in the water while you finish preparing everything else.
4) Place the asparagus into the baking dish, pour in the mushrooms and onions. Combine well, then pour in the rice and water. This water will allow the vegetables and rice to steam during baking to complete the cooking.

You can be as generous or stingy on the cheese as you like. Most gratins are saturated with fats like butter, milk/cream, and cheese. In this gratin the major fat is the cheese and a bit of olive oil.

5) Using at least half of a medium sized wedge of Asiago or Parmesan cheese: crumble half your cheese using your hands, basically making small cubes, and use a grater to finely grate the remaining cheese. Add the cheese in with the vegetables and rice and combine well so you can see cubes of cheese throughout.
6) Season this mixture with 1 tsp of salt, a few grinds of pepper and the juice of half a lemon. Stir to combine, then use a spoon to smooth the top.

Before baking

7) Cover tightly with foil, and bake in the oven at 350 for 20-30 minutes. This gratin baked in the oven at the same time as our pork loin for 25 minutes.

For a traditional gratin you can add breadcrumbs and cheese to the top of the gratin, and broil at 450 for 5 minutes.

The finished product after serving