An Affair to Remember

When Ian and I starting dating, his friends definitely fit the starving artist profile. They had all just finished or were finishing their film degrees at NYU. They lived in postage stamp sized studio apartments or 3-bedrooms with 6 roommates on avenues with letters. Socially, I was thrust into a world of intense discussions of steady-cams, jump-cuts, and Sidney Lumet over Brooklyn Lager and the occasional reasonably priced Shiraz. This was not a world entirely unknown to me, although the subject of film certainly was. I came from the world of theatre, and it was pretty much the same drill, except the Brooklyn Lager and reasonably priced Shiraz was served over heated discussions of Brecht’s Alienation Theory and the modern validity of Method Acting. Food was never exactly top priority at these gatherings. Our nourishment mostly consisted of late night slices and burgers and mushroom burgers from the now oh so sadly defunked 7A restaurant in the East Village.

So, when Ian and his old friend Gina concocted a plan to have a dinner party recently, reuniting the scattered old gang, with Gina and myself at the food helm, I have to admit I was trepidatious. Would these brilliant film minds want to turn their thoughts towards food long enough to praise me the appropriate amount to support my moderately fragile food ego? Would they go all artsily and/or fartsily veggie or macrobiotic causing me to reevaluate my entire menu?

Oh me of little faith. We really have all grown up. It was a bit shocking really. Gina and Ian’s invite asked everyone to bring two bottles of wine. The three of us assumed many would flake or bring the undrinkable. Lo and behold, every single attendee came dutifully with two delightful bottles in hand. My hors d’oeuvres set out to start the night were not only gobbled up happily, but interest was paid to them; wondering what was in them, commenting on their general yumminess, etc. The rest of the evening followed pat.

I suppose we’ve all been out in the world for some time now. Sitting in that room, a heated debate on the final scene of There Will Be Blood to my right, a discussion on the relevance of the Sundance Film Fest to the real independent filmmaker to my left, and me deep in a ponderance of local vs. organic food with one of Ian’s former A.D.s, I realized that growing up does not mean you lose your passion. What growing up means is that you share your passion with people outside of your little world and want to know about people’s passions outside of your own.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

10-12 large button mushrooms

1 small (approx. 4 oz) package of plain young goat cheese

1/4 cup plus 2 T dried plain bread crumbs

1/4 t fresh thyme finely chopped

4-5 sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and finely chopped

3 slices of bacon chopped in ¼ inch pieces raw and sautéed to crispy –or- ½ lb sweet Italian sausage browned and drained

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Clean the mushrooms and fully remove the stems (a melon baler is helpful). Remove the dry end of the stem and finely chop the rest of the stem and set aside. Place the mushroom caps, stem side up on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until just tender about 7-10 minutes. When they have cooled slightly, pour out all of the liquid that formed while baking. In a bowl mix the mushrooms stems, bread crumbs, thyme, sun dried tomatoes, and cooled sausage or bacon. With your hands, break up the goat cheese into the mixture and mix all completely (hands are the best way to do this). Taste and season the mixture with salt and pepper. Stuff the mushroom with the mixture, mounding it up as much as you can. Sprinkle the stuffed mushrooms with additional bread crumbs and drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until just golden brown and warmed through.