Roasted mushrooms, chorizo, and sweet potatoes with chipotle quinoa (plus more exciting announcements!)
Nearly two years ago, when we decided we were moving to Madison, I began seeking out other like-minded folks and food-related organizations to start getting to know my new hometown. Among many others, I was delighted to find a couple of other food bloggers (Vicky of Things I Made Today and Sarah of Wisconsin From Scratch) and the three of us have been getting together regularly over the past year or so to chat about our businesses and find ways to support each other.
Over time, we found there could be a lot of benefits of working together as a group – we could coordinate our efforts, cross-promote each other, brainstorm future collaborative projects … after a few meetings we had generated a pretty sizable list of ideas. So we’ve officially joined forces together as Wisconsin Whisk, a collective of food website coming together to share our love of cooking and of rooting our work here in Wisconsin. We even have an intern! (That’s official.)
There’s more to come on Whisk later – like a shiny new website! – but for now, we’re very excited to announce a rather fortuitous turn of events, unveiled today. Madison Magazine’s Best of Madison 2015 list was announced this morning, and the three of our sites have been listed as Madison’s best food blogs! Thanks most of all to all the readers (that’s you!) who helped vote us here. Woo hoo!
And in the spirit of collaboration, we’re teaming up to bring you a celebratory three-course meal, each of us contributing a recipe. I’m here today with the entree of the meal, an easy and flavorful one that’s been on my table at home a few times over the recent weeks.
Before I say too much more, let’s talk about what comes before and after (important to know what you’re in for!).
First course
Creamy sun-dried tomato soup“I’ve been on kind of a sun dried tomato kick recently, and using them in soup form seemed like a logical next step. Obviously fresh tomatoes aren’t quite in their prime during winter, so the sun dried version is an excellent alternative …”
Full recipe from at Things I Made Today
Entree
Roasted chorizo, mushrooms, and sweet potatoes with chipotle quinoa“… a wonderful, modern interpretation of some great Mexican flavors.”
See recipe below
Dessert
Blood orange cornmeal upside-down cake“I swapped out the butter in the cake for olive oil, whose fruitiness I felt sure would complement the oranges. I added some coarse ground cornmeal for texture and more rustic feel …”
Full recipe at Wisconsin From Scratch
My contribution is fairly simple to put together – perfect for a weeknight dinner; enough for two people with plenty of lunch leftovers the next day. Roasting chorizo, onion, and mushroom together is one of my favorite taco fillings, as I’ve written about here before, and it’s balanced perfectly by creamy roasted sweet potatoes. Adding chipotle to quinoa or any other grain is a perfect way to add some flavor and give it a kick, and topped with some basic Mexican-style garnishes (especially avocado, cheese, and/or crema if your quinoa ends up pretty spicy) this is a wonderful, modern interpretation of some great Mexican flavors. Read more
