Recipe for Making Mushroom Wellington While Attending Four
Meetings
The Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry is already out of the freezer. You meant to put it in the refrigerator to
partly thaw last night, but you forgot.
You’ve learned that it needs more than 40 minutes to thaw. (Why do I keep writing “flaw” for “thaw”? Anticipating results?)
You’ve already chopped the onion and garlic, and you got
mushrooms already sliced. Start making
Mushroom Wellington at 10:55, right
before your meeting of Fare-Free Transit, the organization promoting the Bay
Pass for students so they can all take public transportation free. You know it takes a LONG time for those
mushrooms to lose all their liquid. Put
the 2 pounds of mushrooms, (4 8-oz boxes!)
in 1 T of olive oil and 1 T of Earth Balance, 1 diced onion, 6 fat garlic cloves,
a T chopped fresh rosemary, 1 t kosher salt, ¼ cup of ruby port (because that’s
what you have up in those top cabinets), 1 t of balsamic vinegar. Set
the time for 10 minutes even though you know it will take much longer. Run to the computer and click on the Zoom
link. This is the first time you’ve
attended a meeting of this organization, so you introduce yourself as “Tina
Martin, a member of Transit Justice and Voices for Public Transportation and
generally a very strong advocate for public transportation, which I’ve been
taking all over SF since 1966.” You know
the people also attending, so you briefly tell them how you know them—Thea
Selby, a former trustee at City College, Heather Brandt, the student trustee
from CCSF, Angelica Campos, the student activist you met at the unveiling of
the sign for Frida Kahlo Way in 2018.
Explain that you have something on the stove, so you’ll have to leave
the meeting from time to time. Leave the
Zoom in 10 minutes. Stir the mushrooms
and set the time for another 15 minutes.
Run back to the computer as fast as your torn meniscus makes
possible. Continue the discussion. Find out that they’re having a meeting with
members of the SFMTA at 1:00 pm. Explain
that you have another Zoom at that time but will come in at 1:30 if your 1:00 pm ends in time. Text your son that you’ll choose Zooming with
him at 1:00 pm instead of going to a meeting you just found out about. Read his response: He can meet with you shortly after 12 noon if
that helps. Feel great love and
gratitude. Run back to the kitchen and
see that the mushrooms are now the “dry” they’re supposed to be before you wrap
them in puff pastry. Add 1 cup toasted
pecans. Let the mixture cool. Meet with you son on Zoom. Show him your two tech-related problems,
which thanks to him are soon no problem at all.
You can now get the audio version of Solito and can also share
the link for the tribute to Jessica for her memorial in August. You discuss creating something for Patty’s 90th
birthday June 8th. See that
you don’t have the link for the 1:00 pm meeting. Send an email asking for it. Go back
to the kitchen and set the oven to 400 degrees.
Roll out the puff pastry a bit more with your rolling pin. Scoop most of the mushrooms into the middle
of the rolled-out dough and this time, instead of making pinwheels, just wrap
one side of the dough over the mound of mushrooms and another and the other
side over that. Brush it with a mixture of
¼ cup of maple syrup and ¼ cup of nut
milk. Forget to score it. Run back to the 1:00 pm meeting. Participate in introductions. Take pictures
of the charts they show. Hear the bell that
indicates the oven is ready. Run to the
oven and put in what you hope will become Mushroom Wellington. Set the oven for
25 minutes even though you think it may take 35. Run
back to the meeting on Zoom. Remember
that you didn’t score the puff pastry dough.
Run back to the kitchen, take it out of the oven, and score it. Run back to the meeting. In the midst of a stimulating discussion, hear
the oven timer go off. Tun back to the
kitchen, check the color, and put it In for another ten minutes. Run back to the meeting and stay there for
ten minutes—until the next meeting –Transit Justice—begins. Go back to the kitchen and get the Mushroom
Wellington out of the oven. You like the
golden color, but you see that you really should have scored it before putting it
in the oven. Put some Rosemary on top
for added color and scent. Go back to
Transit Justice. Have a very stimulating
discussion, but leave the Zoom meeting just long enough to go to the kitchen
and serve yourself some Mushroom Wellington.
Find it less than perfect in form but absolutely delicious!
