Soup to nuts, a la Bravest

New York Daily News – http://www.nydailynews.com
Soup to nuts, a la Bravest

Monday, November 21st, 2005

Oh, to be invited to Thanksgiving dinner in one of the city’s firehouses.

Known for their good cooking, firefighters will spend Thursday preparing and consuming sumptuous meals – in between fighting fires.

“There’ll be everything from soup to nuts, just like you’d have at home,” said Firefighter Carl Fargione of Engine 309 in Marine Park, who last year represented Brooklyn firefighters in the World Cares Center’s Iron Skillet Cookoff.

Brooklyn Firefighter John Sierp of Ladder 168 in Brighton Beach won that annual contest. Sierp says he’ll definitely be in the firehouse kitchen on Thursday, but he expects to have help. “We all do the dinner together,” Sierp said. “I’ll probably make my stuffed mushrooms.”

FIREFIGHTER JOHN SIERP’S STUFFED MUSHROOMS

“When I do recipes, they aren’t exact. I do them by eye and taste as I go,” Sierp explained.

# INGREDIENTS:Unflavored bread crumbs; roasted garlic oil; fresh parsley, chopped coarsely, with stems removed; freshly grated Romano cheese; large mushrooms, 3-4 per guest; mushroom stems; 1/2 to 1 pound canned jumbo crab meat; crushed black pepper to taste.

# DIRECTIONS: Prepare the roasted garlic oil by chopping 3-4 garlic cloves and adding them to 1 cup of olive oil. Cook in a saut�pan or small pot until the mixture boils. Reduce heat and let simmer for 45 minutes, making sure the garlic infuses the oil without burning.

Chop parsley. Grate cheese. Mince mushroom stems. Add crab meat and bread crumbs. Place the ingredients in a bowl with the garlic oil.

“The consistency should be a bit wet, but not oily,” Sierp said, “well mixed, but not gooey or runny. You shouldn’t see the oil.”

Stuff mushroom caps until a little of the mixture comes out of the top.

In a flat baking pan or on a sheet sprayed with cooking spray or oil, bake the mushrooms for 25 minutes at 375 degrees. Serve hot or at room temperature.