It’s the end of November and I realized that I still had a bit more spending room for “cheap fancy” grocery—not just your usual meat, eggs, dairy and bread variety (which I consider to be the 10 EUR weekly budget shopping). So yesterday (Friday), I went straight to the nearest grocery (Exotic World, along Brusselstraat) after dragging myself home from the lab.

Yes, I hauled in some essentials, like eggs (a must-have for guerilla-cooking in a communal kitchen…for a future post), bottled white beans in tomato sauce (instant side dish, or main course with rice), sardines (ooh, Carrefour Discount! I wonder if it tastes fine), a tetra-pack of tomato sauce (again…but just stock in the cupboard), glutinous rice, and frozen veggies…

Frozen veggies. When I picked up my usual “minestrone” pack (I was tired of eating the cauliflower-broccoli-carrot mix, which had more carrots than the other two vegetables), I noticed that the store had some frozen assorted mushrooms.

Then I heard my mental gears whirr and click into place. A non-rice meal idea!

Without hesitation, I picked up a bag and added it to my basket. Today, after continuing my shopping in another supermarket (ALDI), where I found a 500-g bag of uncooked spaghetti (for around 45 cents, cheap!), I whipped up something non-rice for supper: Pasta met champignon en spek (Pasta with mushroom and bacon).

Materials
- 125 g uncooked spaghetti / any pasta
- 50 g smoked bacon fine lardons (I had a lot of this in my freezer space…lardons are useful to have!)
- a thin slice/pat of butter
- dried garlic, dried onion, ground pepper
- some frozen assorted mushrooms
- extra-virgin olive oil

Methodology
- Cook pasta according to manufacturer’s instructions (water with a bit of salt and cooking oil at medium to high heat, 10 mins average), or until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold running water, then toss a tablespoon or so of olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking.
- On a non-stick frying pan, melt a thin slice or pat of butter. Saute the lardons, season with a dash of dried garlic, onion and ground pepper.
- When the lardons begin to brown, add the frozen mushrooms. Saute until the frost has melted and the mushrooms give off their liquids. When the resulting sauce thickens, remove from heat.
- Assembly: cooked al-dente spaghetti + mushroom/bacon topping.

Results and Discussion
Cooking spaghetti. It’s absurdly easy to cook pasta noodles. It’s so easy, it’s prone to overcooking! Always check the manufacturer’s directions for the cooking time…but don’t follow it too closely. A few minutes before the recommended cooking time, fish out a strand of pasta and bite through. If it’s firm but chewy, (and if the strand’s cross-section doesn’t have that white uncooked core), immediately take the pot from the stove, dump the pasta into a colander and wash it with cold water to stop it from cooking further, then toss with a bit of olive oil to keep the noodles moist and not sticky. I cooked my serving of pasta in less than 10 minutes.

No…salt? Yes, if you had noticed, I did not include salt in the Materials list. First off—I cook the noodles with a bit of salt already. Second—smoked bacon lardons are a bit salty themselves. Note that the butter I usually use for cooking is the unsalted kind.

Wrapping up
It took me 15 minutes to come up with a pick-me-up supper with a few ingredients (look, Ma, it’s not afritada!) yet has a slight sophisticated touch (assorted mushrooms). A 15 minute gourmet dish that has carbohydrates, fats, protein and vitamins/trace minerals to break the monotony of rice meals.

Who says grad students cannot be gourmets nor gourmands?

C’est la saison ..

Album Champignon : http://www.flickr.com/photos/gilgpictures/sets/72157607930998644/

Ingredients from the shop on Mitcham Lane, pans from Simon and Sue, heat from British Gas – oh yes!:

Ingredients - Carrot, Mushroom, Tomato

Chopped Up

For the compost

Simmering nicely

Blended

The finished product - verdict: delicious

Photo of the day – close-up study of oyster mushroom gills:

Click on image to order note cards or prints on Redbubble.

Oyster mushroom

What to do with the left over turkey, chicken, or beef ?  Well, I am going to make a super sandwich and  mushroom & potatoes soup for today lunch.  It easy to prepare and I don’t have to spend long time in my kitchen.

Ingredients
cooked turkey/chicken – 6 slices
whole meal bread – 6 slices
low-fat cheese – 3 slices
mushrooms – 60g, sliced
tomatoes – 2, sliced
lettuce leave – 3
margarine

Method

1. Preheat the sandwich maker.
2. Brush some margarine on one side of the each bread.
3. Arrange the ingredients : lettuce, tomatoes, turkey/chicken slice, and then the cheese on top of one bread slice.  Add another bread slice on top of the cheese.
4. Place the sandwich into the sandwich maker and heat for 5-6 minutes or until the cheese is melted.  Serves 3.

Here is the mushroom & potaotes soup recipe.

There are other recipes you can make if you don’t like making sandwiches.  Visit here for more recipes.

Bok Choy with Shiitakes and Oyster Sauce
Serves 4

1/4 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
1 1/2 pounds bok choy, trimmed
1/4 cup peanut oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup fresh shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
1/2 to 3/4 cup commercial oyster sauce

1. Soak dried shiitakes in one cup of very hot water until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid. Trim mushrooms and chop. Separate leaves and stems of bok choy; cut stems into 2-inch lengths and slice leaves into ribbons.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. When oil is hot, add bok choy stems, garlic if you are using it, reconstituted mushrooms, and about 1/4 cup reserved mushroom water. Cook, stirring frequently, until stems are crisp-tender, about 4 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a small skillet heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil; sauté fresh shiitake mushrooms over medium-high heat. Continue cooking until they begin to brown and crisp on edges.

4. Into the large skillet or wok, add bok choy leaves and oyster sauce and toss vegetables gently to combine; continue cooking until greens wilt, about 2 more minutes. Serve immediately, topped with crisp mushrooms.

Menu:

Raw Flax “filo” with mushroom filling
Mushroom Filo Triangles: spinach, garlic
Sauteed Wild Mushrooms
Mache Salad: with mushrooms and candied walnuts
Polenta Lasagna

Tonic:
Kava Colada: Herb Pharm Kava and pineapple coconut juice….relaxing and tasty!
Clase Azul Tequila: this is a deliciously sweet sipping tequila

Nutritional/Medicinal Benefits:
Mushrooms are high in fiber and provide vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, biotin, cobalamis, and ascorbic acid.

Happy Thanksgiving Friends

So what are you thankful for today?

There are so many things to be thankful for in our lives, I think that each and every day we should all remember that these are all fleeting and can be taken away at any moment.  I’ve noticed in myself that a major part of growing up and maturing has been to NEVER take anything for granted…. as simple as it may seem, and I really try to leave each day of my life honoring that  

Here are some things I am thankful for today!

• Family & Friends
• Boyfriend & Love
• Health & Happiness
• Home & Work

Alright friends, well onto some a.m. Turkey Day cooking!

Hazelnut, Sage and Mushroom Stuffing

Here were the key players (I didn’t measure out exactly, just eye-balled it):

• 1 large loaf firm bread, cut into 1/2″ cubes (about 8 cups)
• 1.5 cups finely chopped shallots (about 8 medium)
• 1/2 stick butter + 1 tblsp extra to finish (CUT DOWN ORIGINAL RECIPE BY 1 WHOLE STICK!)
• 1.5 lbs sliced mushrooms (I used 3 small packages pre-sliced cremini & baby bella)
• 1.5 cups finly chopped celery (4 ribs)
• 2 tsp chopped thyme
• 2 tsp finely chopped sage
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (I used Chardonnay)
• 2 cups hazelnuts, toasted & chopped (I bought pre-chopped)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
• 4 cups chicken broth (or turkey stock)
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• salt/pepper

LET’S GET STARTED!

1.  Toast bread for about 10 minutes in a 400F oven until golden & dry.  Transfer to a large bowl.

2. While bread is toasting, chop & prep all veggies & herbs.

3.  Saute minced shallot in 1/2 stick butter over medium heat (remember friends, it calls for 1 stick but I cut it down by half – but of course, do as you please! )

4.  Add chopped celery, mushrooms, thyme, sage, salt & pepper and cook down until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms have browned.

5.  At this point it’s time to crank up the temp to med-high & deglaze the pan with some wine, about 2 minutes or until liquid reduces by half.

6.  Toast up the chopped hazelnuts for about 5 minutes in a 400F oven, this really brings out their flavor.

7.  Whisk together egg, chicken broth, salt & pepper.

8.  Now you are ready to assemble!  Add the mushroom veggie mixture to the bowl of bread.  Dump in the toasted hazelnuts & chopped parsley and give it a gentle stir.

9.  Pour the egg mixture into the bowl and stir up until evenly distributed.  Transfer the stuffing mixture to a lightly buttered casserole dish, throw a few dallops of butter on top to finish (I used 1 tblsp total of the fabulous Icelandic butter) and into the oven it goes! 

10.  Into a 400F oven for 30 minutes covered loosely with foil, another 15 minutes uncovered and there you have it!

Final product to be revealed with the Thanksgiving Dinner post   Gotta keep ya waitin’ for something, right friends?!

Alrighty, gotta run… quick light lunch, shower then off to the parent’s house I go!

See you friends later and have a WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!

As autumn plods on, we are proud to showcase our first collaboration; this wonderful mushroom vest featuring art work by the equally wonderful Mr. Adam Grey. They’re printed on high quality cotton and are available in S(8-10) M(10-12) and L(12-14). You’ll be seeing a lot more of Adams work on the blog soon, along with an interview with the man himself. Get ‘em while you can, there’s only twenty of them on earth.

]]> http://peppertree.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/quick-mushroom-barley-soup/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:44:53 +0000 peppertree http://peppertree.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/quick-mushroom-barley-soup/

I don’t think I have ever cooked with barley before. Barley is….very chewy. Not sure if I love it or not. Anywho, this soup was ok. I didn’t love it. I told Toby it didn’t knock my socks off. I used matchstick carrots instead of rounds, and I used vegetarian “chicken” broth.  With this we had a salad and some bread. Eh.

rating: 5
Quick Mushroom-Barley Soup
(from www.allyou.com)

You don’t need much of this baby – it’s rich, delicious but brown! Not the most attractive colour but it’s good at this time of year. Do not hesitate to make!

Ingredients:

30g (1oz) dried porcini

6 tbs Olive Oil

1 large Onion (chopped)

1/2 tsp of salt & peopper

2 garlic cloves (crushed)

500 g (1lb) of Chestnut, white or Portobello Mushrooms (whazzed in a food processor)

100g Vacuum Packed Chestnuts (whazzed with the mushrooms)

600ml of chicken/vegetable stock

125ml of single cream

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Chopped chives (to pretty the whole thing up at the end)

Truffle Oil (because it’s just so damn good with a mushroom!)

1) Soak the Porcini in 500ml of boiling water for 15mins. Heat the pan with the olive oil and add the onion, salt & pepper. Saute for 4mins on medium heat. Add the garlic, lower the heat and cook off for a couple of minutes, before adding the whazzed mushrooms & chestnuts. After a further minute of sauteing, add in the stock.

2) Drain the porcini, reserving the liquid. Do this through 2 kitchen towels lining a sieve. They can be terribly gritty and unpleasant. Quickly pulse the porcini and throw those in to the soup. Cook for 20 minutes and add the cream and lemon juice. Season again if needed.

3) Slowly put through a blender, a few ladles at a time. For some reason, I always have explosions when I use the blender – even when the thing in the middle of the lid is off! Return the soup to the saucepan and when serving sprinkle a handful of chopped chives on top and a zigzag of truffle oil makes all the difference.

Colonel says Yum!

Freezes like a charm and serve with some fat old chunks of ciabatta or other country style bread to wipe round the bowl.

Dark and fragrant milkcap

Lactarius mammosus is another mushroom without a common English name. The title here is a rough translation of its German name: Dunkler Duftmilchling.

It is a milkcap, one of a group of species which exudes a fluid which can look like milk if it is damaged.

This species also smells of coconut.

I’ve actually tried this and it works.  I’m still looking into the different varieties of kombucha mothers but so far I think ours is the heartiest.

Today’s recipe is a bit of an experiement. It’s currently bubbling on the stove so the taste test will have to wait.

I wanted to use up the chorizo from yesterdays recipe and I also had some mushrooms that were starting to get wrinkly that I wanted to use up. So, I threw it all together along with some minced turkey, garlic, some herbs and a bottled tomato sauce.

Chorizo, Turkey and Mushroom Meat Sauce

Serves 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

60g chorizo

250g turkey mince

6 medium buttom mushrooms

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 jar tomato sauce

1. Prepare the ingredients: Remove the skin of the chorizo and dice roughly, chop up the mushrooms and mince the garlic (I used a garlic press).

2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add in the diced chorizo, cook for 5 minutes or until the oils are released and the chorizo is browned.

3. Throw in the mushrooms and garlic and cook, stirring for a few minutes or until garlic is fragrant. Shake in the dried herbs.

4. Add the turkey mince and stir, making sure it’s browning evenly. About 10 minutes.

5. Pour in the tomato sauce and stir, lifting up anything stuck to the bottom of the pan. Fill the jar halfway with water and shake getting any excess sauce of the sides of the jar. Pour this into the sauce mixture.

6. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat back to a simmer. Cover with a lid and leave for 45 minutes, stirring every now and then.

7. Serve with your pasta of choice and a sprinkling of parmesan.

Final Verdict:

Delicious! The chorizo added some nice spice while the turkey and mushroom melted in with the tomato sauce.

Sorry that it’s been a long while since I’ve blogged.
the internet is giving us a little bit of problems
so i cant upload anything
including blog posts! (:
not that im on a road trip with my parents.
I can! haha (:

I made this really long ago
and I came across this recipe from Noob Cook
and thought that it looked quite yummy!
decided to gie it a try
since portobello mushrooms are quite cheap at Costco! haha

Baby really loved it. hehe
it was, dare I say, really tasty (:
you should give it a go! hehe

25g butter

3/4 large white/yellow onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 tbsp plain flour
850ml vegetable/chicken/mushroom stock

350g portobello mushrooms, chopped to large chunks
300g fresh button mushroom, chopped into chunks

5 fresh sage leaves, chopped finely (I left this out)
100ml white wine
100ml double cream/thickened cream (see cooking note 2)
sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

mushrooms whole.

mushrooms chopped!

Steps :

3. Add the mushrooms and bring to the boil.
Don’t worry if it seems like a lot of mushrooms, they will shrink considerably when they are cooked.

4. Reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for about 15 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender.
Stir in the sage.

5. Remove a couple of ladlefuls of the mushrooms,
chop them to small pieces and set aside.

6. Process the remaining soup in a food processor or blender until smooth.

7. Return the soup to the saucepan and stir in the wine & cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.

oops. forgot to clean up the bowls. haha

we had the soup with cheesy garlic bread.
it was SO good! (:

there will be more posts coming hopefully!
hope the internet will be up soon!

I always feel a little bit hesitate to have salad in the cold days. I am kind of avoiding those cold greens, which makes my stomach really uncomfortable after eating. Yet after several days of trial, I fall in love with them. Inspired by Maggie , I decide to say YES to salad, even its is snowing outside!

My salads are warm, light, and veggie-ful. Hope my dear readers could try them out to fulfill your veggie-cravings.

Warm Salad Course One: Baked Kale, Mushroom and Eggo Salad

Ingredients:

it’s all there in the names!

Mix kale leaves, sliced mushroom with pinch salt; have an egg on it before sending them to the oven. Yes egg, not cheese this time ( you all know that I’m a big cheese eater! haha) You would love when the flavor of egg immersed in the kales!

Bake them about 15 min at 350 degree oven, easy dinner!

the top kale leaves are crisp like those kale chips, and bottom kale leaves are still leafy green! I love this combination of crunchy and juicy from the same kale leaves!

in-between two salad course, I would like to show off a coffee (instant coffee! can’t believe it!)

yeah, I was amazed when I got this beautiful pattern and take a pic of it right away. never imaging a sophisticated swirl will come from a instant coffee!! The dark bubbles melted away pretty quickly.  To be honest, I like this “taster’s choice” from Nescafé – my favorite way ? mix 1tsp of them, 1 tsp of chocolate powder, makes it a nice sweet treat for the day.

Alright, now comes our 2nd course of warm salad:

Endive and Red Pepper, with Acorn-Tofu Creamy Sauce:

wash the greens and red pepper, lightly salt them, and microwave the bow for 45 second. That’s the key for making the warm salad without losing the fresh color of the greens!

The creamy white sauce (which I had marketed for thousand times i guess? hehe ) . This time is a bit different because I add in some nature sweetness from Acorn. It should be more yellow-ish than it appears here:

I use : 1 small baked Acorn, mashed, 1/3 cup of silky Tofu, 2 tsp of shredded cheese, lemon and pepper to taste.  Puree all of them till smooth texture.  if you like ranch for your salad, this might be a great healthy alternative

Enjoy my dear friends!

btw, I had think about doing a 7-day challenge about posting everything I send to my stomach . Though I see lots of blogger friends doing that, it’s still a bit scary to me…I mean, posting everything I eat, means making a big confession of some of my guilty pleasures. well, but I guess it’s really fun to find the truth of your diet and see what’s right and wrong. My dear friends, have you done that before? How do you feel? Do you think that’s a good idea or I’ll get “traumatized” after that?

I’ll try to start the week after, because, this week is thanksgiving! I probably will scare myself to death seeing myself eating sooooo much food ! hahaha

Have a good night, my friends!

After an annual trip to Costco, my fridge looked like it was going to explode at any second.  You had to precariously open the door, for fear of anything from oversized sauce jars to heads of broccoli falling on your unsuspecting foot.  Without even realizing what I’d done, a ginormous tray of sliced mushrooms kept pleading with me everytime I snuck in for a quick snack.  I do love a mushroom and I happened to be in the ball and realized I was overdue in my soup of the week, so I thought: let’s kill two birds with one stone (figuratively of course!!).  This resulted in a creamy, earthy soup that tasted even better as my warming lunch the next day.

.

INGREDIENTS:

1 TBSP butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 TBSP olive oil

2 dozen crmini mushrooms, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3 cups stock (your choice – as long as it’s rich and good!)

1 cup boiling water (you may use more or less, depending on the thickness you desire)

1 tsp sea or kosher salt (if your stock is super salty, use less)

1/3 cup 10% table cream

Pepper to taste

.

DIRECTIONS:

1)      Bring a large pot to medium heat and sauté the onion in the butter and olive oil until just browned.

2)      Add into pot the garlic and mushrooms, and sauté until browned and softened (about 5-10 min).

3)      Pour stock, water and salt into pot, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 min (or until veg are very tender).

4)      Turn off heat and allow soup to cool slightly, then add in cream.

5)      Pour 3/4 of the contents into a blender, and blend until smooth (you can add in extra liquid if it’s too thick).

6)      Place puréed soup back in pot, add in pepper to taste and re-heat slightly (you do not want to burn the soup, so keep a close eye).

7)      Serve hot with crackers or bread!

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir arrest four people trying to smuggle the rare medicinal herb, caterpillar fungus, to China…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: china tv. The blog is also related to: dongguan china.

I went to Mezcalitos in Oakhurst a while back and had the special, which was a chile relleno with chicken and mushrooms.  When it arrived, I was happy to see that the chile was roasted instead of battered and deep fried, which was never really a turn on to me.  I knew I could replicate it at home and make a pretty healthy dish.  This weekend I attempted it and was really happy with the results.  It was really flavorful and filling, but not heavy or greasy.  These could easily be made vegetarian by replacing the chicken with 2 cups white rice cooked in vegetable stock.  I served these with some refried beans and sauteed vegetables.  It’s a pretty easy recipe, but the peppers do take a bit of work to prepare.  If you have time, it’s worth it!  Serves 4-5.

Ingredients:

8 large poblano peppers

1-2 T vegetable oil

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 2 c rice cooked in vegetable broth

1 large package button mushrooms, sliced

2 t ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

2 c shredded Monterrey jack cheese

Salsa for serving

Directions:

Rinse and dry peppers and roast them under the broiler until the skins blister (about 10-15 minutes).  Place the peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel for 10 minutes to loosen the skins.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat.  Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and cook through, about 5-7 minutes on each side.  Remove to a plate to let cool.  Place mushrooms in skillet and saute until softened, about 5-7 minutes.  Season with salt, pepper and cumin and stir to combine.

Shred chicken with two forks into 2 bite strips.  Add mushrooms and toss to combine.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, grease a 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish and preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Prepare peppers for stuffing by gently removing the blistered skin.  Cut a slit the length of the pepper and gently open the pepper and remove the seeds, keeping the stem intact, if possible.  Repeat with all peppers.

Add 1 c shredded Monterrey jack cheese to chicken mixture and toss to combine.  Place about 1/2 c of the mixture in each pepper, and place stuffed pepper in baking dish, cut side down.  Repeat with remaining peppers until all the filling is used.

Place peppers in oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Sprinkle with remaining cup of cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes, until cheese is melted and peppers are heated through.  Serve with salsa.