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Posts Tagged ‘Mushrooms’

Taiwanese Dry Noodles with A- Choy

Chinese noodle soup, in all its wondrous forms, is such a popular dish that dry noodles rarely get their due (other than chow mein).  But to me, the dry noodle dish can be superior to the wet variety, particularly if you are not a fan of soup broth or if it’s too hot for a steaming bowl of soup.

This is a recipe for a simple dry noodle dish.  Since the toppings provide the flavor, the “sauce” for the toppings needs to be overwhelming during the cooking process. In other words, when you taste your cooking, the flavors should be quite strong.  This ensures that you get a nice even flavor rather than a dull diluted flavor, because the noodles won’t be cooking in any sauce of their own. Once the toppings mix with the noodles, you’ll have a flavorful meal!
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Beef Tenderloin Stuffed with Mushrooms and Onions

When I think of roasted tenderloin, visions of charred crusts and tender pink interiors stuffed full of luxurious fillings dance through my mind.  Unfortunately, reality rare matches my daydreams.  Stuffing can spill out or absorb strange flavors.  Insufficient crusting can give you a bland gray mess.  On the other hand, too much crusting and you’re left with a burnt roast.

One common problem with stuffing is that you can’t get enough.  To get more stuffing into the tenderloin, I sliced it in “double- butterfly” fashion.  Instead of a single horizontal cut to “open” the roast like a book, you use two cuts through the opposite sides of the roast.  When you open it, it looks like a trifold brochure.  After using this cut, you can spread more filling over the roast when you open it up.

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Boeuf Bourguignon

Finally, the time is here!  The main attraction – Boeuf Bourguignon!

Yes, as a food-obsessed person, I saw Julie and Julia.  And while I can’t say I’m partial to Julie Powell, Julia Child (Merrill Streep) was fantastic!  Inspired by her constant fawning over Boeuf Bourguignon, I decided to find out for myself if this dish was really as good to eat as it is fun to say.  With my cast iron pot in hand, I planned to follow the original Mastering the Art of French Cooking version, which is easily obtainable online.  However, after reviewing my trusty How to Cook, I made a handful of adjustments that I’ll detail below.  I then invited a handful of friends over to witness and taste either my triumph or failure.  It was a high-risk experiment!

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Sauteed Mushrooms in Butter

Part two of my buildup to Boeuf Bourguignon!

I make sauteed mushrooms in butter on a regular basis.  They go well in omelettes, stews, stir fries, and many other dishes.   Since I refer to this recipe so often, I thought it deserved a separate entry.  Plus, it is one ingredient of Boeuf Bourguignon, the target recipe for the week!

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Mushroom and Onion Couscous

Couscous is one of those dishes that I often ordered at restaurants because I had no experience making it.  For a long time, I feared this tiny round toasted pasta, mostly because of my ignorance.  Thankfully, the one thing I’m not afraid of is making mistakes.  So, when I decided to make couscous, I even spiced it up by flavoring it with sauteed onions, mushrooms and parsley.  I also used chicken broth rather than water, which allowed me to avoid adding extra salt for flavor.

In hindsight, I would say couscous is not too hard to make, and delicious too!

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A Gluten-Free Treat: Sausage, Onion, Green Peppers and Mushrooms Over Rice

A friend of mine was in town recently, and we spent a few hours remembering our younger days.  Although I’m going to avoid sharing some more “adventurous” stories here on the DailyChef blog, we did reminisce about more libidinous days where we would frequent all sorts of seedy late-night dining establishments after a night of (usually responsible) revelry.  Unfortunately, our metabolisms haven’t kept up.  And although I can’t scarf down pizza, cheesesteaks and onion rings like I used to, the ones I do eat stay around longer in my wasitline!

Back then, I had a close friend who could not eat gluten (a derivative of wheat).  That means no pizza, noodles, dumplings, bread, pasta, etc.  Though he couldn’t pig out on pizza with us, he could cook up a mean late-night hash of sausage, mushrooms and onions that went great with a bowl of rice (no gluten in rice).   So, this entry is a tribute to bygone years and a good friend – though I’ve added more vegetables (for heart health!) and gone a little lighter on the sausage.

This is a very simple recipe, but it makes me happy just thinking about it.  Do any of you have recipes that you associate with great nights out with friends?

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Chicken Breasts Chasseur (w/ tomatoes and mushrooms)

This recipe starts with the Chicken Breasts Poached in Butter that I made before.   Instead of serving the chicken with the pan sauce, I added a medley of colorful vegetables to the sauce, forming a delicious tomato-based sauce that tastes absolutely fantastic.  If you’re looking to get several servings of vegetables in at the same time, I highly recommend it!

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Cacio e Pepe: Pasta with Pecorino & Fresh Black Pepper

A friend from Hong Kong recently sent me an article about the growing number of restaurants in the NY East village area focused on Roman food.  I’m not sure why someone is monitoring the restaurant scene 10,000 miles away, but I’m glad he is!  Although I can’t claim to be an expert on Italian cuisine, two lines in the article caught my eye.  The first is that the hallmark of roman food is simplicity.  If I were to write down my cooking philosophy,  it would be fresh ingredients cooked simply.

The other thing that caught my eye was that Cacio e Pepe is like Rome’s mac and cheese.  How could I resist trying to make it?  There are many variations on this recipe – you can change the type of pasta and the ingredients many different ways.  However, in my opnion, there are really only two things that matter: a) how good is your cheese and b) how fresh is your pepper.  I went with button mushrooms and swiss chard.  If you’re in the mood for some meat, I highly recommend some Italian sausage.

Also, as I am now officially on a little Roman kick, stay tuned for other adventures.

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Mushrooms & Asparagus with a squeeze of Lemon

Mushroom and Asparagus

As most of you know, butter is a must for sauteeing mushrooms.  A lesser-known fact is that butter is also a must for asparagus.  For example, aside from the occasional Chinese stir fry, you often see steamed asparagus with hollandaise sauce or some other butter-based sauce.  I then use a bit lemon juice to cut the buttery taste with a little bit of acid.  It melds together quite nicely.   Oh, and this only takes about 10 minutes to make. Enjoy!

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