Appetizer: Mushroom Mania

Today after a long week at work, I decided to try some fun cooking. That thought process ended with a decision upon the Mushrooms I had in the fridge. Well, if you have not noticed I cook them a lot. A whole lot. This time I varied it up a little bit by cooking them in 3 different ways for one plate. Boom.








Ingredients:
1 lb Button Mushrooms

Asian Spiced:
1/3 cup Port
1/3 cup Sherry
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Lime Juice
Sweet Paprika
Fennel Powder
Fenugreek Powder
Ancho Chili Powder
Garlic Salt

Local Herbed:
2 sprig Rosemary
1/4 cup Oregano
3 sprig Thyme
1/3 cup Olive Oil

Decadent Dessert
1/4 stick Butter
1/3 cup Lime Juice
1/4 cup Orange Liquor
1/2 cup Cilantro Leaves

PART 1:
Alright, so I will take you through this recipe one part at a time to avoid confusion. Note, the Mushrooms I sliced up into one big bowl and took out about 1/3 for each recipe.

I'll start with the Asian Spiced Mushrooms. I began by gathering the materials.

Turn the heat to medium. Then use a small sauce pot and poured in the Port, Sherry, Soy Sauce, and Lime Juice. I added in the spices mixed together. I used like a spoonful of each, maybe 2 of the Garlic Salt. Stir together.

Once the liquid starts to steam a little bit, add the Mushrooms and make sure they get coated by the mixture.

Now, they should take about 7 minutes to get properly cooked/spongey feeling.

I chose to take them out and place them in a ramekin but a small bowl should also suffice. I then put in the microwave so it stayed warm until all 3 were done.

PART 2:
The second one is the Local Herbed Mushrooms. I call it this because the herbs I used were from my personal garden. I began like usual, gathering my ingredients.

Now I stripped the leaved off the Rosemary and Oregano, while the Thyme I just cut up into smaller pieces. I then put a small saucepan on the stove, turned the heat to medium, and poured in the Olive Oil.

I then added the herbs.

Once that began to simmer, I added in the Mushrooms.

This recipe should take about 7 minutes as well, make sure to stir.

Do the same as Part 1 in keeping them warm once you take them off the stovetop.

Part 3:
This last part is the Decadent Dessert Mushroom portion. I call it this because when it was sampled, a comment about how it tastes like a dessert stuck with me. Sounds fitting.

I began by gathering the ingredients.

Now, using a small saucepan I added the Butter and turned the heat to medium.

Quickly after the Butter began to melt, I added the Lime Juice, Orange Liquor, and Cilantro Leaves. It looks amazing to me, maybe I should make a drink with all but the Butter?

This should take about 8 or 9 minutes since it took me a little longer than the other 2 parts. Make sure to mix it around.

Now, once this is done just turn the heat off and move to an unused burner.

The end part here is where you plate all 3 Mushroom Recipes. I went in the order listed above, however I overlapped their cooking times using different burners as well. Enjoy.

Brinner: Scrambled Eggs!

For dinner today I had Brinner. For those who do not know what this is, simply put it is breakfast for dinner and it is amazing. I was going to attempt to make smaller sized Eggs in a Boat, however that proved difficult enough to make me give up for now. Since I had everything but the boat part of that recipe, I decided that Brinner was in order.








Ingredients:
6 Eggs
3 Garlic Cloves
1/4 cup Cilantro Leaves
1 Red Bell Pepper
4 Scallions
1/4 stick Butter
Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Asiago Cheese

First, I got everything together.

Then I proceeded to break the Eggs open and put them in a mixing bowl. Throw the shells away please. I then whisked until somewhat consistent. I also minced my Garlic Cloves and put them in with the Cilantro Leaves, causing the Egg mixture to start soaking up those flavors.

I then diced the Red Bell Pepper and Scallions.

Now, using a large saucepan I turned the heat to medium and threw the Butter in.

I waited until it was mostly melted and put the Egg Mixture into the saucepan. Almost right away, I tossed in the Scallions and Red Bell Pepper. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Now as it is scrambled eggs, make sure to move the mixture around so as to not let it stick to the pan. Or at least try. I added the Asiago Cheese about a minute after the Scallions and Bell Pepper. Take a look at it, doesn't it look tasty!

This is what mine looked when done:

Now all you have left is to serve it. Enjoy!

Lentil Soup

I have had my mind on whipping up some Lentil Soup for quite awhile, just never really mustered up the motivation to go through with it. Well, that time came this afternoon while I was food shopping. I needed to pick up just a few more things to make it happen, so I most certainly did just that!




Ingredients:
1 cup Red Lentils
1 cup Brown Lentils (regular)
5 Carrots
2 White Onions
6 Garlic Cloves
1/2 cup Olive Oil
6 cups Water
1/3 cup Cilantro Leaves
6 Basil Leaves
Italian Herb Mix
Fennel Powder
Fenugreek Powder
Ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Ancho Chili Powder
Sweet Paprika
1 can Tomato Paste

I began by assembling the ingredients.

I then diced the Onions and Carrots. To keep them from investigating the kitchen, I rounded them up into a metal mixing bowl.

Now I also peeled my Garlic Cloves at this point and chopped them up.

Now put a large saucepan or medium to large sauce pot on the stovetop and turn the heat to medium. You will pour in your 1/3 cup of Olive Oil at this point.

Once it begins to get hot, grab your trusted mixing bowl and put the diced Onions and Carrots in.

Once the Onions began to caramelize, I added some shredded Basil Leaves, Cilantro Leaves, and the Garlic Cloves. Then I mixed them in.

Now comes the seasoning part. I did the dusting of Italian Herb Mix first.

Then I had pre-mixed the rest of the spices together. Only a pinch or so each.

Then I mixed them in and marveled at how great the food looked.

At this point, add in your 2 cups of Lentils and Water. I started with 4 cups of Water in there until some had boiled away. Then I put in approximately 2 more cups while it cooked. Also, add the Tomato Paste at this point.

Put a timer to 60 minutes and let it start the final countdown. You should simmer it for the majority of this time, however I had it just above simmer so it would cook quicker. I was hungry, what can I say? Well, it finished about 10 minutes early.

This is what it looked like when done.

Then all you have left to do is plate and serve it. Enjoy!

Main Course: Shrimp!

So after putting the appetizer and side dish together, I had to turn my attention to the main course. Shrimp.










Ingredients:
1/2 lb Gulf Coast Shrimp
Archer Farms Chili Lime Sauce
Italian Herbs Mix
White Wine
Cilantro

So I began by throwing together the marinade for the Shrimp. I began with Archer Farms Chili Lime Sauce and put in about 1/4 to a 1/3 of the bottle. To this I added about a 1/4 cup of Cilantro leaves and 2 pinches of Italian Herbs Mix. I poured in about a 1/3 cup of White Wine, and mixed all of this together. Then in went the Shrimp. I did all of this in a large ziploc bag and made sure to roll it up to make sure all the Shrimp was marinaded properly. It also pushes out most if not all the air to create a pseudo vacuum seal.

I then turned the stovetop burner to medium and placed a saucepan on. To this I poured the Shrimp and marinade into the pan.

Stir occasionally until done, which is evidenced by the Shrimp turning from pink to a light orange color.

Once done, turn off the burner and plate according to your tastes. I did sprinkle some Italian Herbs Mix on top as a finish, as well as a simple garnish of sage and cilantro. Enjoy.

Chef's Original: Appetizer a l'oignon

Today I sort of threw together an entire meal on a whim. I was informed that my girlfriend was hungry and then noticed I had a fridge full of yummy goodness. So of course with any good meal, I began with a Chef's Original appetizer plate.





Ingredients:
4 Pearl of Boiler Onions
Cilantro
Chives
Sage
Basil
Butter
Italian Seasoning Mis
Cheese
Baguette(bread)

I began by putting some butter in a saucepan, I want to say about 1/3 of a stick. Dice up your chives, sage, cilantro, and basil. Put them to the side.

Turn the stovetop to medium and have the butter start to melt. Once it is mostly melted, swirl it around to make sure the butter covers the entire bottom of the saucepan. Now toss in the chives, sage, and basil you put to the side earlier. Mix them into the butter.

Now grab your Pearl or Boiler Onions and cut the top and bottom off, as well as the outer layer. I find this makes them taste better. Toss them in when this is done. Mix around with the herbs and butter.

Continure to mix them around every thirty seconds or so to give them an even cook through. They should start to turn translucent when they are cooked enough, turn the burner off.

At this point you should have your baguette cut into small pieces, or bought that way like I did, and proceed to put some shredded cheese onto the pieces of bread. You then place the onion on top of the cheese, along with a dusting of italian seasoning mix. Enjoy.