Chef's Original: Shiitake Sampler

Alright, so this recipe is a very simple one that I would think makes a great appetizer or finger food. Was very spur of the moment when I noticed I had 3 mushrooms in my fridge still.





Ingredients:
3 Shiitake Mushrooms
Caesar Salad Dressing
Sweet Sour Sauce
Sesame Seed Oil
Olive Oil
Butter
Fennel Powder
Garlic Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Italian Herb Mix
Paprika

I began by putting a sauce pot on the stove top. I put in about 2 spoonfuls of Sweet Sour Sauce, 1/3 cup of Caesar Salad Dressing, around 10 drops of Sesame Seed Oil, 1 spoonful of Olive Oil, and 1/4 stick of Butter.

Then I turned the heat to medium and turned my attention to the spices. I put in a dusting of everything. Not very exact, but then again I did not really want to depend on the spices to flavor everything due to what was already in there.

Once it started to boil, in went the Mushrooms. I places them cap side down with the stems up. I did this because I wanted this dish to literally be a finger food item, in other words you don't need utensils. Just grab the stalk and eat the cap.

Stay close since these are done in a minute or so due to the caps not being that thick. I presume if I used White Button Mushrooms that a toothpick would have to be used for the part where you hold the mushroom to eat it, but Shiitake's have long stems.

Well, once done you plate them. I literally just plucked them out of the pot and put them on the plate, then added a pinch or two of Italian Herb Mix and Ground Black Pepper. Enjoy.

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.

Portobello Mushrooms with an Onion Brandy Sauce

I picked up some Portobello Mushrooms since they were on sale this past week and today they needed to be cooked. I decided to use some Boiler Onions and Basil as well. Enjoy this recipe, I know I enjoyed the cooking of it!












Ingredients:
Mushrooms:
4 Portobello Mushrooms
1/2 cup Port
Soy Sauce
Apple Cider Vinegar
Ground Black Pepper
Italian Herb Mix

Sauce:
5 Boiler Onions
1/2 cup Basil Leaves
1 shot Sherry
3 shot Brandy
Lime Juice
Soy Sauce
Apple Cider Vinegar
Ground Black Pepper
Sweet Paprika
Fennel Powder
Ground Allspice
Ground Cloves

I began by gathering my materials.

Then I got a small sauce pot put on the stove and shredded the Basil Leaves into it.

Second, I sliced the Boiler Onions after peeling them. Into the same pot they went.

I then poured in some Brandy. Just to be clear, I meant the liquor not the R&B singer.

Then I poured in some Sherry. Turn the heat to medium or so.

Now I added in about 2 spoonfuls of Lime Juice and a good 1/4 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar. I also added in all the spices. I was going for a more even amount of everything, but by accident I put in a little more Ground Cloves and Allspice. Turns out it worked pretty well.

Now let it cook at just below medium for awhile, stirring occasionally.

Turn your attention to your Portobello Mushrooms. In a large saucepan I poured in about a 1/2 cup of Port and the same for Apple Cider Vinegar. To this I added a splash of Soy Sauce. In went the Mushrooms, gill side down, once it started to boil.

On top of the Mushrooms I sprinkled Ground Black Pepper and a dash of Italian Herb Mix.

Oooo! Look at that sauce cook! Stir it some more!

Flip your Mushrooms over about 3 minutes after you start them cooking.

They should cook for a few more minutes, or until they are spongey which means they are done. Turn to your sauce now and turn it off. Put the sauce mix into a food processor and take a bad photo like me.

Puree it until somewhat smooth. Now cut your Portobello Mushrooms into strips and plate. Add the sauce however you want it. I added a pinch of Italian Herb Mix to it. Enjoy.

Chef's Original: Mushroom Delight!

Yesterday I went and did a little bit of food shopping after work. I noticed that there were some shiitake mushrooms on sale, so naturally I picked up some. I also picked up some basil leaves and scallions. I decided then that I would do something with these ingredients, but had no idea until today. About an hour ago I decided that I needed to cook, which ended up starting off with this recipe.







Ingredients
Mushroom Sauce
Shiitake Mushrooms
Scallions
Basil Leaves
Olive Oil
Port
Lime Juice
Soy Sauce
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Ground Black Pepper
Fennel Powder
Italian Herb Mix
Sweet Paprika

The Rest
Baguette
Blue Cheese
Asiago Cheese
Small Basil Leaves

Alright, first step here is to gather most, if not all, of your ingredients. I left a few out since I just decided to use them as I was cooking.

I bought pre-shredded Shiitake Mushrooms so I skipped the step of cutting them into small pieces. Technically it is optional since you puree them later on. I didn't take a picture of just the mushrooms since they were pre-shredded, so we start with where I chopped the Scallions and put them in the mixing bowl on top of the mushrooms.

I then shredded and cut the Basil Leaves into small pieces, and into the bowl they went.

Alright, now grab a small sauce pot since it should contain everything easily enough. Put a dollop of Olive Oil in there. Dollop = not a lot, but a good size drop or thirty. Turn the heat to medium and throw in your mix.

Now, a good minute or three into the cooking and stirring I added some Port to the mix. I added it due to the fact that the Olive Oil was mostly gone and I did not want to deal with burning anything. Plus, Port is tasty. I also added a little bit of Soy Sauce, maybe a spoonful or so, to meld it all together.

Let it cook for awhile, stirring and mixing it up every so often. I want to say I left it cook for about 5 more minutes. This is what it looks like:

Dang, looks tasty! Now into the food processor it goes. Puree it for awhile until you get the consistency you want to achieve. Taste testing is encouraged at this phase.

Now to the plating part of this dish.

I bought a bag of sliced Baguette sections, however it is easy enough to do on your own as well. I put about a 1/2 spoonful of Blue Cheese crumbles on each one.

I then scooped out some of the Mushroom Sauce mixture on top of the Blue Cheese. This sauce was still hot so as to melt the Blue Cheese a little bit as well.

Dang, that picture was kind of terrible. Sorry everybody, I would take another picture but everything was eaten already.

On top of the Sauce I put a pinch of shredded Asiago Cheese.

I Topped this off with a Small Basil Leaf for each one. Enjoy!

Funghi con Pomodoro

The title translates to Sauteed Mushrooms with Garlic and Tomatoes and is a great recipe to throw together somewhat quickly. I brought a cookbook to work today to look up some new recipes to roughly try. The cookbook was: My Calabria by Rosetta Costantino w/ Janet Fletcher. This book is very good in my opinion as it relates a personal story to each recipe that generally makes me smile and want to grow more locally.

Ingredients
1 lb White Button Mushrooms (sliced)
1.5 cups worth of diced Tomatoes
5 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
4 Garlic cloves (diced)
1 tablespoon Sea Salt
1 tablespoon Cracked Red Pepper Flakes
2 pinches Fresh Thyme
2 pinches Fresh Oregano
2 tablespoons of Italian Herb Mix
1/4 cup Cabernet Sauvignon Wine

You begin by gathering all of your ingredients at least somewhat ready. I did not cut my grape Tomatoes in half beforehand like I found out I should have. It hurried me up a lot during the actual cooking process, so lesson learned I suppose.

You start by placing a saucepan on the stovetop, turn the heat to medium. Pour in your Extra Virgin Olive Oil and diced up Garlic cloves. Stir them around a little bit in the EVOO to coat them in the oil.

Once they begin to turn color and the oil smokes a bit, pour in your mixing bowl of sliced up Mushrooms. Mix them around a bunch; I used a pair of tongs for this part, a wooden spoon for the rest.

Add in your Thyme, Oregano, Italian Herb Mix, and Cracked Red Pepper Flakes. Mix together to spread them around. Pour in your Cabernet Sauvignon and stir once again! (It is ok to pour yourself a glass now if you have not done so by now!)

During this time, I sliced my small Tomatoes in half, which could have been done beforehand but oh well. I put them in a mixing bowl. Here's a picture of them, they look awesome.

Then after a few minutes, when the Mushrooms turn color I poured in the Tomatoes. I added a half pinch or so of the Italian Herb mix and then the Sea Salt. Then stir them up a bunch so you get the Salt all over.

After a few more minutes, let's say 5 minutes, it should be close to being done. I turned off the stovetop at this point and let the heat cook them a little bit more while I got the plating ready.

I chose to use some of our ever present salad mix in the fridge as a base. To this I used a slotted spoon to scoop out the Mushroom/Tomato mix and place it on top. Garnished with a light coating of Parmesan/Romano grated cheese. Enjoy.