NYE: Stuffed Mushrooms

Alright everybody, I know it's been awhile since I've posted and I'm sorry for that. I have not really been around enough to do proper cooking worthy of a new post. That and I was out of town for Christmas, so I did not get to cook there! Here's some NYE goodness!

Ingredients:
1 lb White Button Mushrooms
Couscous(2 cups Couscous, 3 cups Water)
1 Green Bell Pepper, diced
1/3 cup Scallions, diced
Teriyaki Sauce
Brandy*
1800 Silver Tequila*
Dry Sherry*
Port*
Ancho Chili Powder
Garlic Salt
Sesame Seeds
Shredded Asiago Cheese

*ALCOHOL

Tonight I'm going to a shindig at a friends place where I get to bring food! Well, I didn't list the Hummus I am bringing on here because it's the same recipe as I have posted about already! This Stuffed Mushrooms recipe is very involved and should be wonderful.

I began by utilizing my Rice Cooker. 2 cups of Couscous and 3 cups of Water. Plug in, hit the tab to COOK, red light comes on. Let it be.

Now to the ingredients. I was going to use tomatoes too, but that did not occur.

Now take the stems out of the Mushrooms. Place stems to the side.

Now get your alcohol.

Using a large skillet, add in your alcohol. I'd list them, but all the alcohol goes in this part! I used about a 1/4 cup of each with maybe a little more of the Brandy.

Turn the heat to MEDIUM. Once it begins to boil, add in a dusting of Ancho Chili Powder. Then in go the Mushroom caps, gill side down. Cover and reduce heat a little bit. Make sure to flip them in about 2 minutes.

Now there are those pesky mushroom stems. Slice them up and put them in a sauce pot. Add in your diced Scallions and diced Bell Pepper. To this, I added a dash of Tequila and Brandy, along with some Teriyaki Sauce.

Make sure to unplug your Rice Cooker when the Couscous is done so it doesn't get dried out. It should be about 2 minutes after you flipped the Mushroom Caps now, so turn off the heat and remove from that burner. Leave covered so they keep the heat while you tend to other things.

Let the Mushroom Stems, Scallions, and Bell Pepper cook for about 2 minutes. Turn off heat and turn to your Food Processor. Take them out and put them in. Add a sprinkling of Sesame Seeds. Puree.

Now comes the plating part. I have them in an oven ready dish in case we need to heat them up later on. I first spooned in some Couscous.

Then I added the puree mixture. Topped it with a sprinkling of Shredded Asiago Cheese. 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.

Simple Steak Snack

When I was out food shopping yesterday, I picked up a Flank Steak. I did not know of this cut of meat until I moved to Texas. It is quite the tasty morsel.









Ingredients
1 lb Flank Steak
Butter
Port
Teriyaki Sauce
Lime Juice
Ground Black Pepper
Lawry's Seasoning
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Celery Salt

Alright, so I began by taking the steak out and putting it on a cutting board. I know some might not know what this cut of beef looks like, so here you go:

Other side:

I began by cutting the steak into several smaller pieces to fit in my large saucepan better.

I then put the heat to medium and put some Butter in there. I think it's between 1/3 and 1/2 of a stick.

I seasoned the steak with a nice mix. I covered them first in Lawry's, then a light dusting of everything else.

Now, since the Butter is mostly melted I put the steak in seasoned side down. I then used some Lawry's on the top of them.

I flipped them over about 30 seconds later.

Now I let them cook for about 2 minutes and that's when I added a healthy splash of Port.

About a minute later I added a criss cross pattern of Teriyaki Sauce and a splash of Lime Juice.

I then flipped the steaks.

I took one off to check how they were cooking, it looked like this:

Now I know a lot of people who like it at this point of cooking, however I like my Flank Steak medium to well done. So they went for another minute.

Finally once they were cooked enough, I took them off and plated them. Of course, a beer was necessary while eating this delicious lunchtime snack. Enjoy.