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.

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!

Spoonful of Mushroom Couscous

So in a lot of my posts, I have either Mushrooms or Couscous involved. Well, looks like it's about time they met up and made an amazing meal. I decided to make this today as a lunchtime meal, and it was just so simple to make that I was hitting myself for not figuring it out sooner!



Ingredients:
1/2 lb Shiitake Mushrooms
1 lb Cremini Mushrooms
Sake
Teriyaki Sauce
Soy Sauce
Lime Juice
Ground Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Couscous

I began with a saucepan where I poured in a liberal amount of Sake. Added to that was a light amount of Soy and Teriyaki Sauce. The same for Lime Juice. I turned the heat to medium.

I then sliced the Cremini Mushrooms and Shiitake Mushrooms into smaller portions and tossed them all into the saucepan. To that, I added the Ground Black Pepper and Garlic salt. Not too much otherwise they will overpower everything else. Mix everything together with tongs to make sure everything gets equal flavor.

At this point, I started the Couscous in my rice cooker. It finished cooking right as the rest of the recipe was finishing up.

Back to the Mushrooms, stir them again. They should be spongey about now so turn the heat off. Get your food processor or blender and puree the Mushrooms as much as you can. They turned into a kind of paste for me, which turns out to work quite well.

Since the Couscous is done now, just put that down first and top with the Mushroom paste. Garnish with a sprinkling of Italian Herbs and you are good to go. Enjoy.

Doubled Up Mushroom Soup

This is very similar to the previously posted mushroom soup, however some of the recipe has changed. The original posting of mushroom soup was roughly done from a cookbook I have, this one is from memory and with my added flair. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1/2 stick Herbed Butter
1 lb Shiitake Mushrooms
1 lb White Button Mushrooms
1 White Onion
Italian Herb Mix
Smoked Spanish Paprika
Cumin/Coriander
4 cups Beef Broth (from bullion cube)




I began with my beef bullion cube in a small pot that fits 4 cups water. Turn the heat up to high to get it mixed quickly.

With a large saucepan that I put the butter into and turned to medium heat. I then diced up the White Onion. I threw this into the saucepan when the butter had started to melt, which is quite quickly.


After this, I diced up the Shiitake Mushrooms by hand and threw them in there on top. Stir to mix well. I sliced up the White Button Mushrooms and threw them in the saucepan. Stir well. Put the Italian Herb Mix on top, I'd say about 2 spoonfuls. Stir. Same amount with the cumin/coriander. Stir. A pinch or two of Paprika to round it out, stir it in.

After a few minutes of stirring the mushrooms and onions around, check to see if the onions have caramelized. Once they are, grab your pot of beef broth and pour it in. I suggest stirring while doing this if possible, or just a cup or so at a time.

Turn off the heat for the pot where you had your beef broth, you won't need it anymore. Turn the heat down on the saucepan to medium-low and cover. Stir occasionally for 5 to 10 minutes. Turn off and serve.