Winter is nearly over but I am still kind of in winter-mode and craving simmered dishes like stews or this one. Without the stick-to-your-bones gravy of most stews though, this is a pretty light dish that is heavy on vegetables and uses the konnyaku (almost calorie-less) to fill you up.
Chikuzen-ni (serves 4-5):
450g chicken thighs, diced in 2cm cubes
4-6 shiitake mushrooms
2 carrots, cut into rolling wedges
1 burdock root (gobo - pictured), cut into rolling wedges
1 cake konnyaku, sliced and twisted
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup dashi
2 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp soy sauce
60g snow peas or green beans, parboiled
Heat 
the oil over high heat and add the chicken, konnyaku, mushrooms, carrot, and burdock. Cook for about 3 minutes, ensuring everything has a light coating of oil and is partially cooked. Next add the dashi and bring to a boil, then add the sugar and soy sauce. Cover with a drop lid (or a vent-lid like pictured) and simmer until reduced by about 1/3. Add in the cooked snow peas just prior to serving.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Chikuzen-ni
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Chicken, Fig and Mushroom Wilted Salad
This salad is perhaps the opposite of healthy. It is, however, extremely delicious. Also incredibly easy - made up on the fly, as it was - providing you have some pretty obscure ingredients to hand. Luckily, I had stopped by the Italian Centre on the weekend and noticed fresh figs (which I had not previously tried) and my freezer has goodies like the pan scrapings from a roast goose. Fabulous, and under 10 minutes to make.
Chicken, Fig & Mushroom Salad (serves 1):
100g chicken thigh or breast, cubed
large handful crimini mushrooms, sliced
1/4 onion, sliced
1 fresh fig, quartered
very large handful spinach leaves
1 tbsp goose fat
1/4 cup goose pan scrapings
salt & pepper
The pan scrapings and goose fat meant I did not have to spend any time worrying about flavouring for the meat. To start off, I melted the goose fat in a fry pan and cooked the onion and mushrooms until softened. Those were set aside and the pan scrapings were added to the pan with the chicken until cooked through. The spinach was topped with the mushrooms and onion and those were topped with the chicken. Then I added the fig and some good bread to mop up the drippings, and had a lovely al fresco dinner.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Creamy Mushroom Soup
After the overindulgences at Christmas, I don't really feel like cooking a lot. (And even the thought of sweets makes me slightly ill!) This is an easy, homey dinner that makes great leftovers as well. You could easily omit the dried mushrooms, but they seem to give the soup an even richer depth of flavour... along with the cognac, which is my new "secret" ingredient in almost everything. I like to keep the texture of this quite rustic, rather than making it a puree.
Mushroom Soup (serves 4):
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock 
1 litre water
1/2 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
24 oz button mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1 leek, finely chopped
salt & pepper
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1/4 cup cream
3 tbsp cognac
Bring the stock, water, and dried mushrooms up to a boil in a large soup pot. While that is heating, fry the butter, leeks, and mushrooms until softened and browned. Dump that to the hot water and cook for about 1 hour, adding salt, pepper, and thyme to season. Pulse with an immersion blender until it's to your desired consistency, then add the the cream and cognac and bring it back up nearly to a boil.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Mish Mash Mushroom Risotto
I am home solo tonight with the new babe, and I have to say this new life of mine is a serious adjustment. The little one seems to have colic - which is just another name for pretty much any baby discomfort that makes them miserable and so they cry about it for hours on end and there is nothing that seems to make it better. In an effort to feel just a tiny bit more in control of some part of my life, I decided to cook myself a decent meal, even though it was just me, even though I had to do most of it with the lovely background music of a baby crying. Sometimes when you feel like you are bad at being a mom, it is a tiny measure of comfort to remember that at least you are a good cook. That being said, if anyone has magic cures for colic - I welcome suggestions!
This risotto is based on my usual risotto recipe. In addition, I decided to mix in a little mixture Brooke gave me for "healthy rice" because I am breastfeeding, and therefore feel like I am doing a good thing any time I make any choice with the word "healthy" in it (it has flax seeds and other stuff like that in it). I also did not have white wine, so I put in a tiny splash of red, and I used onion soup base instead of chicken broth because I am trying not to eat actual onions (see above re: colic), and also my husband used the last of the chicken stock and we have about a foot of fresh snow on our roads telling me to stay home and make due with what I have.
Here is a picture of my finished dinner. That's right, I made a lobster tail to eat all by myself. I like to think I am classy like that.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Camping Dinner #2
Really, cooking on the road is a lot like cooking at home, it just takes a bit more advance planning. We decided that we wanted to take one of our favourite dinners (Apple Pork Chops), change it up a bit by breading the pork chops, serve it with a side of herb and mushroom pasta, and do it all over the campfire. No problem right? Well, for the most part no problem, you just need to work on timing everything to finish about the same time without knowing what kind of temperatures you are working with.
We figured the pork chops would take the longest to cook, so we did all our prep, put the chops on, and then worked everything else around that. Breading the pork chops in panko bread crumbs was easy, we just dipped them in an egg wash and then shook them around in the bag.
While we started the chops in the frying pan on the fire, we also started the water for the pasta going, and had a pot of mushrooms and onions sauteing. When the water was boiling, and the veggies were ready, we just moved them a bit off to the side to keep warm until it was go time. The pasta that Brooke picked up from the Italian Center was dry, but still had a cook time of only three minutes since it was extra skinny spaghetti.
Once the pork chops were finished cooking, we put them off to the side to rest, and sauteed the apples in the pan. At the same time, we popped the pasta in to cook, and threw some cream and chopped herbs from the garden in with the sauteed veggies to create a nice mushroom cream sauce.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A Lunch Wrap
In making the mushroom bruschetta for our 100 mile themed book club evening, it is almost impossible to judge how much of the mushroom mixture you will need to top the baguette slices. I always error on the side of having too much, knowing that I won't have any trouble using the mushroom mixture for lunch later (like with my creamy mushroom tarts where I spread the filling on toast - yum!). I used a number of the other ingredients I picked up to have a nice "local" lunch, and then I added in some not local at all avocado because I love it.
Wrap:
One large pita (I picked this one up at Elsalfi Bros. Mediteranian market - a fantastic independant grocery! and the pita is made in Edmonton at a restaurant on the South side)
One bunch of spinach picked from garden and washed
Fairwinds Farm goat cheese - as much as you can!
Half an avocado sliced (not local, but delicious)
Left over mushroom mixture
I threw the above all together and it made a great pita to eat on a sunny afternoon on my patio. It feels so much easier to eat healthy when the sun is shining doesn't it?
Friday, June 19, 2009
Mushroom Bruschetta
This is another dish from my local snacks book club menu. I discovered that Prairie Mushrooms grows mushrooms in Sherwood Park, a suburb of the city, so I felt like I had to take advantage of this and include a mushroom themed dish. Mushrooms are one of the few vegetables that you just don't see often at farmer's markets, and I had assumed that a local 100 mile diet would mean doing without. Not the case! For this recipe I chose to go with portabella and crimini mushrooms because I love the former, and have never cooked with the latter. They were easy to find at the Italian Center Shop , and I have been told they are also at Costco, some Sobey's and I saw them at Elsalfi Brothers as well.
Mushroom Bruschetta:
One Baguette (mine was from the Treestone Bakery on 99 st. that makes bread with local ingredients)
A small knob of butter (I used Dairyland, since they use Alberta milk to create their dairy products)
One portabella mushroom
One small container crimini mushrooms
A tsp. each of chopped parsley and chives (from my garden)
One small container of goat cheese
Cut the baguette into rounds and lay flat on a baking sheet. Spread each round with a generous pat of goat cheese, and set aside.
Chop up the mushrooms a little larger than the size you want them to be in the end, so that you allow for shrinkage in cooking. Saute the mushrooms in the butter until they brown, and throw in the herb about 30 seconds before finishing.
Scoop the mushroom mixture on top of the baguette slices and pop in the oven at 350 F until they are warm (10 minutes). Serve warm so that the cheese is nice and gooey.
It is worth mentioning that the goat cheese I used was from Fairwinds Farms out of Fort Macleod, AB. That is totally not within 100 miles of Edmonton, but that factored into our discussion of why "local" in the book was defined by a 100 mile radius (extra strange since in Canada we usually refer to distances in kilometers).
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Almost Pepperoni & Mushroom Pizza
My fridge is pretty much empty tonight, and I was way, way too tired to walk the the 2 (long) blocks to Sobey's. To give you an idea of just how empty my fridge is: the fruit drawer contains 1 granny smith apple, 1 lemon, and 1 wrinkled pomegranate. So, when I got home from work I did some raiding around and found in the freezer half of a sausage. Yay~ dinner!
This was pretty delicious for being made up of scraps in my refrigerator. I had one greek style pitta left in the freezer, so I used that and topped it with tomato paste - I use the squeeze kind from the Italian Centre Shop so I'm not constantly opening the little tins just to have them go to waste. I sliced the frozen sausage and cooked it on the hob, then added that to the pizza with the mushrooms. I decided to go with brie as it's pretty mild, as the only cheese I had was that or chèvre. It was then topped off with chopped parsley for colour and cooked in a 350F/180C oven for 10 minutes. Once it was cooked, my unrefined palate couldn't tell that I'd used French cheese on an "Italian" meal.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Mushroom Black Bean Pinwheels
The other day I was on Tastespotting, and The Review Lady had posted a picture of a black bean and mushroom pinwheel, but did not have the recipe. Well, it looked delicious, so I added it to my list of favourites, vowing to invent something based on the picture in the near future. Well, when I was making a vegetarian meal when a couple of friends came over, I thought "black beans, that would add some substance," and it was ON. I am 100% sure this did not taste like the inspiration pinwheel, but it was delicious!
Pinwheel:
1/2 package puff pastry (one of the two Tenderflake squares)
1 tsp olive oil
10 mushrooms
1/2 can black beans
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 tsp cumin
As per the pastry instructions, defrost and roll out the puff pastry. Saute the mushrooms in oil, and as they are finished, sprinkle in the cumin. Drain and rinse the black beans, and smush them with your hands as you add them in. Mix everything together, and spread evenly over the surface of the pastry. Sprinkle the parmesan over evenly as well.
Gently roll the pastry into a tube shape. Try not to loose the filling. Cut it into even sections about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick.
Spray a backing sheet with cooking spray (to avoid pastry sticking), and place each roll with a flat side on the sheet. If you have some extra parmesan, you may want to sprinkle a bit on top.
Back at 375 F for about 20 - 30 minutes (until golden brown) and then serve. When I made this for the girls, it went over very well, but when i made it for my husband he said it tasted a bit like a Taco Bell burrito. He seems to think that anything made with cumin does, but what does he know?
I made them as full sized appetizers, but if you cut the dough in half so that the wheels are smaller, they would make a tasty finger food.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Creamy Mushroom Tarts
I get tons of compliments on this particular recipe. I would say it is my top appetizer pick. It takes some time to make, but a lot of the more time intensive steps can be done in front of the TV, and these are great to stock the freezer with.
Mushroom Tarts
2 loaves of your favorite whole grain bread (using white just lowers the "healthiness" but I do it if I need to use up bread)
4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp finely chopped shallots (or onion in a bind)
½ pound (227 grams) mushrooms finely chopped (use the grocery store scales)
2 tbsp flour
1 cup/250 ml whipping cream
½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped parsley
2 tbsp chopped chives (or the tops of green onions)parmesan cheese to top
The first part is making the bread tart shells. I use a wine glass to make the bread rounds because they usually have narrower edges than a normal glass, and go through the bread well. Also, when I am done I can have a glass of wine while I chop seeing as the mushrooms take some time unless you have much better knife skills than I do. First, spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray (or grease it with butter or margarine). To form the tart shells you just press the rounds flat with your fingers and then press them into the pan. Bake at 400F/200C for 10 minutes. They will be nice and golden and hold their shape when removed. You can freeze these on their own if that is enough work for you in a day and put any filling in them that you like later.
Let the filling cool so that it doesn't make your shells soggy, and then fill them and top them with a sprinkle of parmesan. At this point you can either pop them into a container and throw them in the freezer (put a layer of wax paper in between if you are stacking them), or throw them in the oven at 350F/180C for 10 minutes. If you are taking them out of the freezer they may need more like 12 minutes. If I have left over filling, I pop it in the fridge and then spread it on toast and put it under the broiler for a minute the next day as lunch.Monday, November 24, 2008
Not Quick but Easy Mushroom Risotto
Now that winter is here all I want to do when I get home is curl up with the internet and something delicious, warm, and rich. This is one of my winter staples, and is a simplified version of one of Delia Smith's recipes. Today I've used a 50/50 mixture of oyster and button mushrooms as that's what I had, but usually I just use regular button or crimini. It takes about an hour all together; it's worth it! And who doesn't love having risotto without having to do any of the usual stirring?
Mushroom Risotto:
3-3.5 cups/200-225g chopped fresh mushrooms - any kind
1 medium finely chopped onion
3 tbsp/60g butter or margarine
2 cups/500ml vegetable or mushroom stock
200ml white wine
1 scant cup/175g arborio (risotto) rice
salt & pepper
2-3 tbsp fresh grated parmesan
Preheat your oven to 300F/150C, and place a shallow 1.5 litre baking dish in to heat up. First, chop up the mushrooms and onion. Melt the butter in a medium saute/fry pan and add the chopped onion. Cook for around 5 minutes over medium-low heat, then add the mushrooms and stir. Keep the heat low and let soften for 20 minutes.
Add the rice and stir it in, then add the stock and wine plus 1 tsp salt and some ground pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Transfer the contents to the warmed baking dish and place uncovered on the centre shelf for 20 minutes. Then, stir in the parmesan and put back in for another 15 minutes.
This serves 2 generously, or up to 6 as a side. If you want fewer dishes to clean, just use an oven-safe saute/fry pan and pop that in the oven to cook - that's what I usually do when I'm not concerned with having a fancy dish to serve it in.
