Noodles with Chicken, Peppers and Shiitake

Ingredients: noodles, 1 chicken breast, 1 onion, salt, pepper, 1 red pepper, 100 grams shiitake, 2 tablespoons fish sauce, 125 ml sweet chilli sauce,

Number of persons: 2

Prepare the noodles according pack instructions. Bake in hot oil 1 diced chicken breast with 1 chopped onion until the chicken breast is brown. Add 1 chopped red pepper and 100 grams shiitake and stir fry 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and 125 ml sweet chilli sauce and stir fry another minute or two. Serve with noodles. Enjoy!

Lasagne with Zucchini and Shiitake

Ingredients: 1 onion, 1 garlic clove, thyme, 250 grams minced beef, 1 zucchini, 150 grams shiitakes, 250 grams roma tomatoes, 1 tin diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, 40 grams butter, 40 grams flour, 450 ml stock, 200 grams grated cheese, lasagne sheets

Number of persons: 4

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Bake in hot butter 1 chopped onion with 1 finely chopped garlic clove and thyme until the onion is soft. Add 250 grams of minced beef and fry it brown. Add 1 diced zucchini and 150 grams sliced cut shiitakes. Stir fry a few minutes. Then add 250 grams of diced roma tomatoes and 1 tin diced tomatoes. Bring to taste with salt and pepper. Let it all simmer on low heat and meanwhile make the cheese sauce. Melt 40 grams butter. Add 40 grams flour and fry briefly. Then add gradually 450 ml stock (or as much until you have desired thickness) again. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir 200 grams of grated mature cheese. Put in an ovenproof dish layers of the vegetable mixture, lasagne sheets, vegetable mixture, half the cheese sauce, lasagne sheets, vegetable mixture and finally the rest of the cheese sauce. Put the dish about 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Enjoy!

Scallops with Asparagus and Shiitake Mushrooms

So we’ve had some iffy recipes in the past few weeks. This one makes up for all of those. One of the best things we’ve eating in a while! The mushrooms practically melted in your mouth. Mmmmm! We will definitely be making this one again.

Taylor wants me to remind you to be sure to pat the scallops dry before sautéing them. They won’t brown if they’re watery. This is especially important if you use frozen scallops (like we did).

Scallops with Asparagus and Shiitake Mushrooms

We didn’t know what hon-dashi was, or where to get it. I don’t know what it could have added to this dish to make it any better, as it was delicious without it.
Recipe from Epicurious. Makes 2 servings.

INGREDIENTS
6 fresh asparagus spears, cut diagonally into 1 1/2-inch pieces
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons grated onion
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons sake
1 teaspoon hon-dashi, Japanese bonito-type soup stock granules, is sold at Asian markets.
Pinch of cayenne pepper
10 sea scallops

DIRECTIONS
Cook asparagus in medium saucepan of boiling salted water 1 minute. Drain.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and garlic; sauté until mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Add onion; stir 1 minute. Add soy sauce, sake, hon-dashi and cayenne; simmer until sauce thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat.

Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in heavy medium skillet over high heat. Season scallops with salt and pepper. Add scallops to skillet and sauté until almost cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add asparagus and toss until heated through, about 1 minute. Add sauce and simmer 1 minute.

Divide between 2 plates and serve.

Pea Shoot and Spinach Salad with Bacon and Shiitake

Forgive me for posting all these at once. From the way I post, it seems like we eat three meals at once, then starve for the rest of the week. hehe. Apologies, I always take pictures of our meals, but sometimes get a bit behind as far as posting them. Maybe if Taylor would learn how to post things every once in a while… *ahem*

This was actually tonights dinner. We had this lovely salad with a side of asparagus and sourdough bread. For a salad, this one was excellent. Taylor said all it was missing was some hard-boiled egg. We’d never had pea shoots before, and just so happened they had them at the farmers’ market. I’ve never seen them anywhere else though. If you can’t find them, this recipe would be just as good with all spinach or even mixed greens.

Pea Shoot and Spinach Salad with Bacon and Shiitake

Makes 4-6 servings. Recipe from Epicurious.

INGREDIENTS
1 (1/4-lb) piece smoked bacon
3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 lb fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps quartered
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon coarse-grain mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 oz fresh pea shootspea shoots (4 cups)
4 oz baby spinach leaves (4 cups)
1 bunch fresh chives, cut into 1-inch lengths
6 radishes, cut into matchsticks

DIRECTIONS
Cut bacon into 3/4-inch-thick matchsticks and cook in a heavy skillet over moderately low heat, stirring, until crisp but still chewy, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.

Pour off fat from skillet and add 1 1/2 tablespoons oil, mushrooms, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are golden, about 8 minutes, then cool.

Whisk together lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, and remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large salad bowl until blended.

Add pea shoots and spinach to dressing and toss to coat. Add bacon, mushrooms, chives, and radishes and toss again.

Sweet Potato & Shiitake Tofu Scramble

T: What are we cooking tonight?
L: We don’t have anything planned for dinner, and we don’t go to the store until tomorrow.
T: What do we have?
L: *inspecting the eerily empty refrigerator*
L: a sweet potato, some shiitake mushrooms, a zucchini and some tofu.
T: What a combination.
L: *does a quick google search for “tofu shiitake zucchini recipe”… Prints off the first recipe that happens to pop up (which also includes, by the way, a sweet potato).*
L: Let’s try this.
T: *very skeptical of recipes from anything but a cooking authority*
T: Ok then…

30 minutes later, we had what looked like a glorified tofu scramble. We modified the recipe a bit (this was the day before grocery day, remember). And you know what? It may have been the best thing we cooked all week. Go figure.

By the way, props to you if you can form this into patties. I think it would taste even better that way. But, after one crumbly attempt at a patty, and some very rumbly tummies, we tossed the whole bowl into the pan and cooked it like a big hash brown.

Sweet Potato & Shiitake Tofu Scramble

Makes 4 servings (or so). Recipe from here, with modifications. :)

INGREDIENTS
1 sweet potato, cubed
1 package extra-firm tofu
1 zucchini, shredded
2/3 cup green onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ginger, grated
1 teaspoon sesame oil
5 shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1 teaspoon sriracha sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons corn starch
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 carrot, grated, for garnish

For sauce:
1 cup water
2 teablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons corn starch
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon seasame oil
3 shiitake mushrooms, diced

DIRECTIONS
Boil sweet potato cubes until fork tender. Drain well and mash, set aside.

Press and drain tofu. The more moisture you can get out of it the better. Mash in tofu with the sweet potatoes.

Heat a small non-stick skillet and add the sesame oil, zucchini, green onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook until the zucchini softens, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add to tofu-sweet potato mixture.

Add mushrooms, sriracha, salt, and corn starch and mix thoroughly.

Attempt to form the mixture into patties. If you can, pan cook in a lightly oiled pan for 3-4 minutes per side, or until browned. If not, dump the entire mixture into a large pan and let sit (no stirring!) for about 5 minutes or until bottom is brown and crisp. Toss mixture with spatula and again let sit until bottom is brown. Repeat until mixture is evenly browned.

To make sauce, mix all ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture boils, becomes translucent, and thickens. Drizzle over patties (or scramble mixture), garnish with grated carrot and sliced green onion

Baked Trout with Shiitake Mushrooms and Tomatoes

Every now and then we come across an unbelievable simple dish that blows our minds. Add to that the fact that it is quick, and healthy, and I can’t think of a better thing to cook for dinner any night of the week. Our Tomato & Olive Penne is a permanent staple in our weekly meal plans, and this recipe will soon be joining it.

We roasted everything at once, just put it in the oven and go relax (see? easy!). While we started out with the asparagus and potatoes underneath the fish in the baking dish, we ended up quarantining the two in separate receptacles. Fish is good, but potatoes that taste like fish didn’t sound quite as appealing.

We love to cook fish, but here in Tennessee the pickin’s are not so great. Too far from an ocean in every direction I guess. Our choices are either frozen or expensive, and it is for that reason that we fall back on better-when-frozen items such as shrimp more often than we do fish.

Every once in a while, though, when we make the trek across town around the vicinity of Whole Foods, well, we decide to treat ourselves. Delicacies such as halibut or tuna are always way out of our price range (even when treating), but trout, well, even at Whole Foods (dubbed Whole Paycheck by some), was a very tidy $4.50 for two fillets. Small fillets, I give you that much, but paired with some garlic roasted potatoes and asparagus, made for a fine meal indeed.

Baked Trout with Shiitake Mushrooms and Tomatoes

Recipe from Epicurious.
Makes 2 servings.

INGREDIENTS
Nonstick cooking spray
2 whole rainbow trout (about 12 ounces each), cleaned, boned, butterflied
OR
2 good sized trout fillets

2 green onions, chopped
2 large fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped seeded tomatoes
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
Fresh cilantro sprigs

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with foil; coat with nonstick spray. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Open fish like a book and arrange, skin side down, on prepared baking sheet.

Mix next 5 ingredients in bowl. Sprinkle mixture over fish, drizzle with soy sauce and sesame oil, then top with cilantro sprigs. Bake uncovered until fish is opaque in center, about 20 minutes.