The other day I came back from the shops with a load of really good, fresh veggies. I had a fair few ideas of what I was going to do with them too.
And then I thought, "Hangabout mate! P'haps some of me tweeterers may wanna give it a go?" So I put the list up on twitter and also mentioned a well stocked pantry plus herb garden, and asked what folks would make!
Unfortunately, I don't have many foodies following my tweets, so only 2 people gave it a go. One was braise some of the veggies then through it all into a quiche. Ummmmmm, not exactly what I had in mind. The other was stuffing the bell peppers with the chilli, put them and the rest of the veggies in a casserole dish, cover with cheese and bake. Not bad. But again, not exactly what I had in mind.
Remember, it's hard to get the meaning through in only 140 characters via twitter!
So how's about we try it here!
You may assume a very very very well stocked pantry and good garden goodies. This means things like garlic greens, wild onions, fresh herbs, potatoes, spuds etc can be used. Pretty much any kind of dried spice, dried herb, or herb mix you can think of can also be used. As far as cheese goes, just make sure you use ones that I've heard of as I usually have 7 to 10 different kinds of cheeses on hand at any one time.
And lastly, let's keep this meat free. Just cuz I feel like it.
And try not to go overboard on the pantry items. Fettuccine with a creamy cheese sauce and a few of the fronds from the fennel bulb sprinkled over the top ain't gonna make the cut! The idea is to see what you would make from this list that features the ingredients, not the accessories.
And here is the list of goodies you get to work with:
Brussel sprouts, red n green n yellow bell peppers, green beans, large fennel bulb w/stalks and fronds, button mushrooms, fresh juicy just-off-the-vine tomatoes, fresh thai chillis, 3 bok choys.
I came up with a dozen dishes I'd make off the top of my head, and then pared it down to 6 simple, tasty ones.
If you feel the need to help your knowledge a bit (cheat) by using cookbooks or the internets then you may, but you'll have to live with your guilty conscience. (I'm just joking of course!)
Obviously, there's no need to go out and get all this stuff, I'm just curious to see what other folks would make. Use the comments, it'd be nice to get into double digit comments so spread the url for this post around!
Showing posts with label mushrooms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mushrooms. Show all posts
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Easy Beef Stroganoff
Beef stroganoff is perhaps one of the easiest and tastiest dishes you can make. The only slightly pricey part of it is the meat, but if you shop smartly you can still feed four people for around a buck-fifty a plate.
I had to do some substitutions from my usual stroggie recipe as I was out of tomato paste and fairly low on cream. But don't worry, I persevered and figured out some quick and easy subs. I'll tell you what they were in a minute.
This is my basic, standard stroggie recipe. Sometimes I "go above and beyond" it, other times I leave it as is. Last night was the "leave as is" as Wifey-Poo wasn't up for anything too spicy.
Easy Beef Stroganoff
What you need:
500 grams (a bit over a pound) of lean ground beef
1 onion
500 grams mushrooms --the more, the better!
1/2 cup tomato paste
3 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp paprika
sea salt
1 1/2 to 2 cups cream
1/4 cup sour cream
Substitutions:
I've used kangaroo, caribou, moose, or venison instead of beef --tasty!
I was out of tomato paste so I took 2 cups tomato puree and cooked it down till it was the consistency of tomato paste ---Ta-DA!
I also didn't have enough cream so I mixed full cream milk powder with an equal amount of water to make a nice, creamy milk slurry. Worked perfect.
What you do:
Brown the ground meat in a large skillet till it's half cooked. If you aren't using really lean meat then drain off some of the juices now. Add the onions and shrooms to the meat, sprinkle a bit of sea salt, and cook till the meat is done. By then the onions and shrooms will be done.
Add the tomato paste, dijon mustard, and the paprika. Give it a thorough stirring for a minute with the heat on low. Add the cream with the heat still on low. Stir it well to combine everything and let it simmer till the cream just starts to bubble. Turn the heat off and stir in the sour cream.
See? Wasn't that easy?
I served mine over pasta last night, specifically #56 fusilli. That means medium spirals. Very tasty, very easy, and it'll impress your friends.
I had to do some substitutions from my usual stroggie recipe as I was out of tomato paste and fairly low on cream. But don't worry, I persevered and figured out some quick and easy subs. I'll tell you what they were in a minute.
This is my basic, standard stroggie recipe. Sometimes I "go above and beyond" it, other times I leave it as is. Last night was the "leave as is" as Wifey-Poo wasn't up for anything too spicy.
Easy Beef Stroganoff
What you need:
500 grams (a bit over a pound) of lean ground beef
1 onion
500 grams mushrooms --the more, the better!
1/2 cup tomato paste
3 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp paprika
sea salt
1 1/2 to 2 cups cream
1/4 cup sour cream
Substitutions:
I've used kangaroo, caribou, moose, or venison instead of beef --tasty!
I was out of tomato paste so I took 2 cups tomato puree and cooked it down till it was the consistency of tomato paste ---Ta-DA!
I also didn't have enough cream so I mixed full cream milk powder with an equal amount of water to make a nice, creamy milk slurry. Worked perfect.
What you do:
Brown the ground meat in a large skillet till it's half cooked. If you aren't using really lean meat then drain off some of the juices now. Add the onions and shrooms to the meat, sprinkle a bit of sea salt, and cook till the meat is done. By then the onions and shrooms will be done.
Add the tomato paste, dijon mustard, and the paprika. Give it a thorough stirring for a minute with the heat on low. Add the cream with the heat still on low. Stir it well to combine everything and let it simmer till the cream just starts to bubble. Turn the heat off and stir in the sour cream.
See? Wasn't that easy?
I served mine over pasta last night, specifically #56 fusilli. That means medium spirals. Very tasty, very easy, and it'll impress your friends.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Sloooooooow Gravy
Now I can whip up a quick gravy for mashed spuds or whatnot in about 30 seconds. It's so simple I'm not even going to go into the making thereof.
This gravy IS NOT like that.
This gravy is the main course for my extra special biscuits n gravy dinner that everyone down here loves. There are 2 keys to making this dinner... An awesomely good biscuit recipe (which I have) and the makings (and 8 hours) to make the gravy.
Yes, this gravy takes 8 hours. Most of that is "resting" time and some simmering time so it's not like you are going to slave over the stovetop all 8 hours. I usually do about 5 mins on my way through for each step.
You don't get an ingredient list since this changes depending on just what sort of meats and pan juices I have lying around. In fact, I think I'll just tell you what I did.
Here's what I did:
Half a can of mushrooms plus one glass of port wine went into the food processor and it was processed. That was put into a large saucepan along with 1/2 a minced onion, 2 cloves of crushed garlic and a sprinkle of sea salt. I simmered it till no liquid was left. Saucepan was de-glazed with 2 glasses of chardonnay and then simmered till almost no liquid was left. 3 glasses of shiraz were then added and it was simmered till the liquid was reduced by half.
It was then left to sit for 3 hours. I do believe I had a swim in the pool and then a nap during those 3 hours.
3 thick slices of a small, cooked, beef topside roast were diced along with the other half of the onion. It was all added to a wok along with 2 more crushed garlic cloves, sprinkle of sea salt and ground black pepper. That was dry seared in the hot wok for a minute or two, then deglazed with 1 glass of shiraz and 1 glass of chardonnay, and then simmered till the liquid was reduced by half.
That then sat for an hour.
Everything was combined into the large saucepan and roasting pan juices from a corned silverside and a beef topside roast were added --about two cups total. Plus 2 cups of water.
Whisked and heated, then checked for seasonings --nothing more was needed! Brought up to a boil and thickened with cornstarch/cornflour (in Aus it's called cornflour, in the US it's called cornstarch --same thing and it comes from WHEAT, not CORN) and then massive amounts of it were ladled over fresh, hot, flaky biscuits.
Very tasty, clean bowls all around!
This gravy IS NOT like that.
This gravy is the main course for my extra special biscuits n gravy dinner that everyone down here loves. There are 2 keys to making this dinner... An awesomely good biscuit recipe (which I have) and the makings (and 8 hours) to make the gravy.
Yes, this gravy takes 8 hours. Most of that is "resting" time and some simmering time so it's not like you are going to slave over the stovetop all 8 hours. I usually do about 5 mins on my way through for each step.
You don't get an ingredient list since this changes depending on just what sort of meats and pan juices I have lying around. In fact, I think I'll just tell you what I did.
Here's what I did:
Half a can of mushrooms plus one glass of port wine went into the food processor and it was processed. That was put into a large saucepan along with 1/2 a minced onion, 2 cloves of crushed garlic and a sprinkle of sea salt. I simmered it till no liquid was left. Saucepan was de-glazed with 2 glasses of chardonnay and then simmered till almost no liquid was left. 3 glasses of shiraz were then added and it was simmered till the liquid was reduced by half.
It was then left to sit for 3 hours. I do believe I had a swim in the pool and then a nap during those 3 hours.
3 thick slices of a small, cooked, beef topside roast were diced along with the other half of the onion. It was all added to a wok along with 2 more crushed garlic cloves, sprinkle of sea salt and ground black pepper. That was dry seared in the hot wok for a minute or two, then deglazed with 1 glass of shiraz and 1 glass of chardonnay, and then simmered till the liquid was reduced by half.
That then sat for an hour.
Everything was combined into the large saucepan and roasting pan juices from a corned silverside and a beef topside roast were added --about two cups total. Plus 2 cups of water.
Whisked and heated, then checked for seasonings --nothing more was needed! Brought up to a boil and thickened with cornstarch/cornflour (in Aus it's called cornflour, in the US it's called cornstarch --same thing and it comes from WHEAT, not CORN) and then massive amounts of it were ladled over fresh, hot, flaky biscuits.
Very tasty, clean bowls all around!
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