Sunday, November 16, 2008

Baked Pork With 3 Mushrooms

It's been quite hectic days lately for me. I tried to cook some quick meals for the family and made sure that there's at least once a week, we eat home cooked meals. It's fun not to wash pots and plates but in the long run, I felt bored with the eateries' menus... :-P Talk about being fussy LOL! Don't you ever said to yourself that what you ate at the restaurants, you can cook it at home too? In current economy situation, it's time for us to make efforts being frugal. So, let's make use those 3 ingredients or 4 ingredients cooking books hidden away gathering dust in the cabinet :-P I had one book like that and recently I added a new one to my collection.

This recipe is one of the ideas of using what's left in your pantry and fridge. I nearly forgot that I froze a pack of pork shoulder meat (among others in the freezer) and some mushrooms left from previous cooking hence the 3 types of mushrooms I used in this recipe. At first, I thought it's weird and not sure how the dish will taste like especially the strong flavoured Shiitake mushrooms. Will it over powered the other mild mushrooms? My family liked it very much but let me know your feedback ;-)


Baked Pork With 3 Mushrooms
Serves 2-3

100 g Enoki Mushrooms (Golden Mushrooms)
2-4 White Button Mushrooms
2 Shiitake Mushrooms
½ Red Onion
2 cloves Garlic
200 g Pork Shoulder (or any tender chicken meat)

Seasonings:
1 tbsp Rice Wine
1 tbsp Dark Soya Sauce
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tbsp Cornstarch
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
¼ tsp Black Pepper

Method:
1. Rinse or wipe fresh mushrooms from grits. Remove any discolored parts or hard stems and cut into shreds. Rinse the Enoki mushrooms and cut off tail-ends. Peel and slice garlic and red onion.
2. Preheat oven at 200 ºC. (For those who have oven with higher set of temperature than stated, preheat oven to 250ºC.)
3. Rinse meat thoroughly ad cut into bite size pieces. Marinate with seasonings for 20-30 minutes. Transfer into a ovenproof casserole and top with all the sliced ingredients.
3. Cover with aluminum foil and transfer to preheated oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until tender to your preference. (If your oven's at 250ºC, bake the dish for 20 minutes.)
4. Remove aluminum foil and serve.

Note: If you don't have an oven, this recipe can be cook in a heavy pot on stove as well. Besides pork, you can also use chicken like fillets, thighs and breast meats. Serve this recipe with rice or noodles of your choice. I tried it 'dry' and as soup on cooked yellow noodles (with extra water added to the gravy)- it turned out surprisingly tasty too. I also add extra sliced spring onions, julienned carrot and red chillies as garnishing as you can see in the picture. Actually, I separated the recipe into halves because I have a guest who's not a fan of chillies (it made him upset stomach.) With the other half I added extra chopped chillies, julienned carrot and lots of sliced spring onions. Mixed it all up nicely, just before serving. It's yummy that way for me! Tell me what you think...

Enjoy!

~ Tagged: 7 Facts About Myself ~

I was tagged by CK Lam recently which is the 1st time for me since I started blogging. Frankly, I'm quite confused about this meme and tag thingies. It's like a kind of confession about yourself and since it's nearly end of the year, perhaps this tag may help me for my new resolutions! I also received few requests from those I tagged before though. It's no obligation and feel free to pass my tag(s) :-)

1. My 1st lesson in cookery was frying an omelette at age of 9.
2. I never owned Barbie Doll... I don't know why I don't have interest like some of my neighbourhood girls about Barbie. Maybe the price or I'm not blonde and skinny... :-D
3. I love books... My favourite... science, thriller, children's stories of magical world, Art & History, Famous Five, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, 3 Investigators, languages ... the lots! Plus board games like Mastermind, Othello/Reversi, Congkak ( a version of Mancala) and many more...
4. I have phobias of swimming (no, no, no, not because of JAWS!) and driving. I need to troubleshoot the later though...
5. I love travelling... the most memorable event was flying in the Swiss Alps. I felt so timid, speechless and at awed the wonders of Mother Nature created. At the same time, my soul was peaceful thousands of feet above sea level looking down at the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc.
6. My best working life was seeing my design on TV worn by Silver Medalist in Men's Single Table Tennis in XXV Olympic Games in Barcelona. I followed the player and created the sportswear collection until I retired in 1998... LOL
7. I need to do 'fridge cleaning' (a term given by Food4tots) more often then I'm doing now :-P

26 comments:

  1. That looks quite good. I never realized how inexpensive pork shoulder was until I bought a big piece last month. I roasted it whole for about 4 hours. I think I would rather have eaten it your way though!

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  2. It's amazing what you can do with what's left in the pantry or fridge. This looks so warming and wonderful. I love it! And P.S. -- Your photos and blog are gorgeous!

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  3. Tks for your tagging. I always carry out "fridge cleaning" exercise. Pretty challenging to me! Never try baking method but did use assorted mushrooms to cook my mushroom rice (和风伴饭). ;)

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  4. Hi Maria ~ I do agreed with you. It's cheaper and less fat too. The butcher will remove the skin & most of the fat for me. I like to use it in stew and sometimes stir-fried with dark soya sauce and black pepper.

    Hi Angela ~ Sometimes, I'm amazed at what can be discovered and created with the left overs. Would you believe I tasted sugar cubes that has been kept in the pantry for over 60 years???? It belonged to my hubby's grandmother's... :-D The sugar cubes were not as perfect cut squares or that you can split into halves with your fingers like today. I assumed they were handmade because the cubes were not perfectly square shaped and slightly crooked. They tasted better than our modern day white cubed sugar! Thank you for the compliment :-)

    Food4tots ~ I love mushrooms very much. My kid's the one who's busy with 'fridge cleaning' everyday! Would you believe if I tell you that our local mushrooms like Shiitake, Enoki, Oyster Mushrooms,etc are more expensive in Europe? It's considered as exotic! Most of the time, I sticked to local produce mushrooms like chanterelle or Brown mushrooms which were cheaper. Yes, I read about your Mushroom Rice-it's yummy!

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  5. Thanks for the tag :) I might have to pass though, since I don't actually do tag questions on my food blog but thanks for thinking of me.

    I love this recipe btw, going to bookmark it. We love mushrooms so that's a definite plus. You might be interested in my mushroom lover's risotto if you like mushrooms too :)

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  6. hi Nilmandra, no problem. Tagging is new to me and I thought is a way of letting bloggers know a bit of myself :-) It's only this once LOL. I found it quite taxing though... Thanks for informing me ;-)

    I love mushrooms yes! To the extend of thinking rearing a cat or dog to sniff some for me... hmmm... will be wonderful if it turns out to be truffles!

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  7. Nice to see you coming out with this new post. Your way of cooking always seems to look so easy.
    Anyway, thanks for doing the tag 'thing'. Tagging is also new to me and that was my first and I totally agree with you that it is quite taxing...

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  8. Hi CK... Sometimes when I'm busy I had to think of fast ways or cheater's way to cook :-D It's not easy compared to back home, we can 'tar pau' and lurk at 24 hrs Nasi Kandar. I have a toddler who wants my attention and constantly curious at what's happening in the kitchen. I had to cook fast LOL Lately, I'd been using oven a lot. It's convenient and I can keep my eyes on the 'Smurf'.

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  9. I love pork shoulder, I find it to be among the most flavourful part of the pig :)

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  10. WOW! looks like one of the pictures in food magazines! Bravo.

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  11. You're a fashion designer? How cool, why don't you write this in your profile. You're very modest. Sorry I haven't been around lately but I hardly find time as I am involved in a project taking a lot of my time. You know that I love mushrooms but unfortunately I have never tried Enoki nor Chitake but It sounds like a great combination of ingredients.

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  12. Salut Laura ~ thank you for the compliment :-) I'm still new in blogging and food photography which is new category for me.

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  13. Ola kala Ivy ~ welcome back :-) I knew you're very busy. I love the photos you took during your holidays. I'm not trained as fashion designer actually... by profession I dabbled in graphics but somehow I managed to swerve into apparel design which expanded my knowledge :-D

    If you don't have Enoki or Shiitake, you can use Pleurotus, Porcini or any available mushrooms in season. You can even use dried mushrooms but adjust the quantity as dried mushrooms are more intense in flavour. Give the recipe a try :-)

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  14. just using ingredients left in the fridge, and you created that?? genius!! it looks really delicious and i can never turn down mushrooms ;)

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  15. Looks fantastic! Pork shoulder is probably my favorite cut of pork (well maybe next to pork belly)

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  16. blimey - I could eat two plates of this right now! great stuff.

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  17. Thanks for the explanations. Pleurotus is the easiest to find.

    There's an Award for you on my blog.

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  18. #6 about your design on TV...Whoa! Quite impressive. I gave birth 3 times, hows that for accomplishment? Amazing creation out of what you found hidden and the pork looks very very tasty, almost like lamb shank which I love. Thanks for the nice comment.

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  19. I am sure I can eat lots of steamed rice with it! It looks so yummy... hungry now.

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  20. Hi Ivy ~ Thank you again for the award :-)

    Hi Amber ~ 3x that's really accomplishment. I really can't handle even with only one. I wondered how my aunt handled her 13 children *fainted*

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  21. Hi Diva ~ i love mushrooms so much that made my friends told me to be careful not to eat much because mushrooms absorbs nutrients from ground and its hosts (rotten trees,etc) and with our current environment they advised me to reduce the intake :-P I love wild mushrooms better because of their unique taste but I also like mass produced mushrooms which is so far, a controlled and safe side.

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  22. This looks absolutely mouthwatering. I've book marked the recipe to use soon.

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  23. Hi Syrie,

    Thank you for visiting :-) Do let me know the outcome because I discovered that if you're using different mushrooms in this recipe, you will have different taste as well. Just use sparingly the Shiitake mushroom :-)

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  24. That looks delicious! One of my favourite ways to get inspired is to clean out the freezer and pantry.

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  25. This looks very good. If I can track down the ingredients, I will for sure attempt. Great blog.

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I really appreciate foodies who took their precious time visiting my blog, leaving encouraging comments and suggestions to help me not only improving my blog but also my skills. Thank you very, very, very much from my heart for your kind attention. Whether you're a professional chefs, enthusiasts, foodies or novice like me, please do leave a comment or two even if you don't speak or write English, I can use translator right? I don't earn any income from comments but I do earned lots of new friends :-D You're welcome anytime to my humble lab :-P

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