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

Simple Fresh Mushroom Soup

I'd been busy these few days, arranging some trips with my family for this June. Due to this, I'd been neglecting a bit my fridge... I discovered yesterday that I still have some mushrooms tucked nicely in brown bags! I had to think of solution not to waste this precious fungi collection. Further discovery, I still have 1 small carton of crème fraîche and packet of parsley unopened. It was raining really heavily since early morning and temperature dropped to 24ºC which is cosy for a tropical climate ( yeah, I'm back in my hometown for awhile... :-P ) I love to watch rain pours at the sea from my balcony and the only thing I could think of in such weather is 'soup'.... mushroom soup it shall be! Is a simple soup (not as elaborate as restaurants) and for me it's a hearty meal with fresh bread plus hot coffee in the morning... errrr... in this case I think I should said 'brunch' :-D 

I like making soup in large quantity so that I can freeze them for other days. If my elderly neighbour's around I pack the soup in several servings for her so she could have it whenever she wants. She lost one of her legs to diabetes last year and have difficulties to go to market without someone chauffeured her... :-( When my family have the time, we will take her out for dinner or lunch and to the fresh market. She's a very good cook and I learnt quite a lot from her as well.

Simple Fresh Mushroom Soup

(serves 2-4 portions)

A Selection of Mushrooms of your choice:

Cut off the hard portion of mushrooms and wipe off any grits on them. Slice mushrooms to small pieces. This is what leftovers I had but you can use any amount you fancy...

100 g Grey Oyster (Abalone) Mushrooms

50   g Bunapi Shimeiji Mushrooms

60   g Shiitake Mushrooms

100 g Enoki Mushrooms

1 large Red Onion - finely chopped

2 Tbl Italian Flat Parsley - finely chopped  for garnish

300 ml Chicken stock or more

Some Fresh Thyme-remove leaves from the stalk as required

1 Bay Leaf

Salt & Black Pepper to taste

Some Flour - for thickening the soup

Some Butter - In this recipe I used 30 g of butter

Crème Fraîche

Tools: A handheld blander

Method:

1. Combine 200 ml of chicken stock with 1 Tbl of flour until well mix. You can add more flour if you like thicker soup. Set aside. You will use the rest of the chicken stock according to the thickness you preferred later on.

2. Sauté onion in butter in a pot (or saucepan) until clear and slightly browned. Add thyme, bay leaf and sliced fresh mushroom mix. Covered & Simmered for 10 - 15 minutes or until mushrooms slightly wilted. Remove the bay leaf. Reserve 1-2 cups of the cooked mushrooms.

3. Stir the stock and flour mixture. Pour into pot, stirring until it thickened. Using a handheld blender (or any blender you own) - blend to the consistency you like. I like mine smoother in this recipe.

4. Stir in the fresh cream to your taste. Add in the extra stock until it reached your required thickness & creaminess. Simmer for 1 minute. Do not boil.

5. Dish into serving bowls and add some of the reserved cooked mushroom. Sprinkle some chopped parsley and a dash of fresh cream (if you like... :-D).

Note: If you don't like that creamy (or weight conscious), you can use fresh/low-fat milk instead of fresh cream but adjust the stock you add in as well.

You can add in about some dry white wine or dry sherry and croutons to give that extra ooomph! 

Mushrooming Ideas...

Lately, there's been surplus of mushrooms at low prices at the local supermarkets (I know, I know, I should get them from fresh market ... rolling eyes ...) for less than 1 € /pkt of 160 g - 250 g of several choices! I was grinning away like Cheshire Cat at the vegetable section instead of fish corner... :-D I love mushrooms... they have not much flavours but it's easy to add them into your favourite cuisine either raw or cooked. Definitely, one of those versatile and healthy food available today.

Since I'm now back home in Southeast Asia, my daily meals are those hard to find Asian ingredients in Europe that are costly as well as not fresh in the Asian supermarkets. You're lucky if you can get a pack of 250 g Beansprouts that's juicy and not mushy on the shelve. Sometimes, the staff don't even bother to remove the watery and brownish packages off the rack. Once, I had to wait 2 weeks for a bunch of Screwpine Leaves/Pandan Leaves (Pandanus) from Paris! What did I got after much anticipated waits? 2 large bunch of of Pandan Leaves and the lost of my enthusiasm to cook Black Glutinous Rice! Added to the mood, the Pandan leaves has no fragrance at all... sigh... Anyway, that's for another blog :-D

Now, back to the shrooms... 

Here's the Brown Enoki and Bunapi Shimeiji from Korea (seems that Koreans are very enterprising producing quality mushrooms.)

Brown Enoki Mushrooms is a.k.a Golden Enoki Mushrooms with chewy texture and richer Enokiness taste compared to the common White Enoki Mushrooms. I like Tempura Enoki when you ordered Tempura meal in Japanese Restaurants. Small bunch Enoki is fanned out - like a fan and deep fried in tempura batter.

Bunapi Shimeiji a.k.a White Beech Mushrooms or as Hon Shimeiji mushrooms-the name typically refers to the Buna Shimeiji or Bunapi Shimeiji strain. The Hon Shimeiji mushrooms can be sautéed using high temperature or slow roasted on low temperature with a small amount of butter or cooking oil. I did Kinoko Batayaki - sautéed mushrooms in butter & sake few days ago... it's simply delicious and it's not mushy at all

It's easy to do Kinoko Batayaki... 

1. Get ready some Hon Shimeiji Mushrooms sake, butter & a frying pan.

2. Heat a frying fan in medium heat. When butter melts, add in the mushrooms. You can add more butter if you like. More butter used the richer the aroma (I thought it's better to eat more butter than margarine lately...)*

3. Add few dashes of sake.

4. Slowly cooked it until softened or to your liking.

5. Serve as side dish or top it on your rice with omelette.

* I didn't add any salt because the butter I used is Salted Butter.

Itadikimasu!!! Enjoy!!!