Asparagus, Mushroom and Shrimp Fried Rice

I’ve been out of potatoes for about a week so when I thought about starch sides to pair with one of the several proteins in my freezer, pasta/noodles, quinoa and rice were among my options. I also wanted to use up the last few stalks of asparagus in my fridge. I finally decided on a Chinese classic … fried rice. Mainly because I had a pound of inexpensive white button mushrooms to pair with a scant half pound of large cooked, peeled and de-veined shrimp in my freezer.

I combined the elements of a couple of recipes I found on-line, mainly using one which featured mushrooms. The egg was added to extend the protein content.

RECIPE EDITED TO FIX GLARING TYPOS:

Asparagus, Mushroom and Shrimp Fried Rice Bowl

Asparagus, Mushroom and Shrimp Fried Rice – serves 3

~1/3 lb/177 gm peeled and de-veined cooked shrimp
1 1/2 cups cooked long-grain rice (or medium-grain)
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4-1 lb/340-454 gm white button mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon dried red-pepper flakes
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
4-6 green onions including green tops, sliced thinly
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup mixed vegetable (diced carrot, frozen peas, sliced asparagus)**
1/4 cup water, or as needed
1 egg, optional
1 tsp Asian sesame oil, for garnish
1-2 green onion tops, sliced thinly, for garnish

** equal parts diced carrot and sliced asparagus (3 stalks) used

Cook the long or medium grain rice the day before you plan on making this dish and refrigerate overnight.

In a large nonstick frying pan or wok, heat 1 tbsp of the vegetable oil over medium-high heat.

Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are tender and golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Turn down the heat to medium and in the same frying pan, heat another tbsp of vegetable oil. Add the red-pepper flakes, grated ginger, and green onions and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Raise the heat back to medium-high and add the mixed vegetables, stirring to char the vegetables for a minute or so. Add the water, cover, and let cook/steam about 5 minutes, to par cook the vegetables.

Push the vegetables to one side, and, if needed add a bit more oil to the pan in the empty spot. Add the rice to the area where you cleared the pan. Break up any rice clumps a bit and then sprinkle the salt and soy sauce over the rice. Stir to coat the rice evenly.

Add the mushrooms and cooked shrimp to the pan, stirring through until everything’s warm, another few minutes.

If adding an egg to the fried rice, again push the rice etc to one side leaving an empty area on one side. Break the egg into the space and let cook for a minute to set the white, then break up the egg yolk gently. Lift and turn the fried rice on top of the partially cooked egg. The heat from the rice will continue cooking the egg. Mix the egg through the rice.

Divide the fried rice among the serving bowls, making sure everyone gets an equal amount of the shrimp, and drizzle a bit of the sesame soil over the top.

Sprinkle green onion over the top for a garnish.

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Corn Dog Muffin Bites

Corn dogs are a delicious carnival/fair treat. The cornmeal batter usually surrounds a hot dog but the sausage choice may be varied, according to your personal preference. I’ve made them in the past and they were delicious. However, the skewered treat must be deep fried, and that’s pretty messy. Plus, there’s the clean-up afterwards. So, when I ran across this muffin bite variation, I was all over it.

Instead of hot dogs, I used cheese smoked sausages, similar to the Hungarian Debrecener.

I sliced the sausages into 3/4 inch/2 cm sections and inserted them into mini or medium sized muffin cups which had been well brushed with vegetable oil and filled half way with a slightly sweetened cornbread batter.

The muffins were baked at 375 deg Fahrenheit. The minis (2 tbsp of batter) took about 15-16 minutes to bake while the medium muffins (3 tbsp) took 20 minutes. I’m re-posting the plain cornbread recipe for convenience.

Plain Cornbread – 16 2-inch squares

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
2-4 tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet you like it to be)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk or buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter, margarine or shortening

Stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together eggs, milk and oil. Add to flour mixture and stir just until batter is moistened, no more.

Pour into greased 9″ round cast iron skillet (or an 8 inch by 8 inch baking pan) and bake in a pre-heated oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Muffin Variation: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake mini muffins (2 tbsp batter) for 15-16 minutes. Medium or large muffins (3 tbsp batter) take 18-20 minutes.

Basic Soft Sourdough Loaf

For many sourdough bread lovers, the crunchy crust and open crumb are the pinnacle of perfection. However, if you just want a sandwich loaf with a soft crust and a close but tender interior, this loaf, found on the “Bake with Paws” blog,  is perfect. The only requirement, as with making sourdough bagels, is a stand mixer to knead the dough until you’ve developed the gluten enough that it passes the ‘windowpane test’. You CAN hand knead, of course, but I didn’t really feel like a work out. I found the inclusion of about 22% whole wheat flour gave a nice taste and texture to the bread.

Interior or ‘Crumb’ of the Bread

Your loaf of bread may be proofed for 45 minutes to an hour inside the oven with just the light on. When doubled in volume, remove the pan of dough from the oven and preheat.

If you want a nice gloss to your finished loaf, you can brush it with softened or melted butter when you take it out of the oven. I didn’t bother.

For long term storage, slice, wrap and freeze your loaf once it’s cooled to room temperature. Take out a couple of slices for toasting or sandwich making shortly before you need it. It will thaw quickly on the counter or overnight in the fridge.

Italian Sausage, Peppers and Onions on a Hoagie

One of my favourite ways of using freshly made hot dog buns/hoagies is as a transport vehicle for grilled or bbq’d hot (or sweet) Italian sausages, sauteed onions and sweet pepper strips. If you like some tang in your sandwich, you can add a few jarred pepperoncini, along with some of the juice, to the filling.

Italian Sausage, Peppers and Onions Hoagie – serves 2

2 6-inch hoagies, sliced like a hot dog bun*
2 6-inch sweet or hot Italian sausages, grilled or bbq’d

Hoagie Filling

1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large sweet pepper (or an assortment of red, yellow and orange), cored and sliced into thin strips
1 clove garlic, peeled, smashed lightly
1 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2-3 tbsp jarred marinara sauce
1-2 pepperonicini (sweet pickled peppers), thinly sliced with some juice, optional

* I used home made hoagie buns made according to this King Arthur flour beautiful burger bun recipe.

In a large pre-heated saute pan, over medium-high heat, add the oil, the sliced onions and the clove of garlic. Let sit until the onions just start to brown a bit then stir and continue sauteing the onions and garlic for a few more minutes. Remove and discard the clove of garlic as it’s seasoned the oil. Add the pepper strips and pepperoncini, if using. Saute for a few more minutes until the peppers start to pick up some colour as well. Add the jarred marinara sauce and some of the pepperoncini juice, to taste.

Add the sausages and warm briefly in the sauce.

Place some of the peppers and onions in each of the buns. Add the sausage and top with the remaining filling ingredients.

Serve with your favourite sides.

Making the Buns – The dough was divided into eight equal portions with half being shaped into hamburger buns and the other half into 6-inch hoagie buns

The hamburger buns were delicious, just slightly sweet and fluffy, though at 105 gms, a bit large for the hamburger patties I had cooked. Next time, I’d divide the dough into NINE portions.

Omurice in a Mug

The classic omurice (watch Tampopo for an intriguing Japanese food referencing movie) is basically an omelette wrapped around fried rice … a delicious repurposing of the leftover rice dish. Ketchup features prominently in seasoning the rice and garnishing the omelette.

TabiEats has a delicious, made from scratch version, which is made in a microwave, in a lot less time. The only tricky part is the wattage of your respective microwave but, after your first omurice, you can adjust quickly.

I’ve written out the list of ingredients and instructions from the video below, with some clarifying information, so you can make your own, but watch the video linked earlier. It’s informative and fun.

Omurice in a Mug – makes 1
from TabiEats

1 1/2 oz/42.5 gm chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/8 onion, finely chopped (or 1 tsp fried onion)
2 tbsp mixed vegetables (frozen corn, carrots, peas)
3 tbsp ketchup, plus an additional 1 tbsp ketchup for garnish
salt and pepper, to taste (1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp to start)
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup Japanese shortgrain or sushi rice, washed well and drained
1/2 cup water
1 large egg

Put all ingredients, except the egg, into a large mug. (The mug should have a 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cup capacity.) Give the contents a good stir so the ingredients are combined.

Crumple a sheet of parchment paper and lay it on the surface of the rice mixture. Loosely cover with a sheet of plastic wrap.

Microwave for 2 minutes 30 seconds at 600 watts (60%). Carefully open the plastic wrap and give the contents a quick mix. Cover and microwave at 300 watts (30%) for 10-12 minutes. (NOTE: Depending on your microwave, you can use defrost mode, which is 30% in my microwave.)

Carefully peel off the plastic wrap and take out the parchment paper. Discard the parchment paper.

Whisk the egg well and pour it over the top of the rice. Cover the mug loosely with the plastic wrap and microwave for 2-3 minutes, at 200 watts, until egg is cooked. Don’t overcook!

Serve the omurice with a tablespoon of ketchup and garnish with peas.

Here’s a picture of the traditional omurice from a previous post.

And the contents of the mug turned out into a soup bowl … you can kind of see the chicken, carrots, peas and corn.

Picspam: Cleaning Out the Camera

I got back-logged with a ton of pics/dishes for April/early May so I though I’d do a picture dump. These are all no-recipe dishes or ones for which I’ve already posted recipes. Enjoy.

Soups – Japanese lo mein noodles and broccoli florettes in dashi stock and cream of mushroom (thanks to Campbell) with grilled cheese sandwich on home made rye bread.

Pork Chop Trio

Egg White Omelette – bacon crumbles, sweet red/yellow/orange pepper

Plain quesadilla – guacamole and grated old cheddar on home made sourdough flour tortilla

Pasta – Chicken Tortellini with a basil pesto and Fettuccine with a hot Italian sausage sauce

Sourdough Bagels – Plain and Cinnamon Raisin

Chocolate puddings and pot de creme

Niko (Beef) Udon Noodle Soup

In a recent search through the freezer I ran across a single serving of velveted beef, broccoli and mushrooms which I transformed into a filling pot of noodle soup … enough for three servings.  Although I already had the seasoned beef and vegetables, I’ve included a recipe (found online) for cooking the beef and mushroom mixture from scratch. If desired, you may add a cup of prepared broccoli florettes to the recipe.

Niko (Beef) Udon Noodle Soup – serves 2-3

1 portion of seasoned beef and mushrooms  (RECIPE follows)

Soup Base Recipe

4 cups dashi stock
1-1 1/2 inch fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
1-2 pkg udon noodles**
1/8-1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp sake
2-3 green onion tops, thinly sliced for garnish
shichimi powder, to taste (Japanese chili pepper)

** I added one package of fresh udon noodles which only need to be cooked for three minutes.

In a medium sized soup pot, add the dashi stock, ginger, salt, soy sauce, mirin and sake. Bring to a boil over medium/medium-high heat.

Add the seasoned beef and vegetables and stir until warmed through. Add the udon noodles and cook according to package directions. Taste and add more salt, if needed.

Divide among two or three bowls and garnish with green onions and shichimi powder.

Seasoned Beef and Mushrooms Recipe

2-3 tsp vegetable oil, as needed
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
3-4 mushrooms, thinly sliced
225 gm/ 1/2 lb thinly sliced beef (chuck or rib eye)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce

In a large saute pan, heat two teaspoons of oil over medium/medium-high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms and saute until golden on both sides. Remove to another plate. If needed, add another teaspoon of oil, heat and then add the onions and saute until softened and translucent. Add the beef and brown on all sides. Don’t move the beef around until it has seared and loosened from the bottom of the pan. Once all the beef has been browned, add sauteed mushrooms, the sugar and the soy sauce and let it caramelize a bit.

Add the beef and mushroom mixture to the soup base.