Lotus Root with Beech Mushrooms and Ground Pork

While traveling in Japan, lotus roots appeared in a lot of my dishes. As I perused my local Japanese market the other day, I saw some nice looking lotus root so I decided to buy a pack. (Experiment time! So exciting.) This would be my first time cooking lotus root and I wasn’t quite sure what I would cook it with, but right next to the lotus roots at the market were a variety of mushrooms. I figured mushrooms could go together with the lotus roots, sure why not, so I picked up some Japanese brown beech mushrooms (buna-shimeji). I didn’t think I would get much of a full flavor from just lotus root and mushrooms, so I also picked up some ground pork. In my head, I thought to myself that these three ingredients shall go together, and it did (luckily)–This dish turned out quite tasty!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 lb ground pork
• ~0.4 lb lotus root
• 1 pack brown beech mushroom
• 1/2 green onion, thickly chopped (preferably just the green part)
• oil

Sauce:

• 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons honey (use more or less to taste. the sugar content of different types of honey will be different)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3/4 teaspoon rice vinegar

Directions:

Sauce: mix honey, soy sauce, and rice vinegar in a small bowl. Make sure the honey is fully dissolved.

Take the lotus root and peel off the outer skin. Then slice very thin cross section pieces.

For the beech mushrooms, cut off the bottom part and separate the mushrooms out.

Place the pan on the stove and turn the temperature to high. Add about 1 tablespoon of oil in. Once the oil is hotter, add the green onions. After the green onion sizzles for about 30 seconds, place the ground pork in. Stir and separate the ground pork out with a spatula.

When the ground pork looks about 70% cooked, add in half of the sauce. Stir.

Then immediately place the lotus roots in. Stir.

Place the mushrooms in. Add the rest of the sauce. Stir and mix well to evenly distribute the sauce.

Turn the temperature to medium high and continue cooking and stirring for about 4-5 minutes, or until lotus root is slightly caramelized from the soy sauce.

Swiss Chard with Fresh Figs

This post is long overdue… I came up with this recipe late summer when I had randomly bought fresh figs that were on sale at Whole Foods. I also had bought swiss chard to make chicken soup with, but I ended up experimenting and pairing the two, swiss chard and figs, together and the flavors turned out quite well!

Ingredients:

• 3 large stalks of white chard
• 4 black mission figs (fresh)
• 1 garlic clove (large), minced
• 1/4 cup red garlic cooking wine (regular red cooking wine would work as well with an additional minced garlic clove)
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• salt to taste

(1-2 servings, or appetizer portion)

Directions:

Chop up the swiss chard into small pieces. Slice the fresh figs into 4 pieces each.

Turn the temperature to high, place about a teaspoon of oil in.  When the oil is hot, add the garlic.  As the garlic is sizzling, add the swiss chard, quickly stir.  Then add the figs, wine, and balsamic vinegar, and stir.

Turn the temperature down to medium high.  Add in some salt to taste and continue stirring.

Cook for about 3-4 minutes more, or until the swiss chard has softened. The chard should be slightly soft and not too soft..

Sauteed Portobello Mushrooms

I went wine tasting last month in Gilroy, CA nicknamed the “Garlic Capital of the World” and tried a red garlic wine.  It was very unique and they had a cooking wine version of it. I’ve never seen any garlic cooking wines being sold in my local grocery stores, so I had to buy it and experiment with it!  I brainstormed a couple things that I could make with it and mushrooms were the first thing that came to mind.

Ingredients:

• 2 portobello mushrooms
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup red garlic cooking wine (if you don’t have garlic cooking wine, you can use red wine and maybe a little more finely minced garlic)
• salt

the beautiful portobello mushrooms that I used…

…sliced into thin pieces.

Directions:

Place the pan on the stove and turn the temperature to high. When the pan is warm, place 1/2 tablespoon of oil in. When the oil is hot, add a few dashes of salt in and add the mushrooms. Stir for about 30 secs.

Add about half of the wine in and it should sizzle in the pan. Quickly stir it around. Turn the temperature down to medium high. Add the rest of the wine in. (If there is still a lot of sizzling or the pan is becoming really dry, turn the temperature down to medium.) Let it cook and slowly stir for 2-3 mins. The mushrooms should start looking slightly slimy on the surface.

Add the garlic in and stir.  Add more salt to taste, if needed.

Continue to cook the mushrooms for another 1-2 mins, or until they become more slimy looking.

I made these a couple times and I think the temperature of when the wine is added in is pretty sensitive. Sometimes my mushroom dish would turn out dry and sometimes very liquidy (like the dish in this post), but ultimately the same flavor is there. ^_^