Breath of the Wild #14: Sauteed Nuts

Ingredients: Any Nut

Description: "These sauteed tree seeds are the perfect snack for the busy adventurer on the go!"

I really deliberated on what nuts to use for this... but you know whats big and impressive and sautees really well? Chestnuts! Good thing its right after christmas, when they're a bit easier to find.

I'm cooking them in butter with a bit of salt and sugar and a tiny bit of thyme from my planter. These already came pre-cooked and shelled so im really just heating them up a bit and crisping the edges.

*****

They're so good! I am biased because I really like chestnuts. They're a little bit like sweet potato, kinda mushy and starchy and surprisingly sweet. The added salt and thyme made a very subtle difference that only enhanced the natural flavour if anything, i think the butter made the most difference. Really i didn't do much, we could have eaten them straight from the packet, but hot and buttery makes them even better. Are they a good snack for on the go? Well yeah, obviously.

Breath of the Wild #13: Sauteed Peppers

Ingredients: Spicy Pepper

Description: "The spiciness of these sauteed peppers has been broken by the heat for a sweeter taste."

It's not really easy to get a wide variety of peppers around here, the options are typically bell peppers or small really hot ones (birds eye?). I dont really want to eat a whole plate of anything hotter than a jalapeno tbh. Anyway I found these mild small-ish chillies.

We can always just spice them up with dried spice mixes! I've got something peppery & gingery and something hot and fiery. I'm also frying these in olive oil with a dash of sesame oil.

In they go, ill just toss them around on a low heat like im caramelising onions.

**** 

I'm having these with some of the left over fish skewers, so maybe thats making me biased to find these a really refreshing break from the dry salty meat. They are nicely sweet and sour and quite oily, and the lack of seeds means no bitterness. Grilling or frying peppers is a surprisingly effective way to whip up a nice side to go with probably anything. 

Breath of the Wild #12: Steamed Fish

Ingredients: Any Fish, Any Vegetable, Flower, or Herb

Description: "A refined dish made by wrapping a fresh fish in fragrant wild greens and cooking it."

Oooh look at that, i bought boneless fish fillets! Good on me! For steamed fish i decided to go for a fairly iconic dish that sprung to mind, thai style sea bass.

I place the fish fillets in the steam bowl with a pinch of sugar, lemongrass, and a dash of soy sauce and rice vinegar.

And then i finely mince garlic, coriander, chillies and cut some lime wedges. I also have some frozen chopped spring onions.

And ive just thrown it all on top. Is that too much seasoning? well its gotta be fresh, fragrant and wild. 

Unlike the meat im gonna cover this up with a silicon lid so it doesnt get too much added water as i steam it, i don't wanna turn it into a broth.

***

A "refined dish" it says, well.. it doesn't look as much like the graphic this way, but its much easier to eat. The fish is light and satisfying, but its all a little too bitter, i think i used too much lime juice. Or the limes i bought weren't that good. I definitely recommend doing something a bit like this, but more garlic, salt and sugar, less lime, and maybe just pan fry or grill it on a tray.

Breath of the Wild #11: Steamed Meat

Ingredients: Any Meat, Any Vegetable, Flower, or Herb

Description: "This meat dish has been wrapped in fragrant leaves and steamed to preserve its moisture."

While deciding what kinda meat and aromatic herbs might be nice to steam, i came across a recipe for chinese style steamed chicken that sounded really good! It's got chicken thigh, ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, sugar, pepper and spring onions.

I'll chop a generous amount of ginger, a highly steamable and aromatic root.

Wasnt sure if i could fit all this chicken in my steamer bowl! Ive scored it a bit with the knife to help it absorb flavours. Its a lot more chicken than in the original recipe so ill make sure to double the sauce proportions and cook it for longer as well.

In go all the ingredients to make a kinda stewing broth, and since i got spring onions out of the freezer ill just scatter them on top and steam them as well, they wont be as crisp and fresh but theyll flavour it more.

It's ready to go in the steamer! I ended up checking it and putting it in for a bit longer, it looked a bit risky in the middle after 30 mins. Also the recipe suggested I serve it with rice, which sounded really good so i also steamed up some rice with a bit of dried coconut mixed in.

****

Really good! its so easy to make and definitely fragrant and flavourful. I would definitely make this again with the exact same seasonings. It's quite oily and jelly-like, maybe it doesnt need to be skin-on bone-in chicken thigh. It wouldn't be quite as good without that side of coconut rice to soak up all that chickeny broth though.

Breath of the Wild #10: Steamed Mushrooms

Ingredients: Any Mushroom, Any Vegetable, Flower, or Herb

Description: "A healthy vegetable dish achieved by steaming mushrooms in plant leaves."

I needed a range of 4 mushrooms for a later recipe (which i jumped ahead and did) so ive got a nice range of mushrooms for this dish. For the herbs I decided fresh parsley would probably steam well as well as a bit of rosemary and sage to make a real garden-y medley.

I've mixed them with some melted butter. Adding some fat or oil really helps make a meal out of a handful of backyard.

I put them in tin foil and just sort of tossed them around in the herbs and butter, added a twig of rosemary, and ill sprinkle on some salt and pepper as well.

And in the steamer for like, i dunno, 10mins? Mushrooms dont seem to need long to cook any way you do it.

**

The parsley and other herbs pair really well with the mushrooms. It certainly mitigates their grossness but no matter how many times we do this dance, I don't really like mushrooms that much. Some taste better than others, but they're all earthy and slimy and a little bitter. Is it healthy? Yeah probably, I mean, its pretty much all vitamins and fiber. This and a cheese toastie comes recommended by dr. valkyrie M.D. (mushroom disliker)

Breath of the Wild #9: Steamed Fruit

Ingredients: Any Fruit, Any Vegetable, Flower, or Herb

Description: "A regional dish made by steaming near-ripened fruits in the leaves of fragrant plants."

Tough choices for this one... I decided to be a bit similar to the graphic and steam a banana, but instead of an apple I got some quite unripe nectarines. A steamed apple sounds mushy and gross to me. For the aromatic herbs, i've got coriander and almonds! Yeah i dont know, im just using my ~*imagination*~

i know the banana is shown steamed in the peel but then how are the herb flavours gonna get through? Doesnt make sense to me, im going to peel it and half the nectarine. I can't get the stone out though its super hard.

A bold amount of coriander there, and tossing the almonds on top.

Piling it all in some foil to steam in a parcel. Surely this will be undeniably aromatic! In the steamer it goes.

Post-steaming update. um... the banana is grey, and it smells weird. How long are you supposed to steam fruit for? Do any of you... steam fruit?? Oh well im gonna plate it up. Time to give it the ol' forage try.

****

Oh! Even though it looks evil and cursed, its actually really hitting the spot and i think i like it... granted im really hungry right now. The hot fruit is filling and not too sweet, and the coriander and almond flavours smell a bit weird but taste really fresh and kinda tropical somehow. Maybe everything tastes better when you eat it from a giant fake banana leaf?

Breath of the Wild #8: Copious Seafood Skewers

Ingredients: Any four different Fish

Description: "It's just a whole heap of stuff shoved onto a skewer, but it's still a pretty tasty dish."

While making the seafood skewer, I got stuff to make these multi-fish skewers as well. I've had enough of eating these bony sardines so I got fillets of salmon and hake, and I wanted to get tuna as well but they were all out! We'll have to settle for more crab sticks, they're technically made of fish meat and not crab anyway!

Chopped some of the fillets into cubes and in they go for the seasoning. It's not really a marinade because im going to cook them in a minute.

It was olive oil, horseradish, garlic, chilli flakes, salt and lemon juice, and uh... lemongrass paste!

Here they are! i had a bit of fish chunks leftover for an extra skewer. Just the chunks seems like a better idea honestly...

**

Same as the other ones really. I guess I preferred the flavour of the salmon to the sardines. Not to mention the boneless chunks are waaay easier to eat off a stick. It's very filling though, I didn't end up finishing all these skewers. I'm sick of eating grilled fish! Free me from skewer jail!