Breath of the Wild #17: Copious Mushroom Skewer

Ingredients: Any four different Mushrooms

Description: "Fans of fungal cuisine can't resist this simple mushroom-skewer dish. Very filling."

Back when i did the original mushroom skewer I went on a mission to my favourite chinese grocery, as well as big tesco, and got a mountain of different mushrooms. For this recipe im picking out a couple king oyster mushrooms, some oyster mushrooms, some lions mane mushrooms, any leftover shiitake (from the first recipe), and uh... whatever this other long one is. I don't even know. That's at least 4 types!

They're sharing the marinade with the original recipe too. Which was like soy sauce, chilli, garlic, etc.

Assembled and ready! 

Here they are getting grilled.

***

Sorry shiitake, but oyster mushroom is actually the superior grilling shroom. It's not as easy to get on the stick, but it crisps up real nice and picks up tons of flavour, is less earthy. The lion's mane was weirdly sour, almost lemony. the king oyster mushroom is gently mallowy. overall, they're still all largely mushroom flavoured. I think i already get tired of eating just mushrooms after one skewer, the variety doesn't make up for that. If you want to impress a vegan, give them one skewer with a nice bowl of rice or some flatbread.

Breath of the Wild #16: Copious Fried Wild Greens

Ingredients: Any four different Vegetables, Flowers, or Herbs

Description: "A healthy dish made by cooking mixed greens over a strong flame."

Four different vegetables, we have! Spring onion, sugar snap peas, baby corn and courgette.

I'll cut the ones that need to be cut, but these can afford to be fairly big and chunky I suppose.

Like with the fried broccoli, I'll add a nice bit of butter for flavour and to help it cook.

And we can toss it in the nice big pan! Well, half of what I showed at the start, I can save the other half for salt-grilled greens later.

Oh why not add just a bit of seasoning? I have this paprika salt and lemon handy.

*****

Cool! I think I did a good job. Frying with the butter really brings out the sweetness in the vegetables. Crisp and hydrating with a nice variety. It really feels like more of a snack though. A visually pleasing healthy side. 

Breath of the Wild #15: Fried Wild Greens

Ingredients: Any Vegetable, Flower, or Herb

Description: "A basic vegetable dish made by sauteing fresh wild plants."

Since there's a second version of this with a variety of vegetables, I'll do just one! Broccoli is a perfect standalone vegetable that tastes pretty good all on its own, and its a real vegetable-type vegetable, you know? Green. Stems. Sort of Leafy. Crunchy. It's got it all.

First we give it a quick rinse.

I'm going to cook it in some butter, so itll get just that little bit of flavour and salt, and then thats it, no other seasonings!

And then i'll cook it until its soft and take it off before the little tippy bits start to burn.

****

Ah, why is plain ol' broccoli this good? It's so simple and crunchy and filling. Why are we putting so much effort in with all these other recipes... 

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.