Breath of the Wild #34: Pepper Steak

 Ingredients: Spicy Pepper, Any Meat

Description: "The meat has been cooked in crushed peppers to accent its natural taste."

It says pepper steak not pepper chicken, so I got some steak. Might as well cook em both, one for now and one for later. I actually did the next recipe (fish version) before so umm lets pretend.. ah, yes, so I got a bunch of these chillies. I was careful with them but they weren't actually super spicy.

I fry these in a good amount of butter, and i'll add salt, ground pepper mix and chopped chillies. 

Maybe i should crush the chillies like it says? Well... i squashed them around with a spatula as I cooked them. That counts...?

Well we have space on the plate... and in my stomach, so i'll serve it with a side of crisps! I got honey sriracha flavour, extra spicy.

*****

Very tasty! No I didn't eat the extra whole chilli. I probably could have, the chillies weren't super hot, but the buttery peppery mix flavour with the good quality steak was so nice. I wanted it to look nicely seared and it wasnt that thick so I ended up making it a bit well done, but I like all kinds of steaks tbh. 

Breath of the Wild #33: Fragrant Mushroom Saute

Ingredients: Any Mushroom, Goron Spice

Description: "The fragrant aroma of this sauteed spice and mushroom dish makes your mouth water."

I've got a load of oyster mushrooms and a couple shiitake. Them's fryin' words. And for the goron spice I'm blending some yellow curry powder mix (mostly turmeric), garam masala, chilli powder, coriander seed and peppercorns.

Since its curry inspired, I thought i'd use butter instead of oil. I'll heat that up a bit first and then throw everything in the pan.

Mushrooms and spices in, and then ill just fry it till its brown... er... well until its all floppy... oh... well browner and floppyer than that? I'll just guess.

***

It is, in fact, so fragrant. It's pleasant enough, but its a bit dry and simple. A bit of sugar and salt and literally any meat or vegetable or grain would have helped.

Breath of the Wild #32: Herb Saute

Ingredients: Any Herb, Flower, or Vegetable, Goron Spice

Description: "A fragrant mixture of herbs and spices. It's easily recognized by its unique aroma."

This one seems nice and clear, I got some pak choi and a big ol' swede (aka rutabaga?). For goron spice we just fry them in a bunch of spices and that's about it!

I carve some of this swede up, the rest i can chop into pieces and save for a stew or something.

Last time I remember frying this vegetable it came out really undercooked, so im gonna boil it in water for a while to give it a big headstart on the greens.

once thats been boiled for, i dunno a while (i was doing chores) I can shove everything in a big bowl and gently toss it in oil and spices.

I've used fresh ginger, a couple bay leaves, cayenne pepper, curry powder, cumin, and turmeric.

And then ill fry it up in my big pan.

Oh! i just remembered i was going to add extra cinnamon, because it showed a cinnamon stick on the picture and i didnt have any sticks but I got ground cinnamon anyway.

**

I thought this one would be an easy one but actually nah. Tasting it I immediately realised it could use some salt and sugar or something. And really just needed like some extra element to carry all that seasoning, like yogurt or lemon juice or something? it just tasted like spicy dust. And the swede was STILL NOT THAT SOFT.

Breath of the Wild #31: Salt-Grilled Crab

Ingredients: Rock Salt, Any Crab

Description: "Nine out of ten fishermen agree crab is best enjoyed grilled and with just a bit of salt."

Mind that time we bought a load of frozen crab parts? I also made this on the day I made that crab stir fry. Had a lot of crabmeat that day.

These are going to be grilled straight from raw instead of boiled! I'll spritz it with a bit of cooking oil and grind some rock salt on it. I should put more salt on at the end I guess, I dont really know what the salts got to stick to since its all inside a shell..

It's looking a little brown and crisped, ill add more salt and I think a lemon wedge wouldnt hurt either!

**

Simple crab! The salt and lemon goes really nicely with it. Its got a nice strong flavour, meaty and seafoody... but i dunno... sometimes it tastes a little bit like.. uh.. like.. gym shoes? Hopefully im not poisoned. It's probably just that ocean fresh is best. The grilling instead of boiling makes the shell brittle, which doesnt really help but neither does boiling it which fills it with pockets of hot crabwater. Nine out of ten fishermen can go yell it at the sea because I don't give a crab.

Breath of the Wild #30: Salt-Grilled Fish

Ingredients: Rock Salt, Any Fish

Description: "A simple dish made by rolling a whole fish in natural rock salt before grilling it."

After those sardines I was sooo done with whole fish, so instead I have a big ol' boneless (mostly) filleted mackerel for grilling. Super simple, just fish and rock salt.

Oh, I do actually have a crinkly old lemon in my fridge still, lets get a bit of lemon juice and a spritz of cooking oil on there. Cheats.

 

****

The grilled mackerel has a great standalone flavour, goes particularly well with being crisped on the grill or in a pan imo. Having a big portion of fish on its own though, gives me fish oil flavoured hiccups for the rest of the evening.

Breath of the Wild #29: Salt-Grilled Gourmet Meat

Ingredients: Rock Salt, Raw Gourmet Meat or Raw Whole Bird

Description: "This lavish grilled dish makes liberal use of high-quality cuts of meat."

For the gourmet-est meat I managed to get a nice big joint of lamb, time to make "liberal use" of it!

Again, salt has to be the main ingredient so ive just put plenty of salt on all sides of the meat and thats it!

Actually, its a bit boring on its own so im going to fry up a side of sprouts and chestnuts.

Here it is after about 1h45 in the oven, i took the foil off at the end to let it brown more. Looks ready to serve!

*****

It's great! The meat has quite a fatty rind that crisps up in the oven giving it lots of flavour, along with the salt. You can use the side vegetables to mix up the flavours too. I didn't really eat that whole joint in one meal of course.