Breath of the Wild #50: Glazed Mushrooms

Ingredients: Any Mushroom, Courser Bee Honey

Description: "The honey in this mushroom dish gives it a sweet, complex taste and a savory finish."

I thought that strong earthy flavour of shiitake just seemed like a good match for this one. I liked the chinese 5-spice and soy sauce with the vegetables so we'll do that again, and of course, the honey.

Straight in the pan with a bit of oil, it wont need long so ill already grind in the salt and dry spices.

Once its almost there a splash of soy sauce and a big drizzle of honey.

****

It's sweet, complex and delicious! The shiitake was a good shout, it tastes a bit like chicken this way. Points deducted for barely being a side dish, this is more like a topping. Damn near a garnish! I'll have a second course of crisps and a muffin.

Breath of the Wild #44: Cream of Mushroom Soup

Ingredients: Any Mushroom, Any Herb, Vegetable, or Flower, Rock Salt, Fresh Milk

Description: "This creamy mushroom-and-vegetable soup is thick and flavorful."

Cream of mushroom? More like cream of dairy. WITH mushroom. Stripping back this time to something quite basic, we have regular boring mushrooms, dried shiitake mushrooms, shallots, garlic, cream (and milk because theres not much cream left), and then rock salt, white pepper, tarragon and a bay leaf to season.

I'll start by rehydrating those dried mushrooms in hot water. I doesn't say how long this takes.... so... i hope its not long. 

As usual, ill start with browning the onions and garlic.

Then in go the rehydrated mushrooms, the sliced mushrooms, and that seasoning I said before. And some water.

And then ill supplement that water with the rest of that cream and top it up with milk. I just realised I could have added a stock cube?? Oh well!

***

It looks so small in this big bowl (i did only serve half of what I made)... Anyway, the shiitake and white pepper somehow made the flavours not that gross. It tastes very light and hydrating. Like a nice starter. I guess I made it "thin and flavourful." 

...I'm going to go get some salami and crisps...

Breath of the Wild #39: Fruit and Mushroom Mix

Ingredients: Any Fruit, Any Mushroom

Description: "This dish contrasts the sweetness of fruit with the savoriness of mushrooms."

OK so last time I combined mushrooms with fruit (orange?) it was kinda gross, but im feeling good about this one. I have decided to stew some mushrooms and plums together.

First, let's rinse the mushrooms. They're going in whole.

So, I figured... maybe we can accessorise this dish with lots of savoury items to offset all the fruit. I'm chopping some shallots, and then ill add some beef stock, strong flavoured herbs, tomato puree, and some other stuff as I think of it.

I chose some plums that were a bit underripe, so theyll be a bit sour and less sweet. Nice colours though.

I'll just dry fry those for a bit and then add in the rest.

In goes the mushrooms, beef stock cube, chopped rosemary and thyme, a bay leaf, and a bit of hot water to make it a stew.

Hmm to lean into the plummyness, how about a tiny bit of wine, tomato puree and soy sauce?

It looks not bad, I suppose. Are we going to be ok? I think i'll get a bread roll to eat it with too.

**

First mouthful I was like wow! Ive created a really nice umami flavour. The plum, mushroom, wine and herbs really did contrast the flavours nicely. But after a while, the bitterness sunk in, and then i had to eat big wet mouthfuls of slimy mushroom and plum. It seems like it would make a really nice gravy to pour over something else. But gravy isn't a meal. Maybe i'll blend the leftovers and use it as a meat sauce base?

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 #26: Salt-Grilled Mushrooms

Ingredients: Rock Salt, Any Mushroom

Description: "A basic mushroom dish made by lightly salting mushrooms and grilling them."

After that copious mushroom skewer I had a nice array of mushrooms. I technically only needed one type for this, but its cool that ive got all these for this otherwise basic and boring dish.

Found a foil pan and gave them a spritz of vegetable oil and plenty of the ROCK SALT. Under the grill it goes!

**

I dont like too much salt, but i think its a big improvement and helps them go down a bit easier. The shiitake mushrooms shone here with their much better flavour compared to chestnut mushrooms. Shiitake may taste like dirt but chestnut/closed cup mushrooms taste like soot. The oyster mushrooms pick up a bit too mush salt with their frilly shape, and the king oyster mushrooms are big and wet, they really should get cut up and pan-fried with some sauce like a steak.

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 #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 #3: Fish and Mushroom Skewer

Ingredients: Any Fish, Any Mushroom

Description: "A simple dish made by cooking skewered fresh fish alongside fragrant mushrooms."

I managed to get a nice bunch of whole sardines so i can really sell that rustic fish-on-a-stick look! and some big chestnut mushrooms.

It turns out I have to gut them myself... ok... um ive never done this before, im sparing you the gruesome blood and guts but i think ive succeeded, and rinsed the cavity. All that effort for extra horrible bone texture and mostly skin type of fish.

But here's the fun part! Coming up with a nice seasoning that might go well with these. I've picked paprika, salt and oregano, and then a big squeeze of lemon juice, making sure not to miss the insides of the fish too.

And then something a bit weird! No it's not a demon boner, its a massive horseradish root I found at the local farm shop. It's fairly potent so im just going to grate a bit onto everything. If you don't know horseradish, it's hot in a mustard sort of way. European wasabi.

And then some olive oil to help it crisp up on the grill.

It's assembled and ready! The other 2 sardines will become the fish skewer recipe.

** 

You might be starting to get the idea why im combining some of these recipes, well apart from it being very resource efficient. It's also because these are pretty plain ways to cook ingredients that nobody even really likes that much. I expected the worst with these nasty little whole fish and shrooms, but you know what, it could have been worse. The seasoning was zippy and worked well, the fish... well i hate that texture where even though you take out the main spine, theres tons of micro thin bones in there that are small enough to eat so its sort of like eating a shoe brush, but the flavour was alright and you get a satisfying amount of fish meat. It was probably very healthy.