While I’m waiting for enough of my veggies to ripen, be picked and used in recipes, I still need to get some kind of vegetables on the table for dinner (besides using the lettuce we grew!).
I get bored with the peas, carrots, corn, and beans that I grew up with (mostly frozen back when I was a kid), so I like to mix it up occasionally. Around this time of year in Florida, I love to go to the local produce place. The displays of vegetables with all their colors and smells makes me want to buy way more than I will use in a week, so I have to be sure to pace myself. This week I chose Bok choy and Cremini Mushrooms to bring some variety to our dinners. I wasn’t sure what to do with them, so I did some research online to see what flavors would work well, and I blended some ingredients that I thought I would enjoy, and below are the dishes I came up with.
Mushroom ragout
We never ate mushrooms while I was growing up, but now I love the flavor of sautéed mushrooms, either alone as a side, or on a medium-rare steak. But I wanted to try making something that would stand alone as a dish. Since the mushrooms were on sale, I decided to try a mushroom ragout. Traditionally, a ragout is a stew that includes meat as well as vegetables, but it doesn’t have to. The mushrooms are hardy enough to carry the dish alone. I chose Cremini mushrooms because I think they have a more complex flavor that the younger white mushrooms. The health benefits of these mushrooms are pretty impressive, and they are low in calories and carbohydrates. The resulting mushroom stew is rich and creamy. You can easily serve it alone, or you can add a protein like leftover steak. I also thought it would be fantastic folded into white rice. It also makes a dynamite spread on a hamburger,
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
8 oz sliced Cremini mushrooms
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp minced shallot
1 tbsp brandy or cognac
2 tsp red wine vinegar
¼ cup crème fraiche
¼ cup chicken broth
1 tsp chopped fresh oregano
Instructions:
Heat olive oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in mushrooms and season with salt. Cook until any liquid evaporates and mushrooms are browned, 6-8 minutes. Add the shallot and cook until the mushrooms are soft, about 6 minutes.
Pour in the cognac and vinegar; cook until liquid evaporates. Stir in the creme fraiche.
Stir in the chicken broth and oregano, and add salt and pepper to taste, if needed. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until slightly thickened and mushrooms are tender, about 10 minutes.
Easy Garlicy Bok Choy
I know I’ve mentioned that my husband loves Asian flavors (I’ve got more of a Mexican flavor profile, but I try to be fair). I loved the look of the Bok choy at the produce place. I’ve seen baby Bok choy served in restaurants, but I couldn’t find any, so I decided to try cooking with the grown-up version. Bok choy is also full of health benefits, and is low in calories and carbohydrates. I saw a couple of articles online demonstrating cutting the huge stock into edible pieces, and they made sense. The Bok choy stocks are very similar to a celery stock, so I sliced down the middle of the thickest stocks and sliced them into half-moon shapes, about ½ to 1 inch long. I also continued slicing the green leaves at the top. They cook down just like spinach or some other greens, so they don’t need to be cut into smaller pieces. Basically, Bok choy is steamed, and it only takes a few minutes to have the dish on the table. You can add a protein, if you want. I haven’t tried it, but I think adding 3-4 shrimp per person during the last steam would be wonderful. The recipe below is for 1 head of Bok choy. For a family of 4 or 5, I would double each item. The Bok choy will cook down.
Ingredients for each head of Bok Choy:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 cloves of garlic
Large shallot
Large head of Bok Choy
1 ½ tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less, depending on your heat preference)
Instructions:
Add the oil to a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallot and garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant.
Add the Bok choy, soy sauce and sesame oil Toss to cover the Bok choy. Cover the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Uncover the pan, toss in Bok choy in the sauce to cover, then cover the pan again and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
Sprinkle in the optional red pepper flakes and serve.
