Stuffed Mushroom Pickles

 Stuffed Mushroom Pickles

I have always hated mushrooms. They are nasty things whose cousins can grow on your feet. They taste like a sponge and are, all around, not a food ingredient. I believed all of this for 36 years because my mother told me so. Turns out the woman lied. Ok, not totally. I am still am not a huge fan, but they are growing on me. No pun intended. To date there are only two ways I will eat a mushroom. One is ground up in a meatball or ravioli. The other is as a pickle. 

I love pickles. I will try just about anything in pickle form. I am not sure why but I found picked, stuffed mushrooms appealing.  I was watching Barefoot Friends (a cheesy, Korean, reality TV show complete with subtitles) and one of the episodes had mushroom pickles.... Stuffed, Mushroom Pickles. This changed the ball game. They looked appealing; this is a first for me. I normally look at a recipe and try to figure out how to remove or replace the mushrooms. But these were different. They were visually stunning.  Unfortunately, this was not a cooking show, there was no recipe. All I knew was that the guy cooking used King Oyster Mushrooms, scallion and peppers….no idea what the pickling spice was. So after a long, drawn out search I found something similar I could adapt to my experiment.

Turns out when all is said and done, these are some delicious pickles, wonderful sliced and thrown in a kimchi soup or a nice ramen soup. I was shocked I liked them since I am texturally handicapped with some foods.They still have a bit of the spongy mushroom texture but the scallion and pepper in the middle give the needed crunch.

I have to admit they look a bit better when stuffed with multiple colors and then sliced after pickling. But either way they are delish. 

So how are they made?

Ingredients:

1lb Package King Oyster Mushrooms

½ cup canola oil

1 tbs sesame oil

1 bunch scallion

1 Orange and yellow Pepper

1 red hot pepper of choice (I skipped the hot pepper in the first batch because I was out, but they are defiantly well worth adding in the second batch)

1 cup Rice wine vinegar

¼ cup Shoyu (soy sauce)

2 cloves garlic

¼ cup sugar

½ cup cider vinegar

Water

Cut the heads off of each mushroom. In a pan heat the oils. Place the mushroom into the hot oil and watch carefully. Turn over as each side gets to a golden brown. When all sides are brown removed and place on a paper towel to drain.

Poke a spoon handle, chopstick or your finger through the stem of the mushroom and stuff with a piece of scallion and a thin slice of all types of pepper. Place into a container and cover with vinegar/sugar/shoyu solution, drop in the cloves of garlic and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 days then eat. I like to slice mine into rounds and add them to all sorts of dishes.

Yes I realize I said they look visually stunning, they did on the show, there were multiple colors inside and they were sliced really pretty. Mine look like the ugly step sisters. Don't let that stop you though. They taste amazing. The pickled bell of the ball. 

Cold Weather Kimchi Three Ways

Cold Weather Kimchi Three Ways

I love Kimchi, just about every type I have tried. Granted, there are over 200 variations and I have tasted about 10, to date the only type I am not fond of is the Pumpkin Kimchi...but then i detest almost everything pumpkin other than jack-o-lanterns.  So I decided to make a few to complement my standard cabbage kimchi. The nice thing is that kimchi lasts a while in the refrigerator, its healthy and great for a grab and go side, a nice fried rice, garnish or addition to soup.

Baby Bok Choy Kimchi

Ingredients

1.5 lb Baby Bok-choy

1/3 cup coarse sea salt

1 large onion, sliced thinly

5-6 garlic cloves, minced

1/4" slice ginger, minced

1 tbs raw sugar

3-4 fresh chili’s

3 tablespoon Fish sauce

2 tbs Gochujang (Korean fermented chili paste)

1/2 cup Korean chili flakes

Directions

1. Rinse the Bok Choy to remove any dirt. Drain well.
2. In a large shallow bowl spread Bok Choy and sprinkle sea salt evenly over. Cover and let it sit for 40 minutes.
3. Rinse the Bok Choy in cold water and drain.
4. Mix ½ the onion, garlic, ginger, sugar, fish sauce, and chili paste in a blender until smooth. Chop the fresh chili into rings and mix with paste. Place the mixture in a mixing bowl and add Korean chili flakes, mix well.
5. In a large bowl combine Bok Choy and the sliced onion together. Spread the chili mix through all of the Bok Choy leaves and onion making sure to coat inside and out.
6. Eat as is or let sit for 24 hours on the counter in a covered dish then move to refrigerator.
7. Consume within 2 weeks or so. This is one of those kimchi best served fresh.

Dongchimi (radish water kimchi)

This is literally winter kimchi. It is great stuff, served cold with noodles or some rice. 

Ingredients:

• 5-6 small palm-sized Korean radishes, about 5 pounds’ worth
• ⅓ cup salt
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 ts worth of ginger, minced
• 2-3 green chili peppers, stemmed
• 1 cup worth of Korean pear, cut into chunks (can be replaced with 2 sweet pears)
• 3 scallions  washed and drained
• 1 red onion, sliced into pieces ¼ inch thick
• 2 liters (9 cups) of water
• a large glass jar that can hold 6 quarts (6 liters), or 24 cups.

Directions:

1. Wash the radishes thoroughly to remove any dirt. Slice the ends off and peel the radishes.
2. Place ½ cup course salt in a bowl of water and mix until dissolved. Add whole radishes and let sit for 3 hours then remove the radishes and reserve the salt water.
3.  Layer ginger, garlic onion, pear slices, whole chili and other vegetable with radishes inside a large jar. Make a few holes in red and green chili peppers with a fork before you add them for extra heat and flavor or as I did, slice them into rounds
4. Pour in the brine mixture.
5. Close the lid and let it sit at room temperature for 2-3 days until it ferments. When it ferments, the brine will get a little milky and it will taste a little sour. It will also smell sour and some bubbles will float to the surface. At that point, always store it in the refrigerator and take some out whenever want it.

Radish Top Kimchi

This was one of my favorites. I even took it to school and a few of my students were gutsy enough to try it. It went over well. It is spicy, but not overpowering and retains a great crunch.

 

Ingredients

1lbs radish stems

1 tbs sugar

1 cup onion sliced thin

1” ginger, minced

2 tbs garlic minced

2 chili peppers (green or red) sliced into rings

2 tbs Korean chili flakes

4 tbs fish sauce

Glass jar

Water

3/4 cup salt

Prepare the radish leaves

1.      Cut the stems off of Young radish

2.      Cut into pieces about 3 inches long and put them into a big bowl. Rinse well, remove any dirt or grit.

3.      Sprinkle ½ cup of salt over the stems and mix with your hands. Let it sit for 60 minutes (drain and add salt as needed).

4.      Rinse and drain the salted stems thoroughly. Drain in a colander and set aside.

5.      In a bowl dissolve ¼ cup salt with 4 cups of water and set aside.

6.      Combine the remaining ingredients with the drained stems, pack into a glass jar and pour the salt water over top until just covered.

7.      Let sit out on the counter (covered) for 24 hours then move to refrigerator and eat at leisure. It is delicious with rice or soup.

Cheater's Ravioli Two ways:

Cheater's Ravioli Two ways:

 I love ravioli, unfortunately most of the ingredients on the pre-made, frozen variety found in the local super market are unpronounceable. This means my very unpredictable constitution cannot handle such diversity of ingredients. In plain terms, I like to know what is in my food.

What's that you say? Ravioli's are to difficult to make? To time consuming? To much work?  Not when you cheat. There are three wonderful items that make creating a ravioli dinner simpler than you thought. 

1. A cookie dough scoop
2. A blender of some sort
3. A package of Dim sum wrappers (you can use wonton wrappers but they cook a bit translucent)

 I made two kinds, and I made a lot. The dim sum wrappers come in 100 count packages and I made 2 packs worth (they freeze wonderfully for later use, so make a lot).

The first was a vegetarian version stuffed with eggplant tapenade (recipe below) that I had canned over the summer. The second was a pork and smoked apple-wood Gouda stuffed ravioli.  I also made two separate sauces to complement each kind.

 Eggplant Tapenande Filling:

Preheat your oven to 350°

Take the eggplant and cut the ends off. Then slice each in half.

Onions - one large onion per 4 eggplants. 

I used a variety of different types of eggplants for this. What ever you have on hand works.

One head of garlic per two onions

Cut the onions into quarters and just cut the tops off of the garlic heads.

All of this to a baking dish and add some salt and drizzle with olive oil

Place your baking pans in the preheated oven and bake until all vegetables are very soft about 30-40 minutes.

Put the soft vegetables in a food processor and process until you have a paste. Keep going until all of the vegetables have been processed.

Add salt to taste.

Add about a tsp of hot pepper flakes (or more if you like)

Prepare your jars for pressure canning.

Put the "tapenade" in half pint jars leaving 1/2" head space.

Follow the directions of your pressure canner, processing the jars for 85 minutes at 10lbs pressure

When I open the jars I squeeze a bit of fresh lemon juice in and stir it in. It really brightens the flavor.

This is not the prettiest food you will ever can but it is tasty.

 To Fill the Ravioli

Thaw the dim sum wrappers and place on a plate. Get your trusty cookie scoop and a paint brush. (A clean, never touched actual paint, brush)

Line a baking pan with wax paper. Have a small bowl of warm water and egg white mixed and ready.

Place one scoop of the tapenade in each dimsum wrapper. Use the brush to put a thin layer of water/egg onto one half of the wrapper edge. Fold the wrapper over carefully pressing to make sure there are no air bubbles. Air bubbles lead to exploding ravioli.

Place in a single layer on the wax paper. At this point they are ready to cook or freeze. I recommend freezing them flat. Then placing them into a baggie for storage. To cook them place into salted boiling water for about 8 minutes. Top with sauce and off you go.

I usually make these while watching a movie. It goes faster. It is a bit time consuming but at least there is no dough to make and when you are finished you have many meals worth.

I served these with my home made pasta sauce.

Pork and Gouda Ravioli

Ingredients:

1lb pork loin, fat removed
2 cloves garlic
2 tbs parmesean
salt/pepper to taste
1 egg
1 scallion
1/2 cup riccotta
1 block of smoked apple-wood Gouda, chunked. 

Reserve the Gouda, then throw all the remaining ingredients in a blender and make a nice pink paste.

To Fill the Ravioli:

Thaw the dim sum wrappers and place on a plate. Get your trusty cookie scoop and a paint brush.

Line a baking pan with wax paper. Have a small bowl of warm water and egg white mixed and ready.

Place one scoop of the pinkish goop in each dim sum wrapper. Add a slice of Gouda about the size of a quarter. Try to not have to many edges or you could poke a hole in your ravioli. (If your really feeling lazy you could just shred and add the Gouda in with the rest of the ingredients.) Use the brush to put a thin layer of water/egg onto one half of the wrapper edge. Fold the wrapper over carefully pressing to make sure there are no air bubbles. Air bubbles lead to exploding ravioli.

Place in a single layer on the wax paper. At this point they are ready to cook or freeze. I recommend freezing them flat. Then placing them into a baggie for storage. To cook them place into salted boiling water for about 8 minutes. Top with sauce and off you go.

I usually make these while watching a movie. It goes faster. It is a bit time consuming but at least there is no dough to make.

I served this with a lemon Parmesan sauce. I would love to share but I honestly don't have a recipe. It involves a lot of butter, a little lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, and some parsley. But I have also eaten them with strait up pasta sauce. Or just a bit of melted butter and lemon. Its good no matter what.