Today is my day to catch up. As I mentioned, its been busy....but I've been remembering to take pictures as I go, so I've got something to write about. Also, I've noticed in the past couple of weeks my cooking hasn't been as budget friendly as usual. Lately the meals have been running in the $10-15 to feed 3 range as opposed to the usual less than $10. I still consider that a pretty hefty accomplishment. Since tax season is over and all the insurance premiums have been paid for the next 6 months, I'm not losing any sleep over some splurging.
I've also been having lots of fun with music again. Many of my super talented DJ friends have been releasing some great stuff that keeps me rocking in the kitchen. I do have plans to install an under the cupboard radio to keep my kitchen juices flowing. Now if I could just find the funding to turn it into a full fledged nightclub ;P
I alluded to The Best Broccoli Beef Sauce recipe ever. Its simple, its flavorful and YUM! I deviate from the recipe a bit by mixing up the sauce the night before. Instead of just the flour and liquids, I also add the ginger and garlic to the mix. I also have a habit of using Wai Fa ginger. This is another of those strange things I found at Global Supermarket. It is a cured and spiced version of ginger that I've found stores better than fresh or candied and is easier to cut up. It still has a great ginger flavor and the ease of cutting is a huge plus when you are in a hurry in the kitchen. Put that all together in a container with a tight fitting lid and shake the daylights out of it to get the lumps to break up. No need for crazy stirring methods or anything like that, shaking is easy!
Up next is the mushroom stem. This stuff is crazy good! I first had it on my 26th birthday. I was in Salt Lake for my birthday weekend, and God, what a fun weekend that was...it was the Utah Bears annual Mr. Bear - Mr. Cub contest. Needless to say with all the partying and debauchery I needed something healthy to eat and Evergreen House fit the bill. This review is spot on that its some of the best stuff you'll ever find for vegetarian fare. I like to think of it as good, healthy, vegetarian food without the hipster pretentiousness. Its affordable and tasty, I can't say the same for any of the other vegetarian establishments I've been to in Salt Lake. OK, enough of that, this mushroom stem is just cool....it has a great earthy, grainy flavor, and really unique texture. I have no idea where else to get it besides Evergreen, so if you are fortunate enough to be able to get your hands on this stuff, give it a try, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
And of course, broccoli. We've been having really good sales on broccoli again, so this was a no brainer last week.
The first thing is to fry up the mushroom stem like you would beef. Just get some brown marks on it. Of course, that means a bit of oil (not too much), and a hot pan. Then just heat it through.
Then give the sauce one last good shake and pour it in. If the skillet is still on the hot side, you may want to stir it until it cools down to keep the sauce from lumping up.
Then in with the broccoli. At this point I like to cover it just until the broccoli starts to sweat.
Then I give it a quick toss, turn off the heat, and let it stay warm until I'm ready to plate.
We served it over a jasmine rice. Its tasty over any rice, but to capture the Evergreen House experience, you'll want to use a really hearty brown rice.
I've also done this with reconstituted Vege1 meat substitute. Vege1 is one of the few I've found that has good flavor and a tolerable texture. You might want to give it a shot if you're entertaining for die hard vegetarians.
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