My cooking style is to just buy some random ingredients which my gut tells me go well together, and toss them in one or two pans. I don't think I've ever used a cookbook in my life (although I have to admit that I did work in the kitchen of a traditional english style pub here in the Netherlands, serving shepherd's pies and roast welsh lamb in mint sauce, as a side job next to my studies. I doubt however that staring into the abyss of english cuisine can in any way improve one's cooking skills).
Now most of the time, my culinary creations come out decent to nice. I'm quite talented at cooking, I've been told.
Sometimes however I make something that is good enough to store it in the cookbook database somewhere in the back of my head.
Today's menu was one of these 'oh, this tastes exceptionally great' moments.
Needed:
- brown beech mushrooms (depending on where you live, might be sold with their japanese name, bunashimeji. I think the US uses that, EU doesn't, because it's a native species in northern Europe as well as Asia)
- grey oyster mushrooms
- chantarelles
- cherry tomatoes
- spanish red pepper
- chicken fillet
- rosemary
- chives
- potatoes / rice / pasta, bread whatever you like most
Take a handful of brown beech mushrooms, a handful of grey oyster mushrooms, a handful of chantarelles, and a spanish red pepper.
Chop up the pepper finely, discard the seeds.
Clean and slice the mushrooms (NOT WITH WATER. Never ever clean mushrooms with water, they soak themselves and all flavour dies. Clean them with a soft brush or household paper), and mix them with the finely chopped red pepper.
Now prepare some chicken filets by slicing them into chewable chunks, and seasoning them with some salt, white pepper, and paprika powder.
Put some butter and/or oil in a frying pan. Put your mushroom / red pepper mix into the frying pan once the oil is hot.
Let the mushrooms fry for about 2 minutes, while you keep stirring them gently so they don't burn. Don't turn the stove too low.
Now, add some rosemary (and go ahead, add some more, it's one of the main taste-makers for this dish, it is okay if the whole pan smells like rosemary), stir a few times until it's mixed with the shrooms, and then add about 2 handfuls of whole cherry tomatoes, and add the chicken.
Fry the chicken pieces-and-shroom mix for another minute on high flame, making sure to turn over the chicken pieces so they seal-fry on both sides.
Now put a lid on the pan, turn down the stove to nearly it's lowest, and let it brew for another 5 minutes, while stirring it once or twice in between so nothing accidentally burns on one side.
Serve with potatoes / pasta / rice / bread, whatever starch source you like best. In case of the potatoes and rice, make sure to start preparing them ahead of the chicken and shrooms, or they won't be ready in time. Top it off with some chopped fresh chives. Enjoy.
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Topic: Food Thread: Kitchen Chemistry (Read 556589 times)