Two-Fer Wednesday

Because today's recipe is a super simple one, I've decided to share TWO with you for the price of one! So today you'll be getting a super recipe for a low-carb dish called Slice of Mushroom Heaven from Dana Carpender's 500 Low-Carb Recipes AND the recipe for a great mustard-based barbecue sauce we had on pulled pork last night from the Cook's Illustrated cookbook I mentioned in my previous post, Grilleration! titled The Best Recipe: Grilling & Barbecue. Here is a link to both books on Amazon.com:





So here are the two recipes for today's post. The first one, Slice of Mushroom Heaven is always a hit with those on low-carb diets, those who love mushrooms, heck, just about everyone. Dana mentions that she prefers it cold and while I too like it cold, it's just a good hot :) The second recipe, Mid-South Carolina Mustard Sauce is just what it sounds like...a mustard and vinegar based barbecue sauce like you'd encounter in Carolina style BBQ. We served it last night over crockpot pulled pork, which I'll explain in my notes since it's not really a recipe, just something I do :)

The Recipes:

Slice of Mushroom Heaven

Rich enough to give Dean Ornish fits, and oh-so-good. Thanks to my friend Kay for the name!

• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 lb mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp salt or Vege-Sal
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3 cups shredded Gruyere cheese (a little more than 1/2 lb)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat, and begin frying the mushrooms, onion and garlic. When the mushrooms are limp, turn the heat up a bit and boil off the liquid. Stir in the white wine, and cook until that's boiled away, too.
3. Stir in the lemon juice and turn off the heat. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl, and stir in the half-and-half, eggs, salt, pepper and 2 cups of the cheese.
4. Spray an 8x8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray, and spread the mixture from step 3 evenly over the bottom. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top, and bake for 50 minutes, or until the cheese on top is golden.
   

Yield: 9 generous servings, each with 5 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 4 grams of usable carbs and 13 grams of protein.


Mid-South Carolina Mustard Sauce

Makes 2 1/2 cups

Another classic sauce for pulled pork that works well with most any cut of grilled pork.

• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 6 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
• 5 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp hot red pepper sauce, such as Tabasco
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp salt
• Ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients, including pepper to taste, in a medium bowl. (The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for several days.)


My results:

For the first recipe, Slice of Mushroom Heaven, this was a repeat performer in our house. I first tried this recipe several years ago when hubby and I, along with most of the family, were on the Atkins diet. It was a hit then and every bit as popular today. It is sort of a cross between a quiche and a mushroom casserole, and oh-so-good. Here were my ingredients:


The one change I made this time was to substitute water and dehydrated sherry wine powder in place of the white wine as we are trying to keep alcohol out of our cooking right now. But the sherry powder was a good substitute and worked well. And here's a shot of the mushrooms simmering away:


And just before entering the oven, after topping with the reserved cheese:



As I mentioned, this dish is good cold or hot, but cuts better when it's cold, so you might consider making it ahead, cooling it, slicing it and then reheating it slightly for serving if you wish if you want nice slices. Otherwise, letting it cool in the pan just a bit does help it to solidify a bit for slicing at the table. Here's the final picture of this dish before we devoured it!


This was OH SO YUMMY! Will definitely do this one again and again...

The second recipe was actually the one planned for today's blog, but as I said, it was so easy I decided to share two instead of one. That, however, should not dissuade you from trying this recipe, because it was every bit as good as the first recipe, but for a totally different dish.

First, let me explain about the Crockpot pulled pork. I started doing pulled pork this way some years back because: a) it's easier and b) it takes less hand-on time and c) we love the results! Basically, you take a boneless boston butt (sometimes called pork shoulder) or pork that is used for carnitas (which is not a solid mass but just as yummy), dump it in a large Crockpot with some salt, pepper and about 1/2 cup of water and then turn it on low to cook for 18-24 hours. Yes, that's right, 18-24 hours. So I usually put it on before bed the night before I plan to serve it and it's ready the next night for supper. Now, normally, about 1 hr before I serve this I remove the lid from the Crockpot, shred up the meat and add 1 bottle of our favorite BBQ sauce (usually KC Masterpiece). It will look like a lot of liquid is in the pot, but then I put the lid back on the pot and let it cook for at least one more hour and by that time all the liquid has been absorbed by the shredded pork. You can then serve this as is on buns, as a baked potato topping, as a pizza topping, whatever your heart desires. It is delicious!

However, because we were testing out this mustard-based sauce recipe, this time, about 1 hr before I served the pork, I shredded it up, added about 1 cup more water mixed with 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce and 1 tbsp liquid Hickory smoke and then recovered it and let it cook. This added the "BBQ" flavor that would have been missing from the sauce and made a very good but "unsauced" meat. So that's where the meat came from. But onto the sauce...

Here are my ingredients:


This is, of course, a VERY easy recipe to do. Just blend everything together and put it in the fridge. I emptied one squeeze bottle of Dijon so I decided to use it for the container to hold the finished product. It's "shake-able" and makes a good squeeze bottle for it. I also suggest making it in advance so the flavors have a chance to meld. Here's the finished product:


Now, straight up, this sauce is very vinegar-y, but mixed with the pulled pork it mellowed considerably and actually took a good bit to fully taste it. It is a thin sauce, unlike traditional thick red BBQ sauces, so be careful when pouring or you'll overdo it. We all really liked this sauce on the meat and would definitely make it again.

Let me know if you decide to give either of these recipes a try and be sure to check back tomorrow for more recipe fun!

Thai tastes really good!

So the Thai experiment went very well today. I started with making a green curry paste with fresh ingredients, but you can choose to use a bottled or canned version if you prefer. I then used some of that curry paste in a Green Curry Chicken with Eggplant dish that was a big hit with hubby and brother-in-law. Fair warning, this curry paste is HOT, although the author mentions in her side notes to the recipe that you can tame the heat by either removing the seeds from the bird chilies and/or using fewer chilies. Since we like our Thai food hot, we loved this as is, but you may want to start with a milder paste or use less of it in the final dish if you don't.

Here is the recipe for the curry paste that I began with:


The Recipe:

Green Curry Paste

3 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh green chilies (about 15 bird's eye chilies)

1 stalk lemongrass, white part only, coarsely chopped

5 shallots, coarsely chopped

4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1 tbsp chopped galangal or fresh gingerroot

3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro roots or stems

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp shrimp or anchovy paste (optional)

1. In a food processor or using a mortar and pestle, combine chilies, lemongrass, shallots, garlic, galangal, lime leaf, cilantro and water. Blend until coarsely chopped.
2. Add coriander, cumin, pepper and shrimp paste, if using. Process until a paste forms, scraping down sides of food processor. Add extra water 1 tsp at a time, if necessary.

Makes about 3/4 cup.

Make ahead: Cover tightly and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze in small portions for up to 3 months.

And here are the assembled ingredients:



As I mentioned in my previous post, the three most difficult to find ingredients, the lime leaves, Thai basil (in the chicken dish) and lemongrass can usually be found either in your better grocery stores or in your local Asian market. They would also be a good source for the Thai bird chilies. I have purchased them there in the past and have quite a few stashed in my freezer which I used for this dish. For those who are unfamiliar with these chilies, they pack quite a punch for such a small package, so be extra careful when preparing them and make sure to either wear gloves or wash you hands throughly after working with them so as not to burn any sensitive portions of your anatomy :) Here is a link to a great on line source for Thai groceries. I have purchased from them in the past with great success:




For this recipe I followed the directions pretty much to the letter, using ginger root instead of galangal as I didn't have any on hand and omitting the shrimp/anchovy paste as again, it was not on hand. I used about 25 bird chilies since they were small and the end result was VERY HOT! When used in the chicken dish though, we thought it was the perfect amount of heat for your average Thai food lover, but for the two of us (hubby and I) I might even use a little bit more... Here is a photo of the completed paste:




To me it looked more like a well processed salsa than a paste, but worked wonderfully regardless. I did end up using a bit more water when finishing the paste to get it to puree smoothly. From this you will only use 2 tbsp in the following dish, so the rest can be refrigerated or frozen for later use. I froze mine in a ziplock bag so I can snip off as needed for future use.

Next came the actual dish we used the paste in, Green Curry Chicken with Eggplant!

The Recipe:

Green Curry Chicken with Eggplant

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp green curry paste

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp palm or brown sugar

1 1/2 cups diced Asian eggplant

4 lime leaves

1/2 cup fresh sweet Thai basil leaves

1 tbsp lime juice

2 tsp sliced fresh red chilies (optional)

1. In a wok or saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add curry paste and stir-fry for 1 minute, or until fragrant, but be careful not to burn.
2. Add chicken and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
3. Add coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, sugar, eggplant and lime leaves. Bring to a low boil, reduce heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked and eggplant is just tender. Remove from heat.
4. Stir in basil and lime juice and garnish with chilies, if using.
Makes 4-6 servings.

Variation:
Green Curry Chicken with Bok Choy:
Omit eggplant. Add 8 halved baby bok choy (about 2 inches long) for last few minutes of cooking time.

Again, a photo of my assembled ingredients. You will notice that those are NOT Asian eggplants. Our local grocery did not have any Asian eggplants in stock, so I went with traditional black beauties, but definitely will try the Asian variety next time can get them. I also used brown sugar rather than palm sugar since that was on hand.



I followed the initial directions for this dish but had more eggplant than called for (about twice as much) and a little more chicken than called for (about 1.5 lbs total). I also chose, in the end, to add the remainder of the coconut milk from the can (about 1/2 cup additional) and then at the very end, prior to adding the lime juice and Thai basil leaves, mixed in a slurry of cornstarch to thicken the broth just a bit. I used about 1 tbsp of cornstarch dissolved into 2 tbsp of the left over chicken broth which I brought to a boil before removing the dish from the heat in the end. Here is a photo of the dish simmering away on my stovetop:




I didn't think it looked very pretty when it was cooking , but adding the Thai basil at the end brightened up the color so it was indeed very pretty on the table. Here is a photo of the finished dish along with the sides I chose, steamed Jasmine rice and edamame.



And finally of the dish in it's finished state:



This served three hungry adults with enough left over for at least two more portions. Both hubby and brother-in-law said they loved it and hubby said the flavors were "right on". I really enjoyed the soft silkiness of the finished eggplant which takes on a kind of custardy consistency and the fresh Thai basil lent that licorice-y taste that brightens up the whole dish. All in all this was a big hit and one we will definitely do again. I hope you will try it too and let me know how it goes... Tune in to the blog tomorrow for a use for leftover rice... old fashioned rice pudding!