Bok Choi with Shiitake Mushrooms

This longer than intended break from blogging occurred because we had a big change in our lives. As those that follow me know, we’ll be moving back to the UK next year so we would have had to sell our home. We always thought it would take awhile to sell our home as it’s not like a lot of people are clamouring for Queen Anne Victorians. Who’d have thought in a raging pandemic, the real estate market would set itself on fire? So suddenly we were faced with several weeks going flat out to get the house ready and list it. In a few days it was under agreement. So we had to find a rental quickly and get a move on, literally.

This all meant we were too tired and stressed to think about cooking creatively. There were a lot of takeaways and routine throwing meals together. As we’ve settled into our temporary home, we’ve started to breath again and it was time to have fun with cooking again.

My sister loves authentic Chinese food and we were talking about how hard that is to find in this country and I was intrigued about recipes. Luckily, I have a colleague, whose family is from China, and I picked her brains. She gave me a couple of recipes, one of which is this one. I added the rice noodles and seared marinated pork.

Technique for Bok Choi and Shiitake Mushrooms

This is a very easy meal to make, you just need to do a couple things at least an hour before.

Boil water and cover the shiitake mushrooms until they are covered by at least an inch/2.5cm. Set aside to rehydrate the mushrooms. You’ll want to keep the liquid for later.

Trim any tough fat and fibers from the pork. Mix the ingredients for the marinade and make sure the pork loin is coated well. Chill for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. Heat up the garlic infused olive oil in a large skillet. Sear both sides of the pork and transfer the pork to a baking dish and cook until done. Cook the rice noodles at this point according the directions on the package.

Depending on the size of the bok choi cut in half or quarter them. Wash and dry them and set aside.

In the skillet the pork was seared in add the rehydrated shiitake mushrooms. Sauté them in the oil for a minute or so and then add the liquid from the mushrooms and the sherry, simmer on low for a couple of minutes.

Add the chicken stock with the corn flour and bring to a boil. Reduce slightly and lower the temperature so it is a low simmer. Season with sea salt and pepper.

Add the bok choi. Keep turning as it cooks so the bok choi is evenly coated with the sauce. Cook until the bok choi starts to soften. I like my greens to be on the crisp side but feel free to cook until soft all the way through. It’s a texture thing with me. Remove the bok choi from the sauce and then add the rice noodles to the sauce and toss until the noodles are evenly coated.

Slice the pork once it’s had a chance to rest for several minutes. Add the noodles to the plate and then layer the pork and bok choi. Serve immediately.

I found this Bok Choi with Shiitake Mushrooms delicious but very mild in flavour. When I talked to my colleague, she mentioned sometimes adding hoisin sauce to make this dish bolder. I will have to try that next time. It was so nice to get cooking again, I can’t tell you.

Bok Choi with Shiitake Mushrooms

A flavourful dish with sherry and mushrooms

Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

Marinade for Pork Loin

  • 2 tbsp garlic infused olive oil
  • 1 tbsp mirin
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • Sea salt and Pepper
  • 1 lb pork loin 453 grams

Bok Choi and Shiitake Mushroom

  • 3 medium sized bok choi
  • 7-10 dried shiitake mushrooms depending on size
  • 1/2 cup liquid from mushrooms 4oz
  • 3 tbsp dry cooking sherry
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock 4oz
  • 1 tbsp corn starch/corn flour
  • sea salt and pepper
  • 1 package of rice noodles

Instructions

Pork Loin

  1. Trim the pork loin of any tough fat or fibers.

  2. Mix the marinade ingredients together and add the pork, making sure it's well coated. Cover and chill for at least an hour.

  3. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Sear both sides of the pork loin and then cook in the oven until done.

Bok Choi and Shiitake Mushrooms

  1. Cut the shiitake mushrooms in half or quarters. Boil water and cover the mushrooms by at least an inch/2.5cm. Set aside to rehydrate. Keep the liquid.

  2. Cut the bok choi in half and clean and dry.

  3. Once the mushrooms have rehydrated add them to the skillet with hot olive oil. Sautè for a few minutes before adding the liquid from the mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes on a simmer, reducing the liquid then add the sherry. Keep it on a low simmer.

  4. Mix the corn starch/corn flour with the chicken stock and mix well so there aren't any lumps. Add it to the skillet and bring to a boil. Stir well so it doesn't catch on the bottom then reduce to a simmer. Season with sea salt and pepper. Add more sherry if needed.

  5. While the sauce is being made, cook and drain the rice noodles.

  6. Add the bok choi to the skillet and turn as it cooks so the sauce coats the bok choi evenly. Cook it to the degree of softness you prefer.

  7. Remove the bok choi and set aside. Add the rice noodles to the skillet and toss so they are coated in the noodles.

Plating

  1. Add the noodles to the plate. After resting the pork loin for a several minutes, slice it and place it on the noodles. Add the bok choi, serve immediately.

Mushroom Apple Thyme Sauce with Panko Crusted Chicken over Parsnip Mash

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Mother Nature spoilt us yesterday.  While we are getting snow today we had a lovely break from winter with incredible warm weather of 70F/20C.  It was wonderful to be out and about walking downtown.  The only downside are the guys that suddenly walk round with their shirts whipped off.  Let’s just say, ahem, not always a good thing.  But I loved not having to wear a coat and the dogs had a great time sniffing about on their walk.

I was in the mood for some autumn flavours this past weekend and as it is still tax season it needed to be easy.  I thought it would be fun to do a sauce with apple and mushroom over chicken with a parsnip mash.

mushroom apple over chicken 1 2018

Start by prepping the parsnips.  Peel and cube.  Put it into a saucepan and cover with chicken stock.  Bring to a boil then simmer until cooked through.

Coat chicken breasts with egg and panko bread crumbs.  I usually don’t have an issue with the panko falling off but if you do, dredge the chicken in flour first, then the egg and panko.  Heat a couple of tablespoons olive oil and brown both sides of the chicken.

mushroom apple over chicken 2 2018

Finish off in the oven at 350F/175C.  Meanwhile slice 4-5 mushrooms, finely chop 4-6 cloves of garlic, and chop about 3/4 of an apple.  It helps to have dogs to eat the rest of the apple!  They are so spoilt.  Add more olive oil to the skillet and begin to sauté the mushrooms, garlic and apple.

mushroom apple over chicken 3 2017

Add a healthy handful of fresh thyme.  Cook until the mushrooms start to brown.  Add a tablespoon of butter, a 1/3 of a cup of dry sherry and a cup of chicken stock.

mushroom apple over chicken 4 2018

Simmer the sauce until the chicken is cooked.  Once the parsnips are cooked, drain most of the stock but leave about 1/2 a cup in the pot.  Add 2 tablespoons of butter and about 3/4 cup of jarlsberg cheese.  Mash it all together.

mushroom apple over chicken 5 2018

Place the chicken on the mash and top with the mushroom apple sauce.  A very easy but tasty meal after a long day of house projects.

Mushroom Cups and Being a Drowned Rat…

It’s official.  I am protesting Mother Nature.  And my poor timing.  I seem to have the uncanny ability to pick the wrong times to walk the dogs.  And I do try to get it right.  This week, however, I am failing miserably.  Tuesday night I had limited time to walk the dogs and it was pouring rain.  I checked the radar and it looked like it would rain quite hard for over an hour so off I went with the two dogs.  In a couple of minutes we were all soaked through.  And wouldn’t you know it, the sun poked through the clouds and the rain backed off at the end of the walk.

Last night, again torrential rain, honestly it is like a giant is standing up there with buckets of water.  Flooding in the area is quick and messy.  So the rain backed off and I thought here was my chance.  Grabbed the dogs and raced out.  I was about 3 doors down (no pun intended) and the skies opened up. I would have been dryer if I had taken a shower.  I had to wring my clothes out before I went in.  I am now familiar with how a drowned rat feels!

So while I was warming up after the walk I needed to sort out dinner.  I decided to make mushroom cups which are very fast and easy to make.

To start chop up a few mushrooms and some garlic.

Mushroom cups 1 2013

Saute them in olive oil and then add a splash of sherry.

Mushroom cups 3 2013

Remove from the heat once they’ve browned a bit.  Let cool then mix in grated cheese.  I used Jarlsberg for this.

Mushroom cups 4 2013

Spoon into ready made phyllo cups and then place in a hot toaster oven to melt the cheese and warm through.

Mushroom cups 5 2013

I served these with salad made up of apple, brie, and prosciutto.  Yum!

Mushroom cups 6 2013

A very quick but delicious meal.  Especially when a light meal is preferred in this heat!