Grilled Steak with Tomatoes, Onions & Portobello Mushrooms

This is a good start to my Atkins low carbohydrate diet. I love portobello mushrooms because they are meaty and tasty. I especially love these mushrooms in an omelette.

I was looking through my cookbook for recipes using mushrooms and this recipe from Vegetables for Vitality caught my eye. It was colorful and the prospect of cooking a steak was exciting because I have never done it before.

Besides, I am finally trying out recipes from my many cookbooks. This is great isn't it? My cookbooks are now getting my proper attention and I am finally cooking instead of just admiring the beautiful photos.

This dish is quite simple to prepare. You need to make some garlic oil and then grill the mushrooms and onions. When the mushrooms and onions are done, simple toss them in the garlic oil. Then you need to grill the steak after seasoning it with salt and pepper. Once done, just put it on a plate and layer with sliced tomatoes and the mushrooms and onions.

Instead of salt, I seasoned the beef with oyster sauce and pepper. And I pan fried it instead of putting it on the grill.  To be honest, although the dish looks colorful and appetizing, I was not that thrilled with the flavors. I'm thinking that the beef would be a lot tastier stir fried with the mushrooms. But that's just me. Perhaps, a mushroom sauce would really lift the flavors.

But I am happy that I am on the road to burning some fats by restricting my carbohydrate intake. And oh, I have started exercising too. For the next few months, my neighbor would have to tolerate some early morning tremors when I jump up and down to Wang Chung's Everybody Have Fun Tonight. I guess it will no fun for them :)

Grilled Steak with Onions & Portobello Mushrooms

Recipe source : Vegetables for Vitality (Page 125)

Ingredients :

- 2 teaspoons olive oil

- 2 clove garlic, minced

- 4 slices (1/2 inch thick) red onion

- 4 large portobello mushrooms, stems removed.

- Non-stick olive-oil cooking spray

- 2 boneless rib-eye steaks (12 ounces each)

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

- 3 ripe tomatoes

- Fresh chives or parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Method :

1. Heat grill to high.

2. In a small skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Transfer oil and garlic to large bowl.

3. Coat onion slices and mushroom caps on both sides with cooking spray.

4. Grill onions and mushrooms until just browned, about 2 minutes each side.

5. Cut mushrooms into thick slices.

6. Add mushrooms and onion to garlic and toss to coat.

7. Cut steaks crosswise into two equal-size pieces. Pat dry. Season with salt and pepper. Coat lightly with cooking spray.

8. Grill steaks until seared and browned grill marks appear, 3 to 4 minutes.

9. Turn steaks over. Grill 2 to 3 minutes for medium rare, or until desired doneness.

10. To serve, cut each tomato into 6 slices. Arrange 3 slices on top of each cooked steak. Top with mushroom-onion mixture. Sprinkle with chives, if desired.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

Mushroom and Barley Soup

I stood on the bathroom scale and the needle accelerated to the right. A bit too far right for my liking. I looked at the numbers. What???!!! One hundred...****....Yarrgh!!! Boing! Boing! Boing! (That was my eyeballs popping, not my belly fats bouncing, thank you). I stared at the numbers again. Not good. Not good at all.

To torture myself further, I took out my measuring tape and measured my vital statistics. The reading : Still the same-too big-too big. I tell you, these fats never go to the right place. I regained the 15 or so pounds I lost no thanks to the bags of Twisties, Mr Potato and Doritos (the Smokin' BBQ is really good, don't try it) I have been munching to cheer myself up. Work and deadlines does put a damper on my spirits but chowing down on sodium laden carbs is not the answer. 

No wonder my waistband is choking me and I feel vibrations  when I climb up the stairs. In all fairness, this shouldn't be cause for unnecessary panic. I mean, I'm still below 200lbs muahahahaha!!! But still.......

I needed to take stock of the situation and start eating healthy. And I mean healthy, no more empty carbs and junk food. Yah, yah, I know I shouldn't be stuffing my face with things like Rempeyek and I promised myself that that would be my last indulgence.

So when I came upon this recipe for Old Fashioned Mushroom and Barley Soup, I decided that this is going to be the start to my eat healthy resolve. This soup calls for Shitake and Button Mushrooms. I guess any kind of mushroom that can withstand long simmering would be alright. Another ingredient is Pearl Barley, something I did not expect to use in a soup. 

After cooking the soup, I eagerly dug in. It was good but the tomato puree was too overpowering for me. It was sour and smelt very strong. I should have used less than what was called for in the recipe. Also I felt that Shitake mushrooms were not suitable for this soup. After that one bowl, I decided that I could improve the soup further. Sad to say, the remainder of the soup went into the compost heap. 

My solution to jazzing up this beautiful soup is bacon. Oh yes, everything tastes good with bacon :) And it's partner in crime - sausages. I fried the bacon until brown and crispy, removed it from the pot and then fried the sausages. Once browned, I removed the sausages and sauteed the onions, garlic and ginger until the onions were wilted and slightly brown. 

The evil accomplices.

Then I added the carrots, mushrooms, water, chicken stock, pearl barley and the bacon and sausages. Instead of tomato puree, I added 2 cups of tomato ketchup with 1/4 cup tomato puree. The soup was simmered until the barley was tender.

As expected, the soup turned out a lot tastier than the original version. Very good smoky flavours from the bacon and sausages. The only small hurdle for me is getting used to the faint aroma of barley. I guess it is something I could get used to. I also felt that there was too much barley and in future I would reduce it to 1/4 cup. I wouldn't mind cooking this soup again as it made for a very satisfying and robust meal.

Old-Fashioned Mushroom and Barley Soup
Recipe Source : Reader's Digest Eat Well Stay Well (page 139)
(My adaptations are in red)

Ingredients :
- 2 teaspoons olive oil (I used more than this)
- 1 onion, finely chopped (I used 2 big onions, sliced)
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed (I used 5 cloves, roughly chopped)
- 2 carrots, diced
- 375g button mushrooms, sliced (I used 200g)
- 125g shitake mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced (I used 250g Portobello mushrooms)
- 1/2 cup pearl barley (I would reduce this to 1/4 cup next time)
- 2 cups chicken stock (1 used 2 cubes Maggi chicken stock)
- 1 cup tomato puree (I mixed 2 cups tomato ketchup with 1/4 cup tomato puree)
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger (I used 1/2 inch fresh ginger, finely julienned)
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley (I omitted)
- 2 cups water (I used about 800ml water but please adjust to your preferred consistency)
- 3 rashers streaky bacon, cut into smaller pieces.
- 250g pork sausages, cut into 1" pieces (I used low sodium Taiwan sausages)

Method :-
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over moderate heat.
2. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until tender.
3. Add the carrots and cook, stirring frequently, for 4 minutes or until crisp-tender.
4. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or until tender.
5. Stir in the barley, stock, 2 cups water, the tomato puree, ginger and pepper.
6. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes or until the barley is tender.
7. Sprinkle with parsley before serving.

My method :
1. Heat oil in pot and fry the bacon until brown. Remove and set aside.
2. In the same oil, fry sausages until brown. Remove and set aside.
3. Add more oil of necessary and sautee the onions, garlic and ginger until onions and wilted and slightly brown.
4. Add carrots and stir for about 5 minutes.
5. Add mushrooms, stir and add water, barley, chicken stock, bacon, sausages and tomato ketchup/tomato puree. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 50 minutes or until barley is tender.
6. Adjust seasoning and serve.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

Beer Battered Mushrooms

This Beer Battered Mushrooms came about after I read Kelly Siew's Review on Chicago Rib House and she mentioned that she couldn't stop eating the Beer Battered Mushrooms. That got me curious and I did a search on the recipe. I found the recipes here, here and here.

I have heard about beer batter but I never ventured to try it. I don't have any beer in the house because I can't tolerate alcohol anymore after undergoing a detox. Not for alcohol addiction, mind you! That detox was for health reasons and involves organic coffee. I shall not talk about the coffee bit because most of you might freak out.

I used to be able to down 3 cans of beer without suffering any  ill effects but now, half a can will knock me off. Just a cup of red wine and the whole room starts to spin and I feel like passing out. Maybe that's for the better :)

This recipe is really simple. You add 1 cup of beer to 1 cup of flour that has been seasoned with salt, pepper and whatever seasonings that strike your fancy. I chose white and brown button mushrooms for my maiden attempt. 

For the flour mix, I added salt, pepper, chilli powder, sweet paprika, garlic powder and Maggi seasoning powder. My batter was a bit to thin and therefore I suggest that you add the beer bit by bit to the flour mixture until you get the right consistency. I followed the method on Youtube here where an egg is mixed with the beer and then poured into the flour mix.

So how did it turn out? Yummy! The batter was light and crispy and the mushrooms meaty and tender. Very addictive! No wonder Kelly couldn't stop eating her mushrooms :) I will definitely repeat this recipe with other combination of seasonings and I will take note to ensure that my batter is of the right consistency. For your information, I fried 12 button mushrooms and had lots of leftover batter. Try this and you will love it! For the beer drinkers, this would make a good snack for your beer sessions :)

Beer Battered Mushrooms

Recipe source : Adapted from The Little Vlog

Ingredients :

- 12 button mushrooms (or more)

- 1 cup beer

- 1 egg

- 1 cup flour

- 2 teaspoons Maggi seasoning powder (or any seasoning of your choice)

- 1 teaspoon chilli powder

- 1 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika

- 1 teaspoon garlic powder

- 1 teaspoon pepper

- oil for deep frying

Method :

- Wipe off any visible dirt from mushrooms and remove stem. Set aside.

- In a mixing bowl mix flour and seasonings.

- In another bowl, mix beer and egg.

- Pour the beer mixture into the flour mixture. Stir to mix. If the batter in too runny, add more flour until you get the right consistency.

- Heat oil in a deep pan.

- Coat mushrooms with batter and deep fry until golden brown and crispy.

- Serve immediately with your favorite dipping sauce.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.