On a Theme of Threes

As I am bringing in recipes from my website (which I am giving up soon, for many complicated reasons), I have been adding in recipes, here to my blog, for ease of access, ones that had previously been only in the website. 
 

Szechuan Hot Sour Cabbage

It has worked well in sets of threes, with recipes in a single theme. Today, I am adding in three side dishes that have long been favorites. One of these is grilled, and I call it Grilled Portobellas 'Richard," after our friend Richard. Another is a truly delicious way to make green beans, especially for a special occasion. I made a slew of these for a birthday dinner, and the bowl was scraped clean at end of meal. The third recipe is a cabbage dish (above) that is one my husband will actually eat. It has enough great flavors that he will tolerate the fact that it is cabbage.

What to do With Huge Portobello Mushrooms?

Our friend Rich thought up this idea, and had some very definite ideas on how it should be made, ideas that I implemented with my own knowledge and expertise. I have to say, these turned out with absolutely exquisite flavors, and truly are satisfying enough as a main dish, should you be vegetarian (or even if you're not!). As a matter of fact, they can be used in place of a hamburger on a bun, which I did for a vegetarian friend who came to dinner.
 
His idea started out like this:
Rich: How about if we grill some big portobello mushrooms to top our burgers for supper?

Me: Sure, lets go get some at the store.

Rich: I think if we season them and let them set all afternoon before grilling, they will taste great on the grill.

Me: That would certainly make them tasty.

Rich: Let's grill some slices of onion to set on top!

Me: That sounds good, too!

Rich: Then we could set some smoked provolone to melt on top of  them.

Me: Yep, sounding better and better.

Rich: So, I think if we mashed up a LOT of garlic with some olive oil and spread that all over the inside of the mushroom, that would taste really great.

Me: We can do that, plus, I think some smoked salt would add to the flavors. Maybe some minced rosemary? Or maybe some smoked paprika?

Grilled Portobellas Richard

And thus went the day. We went and bought the foods we needed, and proceeded with the marinade and the grilling later on. And the recipe came out so far better than even expected. Don't be afraid of the garlic - these are great just as the recipe stands. Totally unbelievable.

Grilled Portobellos 'Richard'

Stacking Grilled Portobellas with Onion and Cheese

Serves 4

4 very large Portobello mushrooms
1 large onion
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter, melted
6 to 8 garlic cloves, minced (Richard loves garlic)
1 teaspoon salt, preferably Hickory Smoked
½ teaspoon smoked paprika, optional
½ teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary leaves, optional
Black pepper, freshly ground, to taste
4 slices smoked Provolone cheese

Early in the day, or even the day before, mix together the olive oil, melted butter and garlic. Add in the smoked paprika and minced rosemary, if using. Remove the stems from the portobellas. Brush the oil and garlic mixture all over the mushroom, first on the outside of the cap, and then leaving the mushroom cupped upwards, make sure there is a lot of the garlic mixture inside. Sprinkle with some of the salt. The hickory smoked salt can be found in some specialty stores, but regular salt will do. Sprinkle on some pepper, as desired. Wrap in plastic wrap, or place in a sealed container until needed.

When ready to cook, light a grill. This works better if you have a grill pan, so the mushrooms and the onions don’t slip through the grate. Slice an onion into thick slices, about ¼-inch thick or more. Grill the onion slices on both sides, until well done and a little bit charred. Have the mushrooms grilling alongside; first grill the outside of the cap downwards and then turn them over. Be prepared! This will flare the flame, as the butter and oil will come running out. Once the mushrooms and the onion slices are cooked through, flip the mushroom cup side upwards and place one slice of the grilled onion onto the cup side of the mushroom. Top with a slice of Provolone cheese and allow the cheese to melt slightly.

Prepare for some of the best mushrooms, ever!

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A Delicious Preparation for Green Beans

Creamed Green Beans with Bacon

I remember, as a kid, my Mom making something similar to this recipe, without the bacon. Without the fresh green beans, for that matter. She would make a roux with butter or bacon grease and flour, then drain the can of green bean liquid into the mix and cook till thickened, then add the can of green beans in to heat through. They were good. But, it's been a long time since then, and my body does not tolerate that much salt anymore.

I love green beans now - the fresh kind. I make them "French-cut" all the time. I guess I like that they seem easier to eat, easier to chew than blunt cut green beans, less "squeaky" between the teeth. My husband also loves my green beans, so for one of his birthdays he was quite specific what he wanted for his birthday and green beans were part of the requested meal. Since it was his birthday, I opted to make them a bit fancier than normal. I made the roux, just like Mom made, but as I fried minced bacon to add to the dish, I used the resultant bacon grease in the pan for the roux, and water for the liquid - there were plenty of other flavors going on. These came out with such stellar flavor. At the table, it was close to a fight over the last bits of beans in the bowl.

Creamed Green Beans with Bacon

Creamed Green Beans with Bacon

Serves 6 - 8

1 pound green beans, stem end removed, cut as desired
6 slices thick-sliced bacon (about 4 - 5 ounces)
2 tablespoons reserved bacon grease
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, stripped from stems
1 cup water
salt and pepper, to taste

Cut the bacon strips across the grain into ¼-inch pieces. Fry the bacon until almost crisp. Remove the bacon pieces to paper toweling to drain and set aside. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease for another use. Add the butter and garlic to the pan and saute the garlic gently for 2 minutes. Add the flour and thyme leaves and stir to combine. Add in the water and stir. Bring the mixture to a boil stirring for about 5 minutes until the mixture is like a gravy. Set aside and keep warm.

Prepare a steamer and set the green beans into the steamer basket. Sprinkle Kosher salt all over the green beans. Bring water to a boil and steam the green beans for about 8 to 12 minutes, or until the green beans are just barely tender. Drain well and add the green beans to the sauce in the skillet. Add in the bacon, reserving 1 tablespoon for garnish. Stir together and bring the mixture back to full heat. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper as desired. Garnish with reserved bacon pieces. Serve immediately.

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Taking Cabbage to New Heights

Cabbage is one of those love or hate type of vegetables. It can certainly be made badly and tasteless. This recipe is not one of those. While my recipe is quite similar to one I found in a book somewhere long ago, it is the first time I came across reference to Szechuan "peppercorns." And, after hunting them down and making the recipe, I found that while the peppercorns did have a particular flavor, there just aren't that many in the recipe to really gauge how the overall recipe tasted with or without them. While I would urge you to try and find some to try in this recipe, I believe there are enough other much more easy to find ingredients that make the recipe taste so great.

What Are Szechuan "Peppercorns"?

Szechuan Peppercorns

Just to be clear, Szechuan "peppercorns" are not pepper at all. Unrelated to pepper, these little pinkish, petal-like pods are extensively used in Southeast Asian cuisines. An essential component of Chinese Five-Spice Powder, they are also used on their own in many dishes. Their flavor is unlike pepper or chilies and has no heat but instead a slightly lemon or citrus flavor. They are said to cause a slight numbness or tingling in the mouth when eaten. The pods are used whole or slightly crushed, unless ground into a spice mixture. Avoid them if too many of the inner black seeds are present, as they are gritty to chew. The name is also found spelled as Szechuan, Sichuan or Szechwan.

Szechuan Hot Sour Cabbage

Szechuan Hot Sour Cabbage

Serves 6 - 8

1 pound cabbage
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, I use olive oil
4 dried hot chilies, optional
12 Szechuan peppercorns, or black peppercorns if preferred
1 tablespoon Asian dark sesame oil

Thinly shred cabbage and green and red peppers. For sauce, in a small bowl, combine soy, vinegar, sugar and salt; set aside.

Preheat a wok or a large skillet over high heat. Add vegetable oil. When oil is hot, add chilies and peppercorns and stir-fry a few seconds. Add shredded cabbage and bell peppers and stir-fry for 1 - 1½ minutes, or until slightly wilted. Add sauce mixture and stir until blended. Place cabbage mixture in a serving dish. Discard chilies and peppercorns if desired. Sprinkle cabbage mixture with sesame oil and serve either hot or cold.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Mocha Spice Blend and Cookies

When I mixed up my unusual CMR Spice Blend, I was also playing with an idea for another spice blend. It sort of got put on hold for a time, but I finally put it together a couple of weeks back. Again, though the spice mixture was made, I didn't get around to doing anything with it until yesterday. 

Mocha Spice Cookies I

I called the mixture Mocha Spice, because 2 of the main components are coffee and cocoa. The other ingredients are cinnamon, cloves and Szechuan peppercorns (which are not even a relative of pepper). The mixture smells wonderful, and my thought was to make my recipe for Hermit cookies, substituting the Mocha Spice Blend for all of the spices and the coffee in that recipe. I figured that since the cookies originally called for coffee, this mixture should work well. I did a 1:1 swap for the total amount of the spices in the recipe and made the cookies last evening. This is the original Hermit cookie recipe, before changes:

Hermits

Hermits

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

½ cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons water
1½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
½ teaspoon soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¾ cup raisins
½ cup walnuts, broken

Thoroughly cream the shortening and sugar. Add egg; beat well. Mix the instant coffee into the 2 tablespoons water, then add to the creamed mixture. Sift together the dry ingredients and add in slowly until combined. Stir in raisins and nuts. Drop from teaspoon, or small cookie scoop, about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Bake in a 375 oven for 10 minutes.

NOTES: These can be iced with an icing of choice, or a glaze type icing. For the glaze, use 1½ cups confectioners' sugar, a pinch of salt, ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract. Add in water or milk, one tablespoon at a time, stirring very thoroughly before adding more. It is deceptive at first, and you may not need much more than another tablespoon or so. If the cookies are baked as individual cookies, dip the tops into the glaze, then set to dry. If using the "Busy-Mom-Method" just spread the glaze over the hot cookie straight from the oven. Slice when cool. 

Hermits using Busy Mom Method

 

Today, I took the new version (below) to a luncheon, asking everyone who tasted them to tell me what, precisely, they tasted of spices. One person said ginger. Which, since there was no ginger at all, made me wonder how that flavor seemed to dominate, because I could certainly taste that also. Cinnamon was mentioned and clove. No one caught any kind of hint of coffee or cocoa, and much less the Szechuan pepper.

coffee, cinnamon, cloves, cocoa, Szechuan peppercorns

The cookies were fabulous, don't misunderstand me. The flavors were perfect for a spice cookie. The only problem was that nothing outside of cinnamon and clove was noticeable. My next thought was to come home and revise the Mocha Spice Blend. I doubled the amount of coffee, tripled the cocoa, left the cinnamon amount the same, decreased the cloves by ½ and doubled the Szechuan peppercorns. Just on a straight taste test on the tip of my finger, the bitterness of coffee and cocoa are much more apparent. I still do not taste the Szechuan peppercorns. I am tempted in add in some more cloves, but will refrain until I taste this mixture in a recipe. Once baked, the flavors may well change. 

Mocha Spice Blend I

Mocha Spice Blend I

Makes about 1/4 cup

2 tablespoons coffee beans
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cassia cinnamon
20 whole cloves
1 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns

In a spice grinder, coffee grinder used only for spices or in a small Bullet type blender with the blade for dry ingredients, grind the coffee beans, cloves and Szechuan peppercorns to a fine powder. Add this to the cinnamon and cocoa on a bowl and mix well to distribute all spices equally. Place in a glass jar with tight-fitting lid and store in a cool, dark place.

Mocha Spice Blend II

Makes just over 1/2 cup

Mocha Spice Blend II

4 tablespoons coffee beans
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cassia cinnamon
10 whole cloves
2 teaspoons Szechuan peppercorns

In a spice grinder, coffee grinder used only for spices or in a small Bullet type blender with the blade for dry ingredients, grind the coffee beans, cloves and Szechuan peppercorns to a fine powder. Add this to the cinnamon and cocoa on a bowl and mix well to distribute all spices equally. Place in a glass jar with tight-fitting lid and store in a cool, dark place.

I have a whole jar of egg whites in the fridge, so I want to make an angel food cake. I am going to use Mocha Spice Blend II in the cake and see how it comes out. Meanwhile, here is the recipe for the Mocha Spice Cookies:

 

Mocha Spice Cookies I

Mocha Spice Cookies

Makes 40 - 50 cookies

½ cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon water
1½ cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons Mocha Spice Blend (either will work)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup raisins, optional
½ cup walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (350 on Convection Bake).

Cream together the shortening and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla and water; beat well to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, Mocha Spice, baking soda and salt. Add these dry ingredients and beat to just combine. Add the raisins and nuts and mix well. Drop the dough from a spoon, or use small cookie scoops. Keep the cookies at least 2-inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until set and browned.
Another thought came to me when musing on the spices and amounts used in the Spice blends. I used a good Cassia cinnamon in the blend, which is the most commonly sold cinnamon in the US. True cinnamon, cinnamomum verum, is used in many countries around the world and has a lighter flavor with a hint of citrus. True cinnamon is the soft-quilled variety found in any Mexican grocery. These true cinnamon quills are easily crumbled and can be added to the coffee beans, cloves and Szechuan peppercorns when grinding the whole spices. If using whole true cinnamon (often named Ceylon cinnamon), I would use about 2-inches of the quill. 

All these are ideas I have for the future. For now, I have Mocha Spice Blend II already made, and will be experimenting with more uses, soon.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.