Homegrown Science Experiment

January 23, 2011

I am sure that you, dear reader, in some point of your life have had the experience of finding a "science experiment" in your home.

You know what I mean. I won't go into details, but we all have found the 6-week old pizza slice under the couch or that brie that "went missing" and re-emerged in grotesque form in the back of the fridge. Many a parent and college student has had this experience.

We are surrounded by the fungus among us. In the immortal words of Dr. Frank Austin, it's a microbial jungle out there. Millions of spores invade our homes every day. Some of them are good and some of them are bad. Many people have dreadful allergies due to these floating reproductive parts, or spores. Some of them, such as the wild yeasts in San Francisco, are quite useful.

Today I am going to share with you a fantastic "science experiment" that I conducted recently.

Fear not, for this experiment was delicious!

I was searching for a weird, quirky and fun Christmas gift for members of my family. I hit the myco-jackpot when I stumbled upon Back to the Roots, a company in Oakland, California.

They specialize in home mushroom garden kits. These kits are easy to use, and made from composted coffee grounds mixed with oyster mushroom spores. You can grow your own gourmet mushrooms at home in as little as 10 days. They also have a program for donating mushroom garden kits to schools and science education centers.

Here are the pictures of my kit at day 8 and day 14:

The fruits of our experiment made us want to eat something delicious and unhealthy:

Venison Stroganoff

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3-6 oz mushrooms, such as oyster, portobello, sliced

1 pound beef stew meat OR

1 pound venison cube steak, sliced into 1/2 inch wide strips

1 medium onion, diced

6-8 tablespoons flour for dredging the meat

1 tablespoon flour for the roux

1 tablespoon butter, unsalted

2-6 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon dried or fresh thyme

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/4 cup sour cream (use non-fat if you wish)

2 cups low fat, low sodium beef stock, homemade is best

1 cup rice or

8 oz egg noodles, cooked per package instructions

Method:

Place 2 tablespoons oil into a saute pan on medium-high heat.

Sautee the onions and mushrooms until tender. Set aside.

In a dutch oven with high sides and a lid:

Heat 2-4 tablespoons of oil on high heat.

In bowl, mix together 1/2 of the salt and pepper, and 1/2 of the flour. Coat the stew meat or strips of venison in the flour mixture, and fry until cooked through and browned.

Drain the meat on paper towels and set aside.

Remove excess oil from this frying vessel, put heat on medium.

Add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon flour. Cook until a dark blonde color (roux).

Then, de-glaze with 1 cup beef broth.

Scrape up all the bits on the bottom of the pan, and then decrease heat to a simmer.

Add the tomato paste, cooked mushrooms/onions, paprika, thyme, salt and pepper and cooked meat and stir to combine.

Allow to reduce/simmer for 10-15 minutes with the lid cracked.

Add broth as needed for a thicker/thinner gravy.

Once at desired consistency, turn off the heat and slowly stir in the sour cream.

* If you realize at the end of cooking that need to add a thickener, I always recommend arrowroot powder. 1/2 teaspoon dissolved in 1 teaspoon cold water. Stir into your finished dish slowly, it will thicken quickly. It's tasteless and it won't clump like wheat flour!

Serve over rice or egg noodles.

We added chopped flat leaf parsley on top to make it pretty, and I like the flavor of fresh parsley.

MMM Science is tasty!

Witam Nowy Rok!

Happy New Year!

4 stycznia 2012 January 4, 2012

Every year many Americans find themselves making a New Year's Resolution, and promising to stick by it. No matter what it is, be it weight loss, going vegan, or learning a new language, most people don't come close to success.

I have decided that my New Year's Resolution (and yours too!) will be to try new vegetarian or vegan dishes in the coming year.

Mostly this Resolution stems from curiosity and recent good experiences with what's available at the self-serve buffet at our local Whole Foods Market.

I find myself eating yummy tofu or seitan

(yep, pronounced just as folks do in Lower Alabama , when referring to the Devil: SAY-TAN, LOL) from the Whole Foods buffet and thinking, "Man, I can make this at home!"

Trying something new is fun, can be inexpensive, and hey, it's so easy, you can't make excuses for not fulfilling your New Year's Resolution.

For those of you brave enough for my challenge, here is an easy step-by-step photograph series on how to make Baked Asian-style tofu and veggie stir-fry.

First: Buy a block of firm or extra firm tofu. Drain off water. Then wrap it in 2-4 paper towels, then wrap in a clean kitchen towel, and weigh it down for 30 minutes to get rid of excess moisture.

Step 2: Now that some moisture is gone, cut into 1" cubes as seen below.

Step 3: Dice a medium onion, cut 2 peeled large carrots into match-sticks, and cut up some broccoli florets into bite-sized pieces. As you can see in the photos, I decided to use brussels sprouts, cut into quarters. Somehow brussels sprouts are good in a stir-fry.

Step 4: Now for the flavor. Whisk together: 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 cloves garlic minced, a 1-2" piece of ginger grated, pinch or two of red chili flake, 1 tablespoon of Mirin, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, and 1 tablespoon honey*.

Also, don't start your marinade at the same time you're cooking the veggies. Marinade first!

* To make this dish vegan, omit honey and just use agave nectar instead.

If you don't have mirin, just use apple cider vinegar and a little more honey.

Toss in your tofu cubes and let marinate at least 30 minutes.

Step 5: Pre-heat oven to 400 F. Remove tofu from marinade, save the excess marinade. Evenly spread out your tofu cubes on parchment paper and bake for 30-40 minutes, stir them about halfway through.

Step 6: While tofu cubes are baking, stir-fry in a wok or large skillet all of your veggies. You can use a tablespoon of sesame oil or olive oil for this. Put onions and carrots in first, then your greenery.

*If you want to bump up the flavor and are not vegan/vegetarian, add a tablespoon of fish sauce to the pan during this step.

Step 7: Remove tofu cubes from oven when they have browned edges. Allow to cool slightly.

Add the remainder of the marinade to the pan when the veggies are mostly cooked. Toss to combine. Add a little water if too dry. While veggies are hot, toss in the baked tofu cubes.

The purpose of baking the tofu is to keep it from getting mushy in the pan. I have tried many different methods of cooking tofu in a stir-fry, but I lack essential wok-skills and this is a good way to have non-mushy, flavorful tofu.

Makes 4 hearty servings. Serve with brown rice, white rice or quinoa.

Step 8: Eat and enjoy! Let me know what you think about this one! It is a favorite of ours. We make it weekly with whatever is at the farmer's market (hence the brussels sprouts).

This is a perfect way to try something new, it's easy and healthy!