Chanterelle Mushrooms

When I went shopping at Costco, I saw this mushroom and it was appealing to my eye to try this out, so I bought it.  It was actually better than I thought; buttery and creamy.  =)  I thought I would try this out the easy way by sauteing with onions, green onions, garlic, salt & pepper.  It was quite pricey, but totally worth buying.  =)

Make:  side dish for two

Ingredients:

1 package        chanterelle mushrooms, washed and tear into strips

1 tbsp                butter

1/4 cup             onion, cut into strips

1/4 cup             green onions, chopped lengthwise

1 tsp                  garlic

to taste             salt & pepper

Directions:

1.  In a skillet, heat butter on medium until melted.

2.  Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

3.  Add mushrooms and onions and cook for 4-5 minutes

4.  Add the green onions and salt & pepper and cook for another minute.

5.  Simple as that. Enjoy!

Japchae (Korean Noodles)

This is Korean dish called Japchae (Korean Noodles).  In translation, it defines as mixed dish of vegetables and beef, chop suey.  It does take a lot of preparations though, and just to note that I did not measure out the ingredients and made it by taste/feel.  I did try to guess just about how much ingredients go in, so you may want to adjust.  Also, you may seem this dish does look healthy with a lot of vegetables, but I have to let you know that this dish is not healthy.  In this dish, there is a lot of oil, sugar, and sodium(soy-sauce & salt), but it is worth eating every now and then.  Most Koreans usually make this dish for occasional days such as home-warming parties.

Makes:  4-6 servings

Ingredients:

Vermicelli Noodles

1/4 cup                    Beef, sliced into strips

1/4 cup                    Carrots, sliced

1/4 cup                    Red Pepper

1/4 cup                    Green Pepper

1/4 cup                    Onions

1/4 cup                    Green Onions

1/4 cup                    Shitake Mushrooms

4 tbsps                     sesame oil

4 tbsps                     soy sauce

4 tbsps                     sugar

1 tbsp                       corn syrup

salt & pepper to taste

toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Directions:

1.  Prepare noodles as written on package.

2.  In a wok, heat 2 tbsps of sesame oil and saute the beef until cooked.

3.  Add in the vegetables and continue sauteing until cooked.

4.  Remove from heat, add in the 2 tbsps soysauce, 2 tbsps of sugar, cornsyrup, and salt & pepper.

5.  When the noodles are ready, mix in the remaining soysauce, sugar and oil.

6.  Combine the both of the noodles and beef/vegetables together and give it another taste to adjust.

7.  When serving, top with toasted sesame seeds for garnish.

Jjajangmyeon Sauce (Black Bean Noodle Sauce)

This is a recipe I frequently make at home.  This particular food was first originated in China and when Korean people visited China to have a taste, they took this recipe back to Korea and changed it to their own best taste, so they came up with the Korean-style Jjajangmyeon.  My recipe is different than Korean restaurants because my recipe has more of a stronger bean-paste taste and less sugar in it.  Also, I know what goes in it unlike restaurants.  Restaurants put a load of sugar, MSG, less bean-paste and cornstarch to save money and sell them expensively.  Unfair right?  After trying my recipe, you won't go back to eating the stuff they sell at the restaurants and plus, it's easy to make.  =)    

Makes:  4 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup               black bean-paste (Assi - Choonjang)

1/4 cup               cooking oil

1/2 cup               pork, diced

1/2 cup               zucchini, diced

1/2 cup               cabbage, diced

1/2 cup               onion, diced

2 cups                 water

1-2 tbsps            sugar

3 tbsps               potato starch

3 tbsps               water

1/4 cup                green onion, chopped

3 tbsp                 sesame oil

Optional:

1/4 cup               cucumber, garnish

Directions:

1.  In a large wok, heat oil at medium heat; add in the black bean-paste and fry for about 5 minutes until bubbly.  (Be careful not to burn the paste since it is easy to burn.)  Set aside in a bowl.

2.  Add into the wok a couple tablespoons of the bean-paste oil and fry the diced pork until cooked.

3.  Add in the diced vegetables and sugar with a couple more tablespoons of bean-paste oil and cook for about 5-7 minutes until partially cooked.

4.  Add in the bean-paste to the pork and vegetables and slightly fry, then add in the 2 cups of water and boil for about 1-2 minutes.

5.  In a small bowl mix together the potato starch and 3 tbsps of water.

6.  Gradually add into the wok until thick.

7.  Turn off the stove.

8.  Add in the green onions and sesame oil.

9.  Serve with noodles or on a bed of rice.

10.  Enjoy!  ^^

Introduction to Sur La Flamme

So, here goes my first entry/post to my blog and to start off my blog, I will introduce myself and why I made this blog.

Hi Everyone!!  My name is Esther and I am a home-cook with a dream of becoming a professional chef one day.  I fell in love with cooking a few years after I married my husband; I dream and have been dreaming to go to culinary school, but it's too pricey for me, so I just try to learn at home.  I really would love to go one day to expand my skills much much more, but I think it just takes a little patience being at home with three kids to raise.

As per my blog name Sur La Flamme, it is in French and translates as "On The Flame", meaning, cooking on the stove/flame.  There probably might be different translations and meanings to it, but this is what seems to "click" with me.  The reason why I made this blog is to share the foods that I make and I feel that if I share on my blog, it will satisfy my urge to share/give. =)  A little note though... most of my foods I make, I mostly eyeball the ingredients, so I will try to make the recipes to be exact.  When you are cooking, you need to "feel" the ingredients and have a sense of how much and not much should go in it.  It all goes with taste and feel.  And my advice to all is, "there's no secret ingredient!" like the panda bear "Po" said in Kung Fu Panda.  =D

If you ask me my favorite tv channels, I would only say the food channel, seriously... "The Food Network".  My favorite chefs would be and would love to learn from are Giada de Laurentis, Geoffrey Zakarian, Lynn Crawford, Guy Fieri, Bobby Flay, Jamie Oliver, Michael Symon, Ina Garten, Anna Olson, and Rachel Ray.  Is that too much?  lol.  But, that's not all!!  There are probably a few more~.  =)  The chefs that I do not appeal to me are Anne Burrell, Robert Irvine, Paula Deen, and Nadia G.  Being honest here, Ron Ben-Israel on Sweet Genius is a little creepy in a gay sorta way and funny, but I do love his show!  It's so challenging, you want to be on his show!  =)  The programs that I love the most are Pitchin 'In, Diners Driver-In's and Dives, Chopped, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, You Gotta Eat Here, Eat St., Giada at Home, Best Thing I Ever Ate, and it goes on...  While I am watching the food channel, (I guess you could say I have a gift) any foods I see, I can actually taste what they are eating or making on my taste-buds and have a sense of what ingredients go in there.  I would probably go head over heals to be on The Food Network!  I have an overwhelming love for food and I can't help myself! =P

I hope you all like my recipes and don't forget to comment (at least good ones that is...).