19 September 2011

Secret Recipe Club: Baby Bok Choy with Shitake Mushrooms

Baby Bok Choy with Shitake Mushrooms

It's that time of the month again: Secret Recipe Club time! I must admit I get a thrill out of getting my blog assignment, pouring through the assigned blog looking at recipes, and then waiting with anticipation to see who picked what recipe from my own blog to make. It's a rush. Are you interested in joining in on the fun? Head on over to The Secret Recipe Club to sign up!

This month I was assigned the blog Jeanette's Healthy Living. Jeanette makes some truly scrumptious-looking food, focusing on anti-cancer fighting ingredients, as well as many gluten free options. In my quest to expand my side dish repertoire, I decided to focus my search on her vegetables section. And boy, did I have a tough choice to make. The Creamy Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes looked inviting, as did the Roasted Broccoli with Cherry Tomatoes, and they are in the same post! And then she had several posts for Brussels sprouts, which I adore. In the end I decided to break out of my normal potato/broccoli/green beans/Brussels sprouts rut and cooked something I've never cooked with before: bok choy! Oh yes, I've eaten it plenty of times in takeout, but I'd never actually thought about cooking it. I opted for Baby Bok Choy with Shitake Mushrooms because a girl can never have too many mushrooms and the ingredient list seemed light enough to showcase the true flavors of bok choy. I was pleased with my decision.

Baby Bok Choy and Shitake Mushrooms

Baby Bok Choy with Shitake Mushrooms
adapted from Jeanette's Healthy Living, serves 2-3 as a side

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced or grated ginger
3 cups baby bok choy, ends trimmed, washed and cut into 1" pieces
6 fresh shitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced into 1/2" pieces
salt to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable stock or water

Directions:
Heat sesame oil on medium heat in a large skillet. Add ginger and stir for about 15 seconds, or until fragrant. Add bok choy and shitake mushrooms. Season to taste with salt. Add vegetable stock or water and cover; cook for 3-4 minutes, until just tender.

Yay! I get to saute in our good skillets now!

THOUGHTS:
I halved the recipe that worked very well. It served me perfectly as a very generous side dish at lunch. I was a bit surprised at how much like other greens (say spinach or turnip) the tops of the bok choy tasted, though that really shouldn't have surprised me. The stalks were quite tender after just a few minutes of cooking and had a mild flavor. I prefer creminis to shitakes, so I would probably swap them out in the future, but overall this dish was quick, flavorful, and easy to make. That's three big wins in my book!

If you read the original recipe, I'm sure you noticed that I left out one of the ingredients: red bell pepper. Yep, my dislike of bell peppers came up again. If you love them, I'm sure they'd be great in this dish, but I didn't miss them one bit!

VERDICT:
Good-solid-side-dish: 1 vote!

13 comments:

  1. I love finding new recipes that incorporate greens! This sounds flavorful and delicious (though I probably would add the red peppers ;-)

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  2. I love bok choy and have some growing in my fall garden. Thanks for posting.

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  3. A fast tasty dish with lots of greens. We all need more of these recipes! Looks delicious...Theresa

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  4. We love bok choy and this looks like a nice change from my usual way of preparing it.

    If you haven't already, I'd love for you to check out my group "A" SRC recipe this month: Welsh Cakes.

    Lisa~~
    Cook Lisa Cook

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  5. I'm so glad to hear you like bok choy - it's one of my favorites. I think cremini mushrooms would be really good too. Thanks for choosing this recipe to share this month for SRC!

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  6. I can think of so many dishes to serve this veggie along side. Great recipe choice.

    I'm new to the SRC this month. I hope you'll stop by and pay me a visit.

    :)
    ButterYum

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  7. Simple veggie delight with such clean flavors, this can easily become a favorite side dish with plenty of meals!

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  8. That looks great. I sometimes end up over-cooking bok choi so it's good to see a time measure in your instructions.

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  9. I've never had boy choy but anything with mushrooms is a winner in my book. I bet this is a tasty side!

    Check out my SRC post for Molten Lava Cakes if you like :)

    http://steaknpotatoeskindagurl.blogspot.com/2011/09/septembers-secret-recipe-club-reveal.html

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  10. I've never cooked with bok choy but would love to give this recipe a try. What a tasty side dish.

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  11. Yum! Looks great -- I'm loving SRC, so many great new recipes to try!

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  12. Way to go making some new and different!

    And thank you for being a part of the SRC with me (group b). I am excited and looking forward to next month too!

    Here is what I posted this month: Pioneer Woman's Chicken Pot Pie
    http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/2011/09/pioneer-womans-chicken-pot-pie-secret.html

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  13. Sounds wonderful. Great SRC choice!

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