Holy balls! There’s really not much more to say. This was definitely the easiest dish I’ve made from the book and it was delicious!
Since this is a small vegetable dish, it’s really best utilized as a side. In that spirit, I paired it up with a nice big fillet of salmon. I scored the salmon on the skin side before pan-searing it flesh side down on medium-high heat for about 3-4 minutes. Flip and cook the skin-side for about a minute. Then place into a pre-heated 350° oven for about 4 minutes.
While the salmon is in the oven, it’s time to make the Stir-Fried Sugar Snap Peas with Shiitake Mushrooms (p. 209). Omitted from the title is a generous portion of minced ginger which plays a big role in this dish. First step is introducing the ginger to the hot oil until it becomes aromatic (roughly 10-15 seconds). Then in with the mushrooms until the oil is soaked up, adding a mixture of soy sauce, chicken broth and rice wine. Cover and simmer until most of the liquid is cooked off.
I didn’t have the wok cover that you normally see, so I made due with a generic pan cover that I had handy (upper right of the picture below). This lid sat very low into the wok. It worked fine for this dish, but for recipes that have a larger volume of food I am going to have to invest in a proper wok lid.
I want you to have some sort of an understanding of how damned good this dish was. I am a big meat eater. I have protein with just about every meal. I rarely go bananas for vegetable dishes. That said, this dish was awesome! I’m a fan of mushrooms, generally, and this recipe really brought them to bear in a huge way. The shiitakes soaked up all that saucy goodness and still retained their firmness. Each bite of mushroom was a tiny explosion of flavor. And the snap peas were perfection. Bright green with a beautiful crispness to balance the mushroom. And the ginger! Man, did the ginger ever play a part. It perfectly straddled the fence between subtle and profound.
I will be making this in the future. A lot. It’s fast, easy, and delicious. What’s not to love?
What I Would Do Differently
Nothing. Do yourself a favor. Eat this.
Wok, Stock and Two Smoking Burners 