Call me Chef Tuesday and bring out the kitchen tools, I’m ready!
Actually, I’m not.
Do not be deceived by the title of this post. Spicy Tuna-Mushroom Sauce my ass. Sounds classy and totally planned right? Well, it’s not. It’s a far-from-what-I-originally-planned-but-got-lucky kind of dish. I did warn you guys, that kitchen duty is not my strong suit.
The original recipe I tried to follow said “Tuscan-Style Tuna with White Beans” but since I had no white beans and sage, I decided to substitute these two main ingredients with whatever I could find in the kitchen. Basically, my very first cooking blog, is an experiment. (Thankfully, I was alone at home when I did this, because God knows how hard everyone would try to keep me out of the pantry.)
I have absolutely no idea what Tuscan-style meant, and the picture showed something that wasn’t really interesting to eat at all, so I went crazy with the other stuff and added unnecessary ingredients as well, that’s why I’m not so sure if this dish was meant to be a sauce or soup.
Also, I didn’t have any clue how to cook mushroom from the can. I mean, that’s already okay to be eaten right? I wasn’t exactly sure, so I kind of made it linger in the pan for quite a long time. I think it was okay though, because it tasted right. I mean, is there such thing as raw mushroom? The color was a bit intimidating.
I impulsively added cream of mushroom soup into the mix, and I think that was what made the dish complete, however, I think everything relied on that for texture. Flavor-wise, I got carried away with the black pepper and I forgot to check the tuna flavor. Turns out, I picked the spicy one, so the dish was bound to be a pain in the – tongue. Good thing, I like my food spicy. What can I say? More for me!
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 can shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 can spicy tuna in oil, drained
1 cup cream of mushroom
black pepper, ground
basil leaves, ground
brown sugar
salt
Saute onion and garlic in a medium-size saucepan over medium-low heat for about 4 to 5 minutes. Add mushroom and continue stirring for about 5 to 6 minutes.
Stir in tuna and cook until just heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the cup of cream of mushroom.
Lower heat. Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper, basil, salt and brown sugar.
Serve immediately.
I never exactly figured out if this was soup or sauce, but it was too thick and creamy to be soup so I called it sauce. Serve it with bread or rice, and even add on red wine, for that classy finish.
Cooking with Tuesdays Part 1: Success (with a whole lot of luck)
Photos by: Me (remind me to do this earlier next time, food pictures look a lot better with with natural day lighting rather than indoor lighting.)
xx
Gizel the fail chef
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- Much Ado about Mushrooms – mushroom stars as a main ingredient (harvesthub.com.au)
