benny's cooking blog: Shrimpshrooms! 2/27/24

hello to my 15 friends (so far)!

so, tonight, i was inspired by my partner streaming Breath of the Wild to me on call the past few nights; more specifically by how video game food is always just familiar enough to technically be replicable but yet always a little to the left of our reality, to do something i've never done before: Shrimpshrooms!

"Shrimpshrooms" is just what I call shrimp & shiitake mushrooms that have been stir-fried in a pan together. it's not that impressive or even properly novel to most people, but pairing these two is novel to me. also, i wanted to.

to start, i'm actually going to cover the side that i'm serving the Shrimpshrooms with first, because i think they're wonderful - they're the Chewy Garlic Potatoes from this video:

(make sure you have subtitles on.) i followed the recipe almost exactly, except for that at the step where you add the seasoning, i also included a very finely grated parmesan (you don't have to, i just love cheese and thought it might be a nice addition; maybe bring out more of the umami, earthy flavor potatoes have). one thing i will say, is, make sure you mash these babies thoroughly before you add the starch & water, otherwise they come out looking a little...tumor-y. 'definitely not as pretty as this woman's.

i also made extra of the whole seasoning mix, parmesan included, so i could stirfry the Shrimpshrooms with it. speaking of, my stir-frying instructions are moreso suggestions, because other than making sure the ingredients are in the right state to not give you food poisoning (cooked shrimp will be mostly translucent with a nice slathering of pink & their tails will curl, uncooked shrimp will grayish with uncurled tails), you can add pretty much anything that won't try and fight the other flavors violently in your mouth. to research, and to gather good examples of what will & won't clash, i recommend reading the Flavor Thesaurus' 1 & 2, available wherever you steal - i mean, buy - your books. to randomize your selection a bit, you can use the Foodie Dice(TM). that said, 

here's what i fried the Shrimpshrooms with:

- the seasoning mix i made for the Garlic Potatoes (for those of you not interested in watching the video, or if you're just making the Shrimpshrooms, that's: slightly less than 1 Tablespoon of chopped garlic, you can also use pre-minced, 4 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce, 1 Teaspoon of Sugar, 1 Tablespoon of Chili Powder, 1 Tablespoon of chopped green onion / scallion, and then you're supposed to boil 3 Tablespoons of an oil, the video recommends avocado, and pour it over to mix it all together. i simply added as much parmesan as i wanted to because God can't tell me not to)

- garlic powder (somehow, this always tastes so notably different from fresh, chopped - or minced - garlic, and so usually i actually like to add both to a dish that that i am trying to make "taste garlicky")

- ground white pepper

- butter (yes, i used both oil & butter, God can't tell me not to)

- Black Truffle-infused fancy people oil

i also squeezed a little bit of lemon into the pan. i stir-fried the Shrimpshrooms last, so by the time i was done, the Chewy Garlic Potatoes were more than ready. once you plate the food and present it to your victims,

it's time to eat!

rating: 8/10

review: i was absolutely shrimped, shroomed, and starched (that last one refers to the potato), in the most wonderful way!! the Shrimpshrooms were a pleasantly, surprisingly god-tier pairing, and the process to gather & cook the ingredients was relatively simple. i'm probably going to make those again!! the Chewy Garlic Potatoes - for those of you familiar with the French "gnocchi," it's basically the same thing - were very filling, and not very flavorful in themselves (the original recipe in the video doesn't even use salt!), but the seasoning made them sing. working with the dough felt like working with soft, organic rubber, so i'm glad they turned out well after being cooked. i, for one, am very thrilled to have leftovers :3