Portobello Mushroom @ Peperoni Pizzeria

The highlight of the dinner at the Peperoni Pizzeria. This was our appetizer before finishing off two very large pizzas (review later).

This is one huge piece of portobello mushroom deep fried with chicken & red wine sauce. It's S$17 bucks but definitely worth it. It was that good and the size of the mushroom makes up for the price.

The mushroom had a coating outside that gave it a crunchy texture along with the smooth and chewiness of the mushroom. The sauce itself was a perfect complement to the mushroom. Most of us were swirling the mushroom around the sauce to get more of it.

Word of advice: reserve your table before heading out because it's usually packed. It was so busy that Friday night that we were told we had to leave an hour and a half after we said on our reservation. So be on time and order ahead if possible.

A definite must-try. Oh, we decided to order this thanks to some tips left of the Foursquare app. That's social media at work.

Peperoni Pizzeria

6 Greenwood Avenue

Hillcrest Park

Singapore 289195

T: 6465 6556
www.lesamis.com.sg

Opening Hours:

Mondays to Sundays

All day dining: 12pm - 12am (last seating at 10:30pm)

Closed on certain holidays

Assorted Mushrooms @ Beerthai House Restaurant

It's a Meatless Monday for me! And I find myself at Beerthai House Restaurant once again.

Over the weekend I read an article from PETA called Top 10 Reasons Not to Eat Shrimp. That title really grabbed my attention because if you've read my previous entries you would know I love shrimp and prawns. They are actually one of the reasons why I decided to go pescetarian instead of vegetarian. The #8 reason listed on the article was the worst for me. They called it "cholesterol bombs" -- with a whopping 152 milligrams of cholesterol per 100-gram serving of shrimp (four or five shrimp), just two servings would put you over the daily recommended allowance of 300 milligrams of cholesterol!

And right there is my other reason for giving up meat. Cholesterol is so my enemy. So for now, it will be strict moderation for me. And to start that off, I went for a Meatless Monday lunch at Beerthai House Restaurant.

I ordered their Assorted Mushrooms (S$10-12) dish which was simply different kinds of mushrooms sauteed with garlic and enoki or golden mushrooms deep fried in batter (the one in the flour cup). There were button mushrooms, shiitake, crimini and more I did not recognize. Along with the mushrooms were slices of carrots and placed over a bed of Chinese broccoli. Overall it was a light and simple dish and definitely something I'd order again.

Beerthai House Restaurant
Golden Mile Complex #01-96
5001 Beach Road, (S)199588
Tel: 63922491

Mushroom Risotto - Home Cooked

Okay, this photo does not make the dish look very appetizing when it really was. I've finally succumbed and tried my hand in making risotto.

I simply followed this recipe here. Of course, I substituted the mushrooms since I don't really have all that available on hand.

Ingredients:

• Sliced button mushrooms
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 350g/12oz arborio rice
• 1.2 litres hot vegetable stock
• 25g/1oz butter
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated parmesan, to serve

How to cook:

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy based saucepan and add the onion and garlic. Fry over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Add the mushrooms and fry for a further 2-3 minutes, until browned.
2. Stir in the rice and coat in the oil. Add a ladleful of the stock and simmer, stirring again, until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock in this way, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is plump and tender.
3. Add the parsley, butter and salt and pepper, stir into the risotto. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan.

This is really more like a poor mans (or womans) risotto since I'm using easy-to-find, affordable and canned button mushrooms and nixed the wine.