January 21, 2016March 2, 2017

Guest Post: Thai Beef and Mushroom Rice Bowls by eat. live. travel. write.

We have a guest in our kitchen! We’re thrilled to welcome back Mardi of eat. live. travel. write. Mardi’s sharing a flavourful bowl of comfort, without all of the guilt!! This nutritious bowl will help get you through these chilly months.

I’m so happy to be back in the Mushrooms Canada kitchen today, visiting from eat. live. travel. write. I am hoping today’s recipe will counter those winter blues! In the dark, cold days of January, it’s so tempting to eat heavier comfort food but on the heels of the holidays, it’s not always ideal. I always feel like it’s really unfair for those of us in the northern hemisphere that the weather after the holidays is cold – what we really need to reboot our system after party season is lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and, well, sun. Failing that, we can lighten up some old favourites to warm us up without weighing us down.

Here, I’ve gone the Blend & Extend route, substituting mushrooms for some of the beef in what would make a wonderful Thai beef and mushroom lettuce wrap. In the warmer months this is a wonderful dish to enjoy wrap-style. For the winter, I’ve taken the ingredients for the classic lettuce wrap and popped them on steamed rice – giving you all the freshness of a summer dish in the comfort of a bowl.

Thai beef and mushroom rice bowls

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion

200g mushrooms (white or cremini)

450g minced beef

1 tablespoon fresh ginger

2 tablespoons runny honey

1.5 tablespoons fish sauce

1.5 tablespoons soy sauce

zest and juice from 1 lime

To serve:

Steamed rice

Crushed unsalted peanuts

Finely chopped green onions

Fresh mint

Finely shredded romaine lettuce

Method

1. In a food processor, chop the mushrooms with the garlic and onion until uniform in size.

2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, sauté the onion, garlic and mushroom mixture until the onion and garlic are translucent and fragrant.

3. Add the beef, breaking it up with the back of a spoon, stirring to combine with the mushroom mixture, until fully cooked.

4. Lover the heat to medium, add the ginger and honey and cook until any liquid has evaporated.

5. Add the fish and soy sauces along with the juice and zest of the lime and cook, stirring until nearly all the liquid has evaporated.

6. Serve over warm steamed rice. Top with shredded lettuce and mint, chopped peanuts and green onions.

Mardi Michels is a full-time French teacher to elementary school-aged boys and the author of eat. live. travel. write. – a blog focusing on culinary adventures near and far. As part of her job, she runs cooking classes twice a week for 7-13 year-old boys, Les Petits Chefs. She’s also a cook, baker, traveller, photographer, writer, Food Revolution Day Ambassador for Canada, JamieOliver.com contributor and in her spare time teaches cooking classes around Toronto.

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It really is so comforting eating everything from a bowl. I love the mixture of flavours and the nutritious blend of mushrooms and beef! A big thanks, as always, to Mardi for sharing such an inspired recipe idea!

Be sure to follow along with Mardi online at eat. live. travel. write. and on Twitter, Instagram and Google+.

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Guest Post: Thai Beef and Mushroom Rice Bowls by eat. live. travel. write.

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