I am searching for a "Shephards Pie" recipe

[Norcalbaker59]

Ahhh, got it. Weather conditions determine storage method. While I’m a great baker, cooking is just something I do out of necessity. Proficient, but still clueless when it comes to cooking. So I don’t know a lot about things like storing spices. My son and DIL usually send me a Penzey spice assortment gift box every Christmas. I pull out all the baking spices, and kinda push the savory ones to the back of the rack. I have enough oregano to season pots of chili from sea to shining sea.

 

[Apocalypso]

Funny, I thought I was the only one who snuck oregano into chili. I like it to have a balance of flavors, not just heat, especially as usually the men in my life (boyfriend, old best friend) couldn't eat it very spicy.

Yeah, here in Florida, I learned that a lot of people kept things in the fridge or freezer that up north, we just kept on the counter or in the cabinet. I definitely keep the whole wheat flour in the freezer usually.

I'm making some chicken soup today, opted for some fresh herbs which I have (Cuban oregano, a/k/a Spanish Thyme, is a very strong thick fuzzy leaf that looks almost like a succulent, so I put a whole end in so I can remove it, and some regular French type thyme I tied in a bundle. And lots of mushrooms, so far just the dried shittake, porcini, and some miscellaneous Chinese dried mushrooms I forget what they are, and smoked sun dried tomatoes in with the simmering veggies. It smells pretty amazing but I'm not sure how it'll taste until I let it simmer for a good while. Made a small batch of homemade noodles to go in there at the end.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Funny, I thought I was the only one who snuck oregano into chili. I like it to have a balance of flavors, not just heat, especially as usually the men in my life (boyfriend, old best friend) couldn't eat it very spicy.

Yeah, here in Florida, I learned that a lot of people kept things in the fridge or freezer that up north, we just kept on the counter or in the cabinet. I definitely keep the whole wheat flour in the freezer usually.

I'm making some chicken soup today, opted for some fresh herbs which I have (Cuban oregano, a/k/a Spanish Thyme, is a very strong thick fuzzy leaf that looks almost like a succulent, so I put a whole end in so I can remove it, and some regular French type thyme I tied in a bundle. And lots of mushrooms, so far just the dried shittake, porcini, and some miscellaneous Chinese dried mushrooms I forget what they are, and smoked sun dried tomatoes in with the simmering veggies. It smells pretty amazing but I'm not sure how it'll taste until I let it simmer for a good while. Made a small batch of homemade noodles to go in there at the end.

Your soup sounds absolutely delicious. I love mushrooms. With a passion. Do you know the name of Chinese mushrooms. The Asian grocery store has so many different types I’m not sure which ones to buy. I buy shiitake a lot because being Japanese I know what they are. I bought some dry Chinese mushrooms thinking they would be like the mushrooms you find in dishes in Chinese restaurants. Whatever they were they were so chewy after cooking I couldn’t swallow them. I love those big black mushrooms in Chinese cooking.

 

[Apocalypso]

We have a decent selection of Asian food in two large supermarkets here and some smaller specialty stores, but that doesn't mean I can always find what I'm looking for or tell exactly what I'm getting. Some of the labels aren't in English. I was trying to find gochujang, and it took me twenty minutes because I couldn't find that word on the product. The soup came out pretty well, though I may have to water it down tomorrow as the stock cooked down a bit and got a little thick. It was cool last night and I slept with the windows open, woke up sneezing and wanted to make sure I don't get sick. My usual treatment is Chinese hot and sour soup. This was not hot or sour, but hearty and seemed to fit the bill. - The last bag of dried shittakes really cooked up nicely. I put them in whole and dry, but after they got a little soft, I took them out and sliced them.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I get so frustrated when there’s no English labels on products.

Im first generation Japanese-American, but only speak English. When I go to the Asian market I look for the products based on packaging. Fortunately I know the names of most of the regular products I use. I get dazed and confused when brands change. After the tsunami in Japan, there was food shortage, so a lot of the Japanese markets here were also short on Japanese brands. They stocked what they could get. So a lot of Chinese and Korea brands were imported. I didn’t recognize the packaging so was never sure if I was buying the correct product.

I found brand doesn’t matter much until it comes to soy sauce. Every Asian country has their own idea of what soy sauce is supposed to taste like. I was raised on Kikkoman, so if it’s not Kikkoman soy sauce, I pretty much pass on the soy sauce.