Teen's Cooking

My happiest moment....

watching my son and his friend busy cooking in my kitchen, it doesn't matter whether it' s only simple salad and grill chicken breast.

My Kitchen My World, Week 3 (THAILAND)

My second entry for MKMW, I chose more unfamiliar recipe that rarely over at the restaurant. Originally, I was going to make grill chicken, but I've been cooking chicken twice this week. I wanted something different, my choice came to pork tenderloin. I like pork tenderloin for its small size, tender and lean, so I don't have to deal with left over.  My husband doesn't really eat pork, so I made him grilled marinated tofu using the same marinated ingredients for the pork. I serve the tofu with the same sauce as well. He loved it! 

Serve 2- 4

 

Grill Pork Tenderloin With Nam Jeem Kai Yang Sauce 

1  3/4 to 1 1/4 pounds  pork tenderloin, trim of silver skin and  excess fat

Rub all over and marinate overnight with:

3 cloves mince garlic

2 tablespoon finely chop cilantro

1 teaspoon finely chop fresh ginger

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon canola oil

• When you are ready to grill,  take out the pork from its marinate, discard the marinate. Season the pork with salt and pepper.  Grill over medium heat for 5 minutes per each side, turning once or twice. 
• Move to the cooler side of the grill and continue to grill, turning occasionally for 5 minutes longer or until thermometer register 145 - 150F. 
• Take the grill pork out from the grill, cover loosely for 5 to 10 minutes, slice and arrange on a platter. 
• Pour the nam jeem kai yang sauce (recipe below) over the grill pork and serve  with steam Jasmine rice and simple saute green vegetables. D e l i c e !
  

Nam Jeem Kai Yang Sauce

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon fish sauce

5 tablespoon sambal oelek or 3 tablespoon chili flakes

1 tablespoon mince  garlic

• combine distilled white vinegar and sugar in a small sauce pan, bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add the rest of the ingredients, bring back to a boil, then  turn the heat to low and let the sauce simmer until the sauce is thicken or almost syrupy. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed

Note:

The sauce is good for any grill meat, poultry, fish or tofu. It is also good for any asian appetizer such as spring roll or pot sticker!

CHICKEN CHASSEUR

As usual I like to use cornish hen for all of my chicken dishes, not only it is much smaller then a regular chicken, but also (in my opinion) tastes a lot better then a regular chicken. But that's just my opinion. The other think I like about cooking cornish hen is, that I don't have to deal with left over. Which, most likely is going to be uneaten in my family. 

serve 2 - 4 

1 (1 1/2 pound) cornish hen, cut into quarter

flour for dredging 

2 - 3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup of chop onion

3 cloves of garlic, sliced

3 cups of slice cremmini mushroom

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 1/2 cup of white wine

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 sprig tarragon

salt and pepper 

• heat a skillet on medium heat.  In the mean time put the flour into a plate and coat the chicken pieces on both side. Shake off the excess flour and fry the chicken pieces until browned. Transfer to a plate

• return the skillet back on top of the stove, add onion and saute until translucent. Add garlic and the mushroom, cook for about 2 minutes. Stir in the wine, chicken stock and tomato paste.  Bring to a boil, then add the chicken pieces back to a skillet. Cover the skillet with the lid, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 35 minutes or until the chicken is cook throughly 

• transfer to a plate and serve

Radish, Avocado, Green Bell Pepper and Corn Salad

Perfect for hot summer day and good companion for grill meat or fish

For the Salad:

1 bunch (about 15) radish, thinly slice

1 avocado, cut into  chunk

2 tomatoes, cut into chunk

1 green bell pepper, cut into big chunk

white or yellow fresh corn kernel, from 2 corn

1 scallion, roughly chop

1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro 

1/4 chop red onion

For the dressing, in a small bowl, mix all of the ingredients below 

2 - 3 tablespoon olive oil

lime or lemon juice from 1 lemon

1 teaspoon stone ground mustard

salt and freshly ground black pepper

• put all ingredients for salad in a large salad bowl, pour the dressing and mix well
• serve at once

Crab Cake

1 pound crab meat

1 red pepper or jalapeno pepper, chopped

2 medium shallots, mince

1 clove garlic, mince

2 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro

1/4 cup  panko 

2 small eggs, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons fish sauce (optional)

salt and pepper

• If using crab meat from the can or container, drain it first in a colander, transfer to a plate lined with paper towel to get rid of the excess water

• in a medium bowl mix all ingredients carefully to make sure that crab meat doesn't falling apart too much

• form the crab meat mixture into round shape

• heat a skillet on top of the stove to medium high heat, add olive oil and fry the crab cake without over crowding them. Fry each side until golden brown (I only flip them once, otherwise it will brake apart)

• serve as a main dish for lunch with simple salad or make a smaller size cake and serve them for appetizer

ES CAMPUR

Ingredients:
1 Avocado
1 can jackfruit, cut into small pieces

1 can pineapple chunk

1 cup papaya chunk
1 can palm fruit, drain, discard the liquid and leave whole
Sago, cook according to package direction (optional)
1 can young coconut

The sauce:
150 gr sugar
1 can coconut milk
Pandan leaf
Condense milk
Crushed ice

• Cook the coconut milk with sugar in a medium pan over a medium heat until you bubble start to appear at the edge of the pan. Turn off the heat and cool completely.
• When you are ready to serve the dessert, arrange all ingredients in an individual serving glass or small bowl, add  the sauce, crushed ice and drizzle with condense milk. Serve immediately. 
  

Sambal Bajak (Indonesian Pirate's Sambal)

When I was in college in East Java I rented a room in the house full of student that came from different island in Indonesia. Every day we would take turn to cook. It was a great way for us to save money and also had a decent meal everyday. It was here that I've first tasted how good food from Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi as well as from Java.

One thing that I couldn't forget was this chile sauce from Java. We served it everyday as a companion to every single meal. The recipe was given by my Javanese friend that she inherited from her mother. So, here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

3 shallots, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

15 red Thai chiles

3 large tomatoes, quartered

3 tablespoon canola oil

1/2 tsp Indonesian shrimp paste

1 tbs Javanese palm sugar

salt

Heat the skillet over medium heat, add 2 tablespoon oil, then shallots, garlic, chile, shrimp paste and tomatoes. Fry until a little bit brown at the edge of the shallots. transfer to a plate to cool. Once cooled, transfer to mortal and pestle, add the Javanese palm sugar and salt.  Pound until smooth. If you don't have mortar and pestle, you can use food processor and process until smooth. Scrape sambal paste back into skillet, add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, and fry over low heat for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until the sambal is slightly thicken.

Goulash

Goulash came from the word gulyas means herdsman. the dish that prepared  by the gulyas became gulyashus or goulash meat

I seems to cook the wrong thing for the wrong season. It was so hot outside, yet I made this soup for dinner last night. Luckily we all agreed to have our supper at 8:00, which by then the heat had cooled down to a nice cool summer. We ate outside and nothing more satisfying than a bowl of soup to eat with your family. I serve the soup at room temperature, in winter I would serve this soup hot....

2 pounds beef chuck, cubed

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 garlic, minced

3 tablespoon Hungarian sweet paprika

1 tablespoon Hungarian hot paprika

3 (14 oz each) canned beef or chicken stocks

1 red bell pepper, cut into big chunk

1 roma tomato, cut into big chunk

1 tablespoon roughly chop parsley

salt and pepper to taste

• heat oil on medium high heat, add onion, cook until translucent then add garlic continue to cook until it releases its fragrant
  
• add meat, sweet paprika and hot paprika to the pan, stir to coat the meat add bell pepper to the pan along with beef or chicken stock
• let it boil, turn the heat to low and cook for 2 hours until the meat is fork tender, check and stir occasionally. After about an hour, taste if its need seasoning (don't put too much salt at the beginning of the cooking, most likely that the stock is salted already)
• add tomato to the pan, cook for 2 minute then add parsley
• adjust seasoning as needed

  

RATATOUILLE, (maybe) not quite the authentic Ratatouille, but almost...

I wish the picture can tell you how delice and so silky this dish is, so sorry (to myself) that I couldn't really take a mouth watering pic; maybe oneday!!!!

But trust me, if you like eggplant, zuchini and tomatoe; you will definetaly like this!

Is it not official yet, but summer is finally approaching, weather is getting warmer sometimes even hotter then usual. We start to see more and more summer vegetables in the market. Although tomatoes aren't really here yet, they are available year around at the supermarket. Some gourmet market even already carry heirloom tomatoes, I wonder where they are coming from?

I went to farmer's market last week and bought baby zucchinis, which I really love. I normally serve them raw for  my salad or just simply saute them quickly with salt and pepper.  This time I decided to make "Ratatouille" which in my opinion, it is the most delicious vegetables stew out there. It is very versatile dish that can be serve hot or warm as a companion for roasted chicken or grill meat, or at room temperature (I don't even mind if its serve cold) with rustic country bread; or serve on top of scrambled eggs, ahhh my mouth watering......

The recipe here is from my dear friend CDB, she and her husband NB are both extremely  good and talented cooks. They do a  lot of entertaining and we nearly never missed a single party, because they are exceptionally good hosts and the food is always guaranteed to be excellent. One day we went to her party and she served "Ratatouille" for one of the side dish, I was blown away by the taste of this silky stew vegetables. So, I asked for the recipe and how did she manage to get the smokiness, almost melt in your mouth and silky texture of this "ratatouille"? She passionately explained to me how to achieved this smokiness by sauteing each one of the ingredients separately, then layer them together before a long slow simmer to let each of the ingredients melt together. Yes, lots of work but it was all worth the effort, you will be rewarded with indescribably good  almost "Ratatouille" dish.

About the title, 

I couldn't find a better name for it (so did she!), so I use the name "Ratatouille" because it has the same ingredients as "Ratatouille" except it doesn't have basil nor does it has bouquet-garni and in addition of tomatoes, the recipe included tomato paste, which is probably not commonly use in "Ratatouille".  So, whether it deserved the name or not, it is still delice!

Ingredients

1 pound small (young) Italian eggplant, cubed

2 red bell pepper, cut into big chunk

1 yellow or orange bell pepper, cut into big chunk

1 pound baby zucchinis, left whole

1 pound Roma tomatoes, quartered

15 cremini mushrooms, quartered (optional)

2 yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

3 tablespoon tomato paste

1 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoon roughly  chopped parsley

freshly ground black pepper

salt

olive oil for sauteing each of the vegetables

• saute onion until caramelized a little bit, transfer to a plate and set aside
• add more oil to the pan, saute the eggplant and take it out from the stove when the eggplant just about to become soft, transfer to another plate and set aside
• continue to saute one by one the bell pepper, zucchinis, Roma tomatoes and the cremini mushrooms
• take a bigger pot with a lid, put on top of the stove, turn the heat to medium; start layering vegetable by putting half of the eggplant, scatter a little bit of the  caramelized onion then top with half of the bell pepper then caramelized onion,  half  of the zucchinis then again caramelized onion, half of the Roma tomatoes then caramelized onion, cremini mushroom then caramelized onion
• add half of the chicken stock, salt and pepper
• dilute tomato paste with 2 - 3 table spoon of chicken stock
• add half of the tomato paste that has been diluted to the pot
• continue the same process for the rest of vegetable
• turn the heat to lowest setting, let it simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours
• add parsley, stir a little bit. Taste to see if its need more seasoning

Salmon cake with Yogurt, Parsley and Mint Sauce

I had left over wild salmon trimming from my grill salmon that I made last night. I knew that both my husband and my son would be thrill to have another salmon dish for dinner. I couldn't wait until dinner, so I started to cook at noon; by the time I finish, my son was about ready to have his lunch! So we both eat lunch together and almost finish the whole thing....But, we always remember "Dad", he has to taste some too..., we left him a few, just enough to tease his palate.

For Salmon 

1 1/2 pounds salmon trimming (this is the thinest part from the salmon fillet)

1/2 onion

2 red pepper or jalapeno (it should be spicy, use less if you would)

1/2 tablespoon cumin

1/2 tablespoon ginger

salt and pepper 

olive oil or canola oil for frying

• Combine all ingredients for salmon except the olive or canola oil in food processor and process to mix until salmon is coarsely grind, it's okay to have chunks. Take a bout one tablespoon of salmon mixture and shape into ball or any shape you like
• heat the frying pan over medium high heat, add oil fry salmon balls until golden brown, transfer to a plate line with paper towel

Simple Tomato Sauce

1/2 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, sliced

1 canned fire roasted tomato

2 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

• Saute onion until translucent in a medium pan over medium high heat, add garlic, cook for a few second then add canned tomato. Continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Add parsley season with salt and pepper, stir and taste to see if need more salt or pepper. Lower the heat to the lowest setting while you make the yogurt sauce

Yogurt Sauce

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 small clove garlic, minched

lemon juice, from 1/2 lemon

• combine yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Mix well, set aside in the refrigirator until ready to use

Parsley & Mint Sauce

1/3 cup finely chopped parsley

1/3 cup finely chopped mint

2 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika

1/3 cup olive oil

• heat oil in medium low heat, add the rest of the ingredients, swirl the pan just enough to coat each of the ingredients. Turn of the heat

To Assemble

On a platter spoon some of the tomato sauce, top with salmon, add yogurt sauce then drizzle with parsley and mint sauce. Voila!

* make about 3 - 4 serving

* salmon can be substitute with any white firm fish

* nice to serve with pita bread,  plain basmati rice or plain couscous

* recipe can be  easily double or triple

Superfood Dinner

Both my husband and my son love salmon, in fact they'll be happy if cook it every night. To night I made a simple grill wild salmon served  over grill asparagus, fresh baby spinach, tomatoes, red and yellow bellpepper and fennel bulb (sweet anise) drizzled with balsamic and olive oil vinegrette. Superfood? Yes! Wild salmon, spinach, tomato, bell pepper (?) and olive oil! 

Asparagus and fennel bulb, though they  don't consider as a superfood, they do pack with vitamin and mineral. Asparagus is contain  folic acid which is known to lower heart disease and colon cancer. Fennel bulb being closely relatives to parsley, carrots, dill and coriander also pack with vitamin C,B, fiber, and potassium (mineral that helps lower high blood pressure)

Ira's Egg Curry

Ira posted the Eggs curry  recipe just when I felt like having  Indian food for supper. The recipe was simple enough and didn't require any elaborate work in the kitchen.  I had to chance the recipe a little bit because,  my husband and my son are not  so fond of  okra. So, I put tomatoes instead of okra (sigh!) I had to substitute "Baba's" curry powder to Madras curry powder (I don't even think that we have this brand here in the U.S) and  added tadka/baghaar at the end of the cooking

The verdict? 

It was sooooo good and  I felt sorry that I didn't make enough for three of us. 

To Ira, thanks for posting the recipe... 

Keang Leurng (Yellow Curry)

1/4 cup chop  garlic

1/3 cup chop shallots

15 - 20 dried de Arbol, soften in warm

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds

3 tablespoon curry powder

2 tablespoon turmeric powder

2 stalks lemon grass, white part only

2 tablespoon chop fresh ginger

• Pound all ingredients in a mortar and pestle to form a consistency moist paste.

Cornish Hen with Preserve lemon And Olives

2 cornish hen*, rinse under cold running water

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minched

1/2 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 tablespoon (or more) saffron threads, soak in 2 tablespoon hot water

1 1/2 cups chicken stock or water

1/2 cup Kalamata olives or black olives

1/2 cup finely chopped mint

1 preserve lemon, rinse under cold running water then chop

I cook this dish in a Tagine Pot

• Saute onion until translucent add garlic, ginger and cinnamon stick. Saute one more minute until releases its fragrant, add chopped preserve lemon, cook further for one minute
• lay the chicken on top of the onion mixture, pour the saffron water on top of the chicken, then add the chicken stock
• season with salt and pepper, cover and continue to cook with low heat for 1 - 1 1/2 hour
• transfer the chicken to a platter, cover losely with aluminum foil
• reduce the sauce slightly to thicken, add finely chopped mint 
• stir a little bit and taste to see if need more salt
• serve with Rice Pilaf of Spiced Couscous

Note:  

I always use cornish hen for my chicken recipe, I think they are lot tastier and less fatty, you can substitute cornish hen with  1  3-3 1/2 pounds regular chicken. 

Roasted Chicken With Aromatic Herbs And Vegetables

I was feeling a little bit under the weather, didn't  really want to have pizza delivery for Friday dinner. I wanted to provide a simple, yet tasteful meal that didn't  require a lot of time to prepare and not a lot of pans and pots or other utensils to be washed afterward. 

This roasted chicken with vegetables in one pot was the answer.  All I did was  putting  the chicken along with herbs and  vegetables in a baking pan and put them in the oven! That was it! I only had to wash one pan, a knife and a wooden spoon. 

1 smallest chicken (about 3 to 3 1/2 lb), rinse under cold running water then pat dry with paper towel

15 Russian fingerling potatoes, wash and dry with paper towel

3 carrots, cut into big chunk

2 parsnip, cut into chuck

15 Brussels sprouts, wash and dry with paper towel

1 leek, green part only, separate them and  wash to get rid of the sand  

6 or more stems of each of this herb: tarragon, marjoram, thymes, oregano. 

1 cup white wine

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400F

• lay the leeks on the bottom of baking pan. Season the chicken all over with salt and paper including inside the cavity, stuff half the amount of herbs inside the cavity. Roughly chopped the other half
• lay the chicken on top of the leek and scatter the vegetable around it. Sprinkle the rest of the herb over chicken and vegetables. Don't forget to season vegetables with salt and paper. Pour the white wine
• cover with aluminum foil and roast for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, uncover and continue to roast for another 20 to 30 minutes (depending how reliable your oven is)  or until thermometer register for 180F (inserted in the inner part of the thigh). Please refer here for doneness
• transfer chicken and vegetables to a platter, cover loosely with foil so that the chicken won't dry
• pour off excess fat. Put pan on top of the stove, add more wine if necessary and bring it to a boil. Scarping the bottom with wooden spoon, make sure you get all of bits and pieces that stick on the bottom of the pan, those are the goodies.....
• reduce by half, taste to adjust seasoning. Transfer to gravy boat or small bowl.

Preserved Lemons

You'll need a clean and sterilized jar! I sterilized my jar by plunge the jar in hot boiling water for couple of minutes. Wash all of your lemon and dry them with a clean kitchen towel. Make a "X" cut on top of the lemons and fill them with kosher salt as much as you can; make sure you have a non reactive bowl underneath to catch all of the juice that drip from the lemons. Pack tightly into a jar as tight as possible. Continue to work until jar is full, add lemon juice (from the dripping), add more kosher salt. Close the jar tightly and keep in the warm place for a month. 

* make sure to wash preserve lemon before you adding to recipe, it is extremely salty.

* I use Meyer lemon for this recipe

update:

* when it is ready, I keep them in the refrigerator.

Rice Pilaf With Cranberry, Pistachios And Pine Nuts

I haven't met anybody (other than my son) who doesn't like this pilaf. It is so delice that I personally don't need any companion for my pilaf, just eat it the way it is, maybe with some harissa and am the happiest person in the universe!!!!! I urge you to try this recipe, even if you not really fond of rice.

2 cups Californian long grain rice*

4 cups plain water

• boil the water in over high heat, as soon as it comes to a boil, put the rice and stir a little bit. Turn the heat to medium, continue to cook until all of the rice absorb the water. Turn the heat to the lowest setting, cover the pot with the lid and cook further for 5 more minutes. Alternately, cook in the rice in a rice cooker.

1/2 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup finely chopped fresh mint

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup unsweetened dried cranberry

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup lightly toasted pistachios

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup lightly toasted pine nuts

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

2 cloves

1 cardamom (optional, but will make a significant different in flavor)

2 -3 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

• heat olive oil in a saute pan, add star anise, cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom (if using) shake the pan to coat the spices. When you smell the aroma of the spices, add onion and cook until translucent

• add minced garlic and the rest of the ingredients above along with ground cumin and coriander

• saute for a couple of minute until it releases its fragrant, season with salt and pepper

• take it off from the heat and add to the rice. Mix them well and taste to see if its need more salt and pepper.

* if use Californian long grain rice, it is unnecessary to wash the rice. You can also substitute Californian long grain rice with basmati rice, however you must wash basmati rice with cold water until the water no longer cloudy

Stuffed Cabbage

My first encountered with stuffed cabbage was when my husband told me that, when he was growing up his grand mother, who was originally came from Eastern Europe used to make this dish. Excited to please him, I've made the Hungarian stuffed cabbage, boy!!! he was so happy... and my son and I love it too. After that,  I've  made so many different kind of stuffed cabbage from Hungarian to Turkish and use any ingredient imaginable, including tried  to be exotic (tried to make it as balinese style, it was disastrous!) Here is my version of stuffed cabbage

I hope you'll like it too.

For cabagge rolls:

1 pound ground chuck

1 small onion, grated or finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced 

1 tablespoon zatar

1/4 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley

2 tablespoon finely chopped coriander leaf

1/2 cup cook rice 

1/3 cup plain bread crumb

salt and pepper

6 large cabbage leafs, blanched to soften

For simple tomato Sauce:

1  28OZ canned fire roasted crushed  tomatoes

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 medium size onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

olive oil

salt and pepper

First make the tomato sauce:

• in a large pot or pan, saute onion with olive oil in medium heat until translucent, add garlic and saute for another minute
• add tomato, tomato paste and the chicken stock to the pan, season with salt and pepper and  continue to cook until you see it start to bubble a long the edge of the pot or pan
• turn the heat down to the lowest setting, let the sauce  simmer while you make the cabbage roll

Preheat oven to 375F

Now make the cabbage roll

• in a medium bowl, combine all ingredients for the cabbage roll, mix with your hand but don't over work them
• lay 1 cabbage that has been soften on a kitchen board, take a hand full  of ground beef mixture and start to roll as you would make  Asian spring roll
• continue with the rest of the cabbage leafs

In a braiser with lid (if you have one) or use a shallow large pan, add half of the tomato sauce. Arrange  all of the cabbage roll into the pan and pour the rest of the sauce on top of the cabbage rolls. Cover the pot or pan with aluminum foil, put the lid on and cook in the oven and for 2 hours.

* serve by itself or with crusty bread to mop the sauce

Caramelized Mushroom With Black Olives and Cherry Tomatoes

3  cups Cremini mushroom, cleaned with slightly damp paper towel

1 cup black Olives

1 cup cherry Tomatoes

Fragrant spice mix:

2 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon juniper berry

1 tablespoon Fennel Seeds

1 Star Anise

1 cinnamon stick

Fragrant herb mix:

1 cup finely chopped fresh mint

1/2 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley

1/4 cup finely chopped coriander leaf

2 tablespoon olive oil

salt and black pepper 

• lightly toasted ingredients for fragrant spice mix  in a medium heat until releases its fragrant. Cool slightly, in a mortar and pestle crush coriander, juniper berry and fennel seeds lightly, just enough to break the seeds a part
• heat a large saute pan on top of the stove over medium high heat, add olive oil a long with the fragrant spice mix, give a quick stir, add the cremini mushroom, stir again and turn the down the heat to medium, season with salt and black pepper
• cook for a couple of minutes, add black olives to the pan. Shake the pan back and forth to make sure that they are coated well with the spices
• when the mushroom start to caramelized, add tomatoes and cook for another minute or two, shake the pan occasionally, so that tomatoes don't get burn
• add the fragrant herb mix to the pan, gently stir them so that you don't break the tomatoes, continue to cook for about one minute
• turn off the heat and taste to see if need more salt and pepper

Note : good companion for rice pilaf as a vegetarian entree