When thinking of what to cook for The Weekend Chef, I was kind of lost for ideas. My cooking tends to be like me, rather care-free and simple. Surely there is nothing of note that would catch the attention of the visitors to our little site. Still there has got to be something I can do that could work. So while pondering this dilemma, some stray thoughts of mushrooms started popping up. Hmm… mushrooms. We have often used mushrooms in our meals but how about an entire meal featuring mushrooms in one form or another?

So off I went to see what I could come up with, starting with a trip to the mushroom section at Cold Storage and see what options were there. To start off the meal, instead of using portabello mushrooms as everyone would expect from a mushroom filled feast, I decided to do something different. Initial plans for a salad featuring enokitake (or golden needle mushroom) but I wanted to try something with less greens. Also golden needle mushrooms have a tendency to slip between your teeth and get rather annoying at times. So I settled on smoked salmon on a bed of abalone mushrooms. I always wanted to try something with smoked salmon and this arrangement was practically hassle free as it is extremely easy to do.

While I was tempted to do a cream of mushroom soup, I decided it would be better to attempt something different. Initial plans of a onion and mushroom soup did not turn out as planned, so I fell back on the classical minestrone to fill the gap. Also minestrone gave me an excuse to use more mushrooms in a soup than otherwise possible. Minestrone is basically a mixed vegetable soup, using any vegetables that are in season. With the advent of supermarkets, just about any vegetable is now considered in season. This soup is probably the most fun thing to do as you can get away with tossing just about anything into it since there is no fixed recipe.

For the main course, I originally wanted to do pork chops but the recent scare about pork and excessive amounts of beta agonis was enough to get my mom to talk me into using chicken. Since to me chops (both chicken and pork) derive most of the flavours from the sauce, it was a painless transition from pork chops to chicken chops with portabello mushroom sauce.

To finish off the meal, ice-cream or cut fruits will do nicely.