Category: mushroom

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bacon bread breadcrumbs broccoli food garlic mushroom

garlic mushroom and broccoli bake

garlic mushroom, broccoli pasta bake with bacon breadcrumbs

Continuing my series on decent grub on a budget, here’s a pasta bake dish with lots going on. It’s the breadcrumb topping that makes it! This was intended to have a white sauce made with milk but I ran out, so instead I went for a velouté version made with stock.

(PS. I’ve listed ingredients for 1 but the version above serves 2 – 3, in case you’re wondering why yours is smaller!).

Approximate cost  for main ingredients, excludes storecupboard ingredients (prices from Tesco.com 7th Oct 2012): £1.91

Garlic mushroom and broccoli bake (serves 1):

100g penne or other shape pasta

100g mushrooms, sliced

1 head of broccoli, separated into florets

1 rasher of smoked bacon

1 slice of bread, preferably yesterday’s

20g butter

20g flour

1 clove garlic

500ml hot chicken stock

  1. Get a large pan of salted water on to boil over a high heat and preheat the oven to 200°C. Get a smaller pan on a medium heat and get a baking dish ready.
  2. Add the pasta to the water. Add the butter to the smaller pan and once melted whisk in the flour to combine to a gloopy paste. Crush in the garlic and allow it to cook for a couple of minutes. Add all the stock, whisking all the time.
  3. Add the mushrooms and veg to the pasta water and then return to whisking your sauce. Keep whisking until it resembles thick, smooth custard. At this point you should check to see whether the sauce needs salt or pepper.
  4. After the vegetables have cooked for five minutes drain these along with the pasta and combine with the sauce in your baking dish. If you have a food processor blitz the torn-up bread and bacon together to breadcrumbs, if not lay both on a  chopping board and rock your knife over the lot of it to dice as small as possible. Scatter these breadcrumbs in a single layer over the pasta bake, and pop in the oven for about 15 mins until the breadcrumbs are golden and the bacon pieces are cooked.
Categories
cheese creme fraiche food leeks mushroom wine

chicken, leek, mushroom and port salut fricassee

I’ve always wondered what fricassée meant (I had to google “wiki fricassee” to find that. Try saying it out loud, it’s fun), and making this recipe meant I finally looked it up: poultry stew in gravy thickened with dairy. I’ve strayed a little from that definition in making this but I hope it’ll do.

I came to this recipe via Port Salut. It’s a cheese I’d almost forgotten about; until I was sent some to try along with some Jean Christophe Novelli recipes. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Jean Christophe before and couldn’t wait to try these out. Essentially chicken, leeks and mushrooms sweated down with cream and cheese – what’s not to like? I substituted a few things based on my larder and came up with a wholesome and tasty one-pot dinner. The Port Salut was creamy and nutty, kinda like a Brie.

Personally speaking I’d put the breadcrumbs to one side and serve it with tagliatelle next time. I think it would be great all tangled up with some pasta.

Chicken, leek, mushroom and port salut fricassée (serves 2):

2  chicken breasts, diced

Pinch of paprika

10g butter

2 leeks, sliced

1 red onion, sliced

1 sprig of rosemary, leaves finely chopped

150g chestnut mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

100ml white wine

200ml creme fraiche

100g Port Salut, thinly sliced

50g Port Salut, diced

50g wholemeal breadcrumbs

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put a large casserole dish on a medium heat and a little oil.
  2. Dust the chicken with paprika and season, then fry in the pan for a couple of minutes until coloured all over. Remove to one side.
  3. Turn the heat down to low, melt the butter in the pan and add the leeks, rosemary and onion. Sweat gently for 5 – 10 minutes until softened. Add the mushrooms and garlic and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes, then crank up the heat.
  4. Add the wine. After a minute of bubbling away stir in the creme fraiche, sliced Port Salut and put the chicken back in. When everything is melting together stir well and check for seasoning. Top with the breadcrumbs and diced cheese and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until everything is bubbling and brown.
Categories
cream food mushroom potatoes shallot spring greens veal

veal with mushroom veloute and champ

I’ve been running wild on rose veal lately, courtesy of Farmers Choice. I’ve really got a taste for this Dorset-raised calf which has a loose texture and a delicate beef flavour and so deserves to be back on the menu.

I’ve paired the meat here with a subtle mushroom veloute and earthy champ-style mash.

Veal with mushroom veloute and champ (serves 2):

100ml milk

100ml chicken stock

1 bay leaf

1 shallot, peeled and sliced

150g button mushrooms

1 tablespoon plain flour

1 tablespoon butter

Lemon juice

50ml double cream

2 veal escalopes

4 floury potatoes, peeled and diced

1 large handful spring greens

A couple of spring onions, sliced

  1. In a small saucepan bring the milk and stock to the boil and add the bay leaf. Turn the heat down to a simmer and add the shallots and mushrooms. Simmer for 3-4 mins and remove the veg from the liquid. Discard the bay leaf.
  2. Fill a large pan with salted water and bring to the boil. Add the potatoes and simmer for 8 – 9 mins. Add the spring greens and spring onions and cook for a further 2 mins, and then drain.
  3. Get a frying pan really hot. Add a little oil to the veal and season well. Add to the pan and cook for a minute on each side, then put to one side to rest while you make the sauce.
  4. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the flour. Cook for 1 minute and gradually add the cooking liquor, stirring constantly until you have a smooth sauce. Stir in the cream and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Return the veg to the sauce.
  5. Mash the potato mix and season, but we’re not looking for a puree here. Flash the veal in the pan to heat up and serve with the sauce.
Categories
bread food mushroom parfait pate thyme walnut

mushroom parfait with orange jelly and walnut bread

Sometimes, things don’t turn out the way you expect. You feel cross with your self inside and yet you’ve presented something perfectly acceptable, it’s just you know it should be better.

I was commiserating just this point with a friend at a Jubilee party this weekend. She’d made cupcakes, of the supremely fine-crumbed and meltingly-soft icing kind, but was grumpy at the fact that her cake toppers and decorations hadn’t arrived, and had to make do with other finishings. Of course I and everybody said they were fantastic (the squirt of jam on the inside was genius!) but she couldn’t look past it. Equally with what I’d brought – it was supposed to be Heston’s infamous Meat Fruit, inspired by Cumbria Foodie’s brilliant recreation. I’d already planned to change it up with making a mushroom version as opposed chicken liver, but I couldn’t quite get the spherical moulds in time. It was never going to be orange-shaped but I wanted to persevere with the rest of the recipe anyway.

It was difficult at first, as I’d moved it from chicken livers which must be prepared in a certain way for safety reasons; yet mushrooms don’t have the same concerns. So how do you transfer the mushroom flavour into a parfait effectively? I surfed around for parfait ideas but I couldn’t move for sweet recipes which start with an egg and sugar sabayon – far too sweet for this. After a little more research I found a baked eggs and cream technique which when added to a reduced mixture would capture the texture and flavour I was after. I could allow it to be rich as the orange jelly would have a welcome tang against the smooth pate. I was very pleased with how it turned out; creamy and woody with the citrus cutting through it.

And to accompany I made some walnut bread. In hindsight this would’ve been perfect wholemeal but it did the job.

Print

mushroom parfait with orange jelly and walnut bread

What to do when you can't make meat fruit. Makes 6 parfaits and 1 750g walnut loaf.
Servings 6 parfaits
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

For the parfait:

  • 40 g dried mushrooms
  • 4 garlic cloves minced
  • ½ onion diced
  • 150 ml port
  • 150 ml Marsala wine
  • A few sprigs of thyme
  • 300 ml double cream
  • 2 eggs

For the orange jelly:

  • 5 satsumas
  • 40 g liquid glucose
  • 4 sheets leaf gelatine
  • ½ teaspoon orange food colouring

For the walnut loaf:

  • 500 g strong bread flour
  • 7 g yeast
  • 25 g butter diced
  • Salt and sugar
  • 300 ml warm water
  • 30 g walnut pieces

Instructions

  • Combine the mushrooms, garlic, onion, port, wine and thyme in a jug and leave to infuse overnight.
  • Place the satsumas into a saucepan, cover with water and simmer for 2 hours. Strain off the liquid into a bowl containing the gelatine. Mash the oranges with a fork and push through a sieve. Add the glucose and then stir in the gelatine until dissolved. Pour a layer of this mix into your moulds (I recommend silicone ones to remove them easily afterwards). Pop this into the fridge until needed.
  • Preheat the oven to 160°C. Pour the mushroom mixture into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until you have about 100ml of liquid left at the bottom of the pan. Pour this into a blender and whizz to a paste. Crack in the eggs and pour in the cream and keep whizzing until smooth. Sieve this mix into silicone moulds and place this into a tray half-filled with boiling water. Place this into the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until the tops just start to brown. When cooked remove from the water and place into the fridge until needed.
  • For the bread mix together all the dry ingredients, rub in the butter and add the water until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Knead for 10 minutes. Cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for an hour in a warm place. Work the dough again and form into a loaf shape. Slash the top of the loaf a few times and cover with a teatowel. Leave for 20 minutes to settle and preheat the oven to 220°C. Pop the bread in the oven for 30 minutes or until hollow sounding when knocked. Remove to a wire rack to cool before serving.
  • To serve, slice the bread and turn out the parfaits.
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