Category: mushroom

Categories
beef mushroom pearl barley

beef and mushroom pearl barley risotto

beef and mushroom pearl barley risotto

I’d made some cholent (a stew of brisket, pearl barley, beans, onions and paprika) recently and had about half left over. I put my super thrifty hat on and decided to split the meat away from the pulses and freeze them separately, giving me two goes at the leftovers. With some uncooked pearl barley knocking about as well I thought I would try a pearl barley risotto, a first for me.

I asked for some advice too late – the ever helpful Fuss Free Flavours recommended I soak the grains beforehand. Unfortunately I was making it that night! Luckily I had time to spare.

And what a treat it was. Really hearty, which is fortunate in these gloomy September evenings, and full of flavour. The pearl barley was plump with still a bit of bite, the beef still rich and tasty. Well worth the effort.

Beef and mushroom pearl barley risotto (serves 4):

6 rashers streaky bacon

2 onions, diced

1 celery stick, diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 sprig of rosemary, leaves finely chopped

250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced

180g pearl barley

4 tablespoons Marsala

300g cooked brisket, shredded

1 litre beef stock

  1. Heat a little oil in a deep casserole with a lid. Fry the bacon until browned and then add the onions, celery and carrot. Cook slowly for 5 or so minutes until the veg starts to soften.
  2. Add the rosemary, garlic and mushrooms and fry for another few minutes until the mushrooms start to get tender. Turn the heat up high and add the Marsala. Once it has all but evaporated, stir in the pearl barley and cook for a minute to coat in all the lovely flavours.
  3. Add the beef and the stock, simmer and cover for 45 minutes until the barley is tender. If the barley’s cooked but it’s still very liquidy in there, crank the heat up and boil away unlidded until it’s a little less juicey. Check for seasoning. If you have some parsley it would be really nice stirred through as you serve.
Categories
bacon cheese mushroom pasta porcini roux

baked penne with bacon and porcini

I’d heard excited whispers on Twitter about a new BBC programme from Simon Hopkinson called The Good Cook. His name was only distantly familiar to me; I wasn’t directly aware of him.

So I sat down to watch it with little expectation. I became an instant convert. Simple, honest food that is achievable, excellent and done with love.

Just about everything featured is worth cooking, in a programme refreshingly devoid of format, gimmick or travelogue. Only the tiniest scraps of production remain: incessant overuse of funky chart hits, just because the BBC can; and occasional 30 second jaunts to far-flung places showing stock footage of people making cheese.

These are minor quibbles against the brilliance of Simon’s own natural easy going charm and obvious skill. His effortless style makes everything look easy and worth trying. So I’ve started with this, a luscious and rich pasta bake with a few small changes down to what I had lurking around waiting to be used up. It’s absolutely tremendous and really easy. It even encourages the all-in-one roux method which works like a dream to produce a silky and slurpable sauce. Please run to your storecupboards and try it now. You must have some of those dried mushrooms in there somewhere, right?

Simon’s original recipe can be found here.

Baked penne with bacon and porcini (serves 2):

500ml milk

20g dried porcini mushrooms

40g butter

25g flour

140g penne

6 rashers streaky bacon, diced

A couple of tablespoons grated parmesan

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Pop the mushrooms and milk in a pan and bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile make the sauce. Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour. Keep it moving about for a minute to cook out the floury taste. Sieve off the milk then add it to the roux in one go whisking all the time. When smooth keep on a gentle heat for 10 minutes, whisking occasionally and allowing to thicken. Check for seasoning towards the end of the cooking time.
  3. Get the pasta on to cook according to the packet instructions. When done, throw the pasta, mushrooms, bacon and a third of the parmesan into the sauce and toss really well to get everything coated. Turn out into a baking dish, add another third of parmesan and bake for 30 mins until bubbling. Top with the remaining parmesan to serve.
Categories
mushroom onion porcini rice steak thyme

porcini steak with mushroom camargue rice

It’s an idea that’s bubbled around my head for ages so when I saw this recipe for porcini mushroom rump on Michelle’s site that was the kick I needed to follow it through. And it was everything I imagined. The concentration of dried porcini in beef provides an umami kick that’s hard to beat. Combined with nutty, stock-infused rice this is a real treat.

Porcini steak with mushroom camargue rice (serves 2):

Handful of dried porcini mushrooms

Couple of sprigs of thyme leaves

½ an anchovy

2 x 300g rib-eye steaks

200g Camargue red rice

500ml beef stock

10 chestnut mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, sliced

1 clove of garlic, crushed

½ a lemon

  1. Put the porcini and thyme in a food processor and chop it until it’s as fine as you can get it. Add the anchovy and some black pepper and blitz a little more. Rub all over the steaks with a splash of olive oil and leave to marinate for a couple of hours or as long as you’ve got.
  2. Get the beef stock on to boil and add the rice. Simmer for 30 minutes until the rice is tender.
  3. 15 minutes before the rice is ready, sweat the sliced mushrooms and onion in a frying pan with a little oil. Toss occasionally until these are tender, then add the garlic.
  4. To cook the steak, brush off any loose rub ingredients while you get a griddle pan reallllly hot. When it’s smokin’, lay the steak on and cook for a couple of minutes on each side. Make sure you rest the steaks well for beautiful texture.
  5. While the steak rests drain the rice and toss together with the mushrooms and onions. Add a blast of lemon juice to lift it up.
  6. Add a sprinkle of smoked sea salt and a dash of extra virgin olive oil to the steak and serve with the rice.
Categories
mushroom red onion

red onion and mushroom relish

Got leftover red onion from making gravy? Add mushrooms for a great relish in a sausage sandwich. (No picture – it looks gruesome despite being very tasty).

Red onion and mushroom relish:

1 teaspoon sugar

2 red onions, finely sliced

¼ teaspoon baking powder

100ml beef stock

6 chestnut mushrooms, finely sliced

1 sprig thyme, leaves picked

1 teaspoon mustard

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon English mustard

1 tablespoon mushroom ketchup

  1. Add the sugar to a wide saucepan on a medium heat. Allow to melt then add the onions with a little oil. Stir for a couple of minutes until starting to soften.
  2. Stir in the baking powder and leave for a couple of minutes to colour. Gradually add the stock a splash at a time to deglaze the pan, then add the mushrooms and thyme.
  3. When the mushrooms have browned, add the remaining ingredients and allow to bubble together for a couple of minutes. Check for seasoning and serve with something really savoury.
Exit mobile version