6 large brown mushrooms 90ml pasta sauce 6 eggs 50g mozzarella cheese, grated 50g mature cheddar cheese, grated
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper. PLACE THE OVEN RACK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OVEN! Gently break the stalks from the mushrooms and place them on the baking sheet. Spoon 15ml of the pasta sauce into each mushroom, break an egg on top and season with salt and pepper. Bake the egg-mushrooms for 10minutes or until set to your liking. Place a handful of cheese on each egg and grill for another five minutes until the cheese has melted. Serve warm.
Place the chicken on a cutting board and halve each breast horizontally. Pat dry and season with salt, pepper and the chicken spice. Place a pan on medium-high heat and wait for it to warm up. Add the 30g butter, 30ml olive oil and the chopped rosemary. Lay the chicken cutlets in the pan and cook for 4 minutes before flipping them over and cooking for another 4 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and cover tightly with aluminium foil. Set aside. Add the 50g butter to the pan and wait for it to melt. Now add the mushroom and thy and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute. Pour in the white wine and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and stir in the mustard. Add the chicken cutlets back into the pan and simmer for another 5 minutes. Pour in the cream and stir through. Serve the chicken on mashed potato, rice or pasta.
2 onions, roughly chopped 1 carrot, cut into small chunks 2 cloves of garlic, minced 4 Portobello mushrooms 120g shitake mushrooms 200g mixed mushrooms 6 sprigs of thyme 150ml red wine 200ml vegetable stock 2 bay leaves 15ml tomato purée 15ml cornflour
Place a saucepan on medium-high heat, add a splash of vegetable oil and the onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add the carrot and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Now add the mushrooms and thyme and cook for another 7 minutes. Pour in the wine and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the stock, bay leaves and tomato purée. Turn the heat down and sift the cornflour over the mixture. Stir and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the mushroom bourguignon on mashed potato.
Halve the bagel and spread it with a thin layer of butter. Place a heavy-bottom pan on medium-high heat, place the bagel cut-side down and cook until golden and toasted. Set aside. Keep the pan on the heat, add the other 15ml butter and olive oil and wait for it to melt and heat up. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for 3 – 4 minutes. Add the thyme and 30ml balsamic vinegar and cook until the pan is dry. Remove from the heat. Place the bagel on a serving plate and arrange the avocado slices on top. Spoon the mushroom on the avocado and drizzle with the remaining balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and black pepper. Serve immediately.
1 store bought puff pastry 125g cream cheese, I use chive flavoured 250g smoked bacon, cubed/chopped 200g mushrooms, sliced a handful of thyme leaves 5 courgettes, cut into 3-4cm long sticks egg wash: 1 egg yolk + 30ml water whisked together
Preheat your oven to 190℃. Roll out the pastry and cut as large a circle from it as the diameter allows. Spread the cream cheese on the pastry, leaving a 3cm border on the outside. Place a pan on medium-high heat and fry the bacon pieces until cooked. Spoon into a bowl. Add the mushrooms and thyme leaves to the pan and fry until golden. Add the courgette sticks to the mushrooms and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Spoon into the bowl with the bacon and mix through. Now spoon this mixture onto the cream cheese. Fold the 3cm border of pastry over the filling and brush with the egg wash. Bake the galette for 40 minutes. Serve warm.
Gremolata: 62ml pine nuts (you may replace with sunflower seeds) a big bunch of parsley 2 cloves garlic, peeled the zest of 1 lemon a pinch of salt the juice of 1 lemon 45ml olive oil
Mushrooms: 45ml butter 30ml sunflower oil 500g mixed mushrooms, roughly chopped 15ml thyme leaves salt and pepper
For the Gremolata: Place a large frying pan on medium heat and add the pine nuts to it. Shake the pan over the heat or stir the seeds around with a spoon, until it starts to toast and change colour. Remove the seeds from the pan and set aside. Place the garlic, parsley and half the pine nuts on a chopping board and mince together until finely chopped. Add the lemon zest and a pinch of salt and chop the ingredients together. Scrape the chopped ingredients into a small bowl and add the rest of the pine nuts to it. Now add the lemon juice and olive oil and stir together. Set aside.
For the Polenta: Add the stock and salt to a saucepan set over high heat and bring the stock to a boil. Add the polenta and whisk the mixture together until it has thickened. Take the saucepan from the heat, add the butter and whisk well. Set aside.
For the Mushrooms: Add the butter and oil to a frying pan set over high heat. Add the mushrooms, thyme, salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Spoon the polenta into bowls and top with mushrooms and a spoonful of gremolata.
Pour the chicken stock into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cut the breasts into 5-6 pieces and add it to the stock. Cook the chicken until most of the liquid has evaporated and then break up the cooked chicken pieces with a wooden spoon. Set a frying pan over high heat and add the oil and butter to it. Fry the mushrooms for about 7 minutes, until it has caramelised and has a beautiful golden colour. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the thyme leaves and garlic. Stir around for a minute or so. Now add the cream to the mushrooms and stir through. Spoon the mushroom mixture into the saucepan with the cooked chicken, turn up the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. The meat should now be creamy and fragrant. If you find it has too much liquid, simmer it for a while longer so that the liquid evaporates. Serve the chicken on couscous, rice or quinoa.
A galette is simply a free-form French pastry with either a savoury or sweet filling. Easy and quick to make, this mushroom galette is creamy, has depth of flavour and makes a perfect light lunch.
400g puff pastry 125ml cream cheese at room temperature
45ml butter 30ml vegetable oil 500g mushrooms, sliced 3 cloves of garlic, minced 15ml thyme, lightly chopped 45ml port or sherry 250ml mozzarella cheese, grated
Egg wash of 1 egg and 15ml milk, whisked together
Preheat your oven to 200℃. Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the pastry big enough to cut a 26cm-diameter circle. Place the pastry circle onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Spread the cream cheese onto the pastry with the back of a spoon, leaving a 2cm border of pastry, all around. Set aside.
Heat a heavy bottom pan on high heat and add the butter and oil. (If your pan is not large enough to accommodate all the mushroom at once, add half the butter and oil). Add the mushroom to the pan and fry at high heat so that the mushroom caramelises, about 3 minutes. Now add the garlic and thyme and cook for about 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Spoon this mixture into a bowl to cool and put the frying pan back onto medium heat. Add a splash of oil and cook the onion until soft. Add this to the mushroom mixture. Put the pan back onto the heat once more and add the port, scraping down the pan with a spatula. Scrape the caramelised bits left in the pan as well as the reduced port onto the mushroom mixture.
Sprinkle two thirds of the grated mozzarella cheese onto the cream cheese and pastry. Spoon the cooled mushroom mixture on top of the cheese and finish with the rest of the mozzarella. Fold the 2 cm pastry that extends beyond the filling over and onto the mushroom mixture. Brush the folded pastry with the egg wash and bake the galette for 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden. Serve as an aperitif or as a light lunch.
My Whisk and I 