Mmmmm Mushrooms
There are certain foods that I cannot go past. You know, those foods - delicious and evocative - the ones you just can’t pass up.
Well for the love of that pungent, earthy, warm and rich fungus, I give you the not so humble mushroom.
Portabelllo, swiss brown, shiitake, button and the exquisite porcini - life is a veritable field of mushrooms. Mushrooms are not the quiet, sit in the corner kind of vegie. No - mushrooms demand attention. Mushrooms are big, bold and stunning, small, slim and tender. It doesn’t matter how they look, mushrooms just have to be noticed...
Fry them
for breakfast sliced mushrooms fried in a pan with generous chunk of butter, thinly sliced fresh ginger and roughly chopped flat leaf parsley topped with freshly ground black pepper then piled on a crunchy piece of toast - spelt or gluten free of course!
Stuff them
pull the stem out and chop it up. Then add it to fresh ricotta, chopped basil leaves, freshly grated parmesan, salt and pepper. Fill the mushies, add a covering of parmesan and stick them in the oven for about 15 minutes. Serve as a canapé or just because you want to tuck into something delicious
Smoke them
dried shiitake mushrooms are perfect for smoking a gorgeous duck breast or two - line a pot with aluminium foil, add a handful of dried mushies, and 1 tablespoon of earl grey tea. Place your steamer on top. Heat until it starts smoking, place your scored duck breast in steamer skin side up. Put on the lid and smoke for a few minutes. I like to rub the breast with a mixture of sea salt and paprika before it goes into the steamer. When it has been smoked to your liking, not too long - maybe 5 minutes at the most - it’s ready to be cooked.
Add them
grab some dried porcini mushrooms, hydrate and them create the perfect risotto with them and a big handful of wild mushrooms. Just the thought of it makes me go rushing to the cupboard to get out the Arborio rice.
I could wax lyrical about mushrooms for an eternity but you get the picture - mushrooms are amazing