Asparagus and Mushroom Stir-fry with Tamari

A simple little dish that can be a side or you can add some protein for a complete dish - prawns, tofu, chicken, beef, duck - all would work I am sure.  For two, take a good-sized bunch of asparagus and snap off the woody ends.  Slice each stem on the diagonal or into inch long chunks.  Slice about 200g of mushrooms - shittake if you have them or I used just chestnut mushrooms.  Crush a clove of garlic (or two....) and finely dice a 'thumb' of peeled ginger.  In a bowl, combine 100ml of veg stock (Marigold powder, as always, is fine) with 2 dessertspoons of Tamari (or just regular soy sauce, but Tamari has a nicer flavour I think.)  Season with black pepper and a dash of toasted sesame oil.  Now heat a wok or non-stick frying pan until really hot, pour in a tablespoon of rape seed or other vegetable oil, and then add the asparagus.  Spread into a single layer and then....leave them!  Don't stir-fry yet, let them sizzle and pop and take on some golden colour for a minute or two.  Turn them over and fry for a further minute, then add the mushrooms.  Let them cook for a minute until satarting to soften, then throw in the garlic and chilli.  Stir and toss everything in the pan for another minute, then pour over the stock/Tamari mix.  Stir and allow to sizzle and reduce, covering the veg in a light, savoury umami-ish glaze and then serve straight away.  Simply delicious.

Flammkuchen with Bacon and Mushroom

Flammkuchen is a kind of Northern European pizza - or perhaps pizza is an Italian Flammkuchen, who knows?  What makes it different is the absence of tomato and the use of dairy, and it appears to be popular in Alsace, parts of Western Germany and even in Austria.  As with pizza, the variations for the toppings are endless.  Thhe bread dough is simple and quick and doesn't need to prove for ages, so it is perfectly feasible for a weeknight supper.  We loved it.  For 2 people, make a bread dough out of 200g plain flour (ordinary plain flour is actually better here, as you get a softer finish), 5g of dried instant yeast, 1/4 teaspoon salt, glug of rapeseed or olive oil, about 100ml of cold water and a heaped teaspoon of creme fraiche.  I mixed it in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 6 or 7 minutes.  You want a wet dough, so add a little more water if needed.  Cover and leave to rise for an hour in a warm place.  Prep your chosen topping - not too much - in our case, another heaped teaspoon of creme fraiche, two rashers of chopped smoked bacon, a handful of sliced mushrooms and a couple of tablespoons of grated cheddar, Parmesan or other hard cheese.  Saute the bacon and mushroom for a few minutes first.  Heat the oven to 220C and put a heavy baking sheet in to warm.  Tip the risen dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper and use your finger tips to flatten and shape it into a thin rectangle about 12" by 9" or thereabouts - try to build up a little rim round the edges.  Spread the surface thinly with the creme fraiche, add the toppings and transfer, on the paper, to the hot baking sheet.  Bake for 12 minutes until nicely browned and golden.  Slice and devour!

Potato and Mushroom Gratin

This nice little recipe is from Nigella's 'Express' cookbook, and is a good accompaniment to roast chicken or, in our case tonight, a proper veal saltimbocca.  Not too creamy, it uses milk rather than cream and not very much butter, so not too naughty - deeply mushroomy, too.  For 4 people, you need to peel and thinly slice 3 medium-ish potatoes - go for Maris Piper or King Edward's.  Heat 360ml of milk in a pan, along with 3 tablespoons of white wine (don't miss this bit out, it really lifts the flavour).  Season well with salt and pepper.  Add the sliced potatoes and simmer gently whilst getting on with the mushrooms: slice 250g of chestnut mushrooms and saute in a frying pan in 25g of butter and a grated or crushed clove of garlic.  I added some fresh thyme at this stage, because I had some, along with a grating of nutmeg because - well, life is better with nutmeg!  Once the mushrooms have sauteed for a few minutes and given off some of their liquid, tip the contents into the pan with the milk and potatoes and stir well.  Pour all of this into a buttered shallow gratin dish, smooth the top, grate over a little parmesan and bake at 180 for about 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender, most of the milk has been absorbed and the top is lovely and crusty brown.   As there were only 2 of us we have some leftover, but I think they will reheat well tomorrow - if I can stop picking at the dish in the kitchen.......oh dear!

Pork Meatballs with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

A somewhat Swedish vibe for this lovely supper, which can be served with rice or pasta.  For 4 people, mix 500g of minced pork, a thick slice of white bread turned into crumbs, a medium onion, finely chopped, 2 cloves of garlic, crushed, 1 egg, a tablespoon each of chopped dill and parsley, the zest of a lemon, and plenty of salt and pepper.  Mix well with your hands, then form into meatballs - whatever size you prefer, but I got 20 out of the mixture.  Brown the meatballs in oil, then finish off in the oven on a baking sheet at 180C for about 20 minutes to cook through.  Whilst that is happening, melt 40g of butter in a pan big enough to hold the meatballs later.  Over a medium heat, fry a finely-chopped medium onion for 5 minutes until soft and translucent.  Slice 500g mushrooms (I used chestnut mushrooms) and add to the buttery onions.  Stir and cook for a further 5 minutes.  Now stir in a tablespoon of flour and 300ml of vegetable or chicken stock.  Simmer for 5 minutes until thick and the flour has cooked out.  Now stir in a small (150ml) pot of double cream or equivalent of creme fraiche, along with a further tablespoon of chopped dill and parsley.  Taste for seasoning, add a squeeze of lemon juice, and stir in the now cooked meatballs.  Pork mince is good value, and can be substituted with turkey mince if you prefer. Either way, this qualifies for under a fiver!

Chicken Forestiere

This is a very quick supper and can be on the table within 20 minutes.  Quite special too.  There are many versions of this dish, but it is essentially sauteed chicken breasts with mushrooms, garlic and shallot and a sauce made with the pan juices and some sort of alcohol - Madeira in our case, or you could use white or red wine or sherry - each will give a different finish.  You can add a little cream too if you like.  So, I cut two chicken breasts in half horizontally to make four escalopes or paillards.  Have ready about 100g or so of mushrooms, sliced (I used some lovely organic chestnut mushrooms), a finely-chopped shallot, a clove of garlic, minced, and a sprig or two of fresh thyme.  Also have ready 60mls of alcohol of choice and a couple of tablespoons of stock or water.  Season the chicken well with salt and pepper on both sides.  In a large pan over a medium to high heat, melt 10g of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil.  Put the chicken in and leave it to sizzle and brown for 2 minutes - don't poke it!  Turn it over and let the other side brown nicely for a further 2 minutes or so until just cooked.  Take out onto a plate and keep warm, covered with foil.  Add a further 10g of butter to the pan and throw in the thyme, shallots, mushrooms and garlic and stir until the mushrooms give off their liquid.  With the heat turned up, add the booze and water and stir to deglaze the pan.  Bubble and reduce slightly, adding a couple of spoons of double cream or creme fraiche if liked (we didn't).  Throw in a little chopped parsley, add the juices that will have accumulated from the plate of chicken, and then serve the escalopes with the sauce spooned over.  Perfect with some new potatoes and the first stems of English asparagus of the year.

Vincisgrassi

"What?" - I hear you asking - "is Vincisgrassi"?  It is how Italians in the Marche region made Lasagne before tomatoes became popular, and is an old traditional recipe, popularised in the UK about 20 years ago when Franco Taruschio was cooking at the Walnut Tree restaurant near Abergavenny.  His recipe consisted of home-made egg lasagne, layered with a rich, cream-based besciamella sauce of mushrooms (dried and fresh), minced Parma ham, garlic, parsley, and truffles, topped with Parmesan and baked until golden.  People travelled from all over the country to eat it, apparently.  My version is less rich, made with skimmed milk and no cream, and no truffles - too rich for me!  Also, I used dried pasta which is just fine, and added chopped chard to turn it into a complete meal.  As with any lasagne, it is a construction job of several elements, so set plenty of time aside, but when done, it can happily sit in the fridge for up to a day before baking.  A great dish for entertaining. 

Stage 1: Mince 50g of Parma ham in a food processor or mini chopper.  Slice 500g of good field mushrooms.  Chop a couple of cloves of garlic and a shallot.  Melt 50g of butter in a pan, add all these ingredients, and cook for 5 minutes or so until mushrooms are tender and juicy.  Stir in a heaped tablespoon of flour, then gradually add a pint of milk (full-fat if you like), bring to the boil, then stir in 50g of grated Parmesan.  Season well and set aside.
Stage 2: Bring a pan of water to the boil and plunge in 9 sheets of dried lasagne.  Boil for 3 minutes, then drain, rinse under cool water and lay out on a tea towel.  I do this even if the pack says it can be cooked from dry.  Finely chop the stems of a bunch of swiss chard and roughly chop the leaves.  Saute in a glug of olive oil until wilted and all liquid has been driven off, then season well with lots of grated nutmeg, and salt and pepper.
Stage 3: Assemble in an appropriately-sized roasting or gratin dish.  I line mine with baking parchment to save scrubbing for weeks.  Put 1/4 of the mushroom bechamel sauce in the bottom.  Cover with 3 sheets of lasagne, half the chard and another 1/4 of the sauce.  Repeat this layer, ending with the remaining pasta.  Cover with the last 1/4 of the sauce, sprinkle with a further 25g or so of Parmesan, then bake for 40 minutes until bubbling brown.  Leave to sit for 5 minutes, cut into four and eat.  Warning: this is very delicious, and my husband is already asking when I'll be making it again

Mushroom, Spinach and Leek Frittata

Definitely qualifies for an 'under a fiver' job this, especially if you have a handful of mushrooms, half a pillow-pack of spinach and a single leek staring at you in the salad drawer of the fridge, saying "Well?  What are you going to do with US little lot, then?" when you open the door. (I often hear veg talking to me). The answer was to chop them and saute them for a few minutes in a little butter with some fresh thyme leaves and seasoning, combine with 3 or 4 beaten eggs (depending on how hungry the two of you are - naturally, we went with 4), pour into a parchment-lined round or square cake tin (NOT one with a loose bottom!), top with a little cheese of your choice (we had some creamy Lancashire, also sulking in the depths of the fridge after Christmas), and bake at 170C for 20 minutes until set and probably a bit puffy.  Lovely, fresh and frugal, served with some crusty bread.

Pheasant Pithiviers

Christmas dinner this year was what we no laughingly refer to as 'The Pasty' - my interpretation of Raymond Blanc's Pheasant Pithiviers.  I pretty much followed the recipe to the letter, and rather than reproduce it, I have linked to the video from his 'Kitchen Secrets' programme that explains how to make it, about 10.30 in. It took 3 days, but was very nice and looked splendid.  Essentially, it is confit pheasant legs mixed with pan-roasted pheasant breasts, chestnuts, onion, garlic, cranberries and mushrooms, then sandwiched between 2 sheets of all-butter puff pastry.  This is deep-glazed with salted egg yolk, baked, and served with a delicious Pheasant, Port and Madeira gravy made from the carcase.  Made a change from turkey!

Spinach, Mushroom and Chorizo Frittata

Lovely and light for a gorgeous spring evening.  We had been expecting wild garlic from our Riverford delivery, but they had got cold feet over this crop, worrying about sustainability and also whether they can guarantee a wild product to be free from unwanted weeds that might kill you.  Never mind, they substituted it with some very nice baby spinach leaves instead.  They went into the pan with some fried cubes of chorizo and sliced Riverford mushrooms, and were then set into a lovely eggy frittata.  We served this with some purple sprouting broccoli (Riverford again, of course!) and some cubes of potato roasted in olive oil and garlic butter - lush, as the young folk say.

Tomato Mozzarella Tarts with Mushroom and Thyme

I was so busy last night, baking for a charity cake sale, that I wanted something super-quick and easy.  I know a take-away would have been many people's choice but I resent the cost.  So, a sheet of puff pastry was halved, and each piece spread with some tomato puree and pesto.  Next came a layer of sauteed mushrooms, then some sliced cherry tomatoes from the Riverford box, and then half a ball of mozzarella from a meal earlier in the week.  A couple of sprigs of thyme, and a grating of parmesan, and the lot went into the oven for about 20 minutes - the oven was on anyway for baking.  Result - light, crisp, savoury pastry 'pizzas', on the table before a take-away would have turned up, and more yummy, to boot.

Mushroom and Parma Ham Pastries

These lovelies are perfect with cocktails before dinner - smoking jacket optional.  You can make it veggie by leaving out the ham.  Basically, you make a 'duxelles' of mushrooms, a punnet of them, any sort will do, by blitzing in a food processor or chopping very finely on a board with a big knife.  Do the same with a small onion, and also blend 3 or 4 slices of Parma Ham if using.  In the food processor, after all the other chopping has been done, blitz a slice of bread to crumbs - white or wholemeal, no matter.  This will also 'clean' the bowl and make it easier to wash.  Now, slowly cook the mushrooms and onions in about 25g of butter until quite dry - this will take a good 20 minutes over a lowish heat.  Mix in the ham, the breadcrumbs, an egg, some fresh thyme and a little salt and pepper to taste - I add a splosh of sherry too which deepens the flavour.  Allow to cool completely.  Now, assemble 'sausage rolls' using the cold mixture, by spooning it down the length of a strip of puff pastry, fold the edge over to seal, and cut on the diagonal to make little mushroom rolls.  Brush with another beaten egg, and bake at 180C until lovely and brown and crisp.  Any leftovers freeze really well, either cooked or raw.

Chicken and Mushroom Pancakes

Pancakes are a great vehicle for using up leftovers, and tonight saw off the last of Sunday's chicken, mixed with mushrooms and parsley in a bechamel sauce, rolled up in the pancakes, glazed with more sauce and some Parmesan, and baked till bubbling and crisp.  The flat is now full of the aroma of a soup made from the carcase, with celery, root veg, leeks, cannellini beans and rosemary - perfect for lunch over the next couple of days.  All from a free-range chook costing just under a tenner.  Not bad, eh?

Mushroom and Mascarpone Sauce for Pasta

This isn't low fat, for sure, but it got supper on the table in 15 minutes and was warming and filling on a freezing foggy Autumn night.  Whilst your pasta is cooking, what ever shape you fancy, saute a finely chopped onion in a tablespoon of olive oil until starting to soften, then add a clove of crushed garlic and stir for a minute or two.  Then add a punnet of chopped mushrooms, whatever you have to hand - I used two wonderful big Portobello mushrooms from the Riverford veg box - and saute for a minute or two over a brisk heat until lovely and juicy.  Strip three or four small sprigs of fresh thyme and stir into the pot.  Now, stir in around half a tub of mascarpone, about 125g.  I know, I know, stop whingeing, it is for 2 people!  Allow it to melt and bubble into the mushrooms.  Taste and adjust the seasoning, stirring in a couple of tablespoons of grated parmesan.  Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the cooking water.  Add drained pasta to the pan and stir well with the sauce, adding a little of the reserved cooking water if needed.  Add some chopped parsley if you have it. Spoon into hot bowls, sprinkle a little more parmesan over, and tuck in!  Now what to make with the remaining mascarpone?  Same again?  Or spoon it through a hot tomato sauce for another creamy pasta option!

Pasta with Mushroom and Prosciutto Sauce [#226]

An ideal mid-week quick, easy and tasty pasta sauce from Bill Granger - brown or chestnut mushrooms, sliced and sauteed with a little garlic and chopped Parma Ham. Add some chicken stock and double cream - about 2 floz of both, so hardly wicked - and reduce a little. Stir through some parsley and then add your drained pasta, toss and serve with Parmesan. The sauce was made in the time the pasta took to cook, so dead simple and deliciously tasty. Thanks Bill!

Creamy Chicken and Ham Pie [#202]

This recipe came from Alastair Hendy, and is one I've been wanting to cook for a while. It makes for a handsome big dish that gave us a rich, warming supper on such a cold, snowy night, and we'll have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. There are several stages, so I saved it for a day off!

First, poach a free-range chicken and then strip all the meat. Make a thick,creamy sauce with some of the stock, cream and a butter and flour roux (about 400mls althogether) and I added some chopped chives. Mix into the shredded chicken along with about 150g of finely chopped ham and a handful of button mushrooms, sliced and sauteed. Check the seasoning and allow to cool. Line a loose-bottomed cake tin with good all-butter puff pastry and put the chicken filling in. Top with more pastry, seal well, and bake at about 170C for an hour. Allow to settle in the tin for about 10 minutes and then remove, leaving you with a deep golden pie of deliciousness! As I say, time-consuming but soooooo worth it! The diet can start tomorrow (yeah, right)

Baked Mushrooms with Tarragon Mustard Butter [#149]

I used little portabellini mushrooms for this delicious dish - although I am afraid I radically trimmed the amount of butter and mustard - 50g of butter instead of the suggested 125g and 1 heaped teaspoon of Dijon mustard instead of....wait for it....2 tablespoons. Just excessive, sorry Nigel! Lovely served with crostini as a starter, and we have leftovers too. I imagine this would work as a sauce for pasta as well. This was the first in a triple bill of wonderful, fragrant Nigel dishes this evening - it is on nights like this that I am so glad I am doing this challenge - I wish all of you could have smelled my house today!

Mushroom Lasagne with Basil and Cream [#114]

Lighter than it sounds, with a lovely freshness coming from fresh pesto. We baked the lasagne and then let it settle for 15 minutes, when it reached a nice temperature for eating on a hot summer's evening. I'm sure we'll make this again.

Mushroom Pappardelle - 50th recipe!

Well, OK, so I didn't have any pappardelle, so used chunky rigatoni instead. As usual with Nigel, I halved the butter! (sorry, but 75g is way too much!) The parsley at the end is an essential addition. Nice, easy pasta supper. This recipe marks my 50th in the challenge, over a quarter of the way through!

Stir-fried Chicken with Mushrooms and Lemongrass

Nigel seems to have a lot of lemongrass in his food at this time of year, and that's fine by us, its astringent, sprightly flavours bring a zestiness to late winter suppers. This was a zippy, flavour-packed stir-fry and we followed the recipe fairly religiously, only adding tiny sprigs of broccoli to get our greens, and cutting back on the nam pla which I find too smelly for words - the recipe does need some, though, to balance the sweet/chilli/lime/ginger aromatics. Now we are 2 months into the challenge, and I feel I am getting to know Nigel a little and how he ticks - he certainly does Asian food brilliantly

Stir-fried Mushrooms, Spring Leaves and Lemongrass

OK, so I might have taken some liberties with this recipe! I had all the basics from the recipe, but added loads - a pepper, left-over duck, noodles, lime leaves and mint. I think I have stayed true to the spirit of the recipe - it is just that we are greedy and wanted more! A nice, satisfying, healthy supper.