Guest Blogger

We’ve got a guest in our kitchen today… The very talented Jennifer of Genuine Jenn.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp. olive oil – (for grilling)
8 – 3-inch round Portabello or Café mushrooms, stems removed and hulled
Salt and pepper to taste
For the stuffing:
14 oz. tin artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped – (We prefer to rinse the artichokes as we find them salty but this is just our preference)
1/2 cup cream cheese, at room temperature – (garlic & herb is also good)
1/4 cup light sour cream
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 crushed or minced garlic cloves
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil or oregano
1 tsp hot sauce – such as Frank’s Red Hot or Tabasco
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup freshly Parmesan cheese

Directions
Combine stuffing ingredients, except Parmesan cheese, in a bowl. Divide and place stuffing on top of the mushrooms. Sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese.

Bake 20 minutes at 350 or Grill on the BBQ until mushrooms are cooked through.

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We’ve got a guest in our kitchen today… we welcome back Mardi of Eat. Live. Travel. Write.

Hi, I’m Mardi and I write the blog eat. live. travel. write. where I chronicle my culinary adventures both near and far.  I am excited to be back with a new recipe for Mushrooms.ca (thanks for having me again!) – this time, adapted from one of my mum’s old handwritten recipes which I consult on a regular basis.  Back in my early 20s, mum was just starting to experiment with curries and Indian food. My sister had an Indian friend who came over and talked mum through a few of her basic recipes – beef, chicken and potato curries – and my mum wrote down her versions of the recipes which I still have today!  I remember how much I liked the chicken curry with cashews and had often thought that this would be a great dish to make with vegetables just for something a little lighter. Mushrooms are the perfect vegetable in a curry because they retain their shape and texture and don’t end up a mushy mess.

Since we’re heading into summer, I wanted to pack the maximum flavour punch with as little stove time as possible, so I took all the spices mum lists in her recipe, added a little bit of tomato paste and oil to create a mild curry paste which you add to the onions instead of adding each individual spice.  This is in part inspired by a wonderful Jamie Oliver tikka masala recipe I have used a number of times (and that featured in my Food Revolution Day event) – I know that if I can coordinate teaching 20 kids how to make a curry paste, I can take the time to make my own at home.

For the curry, I chose to use eggplant and zucchini for some extra colour (mushrooms can be a little brown, sometimes!) but you are free to make this dish using mushrooms only or your own combination of vegetables. But make mushrooms the star. With their meaty texture, mushrooms will impress even your most die-hard carnivore!  This is a super easy recipe that is flavourful and satisfying, but light enough to enjoy on a warm summer’s day.

Quick, light mushroom-cashew curry
Serves 6

Ingredients
For the curry paste:
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
seeds removed from 6 cardamom pods
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
1 table spoon turmeric
2 teaspoons chili flakes (for a more intense heat, you can add more of the chili flakes or else use chili powder or cayenne)
2 teaspoons garam masala powder
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste

For the curry:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1/3 cup curry paste
3 cups chopped fresh mushrooms (a variety – I used cremini, white, baby bella and king oyster) – make sure they are evenly chopped
1 small eggplant, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1/2 cup roughly chopped coriander
2 cups canned diced tomatoessalt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup raw cashews
2/3 cup Greek yogurt
chopped cashews and fresh chopped cilantro to garnish

Method
For the curry paste:
Heat a small frying pan over medium-high heat and add the cumin, coriander and cardamom seeds.  Toast the seeds for a few minutes until the smell becomes more intense.Using either a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, grind down your toasted spices to a fine powder.

In the bowl of a food processor, add the toasted spice powder and the remaining ingredients for the paste and process until you have a smooth paste.  You might need to stop and push the mixture down with a rubber spatula a few times to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated and well combined.

For the curry:
In a large saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat and gently sauté the onions until translucent.Add the curry paste and sauté until the onions are well coated with the paste.Add mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini, coriander and tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium and cover.

Cook for about 10 minutes or until the eggplant and zucchini are just starting to soften.Season with salt and pepper and add the cashews. Cook for about 5-7 more minutes, then remove pan from heat.Stir in the Greek yogurt and serve on white rice, garnishing with the chopped cilantro and cashews.

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Thanks to Mardi for being our guest again. This Mushroom Curry is absolutely amazing… mushrooms truely are the star of this dish!

Don’t forget to follow Mardi on her blog Eat. Live. Travel. Write. and on Twitter.
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We have a guest in our kitchen today…Welcome back Renee of SweetSugarBean

Hi everyone!  My name is Renée Kohlman and SweetSugarBeanis my food blog I started in January of 2011.  I live in beautiful Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where I happily whip up delicious creations in my little green kitchen.  Being a professional chef as well as a food blogger, I’m fortunate to have turned my passion for all things food into a career I absolutely love.

 

Mushrooms have always been a big part of my culinary life.  Simply frying them in butter with a good crack of pepper, slices of fresh garlic and a few chili flakes makes me happy.  Versatility is their big draw – you can combine any type of mushroom with goat cheese and roll them in puff pastry for a killer appetizer, or simmer them in a simple, yet satisfying soup.  It’s always a treat to use local wild mushrooms in these dishes.  This time of year, the wild morels are thriving right in my sister’s backyard some three hours away from here.

She’s fortunate to live lakeside and these little beauties are ripe for the picking.  Even my 2 and 3 year old nieces are great at spotting them!  Every year I tell my sis that I’ll make it there for mushroom picking season, but they are fickle little beasts and their timing is “sometime in May” depending on rainfall etc and other variables conducive for morel growth.  After she was bombarding my inbox with lovely photos of these tasty mushrooms, I asked her quite nicely if she would mind putting some on the bus for me to sample.  Her sisterly love shone through and the package arrived, with two big bundles of light brown morels.  They are neat, webby little things, and I love their wrinkly textures.  Quite soft, they almost crumbled under water while I was cleaning them, so not a lot of chopping was necessary when I threw them into the risotto.  These morels smell of the earth and the forest and I’m so grateful for my stash.  I’m crossing my fingers that next year I’ll be able to go pick some of these delicious mushrooms myself!

Risotto is one of those dishes that may have a bad reputation for being stuffy or time-consuming.  And while there is a fair bit of stirring involved, the end result is well worth it.  Just have a glass of wine handy to keep you company 🙂 So you know what’s even better than risotto?  Risotto cakes.

 

Leftover risotto doesn’t reheat to its former glory super well, but rolled into patties and dredged in Panko bread crumbs, then pan-fried to crispy perfection, well, these are pretty glorious.  You’ll be making a batch of risotto just for this reason alone!  Don’t fret if you don’t have a generous sister nearby who’ll pick your wild mushrooms for you!  Feel free to substitute your favourite variety in this recipe.

WILD MUSHROOM & ASIAGO RISOTTO CAKES

3 tbsp butter

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup arborio rice

1 cup chopped wild mushrooms of your choice, or your favourite mushroom

a good glug of white wine (about ½ cup)

cracked black pepper

½ tsp thyme

1 tsp coarse salt

3-4 cups chicken broth

1 cup grated Asiago cheese

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock over medium heat.  Melt butter over medium heat in a medium size saucepan.  Stir in the onions and garlic.  Cook over medium low heat until softened and garlic is golden.  Stir in the rice until evenly coated in butter.  Add the chopped mushrooms.  Increase heat to medium high and stir in the white wine, salt, pepper and thyme continuing to stir until the rice absorbs the liquid.  Ladle in hot chicken stock and continue to stir until the rice absorbs all of the liquid.  Continue adding one ladle full of stock at a time and stirring until the rice is softened, but still has a bit of a bite.  Takes about 30 minutes or so.  When the rice is soft, stir in the Asiago cheese.  Spread in a shallow dish to cool completely. Cover and refrigerate.

To make the risotto cakes:

1 ½ cups Panko crumbs, divided

1 egg yolk

3 tbsp fresh chives

2 eggs beaten

canola oil for frying

fresh chives or pea shoots for garnish

Stir ½ cup of Panko, the egg yolk and fresh chives into the chilled risotto.  Shape into 1 ½ inch balls, and flatten a little bit.  Place these balls on a cookie sheet.  Have the beaten eggs in one bowl and 1 cup of Panko crumbs in another bowl.  Dip each ball into the beaten egg, then the Panko, and set on another bake sheet.  Pour canola oil into a skillet, just to coat the bottom and heat the pan over medium high heat.  Fry each risotto cake until golden brown on both sides, about 2 minutes per side.  Place in a pre-heated 250 degree oven to keep warm while you cook the rest.  Garnish with chives or pea shoots.  Makes about 8-10 servings.

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Thanks so much Renee for being our guest! Don’t forget to follow Renee on her blog SweetSugarBean, on Twitter and on Facebook.

If you like this recipe, you may also want to try:

Creamy Quinoa Mushroom Risotto

Baked Mushroom and Leek Risotto

Mushroom, Walnut and Barley Pilaf

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