Amazing Miso Mushrooms

 

Mushrooms and white or red miso paste are a marvellous combination bringing stacks of umami flavours to this dish to tantalise our palate. There are many varieties of mushrooms available these days, and I have used the standard white cap variety for this recipe.  I also used white miso paste. More about that later.

Beef and Red Wine Stew, in the slow cooker - oh my!

Today I present to you one of the most delicious Beef Stews I've ever made, and I've made a lot of them. I've been working on a stew that has all the essential elements of the beef falling off the fork, perfectly balanced flavours, and with a rich, red wine and mushroom gravy. However, I wanted a stew that would also be perfect as a filling for Beef Pies, which we love. The meat filling in a Beef Pie needs to have a tanginess to its flavour, and this is where the Worcestershire Sauce's umami properties make a big difference to this beef dish.

Herbed Mushrooms on Home Baked Toasted Sourdough

The unique umami of edible mushrooms combined with fresh herbs, garlic and balsamic vinegar shines through in this recipe in both taste and nutritional benefits. Essentially it is a simple dish to make but every element within brings wonderful savoury richness to the plate. This recipe evolved after I had baked two loaves of rye sourdough bread in the morning. I felt like celebrating the success of the bread with a tasty lunch to compliment toasted sourdough. 

Vegetarian Lentil and Mushroom Curry with Baby Spinach or Eggplant (Aubergine)

Delicious Lentil, Eggplant and Mushroom curry

We all need a versatile lentil recipe in our repertoire that we can depend on when the going gets tough or just plain busy. I always have jars of green and red lentils on hand, and curry powder, which means this curry can be cooked at a moment's notice, even using frozen vegetables if necessary. We all know the power of pulses to provide essential protein, vitamins, minerals and fibre for our body. Lentils are also inexpensive. This is the perfect Meat Free Monday meal. When we were living in the Lakes District, in Northern England on a teacher exchange for Mr. HRK, 15 years ago, and being paid in Australian dollars and living on one wage, meat was so expensive that I introduced lentil dishes to our diet. That was the turning point for me, and I've cooked with them often ever since, along with other pulses such as chickpeas, dried peas and beans. Now I cook with them just because they are the basis of so many delicious meals like this one, and for the health benefits as well. Meat can easily be added to this recipe if you wish.

Lentil, Spinach and Mushroom Curry

Let's Cook:

Preparation time 15 minutes

Cooking time 30 minutes

 Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup Whole Green lentils

1/2 cup Red Split Lentils

6 roughly chopped mushrooms

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced.

2cm piece fresh ginger, grated.

2 tablespoon Clive of India Curry Powder (or a good substitute curry powder)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

400 ml tin of coconut milk

1 cup vegetable stock

200g baby spinach or 1 whole medium sized eggplant

1 lemon, juice of

1/2 cup chopped coriander and extra for garnish if desired.

METHOD:

Rinse the Green lentils in a colander under cold water and pick over to remove any discoloured lentils or other matter. Do the same with the red lentils separately. The Green and the Red lentils are added at different stages during the cooking process.

On a low heat, sauté the onion in the oil for 4-5 minutes without browning. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute.

Combine the curry powder, cumin, and pepper in a small bowl and stir into the onions to coat them. I have also added a teaspoon of beneficial dried turmeric spice sometimes, which gives it a nice colour and a little more flavour, but not necessary. 

Add the uncooked Whole Green Lentils, coconut milk, and stock. Stir and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes and add more liquid if the mixture looks dry. Stir every 5 minutes during this time to ensure the lentil mixture isn't sticking to the base of the pan. 

After 15 minutes, add the uncooked Red Lentils, and the mushrooms. This is when you add the slightly cooked eggplant pieces if you are using them. 

Cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring and adding more liquid if necessary to prevent the mixture sticking to the pan.

I added almost an extra cup of water.

Fold in the spinach, lemon juice and chopped coriander just before serving.

Heat through and serve with rice or naan bread, or both.

Lentil, Mushroom and Eggplant Curry variation

It is so easy to substitute eggplant for the baby spinach in this curry.  I used one medium sized eggplant, chopped it up small chunks, and baked the pieces on a tray in the oven until slightly coloured at 180 deg. C, and almost cooked. Bake the eggplant chunks whilst you are simmering the green lentils. Or precook them and keep them covered in the refrigerator until you need them. They will finish cooking in the curry. I prefer this to cooking them in oil first before adding to a curry. However, I did lightly spray the eggplant pieces with spray on olive oil before baking so that they didn't dry out too much.

Add the eggplant chunks to the lentil dish when you add the red lentils and mushrooms according to the recipe above. The eggplant will then absorb all of the delicious curry flavours.

Cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring and adding more liquid if necessary. I added almost an extra cup of water. Fold in the lemon juice and chopped coriander just before serving.

Once you have made your curry so many other foods can be eaten with it. It is perfect just a for a meal on its own with rice and naan bread, or you can add some cooked chicken for the meat lovers, some extra vegetables, or even a poached egg on top.

Leftover curry will improve in flavour in the refrigerator to be eaten the next day. However, the spinach will just about disappear, so you could add some more next time when you reheat your curry.

Regular readers will know that I was called up for jury duty last fortnight, but I had reprieve when no jurors were required for that period. Phew! I felt as if I was the one being let out of jail! However, it freed me up last week to look after Tess, a dear old friend of mine who needed a carer after having an Angiogram in hospital. She's 84 years old, very slight, and the procedure took a lot out of her. I drove her to the hospital at 7 am in the morning, she was there until 3.30 pm, and then I brought her home to our place for a "sleepover", and breakfast.  I drove her home, later in the morning. The Public Hospital staff looked after her very well, but both her wrists and arms were very bruised, and she was really worn out. Thankfully the hospital insists on the patients needing a carer after a procedure like this one. So, I cooked a large piece of Corned Silverside in the slow cooker, which I know she enjoys, and we ate that for an early tea with some mashed potato, mashed pumpkin, steamed beans and broccoli. Broccoli is her favourite vegetable, noted Tess. She just loved it, and because she couldn't apply any pressure to her wrists, I cut everything up into small pieces for her. Corned Silverside is always delicious, and then we have sliced cold meat for a few days. Plain food is the best when recovering after a medical procedure isn't it? Tess doesn't eat very much though at the best of times. I gave her a container to take home with enough silverside and vegetables to last for a couple of days. She was thrilled to bits with that.

The next day, Tess had recovered fairly well, and I've spoken to her each day since, but she is still tired and other friends are taking her out for small outings. I'll see her this weekend. She needs to have some non-invasive heart surgery in about 6 months' time, in Townsville, about 350 kms away, and will need to fly up there for that. This was a real wake up call for me about elderly people who have no family to help out when they need to be cared for. Even those with families will need lots of support at some time. She still lives in her own home, which she is very thankful for, but she does need a lot of support from her neighbours and friends.

Take care,

Warmest wishes and I hope you enjoy this recipe. 

Pauline x

In My Kitchen, March 2022

Let's start our day in the kitchen with a delicious breakfast. Large Portobello mushrooms can be prepared like toast, and that is just what I did with these. Only not toasted, but grilled. This is such an easy way to cook big, flat, fresh mushrooms. Mushrooms, goat's cheese, pine nuts, and freshly snipped chives from the garden, what's not to love about this vegetarian dish for a weekend brekkie? Add a little finely chopped garlic straight onto the mushrooms if you wish. This is also a perfect meal  for a Meat Free Monday dinner served with a delicious salad. They also make a surprisingly "meaty" accompaniment to anything from a baked potato gratin to a grain salad. 

Portobello Mushroom Toast with Goat's Cheese, Pine Nuts and Chives, a perfect breakfast treat

I try to cook mainly with vegetables that are in season, and cooking with mushrooms is an easy decision as they are available all year round now in our shops in the Southern Hemisphere. I hope it's the same for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere. I'll only buy them though, if they are available unpackaged, as I don't see why they often need to be so heavily packaged in plastic. Storing them in the refrigerator crisper in a brown paper bag is the most sensible storage option.

Portobello Mushroom Toast with Goat's Cheese, Pine Nuts and Chives

Ingredients:

Serves 2

4 Portobello mushrooms 
Slurp of olive oil on each one
60 g soft goats cheese (Meredith Dairy soft goats cheese works well), or choose hard cheese
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 handfuls of fresh chives, snipped

Method:

Turn the oven grill to high.

Place the mushrooms open side up on the baking tray, drizzle with the oil and season with a pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper. 

Place under the grill for 3 minutes.

Remove the mushrooms from the grill, dot on the Goat's cheese and sprinkle with the pine nuts.

Place the mushrooms back under the grill for a further 2 minutes until Goats cheese is further softened and pine nuts are toasted. The pine nuts need to be watched as they will burn if left under the grill for too long.

Sprinkle on the snipped chives to serve. 

Served with homemade spicy tomato relish, or any savoury relish, in my opinion these rival any meal served in a cafe for brekkie. Add delicious bread on the side if you wish.

Beef stir-fry anyone?

Given the unbelievably high price of beef at the moment, and showing respect for the mission by many that we reduce our meat intake for the sake of our own health and for the health of the planet, I now think really seriously about how I'll prepare the meat that I buy. This beef stir-fry with a citrus kick was worth the little extra effort required to take it from the level of a quick "throw all in the wok" stir fry, to one with marinated very tender beef, and delicious flavours with a kick of lime. You can find the full post on the recipe at this link. I'll definitely be making this one again.

Beef Stir-fry with a Citrus Kick

Recipe serves 4

Ingredients:

Preparation 15 minutes + 15 minutes marinating time. Cooking time: only 10 minutes because it's a quick stir fry.

400g - 500g rump steak, Scotch fillet, or even Sirloin steak, thinly sliced across the grain into 6 mm thick strips (marinating the meat will give very tender results). I used Rump steak.

2 tbs fish sauce

2 tbs soy sauce

2 tbs vegetable oil divided

1/4 tsp cornflour

1 red capsicum, seeded and thinly sliced

200g green beans, trimmed and halved diagonally

1/2 cup (70 g) thinly sliced shallots

1 tbs finely chopped garlic

1 tbs finely chopped ginger

1 cup coriander leaves, divided

1 cup mint leaves

1 lime juiced, divided

1 tbs sugar

Steamed rice to serve

Method:

• Prepare the fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl by whisking it until the sugar dissolves. Place the sliced beef in another medium sized bowl, add 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce mixture and mix the sauce into the meat. Set the bowl of meat aside for 15 minutes to absorb the flavours. I marinated mine for 2 hours, covered the bowl and stored it in the refrigerator, until ready to use, as I had the time to do that. 
• Whisk the cornflour into the remaining soy sauce mixture and cover.
• Remove the beef from the bowl and pat it dry with a paper towel. Add 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil to a large hot frying pan,  and add the beef, spreading it over the base of the pan in a single layer. Without stirring the beef or touching it, cook for 2 minutes until well browned. You can see why the pan needed to be hot to begin with. 
• Stir fry the beef, and continue to stir and fry it for 40 seconds until cooked through. 
• Transfer the beef now to a plate with a rim to catch the juices.
• You are now ready to cook the vegetables. 
• Add the remaining oil, (1 tablespoon), and the capsicum and beans and cook for 2 minutes until the vegetables soften slightly. Stir and fry the vegetables. You want them still quite crisp. Stir in the shallot, garlic and ginger,
• Add the remaining soy sauce mixture, and the beef and the juices to the pan with the vegetables. Stir and fry for 1 minute until the beef is just heated through, the vegetables are tender, and the sauce has thickened slightly. 
• Take your frypan from the stove and stir in half the coriander leaves, the mint leaves, and the lime juice. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to add the lime juice and at least one of the herbs.
• To serve divide the rice among the serving bowls. Top the rice with the beef stir fry, and drizzle with the remaining lime juice and for presentation, sprinkle with the remaining mint and coriander leaves.
• Serve with extra lime wedges if you have them

Regardless of what else is happening, I always find time to read. During a very busy time while we were away in Cairns, this book by Australian author and doctor Joanna Nell, was an interesting and relaxing read.  She navigated some of the politics in hospitals and how a dedicated group of volunteers found a way to deal with the bureaucracy. I enjoyed it. 

There's a strong synergy between a lot of what we grow in our garden, and what I cook with in my kitchen. We try to grow as much as we can given space constraints, and the time of the year. Let's face it though, growing our own produce presents challenges, and there's a lot of trial and error with growing fruit and vegetables for our own use.  However, growing what is suitable in our tropical climate is the key for us, that's not rocket science I know, even though at times we've tried growing a pomegranate tree, a finger lime tree (that should have grown well), vanilla bean vines, and other more exotic plants, but the pests and bugs can make life very difficult and know how to completely ruin our efforts. So here are a few photos of what we are having success with at the moment. These were taken before storms and showers over the last few days, and as I write this, Mr. HRK is out in the garden pruning and tidying up, and just enjoying the garden under slightly cooler conditions.

There's always a chilli bush or two growing in the garden, and it's great to be able just to pick them as needed for so many dishes I cook. If I had been in my own kitchen at home, I would have used one of these in the Beef stir-fry recipe above.

The odd bunch of chillies just picked. They still taste great though.

Edible ginger and turmeric thrive in the Summer garden in the tropics. 

The lush turmeric is flowering, and the pineapple sage in front with the pink flowers

 is such a survivor.

Our edible ginger is looking very healthy after the rain and will be ready for harvesting quite soon, however in the meantime it's great to be able to dig some up when required.

This Paw Paw tree below self seeded, so time will tell if it is bi-sexual, and actually bears fruit, or if it develops a disease such as bunchy top.I have high hopes for this one. Fingers crossed.

We have a cumquat tree, which is just beginning to flower. Can you see the small white buds on these two photos. I'm hoping that by the end of Winter there will be enough fruit to make some more 

cumquat marmalade.  It's so delicious and a precious commodity.

These are photos of some not so edible gingers growing in the garden, They bring beautiful colour, joy and biodiversity to our garden which is important.

This newly planted red ginger is growing in its own garden next to the cumquat tree.

This very happy lemon tree was the subject of a recent post of mine. I used the first lemons to make some very nice little lemon puddings.

If you missed the post about these lemon puddings here is the link to find it.

Lemon puddings with a topping of homemade lemon curd. Yum!

Our wonderful friends P & J, brought us back this bag of roasted coffee beans grown near Byron Bay. We are so excited about trying this coffee. They were in Ballina in New South Wales, and thankfully weren't trapped by the floods for too long as so many were.

A new Market basket that I bought will be very useful, when I head off to market.

I made my first sourdough loaf of bread for quite a while. Now that the weathers a bit cooler I'll get back into more baking. Bread is such a staple, and sourdough bread is good for our wellbeing. I wish I could send some bread to the people left in the Ukraine, I doubt they are in a position to be making bread. It's all so sad.

Hot off the press, we just discovered that our 15 year old Mandarin tree, was damaged during last night's storm. A large branch which is about 1/3 of the tree broke off. The tree is heavily laden with fruit, so we estimate about 100 mandarins were on that branch, and it was probably just the wind and the heaviness of the branch that caused it to break. So Mr. HRK has been busily sawing off the remaining branch. I am hoping I can salvage some of the green fruit to make jam or something else. Do you have any ideas? There is a hint of yellow on some of the fruit so they are beginning to ripen. If a cold snap comes during Winter, the remaining mandarins on the tree should be nice and sweet.

The broken branch to the left

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event. If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month. Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens.

Watch this space for an update on our backyard Italian beehive, in a future post. There's been a lot of activity in the bee world in our back garden.

That's all for this edition my friends, there is work to do in the garden.

Have a nice weekend.

Warm wishes,

Pauline

Portabello Mushroom Toast with Goat's Cheese, Pine Nuts and Chives, a perfect breakfast treat

Let's start our day with a delicious and healthy breakfast.  I now think of Breakfast, as an easy way to treat ourselves to something special, tasty and not necessarily expensive or time consuming, and to give us an important psychological and healthy boost to the day. This dish is also a perfect meal  for a Meat Free Monday dinner served with a delicious salad. Choosing Meat Free Mondays in our eating habits and reducing our met intake,  are simple ways to show respect for the mission by many to improve our own health and the health of the planet. 

I'm a cook and food writer, not a scientist, but I was interested to read that the BBC was quoting scientists when it said  that whilst there is no silver bullet to climate change, the humble mushroom has a role to play. The Mycelium, or the vast root systems of mushrooms, play an important role throughout various processes by improving the nutrient content of the soils. Those richer soils then encourage biodiversity by supporting diverse plant life..

Mushrooms make a surprisingly "meaty" accompaniment to anything from a baked potato gratin to a grain salad. Large Portobello mushrooms can be prepared like toast, and that is just what I did with these. Only not toasted, but grilled. This is such an easy way to cook big, flat, fresh mushrooms. Mushrooms, goat's cheese, pine nuts, and freshly snipped chives from the garden, what's not to love about this vegetarian dish for a weekend brekkie? Add a little finely chopped garlic straight onto the mushrooms if you wish. 

Portobello Mushroom Toast with Goat's Cheese, Pine Nuts and Chives, perfect for meat free Mondays

 I'll only buy mushrooms if they are available to buy loose and not packaged in plastic.  At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year, with plastic making up 80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments (IUCN). Marine species are suffering severely from ingesting or becoming entangled by plastic debris. We all know this, and yet supermarkets continue to use so much plastic wrapping on their produce. Storing mushrooms them in the refrigerator crisper in a brown paper bag is the most sensible storage option.

I try to cook mainly with vegetables that are in season, and cooking with mushrooms is an easy decision as they are available all year round now in our shops in the Southern Hemisphere. I hope it's the same for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere. Mushrooms must be very fresh or they are not worth cooking,Wash them well, and most importantly, dry them well.  

Portobello Mushroom Toast with Goat's Cheese, Pine Nuts and Chives

Ingredients:

Serves 2

4 Portobello mushrooms 
Slurp of olive oil on each one
60 g soft goats cheese (Meredith Dairy soft goats cheese works well), or choose hard cheese
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 handfuls of fresh chives, snipped

Method:

Turn the oven grill to high.

Place the mushrooms open side up on the baking tray, drizzle with the oil and season with a pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper. 

Place under the grill for 3 minutes.

Remove the mushrooms from the grill, dot on the Goat's cheese and sprinkle with the pine nuts.

Place the mushrooms back under the grill for a further 2 minutes until Goats cheese is further softened and pine nuts are toasted. The pine nuts need to be watched as they will burn if left under the grill for too long.

Sprinkle on the snipped chives to serve. 

Served with homemade spicy tomato relish, or any savoury relish, in my opinion these rival any meal served in a cafe for brekkie. Add delicious bread on the side if you wish.

Say healthy,

Goat's cheese, Pine Nuts and Mushroom Toast

Anybody who knows me well knows that I love Goat's cheese, and when I realised that I also had large mushrooms which needed using in the refrigerator, I combined them all and this mushroom dish came together for a delicious breakfast on a very wet day during the week.