The Breakfast Challenge – Garlic Mushrooms

by Linda on November 25, 2011

garlic mushrooms

The year is rushing towards the end now. I just realised that there are only five more  Breakfast Cereal Challenges  in this series. Wow, that went fast. And, just as with the Muesli Bar Challenge, I don’t feel like I’m anywhere nearly finished.

I’ve been waiting (impatiently) for garlic season to make this recipe.  It’s my very favourite way to eat both garlic and mushrooms.  Garlic and mushrooms are both superfoods, with a wide range of vitamins and minerals including some that are not that common.  They are both among the highest sources for selenium, an essential mineral that is often low, and they both contain phytonutrients that are anti-carcinogens, anti -inflammatory, and generally good for you.  This recipe uses a lot of both.  I’m working at home today, luckily.

(The Breakfast Cereal Challenge is my 2011 challenge – a year’s worth of breakfast recipes based on in-season ingredients, that are quick and easy enough to be a real option for weekdays, and that are preferable, in nutrition, ethics, and taste,  to the overpackaged, overpriced, mostly empty packets of junk food marketed as “cereal”. The Muesli Bar Challenge was my 2010 Challenge.)

The Recipe

The trick with this is that it is a slow braise, not a stir fry – not too slow for breakfast – but it does need a good ten minutes to cook, preferably fifteen for the garlic oils to penetrate right through the mushrooms.

You need a heavy pot or pan with a lid.

  • Put it on a medium heat with a good knob of butter and an equal amount of olive oil.
  • While the butter is melting, chop up lots of garlic (fine) and lots of mushrooms (into slices). I use four cloves per person – a whole corm between the two of us, and half a dozen large field mushrooms each.  The mushrooms will shrink,  so you need a lot more than you think. If you have fresh home-grown garlic, you can use all the tender part of the stem too.
  • As soon as the butter is melted and starting to froth, turn the heat down low. Put the whole lot of the mushrooms and the (raw) garlic in at once and put the lid on. Cook, checking and stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or more.
  • While the mushrooms are cooking, make toast, and chop up a spring onion or two.
  • Towards the end of the mushroom cooking time, take the lid off if necessary to evaporate the juices. Add the spring onion, a dash of soy sauce, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

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Kangaroo and Mushroom Pie With Olive Oil Crust

by Linda on November 13, 2011

Some friends for dinner who had never eaten kangaroo before and were a bit dubious.  In this pie, you really can’t tell the meat is kangaroo – it could just as easily be chuck steak.  Not that I usually try to disguise it – kangaroo is our red meat of choice these days, for all sorts of reasons –  ethical, ecological, cost, health benefits – but taste is also up there.  Maybe I’m just used to it now, or maybe methods of harvesting and processing have changed, but I find the kangaroo meat I get in the supermarket these days isn’t gamey at all, and for most people it’s just the idea of eating kangaroo that gets in the way. For me, the idea works the other way.  I like the idea of organic, free range, non-greenhouse-gas-producing, adapted-to-the-environment meat. My problem is with the idea eating meat from factory farmed animals.

You could easily undo the health benefits of a very lean, low cholesterol meat, by putting it in a pie with a standard shortcrust though.  I’ve been playing and experimenting lately with making pastry without butter.  This pastry is a bit fragile and tricky to roll out, but it is lovely and short and no saturated fat.  Meaning the whole recipe is super heart friendly.

The Recipe:

The Pastry:

Mix 2½ cups of wholemeal plain flour and a teaspoon of salt in a bowl.

Fill a cup half full of low fat milk and top it up to full with olive oil - half a cup of each.  You don’t need to mix them.

Tip the cup all at once into the bowl.  Stir and then knead just enough to combine into a dough.  Don’t overwork the dough or it will get tough.

Cover the bowl and put the dough in the fridge to cool while you make the filling.

The Filling

Put a handful of plain wholemeal flour in a plastic bag.

Dice 400 grams of kangaroo steak and put in the bag.  Shake to coat the meat in flour.

Heat a good dash of olive oil in a heavy pan till the pan is very hot, then brown the floured meat.  You will probably need to do it in two batches so it sears rather than stews.

While the meat is browning, dice two onions and several cloves of garlic.  Take the meat out, add another dash of olive oil, and sauté the onions and garlic.

At this stage I like to add a little bit of something with some heat – either a diced chili, or a teaspoon of seeded mustard, or a couple of teaspoons of green peppercorns. They all create something different but they’re all good. But if you don’t like spicy food you can leave it out.

While the onions are cooking, slice 250 grams of mushrooms.  Add them to the onions.

Return the meat to the pan and add a jar of tomato passata and half a cup of water.

Simmer to reduce and thicken.

Filling and Baking

While the filling is simmering, roll out the pastry.

This pastry is quite fragile.  The easiest way to do this is to divide the dough into two balls, one slightly bigger than the other.  Put a sheet of greaseproof paper on your bench top, put the bigger ball on it, and cover with another sheet.  Roll the pastry out between the two sheets, turning once or twice to un-wrinkle the paper. You can then peel the top sheet of paper off, flip it into the pie dish, then peel the other sheet off.

Line a pie dish with pastry, fill, cover with the other sheet of pastry.  Pinch the edge decoratively and poke the top with a fork to allow steam to escape.

Bake in a medium hot oven for around 30 minutes till brown.

Really good served with potato or parsnip mash and steamed greens.

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The Breakfast Challenge – Lemony Mushrooms and Spinach with 2 Minute Hollandaise

by Linda on June 25, 2011

There is a small miracle in the number of things that grow well together, taste good together, and are good for you together.  Corn and beans, tomatoes and basil,  broccoli and cheese, turmeric and pepper…

Spinach and lemon juice join the list.  I first had very lemony mushrooms and spinach at The Gun Shop Cafe in Brisbane many years ago, and it was one of those simple but sensational dishes that brilliant chefs make.  It’s not co-incidental that they are in season together – simple dishes depend on fresh, perfect, in season ingredients.  Neither is it co-incidental that they are so good for you in combination – our ancestors who liked the taste of things that kept them healthy got to live to be our ancestors! It all makes sense, but it still feels like such a nice little miracle .

The hollandaise sauce looks so decadent, but it truly takes just 2 minutes to make and has just a teaspoon of butter per serve.  It’s a very tasty way to add a bit of protein to the breakfast.  I’m harvesting the first of the season’s spinach now, rich in antioxidant beta carotene, iron and folic acid, and the lemon in the recipe makes the iron available. Mushrooms are loaded with dietary fiber and a good source of potassium, copper, selenium, and B vitamins. Put it on homemade sourdough and you’re set.

(The Breakfast Cereal Challenge is my 2011 challenge – a year’s worth of breakfast recipes based on in-season ingredients, that are quick and easy enough to be a real option for weekdays, and that are preferable, in nutrition, ethics, and taste,  to the overpackaged, overpriced, mostly empty packets of junk food marketed as “cereal” . The Muesli Bar Challenge was my 2010 Challenge.)

The Recipe:

This recipe makes two good serves.

Put some good wholegrain sourdough on to toast.

Then start with the hollandaise.

Melt a dessertspoon of butter in a small pot. Take care not to brown it.

Use a blender, stick blender or a whisk to blend together 1 egg, three dessertspoons of lemon juice and a pinch of salt.

With the blender going, pour the hot butter very slowly into the egg and lemon mix.  It should go thick and creamy.  If it isn’t thick enough, pour back into the small pot and heat, stirring, for just a few seconds.  It will turn almost instantly.

Now on to the mushrooms and spinach.

Heat a little olive oil in a heavy pan till it is quite hot.  Then add 300 grams of sliced mushrooms (about 10 medium mushrooms).  You can add a clove of crushed garlic if you like.

Cook for a minute till the mushrooms start to brown then add two cups of baby spinach leaves, or larger spinach leaves roughly chopped, along with a little squeeze of lemon juice and salt and pepper.  Cook for just a minute more until the spinach wilts.

Pile the mushrooms and spinach on the toast and top with a good dollop of hollandaise.

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Jedda’s Vegetable Moussaka

April 30, 2010

I can’t say this is fast and easy.  It’s a long slow Sunday afternoon recipe, and it creates quite a bit of washing up!  But there’s a good return on investment – for an hour or so of Sunday afternoon baking, you can have several very healthy dinners and lunches made ready for the week. [...]

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