Besides tasting delicious on their own, mushrooms are nutritious and the perfect ingredient to add to both meat and vegetarian dishes to make them go further.
They have a good meaty texture and soak up the flavour of anything they are added to. They are very low in calories so you can eat as many as you like without feeling guilty.
MUSHROOM BOLOGNAISE
Serves 6
25g dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 250ml boiling water
30ml olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
300g beef mince
2 carrots, peeled and finely choppedgybjh
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
15ml chopped fresh rosemary
200g button mushrooms, quartered
200g portabellini mushrooms, quartered
125ml red wine
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
200g spaghetti
Soak the porcini mushrooms and set aside. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes. Add the mince and cook until browned, stirring to break up the lumps. Add the carrots, celery and rosemary and cook for 10 minutes.
Turn up the heat and add the button and portabellini mushrooms and fry for a further 5 minutes.
Stir in the wine and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the porcini mushrooms with the soaking liquid, the tin of tomatoes and the bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, and then turn down the heat and simmer, without the lid for 20-30 minutes until thickened. Stir occasionally.
Cook the spaghetti in a pot of boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain and return to the pot.
Add some of the mushroom sauce to the spaghetti and stir to combine.
Dish into serving bowls, spoon a generous spoonful of mushrooms onto each and sprinkle with grated Parmesan.
Serve immediately.
MUSHROOM AND BROCCOLI PESTO PIE
Serves 6-8
PASTRY
250ml cake flour
250ml wholewheat flour
3ml salt
160g butter, cubed
1 egg, beaten
Ice water to mix
FILLING
125ml cashew nuts
1 large head of broccoli, broken into florets
salt and pepper
60ml olive oil
15-20ml lemon juice
250ml grated Parmesan cheese
50g butter
30ml olive oil
1 onion, chopped
10ml chopped garlic
500g assorted mushrooms
PASTRY: Place the flours, salt and butter into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the egg and enough ice water to bring the dough together. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll out to about a 30cm disc and place in a 25cm loose bottom quiche tin.
FILLING: Soak the cashew nuts in water for an hour. Drain and place the nuts into a food processor.
Steam the broccoli until soft. Add to the food processor.
Add the seasoning, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese and olive oil. Process until well blended. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Melt the butter and olive oil in a pan and fry the onion and garlic until soft.
Add the mushrooms and fry until nicely browned. Remove and cool.
Spread the broccoli mixture on to the base of the pastry. Top with the fried mushrooms.
Fold over the overlapping edges of the pastry. Bake at 180°C for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is cooked and golden brown. Remove and serve.
Sunday Tribune