Mad about Mushrooms
And why not?! Mushrooms come in all shapes and sizes, and can provide an easy brunch or a rich umami supper.
Growing your own could be the way forward, with growing kits easily available, for example from this site where you can buy shiitake and all sorts of oyster mushroom growing kits. (Who knew there were so many different colours of oyster mushrooms?) Or get the shovels out and take the gardening plunge, as advised by this article.
To impress your guests at brunch, or just for your own pleasure, cook your mushrooms of choice in butter with some salt (don’t forget the salt!) and pepper, and serve on toast. You can add a bit of creme fraiche on the side if you’re feeling fancy, and possibly a few chopped chives.
We can’t all be domestic goddesses/gods and sometimes, even with the best will in the world, we end up simply eating for fuel not pleasure. I think we all have those moments when we know we need to eat but can’t dredge up the enthusiasm for anything that’s on offer – you can’t smell anything, your tastebuds are less than motivated and it seems far easier to just grab a bag of crisps and slump on the sofa with a beer. In this spirit, I love the honesty of this article; yet even while revealing her grumpiness at a friend’s perceived perfection, she still manages to give us a recipe for the most simple yet sumptuous lentil and mushroom ragu. Delicious with pasta yet perfect with potatoes or rice, this is a good one to batch cook and stick in the freezer for those days when the grumpiness threatens to overcome…
Now on to my Mum’s suggestion, Delia Smith’s mushroom curry:
- 175g sliced mushrooms (she suggests dark, open gilled mushrooms)
- 1 medium potato, diced
- 1 small tin chopped tomatoes (it really needs to be small!)
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 10g butter
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 clove garlic (crushed)
- 1 teaspoon grated root ginger
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon of curry powder
- 1 tablespoon natural yoghurt
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
Melt the butter and oil in a casserole. Dry the diced potato in a tea towel and add to the casserole with the onion. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic, turmeric, ginger and curry powder. Wait for a minute or so then add the mushrooms.
After a couple more minutes, stir in the yoghurt and lemon juice, then the chopped tomatoes, and cook gently until the potatoes are tender (around 25 minutes or so).
Can be served with rice or as a yummy alternative to soup.
You can find lots more of Delia’s mushroom recipes on her website.
*Maybe avoid the magic ones…
