Cooks Club - Spicy Mushroom & Tomato salad

Another entry for the taste.com.au Cooks Club. I really loved this salad. It was perfectly filling with just some scotch fillet steak. 

I had some tomatoes that are in between cherry & regular size and they have such a rich tomato flavour. I put them on the bbq to char them up a bit. It gave such fabulous flavour. I didn't have any fresh chilli but I do have a chilli infused olive oil so I used some of that in the dressing. The other half of the oil I used a garlic infused olive oil mainly because I am not keen on the flavour of raw garlic in things. It gave a lovely garlic flavour with a bit of a kick at the end. I think that it would have also been good if the mushrooms had been grilled but it was still really good with the fresh mushrooms. I would definitely make this again. 

Cheesy Pesto Mushroom Burger

It was, apparently, world vegetarian day on October 2nd. I only discovered it when I was reading one of the newspapers online. There seems to be a day for every thing now. I try to make a vegetarian dishes regularly anyway. I had planned to make a mushroom burger the day before but didn't get it made so I decided to give it a go. 

It turned out to be an interesting exercise. I had the mushroom out and turned on the oven and then the power went out and remained out for almost 12 hours. So the rest of the meal was made by torch and candle light. I spread the inside of the mushroom with pesto and then put sliced havarti cheese in it, dipped in egg and finally coated in bread crumbs. Thankfully I have a baby Q weber bbq so I was still able to cook. I was going to make chips to go with it but I didn't know how to do that on the bbq and after prepping the mushroom via torchlight I didn't feel like doing any more. I was really pleased with how this turned out. I was concerned that the crumbs would burn on the bbq but they didn't. I haven't used my weber a lot so far but now that it is starting to heat up I plan to use it a lot more. I also took the photo via torch and candle light and it turned out better than expected. 

Mushroom & smoked chicken risotto

I decided that the next thing I would try in my Thermomix was the risotto in the cook book that came with the machine. Risotto is one of my favourites and I thought that it would be a good test of it for me. I would have liked to have tested it with one of my favourites, either the pumpkin or beetroot risottos, but I decided that I would stick with the one in the book this time. 

I used leek in it instead of onion and I sliced that myself however it did get caught around the butterfly blade. I would probably just use onion next time. I also added extra garlic, thyme and some chopped smoked chicken breast at the end. I didn't think that it was quite as creamy as I seem to get it on the stove. However, I haven't made risotto in a while so the rice has been sitting in the cupboard for a while. I am not sure if that would make a difference though. It was still very good and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I will try some a pumpkin one next.

Mushroom & smoked chicken risotto

50 g Parmesan cheese, cubed 

1 leek, finely sliced 

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbsp thyme leaves (I would put more in next time) 

50 g olive oil 

350 g arborio rice

100 g white wine 

2 tsp chicken stock powder (I haven't made the tm stock concentrate yet) 

200 g sliced mushrooms

1100 g water 

1 smoked chicken breast, cubed

20 g butter 

Pulverise parmesan for 10 seconds on speed 9 and set aside. 

Add leek, garlic, thyme and oil and sauté for 2 minutes at 100 C on speed 1 with MC off. 

Insert butterfly. Add rice and wine to bowl and sauté for 2 minutes at 100 C on Reverse + soft. 

Add stock, mushrooms and water and cook for 15 minutes at 100 C on Reverse + soft. 

Add chicken and cook for 2 minutes at 100 C on Reverse + soft. 

Season to taste and add parmesan and butter.

Creamy crab stuffed mushrooms

I have been wanting to make this for dinner for ages but something always seemed to get in the way. I planned to make them on Thursday night but ended up having a late coffee with someone and didn't get home in time to make it. Well, I did but I just wasn't that hungry. So on Friday I decided that I just had to make them. I had been really busy on Friday and heading towards dinner time and I really didn't feel like cooking. I force myself to get up and do it and I am pleased that I did. It turned out very well. I don't really have a recipe though, I just sort of tossed things in. 

garlic, crushed

green onions, white section finely sliced 

Cream cheese (I used extra-light as that is what I had in the fridge) 

Crab meat

egg yolk 

dill, finely chopped 

parmesan cheese, grated

portabello mushroom

Pre-heat oven to 190 C

Cook garlic & green onions in a little oil, I did it in the microwave. Let cool. 

Combine with cream cheese, crab meat, egg yolk, dill and some of the parmesan. Stuff mixture into mushroom. Top with more parmesan and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. If it is not yet browned place under grill for 5 minutes or until golden. 

Creamy brie, mushroom & prosciutto risotto

This is a recipe from an old issue of delicious magazine, July 2011. Okay, so not that old but still at least it is something from the back catalogue. Which is what the whole intention of this blog was in the first place. 

The original recipe didn't include the prosciutto but I had some in the fridge that needed to be used so I added it. I put it under the grill until it was crispy and crumbled it over the top. I was unable to get the chestnut mushrooms so I used some quartered swiss brown mushrooms which I think worked really well. Oh and I used camembert instead of brie as it was reduced in price. 

I really enjoyed it however it was a bit rich for me. Although I am pretty sure if I had had a smaller portion with a salad on the side it would have been better. Some asparagus through it would have been nice. Plus, like some of the other risottos I have made serving it on a bed of rocket would have helped too. 

Chicken & Mushroom Fajitas

Ugh, end of daylight savings today. I suppose it is a good thing, although I do like daylight savings in the summer. However the first few days after coming off or going on always suck. I am very tired tonight so hopefully I will actually be able to get to sleep early. 

I first had chicken & mushroom fajitas in a restaurant in Canada. They were really, really good. When I came home I made them using a bought mix and, of course, they weren't nearly as good. Although I had done them a few times since. Well, yesterday I decided that I was going to make some for dinner. I went looking around the net for a recipe. I didn't find anything that really grabbed me so I kind of just made it up as I went along. They turned out really, really well. They weren't quite spicy enough for me but I hadn't put chilli powder in as I was using hot smoked paprika and it does have a bite. So next time I will put some chilli powder in, probably 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of mexican chilli powder. Served with grated cheese and yoghurt on top with a rocket & tomato salad on the side. 

Chicken & Mushroom Fajitas 

500 g chicken thighs, trimmed and sliced into strips

1 tsp hot smoked paprika (if you don't have the hot smoked, use 1 tsp smoked paprika & 1/4 tsp chilli powder)

1 tsp sweet paprika 

1/2 tsp ground allspice 

1 tsp oregano 

1 tsp onion powder

1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying

1 tbsp sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar) 

250 g mushrooms, quartered (or two large flat mushrooms cut into wedges)

1 red capsicum, sliced into strips 

1 red onion, cut into wedges

tortillas, yoghurt, grated cheese & salad to serve

Combine paprika, allspice, oregano, onion powder, olive oil and vinegar in a bowl. Add chicken strips and mix well. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. 

Heat some oil in a large fry pan over a medium high heat. Cook chicken in batches until sealed and starting to brown. Remove and set aside. 

Add onion and capsicum to pan and cook until onion is translucent. Add mushrooms and cook until starting to soften. Return chicken to pan cook until chicken is done. 

Serve in warmed tortillas topped with grated cheese & yoghurt. 

Chicken, mushroom & green peppercorn pie

The weather is pretty changeable here at the moment. We have had some nights that are still rather warm but for the most part they are starting to cool down. I love it when it does start to cool down as I love making autumn and winter food. I made these last week when we had a really cool day. I had made chicken pies before but didn't follow a recipe for these. I really enjoyed them. I have put the rest of the filling in the freezer so that I will be able to make some pies down the track. I served with sweet potato mash and steamed vegies. 

Chicken & Mushroom Pie 

4 chicken thighs, trimmed and diced
250g mushrooms, trimmed and chopped
1 leek, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp butter
2 – 3 sprigs thyme

1 tbsp green peppercorns, drained
1 tbsp plain flour
120ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp marsala wine

120ml skim milk

Sheet of puff pastry

Heat olive oil in pan fry add the chicken in batches stirring until cooked. Remove and set aside

Add 1 tbsp butter to pan with the leek and garlic. Cook over a medium heat until soft. Add mushrooms, thyme and peppercorns and cook until soft. Remove and set aside. Remove thyme stalks.  

Add the remaining butter to the pan and melt then add flour and cook, stirring, for a few minutes. Slowly whisk in the vegetable stock and marsala. Finally add the milk, beating until it thickens. Return chicken and leek mixture to the pan and stir through. Taste and season if necessary.  

Place filling in ramekins and top with puff pastry. Bake them at 190˚C for 25 - 30 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden. 

Quinoa & haloumi stuffed mushrooms with pesto cream

I really, really need to use some of the food that I have stored in my fridge, freezer and pantry. I honestly think with a bit of imagination I could eat for a week on what I have already only spending money on milk and cat food. Oh and perhaps fruit...I know that I don't have any canned or frozen. Not sure I can actually do a month but I am going to try for a couple of weeks and see how I go. I have actually tried this before. Last time I did it I went to buy milk and cat food and ended up spending a bunch on more stuff. I actually managed to go to the supermarket today and get only 4 things, all of which were on my list and these included milk and cat food.

I had purchased some large flat mushrooms last week to make mushroom burgers but never got around to making them so I decided to do something with them tonight. I have a large amount of quinoa in the cupboard so decide to use some of that as the base for a stuffing for the mushrooms. I really just tossed things in and hoped it would be good. It was very, very good and I will definitely be making these again. I used this mixture to fill two flat mushrooms, but there is plenty left over. I think I could fill at least another two if not four mushrooms.

Quinoa & haloumi stuffed mushrooms with pesto cream

1 c. cooked quinoa

1 small sweet potato, finely chopped and roasted 

1 small red onion, finely diced 

1 clove garlic, crushed

6 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

3 piquillo whole roasted peppers, chopped

100 g grated haloumi, I had a herb & pepper one

handful of basil, oregano & parsley, chopped 

Flat mushrooms 

1 tbsp light sour cream 

1 tbsp basil pesto,

Preheat oven to 180 C. 

Saute onion & garlic until cooked. Combine with quinoa, sweet potato, tomatoes, peppers, haloumi and herbs mixing well. 

Place mushrooms on a tray and pile quinoa mixture on top. Roast in the oven for 15 - 18 minutes or until mushrooms are soft. 

Combine sour cream and pesto and serve with the mushrooms.

Roast mushrooms with thyme

Okay, so I have just about finished catching up on all the Bill Granger recipes that I have made over the past couple of months, only one more to go after this. There are a few other things that I want to post about but I will really have to get started cooking from Sydney Food again or I soon wont have anything to post about. I had a really slack week cookingwise last week. Really the only decent meal I had was made by a friend. **oops** Oh well, determined to get back on track this coming week.

I really love that there are so many breakfast recipes in this book. There are some really fantastic ones. I do find though that I just don't make them on work days so it has to happen on weekends. Some times I get distracted in the mornings on the weekend and I end up not getting breakfast until it is almost lunch time. Not that it is really a problem. Most of these recipes could also be for lunch. I did manage to get this mushroom dish done fairly early so it was still breakfast. I didn't have any taleggio so used some havarti that I had in the fridge instead. It is not the most attractive looking dish but it was yummy. I reminded me of Jacques Raymond's Baked Mushrooms that I made back in December. I would probably be more likely to make Jacques' recipe again but Bill's was so easy that it probably could be made before work. 

Roast mushrooms with thyme

Ingredients: 

•  8 large field (portobello) mushrooms, about 10cm diameter 
• 1 tbsp thyme, roughly chopped (I used lemon thyme) 
• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 
• 1 lemon, juice 
• 1 large garlic clove, cut into 8 slivers 
• 200g baby english spinach, washed 
• 150g italian taleggio cheese, sliced 
• 4 thick slices toast, to serve 
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, to serve

Method: 

• Preheat oven to 200C. 
• Put mushrooms in a roasting tin. Mix thyme, oil and lemon juice together and pour over mushrooms. Put a sliver of garlic on each mushroom and bake for 10 minutes. 
• Meanwhile, put damp spinach in a frying pan over medium heat and turn with a spatula until wilted. 
• Remove mushrooms from oven. Top each mushroom with a little spinach and some sliced cheese. Return to oven for 5–6 minutes until cheese has melted.
• To serve, put 2 mushrooms on each slice of toast. Drizzle with pan juices and balsamic vinegar.

December 2001 - Baked Mushrooms

It seems a bit quick to be revisiting this issue but since the launch issue was a November/December issue I don't have much choice. It is a good issue, in fact most of them are, so I am not too worried about revisiting it. 

I again salivated over the Hummus with ground lamb & pinenuts. It really does look so very good, however I was looking for something for breakfast. 

I recalled that there was a wonderful recipe for Baked Mushrooms by Jacques Raymond in this issue. I tossed up whether to make this recipe or, what I eventually did make for November, his Crispy pork belly with spiced lentils. Now that I had another chance at it this issue it was a pretty foregone conclusion that I was going to come back to this recipe. It was just as fantastic as I had hoped, although I am sure it would have been even better with freshly picked, wild mushrooms like Jacques says in his introduction to the recipe but even though there had been a lot of rain recently I hadn't come across any fresh mushrooms. I did buy some lovely portobello mushrooms on special and they were perfect in this. I served the mushrooms on some lovely toasted pane de casa from a local bakery. It was a wonderful breakfast and I will be doing this one again. 

Baked Mushrooms 

Serves 4 

Ingredients

• Melted butter, to grease
• 8 medium Swiss Brown or field mushrooms
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced 
• 5 eschallots, sliced 
• 2 tbsp roasted hazelnuts (I used walnuts) 
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• 2 tbsp hazelnut oil (I used walnut oil) 
• 50 g butter, cubed 
• Parmesan shavings 
• 12 sprigs fresh thyme

Method: 

• Preheat oven to 180 C. 
• Line baking tray with foil and brush with melted butter. 
• Quarter mushrooms if large or leave whole if you prefer and add to the tray. 
• Combine garlic, eschallots, hazelnuts and oils in a bowl and season with salt & pepper. 
• Pour over the mushrooms and toss to combine. 
• Then add parmesan, butter and half the thyme. 
• Cover with a second sheet of foil, seal and bake for 10 - 12 minutes. 
• Serve with toast and remaining thyme. 

November 2003 - Mushroom Burgers

This has been a long week and there is still one day to go. It has been raining lots over the past few days so my foot is aching like crazy. I guess that is something that I am just going to have to put up with for a while longer, if not for life. :-( Things have been very busy and stressful at work, but next week will be bliss with my boss away. However it will mean another very busy day tomorrow getting everything done before he goes.

I am so very tired tonight, and I was very tired when I was deciding what to make from this issue. In the end I broke my rules and made Valli Little's Mushroom Burgers, which I have made regularly since this issue came out. Over the years I have tweaked the recipe and am still making changes. I like to add in roasted capsicum, olives and capers to the onions with the semi-dried tomatoes. It is really, really good. I have been known to leave off the prosciutto when I am wanting a vegetarian meal. I have also served the stuffed roasted mushroom with salad and not worried about the hamburger buns. It is something that is really easy to make and very tasty and nutritious when you are tired. (Although I would love to try the Little Provencal tarts with tapenade and creme fraiche on the front cover.) 

May 2009 - Baked Capsicums Stuffed with Porcini Risotto

So to the penultimate issue for May. There are some really nice Italian recipes in issue #82.

There are two different recipes for Tuscan Bread Soup. The one from the real fast food section looked nice. However Ben O'Donoghue's recipe looked wonderful. Lovely and thick and and full of everything that you would expect from an Italian soup. Since I had already made recently minestrone, and had a heap left over I wasn't keen for more soup in the fridge.

I had planned on making Valli Little's Twice roasted potatoes with onion, herbs and chilli. It is a really easy recipe, although takes a little time. It first involves roasting whole potatoes then cutting them into chunks sprinkling with herbs, sliced onions, chilli flakes and olive oil and roasting further. To make it a bit more rustic tearing rather than cutting the roasted potatoes would probably be nice. I had planned on making these to go with the meal from the May 2010 issue however I decided that I would be better off with a plainer potato for that meal. Plus I was having my grandparents coming for dinner that night and was worried about too much chilli for them.

The recipe that I ended up making comes from an article with recipes attributed to Francesco Garripoli and Valli Little, so I am not sure which of them came up with the fabulous Baked Capsicums Stuffed with Porcini Risotto. It was served with a beautifully tangy parsley and onion salad. I love stuffed capsicums. I do them with a variety of different things from chicken & cheese to a savoury mince meat concoction, there was also a quinoa stuffing that a tried from another blog that was very good. I had never thought to stuff them with risotto before, although I do stuff eggplants with risotto.

The porcini risotto was just lovely too. I used the left over in some risotto cakes the following night and although not as good as it was when stuffed in the capsicum it was still very nice. I think that the sweetness of the roast capsicum and the tangy parsley salad really helped to mellow the earthiness of the porcini mushrooms which were a bit overpowering when the risotto was eaten without those accompanying flavours. I also made the risotto slightly differently too. The recipe had it start out like a regular recipe but had all the liquid put in at once and it left to absorb, shaking occasionally. I have tried this method for making risotto in the past however I find that it is not nearly as nice as a stirred risotto. This was a lovely meal, one that I would make again, although perhaps just with a regular mushroom risotto or any type of risotto really.

Baked Capsicums Stuffed with Porcini Risotto

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 20 g dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 1 cup boiling water for 10 minutes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
  
• 2 cups (440 g) arborio rice
  
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) dry white wine
• 1 L (4 cups) vegetable stock
  
• 1 heaped tbsp each of chopped fresh basil, oregano, flat-leaf parsley and thyme
  
• Zest of 1 lemon
  
• 1/2 cup (40 g) grated parmesan
  
• 3 large red and 3 large yellow capsicums

Parsley & Onion Salad

• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
  
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
  
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil (I only used a drizzle)
  
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

• Drain mushrooms and chop. Reserve soaking liquid.
  
• Cook onion in olive oil in a large pan until softened.
  
• Add mushrooms and rice and stir until rice is coated in oil and translucent.
  
• Add wine and cook stirring.
  
• Add stock ladle by ladle stirring continuously until the stock has been incorporated.
  
• Add herbs, zest and parmesan. Set aside.
  
• Pre-heat oven to 190 C
  
• Remove the tops of the capsicums and remove the seeds and membranes. Rinse to make sure all seeds are gone and then pat dry.
  
• Fill capsicums with risotto, drizzle with some olive oil and bake for 15 minute or until softened slightly and filling is heated.
  
• For salad: Toss all ingredients and season with pepper.
  

April 2010 - Stuffed Mushrooms with Gorgonzola Dressing

With a recipe like Valli Little's Baked Caramel Cheesecake with Toffee Shards on the front cover of issue #92 how could you possibly go wrong. Unfortunately I sort of did, you see I didn't make Valli's cheesecake. I decided that I should make something for a weekend lunch from this issue and instead of choosing Poh's Char Kway Teow, Curtis Stone's Risoni, Roast Tomato & Capsicum Salad, Valli's Chorizo, Corn & Black Bean Salad with Tortillas or Jill Dupleix's Lentil Fritters with Labne I made Andy Bunn's Stuffed Mushroom with Gorgonzola Dressing.

Now to be fair, the actual stuffed mushroom was very good, I did leave out the anchovies though. The beans with it were a very nice with the mushroom and filled it out to be a bit more of a meal. It was just the dressing and, to be honest, I think that may have been my fault. I didn't have any sunflower oil to make the dressing out of so instead I used macadamia oil instead, which I always thought was a rather neutral oil. The dressing tasted terrible and I suspect that my oil may have been rancid. I would recommend the actual stuff mushroom but I don't really know about the dressing. Don't make it with macadamia nut oil if you do try it though...

Stuffed Mushrooms with Gorgonzola Dressing

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 c olive oil
  
• 1 onion, finely diced
  
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 8 anchovies, roughly chopped
• 3 c (210 g) fresh breadcrumbs
  
• 1 c (80 g) grated parmesan
  
• 2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
  
• 4 large flat mushrooms
• 250 g Roman (flat) beans, trimmed and steamed until just cooked
  

Gorgonzola Dressing

• 1 egg yolk
  
• 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
• 2 tsp hot English mustard
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  
• 100 ml sunflower oil
  
• 20 g gorgonzola piccante
  

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200 C.
  

For Dressing:

• Whiz egg yolk, garlic, mustard & vinegar in a food processor until combined.
  
• With the motor running add oil drop by drop at first, then in a steady stream until thick.
  
• Add gorgonzola and process until smooth. Set aside.
  

For Mushrooms:

• Heat butter and 1 tbsp oil in fry pan. Add onion, garlic and anchovies and cook, stirring occasionally until onion is soft and anchovies dissolve, about 8 minutes.
  
• Remove from heat and stir in breadcrumbs, parmesan and parsley and season with salt & pepper.
  
• Remove stalks from mushrooms and place on oiled baking tray.
  
• Top with breadcrumb mixture, drizzle with oil and bake 15 minute or until topping golden and mushroom soft.
  
• Divide beans between plates and top with a mushroom and drizzle with dressing.
  

April 2002 - Potatoes with Swiss Brown Mushrooms

On to another month of wonderful delicious magazines. I have to say that I am really enjoying doing this. There is just so much in each of them to read besides all the recipes that can be made. There have only been a couple that I have struggled to find something that I really wanted to make but even those ones I enjoyed reading the articles. It has also meant that I haven't needed to buy any other magazines for a while now, oh except for my other obsession Doctor Who magazine. :)

This issue contains one of the recipes that I have made the most over the years. It is Ainsley Harriott's One-pot Chunky Beef Bourguignonne. I have made the recipe for friends, for family and just for myself and it has been universally declared one of the best. Everyone that I have served it to has requested the recipe and gone on to make it themselves. It has a full bottle of red wine in it. I like to use a Cabernet Sauvignon and it must be a good one or the end product isn't as good. It is rich and glorious and very much a winter meal. It is not feeling much like winter at the moment so I am actually going to make something else from this issue. I am continuing on the idea of making something new and different. I have made the bourguignonne so many times that it wouldn't have been a challenge really.

One of the recipes that I considered making was Maggie Beer's Pickled Quinces. I love quinces. I remember one place that we lived when I was a kid had a couple of quince trees and Mum used to make quince jam and stewed quinces. They are a rather old fruit although they are starting to make a bit of a come back and they can be purchased in store for a very small window each year. When they are in store they are pretty expensive though. These pickles sound so good but unfortunately quinces are not in store presently so I can't make them yet.

There is a Stephanie Alexander feature in this issue. It was around the time of the release of her book Cooking & Travelling in South-West France. I have to admit that I haven't even looked at this book. I do like Stephanie Alexander's work but I do not have a lot of her books. I did recently buy her new book Kitchen Garden Companion and it is great some wonderful information on how to grow plants and then recipes to use the produce. The recipe that I decided to make from the feature was Potatoes with Swiss Brown Mushrooms. It is such an easy recipe but a very tasty one. It would make a nice side dish with a roast dinner. I served it as Stephanie suggested, with a nice salad.

Potatoes with Swiss Brown Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 2 - 3 large, flat Swiss Brown mushrooms
• 3 potatoes, peeled
• 1 large clove garlic
• 3 tbsp parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsp duck fat
  
• Sea salt
  
• Ground black pepper

Method:

• Remove stems from mushrooms but keep. Slice caps in to 1 cm thick slices.
  
• Slice potatoes into 5 mm thick slices.
  
• Chop up the mushroom stems, garlic and parsley together.
  
• In a large frypan heat the duck fat over a medium heat.
• Add potato slices to the pan and cook for 3 minutes turning regularly. Remove.
  
• Add mushroom slices to the pan and cook 2 minutes turning regularly.
  
• Return potatoes to the pan with the stems, garlic and parsley mix and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with a lid, leaving it ajar and turn the heat down as low as possible.
  
• Cook until potatoes a soft and nicely browned, approx 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  

March 2002 - Individual Beef Wellington

Well it has taken me a while to get started on the recipes for March. I have been wanting to get in and get everything done but the days just seem to fly by and I keep putting things off. I was even late going through all of the magazines for the month and picking out recipes. I did, however, borrow the scanner from work last weekend and scanned all the magazine covers for the month rather than having some rather dodgy photographs of them.

Hopefully after today my photography will improve a bit too as I finally got my new camera, the Panasonic Lumix FZ35. I decided to go with one of the super zoom cameras rather than a DSLR as there is so much more involved in being a DSLR owner, like all the lenses, flashes etc that go with it. After a month of stuffing around from the place that I bought it, it finally arrived today and after only using it to take about 20 pictures this evening I am already in love with it. I cannot wait to get started photographing some food with it. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow.

I have to admit that I struggled to find something that I really wanted to make from this issue. I am not really sure why, initially I thought it was the mood I was in when looking through it but I looked through it a number of times. There is some wonderful looking food in it but nothing jumped out and grabbed me and screamed "make me, make me now". The scones with jam and cream on the cover look really nice but it is a recipe that involves rubbing in butter but since I have been converted to making them with cream and lemonade I will never make them any other way. When all you have to do is mix 3 cups of flour, 6 tsp baking powder, 1 cup of cream and 1 cup of lemonade and press out, cut out and bake for 15 - 20 minutes why would you bother rubbing in butter and all the mess that involves? Jill Dupleix's Crash Hot Potatoes are very good. I make them regularly and really this is all about going back and making different things.

There is a feature on the delicious staff's favourite Nigella recipes. The Anglicised Involtini sounds really nice but it seemed to be one that would be a bit difficult to cut back. I came very close to making Jill Dupleix's Hash Browns with Bacon Rolls, as it just sounds so good and the picture of it looks divine. However, in the end I decided to go with the very last recipe in the magazine as recipe by Ian Parmenter. Aussies might remember Ian Parmenter from that wonderful little show on the ABC called Consuming Passions. It was only a short show, before the news if I remember correctly, and he was a colourful character. He made interesting food and he made an good impression on me. I count him as on of the foodie influences on me.

The recipe is Individual Beef Wellington. I had never made Beef Wellington but I was quite interested, I mean meat and pastry in one meal. I decided that to make it properly I would have to have some really good meat. I am quite spoilt for choice where I live for butchers, there are quite a lot and most of them are very good. There is one however who is extra special (and not just because they used to purchase pigs from my family when we had a pig farm). Their meat is always wonderful. About 6 weeks ago the building where their shop was burnt down. It was one of the oldest buildings in our town and housed 6 business and 13 people in the flats upstairs. It was and continues to be a sad and sorry site.

The butcher shop was on the very corner and there has been a butcher in that shop for the past 60 or so years. The latest one having taken over the business a number of years ago now but he had worked there for the previous owner. A couple of weeks ago, they reopened their business in a new temporary location so I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to support them and get some great meat. I got two of the biggest and best looking pieces of eye fillet, 300g each. The recipe only asked for 150 g pieces so I cut the both in half and now I have some wonderful eye fillet in the freezer for use at a later date. The recipe also called for pate. I was hesitant to use this and in the end only used a tiny little bit as the smell was very off-putting and I was worried about ruining such a wonderful piece of meat. I did quite enjoy the meal but to be honest I think that the eye fillet didn't really need the flavourings and it would have been just as good (if not better) seasoned and pan-fried until medium rare. Oh, and I overcooked it, it was still nice and tender but not as good as if it had been medium rare.

Individual Beef Wellington

• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 4 generous pieces of beef fillet (about 150 g each)
  
• 2 tbsp brandy
  
• 150 g mushrooms, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped spring onions
• 4 sheets puff pastry
• 4 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
• 50 g chicken liver pate
• 1 egg yolk, beaten

Method

• Sear fillets on all sides using half the oil. Pour over brandy and ignite. Once extinguished set aside.
  
• Fry mushrooms and onion in remaining oil but do not allow to sweat.
• Pre-heat oven to 200 C.
  
• Sprinkle some breadcrumbs in the middle of the pastry sheets. Top with beef, pate and mushrooms.
  
• Fold pastry up and seal to enclose, trim and garnish with trimmings and brush with egg yolk.
  
• Bake on a tray for 20 - 25 minutes.

I served it with peas and steamed spaghetti squash.