Restaurant Guide

A real winter warmer

01/11/2007

As the clocks have already just slunk back by an hour it’s time to take heart that the winter evenings can deliver much more than a chill – think hearty stews, soups and, for Bonfire Night – mushrooms!

While game and sausages are both very firmly back on the menu, maybe it’s time to consider the humble mushroom, and the magic it can bring to our tables at this time of year.

And to help you on your way there’s a handy new website, www.mushroom-uk.com, that’s crammed with some delicious recipes.

The Mushroom Bureau has also just launched a new campaign, dubbed ‘Mushroom Mondays’ to coax us into eating simple, healthy mushroom based meals at the start of the week.

Among their celebrity backers is actress Tamzin Outhwaite, who loves mushrooms. She said: “I always have mushrooms on my shopping list.

“As well as being tasty and good for you, they’re so versatile. My recipe is perfect for a quick, delicious but healthy supper on a Monday night after a weekend of naughty food. Enjoy!”

Tamzin’s recipe is actually a mushroom strogonoff, and it does look tasty and quick – definitely one for the Taste recipe files.

Taste really likes this new website, particularly as several of the recipes are fast or can be prepared well in advance, freeing you up for letting off fireworks without the need to be stirring your cauldron while your guests make merry without you!

There’s still time to go out gathering mushrooms yourself, though seasoned mushroom pickers are very reluctant to reveal their favourite hunting spots. Taste reckons Buckleberry Common comes high on the list…

But nowadays it’s far easier to lay your hands on a really wide variety of mushrooms, just by popping into your nearest food shop – and not necessarily the supermarket. Check out Reading Farmers Market in Great Knollys Street this Saturday (November 3) for the mushroom man who sells huge flavourful flat mushrooms that make stupendous soups.

It’s no longer simply button mushrooms or open cupped field mushrooms. Oyster, shiitake, blewit or enoki star alongside the more familiar closed and open cups and chestnut mushrooms have become a real flavour saviour in the kitchen.

Mushrooms are also low in fat and salt while being high in water and fibre and stuffed full of a range of essential vitamins and minerals, most notably several B vitamins, folate and copper.

An 80g serving, equivalent to just 14 button mushrooms or four large closed cup mushrooms, is enough to count towards your five-a-day.

So to help you on the mushroom path here is a fab recipe for a bonfire night party:

Spicy Potato Wedges with Mushrooms:

450g potatoes
2tbs olive oil
1tsp paprika
2tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp ground turmeric
250g brown chestnut mushrooms, halved
125g baby corn
Two small leeks, thickly sliced
75g red Leicestershire Cheese

Cook the potatoes in boiling water for about a minute, drain well.

Heat the oil in a roasting tin and fry the spices for 30 seconds. Add the potatoes and stir well to coat.

Cook in the oven at 200C/400F/Gas 6 for (at least) 25 minutes, giving the pan a good stir halfway through.

Then stir in the mushrooms, corn and leeks and cook for a further 20 minutes.

Stir again and sprinkle the cheese over the top and cook for a further five minutes.

Eat while hot as the fireworks are popping!

There is also a lovely looking recipe for a very quick mushroom soup, so log on to www.mushroom-uk.com to find out more.

| Submit Comments