Mushrooms

My dearest Gary once said that I am at my most relaxed when I am outdoors.

A month or two back I was on a mission, that mission to find somewhere where I could forage for pine mushrooms. This meant time out with a special friend, who, I must say, I’ve had a few adventures with. Maggie is loads of fun and loves a bit of adventure, so a date and time was set.

On the day, I met Maggie at hers, transferred my baskets to her truck and we headed off, chatting, laughing, catching up and looking for a suitable place to forage. Many plantations were off limits due to logging, but when we had almost given up, the last one on the list was logging free. She parked the truck, we gathered our tools (baskets and knives, and entered the edge of the plantation. As we collected our bounty of mushrooms and pine cones we both found ourselves becoming more and more relaxed in our surrounds, wandering off in different directions, and coming together again, this led us to chatting about forest bathing and the benefits afforded by such a simple pastime.

I was a little surprised to hear that Maggie had never foraged for mushrooms and wasn’t game to try the ones that I had collected. But that was Ok, I brought them all home and cooked, pickled and dehydrated them, Mushroom Bourguinon anyone?

Continue reading →

Mushroom Bourguignon

Prep Time

45 mins

Cook Time

1 hr

Who needs meat! This dish is a fabulous way to showcase beautiful mushrooms, and is perfect made using pine mushrooms, slippery jacks, etc. when available.

Category: Main

Style: French, Vegetarian

Keyword: mushrooms, Vegan Option

Quantity: 6 serves

Author: sbaskitchen

Ingredients

400 ml mushroom stock (including the liqueur from rehydrating the porcini)
2 sprigs rosemary
2 sprigs thyme
15 g 1/2oz dried porcini or shitake mushrooms
1 tbsp 20g butter
150 g 5oz shallots, peeled, and if large, halved
2 garlic cloves crushed
4 carrots thickly sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 tsp potato flour
200 ml red wine
850 g mixed mushrooms

Instructions

Heat the oven to 170C (fan).
Bring the stock to boil and add the porcini mushrooms.
Remove from the heat and let the ingredients infuse for 30 mins while you prepare the remainder of the ingredients for the dish.
Drain the porcini mushrooms, and reserve the liquid. Chop the mushrooms and set aside.
Strain the liquid to remove any grit left behind by the mushrooms. Add mushroom stock to make up to 400ml.
Place a large pan over low heat, add the oil, shallots and garlic, and cook until they start to colour and soften (approx. 10 minutes).
Add the carrots, tomato paste, and flour, stir to combine and cook for 1 minute.
Slowly add the wine and stock, mixing well.
Increase heat and continue stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens.
Add the fresh mushrooms along with the rehydrated porcini mushrooms and stir to combine, bring back to the boil, cover with a lid and transfer the pot to the preheated oven.
Cook for 1 hr.
Scatter with fresh parsley and serve with mashed potatoes and steamed green greens.