Showing posts with label mushroom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mushroom. Show all posts

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Meatless Mondays - Asian Style Vegie 'Meatballs'

Meatless Mondays - Asian Style Vegie 'Meatballs' with Taro Avocado Sauce
Meatless Mondays - Asian Style Vegie 'Meatballs' with Taro Avocado Sauce

Lance isn't the easiest person to convince to eat vegetarian. Even though unless it's smoked, roasted and/or pulled...generally the meat portion of the meal isn't even his favourite part. Somehow the IDEA of vegetarian can be offensive. So I've learnt to serve vegetarian meals without bothering to mention the lack of meat. I don't actively seek to eat vegetarian, as I'm a fairly committed omnivore myself, but given I was recently made redundant, I figure a cheaper dish by omitting meat here and there is probably not a bad idea. On top of that, I'd forgotten to get any meat out to defrost! That's my most frequent reason for vegetarianism - lack of planning!

These veggie meatballs are one of those dishes that Lance really loves, even though he'll complain if I'm telling him we're having a vegetarian night. I don't know if it's the meatiness of the mushrooms, or maybe it's the format of the "meatballs" - but this is a good dish to serve those meat-addicts in your life. The ginger and chili add a nice flavour kick to the mushrooms and lentils - which tend to need a helping hand in terms of flavour. Just don't call them "rissoles" or that opens up a whole new kettle of prejudices!

I kept a vague Asian theme to the sauce by pureeing some taro with coconut milk, avocado and ponzu sauce to make a creamy counterbalance to the spicy meatballs. If you can't find ponzu sauce, a tablespoon (or two) of the mushroom oyster sauce also works well. As does replacing half a cup of coconut milk with stock. In fact, you can add an extra cup or two of stock and turn the sauce into a soup!

You can also make these as a large pattie and turn them into veggie burgers. Also, any leftover balls make excellent tacos!
Meatless Mondays - Asian Style Vegie 'Meatballs' with Taro Avocado Sauce
Meatless Mondays - Asian Style Vegie 'Meatballs' with Taro Avocado Sauce
Meatless Mondays - Asian Style Vegie 'Meatballs' with Taro Avocado Sauce
Meatless Mondays - Asian Style Vegie 'Meatballs' with Taro Avocado Sauce
Meatless Mondays - Asian Style Vegie 'Meatballs' with Taro Avocado Sauce


Asian Vegie Meatballs

1 tin lentils, rinsed and drained
4 tbsps plus 1tbsps olive oil
1 red onion, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
1 red capsicum, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 bunches coriander, roots/stems diced separately to leaves
1 thumb size piece ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 green chili, minced
1 red chili, half minced, half sliced into rings for garnish
4 tbsp mushroom oyster sauce (if you're not vegetarian, normal oyster sauce is fine)
250g Mushrooms, wiped clean and diced
2 eggs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped cashews



Heat 4 tbsps olive oil in a large pan to a medium heat and add the onions, carrots, capsicum, garlic, ginger and chilis. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring here and there until the vegetables soften. Add the mushrooms and coriander stems cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the mushrooms release their liquid and it is then reabsorbed. Stir through the oyster sauce and cook for 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and allow to come to room temperature.

When cooled, add the lentils to the vegetable mixture, then form a well in the centre of the bowl. Add the eggs, parmesan, breadcrumbs, cashews and coriander leaves and mix by hand until everything is evenly distributed. Place in the fridge for half an hour.


Preheat the oven to 175C


Rub the remaining olive oil over the base and walls of a baking dish. Leave the olive oil on your hands to help you with the rolling. Roll the now cold mixture into balls about the size of golf balls, or a little larger. Pack firmly so they hold their shape. Place the balls into the baking tray, packing so they're almost touching.


Pop in the oven for 30 minutes, or until firm and a bit crispy on top. Leave in the tray for 5 minutes to settle before removing, so they are less likely to fall apart. Serve with Taro Avocado sauce and rice.

Meatless Mondays - Asian Style Vegie 'Meatballs' with Taro Avocado Sauce



Taro Avocado Sauce


1 baby taro root (around the size of a fist)
2 avocados
4 tbsp ponzu sauce
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
water for thinning if required
quarter cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped
salt + pepper

Wash the taro root, then steam for 45 minutes, or until fork tender. Allow to cool enough to touch, then peel.Cut into chunks.

Add the taro, coconut milk and avocado to your blender, and mix until smooth. Add water if required to get to your desired consistency. Add the ponzu sauce and coriander leaves, blend to mix. Taste for seasoning.

If it's cooled too much, pour into a little saucepan and gently reheat when ready to serve.

(Can also be thinned with stock to make a Taro Avocado Soup!)

Meatless Mondays - Asian Style Vegie 'Meatballs' with Taro Avocado Sauce
Meatless Mondays - Asian Style Vegie 'Meatballs' with Taro Avocado Sauce

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise

Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise

Most weekends, I try to do something a little different for breakfast. Oats is a work day food, so the weekend needs to be a bit more playful! That'll mean different things, depending on time, how much I need to do grocery shopping, how much I'm feeling the night before...that sort of thing. I woke up on Saturday hungry - but not knowing what I feel like. Lance is generally unhelpful when you ask him what he wants for meals. "Whatever you feel like making", is a fairly common response. I was at a loss for ideas, so I looked in the fridge for inspiration.

5 egg yolks that needed using fairly soon. Half a packet of enoki mushrooms. Half a packet of tortillas. Bam! Inspired. I would whip up a Hollandaise sauce, adding orange from the few ripe ones recently fallen from our tree. I'd sautee up the mushrooms with a few fresh herbs. And I'd make tacos. For fun and presentation, I cut mini tortillas out of the larger sized ones before toasting a little of the stale out of them. Like this, they make a wonderful canape. Elegant and simple. But you can be lazy and have normal sized tacos if that's more your speed. Or you can make your own smaller sized ones to start with.

Either way, start to finish, this takes around 10 minutes to make, and is a bloody delicious way to start the day, if I do say so myself. (Lance said so too, if that sways you!)

And if you are serving this for brunch, a glass of bubbles to drink with it certainly wouldn't go astray!
Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise
Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise
Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise


Orange Hollandaise Sauce

5 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
zest from 1 orange
6 tablespoons softened butter

Set up a double-boiler with a small saucepan with a few inches of water, and a glass bowl for the top that won't touch the water. Bring the water to a simmer while you whisk together the egg yolks until lightened in colour and thickened, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the salt, Tabasco sauce, orange zest and orange juice until well combined.

Place the glass bowl over the simmering water and whisk. The eggs will lighten and thicken to a custard like consistency. One tablespoon at a time, whisk in the butter, allowing it to fully incorporate before adding the next one.

Take off the heat, taste for seasoning - adding extra salt or Tabasco as required. Cover and set aside.
Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise


Enoki Mushroom Tacos

1/2 packet of Enoki mushrooms
small handful snow pea shoots
small handful of basil leaves
bunch of coriander, finely choppeed
1 spring onion, finely sliced
to serve
5 tortillas
Orange Hollandaise Sauce
smoked paprika for dusting

Heat a non-stick frypan to medium heat. Chop the bottom off of the enoki mushrooms and discard. Separate the clumps a little. If making mini-tacos, cut the enoki in half. Add the mushrooms and spring onion. Stir frequently witha wooden spoon, breaking the mushrooms apart more as you go.

When the mushrooms are wilted and browning slightly, add the basil leaves, coriander and snow pea shoots. Stir well to combine and take off the heat.

Serve the mushroom mix on a tortilla with a generous dollop of orange hollandaise sauce and dust with smoked paprika.
Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise
Fancy Brunch Canapes - Enoki Tacos with Orange Hollandaise

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole

Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole

Sunday’s whilst generally recovery days after the frivolities that Saturday nights inevitably bring, they’re also prep days for me. With a little bit of time and effort, my husband’s lunches are ready for the whole week and it’s one less thing to worry about day-to-day. He’s graduated from his quinoa biscuits to baked bean casserole. Baked bean casserole became a common dinner dish when we were saving to go on a 2 month trip to the US around 6 years ago. Back then, the only late night shopping was Thursdays, so we’d spend our night grocery shopping and fix a baked bean casserole in 10-15 minutes when we got home, then cook it in the microwave while we unpacked the bags. It was a super cheap, but highly nutritious meal and really tasty. It evolves constantly, depending on what we have in the house. Leftover roast veges are common elements, as is any type of leftover meat. The grain can be changed out too. Quinoa or buckwheat can take place of the rice. Or you can leave that out altogether if you aren’t feeling it.

The recipe below is one of the most common combinations when making it from scratch for lunches. I divide this up into 5x 500mL plastic containers that Lance then cooks in the microwave at work for around 4 minutes on high and eats with corn thins. When I take one to work, I usually have it with some rye toast.


Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole
Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole
Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole
Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole
Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole
Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole
Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole


Baked Bean Casserole

1 425g tin baked beans
1 400g tin chick peas, rinsed
2/3 cup passata
1 heaped tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp mixed Italian herbs
1 cup capsicum, finely diced
1 cup mushrooms, finely diced
1 cup zucchini, finely diced
1 cup roma tomato, finely diced
1 cooked sausage, finely diced
1 large red onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 cup brown rice, rinsed
2 ¼ cups water

Put the brown rice and water in a large glass bowl and microwave on high for 24 minutes. Set aside to cool

Heat the olive oil in a frypan to medium heat and add the onion and salt. Fry for 5-10 minutes until translucent and then add the balsamic and garlic. Cook for a further 5 minutes until caramelized and then take off the heat and allow to cool.

Dice all the vegetables. You want them as small as the baked beans, or smaller. Dice the cooked sausage as small as this as well. Stir together all of the vegetables, the cooled onion mixture, sausages, baked beans and chick peas. Mix the paprika, herbs and passata together, then mix into the rest of the mixture. Finally add the cooled rice and mix very thoroughly. You want it to be completely mixed up.

Divide the casserole into individual containers, then store in the fridge ready for lunch throughout the week.

When ready to serve, microwave for 4 minutes to heat the casserole and cook the vegetables. Serve with corn thins, corn chips or hot toast
Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole
Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole
Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole
Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole
Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole
Sunday Prep = Work Lunches - Baked Bean Casserole

Saturday, June 21, 2014

White Vegetables - Mushroom, White Bean and Cauliflower soup


Things got a bit involved on this site. The dishes became very involved and fancy. But things got very busy at work, and out of work. And it got really cold at night times quite suddenly. So now there is flannelette sheets on the bed and there is this soup. Creamy and comforting and incredibly simple to make. I got home from the gym, 10 minutes of prep cooking. Leave it to simmer while I showered, came back and blended it up and voila. Perfect soup for sitting on the couch snuggled under my quilt.

This is naturally vegan and gluten free. It’s full of protein and things that are good for you. I added diced fried chorizo bits on top of mine because it is amazingly delicious but somewhat takes away from the vegan status. Bacon bits would be equally delicious. But the chopped toasted almonds are pretty amazing if you want to keep it vegan/vegetarian.


Mushroom, White Bean and Cauliflower Soup
Olive oil
1 – 2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper
500g mushrooms of choice, thinly sliced
1 brown onion, diced
1 small head of cauliflower, broken roughly into large florets.
1 litre vegetable stock
1 litre water
1 cup of almond meal
Tin white beans, rinsed

Garnish
Diced, fried salami
Toasted almonds
Dried oregano
More black pepper

Drizzle a good glug of olive oil into your soup pot and heat to medium. Add the garlic, and cook 1-2 minutes until softened and fragrant. Thinly slice the mushrooms and add to the pot, and a good few cracks of pepper and fat pinch of sea salt. Stir well to mix through the garlicky oil across all the mushroom slices. Fry until the mushrooms release their liquid, then it absorbs/evaporates back again. Remove from the pot and set aside.

Add a tablespoon more olive oil to the pot and add the onion, cook 5 minutes until translucent but not browned. Add the stock, water and cauliflower. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer 15 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender. Add the white beans.

Remove from heat, then puree with a stick blender. Add the almond meal and blend it in, too.

Add mushrooms back to pot, place back over low heat. Cook 2 minutes so that the mushrooms heat up again. Check for seasoning.

Serve, garnished with oregano flakes, plenty of black pepper and toasted almond bits.

If you don’t mind breaking the vegan-ness of this dish, serve with fried diced salami pieces or bacon bits

Monday, May 5, 2014

Easy Meals - Roast Mushroom & Mangoes


Having bucketfuls of fresh mangoes has made me use them in ways I wouldn’t ordinarily, if I had to pay for them individually. This was one of those ways that is a bit different, but delicious. I bought a bag of mushrooms from The Nanna Shop with the intention of making a mushroom sauce for some roast lamb. I kept the same basic principle that I was going to – roast with some rosemary and garlic, but added chilli and mangoes for a fresher kick.
 The result was delicious. It lightened up the meal on a day when it was cool enough to serve the roast lamb with salad instead of vegetables. I had the leftovers on toast the next morning, which was also delicious. But it’s as simple as simple could be. Just chuck everything in a roasting pan, throw it in the oven and grab it out in half an hour. To make it even easier, I processed all the veges to save on chopping. Give it a go while there's still the last mangoes of summer floating around the shops.




Roast Mushroom & Mangoes

2 mangoes
500g mushrooms
2 shallots
4 garlic cloves
1 tbsp minced rosemary
2 tbsp butter
¼ cup lamb stock
2 red chillis

Generous black pepper grinding
Big handfuls parsley for serving.


Preheat the oven to 180C
 

Peel and de-seed the mango. Cut into cubes. Peel the shallots and garlic cloves, and put them into the processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Remove garlic and shallot and set aside. Add the mushrooms in batches and pulse until roughly chopped. Finely slice the chillis, mince the rosemary.


Put the mushrooms in a big roasting pan, stir through the mangoes, shallots, cloves, rosemary, lamb stock and chillis. Place the butter on top, seal with foil and place in the oven. 

After 20 minutes, take the foil off, stir, then roast for a further 10 minutes. Stir through chopped parsley.
 

Serve as a sauce with roast meat, or just some crusty fresh bread