Tag: Cooking with fresh herbs

HERB-STUFFED MUSHROOMS: A CULINARY EXPERIMENT

In the realm of cooking, sometimes with a little spontaneity, the simplest dishes surprise us the most and are the most rewarding. These Herb-Stuffed Mushrooms, for instance are stuffed with just a handful of fresh herbs and a bit of kitchen intuition. Here’s the simple recipe that may encourage you to experiment with different herbs.

The stems of the mushroom are dense and meaty and when blended with the herbs thicken the stuffing.

Nuts, cheese or a bit of bread to the blend will also stiffen the stuffing.

In this mixture I added mint and a little grated lemon peel to add a fresh taste. I trusted my culinary judgement and  some bread crumbs on top of the stuffing to add some crunch and texture.

Once baked, these Herb-Stuffed Mushrooms had an irresistible aroma and a nice crunch from the breadcrumbs.

Whether served hot or at room temperature, they make for a delightful appetizer or a side dish that complements any meal.

In Italian, herbs are called erbe aromatiche. These mushrooms would be more appealing if they were described as: Funghi gratinati al forno, con erbe aromatiche.

Ingredients:

  • Large mushrooms, with a good cavity for stuffing and intact stems
  • Fresh herbs: thyme, marjoram, parsley, mint (adjust according to taste)
  • Grated lemon peel
  • 1 large clove of garlic, peeled
  • Extra virgin olive oil (sufficient for blending)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Breadcrumbs made from good quality, day-old bread, blended with a little extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

Clean the mushrooms by wiping them with a damp cloth. Carefully remove the stems, ensuring the caps remain intact.

Prepare the Herb Blend:

In a blender, combine the herbs (thyme, marjoram, parsley), mushroom stems (cut into small pieces), peeled garlic clove, a pinch of salt, ground pepper, and a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil. Blend until the mixture reaches a puree-like consistency.

Stuff and Bake:

Preheat the oven to 170-180°C (340-360°F).

Place the cleaned mushroom caps in a baking dish lightly greased with extra virgin olive oil.

Spoon the herb mixture evenly into each mushroom cap, filling them generously.

In a separate bowl, mix breadcrumbs with a little extra virgin olive oil until coated. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over each stuffed mushroom.

Bake and Serve:

Place the baking dish in the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender and the breadcrumbs turn golden brown.

More Ideas:

Cooking, for me is about being creative and trusting my culinary instincts.

Experiment with different herb combinations or add a few nuts or a little cheese to suit your taste preferences. Here are a few ideas:

Use rosemary, sage, parsley as the herbs for the stuffing. If I wanted to add nuts, I would select almonds or walnuts. I am unlikely to add cheese here, as the mixture would overpower the taste of the cheese.

Oregano is a strong tasting herb and I might pair it with thyme and a bit of parsley to tame the aromas. I would probably add some anchovies because these will complement the strong flavours, no nuts, but a little grated pecorino would be perfect.

When using basil or soft spinach as the main ingredients for a stuffing, I would select pine nuts or pistachio. These are not strong tasting nuts and would not be overpowering. If I wanted to add cheese I would add Parmigiano or fresh ricotta. Both are mild cheeses. I would also add a bit of nutmeg.

 I recently blended leftover parsley, fresh coriander, and watercress stems (left over from the makings of a salad), which turned out excellent. However, if you’re hosting Italians, be mindful that coriander isn’t commonly favored in Italian cuisine. Nevertheless, there are also many non-Italian friends who aren’t fond of coriander. If you consider adding nuts, raw peanuts would complement the Asian flavors well.

Grated lemon peel added to stuffings is excellent.

STUFFED BAKED MUSHROOMS with Nepitella

STUFFED MUSHROOMS with pine nuts and fresh breadcrumbs – Funghi ripieni

 

Staples in my fridge – olives, capers, anchovies and nuts

In my fridge you are likely to always find green and black olives, anchovies, capers and nuts, especially almonds, pine nuts, pistachio, hazelnuts and walnuts.  I consider these as staples and frequently add these ingredients, common in Italian cooking, to much of my cuisine.

In my freezer you will always find jars of stock and pulses of some kind, usually chickpeas, borlotti, cannellini or even black-eyed beans. I say “even” because they are not considered a common bean in Italian cuisine.  I do not bother storing frozen lentils  because they cook so quickly and don’t need  soaking.

I have not mentioned how important fresh herbs, spices and extra virgin olive oil are in my cooking – but they are.

What  you will also find  in my fridge are some jars of homemade  pastes  – always harissa and maybe a couple of jars of other pastes  that contain a combination of three or more of these ingredients: olives, anchovies, various fresh herbs, capers or nuts.

For most of this year, my partner has been doing the shopping. Perhaps he enjoys having this time on his own and to chat with his favourite stallholders at the Queen Victoria Market.

Someone once asked me if I trusted him with the shopping.  I do, but sometimes he buys too much….  last week it was too much squid, this week he came home with two large freshwater trouts.

There is no inviting friends around! We are in lockdown in Melbourne.

We eat a lot of vegetables and I can easily turn excess vegetables into soup or pickles. Meat I can freeze, but I do not  like to freeze fish, so we had trout for two nights in a row.

The first night I simply fried  the trout in butter and a substantial amount of  fresh sage. Good, but ordinary.

In my fridge I had a jar of a combination of ground toasted walnuts, hazelnuts, nutmeg, black pepper and Za’atar.

You could say it was a version of dukkah that I had used for something else and I sprinkled some of this on the trout once  the trout was filleted at the table.

The second night I cooked the trout on a bed of  sautéed shaved fennel and parsley and  at the very end of cooking I added some green olive paste. I had this in the fridge. The sauce was plentiful and went beautifully with the braised lentils and endives.

And once again I was able to add a different taste to something that was pretty good in the first place but was made even better.

I do not measure ingredients when I am making a paste, but for the sake of the recipe, I have made an estimation of  the ingredients.

My combinations of ingredients vary, but for this particular green olive paste I used:

200g of pitted green olives,
100g capers, either drained if in brine or soaked and rinsed a number of times if using the salted capers,
100g of toasted almonds,
4 anchovies,
1 garlic clove,
grated orange peel from one orange,
1 cup of extra virgin olive oil
½ cup of chopped parsley
juice from half a lemon.

Making pastes is dead simple. Blend all of the ingredients together except for the olive oil that you can add at the very end….slowly… until you have a paste to your liking. You can make it as smooth as you wish; I prefer some crunch.

Place in a clean glass jar, top with some more extra virgin olive oil and keep it in your fridge.

This is the first time that I have taken a photo of inside my fridge, but you can see what I mean!