Hero Veg: Mushrooms

Hero Vegetables / Pantry/Crisper Essentials

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Mushrooms have been gathered and eaten since time immemorial. While mushrooms have been cultivated in China since ancient times as both food and medicine, Europeans did not know how to cultivate them until making a chance discovery. In about 1650 French farmers noticed that mushrooms grew in compost which had been watered with water in which mushrooms had been washed. The earliest scientific description of the commercial cultivation of mushrooms was made by French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in 1707. From France, cultivation of mushrooms spread around the world.

mushroomsCultivated mushrooms were originally light brown until 1925 when a white mushroom was discovered growing among a bed of brown ones in Pennsylvania, USA. Most commercial mushrooms are descendants of this chance natural mutation. Several other varieties are also commercially available such as Portobello, Swiss Brown, Shiitake and Oyster. The nutritional benefits of mushrooms vary between varieties, but most contain antioxidants and vitamins B, C and D and traces of protein.

Tasty, easy to cook and readily available, mushrooms are a feature of every cuisine and can be eaten raw, fried, roasted and braised. They feature in salads, stir fries, soups, stews and sauces.

Such a versatile vegetable is most useful to have on hand at all times, so is listed as one of the Crisper Essentials or just use ‘Search’ to find many other recipes using mushrooms.

Unless otherwise indicated, the following recipes are for common white mushrooms, but can be applied to other commercial mushrooms.

Just a word of WARNING: While foraging for mushrooms might be fun, it can be very dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. Even if you know mushrooms from toadstools in your own area, in another area or country, fungi that look like a common mushroom back home might actually be poisonous.

 

Recipes:

Roast Mushrooms

Cheesy Mushrooms on Toast

Curried Mushrooms, Peas and Potato

Sautéed Mushrooms, Spinach and Potato

Mushroom and Potato Frittata

Mushroom Risotto

Pasta with Mushroom Bolognaise

Creamy Mushroom and Spinach Pasta

Mushroom Stroganoff with Pasta

Cream of Mushroom Soup

 

Roast Mushrooms

  • 2 medium or 1 large flat or Portobello mushrooms
  • 2 tbsp. diced bacon
  • Garlic granules, pepper and parsley
  • ¼ cup breadcrumbs
  • 1 tbsp. shredded Parmesan cheese
  • Olive or canola oil

 

  1. Remove stalk from mushrooms and peel caps if necessary
  2. In each cap place diced bacon with spices
  3. Mix breadcrumbs with parsley and Parmesan cheese and dampen with a little oil
  4. Press mixture into mushroom caps
  5. Bake in a moderate (175°C) toaster oven for 20 minutes

Variation: Trim and chop mushroom stems and substitute for the diced bacon

Tip: to make breadcrumbs, break one half of a toasted slice of wholegrain bread into small pieces, then process in a bullet blender to break the pieces down into crumbs.

 

Cheesy Mushrooms on Toast

  • 4–6 mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 tbsp. butter or margarine
  • ¼ cup shredded mozzarella
  • 1 tbsp. shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1–2 slices wholegrain bread, toasted
  • Pepper, garlic granules, dried onion and parsley

 

  1. In a small saucepan or frying pan, melt butter and sauté mushrooms with spices until cooked through
  2. Place toast on an ovenproof plate and top with mushrooms
  3. Top mushrooms with shredded cheeses
  4. Bake in a hot (200°) toaster oven or grill for 3–5 minutes until cheese melts

Variation: add 2–3 halved cherry tomatoes at Step 2

 

Curried Mushrooms, Peas and Potato

  • 2–3 mushrooms, halved or quartered if large
  • ½ cup frozen peas
  • 1 small potato, peeled and cubed
  • 1 tbsp. chopped onion
  • 2 tsp. tomato paste
  • Mild curry powder, garlic and chilli
  • Canola oil

 

  1. Sauté onion with garlic, curry powder and chilli
  2. Add peas and potato and sauté until heated through
  3. Add ½ cup water and simmer for 10 minutes
  4. Add mushrooms and another ¼ cup water and tomato paste
  5. Simmer uncovered for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until water is reduced

Variations:

  • substitute a 125gm can chickpeas, drained, for the frozen peas
  • substitute ½ cup canned potatoes, for the potato and add at Step 4

 

Sautéed Mushrooms, Spinach and Potato

  • 4–6 mushrooms, quartered
  • 1 small/medium potato
  • ½ cup spinach leaves
  • 1 tbsp. chopped onion
  • Garlic
  • Pepper, paprika, parsley and oregano (or rosemary)
  • Shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)
  • Olive oil

 

  1. Peel (optional) and cube potato
  2. Boil or steam for 10 minutes or until potato is cooked but still firm, drain and set aside
  3. In a small saucepan sauté onion with garlic, pepper and paprika
  4. Add potato and sauté to heat through
  5. Add mushrooms with herbs and sauté until browned
  6. Stir through spinach until wilted
  7. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese (optional)

 

Mushroom and Potato Frittata

  • 3–5 mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 small/medium potato, peeled and sliced
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp. chopped onion
  • Pepper and parsley
  • 1 tbsp. low-fat milk (optional)
  • 1 tbsp. shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)
  • Butter or margarine

 

  1. Boil or steam potatoes until tender (approx. 10-15 minutes)
  2. In a frying pan, sauté onions in melted butter with pepper
  3. Add mushrooms and sauté until well-browned
  4. Add potato and stir through
  5. Beat together the egg, Parmesan cheese (optional), parsley and 1 tbsp. water
  6. Pour egg into frying pan
  7. Lift edges with a spatula and allow uncooked egg to flow underneath
  8. When the bottom is cooked, place the frying pan under a hot griller until the top browns

 

Mushroom Risotto

  • 4–6 mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 tbsp. chopped onion
  • 2 tbsp. diced bacon (optional)
  • ½ tsp. chicken stock powder
  • ¼ cup rice
  • Garlic, pepper and parsley
  • Olive oil
  • Shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)

 

  1. In a small saucepan sauté onion with garlic and pepper
  2. Add diced bacon and sauté (optional)
  3. Add mushrooms and sauté
  4. Add rice and stir until translucent
  5. Add ¾ cup water with stock powder and parsley
  6. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes
  7. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese (optional)

Variation: place a portion of frozen spinach on the rice at Step 6 and stir in before Step 7

 

Pasta with Mushroom Bolognaise

  • 3–5 mushrooms, chopped
  • ½ cup pasta
  • ½ cup diced tomatoes
  • 1 tsp. tomato paste
  • 1 tsp. soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp. chopped onion
  • Garlic, chilli or paprika, basil and pepper
  • Shredded Parmesan cheese
  • Olive oil

 

  1. Liquidise diced tomatoes in the small cup of a bullet blender with tomato paste
  2. In a small saucepan sauté onions with garlic and spices
  3. Add chopped mushrooms and sauté to heat through
  4. Add tomatoes with basil and soy sauce and heat through
  5. Add ½ cup water, bring to the boil and stir in pasta
  6. Set to simmer, stirring often and adding more water if required for 12 – 15 minutes or until pasta is cooked
  7. Stir in a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese

 

Creamy Mushroom and Spinach Pasta

  • ½ cup pasta
  • 3–5 mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 cup spinach leaves, chopped
  • ½ cup low-fat milk
  • Garlic granules, dried onion, pepper and parsley
  • Shredded Parmesan cheese
  • Butter or margarine

 

  1. In a small saucepan melt butter with garlic, onion and pepper
  2. Add mushrooms and sauté
  3. Add ¼ cup water and milk and bring to the boil
  4. Add pasta with parsley
  5. Set to simmer, stirring often and adding more water if required for 10 minutes
  6. Stir in spinach
  7. Continue simmering until pasta is cooked (12–15 minutes in all)
  8. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese

Variation: 1–2 thawed portions of frozen spinach can be substituted for the fresh spinach

 

Mushroom Stroganoff with Pasta

  • 3–5 mushrooms, sliced
  • ½ cup pasta
  • 1 tbsp. chopped onion
  • Paprika or chilli and garlic
  • Pepper and parsley
  • 1 tsp. soy sauce
  • 2 tsp. tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp. natural yoghurt
  • Olive oil

 

  1. In a small saucepan, sauté onions with garlic and paprika
  2. Add mushrooms with pepper and sauté
  3. Add ¾ cup boiling water with tomato paste, soy sauce and parsley
  4. Bring to the boil and stir in pasta
  5. Set to simmer, stirring often and adding more water if required for 12 – 15 minutes or until pasta is cooked
  6. Remove from heat and stir in yoghurt

 

Cream of Mushroom Soup

  • 7–8 mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 tbsp. chopped onion
  • ½ cup low-fat milk
  • 2 tsp. cornflour
  • 1 tsp. chicken stock powder
  • 1 tsp. soy sauce
  • Garlic, pepper and chives
  • Butter or margarine
  • 1 tbsp. natural yoghurt (optional)

 

  1. In a small saucepan sauté onions in butter with garlic and pepper
  2. Add mushrooms and sauté
  3. Add chicken stock powder, soy sauce and chives with ¾ cup water
  4. Simmer mushrooms until tender (approx. 10–15 minutes)
  5. Allow to cool, place in large cup of bullet blender and liquidise thoroughly
  6. Return to saucepan
  7. Add milk and cornflour to bullet blender cup and liquidise thoroughly
  8. Stir into soup and slowly bring to boil
  9. Simmer, stirring constantly, until soup thickens
  10. Remove from heat and stir in yoghurt (optional)
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