Wild Mushroom Pie

I love autumn. The days are still warm enough to be outside pottering around the garden, the nights are getting quite chilly and towards the end of April we start lighting our slow combustion fire. It's cosy and pleasant. And there are mushrooms. We had so much rain at the beginning of autumn the mushrooms have been popping up ever since. ***Word of warning here folks - if you don't know which mushrooms are safe to eat don't go collecting wild mushrooms*** Here where we live in the upper Blue Mountains saffron milkcaps abound for easy picking if you know where to look. Lucky for us a great deal can just be found in our own garden under the pine trees and azaleas where they flourish and pop up reliably every year. So I took to making a delcious wild mushroom pie.If you don't have wild mushrooms, just get a nice of full flavour mushrooms from the market or grocer.

Ingredients
shortcrust pastry for bottom (I used two sheets of store bought because I was lazy)
puff pastry for the top (1 sheet)
3 cups sliced wild mushrooms (or mixed bought doesn't matter!)
1 stick of celery diced
1 carrot diced
2 bay leaves
handful sage leaves, shredded
1 brown onion diced
1 clove garlic
1 small bunch fresh thyme, chopped
cracked black pepper to taste (few twists will do)
2 cups porcini mushroom stock (porcini mushrooms left to soak in hot water) OR beef style stock powder
1 tablespoon of plain flour
2 tablepoons butter or vegan margarine
vegetable oil for frying plus  butter (or vegan margarine)

Method
1. Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium heat and  add a tablespoon of butter. Add the onion, carrot, an celery, and saute until soft.Add the garlic, bay leaves,sage, thyme, and cracked pepper.
2. Add the sliced mushrooms, and a little more butter if needed, cooking gently on low heat until the mushrooms soften and wilt down.
3.In a saucepan melt two tablespoons of butter on low heat and whisk in the flour. Keep stirring for a few minutes to cook out the flour (or your pie will taste like batter!). Slowly begin adding in the hot stock, a tablespoon at a time and keep whisking to prevent lumps as it begins to thicken.
4. add this sauce to the mushroom mix and simmer on a ow heat for about 10- 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaves, and set aside to cool. (Tip: Making this the day ahead and leaving to be completely cool also enhances the flavour for the next day).
5. Grease a 20 cm pie tin and line with shortcrust pastry. Blind bake for 10 minutes and then remove.
Spread out the mushroom filling into the case, and top with puff pastry, pressing firmly all the way around (I do a little roll around the edge to ensure it stays put).
6. Bake in a 180C preheated oven for approximately 30minutes or until the top is puffy and lightly golden.
7. Let the pie rest for a few minutes when out of the oven before slicing and serving.

Roasted Tomatillo & Lime Salsa

5 years ago, we started growing tomatillos as I could not find them anywhere in Australia, other than a few tinned ones through a Mexican food importer. I could however, find the seeds. Loving Mexican food I really wanted to try this fruit that pops up so much in recipes from the US. Now, I can find jars of tomatillo salsa in the supermarket but once it was not so easy! They are a very pretty plant and I love watching the "lanterns" grow and in the autumn, finding the skeletonized husks - they're just so delicate and lovely.

That first year I coddled and coaxed and crooned to my tomatillo seeds, begging them to sprout and then grow into strong seedlings for me (Ok, so maybe I didn't croon to them but let's just imagine for a moment that I did). Liking a warm climate like tomatoes which are notoriously late to ripen in our mountains, I didn't hold out a lot of hope, but I perservered. They were covered and kept warm, and dutifully planted out after the last frost, and covered at night - all of those things a desperate gardener will do for a prized plant. Four out of the twelve plants survived and fruited, and although I liked them, I just thought they would be too laborious for the following year. They didn't like our cooler summers, and it seemed a lot of effort.

The following year, much to my surprise, volunteer seedlings popped up mid spring, and flourished. So much so that every year since the plants have been stronger and fruited earlier, acclimatising themselves to our alpine region and this year, completely invading the garden. Today I decided to pull them all out, the nights are getting quite cold already (that's the Blue Mountains for you, two seasons - winter, and February LOL). I ended up with a bit over 9 kilograms of them (that's about 20 pounds for those using Imperial measurements).  I picked a couple of kilos off some early plants but this is definitely a record! So roasted salsa it is! I've divided the recipe into a manageable and smaller batch for those that don't have  a ridiculous amount like me. I also omitted chilli powder this time as not everyone likes chilli as much as me.... but that's ok feel free to add siracha when you serve!

Ingredients

2 kg tomatillos

2 large onions

3 cloves garlic

1 lime

1 tsp ground cumin

pinch of salt

1 bunch coriander leaves (cilantro)

Method

Dehusk and thoroughly wash the tomatillos

Quarter onions, peel and halve garlic cloves, and cut and quarter the lime

In a baking dish, put in the tomatillos, onions, garlic, and lime, and roast on 180C n a preheated oven until tomatillos collapse.

Allow to cool and then pulse onion,garlic, and the flesh of the lime in a food processor.

Add tomatillos and pulse a couple of times to chop, not puree.

either in a slow cooker or a saucepan, put in the tomatillo mixture and add cumin, salt, and coriander leaves. 

Simmer until reduced and thick and chunky (I used my enormous slow cooker and left in on low overnight with the lid slightly askew for the vapour to get out).

Serve with your favourite chilli or use as a dip with corn chips, or slather on some hot warm soft tacos. 

Zucchini and Potato Latkes

The garden may not have my undivided attention, but it is still productive. Once again there seems to be an abundance of zucchinis all at once, which requires a little creativity in using them all up. I have a few ideas up my sleeve, which if successful I will of course post. I can't promise I will resume blogging with the same number of posts as I did once upon a time, but I will try and make the effort at least once a week. This may or may not mean I will have to resort to what the greyhounds ate for dinner but hopefully it will be entertaining if not informative LOL.

We have at present five dogs in the house four of which are ours and one foster kid. Sometimes there are six, which I think makes me a borderline dog collector but after having a second foster fail last year Mr Sprout has made it clear if any more become permanent residents quite possibly he won't be a permanent resident...oopsie. Mind you this is the same man that will complain about all the dogs in the house one moment and be caught snuggling up and kissing one five minutes later. So I had better be a bit more creative in the kitchen to make up for spending a bit too much time on the dogs. 

Today's effort is latkes. A few potatoes as well as tomatoes from the garden made this an easy summer appetiser to put together. And since the Beloved likes fried anything and it will probably wash down very nicely with a beer or two this will hopefully gain me back some wifely points. 

Makes approx 18 small latkes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup grated potato (the starchier the better, so choose a roasting potato)

2 cups grated zucchini

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup chopped spring onion

ground black pepper to taste

oil for frying

ACCOMPANIMENTS

fresh tomatoes

bunch of dill 

lemon juice

capers

mayonnaise or sour cream (vegan or regular)

METHOD

1. Drain grated potato and zucchini for about half an hour, pressing out excess fluid.

2. In a large bowl combine flour and water and whisk into a smooth batter.

3. Chop spring onions, and add to batter

4.Add zucchini and potato to batter mixture and pepper to taste. Combine thoroughly with a spoon.

5. Heat oil in large frying pan and drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the oil, flipping over when golden brown and crisp.

6. When cooked on both sides drain on paper towel.

7. Chop tomatoes ( I used a mixture of varieties which ended up about two cups) and toss with a tablespoon of lemon juice and a bunch of chopped dill.

8. Serve the latkes with the tomato mixture and your choice of mayonnaise, sour cream, and capers. 

Vegan Potato & Corn Chowder

It has been a loooooong time since I posted anything. Time, motivation, and creativity seem to get sucked into a black hole. Of course life also seems to do nothing but revolve around dogs these days too... but anyhoo... Being sick is a good motivator for finding the perfect comfort food that doesn't require too much effort.

This week I happened to get some kind of man flu. I say it is man flu simply because the way I felt Monday I am sure nobody else has ever felt in the universe and I was obviously dying. Somebody sapped all the energy out of me and gave it to someone else. Muscles ached in places I didn't think there were muscles. Stars exploded and new universes were formed inside my head. Of course, it did not help that I had completed the City to Surf on Sunday while knowing I was sick, but of course being in the early stages of man flu I obviously thought that I was invincible against my normal rational judgement and ran the 14km anyway. At one point while running I thought I was hallucinating when I saw two Wonder Women and four giant bottles of Pure Blond beer jogging past. Possibly aliens as well. Perhaps I had wandered onto the set of the next series of Dr Who? It has since been confirmed I was not hallucinating and these strange things were in fact there and I wasn't going mad. It was all worth it though as I was running to raise funds for Greyhound Rescue. 

However. Back to the problem of finding a bowl of nourishing comfort food.

Dairy in quantity does nothing good for me. However, there is something about creamy rich food that makes us feel better. This chowder does all of that without all the nasty dairy bits. It is rich and buttery tasting from the almonds, filling, and comforting. If you use crispy eggplant instead of the bacon style slices it is also gluten free!

Ingredients

4 medium waxy potatoes peeled and diced

1 1/2 cups corn kernels

1 cup diced onion

1 cup soaked almond kernels (husks removed) soaked in 1 litre of water

2 litres of vegetable or vegan chicken style stock powder

1 packet vegan bacon style slices (or crispy chargrilled eggplant works too!)

1 bunch of dill

1 bunch rocket or spinach

pepper to taste

lemon infused EVOO

oil for sauteing

Method

1.Soak the almonds for a couple of hours or simmer for 15 minutes in a litre of water and cool.

2. Put the almonds and their water into the blender and process until very smooth. Kinda like making almond milk but we are using the ground almonds as well.

3. In a  large saucepan saute the onions in a little vegetable oil until soft and then add the corn kernels, diced potato, almond mixture, and stock.

4. Simmer until the potatoes are soft (about 20 minutes). If it is getting too thick thin it out with a little more stock or water.

5. While the soup is simmering chop up the bacon style slices and fry until crispy. Or fry up some smoky chargrill eggplant pieces instead, and set aside.

6. Take the soup off the heat, stir in a drizzle of lemon oil and pepper to taste, and the fried slices or eggplant.  Toss in rocket and dill, and stir through to wilt.

7. Serve with extra dill or rocket on top, and crusty bread.

Champignon Bourguignon

It's been a little quiet on the blogging front of late. After I had some fun with some superhero snacks I've been busy just working and looking after Mr Sprout and the furkids. I've not been very inspired lately either, just tired I guess and in need of a rest. Sometimes it's all I can do to make dinner, let alone create for a blog. I have been trying to pick a recipe a week that I haven't tried before from my ever growing cookbook and magazine collection, but so often when we are short on time we stick to the speedy meals we know so well! But all that will shortly change...I'll be sharing more about that soon!

Being July the days are short and cold, the sun doesn't peek at us as often, and comfort food is so easy to reach for (and pack on some extra kgs!) Don't get me wrong, raw vegan is great and I eat a lot that way when its warmer. But there is nothing wrong in eating cooked food when it is cold, and also nothing wrong with a lashing of comfort food now and again, especially if your veggie intake is so high. If it's cold and the thought of a winter slaw makes you shudder, go and get the lentil soup. Or in this case, champignon bourguignon. I know what you're thinking, the beef version has high expectations, and doesn't it have mushrooms in it anyway, so just omit the poor dead cow, add some seitan? Yes and no.

I wanted this to be perfect comfort food, full of wintery flavours that warm you through. I looked at a few recipes for the omnivore version and played around with the flavourings. I didn't want this to be a mock meat version of the original, mock meat has a place and there are some truly great products out there, but I like to eat whole foods wherever we can (there are some mock meat products that I truly shudder when I read the ingredients list ). I don't think anything is missing with this version, truly.  I had the added joy of using homegrown shallots, garlic, and herbs; homegrown Russian kale, and made some dauphinoise with some  homegrown spuds to go with it. 

Guillame Brahimi has a recipe that involves pureed carrot to thicken and flavour the dish at the end so there is no need to add flour. I loved this idea because somehow using flour to thicken a red wine dish seems to make it go grey! It also means this dish is gluten free, even better! I decided to forgo the carrot, but some pureed beetroot would add some great flavour and truly make it a bourguignon colour! You can use tinned beetroot for ease, just drain and rinse well to get rid of as much sugar as you can. I also happened to have a little liquid smoke left from making BBQ sauce, so put this in too. It isn't readily available in Australia but I got some from the Country Brewer. They also do online ordering if you don't have one near you. Serve with some mashed potatoes and steamed kale, or be decadent and have with some vegan potatoes dauphinoise. 

Ingredients

300gr button mushrooms

300gr Swiss brown mushrooms

2 large carrots, chopped into chunks

handful of chopped celeriac leaf (you can just use some celery, I just had some celeriac in the fridge)

3-4 bay leaves

sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried)

3 shallots ( I mean the bulb kind, not the grassy spring onion some folks call shallots) chopped

1 large garlic clove, bruised and finely chopped

1 tsp Massel beef style stock powder (no MSG, gluten free that's why I use it)

400 ml red wine

100 ml water

1 large cooked pureed beetroot (about 3/4 cup)

few drops liquid smoke (not essential, but adds a certain something)

olive oil

chopped parsley to serve

Method

In a large oven proof saucepan, gently saute garlic and shallots until translucent. 

Add thyme, bay, carrots, mushrooms, and celeriac leaf, and saute for another five minutes or so.

Add wine, water, stock powder, and liquid smoke. Bring to the boil, and leave for five minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to "marinate" for a few hours. you could even leave overnight in the fridge and continue the next day.

Cover and put into a 180C oven, for approx 30 minutes.

Take out, uncover, and add the beetroot puree. 

Put back into the oven and leave uncovered for another 10 minutes. 

Serve with plenty of chopped parsley, cracked black pepper, and crusty bread. 

Superhero Snacks: Rainbow Whoop-Ass Pies

Who is next? What hero would eat these somewhat girly but totally scrumptious multi hued whoop-ass pies (that's whoopie pies to the rest of us)? Rainbow Sprinkle, the totally manly action movie star unicorn (who is obviously in touch with his feminine side). I imagine Mr. Sprinkle would power up on anything brightly coloured, I would love these guys in mini form on a skewer while playing Pack of Heroes of course, but Rainbow would skewer it on his horn and eat on the run, or mid kick, or...whatever. These aren't regular whoopie pies, they're whoop -ass pies!

Although I would normally colour with fruit I basically couldn't be bothered and used the totally bad for you food colour gel. But hey, if you're loading up on white flour and sugar you may as well go the whole way!

To make these I used a basic vanilla cupcake recipe, my weapon of choice is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  These got me 12 regular sized whoopie pie sides, but if you were going mini you could get double that. I took a 1/4 cup of plain batter and coloured each lot separately in a jug, which got me two of the same colour. A word of warning here. I used gel colouring which is much more vibrant and doesn't effect the batter like a liquid would, so you may have to experiment with the batter consistency if you can't find them. Once baked I allowed to cool and sandwiched it with whipped vegan cream cheese because I can't stand buttercream. You could also fill them with choc ganache if you wanted to.

And once again guys, if you want to support this totally fun project please head over here!

Tempura Salt & Pepper Watermelon

I haven't been very inspired of late, feeling pretty worn out and looking forward to a holiday next month and a bit of a break. Sometimes you just get in a rut of cooking the same old quick dinners. But, I did have a flash of inspiration today and decided to try making tempura watermelon. When I told the Beloved I would be making this he didn't seem very enthused, and thought it was a bit weird. Well, I am weird. How would any culinary masterpiece have ever been born if someone didn't make something that everyone else thought was weird?! To be honest I didn't know if it would work with such a high water content, but it did, I have a trick or two to share with you in how to make it work. Since making tempura mix from scratch never quite works for me I decided a packet option was probably best. While I was frying them the colour reminded me of crab sticks but without the terrible smell! Obviously they taste nothing like crab...

Ingredients

Approx 4 pieces per person of watermelon cut into thick fingers about 6-8cm long 

1 packet of tempura mix ( I used Trident, its vegan)

salt and pepper to your taste

Oil for deep frying

Method

Cut the watermelon and leave on a tea towel to mop up excess liquid. Pat just before dunking to dry as much as possible, or the mix will not stick to the melon.

Make up the mix according to packet directions, but add water a little at a time to get a nice thick batter, too thin and it won't stick. I found the best consistency after trial and error was like pikelet batter, quite thick, but runs off the spoon like treacle rather than cream. Whisk in plenty of pepper and a bit of salt. 

Heat oil in a deep fryer or small deep saucepan at (I have a fryer but used a saucepan as easier to clean). If you use a saucepan the oil should be no less than 4cm deep and no more than a third deep of your pan - safety people!  If you are unsure about temperature I suggest dropping a little batter in to see how quickly it bubbles to the surface. If it turns golden in 30 seconds you're ready.

Dip the dried off watermelon into the batter and coat as much as possible (no need to be too picky) and drop into the oil quickly. Fry until golden and then remove with a slotted spoon and leave to drain on paper towel. Sprinkle with a little more sea salt and cracked black pepper.

If you find the pan spits it is probably because you have not patted the watermelon enough and there is water getting into your oil! therefore it is essential to work quickly so the watermelon doesn't seep again before you batter and fry.

We had ours tonight dipped into some lime mayonnaise, but they were good without it. You cna use soy mayonnaise or egg mayonnaise whisked with some lime juice to your taste. Serve with a side of fried rice.

I really like the sweetness of the watermelon with it's firm light texture,  and the crisp peppery batter. Don't knock it til you've tried it!