Posts tagged mushrooms

Pheasant, braised lentils, parsnip puree

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Pheasant, braised lentils, parsnip puree

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his recipe opitimises Autumn and seasonal eating. I’m in dangerous territory of sounding like we make a regular event of it, but my more manly other half spent last weekend trekking the Wiltshire countryside surrounded by more tweed than the Queen’s wardrobe and enough flatcaps to make Prince Philip smile. Long story short, if you can’t invisage this little gathering, he went on a shoot day and…you guessed it… brought home some pheasants!

This time of year is a great time to start indulging in warming comfort food and eating what the seasons dictate. I heard pheasant, my stomach thought, bacon, parsnips, chestnuts and all things festive.

S

o out came the trusty Le Creuset for what might be, its last outing in this Putney kitchen. As you’ve probably not noticed, I’ve not been as active as I have been this past year. Having spent the past year arranging our membership into the first time buyers club, we are finally nearly there. Touching distance. Packing distance. But just enough time for one more roast before my faithful kitchen that has served me so well these past years in London, gets packed away and upgraded to a new humble abode. 

WINE: We were feeling a little like we’d overindulged in the alcohol that night, but this would have been lovely with a Pinot Noir.

Serves 2

  • 1 whole pheasant, gutted and plucked
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 4 rashes or smoked, streak bacon OR 1 small pun net lardons
  • 1 bunch thyme, leaves picked
  • Handful of dried mixed mushrooms
  • 1 glass dry white wine
  • 500ml chicken stock
  • 4oz Puy lentils
  • 2 parsnips
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 200ml milk
  • Beurre manie – 1 knob of butter, mashed into a paste with 1 tsp flour. Use at the end for thickening the sauce without creating lumps. The butter will also add a gloss.
  • Steamed greens – kale, savoy cabbage etc (opional)
  1. Start by preheating the oven to 200. In a large heavy based casserole dish, heat a knob of butter and some oil. Season the pheasant and then brown the whole bird on all sides until its looking golden and the skin is crisping. Remove to a plate and set aside.
  2. Turn to heat down to a medium level and add the chopped onion and fry quickly until beginning to soften.
  3. Add the bacon/lardons and cook for a few minutes.
  4. Finally, add the garlic and thyme and cook gently for just a few more minutes.
  5. Turn up the heat, add the wine to deglaze the pan. Gentle simmer to reduce the alcohol.
  6. Add the pheasant back to the pan, chuck in the dried mushrooms and then add a good 200ml or so of the hot chicken stock.
  7. Place in the oven for 50minutes or so until cooked through. Baste a few times during cooking. 
  8. When the bird has been in for about 30 minutes, start on the lentils. Simmer in the remaining chicken stock for about 18 minutes until just tender but with a definite crunch.
  9. Once the pheasant has cooked, remove onto a plate to rest. Pop the casserole dish back onto the hob and simmer the juices and roasted ingredients. Add the lentil (liquid and all) and simmer to combine. Simmer until reduced. Then add the beurre manie and cook out until beginning to thicken and turn glossy.
  10. Serve with steamed greens like kale or savoy cabbage

Parsnip Puree

  1. Peel and roughly chop the parsnips.
  2. Add to a saucepan with about 200ml milk and then top up with water until covered.
  3. Add a few whole peppercorns from your grinder if you can OR a good pinch of cracked black pepper.
  4. Add the bay leaf
  5. Simmer (watching as the milk has a tendency to over boil) for about 10 minutes or until they are very tender but not waterlogged. 
  6. Once the pheasant is at its resting stage, you’re ready to make the puree.
  7. Remove the parsnips from the liquid which you need to reserve.
  8. Add to a processor with seasoning, a good splash of reserved milk and a knob of butter. Blend to get the desired consistency adding more milk if needed (You can also use a masher).

    Wild Mushroom and Black Garlic Rice

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    Wild Mushroom and Black Garlic Rice

     

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    This mushroom rice dish was thrown together whilst I was at uni when embracing the challenge of living on a second hand shoestring. It is one of those staple vegetarian meals I often make when I fancy an evening off meat. Mushrooms have such a deep and earthy flavour that you never miss the meat here and this really is just as satisfying. I like to top mine with a quenelle of cool, smooth cream cheese to off set the garlic hum but a molten poached egg with a cascading larva of golden egg yolk would also sit on top here as naturally as clotted cream on a pillowey toasted scone.

    However, today I experimented with black garlic. Garlic is undoubtedly good for you. From warning off infections and fighting your bodies battles to pungently and helpfully keep away any unwanted attention from the opposite sex….! Double bonus. I don’t think anyone walks past their local pizza place or Indian with the waft of freshly baking garlic bread suctioning up their nostrils not to momentarily drift into garlicky cloud nice. I love nothing more than the delights and simple efforts of roasting a whole garlic head in the oven before squeezing the obliging sweet contents into a pestle and morta, mashing to a paste and stirring into risottos or sauces. There is nothing as effortless that imparts so much amazing flavour.

    So surely black garlic is to be even better. Delicious I can conclude but on a totally different level. Sweet but amazingly deep in flavour these gooey and pastey gloves are like jelly cubes of balsamic vinegar, a ‘fruit pastel’ of balsamic if you will. It is only a matter of time before Heston makes this imported Korean fad into an ice cream (I will await this patiently….very patiently, no rush Heston.) I’m only at the tip of my black garlic experiments using it tamely sliced here. But mashed to a paste, stirred into stews, risottos and sauces I am sure I will be sharing these soon…..the ice cream however will have to wait for now. Black garlic pasta or gnocchi…however…!

    Serves 2

    • 250g mixed mushrooms, chestnut, oyster etc, chopped roughly in chunks
    • 4oz wild rice (a mix of brown, Camargue, wild rice)
    • 2 gloves of black garlic OR 2 gloves garlic, chopped
    • 1 large knob of butter
    • Handful of flatleaf parsley, chopped
    • 1 tsp sesame oil
    • 4 tbsp cream cheese/2 poached eggs to serve
    1. Begin by simmering the rice for about 20 minutes until tender. Drain and set aside.
    2. Heat a generous knob of butter with a drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat until the butter foams.
    3. Add the chopped mushrooms and some generous salt and pepper and fry for about 10 minutes over a medium heat.The water will be released so continue to cook until this evaporates and the mushrooms are soft and golden. (Now Julia Child fans, remember- don’t crowd your mushrooms, they won’t brown! So cook in batches if necessary)
    4. If using normal garlic, chop finely and add now and fry for a few minutes turning the heat down if starting to catch.
    5. Now, tip in the rice and stir into the mushrooms with the sesame oil and fry for a few minutes.
    6. Add the chopped black garlic and the parsley and mix to combine and heat through.
    7. Serve in large warmed bowls with an extra scatter of parsley some slices of black garlic and a creamy quenelle of cream cheese. Alternatively add that molten poached egg and crack on with devouring.

    Spinach, Mushroom and Ricotta Pizza

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    Spinach, Mushroom and Ricotta Pizza

     

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    Ok so it’s a tomato-less pizza…don’t shoot me. This was also pointed out by my (notably) satisfied and well fed but rather unjustifiably disappointed dad? A night of using up all ingredients littering the fridge, clinging on for dear life before labouring into town for a weekly food shop. One of my favourite challenges….make something from what you have left. Its a great way to be creative, prevent waste and come up with new ideas! Challenge accepted, I created this. Spinach forced its way into the base while the topping was a mix of mushrooms, lemony ricotta and some lovely fragrant thyme. Give me ready steady cook anyday?

    Serves 4 lightly

    Base

    • 1 mug self raising flour
    • ½ water
    • 100g spinach
    • Pinch cumin seeds

    Topping

    • 200g mushrooms, chopped
    • Small bunch thyme leaves
    • Knob of butter
    • 250g ricotta
    • 150g mozzarella, sliced
    • Handful pine nuts
    • Zest and juice of 1 lemon
    • Olive oil
    1. Start on the base. Wilt the spinach in a hot pan with a splash of water. Once wilted, drain and squeeze out as much of the moisture as possible. Chop finely.
    2. In a food processor, add the flour, cumin seeds, plenty of seasoning and the spinach. Blend together and slowly add the water, stopping when the mixture forms a soft dough. You will need to use your instinct with the amount of water being used.
    3. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead to form a smooth dough. Put aside to rest.
    4. Melt the butter and a splash of oil in a hot frying pan and add the mushrooms. Fry over a medium high heat until they have released their juices. Add the thyme leaves and continue to fry until golden. Set aside.
    5. Loosen the ricotta in a bowl with the juice from ½ a lemon and the zest.
    6. Heat the grill to high. Next, heat a large frying pan over a high heat and add a splash of oil. Roll out the dough thinly and add to the pan pushing into the oil. While the bottom begins to cook and crisp,spoon over the ricotta and spread out evenly. Grate over the lemon zest. Top with the mozzarela and finally the mushrooms. Scatter with the pine nuts and continue to cook the base on the hob until the bottom is beginning to crisp and turn golden (you will need to lift it up now and again to check).
    7. Once you’re happy with a crispy base, pop under the grill and cook for 8-10 minutes until the top is melted and the rest of the dough and crust has cooked.
    8. Remove from the grill and devour drizzle with some good quality grassy green extra virgin olive oil.

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