Mushroom Recipes

Below are two recipes for mushrooms. The first one uses brown mushrooms and the second one uses white ones. But either one can be used for the other. Also, I often say to people who have never prepared mushrooms that:

• Button Mushrooms do not have to be cooked. They can be eaten raw (see the product information section)
• You cannot undercook or overcook them. Any amount of cooking will not harm them.
• An easy way to think of cooking them is to cook them like your onions and your peppers.

Mushroom & Lentil Curry

You can’t beat a bowlful of fragrant curry, and this one’s right up there on the flavour front. Lightly spiced, and made with meaty brown button mushrooms that suck up all that beautiful sauce and become mega-tasty, this is a real winner of a dish. Plus, it’s much fresher and healthier, not to mention more satisfying, than ordering a takeaway.

SERVES 2
COOKS IN 40 MINUTES
DIFFICULTY NOT TOO TRICKY

Ingredients

• 150g rice
• 1 lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2cm piece of ginger
•  1 fresh green chilli
• 1 red onion
• olive oil
•  1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• ½ tablespoon curry powder
• ½ a bunch of fresh coriander , (15g)
•  400g brown button (cremini) mushrooms
• 2 large ripe tomatoes
• 50g red split lentils
• 100g natural yoghurt

Method

1.  Cook the rice in a pan of boiling salted water for 25 minutes, or until tender, then drain well. Tip back into the pan, finely grate in the lemon zest and squeeze in half the juice, season to taste, then cover.
2. Peel and finely chop the garlic and ginger, then half, deseed and finely chop the chilli. Peel and finely slice the onion.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pan over a medium heat, add the garlic, ginger and chilli, followed by all the spices and fry for 2 minutes to coat.
4.  Pick and roughly chop the coriander leaves (keep to one side), then finely chop and add the stalks to the pan.
5.  Add the onion and cook for a further 6 to 8 minutes, or until softened, adding a splash more of oil, if needed.
6. Trim and roughly chop the mushrooms and tomatoes. Add the mushrooms to the pan and stir-fry for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes, lentils and 200ml of boiling water. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and cook over a medium-low heat for around 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.
7. At this stage, remove the lid, turn the heat up to medium-high and leave to bubble away until the sauce thickens and reduces slightly, stirring occasionally.
8. Stir through the yoghurt, then season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.
9. Divide the curry and lemony rice between your plates, scatter over the coriander leaves, then tuck in.

Garlic Mushrooms

Buttery garlic mushrooms with a flavour twist! the herb garlic butter sauce is so good, you’ll be serving these mushrooms with everything!

• One pound (454g) Mushrooms
• Unsalted butter — use unsalted to control the amount of salt added.
• Olive oil — just a little oil added to the butter gets them nice and crispy on the outer edges and prevents the butter from burning.
• Garlic — please use fresh where you can.
• Herbs — we love parsley and thyme, but you can use oregano, rosemary, basil, etc.
• Salt and pepper.

  INGREDIENTS

•  4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 an onion chopped (optional)
•  1 pound (454 g) brown button (cremini) or white button mushrooms
•  2 tablespoons dry white wine* (optional)
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves chopped,
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Optional: Dry white wine —enhances the flavour.

  INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Heat the butter and oil in a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat.
  2. Sauté the onion until softened (about 3 minutes).
  3. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 4-5 minutes until golden and crispy on the edges.
  4. Pour in the wine and cook for 2 minutes, to reduce slightly.
  5. Stir through thyme, 1 tablespoon of parsley and garlic. Cook for a further 30 seconds, until fragrant.
  6. Season generously with salt and pepper (to your taste).
  7. Sprinkle with remaining parsley and serve warm. Enjoy!