Sunday, February 12, 2006
Stuffed Mushrooms on a Rainy Day
As far as food is concerned, Saturdays are the highlight of my week, and yesterday was no different. In fact, it was extra nice because I could convince Lofty to go shopping with me. I like food shopping with company. When I am on my own, I tend to spend a lot of time staring at things without really noticing them and in the end often buy stuff I didn't really want, just because it seemed like a good idea at the time. When other people are with me, we tend to talk about the food in front of us, about our likes and dislikes and about recipe ideas, and I find this exchange of ideas very inspiring. Even if I don't get any direct input on what to cook on any given day, it's useful (not to mention fun) because it gets me thinking - a bit like reading cookbooks.We started yesterday's culinary walk at Subway on Wexford Street. I know, I know, fast food is bad for our planet as well as for small cafes and is generally made from low-quality ingredients. But I love tuna salad sandwiches with chillies and I have yet to find a place that makes them as tasty as Subway. And every once in a while everyone is allowed to have a bit of what they like, even if it's not the best of the best for all parties concerned. Sometimes, selfishness can be a virtue. Food that makes you smile can't be all bad for you.
The next stop was Liston's. I was going to do some extensive shopping
there - some cheese, a bit of ham and/or salami and maybe some dried fruit - but then I realised that I was not going to have enough opportunity to eat the stuff while it's fresh. I love what Bavarians call a Brotzeit. What is literally translated as "bread time", started life as a simple meal of bread with cheese, cold meats and vegetables, but can these days include anything from smoked Scottish salmon to Spanish cheese with quince jelly. Erlaubt ist, was gefaellt ("anything you like goes"). And on the weekend, I very much like to build my own single-plate-Brotzeit for lunch, made-up of a selection of cheeses, fr
uit and the occasional bit of meat or fish. And Liston's have the most wonderful Brotzeit ingredients in Dublin. Great smelly continental cheese (along with the quince jelly I like so much) as well as good, strongly flavoured cheddar, tender pate that melts in your mouth, aromatic salami (if you can, try the garlic salami, it is divine!) and the best pastrami east of New York City. But I wasn't going to be home a lot this weekend and to me, Brotzeit, Ploughman's and the like are distinct daytime meals. Somehow, I need sunlight to enjoy them. Once the sun has gone down, it is time for something warm. So we just bought a Coffee and Walnut cake - which is very morish there - and moved on.The next stop was, predictably, Temple Bar Market. I needed to stock up on organic vegetables, and there's no better place in Dublin (city centre that is) for that. We got our usual favourites from the lady in the corner: Brussels tops, potatoes and baby carrots. And a quick lesson on growing herbs on your windowsil and a promise that, when they are in season in April, she would sell potted herbs to replace my slowly dying ones. I really wanted to buy some other things from her, a few green leaves to make a salad to accompany the leftover quiche perhaps, but when we got there at 3 o'clock, she was nearly sold out. I'm not surprised. All her vegetables are sown, grown and harvested by herself and her daughter, and you can taste the difference. And if you think that only rich people can afford that kind of luxury food, t
hink again. Some of her stuff is in fact cheaper than Tesco's. The same cannot be said about Dennis, who owns the big fruit & veg stall in the middle. His stuff is quite pricey, but still very much worth it. He's got a great selection of organic produce from all over the place, so if you fancy a tropical fruit salad, he's the man to see. We took advantage of his great offer on organic Avocados - 3 for €1 - and added spinach, kale, walnuts, green beans, trompetes de morts and two huge open mushrooms to our growing food selection. Looks like stuffed mushrooms for dinner, dosn't it?On the way home, the clouds quickly thickened, so we did not hang about in Meath Street for long. Just grabbed a few more odd bits and pieces - some new potatoes, a few onions, herbs and some chicken - and hurried home. We made it just before the skies opened and rain began pouring down, in my opinion the perfect weather for spending the evening at home, cooking and reading recipes. So this is exactly what I did with the following (quite yummy result):
2 large open-cap mushrooms, such as portobella, cleaned
½ onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 handfuls baby spinach, rinsed
4 to 5 good quality sausages of your choice (I tend to go for plain chicken and adjust the seasoning myself with thyme, rosemary and sherry) or minced meat
a pinch of ground nutmeg
50 g cheese, grated (or 4 slices of mozzarella)
salt and pepper to taste
2 to 3 tbsp oil for frying
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Place the mushrooms onto a non-stick baking tray.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the onions and fry over medium heat until golden, about 5 to 7 minutes. In the meantime, remove the stem from the mushrooms and hollow out the caps. Take care not to puncture them in the process. Chop all the mushroom bits very finely and set aside. When the onion is done, add the garlic and mushrooms. Continue frying until the mushrooms have released all their water, about 7 to 10 minutes.
Skin the sausages and finely chop the filling. When the mushrooms are cooked, add the sausage meat to the pan. Stir briefly, then allow to cook undisturbed for about 5 minutes. Stir again and brown the other side. If you are using unseasoned sausages or mince, add all dry seasonings at the same time as the meat. When the sausage meat is cooked, add any wet ingredients, such as wine or sherry, followed by the spinach. Allow the spinach to collapse and all liquid to evaporate. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Fill the mushrooms with the sausage-mushroom-mixture and arrange the grated cheese/mozzarella slices on top.
Roast in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling. Serve imediately (for best results with potato wedges and creamy baked leeks).
Christine at 4:43 pm
