Weekend Herb Blogging #142

Weekend Herb Blogging is hosted by Archana from Archana's Kitchen and this week I'll be taking a closer look at mushrooms.

The first is a King Oyster Mushroom

a distinctive mushroom, it is generally characterised by a tan coloured cap over a tall, bulbous stem. The cap does vary in size, stem thickness bears no influence upon it - indeed you can have a small cap over a thick stem, examples of which can be seen here.

There's virtually no waste with this mushroom as the stem is highly edible. I particularly like to use this mushroom because when cut lengthways you get an extremely elegant mushroom silhouette - ideally, to best show off the shape you would look for dishes in which you could drape the mushroom slice - decorate the top of savoury tart, a pizza even a frittata.

The next mushroom is Shimeji



Shimeji grow in clumps as you can see and to prepare you simply cut them from the hard base.



These are highly aromatic and it is advised that you don't eat these raw as the taste can be a little unpleasant.



The dish I'm making today has been inspired by one we recently had at a local restaurant called Cafe Latte. It had a much more appealing name of Fungi di Bosco al Cartoccio which translates to forest mushroom cooked in parchment.

The premise is very simple - you lay out a sheet of baking paper, brush it with a little oil and then begin layering slices of mushroom, interspersed with garlic slivers and herbs, a dash of wine, some butter, salt and pepper. Once the parcel is wrapped, it is then baked in the oven - all the flavours remain trapped within the parcel, the butter and mushroom juices amalgamate with the herbs to form the most intoxicating broth. It's served at the table unopened, the diner being treated to a most wonderful treat of the senses.




Mushrooms "al Cartoccio"
[Makes 2 parcels]

2 king pine mushrooms, sliced lengthways
large handful Shimeji mushrooms
2 garlic cloves
fresh thyme sprigs
butter
salt and freshly ground pepper
lemon-infused olive oil
dash of white wine, optional



Take 2 large pieces of baking paper and set each into a bowl. I find this helps to define the shape of the cartoccio so I can better gauge the placement of the mushrooms.

Brush the base with olive oil - I've used lemon-infused olive oil to get it a little tang as I won't be using wine.

Sprinkle over with a few slivers of garlic and fresh thyme leaves -



I'm using thyme because it has a great affinity to mushrooms, a wonderful aroma and is quite robust.

Place a few slices of King Oyster, a sprinkle of salt, followed by the Shimeji and a little more thyme and garlic. Add a tiny knob of butter and then repeat the layers. Finish off with the King Oysters, a little more butter, thyme leaves, salt and a good grinding of pepper. I also gave it a quick drizzle of the lemon infused olive oil.



Bring the ends of the paper together to form a tight parcel, twisting to ensure a good seal. As I don't want the paper to colour for presentation sakes, I then wrap these parcels in aluminium foil. This is extra protection to ensure all the flavours remained trapped in the parcel but it also stops the paper from colouring.

Place the parcels on a baking tray and cook in a preheated 180°C oven for about 30-40 minutes - the time does depend on the size of your parcel and the volume of mushrooms.



If you were serving this for a dinner party remove it from the aluminium foil and place the unopened parcel on plates - it is now ready to serve.



This first peek inside - it's a real pity you can't photograph the aroma. All the flavours of the mushrooms, thyme and garlic have been captured and distilled into the juices that pool at the base of the parcel.

It's essential to serve this with good crusty bread so you don't waste of drop of that goodness.

Zucchini Falafel

These carrot falafels have been on my mind of late and finally I've acted upon my urges. Substituting zucchini for the carrot and adding fresh coriander has given them a new lease of life. Some fafalel can be a bit dry but these have the perfect combination of a crunchy exterior surrounding a wonderfully moist interior.

Zucchini Falafel

200 grams grated zucchini
400 gram can chickpeas, drained
1 red onion, chopped roughly
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
handful coriander leaves
breadcrumbs

Place the onion, paprika, cumin and baking powder in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add in the zucchini and chickpeas and pulse again to begin to break up the mixture. Finally add the coriander leaves and pulse just enough to finely chop them.

Place the mixture into a bowl, add a lightly whisked egg and stir it through. As the mix will be soft add just enough breadcrumbs to create a malleable mix.


Take small amounts of the mix and roll into balls or for a quicker and more even result, use a small ice cream scoop to form the falafel.

Roll each ball in breadcrumbs (I used a mix of panko and regular breadcrumbs) and set them aside.

You can store these in the fridge on paper towels if you aren't cooking them straight away.

To cook, either shallow or deep fry until golden and heated through. Drain on paper towels and eat when hot.


An ideal fingerfood served as they are but add pita bread and tabouli and you've got yourself a delicious meal.

Weekend Herb Blogging #141

Simona from Briciole is the host of this edition of Weekend Herb Blogging and this week I've found some fresh Horseradish.

This long tapered root is part of the Brassica family and so is a relative of wasabi. While in its uncut root form it lacks any of its pungent aroma but once cut, its volatile nature is revealed. The action of grating or cutting releases compounds Sinigrin and Myrosin that when combined form a volatile oil. This is the cause of that typical sinus clearing sensation.

In case you just happen to be growing your own horseradish it should be noted that you can eat the leaves it produces - treat them as you would spinach. Once you've harvested the root it should be kept in a dark spot as exposure to light will cause it to go green.



Horseradish does lose its pungency with heat so to experience its full flavour it is best to serve it cold or just warm.

The recipe I'm making uses horseradish in two ways - as an ingredient in potato rösti and in the sour cream accompaniment. As cooking will diminish the horseradish flavour I thought I'd be able to incorporate a fresh zing by adding grated horseradish to sour cream and serving it atop the rösti.

Potato Rösti with Horseradish

120 grams grated potato
1 spring onion, sliced finely
salt and freshly ground pepper
grated horseradish
sour cream

I left the skin on the potato but you can remove it if so desired. I also squeezed the grated potato to remove any extra moisture.

Place the potato, spring onion, salt, ground white pepper and a good grating of horseradish into a bowl. Stir this well to ensure the ingredients are mixed through.

Heat oil in a skillet and when the oil has come to temperature, form two potato cakes with the mixture - you can use egg rings to help form the rounds.

Cook over a medium-low heat and when golden, turn over and cook until golden and the potato has softened.

Place on paper towels to remove any extra oil.


Take a spoonful of sour cream and add grated horseradish to taste. Shape into a quenelle and place on top of the rösti and serve at once.