Hello dear readers,
Here in the northern hemisphere we are beginning the gentle slide into autumn, which means an abundance of fungi for clever foragers. I love foraging but still stick to the easily-recognised berries and have not yet made that scary step in foraging for fungi, which can so easily have disastrous consequences. Every year I plan to rectify this huge gap in my outdoor knowledge and every year I chicken out again! So I am still “foraging” my mushrooms from the supermarket! One of my favourite mushroom dishes is to have them baked, stuffed with a goats cheese & pancetta filling. They are really tasty, easy to make and can be prepared in advance. Here’s the recipe…
1) Peel the skin from six large flat mushrooms, like Portobello mushrooms, and remove the central stalk…
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2) Fry gently on both sides in a little oil until cooked through, then place in a roasting tin & leave to cool…
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3) Dry fry 100g pancetta over a medium heat until cooked and slightly crispy. Drain off any oil released & leave to cool…
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4) Mash together 100g soft goats cheese, 1 egg yolk and freshly ground black pepper…
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5) Stir in the pancetta…
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6) Pile the mixture onto the mushrooms. At this stage, you can bake them immediately or pop them into the fridge for up to 8 hours, if you are preparing them in advance…
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7) Bake at 180°C (350°F, Gas Mark 4) for 10 minutes until nicely browned on top. Serve immediately…
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I always like to credit recipes, which are not my own. Unfortunately I have no idea where I got this one from. It is written in my recipe notebook which I started as a teenager and I have made no note as to where it came from. If this is your recipe then do let me know – and thanks I have enjoyed it many times over the years!
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I am entering this mushroom dish into a blog challenge I have discovered called “Made with Love Mondays” run by the Javelin Warrior over at Cookin w/ Luv. I love the premise of this challenge, which seeks to promote dishes made from scratch, using fresh ingredients with no transfats, no food dyes and no high fructose corn syrup. There is a long list of prohibited ingredients, which I checked thoroughly because after all I didn’t cure the pancetta myself!
I am also entering into the “Four Seasons Food” challenge, which is co-hosted by Anneli at Delicieux and Louisa at Eat Your Veg (formerly at Chez Foti). The premise of this challenge is another issue close to my heart – seasonality. Seeking out seasonal food is really worth it for the enhanced flavour that food has when it is truly in season, rather than being forced, not to mention being a lot easier on the purse-strings! Their theme this month is “sliding into autumn” – hence the title of my post!
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So, tell me dear reader, what is your favourite thing about the seasonal slide into autumn?
Vohn
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