A rant and a mushroom paté …

… with a difference.

It has been a while since I felt the need to rant but I am doing so now in support of my friend. Chatting recently, setting the world to rights as you do, the subject inevitably turned to food and she told me a story about her favourite mushroom paté – that was – i.e. past tense – it is no more.

Can someone please explain why, when a product is in demand - to the extent that you're constantly asking when the next delivery is due - the product line is dropped. I've always thought of myself as a dinosaur, technologically speaking, but in these modern days of bar codes and stock control, blah blah – may be I'm missing something but doesn't all that information tell them – “crikey this is popular stuff, it's flying off the shelves”.

Here's my mushroom paté – I can't tell you what my friend's verdict is since she hasn't sampled it yet – I'll report back.

Mushroom paté

250g chestnut mushrooms

250g cream cheese

4 cloves of roasted garlic

30g unsalted butter

a glug of extra dry sherry*

salt and black pepper

2 tsps of tapenade – optional

Trim the mushrooms, clean and then slice finely. Using a medium frying pan – mine measures 28cms in diameter - melt the butter and then add the sliced mushrooms with the garlic and sauté. Mushrooms release liquid and they need to be sautéed until it has disappeared – 10 minutes. 7 minutes into the cooking time add a glug of sherry. Continue sautéeing until the sherry has been absorbed – 3 minutes.

Let the mushrooms cool.

Blitz the mushrooms in a food processor, add the cream cheese and blitz again. Season to taste and leave to cool. Decant the paté into pots or boxes to suit and fridge until required.

Serve with whatever form of bread that takes your fancy. Me – I've just baked soda bread – tee hee!

*A glug refers to liquid, usually oil or alcohol too in my culinary book. If you want to be reasonably accurate then a glug is what I'd call a generous tablespoon.

*A word about dry sherry. If you're not a sherry drinker – not my favourite tipple – then you might find it useful to know that, for the purpose of this recipe, and anything to do with enhancing the flavour of mushrooms, fino is the driest followed by manzanilla and then amontillado – any of the three will do very nicely. Alternatively you could use a glug of a good red wine.

I feel so much better for having got that off my chest!

Veggie box – the garlic

There are two gigantic bulbs of garlic in the box. I always roast my garlic and then “pop” each clove - freeze in small pots, inexpensive – check out the baby aisle. These gigantic bulbs are however a different kettle of fish. Have you ever heard of “elephant garlic” - huge bulbs that measure 10cms (4”) in diameter. The bulbs I had weren't quite so large but not far off. Elephant garlic is said to be not “real” garlic but a stem leek. Larger and milder than the norm – especially suitable for roasting.

My research tells me that it can grow to 150mm across and weigh over a kilo – yikes, 2.2lbs in old money.

Needless to say I am going to need considerably larger pots than I normally use!

Have a look at these pics :

I roasted the two bulbs, drizzled with a drop of rapeseed oil in a pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for an hour. I left to cool, gloved up and then peeled back the skin and popped the cloves. There were 10 massive specimens, some of which were larger than others so I had to take radical action and cut some in half so that they'd fit into the containers!

You can grow your own elephant garlic – check out your favourite search engine.

It's really satisfying having reaped the benefit of my friend's hard work and generosity to know that I've not wasted the beautiful fresh produce.

Veggie box - passata pics and tips

Food for thought – my favourite tomato sauce recipe would be to serve with meatballs, in a bowl with good bread – what I call “feet up food”. Try a submarine roll filled with mozzarella slices or even spiced fried halloumi - add meatballs and drizzle with the tomato sauce.

More thoughts - a sauce base for a bolognaise or create a delicious tomato soup – if you're into cold soups then a gazpacho will tick that box.

If you want a posh idea, turn your passata into a puttanesca sauce by adding tomato paste to enrich, followed by pitted Kalamata olives, capers and anchovy fillets.

My freezer “store cupboard” is looking very healthy!

Veggie box – the tomatoes

In this heat you have to work fast or your goodies will spoil. I can't possibly use everything all at once so I need to cook and freeze what I can, so the tomatoes are up next. I have it on good authority that they are an Australian variety, suitable only for cooking – that's all I know!

A passata fits the bill and a quick version too. Since it's going to be frozen the flavours will continue to develop and, more to the point, a passata is versatile.

Passata – the quick way

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

4/5 cloves of roasted garlic

1.5kg tomatoes, chopped roughly

6 fresh basil leaves

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2tsp caster sugar

salt and black pepper

Using a large saucepan – 22cms in diameter, fry the onion and garlic for 10 minutes until soft. Transfer to a food processor or blender and blitz to a smooth paste and set aside.

Add the tomatoes and basil to the pan and cook gently, stirring frequently for 20/25 minutes until the tomatoes are soft. Cool for 10 minutes then push through a sieve to give a smooth sauce.

Rinse out your saucepan and return the sauce and paste, add the vinegar and sugar and simmer gently for 10/15 minutes, stirring until you have a thick passata. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Cool then decant into suitably sized containers for freezing - if you want to use it straight away fridge it – it will keep for 3-4 days. Frozen, your passata will keep for up to 2 months.

As a guide you'll get 600ml of passata from the recipe.

Remember to freeze in small amounts – you never know what you might decide to cook - you can always pull out two or three portions.

Waste not want not!

Passata pics and tips coming next.

Veggie box – crumble - pics and tips

I can't resist doing what I always do with a dessert like the crumble – double the quantities and freeze in portions to suit you – you can pop the crumble top in a freezer bag – it takes up no space and you can show off whenever you want – quickly!

The crumble verdict … “brilliant” - the standout element - the fruit kept its shape.

Since then I have frozen portions and served again, defrosted the fruit and the crumble topping, assembled and warmed for 15 minutes – 160fan/180c/Gas 4 and am happy to report it's just as good.

I love it when a plan comes together, to coin a famous phrase!

The best presents …

… are those that are unexpected. 

Have a look at what I received this week :

I'm not sure where to begin with my veggie box.

The blackberries I think – it just so happens I have a surplus of Pink Lady apples – it has to be a crumble. You can use whatever type of apple you wish – cooking or eating.

Crumble has to be in the top ten of puddings, close to all our hearts. I agree with Raymond Blanc - cook the crumble topping separately. It avoids the sogginess in between the fruit and the topping.

Here's the recipe :

Serves 4

Crumble topping

120g plain flour

60g caster sugar

60g unsalted butter at room temperature,

cut into pieces

Fruit base

300g Braeburn apples – I used Pink Lady

30g unsalted butter

30g demerara sugar

115g blackberries

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Pre-heat your oven 170fan/190c/Gas 5.

The topping

Tip the flour and the sugar into a large bowl. Add the butter then rub into the flour using your fingertips to form breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly coloured.

The fruit base

Peel, core and quarter the apples and cut each quarter into eight pieces. Put the butter and sugar in a medium sized saucepan and melt together on a medium heat. Cook for 3 minutes until the mixture turns to a light caramel. Add the blackberries and cinnamon, cook for a further 3 minutes. Cover, remove from the heat and leave for 2/3 minutes to continue cooking in the warmth of the pan.

When you're ready, place the fruit into a greased overproof dish, top with the crumble mix and reheat in the oven for a further 5/10 minutes.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Pics up next and a tip or two!

Pandowdy Pics!

By the way, for those who aren't sure about a pastry cutter, here's what it looks like :

It's the black treacle that does it for me – yum – not too sweet.

You can use cooking or eating apples in the recipe - the upside in using eating apples is that they hold their shape better.