Baked Breakfast-With-The-Lot Mushrooms

I really like the idea of breakfast


I have whole cookbooks and clipped folders devoted to awesome recipes and morning munchies

I do eat breakfast, but I don't really enjoy it first up in the morning. I'd much rather wait a while and enjoy it properly when I've had time to wake up a bit, more of a brunch thing actually. BigJ really likes a proper breakfast, one that has all the necessities- eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato, toast and mushrooms. I like a breakfast that has all this yumminess without a whole heap of effort or mess, after all, standing at a hot pan in my PJ's isn't all that appealing. There had to be a better way.....

As I'm having my own little Mushroom Week here at the InTolerant Chef, working with Australian Mushroom Growers and promoting the Power of Mushrooms, I wanted to show how lovely they would be in a tasty baked breakfast or brunch dish that still included all the basics of a good, old fashioned, Breakfast with the Lot but with a lot less hassle- yummo!

Baked Breakfast-With-The-Lot Mushrooms
Per Serve:

1 large cap Mushroom
1 gf Sausage
1 Egg

Extras:
gf Bread
halved Tomatoes
Bacon



When choosing your mushroom, pick ones that have a really nice deep cap. Carefully remove the stems from the mushrooms. Make sure they sit nice and flat on a tray- trim a little slice off the top if you need to

Very carefully crack an egg into the cup of each mushroom- this is why it needs to be nice and deep

Slit the side of the sausage to get to the goodness within
You can use any mince or sausage you like for these lovelies. I choose a gf pork and fennel one that I thought sounded nice, but a chorizo would be great too

Form each sausage into a patty that's large enough to fit over one of your mushrooms. Wet hands are a really good tip if the meat is sticky

Place the patty gently over the egg, making sure you don't break the yolk. Then carefully pinch the edges of the patty around the rim of the mushroom. Don't leave any little gaps or the egg might leak out. Season everything well with salt and pepper, and drizzle with a bit of oil if you like

Place the mushroom, tomatoes and bacon on a baking tray and bake for about 15 minutes on 180*C. You want the sausage to be cooked through and the mushroom and tomato to be hot and softened

Look how nice and brown they've gone! I popped my bread in to toast for the last 5 minutes or so as well- why bother with the toaster when the oven's already on, right :)

Serve up your delicious breakfast on plates you also warmed up in the oven while your breakfast baked. How civilized- no standing at the stove, no splattering fat. You could even prepare all these the night before and have the tray ready to pop in the oven while you boil the kettle for your morning cup of tea- easy peasy!

Now, I baked these for 20 minutes as I got slightly distracted ... they were still delicious, but think how perfect they would be with a gorgeous, oozy yolk- yummo indeed!

So Dear Readers, do you like a leisurely brunch, or do you bolt down a quick muesli bar and cup of coffee on the way to work?

Thanks again to Majestic Mushrooms and the Australian Mushroom Growers Buy Local Campaign  for supplying me with such yummy produce. Find out more about them over Here  

 

For more information on this campaign and the wonderful health benefits of mushrooms, check out:
 Facebook: powerofmushrooms

 Twitter @Mighty_mushroom

 Instagram: powerofmushrooms

 Pinterest: powerofmushrooms

 Website www.powerofmushrooms.au

 Hashtag #powerofmushrooms

 

Something Different For Christmas

T'was the night before Christmas,
When all through the kitchen,
Not a thing was prepared
There was no finger-lick'n

Mum just didn't care
At this time of year,
But within a few hours
All the guests would appear

No gluten, no lactose, no seafood or meat
What could she prepare to combat the heat?
Away to the fridge she turned with a sigh,
But what in the depths would appeal to her eye?

Some mushrooms, some crumbs
Herbs and goats cheese,
She knew there was something
In those to appease

'Flash Fried Fungi Fritters'
Should fit the bill,
As a Carnivores side dish
Or a Vego's main thrill

She stuffed them and fried them,
With barely a splatter,
Then piled them all up
On a Christmassy platter

Something Different for Christmas
They were all gobbled down,
All the InTolerants were happy
With nary a frown

My wishes for you
With plates polished bright,
Happy Christmas to all,
And to all a good night!

Cooking at Christmas can be such a pain!

Don't get me wrong- I love cooking at any time, but with extended family get-togethers, food for the Big Day takes it to a whole new level indeed.

'What can I cook?'  is something I often get asked by people a bit overwhelmed by it all, especially if there are InTolerants or other dietary restraints involved- including vegetarians on a day that seems to revolve around meat, more meat, stuffing and gravy.

Well, I don't know about you, but I like to multi task and my cooking is no exception. No way am I making a separate dish for everyone just to keep peace, so I came up with this yummy scrummy mushroom recipe where several can be used as a vegetarian main dish, or as a side dish for the meat eaters, or as a great little pre-dinner snack, or as classy nibble with drinkies. Now that's multi tasking! It's also gluten free, and lucky for me I can handle small amounts of goat/sheep product, so I made a great big pile and dug right in- yummo!


An added bonus at this busy time of year is all the goodness packed into these little mushroom morsels. They are nutrient-rich, high in anti-oxidants, very low GI, chock full of vitamin D, and can even boost immune function. And yummy, don't forget yummy.

Amounts for this recipe aren't terribly precise. It all depends on the mushrooms you choose and how large the cavity is. I found that the amount of filling I used filled 2 dozen nicely.

Nice little button Mushrooms
Fresh Goats Cheese (150gr)
Garlic to taste
Eggs (3)
Gluten free Crumbs- I used Orgran rice crumbs (about 1 1/2 cups)
Gluten free Flour (about a cup)
Thyme
Spring Onions
Fresh ground black pepper- no salt, the cheese is quite salty and mushrooms have heaps of umami
Oil for deep frying- I like cholesterol free Rice Bran oil





Pop the stems out of the lovely little mushroom caps, just tidy them up a bit and make sure there's a good size cavity for filling
Chop about half of the stems nice and fine to use in the stuffing

Place the goats cheese, mushroom stems, spring onion, minced garlic, thyme and pepper in a bowl and mix, mix, mix until well combined

Like this:

Spoon the filling into the cavity, carefully squishing it down to make sure there are no little empty pockets of air in there.
Smooth the top over, making sure the filling doesn't extend over the edges too much

Prepare yourself for the messy bit

Put the flour, beaten eggs, and crumbs in separate bowls

Start a production line going, keeping one hand for dry ingredients and one for plopping in and out of the eggwash. This is VERY handy in case the phone rings when you're still in the middle of it all


Place the mushrooms in the flour, then shake well to remove any excess

Transfer them accross to the egg and dunk them well all over

Using your designated 'goopy' hand, fish them out and plop into the crumbs.
Make sure they get a really solid coating to avoid the mushrooms and filling splitting and spitting in the hot oil, and to make sure they don't absorb excess oil as well

I like to repeat the egging and crumbing process to make sure I get a good coating, and a really nice crunch from the crispy crumbs. It doesn't take away from the flavour at all, and adds a great textural contrast to the soft mushroom and creamy smooth goats cheese as well

The little fritters can be set aside in the fridge for a few hours now if you want to get ready for the festivities,
Otherwise carefully deep fry them at a very moderate heat,  until they are gorgeously golden and crispily crunchy.

I found the larger mushrooms wanted to float belly down leaving the dome in danger of being sadly soggy, but if you wait a few moments you can flip them over carefully and they seemed happy to stay that way for a while. The smaller ones were much more well behaved and stayed flipped when asked to

Serve these fritters nice and warm, NOT straight from the pot! As I discovered to my peril, whilst they are sooooo tempting, give them a moment or two as the cheese melts into molten marvellousness that can sear off your taste buds and cause the rest of your meal to not taste like much at all. And it would be such a shame to put all that Festive Feasting to waste, wouldn't it?




So my Dearest Readers, how much do you love mushrooms, and will you be serving them up on your Christmas table?

This post was paid for and sponsored by  The Australian Mushroom Growers Association, as part of their Summer of Mushrooms campaign.
http://www.powerofmushrooms.com.au/

My opinions and love of mushrooms however, are purely my own!

http://www.mymushrooms.com.au/about/















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Magic Mushrooms

In our house, the BBQ remains firmly the domain of my husband. He uses it for chunks of meat, slabs of meat, roast meats.... and the occasional token veggie.

Its not that he hates veggies, well, not all of them. Its just that they take up prime grill space and are so fiddly to deal with, a slab of meat just needs to be turned once after all, and isn't likely to roll off the grill.

When I was first asked by The Australian Mushroom Growers Association to write a post for their Summer Mushroom Campaign, http://www.summermushrooms.com.au/ I did some research into these fungilicious little creatures and why we should all be eating more of them.

Mushrooms are little power houses of goodness. Did you know that they are full of antioxidants and are the only non-animal source of vitamin D? They are low in sodium and kilojoules and are fat free too, add to that impressive list the umami characteristics, low cost, and the year round availability and I certainly think we're onto a winner.


With daylight savings extending our evenings, and BBQs still very much on the go for easy after work dinners, it was a logical step to come up with a way to combine the lot.



I wanted to find a way to make mushrooms on the BBQ easy- easy to manage, easy to turn, and easy to eat too. So my mind drifted in the direction of things on sticks...and Rosemary Mushroom Kebabs were born. Perfect solution! Mushrooms mustered into manageable measures, no mucking about! Turn the whole lot at once, just a couple of times, and line them up next to the sausages, not even a hardened carnivore could complain about that.

My only concern was that this was a bit too simple.

Then I thought about it..... I wanted to show how great and easy mushrooms are, you don't need to muck about with fancy-pantsy ingredients to do that. This is just an easy recipe with a few easy ingredients that make a lovely meal.

Sometimes that's all you need.



I like the earthy herbs with mushrooms, they seem to bring out the deeper bass notes and all that umami goodness. Rosemary is in so many home gardens, or at least every corner supermarket, and garlic is an indispensable kitchen companion so in they went to the mix. Yumm... I was really surprised at just how much of the flavour was sucked up into the flesh of the mushrooms. Actually the first time I made these I left them in the fridge overnight before cooking and the taste was amazing, definitely something to do again!

Rosemary Mushroom Kebabs for the BBQ

Mushrooms- 4 or 5 per kebab
Rosemary- nice long pieces
Garlic- as much as you like
Oil- for drizzling

Gather your rosemary sprigs, cut them into pieces that will fit about 4 or 5 mushrooms comfortably.
Strip the leaves off, just leaving a few on top to look pretty, then chop them finely.

Cut the ends of the rosemary sprigs sharply on a diagonal to make them nice and pointy

Trim the ends of the mushrooms if you like, just for looks and uniformity. (I always keep the trimmings to use in sauces, risotto, or other recipes)

Thread the mushrooms onto the sticks of rosemary- don't they look pretty!

Pop them into a dish, toss in a few crushed garlic cloves,sprinkle with the cut rosemary leaves, then drizzle with oil. Use straight away, or leave them for a while to let the flavours infuse.

Fire up your BBQ, toss on slabs of meat if you like, then place on your beautiful mushroom kebabs.

Turn just once or twice to cook evenly, isn't it easy turning a whole stick at once?

Serve your kebabs deliciously hot from the grill, either on their own or next to your slabs of meat.

Lovely.

Simple it may be, but a real winner.

Check out this site for some more great ways with mushrooms:

http://www.mymushrooms.com.au/


So my Dear Readers, do you like to BBQ, and how do you like to serve your mushrooms?












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