#vegetarian #mushrooms

Hearty Growers – Fungify Me

Seaneen's Sunnyside KitchenLeave a comment

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know I love mushrooms of any type.

I had the chance to attend one of Hearty Growers mushroom events and for nerdie foodies like me it was perfect (and even normal people too). https://www.heartygrowers.com

Hearty Growers is based in the Banana Block in East Belfast. If you haven’t been there before it’s well worth a visit. It has great cafes, and local traders selling everything from tropical plants, vintage records, a micro brewery and runs events like comedy nights, monthly artisans market and pop up food events.

Hearty Growers have been running their workshops for the last 12 weeks and have had great interest. Terry, the owner is really passionate and interesting in explaining how an interest in funghi and their place in the ecosystem developed from a hobby during lock down into a thriving business.

I was really lucky to be in with a lovely group who were also very interesting. Other guests included people who were involved in product development, traditional Chinese medicine, a pharmacist, and people like myself who just love food.

Mushrooms/funghi are fascinating and really underrated, both for their medicinal qualities, and performance enhancing properties, as well as being yummy. Terry and his staff were great, letting us taste samples of different teas (which I promise don’t taste weired or mushroomy, but have great health properties). We also tried mushroom jerky, mushroom beer, mushroom chocolate etc, as well as locally made pies.

Mushrooms are grown on site and it was interesting to learn what the process is, and how they’re trying to get involved in circular farming. Hearty Growers sell a range of products, they produce themselves, and I had to stop myself buying more than I could carry. I left with shitake mushroom powder (which smells amazing and I know is going to be brilliant in stocks), a grow your own oyster mushroom kit, and a lion’s mane mushroom kit on order. They will also be launching a subscription service soon, so if you have a foodie in your life the kits and other products are brilliant gift ideas.

Cheesy Stuffed Crepes with Spinach and Mushrooms

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Crepes are super easy to make and really versatile. One of my favourite ways to eat them is with a savoury filling and baked with a cheesy topping.

  • Piping hot out of the oven with some slow roast tomatoes

There are a couple of different steps in this recipe, so maybe better as a weekend recipe, but I sometimes make it in advance and then bake it during the week. This is proper comfort food and is meaty enough for please carnivores you may be feeding too.

  • Add the filling to the centre of the crepe before folding in the edges

Don’t be shocked if it looks like you have a lot of mushrooms or spinach, both will cook down and shrink as you cook them.

  • Crepe, ready to flip, just look out for the little holes.

Ingredients

For the crepes

1 Egg

175 Grams Plain Flour

300 ml Milk

1 Tsp Oil

For the Filling

750 Gram Mushrooms Sliced

200 Gram Fresh Spinach (you can use frozen spinach, but make sure to squeeze all the excess liquid out before adding to the mushrooms)

2-3 Cloves of garlic

1 Tbsp Oil

50 Grams Butter

100 Grams Flour

750 ml Milk

200 Grams Grated Cheese (I used cheddar)

Salt and pepper

Method

  1. To make the crepes, add the flour to a bowl first and then whisk in the egg and milk until you have a smooth batter
  2. Heat oil in a 10cm -12 cm frying pan over a medium heat (if you use a bigger pan you’ll have fewer crepes but that’s OK too). Add just enough batter to the coat the pan (crepes are meant to be pretty thin). You’ll start to see little bubbles appear and this is when you should turn the crepe and brown on the other side, remove from the pan and set aside. Keep on making crepes until you have around 10-12 and set to one side while you make the filling
  3. Heat oil in a large frying pan/wok, add the mushrooms and allow to cook for 3-4 minutes without stirring (the secret to cooking mushrooms well is not to move them about too much). The next time you stir the mushrooms, add the garlic and allow to cook for another couple of minutes before adding the spinach. Cover if you have a lid and cook until the spinach has wilted
  4. In a saucepan over a medium heat, melt the butter and then add the flour to make a roux, or soft paste. Gradually stir in the milk until you have a smooth liquid (whisk if you have to, to remove any lumps). Stir in half the grated cheese and cook for a further 10 mins stirring regularly until the sauce starts to thicken and no longer states “floury”.
  5. Stir the sauce in to the cooked mushrooms and spinach and season with salt and pepper to your own taste
  6. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. To assemble the dish take each crepe and place a couple of spoonful’s of the mix in the centre and roll up tucking in the end (a bit like a skinny burrito), before laying in an oven proof dish.
  7. Repeat this until you have have used up all the crepes, which should be laid side by side in the oven proof dish, Cover the crepes with any left over filling and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake for 30-40 mins or until the top is brown and bubbly

Cheesy Mushroom Galette

Seaneen's Sunnyside Kitchen1 Comment
Cheesy, mushroomy deliciousness

I think we’ve established I love a galette. What’s better than a galette, a galette with my two other great loves cheese and mushrooms.

This is definately a pure filth recipe, yes it’s rich but it’s not the type of thing you’re going to make every day.

Don’t be tempted to fry too many mushrooms at once, and don’t move them about too much

When cooking for vegetarians I often feel bad that the main course can look a bit lacklustre. This looks good when you bring it to the table and tastes amazing.

Cover the top of your cheese sauce with cling film so it does not form a skin

If you are making this, it’s really important that the filling is totally cold before you assemble the galette (otherwise you’ll end up with pastry that will melt and be impossible to handle).

Add the cold cheese sauce and mushrooms to the centre of the pastry, leaving a 3-4 cm border

The good thing is that if you are making this for a special occasion you can prepare all the elements in advance and assemble the elements just before baking.

Brush the pastry with egg yolk, and sprinkle grated cheese over the mushrooms

Ingredients

For the pastry

200 Grams Plain flour

100 Grams Butter

1 Egg yolk

1/2 Tsp Salt

1/2 Tsp Cayenne pepper (optional)

Additional egg yolk to brush the galette with before baking

For the filling

500 Grams Mushrooms (sliced)

25 Grams Butter

1 Tbsp Olive oil

Salt and pepper

25 Grams Grated cheese

Cheese Sauce

25 Grams Butter

25 Grams Plain flour

250ml Milk

25 Grams Grated cheese (I used Cheddar but you can use other cheeses)

Method

  1. To make the pastry, and the flour, butter, salt, egg yolk and Cayenne to a food processor and whizz until the mix resembles breadcrumbs
  2. Gradually add some small amounts of very cold water until the mix starts to come together
  3. Turn the mix onto a floured surface and form into a ball before wrapping in cling film and chilling for at least 30 minutes
  4. For the cheese filling, melt the butter over an even heat and stir in the flour to create a soft paste
  5. Add the milk and stir continuously until the paste in combined and the sauce starts to thicken.
  6. Cook over a low heat stirring regularly for another 10 minutes until the sauce no longer tastes floury. Stir in the cheese, once it has melted remove from the heat and place a sheet of cling film on the surface to stop a skin forming
  7. In a large frying pan’ heat the oil and butter together, and half the mushrooms (if you add all the mushrooms in one go they steam not fry). One of the best pieces of advice I ever received from a chef is not to stir mushrooms too often, as it makes them release water which makes them soggy. So fry for 5 minutes each side without stirring too much, set to one side and allow to cool
  8. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface in a circle that is about 1cm thick. Transfer to a sheet of baking paper and place on a baking sheet
  9. Spread the thick cheese sauce in the centre of the pastry leaving a 3-4cm border around the edge of the pastry
  10. Place the fried mushrooms on top of the cheese sauce. Brush edges of the pastry with the remaining egg yolk and pleating the edges inward
  11. Brush the outside of the galette with egg yolk and sprinkle grated cheese over the top of the mushrooms
  12. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown