Feb 15

Mushrooms with creme fraiche and bacon

Mushrooms with creme fraiche and bacon In a moment of weakness a few weeks ago, I ordered several cookbooks from Amazon.  One of my purchases was Ainsley Harriott’s “Fresh and Fabulous Meals in Minutes”.  It is no coincidence that I had been watching Ainsley’s show on tv earlier in the day.

I hardly need more cookbooks.  I’m fairly certain that if I was to cook every recipe in every cookbook I wouldn’t duplicate a recipe for 20 years.  However, there’s something about Ainsley’s cheeky and relaxed style that sucked me in.  And I have no regrets, if even half the recipes are as good as this one.

The mushrooms are meltingly tender.  If you cook them in the same pan as you just cooked the bacon, they take on the flavours of butter and bacon. If there is a better marriage of ingredients I don’t know it!  The garlic, added later in the cooking process, doesn’t have time to crisp up and turn bitter and instead mellows with the addition of the creme fraiche.  The thyme, my new favourite herb to use fresh, cuts through the richness of the dish and adds body to the flavours.

Make this dish for a loved one and they’ll be beating a path to your door.  And it is simplicity itself to put together – providing you with even more time to spend with said loved one.

Mushrooms with creme fraiche and bacon

By: Leah

This recipe is taken from one of my new cookbook acquisitions - Ainsley Harriott's "Fresh and Fabulous Meals in Minutes". It's the first recipe I've made from the book and if it's anything to go by the book will be getting a workout! This is not health food. This is not a recipe for every day or mass consumption. Nor would you expect it to be, with all that butter, creme fraiche and bacon. We made it for Valentine's Day brunch and it was the perfect indulgence...especially as I was feeling a little worse for wear after a hen's party the night before...
Details
  • Prep Time:
    10 min
  • Cook Time:
    10 min
  • Ready In:
    20 min
Servings: 2 servings
Ingredients
  • 40 grams Butter
  • 350 grams Mushrooms (I used button)
  • 1 tsp Fresh thyme
  • 1 clove Garlic crushed
  • 2 English muffins
  • 3 tbsps Creme fraiche
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 50 grams Bacon crisped up in the pan first
  • Salt and pepper
Directions
  1. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Be careful not to have the heat too high as the butter will burn.
  2. Add the thickly sliced mushrooms to the pan and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring gently.  The mushrooms should start to soften.
  3. Add the thyme and garlic and continue to cook for another 3 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender and juicy.
  4. Meanwhile, split and toast the muffins.
  5. Add the creme fraiche, mustard and salt and pepper to taste to the mushrooms.
  6. Allow the creme fraiche to melt, mix to combine and let bubble for about 30 seconds until warm through.
  7. Crumble or roughly chop the bacon and add to the pan.
  8. Arrange the muffins on a plate and top with the creamy mushrooms.
  9. Serve immediately and prepare for lip smacking and moans of enjoyment.
15.02.10 | Of: , | In: Food | 2 comments

Feb 07

Smitten dinner

One of my favourite food blogs is Smitten Kitchen.  The food pictures are amazing and I’ve yet to make a recipe I didn’t enjoy.

J and I cook nearly every night, but often the weeknight recipes aren’t that exciting.  However, on Tuesday we had mushrooms and rhubarb that needed to be used, so I turned to the interweb for inspiration.

Both of these recipes are available in full on Smitten Kitchen.

Mushroom Bourguignon

For our main course we enjoyed Mushroom Bourguignon.  This recipe is vegetarian unless you use beef stock like we did!  I also added celery in with the carrot and onion – I think it added nice texture and it’s pretty hard to go wrong with onion, carrot and celery – I believe that’s considered the holy trinity in some parts!  If you like mushrooms give this a try – I promise you won’t miss the meat!

Our decedant dessert was Rhubarb Cobbler.  This was phenomenal.  I actually halved the “cobbler” dough and I found that was plenty.  We got two nights dessert out of this one, but we might be gluttons :)

I have never made cobbler before – we’re more used to crumbles in my familiy.   I was very impressed with the dense yet moist texture of the “biscuits” that cover the rhubarb.  The dough comes together so quickly and easily if you have a food processor.  The rhubarb is cooked with plenty of sugar to counteract the tartness.  Served with a scoop of vanilla bean icecream this was a delight to my tastebuds.  It was quite a treat and I will definitely make again, maybe with different fruit.

Rhubarb Cobbler
07.02.10 | Of: , , , | In: Food | 2 comments