Mushroom
What would Autumn be like without enjoying the best fungi on offer and tasting the rich earthy pungency of the season?
This week we share a Mushroom Risotto recipe which makes a perfect meal by itself served with a salad or could accompany some fresh fish as a side dish. If you prefer pure vegetarian the Hummus and Herb Stuffed Mushrooms are for you.
Mushroom Risotto
8 cups vegetable stock,
2 tbsp olive oil,
1 brown onion
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 sprigs fresh thyme
200 g mushrooms
2 cups Riviana arborio rice
¾ cup dry white wine, (optional)
4 tbsp butter, chopped
½ cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bring vegetable stock to a low simmer in a large saucepan. Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped onion, garlic, and thyme, and sauté for 2 minutes, or until onions are tender but not browned. Add the rice and sauté for 30 seconds to coat with the oil. Stir in the wine and cook for 3 minutes. Add stock and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al denté (the centre of each grain should be slightly firm).
Add sliced mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes. Add thyme leaves, discard stems. Remove risotto from heat, and add butter, grated parmesan. Stir until butter has melted. Finally stir in parsley, and lemon juice, and season generously with salt and pepper.
Serve the risotto in 4 warmed serving bowls. Garnish with the shaved parmesan and serve.
Hummus and Herb Stuffed Mushrooms
From Mushroom Magic by Steven Wheeler
12 medium open cap field mushrooms
4 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP Lemon juice
for the Hummus
14oz can chick-peas, drained
2TBSP tahini
2 garlic cloves, crushed
5 TBSP olive oil
Celery salt and cayenne pepper
6 TBSP chopped fresh parsley
2 TBSP mild Paprika
Stuffed olives to garnish
Preheat oven to 375. Snap stems from mushroom caps. Combine olive oil and lemon juice and brush over the insides of the caps. Arrange on a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Cool. Blend chick-peas in a food processor until smooth; add tahini, garlic and oil. Add salt and pepper. Spoon hummus into mushroom caps in conical shapes, mask one side with paprika and the other half with parsley. Serve at room temperature, garnished with olives.
A mushroom (or toadstool) is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi (Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes) that have a stem (stipe), a cap (pileus), and gills (lamellae, sing. lamella) or pores on the underside of the cap.
"Mushroom" describes a variety of gilled fungi, with or without stems, and the term is used even more generally, to describe both the fleshy fruiting bodies of some Ascomycota and the woody or leathery fruiting bodies of some Basidiomycota, depending upon the context of the word. Forms deviating from the standard morphology usually have more specific names, such as "puffball", "stinkhorn", and "morel", and gilled mushrooms themselves are often called "agarics" in reference to their similarity to Agaricus or their place Agaricales. By extension, the term "mushroom" can also designate the entire fungus when in culture; the thallus (called a mycelium) of species forming the fruiting bodies called mushrooms; or the species itself.
Mushrooms are used extensively in cooking, in many cuisines (notably Chinese,Korean, European, Japanese and Indian). Mushroom is called Khumb in Hindi. They are known as the "meat" of the vegetable world. Most mushrooms sold in supermarkets have been commercially grown on mushroom farms. The most popular of these, Agaricus bisporus, is considered safe for most people to eat because it is grown in controlled, sterilized environments. Several varieties ofA. bisporus are grown commercially, including whites, crimini, and portobello. Other cultivated species now available at many grocers include shiitake, maitake or hen-of-the-woods, oyster, and enoki. In recent years, increasing affluence in developing countries has led to a considerable growth in interest in mushroom cultivation, which is now seen as a potentially important economic activity for small farmers
Mushrooms are a low-calorie food usually eaten cooked or raw and as garnish to a meal. Dietary mushrooms are a good source of B vitamins, such as riboflavin, niacin andpantothenic acid, and the essential minerals, selenium, copper and potassium. Fat,carbohydrate and calorie content are low, with absence of vitamin C and sodium. There are approximately 20 calories in an ounce of mushrooms. When exposed to ultraviolet light, natural ergosterols in mushrooms produce vitamin D2, a process now exploited for the functional food retail market.
Mushroom. (2013, May 3). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mushroom&oldid=553352181
Picture: Mushrooms including red-capped mushrooms from the genus Russula, 188-?, by Ellis Rowan (1848 – 1922). Pic No: nla.pic-vn4365924, courtesy National Library of Australia. For more about Rowan Ellis and other Australian lady Botanical Artists see this week’s Collector’s Corner.
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