With huge nutritional benefits, a strong flavour profile and a price that won’t break the bank, mushrooms could be the star of your dinner table this Christmas
Are you looking for the perfect ingredient to add a little something special to your dishes this festive season? Then the humble mushroom is the one you’re looking for!
If you’re unsure how to incorporate this super-vegetable into your menu, we’ve got three for you. Mushroom Baskets are a delicious and quick-to-prepare starter ideal for serving as finger food at any New Year’s Eve celebration, the Festive Mushroom Cake with pear and blue cheese is a hearty dish perfect for any vegetarian at the Christmas dinner table, or you could serve a dessert with a twist with Mushroom and Nut cookies!
Here’s what you’ll need to make these surprisingly delicious recipes:
1. Mushroom and Nut Salty Cookies
Ingredients
- 150g canned button mushrooms
- 40g chopped walnuts
- 80g softened butter
- 125g flour
- ½ sachet yeast
- 115g almond powder
- 50g grated cheese
- 2 eggs
- 3 pinches of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°
- In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, almond powder and salt
- Coarsely crush walnuts
- Drain mushrooms well
- Add walnuts, grated cheese, eggs, butter and mushrooms, mixing well between each ingredient, 6) Using a tablespoon, place small heaps of dough on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, spacing them well apart
- Flatten slightly with the back of a spoon
- Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes
- Serve warm or cold
2. Mushroom Cake with pear and blue cheese
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 80 ml oil
- 150 ml buttermilk
- 150g flour
- 1/2 sachet baking powder
- 1 small pear
- 8 small white button mushrooms
- 80g Roquefort cheese
- salt and pepper
- 10g butter for the tin
- 10g flour for the tin
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and buttermilk. Season with salt and pepper.
- Gradually add the flour and baking powder, mixing well with a whisk to avoid lumps.
- Peel the pear and dice finely. Dice the Roquefort cheese. Rinse the mushrooms.
- Mix the pastry with the diced pear and Roquefort.
- Butter and flour the baking tin. Preheat the oven to 180°C (gas mark 6).
- Pour half the batter into the tin. Place 7 whole mushrooms in the pastry.
- Cover with the remaining pastry.
- Thinly slice the last mushroom and place the slices on the surface of the cake.
- Place in the oven for 40 minutes.
Equipment: 24 cm cake tin
3. Mushroom Baskets
Ingredients:
- 250g small button mushrooms
- 2 sweet potatoes or 10 carrots
- a small piece of ginger
- garlic powder to taste
- chives
- oil, salt, pepper
- 1 roll ready-to-use puff pastry
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 200°
- Peel and dice sweet potatoes or carrots.
- Cook with grated ginger until tender, then mash to a purée.
- Wash mushrooms quickly under running water, cut into quarters and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder, then fry in a little oil.
- Line 6 small muffin cases with puff pastry.
- Fill the baskets with the purée, top with the fried mushrooms and sprinkle with chives.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
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Disclaimer: Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
