Mushroom & Pumpkin Wellington

When I picked up the December/January issue of Delicious magazine, I admit I was instantly drawn to the pages of incredible sweet creations offered by the publication. What I didn't expect, however, was a section dedicated to vegetarian Christmas dishes. Could it really be?! I was excited to say the least... it really isn't that often that vegetarian dishes get much of a look-in at this time of year, so a special feature by Jamie Oliver was a special surprise :)

No tofurkey here (yes - tofu if the shape of a turkey.. something I've never been able to get my head around...), but rather an interesting take on a classic - the Beef Wellington.When I turned to Jamie's Mushroom & Pumpkin Wellington I knew it would be a contender for a place at the Christmas table on the 25th, so I did a trial run today for dinner. There is quite a lot of work in this dish, but like a lot of Christmas dishes, the preparation is almost therapeutic and the result is rewarding. This beef-free wellington is packed with Christmassy flavours.. I especially love the sage and chestnuts in this dish, really delicious along with the flaky pastry.

Mushroom & Pumpkin Wellington
Adapted Jamie Oliver recipe from Delicious magazine (December 2010/January 2011 issue)

Ingredients

1 small butternut pumpkin (halved lengthways, seeds scooped out, peeled and cut into thick wedges)
olive oil
1 small dired chilli, crumbled
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 rosemary sprig, leaves chopped
2 red onions, sliced
75g chestnuts, roughly chopped
small bunch sage leaves (around 8-10 leaves picked)
2 slices sourdough bread
3 garlic cloves
1 lemon
50g unsalted butter
250g swiss brown mushrooms, thinly sliced
large bunch English spinach, trimmed
1/3 c pine nuts
2 tbsp sultanas
4 squares ready-made puff pastry
1 egg, beaten with a splash of milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius. Toss the pumpkin wedges into a large baking pan with a splash of oil, the chilli and cinnamon - rub the pumpkin well to coat. Bash coriander seeds along with a little coarse salt in a pestle and mortar until fine, then add the rosemary and bash again for a minute or two until aromatic. Scatter this evenly over the pumpkin then cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes, or until soft. Cool, then tear into bite size chunks.

2. Meanwhile, place a pan on medium heat and add a splash of oil and cook the onion. Season well and  cook gently for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally until softened and lightly browned. Add the chestnuts and sage to the pan for the last few minutes of cooking.

3. While that's happening, toast the sourdough and rub with the cut sides of one of the garlic cloves. Tear the toast into small chunks, and once the onion is done, add the toast to the pan and mix everything together. Switch the heat off and season a little more and add the lemon zest. Set mixture aside.

4. Melt butter in a clean pan over medium heat and add the mushrooms and one clove of garlic, thinly sliced. Cook the mushrooms to 4-6 minutes until soft and quite dry. Squeeze in a little lemon juice, season well with salt and pepper, then tip into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Set puree aside.

5. Bring a large pan of salted water to boil and blanch the spinach briefly (around 30 seconds). Drain in a colander and press lightly to get rid of excess fluid, then place to one side.

6. Place a small dry pan over medium heat and toast the pine nuts for 1 minute until light brown. Tip onto a plate. Thinly slice remaining garlic clove. Return the pan to the heat and add a splash of oil, then the garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes before adding the pine nuts, sultanas and spinach. Fry everything together until warmed through and smelling delicious. Season well and turn off the heat.

7. Once almost fully defrosted. lay the squares of pastry on top of each other, leaving a 1 cm overlap between each. Roll out between baking paper to an even 2mm thickness, and the approximate dimensions of an A3 piece of paper. Spread the mushroom mixture all over, leaving a 1cm gap on the edges of all 4 sides of the pastry (I forgot to do this, but it's fairly important once you're sealing up the wellington).

8. In a large bowl, combined the pumpkin, onions and spinach mixtures.

Spoon in a thick line down the middle of the pastry. Hold one side of the paper and lift it with the pastry, towards the centre of the wellington so it starts to cover the filling.

Peel the paper back, leaving the pastry in place. Brush some eggwash along the centre edge and pull the other side of pastry over it so that it overlaps, containing the filling in a log shape. Brush the ends with eggwash and fold in the pastry to seal it. Carefully roll onto a lined baking tray, with the sealed side down. Brush all over with egg wash and score lightly in a criss-cross fashion.

9. Bake for 45 minutes at 200 degrees Celcius, until puffed and golden. Slice thickly to serve.

So, the verdict on Jamie Olier's vegetarian wellington recipe? It's tasty, it's certainly Christmassy, and it looks great... It is a time consuming dish to make, but something like this wellington would be ideal at Christmas in a cold climate because it is so warming and comforting. I don't think this is quite the 'it' dish I was after for the Christmas menu, but good thing the Delicious magazine has plenty more recipes for me to try... If only I had more time to sample them all!

So, to all the vegetarians/vegans out there, what's your ideal savoury Christmas dish?


Ladybird x

Quorn Tikka Masala

It's official - quorn is here!

I recently had the pleasure of receiving a number of Quorn products to try before they hit stores around the country - I know, pretty cool, huh?! Quorn is a meat free, soy free protein and is perfect for vegetarians. I have tried other such products from Sanitarium without much success or enjoyment, but quorn is in a league of its own. It really does taste good, it's very versatile.. and it has finally become available in Australia!

Below is an adapted recipe from the Quorn UK website, and makes for a very tasty dinner. The freshness of the lime and fresh coriander combined with the fragrance from the cardamom is wonderful. This is even a good recipe to try if you wanted to replace the quorn with chicken.

Ingredients

For the tikka marinade:
300g bag Quorn pieces, straight from the freezer
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 c natural yoghurt

Masala sauce:
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 small brown onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
seeds from 6 green cardamoms
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp tumeric
1 large red chilli, chopped (with seeds if you like it hot)
3 tbsp tomato purée
250ml water
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves Garnish
juice 1/2 lime
freshly ground black pepper
dollop pouring cream (optional)

Method
1. Combine the tikka marinade ingredients and marinate the Quorn pieces for up to 2 hours.
2. To make the masala sauce, heat the vegetable oil in a deep pan or a saucepan nd sauté the onion, ginger, chilli and garlic and fry for about 5 minutes until softened but not coloured.

3. Add the dry spices and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes then add the tomato purée, water, sugar and salt. Partly cover and simmer this mixture gently for 10 minutes.
4. Transfer the Quorn pieces and marinade into the masala sauce and simmer gently for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the chopped coriander leaves, lime juice and freshly ground pepper. Stir in cream if desired.
6. Serve garnished with fresh coriander and a slice of lime along with basmati rice.


Quorn will be available from Coles and Woolworths by end June.
For more information, check out the Quorn website: http://www.quorn.com.au/

Ladybird x

Eating out (at home)

There's no disputing the fact that a home-cooked meal is a lovely one. But a home-cooked meal made by others in your home is even better! You can sit back and relax with your glass of wine with the comfort of knowing you don't have to drive anywhere (or handle a knife), and give only the occasional direction on where to find something or how to get something working. And if someone else is cooking, you will usually end up eating something you wouldn't normally make yourself.. so in a way it's like eating out in the comfort of your own home!

Mr Ladybird and I had the pleasure of such an experience recently when my brother and his girlfriend visited Sydney. They treated us to a delicious home cooked meal of Pumpkin, Sage and Ricotta Lasagne, followed by Maple Syrup Roast Peaches with Coconut Crumble.

The lasagne was simple and delicious, and it made me think how well the flavours of pumpkin and sage complement each other. Note to self - must add sage to balcony herb garden!

To get the recipe, click here.

My brother's girlfriend, Amber, whipped up these succulent peaches with a crunchy coconut topping in no time. Such a talented little lady...

To check out the recipe for this easy and yummy summer dessert, click here.

And we enjoyed it all with a wonderful Printhie 2009 Sauvignon Blanc from Orange. I would highly recommend this wine... It also turns out that Amber is from Orange, so that was a nice coincidence :)

On a side note, I want to let you all know that Amber will at long last be starting her own blog soon, called My Button Cake. Stay tuned...

Ladybird x

Open Omlette with Spinach, Goat's Fetta & Cherry Tomatoes

Open omlettes are one of my favourite quick and easy dinners. Mr Ladybird loves them too, even for breakfast.

For one of these you'll need:
2 eggs
handful of baby spinach, roughly chopped
few cherry tomatoes, quartered
Goat's fetta (but you can use any sort of cheese really)

Method

1. Heat the oven grill.
2. In a bowl, season and whisk the eggs. Heat a dash of olive oil in a small, not-stick pan and pour in the egg mixture.
3. With the heat still on, throw in the baby spinach, chunks of fetta and arrange the tomatoes.
4. When the omlette starts to firm up, take it off the heat and put it under the grill until it turns golden brown.
5. Slide onto the plate, and enjoy!
   

Love,

Ladybird x

Creamy Mushroom Fettucine

Sometimes it's good to see what you have in the fridge and just to make a meal out of it. Today was was of those days. After a long week at work, there was no way I was stopping at the supermarket on the way home! With onion, garlic, mushrooms, parsley and a dash of cream, I came up with this pasta and topped it with some parmesan cheese.

Quick, easy and delicious :)

Have a great weekend everyone!


Ladybird

Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

I felt like something like this for dinner tonight. I wasn't too well yesterday and dined on toast for dinner, so I had to make something decent tonight!
The recipe is surprisingly easy, and low fat too! So here's the recipe.


Enjoy with a glass of red wine for good measure ;)

Love,

Ladybird x