Mushroom Roll-Ups AKA Rolled Mushroom Canapés

Here's another tasty dish that gets baked rather than fried.  I love that!  This is from The Artists' and Writers' Cookbook: A Collection of Stories with Recipes.  It's vegetarian though not vegan, and is a butter-lover's delight.  I think my arteries groaned (but my tastebuds sang) when we ate this for dinner.

This is a recipe from Patricia Marx, who is/was? a staff writer for the New Yorker.  She says her parents (mum, I bet) used to make these for parties as canapés, each roll-up sliced into three.  Mine turned out quite small enough so I just left them whole.  Dunno what the ooze is on top in the photo - just the mushroom-y filling I guess.

Soft, white bread brings to mind sneaking out to the kitchen late at night when I was a child/teen, grabbing a couple of slices, buttering them liberally on both!! sides to then slap them into the toaster (the one with hinged doors, not pop-up), and toasting them till the butter ran into the bread.  Risking a fire in the kitchen as the butter dripped into the hot, orange filaments.  Pulling them out and burning your fingers ...  Greasy, buttery, salty, delicious ...

baked and ready to eat

Serves 3-4 as dinner with a side; several more as canapés

ingredients: 

Filling: 

225g./8 oz mushrooms (you choose the sort; I used cup mushies), finely chopped

1/4 cup chives and spring onions, chopped - see Notes

a happy handful of parsley, finely chopped

Black pepper, half a dozen grinds maybe?

a biiiig pinch of sea salt flakes

1 tsp gochugaru or chilli powder of your choice (optional)

3 Tbs butter

************

10 slices of soft white bread (not something I ever eat normally)

Butter at room temp. - how much?  I can't really say; just slather it on to your liking

Sour cream - also hard to say how much!?  see Notes

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated, tho' you can use more of course :=)

Extra chopped parsley for strewing over the roll-ups

Method:

Trim the crusts off your bread, and flatten them with a rolling pin till reaaaallly thin (till you worry about them, says Patricia)

Then slather each piece of bread with butter on one side, and then spread sour cream lightly (or heavily as you please) over the butter

Make the filling by placing the ingredients into a frypan/skillet and gently sautéing for about five or so minutes till cooked down and tender

Spoon a tablespoonful of this mixture onto each of the flattened bread slices

Spread it out a bit, then roll the bread up like a happy little cigar; keep going till all the slices are rolled up (or like a poster of the Last Supper, says Patricia)

Place them on a lined baking tray, seam side down; dollop on some butter, and sprinkle over the cheese and parsley

Bake for 30-35 minutes at 190C/375F till golden and crispy

Serve with salad and relish of your choice

Notes:

I used light sour cream; say around 100 mL (maybe 120 mL) 3.4 - 4 oz

I may have used more than 1/4 cup of the herby things!  Looks like I used half a punnet of chives and 3 of the spring onions

gather your ingredients

cut off your crusts!

into the frypan/skillet for sautéing

cook down your filling for a few minutes till tender

slather on the butter and sour cream and spoon on the filling

roll 'em up, place on the paper-lined tray, dollop on butter, and throw on the Parmesan

baked till crispy and golden

oozy, buttery and mushroom-y!

Sherry M.

Chicken Tenders - Baked the Nagi Way

Yep, another recipe from Nagi's book Dinner.  I love that she bakes rather than fries, and this is a genius idea of hers to toast the panko breadcrumbs first before baking, for that extra crunch.  How did we get by before panko?  Well, I never used to use breadcrumbs.  I always used cornflake crumbs instead!  Which I still do sometimes; especially good for coeliacs of course.  

Speaking of coeliacs, one of Mr P.'s sisters is a genuine case, so can't eat wheat and so on.  But another sister is a bit of a drama queen hypochondriac, and just decided not to eat it for no reason whatsoever.  We went to lunch with her one day, where she made a huge fuss about having to have gluten-free bread, then proceeded to leave it untouched on her plate.  The waiter was soooo not impressed :=)  As were we!  Family are weird!

serve with a bit of salad (wow, everything is beige!)

Serves 3-4:

ingredients:

90g./3.2 oz panko breadcrumbs - see Notes

500g/1.1 lb chicken tenderloins

1/2-1 tsp sea salt

1-2 Tbs parsley, finely chopped

Batter:

1 large egg

1 Tbs mayonnaise

1.5 Tbs mustard or 1-2 heaped tsp harissa paste - see Notes 

2 Tbs plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Serve with condiment of your choice: try sweet chilli sauce and kewpie mayo (as I did) or tomato sauce or tomato relish - you get the picture

Method:

On goes your oven to 200C/390F to heat up

Grab a large baking tray, and line it with baking paper

Spread the panko over the paper, and into the oven for 5-7 minutes - watch it carefully after 5 as mine was done by then (and give the tray a shake halfway through baking)

Tip it into a bowl, and leave the baking paper on the tray for the tenderloins

Place a wire cake rack over the baking paper, and either brush or spray the wires with vegetable oil

Mix all the batter ingredients together in a large (and hopefully shallow) bowl

Now add the chicken and toss them around to get a nice, sticky coating of batter

Grab some tongs, and place the pieces of chicken into the panko

Roll 'em around to get thoroughly coated, then place them one by one onto the wire rack

Spray the chicken pieces with oil, or just dribble a bit of oil on each piece (like me), if you don't have any veg. spray

Sprinkle some salt over each, then bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of your tenders (mine took 20 - they must have been big chooks)

On goes the parsley, and serve with the dip/sauce/relish of your choice

We ate some the next day, tho' the panko had gone a bit limp.  They lasted another day or so in the fridge, but I suggest eating them all up immediately :=) 

Notes:

Nagi advises to spray the panko with oil before baking, but I didn't!  I actually only used about 60 grams of the panko, and that was plenty

I'd planned to use my homemade wholegrain mustard, but we'd run out, so I used a heaped tsp of harissa instead.  "Use more next time!", says Mr P.  

Chop up some chicken breast if you can't get tenderloins

golden, toasted panko

about to batter :=)

chuck in the chicken

battered and into the panko

onto the tray for baking (oops, forgot to leave the baking paper underneath)

ready for eating

sprinkle with parsley

dollop on Kewpie mayo and tabasco sauce, or sweet chilli sauce

Sherry M.

Plum Pudding Vodka - AKA Christmas Vodka

 As (cooking) YouTuber Barry Lewis would say: "This is stonking" - which is a good thing!  I've been wanting to make this for a while, and finally it's nearly Christmas so I have.  It is much better than I expected, to be honest.  Sweet, fruity, spicy and so warming.  And you end up with heaps of vodka-infused fruit that goes beautifully on top of vanilla ice cream!

This recipe is from a Delicious magazine, though I've seen similar on the Net, with varying amounts of the dried fruit etc.  I only changed one thing - I used craisins rather than raisins as I'm not a raisin fan.  Too squishy for me!  I just can't do 'squishy'.  I can only eat blueberries or grapes at peak level of firmness.  Once they're past a certain degree of squish, nope no can do.  Uuuurrrggghhh, that texture thing makes me shudder.  Am I weird? :=)

Merry merry festive season, everyone!!

Merry Christmas pudding to you!

Makes about 700 mL:

ingredients:

1 x 700 mL bottle of vodka

250g./9 oz dark brown sugar

250g./9 oz sultanas

150g./5.3 oz craisins or raisins

100g./3.5 oz mixed peel

1 orange - zest/rind and juice thereof

1 tsp almond essence

6 cloves (yes 6!!)

2 cinnamon sticks

2 vanilla beans, split and seeds scraped out - see Notes

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp mixed spice

Method:

Place everything except the vodka into a big jar or bowl - I used a tall, glass jar which holds about 1.5 Litres

Then pour the vodka over the lot, and give it a massive stir!  Make sure you get down to the bottom, so as to stir in all the sugar

Put it in a cool, dark place with a tea-towel over it; stir it once a day for a week

Strain it through a very fine sieve or a sieve with a piece of muslin lining it - into a large bowl or jug of course

Let it sit for an hour or two, giving it the occasional squeeze down - I got heaps of it off the bottom of the sieve!

Decant into bottles of your choosing - you can just pour it straight back into the vodka bottle or share some with friends via small bottles 

Serve on the rocks (can be kept in the fridge for up to 6 months)

None of the recipes I saw mentioned what to do with the plump, alcohol-ridden fruit that you now have left: "Buy some vanilla ice cream!", declaims Mr P.  And yes that's a darn good idea, Mr P.!

I put the fruit into jars with a bit of extra vodka, and whacked 'em into the fridge for later ice cream treats.  When I say later, I mean that night as Mr P. demanded we head to the grocery store and buy some ice cream tout de suite :=)

Notes:

I didn't bother doing much scraping of the vanilla beans to be honest!  I did scrape one a bit, then I just snipped up the other one into small pieces as it all ends up swilling around anyway in the jar

gather your ingredients

zest and juice that orange

split and scrape the vanilla beans

  

plonk everything into a large jar or bowl

looks a bit murky but turns out all right in the end :=)

stir once a day for a week

give it a good squish down

back into the vodka bottle

and you have jars of lovely plump fruit too

deliveries by Santa's Elves (me and Mr P.) to various local businesses

fruit on vanilla ice cream that night (I added some Flake bar)

Sherry M.

In My Kitchen - December 2022

I'm gonna make this quick, my friends.  Lots to do, lots to do.  As the White Rabbit says: 'I'm late, I'm late for a very important date.'  Nah, not really; I've just got things to do pre-Christmas, as do you all I'm sure.  I can hardly believe that Christmas is almost here - again!  And I will be super glad when this year is done and dusted.  It has not been an easy one.  

But life goes on, ever-changing, ever the same.  And we just keep plugging away, 'cos that's all we can do, isn't it?  With hope and joy in our hearts.  Wishing you all a splendid festive season!  And please join in for In My Kitchen - all welcome. 

In My Kitchen:

bought this recently

We'll be doing this one in January for Cookbook club.  I grabbed a copy at our local bookshop, then headed next door for coffee.  Nagi's website and book are super-dooper popular!

there was German sour cherry cake

I made this to give to our Persian friends who have just moved into the neighbourhood from the outer 'burbs.  They are loving it here in the inner north!

and raspberry muffins

I made these one morning, for our tradie who is painting our house after doing copious amounts of sanding (the house is full of fine dust!).  And some to our Persian friends (as per above).  They went down a treat.

and yes another one!

Emelia is a former Masterchef contestant, and now makes a living baking (and writing, and having a baby, etc.)  Can't wait to delve into this one, though I fear her baking skills are waaaay above mine.

and a lovely plate by Tania Gilbey

Love this pretty handmade plate!  I wonder if she used a real leaf for the imprint?  Looks like something you see around the place.

we ate turkey meatballs on a Yayoi Kusama plate

and I bought another mug!

I'm drinking my coffee from this sweet, little mug by Anna Turnbull, a local ceramicist.  We met her recently at a Christmas market; so lovely, and so much good stuff to buy!

and I bought this Christmas pickle online

Such a sweet, little, German, wooden, Christmas pickle!  Enough adjectives for you?  Did you know there is a specific order to adjectives?  And that we hoover them up as children when learning language so we know not to say ' a blue, cute doll'.  Apparently there is a thing called The Royal Order of Adjectives; opinion comes before size and colour for example.  I find this fascinating that we learn this as babies!

L'il Dusty by our friend Dion (my curveball) - (the sculpture not Dion :=))

This is a gorgeous, ceramic sculpture by our mate Dion Parker.  I have a wee one in bronze already, but I couldn't resist this version.  Check out his work on his Instagram account: 'Holyshititsdion'.  I'm a tiny bit surprised that Insta let him keep that scurrilous account name :=) 

Wishing you all the best for the festive season, my friends, and see you in January for another In My Kitchen.  I mean,  there'll be a few other posts before then ...   And a huge thanks to all the regular contributors here.  We love your IMK posts every month!  And I really appreciate your help in keeping this link going.  And we must thank Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for starting it quite some years ago!

Be a part of our friendly IMK community by adding your post too.  Here's how to join us:

Tell us about your kitchen (and kitchen garden) happenings over the past month.  Dishes you've cooked, preserves you've made, herbs and veg. in your garden, kitchen gadgets, and goings-on.  And a curveball is welcome - whatever you fancy; no need to be kitchen-related.  

The link is open from the first of the month to midnight on the thirteenth of the month, every month.

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Japanese-Style Seasoning AKA Shichimi Togarashi The Sherry Way

This is the Sherry version of this Japanese seasoning.  Am I going quite mad, talking about myself in the third person?  Yep, already down that path, my friends.  What's that The Cheshire Cat says?: 'We're all mad here', and 'You're entirely bonkers.'  Yep, I'm there.

I've been buying packets of this from my fave online herb store (called Herbie's) for yonks, but I decided to give it a go as I had a rather large packet of nori to use up!  Half a sheet down, nine and a half to go :=)  

Did I mention how much I love Alice in Wonderland?  I have a 1946 copy that was my mum's, then mine.  And they spell 'cannot' as 'ca'n't'!  Have you noticed how people spell 'can not' as two words these days?  What's with that, my friends?  Why make it harder to spell?  How it irks me! :=)  "That's because you're a writer!," said a very kind friend.     

a tasty seasoning for all sorts of dishes

This recipe is a mish-mash of one from The Daring Gourmet and another from Wandercooks, (but mostly from TDG).  It makes one wee jar of seasoning.

ingredients:

1-1.5 Tbs dried orange peel/powder (not sweetened) see Notes

half a sheet of yaki nori (toasted seaweed)

1-2 heaped Tbs chilli flakes (I used gochugaru) see Notes

1/2-2/3 tsp sea salt (optional)

1/2 tsp lemon myrtle powder (optional) see Notes

2 tsp white sesame seeds, toasted

2 tsp black sesame seeds, toasted

1 tsp szechuan peppers, toasted

1/2 tsp poppy seeds, toasted

1 tsp ground ginger

Method:

Toast your seeds, and break up/snip the nori into tiny, wee pieces!

Chuck the orange peel into a small food processor, and blitz/pulse  away till tiny (no need to blitz if you have dried orange powder)

Then add all the other ingredients and blitz/pulse some more, till you have a texture that you're happy with - mine was fairly fine

Tip/pour the mixture into a small jar, and sprinkle lavishly on anything and everything - omelettes, tuna sandwiches, fried rice etc etc

Notes:

I could only buy dried orange slices, so I broke off the peel and blitzed it myself till I had tiny pieces

Some recipes suggest using 2 Tbs of chilli flakes; I like mine a bit milder, but go for it if you are a chilli fiend

I toasted the seeds in a small, dry skillet for a few minutes till fragrant, and I bashed the szechuan peppers in my Jamie Oliver thingy/flavour shaker before toasting.  Oh yes, and I put the poppy seeds into the skillet last, after I'd toasted the other seeds for a couple of minutes; they are smaller and will burn more readily

Lemon myrtle is endemic to Queensland so you may not be able to get it where you are! so just leave it out

 

ingredients gathered

(Dried orange slices and szechuan peppers from our mate Lucy's Providore Store Mumbleberry in our local village)

snip off the orange peel

and snip up the nori into small pieces

zap the orange peel and nori together

toast your seeds

and shake your goodies in your Jamie Oliver shaker (not necessary but fun!)

blitz everything up, and tip into a small jar

and here she be!

sprinkled on my Corn Thins with tuna, boiled egg and kewpie

'we're all mad here!'

szechuan peppers and orange slices