Mushroom and Shallot Quiche

Little Thumbs Up : Baking and Cooking event, selected ingredient for the month of May is "MUSHROOMS"

Little Thumbs Up, is an event organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen from my little favourite D.I.Y. , where an ingredient is selected each month and everyone is welcome to join in by using the selected ingredient either in your bakes or in your cooking pot. I am the host for this month, and my selected ingredient is "MUSHROOMS". Please do join us, cook or bake any recipes using Mushrooms as one of its ingredient, post it in your blog within this month, (only new and current posts), and link to Little Thumbs Up, in the thumbnail linky which is provided at the bottom of this post. To find out more details on Little Thumbs Up, please click here.

While this month's theme is MAY : MUSHROOMS, the selected ingredient for June is Curry Powder or Paste and will be hosted by Everybody Eats Well In Flanders. Cook  or bake any of your favourite curry dish, and link that up in June which shall start on 4th June.

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

White Button Mushrooms

White button mushrooms are very popular in the United States, it represent about 90% of mushrooms consumed in the U.S.  These mushrooms have a very mild taste and the flavours intensifies when cooked. They can be sauteed and cooked in any way, and even eaten raw in salads. A serving of 4 to 5 white button provides 18 calories, 0 gram of fats and 3 gram of carbohydrates. It is a good source of antioxidant selenium, the B vitamin riboflavin, niacin and pantothenic acid, copper, 300gm of potassium per serving. 

While those info above are very informative, and I would probably could not remember all that in the next minute, what I do know is these mushrooms are so delicious, sauteed and use as a quiche filling!  Yum!

Mushroom and Shallots Quiche, so good!

Quiche is one of my most favourite savoury pastry. Especially if it has bacon or ham in it! Both bacon or ham, makes everything tastes so much yummier! This recipe does not call for either ham or bacon, but I have added in some ham chips, just because!

And I have used more shallots than the recipes calls for.

The pastry is a little difficult to work with, it is very soft, refrigerate it until firm and work quickly, very quickly! But then it is worth the effort! I made a full batch of the pastry and kept half of it in the freezer, for another one of my quiche days!

This is so good! The mushrooms, ham, cheese and shallots are so delicious together!

I'm linking this post to Little Thumbs Up event, hosted by Joyce, kitchen flavours, organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen for my little favourite D.I.Y.

To join us, simply bake or cook any recipes using the ingredient for this month MUSHROOM.  Submit your post by linking to the thumbnail linky provided at the bottom of this post. 

• Your submission must be a current and new post.
• Mention Little Thumbs Up in your post, and submit your post to the thumbnail linky to the host of this month, Joyce from kitchen flavours, and link to Bake For Happy Kids, and my little favourite D.I.Y. 
• Feel free to display Little Thumbs Up badge in your post.
• Last date of linking will be on 31st May 2013.

Mushroom and Shallots Quiche
(adapted from "Martha Stewart's New Pies & Tarts")
All purpose flour, for dusting
1/2 recipe Pate Brisee (refer recipe below)
Mushroom and Shallot Filling (refer recipe below)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk (I did not use the extra egg yolk)
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1-1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese (I use Cheddar)

1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 14-inch round, about 1/8 inch thick. Fit it into a 10-inch round fluted tart panb with a removable bottom, gently pressing dough to fit. With a small knife or rolling pin, trim excess dough flush with rim. Pierce bottom of shell all over with a fork. Refrigerate or freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 375F. Line shell with parchment, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until crust is beginning to brown at edges, about 30 minutes. Remove parchment and weights; bake until bottom of crust is dry but not yet golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes more. Transfer shell to a wire rack to cool slightly.
3. Meanwhile, make the filling of your choice, then prepare the custard ; In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, cream, eggs, and yolk until combined, then whisk in nutmeg and season with salt and pepper.
4. Place tart pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle half the cheese evenly over bottom of crust. Sprinkle with filling, then top with remaining cheese. Carefully pour custard over cheese. Bake until just set in the center, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool at least 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Mushroom and Shallot Filling
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced (I used about 4-5)
1 pound white button mushrooms, quartered (I use only 1/2 pound, about 200gm)
150gm chopped ham (my addition)
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat oil in a large skillet over high. Cook shallots, stirring constantly, until translucent, about 1 minute. Add mushrooms (and ham bits, if using) and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are dark golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. (Mushrooms will release liquid at first; cook until it has evaporated, adjusting heat as necessary). Transfer to a bowl, and let cool slightly.


For the Crust :
Pate Brisee
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt (omitted this as I've used salted butter)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

1. Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor (or whisk together by hand in a bowl). Add butter, and pulse (or quickly cut in with a pastry blender of your fingertips) until mixture resembles coarse meal, with some larger pieces remaining. Drizzle 1/4 cup water over mixture. Pulse (or mix with a fork) until mixture just begins to hold together. If dough is too dry, add 1/4 cup more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse (or mix with a fork).
2. Divide dough in half onto two pieces of plastic wrap. Gather into two balls, wrap loosely in plastic, and press each into a disk using a rolling pin. Refrigerate until firm, well wrapped in plastic, 1 hour or up to 1 day. (Dough can be frozen up to 3 months; thaw in refrigerator before using).

kitchen flavours notes :
When mixing in the cold water, start with 3 tablespoons first, adding 1 tablespoons at a time until mixture just begins to hold together. In total, I only used about 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of ice water.

Mushroom Chocolate Cookies

Little Thumbs Up : Baking and Cooking event, selected ingredient for the month of May is "MUSHROOMS"

Little Thumbs Up, is an event organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen from my little favourite D.I.Y. , where an ingredient is selected each month and everyone is welcome to join in by using the selected ingredient either in your bakes or in your cooking pot. I am the host for this month, and my selected ingredient is "MUSHROOMS". Please do join us, cook or bake any recipes using Mushrooms as one of its ingredient, post it in your blog within this month, (only new and current posts), and link to Little Thumbs Up, in the thumbnail linky which is provided at the bottom of this post. To find out more details on Little Thumbs Up, please click here.

While this month's theme is MAY : MUSHROOMS, the selected ingredient for June is Curry Powder or Paste and will be hosted by Everybody Eats Well In Flanders. Cook  or bake any of your favourite curry dish, and link that up in June which shall start on 4th June.

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

Yes, you have read the title of the post correctly! It is Mushroom Chocolate Cookies! And no, it is not one of those cute little cookies that looks like cute little mushrooms, but these cookies actually have real mushrooms in them!

I was just playing around when I google from the internet for mushrooms sweet desserts, well, I was surprised that there are quite a number out there, something that I never thought about, until that moment when I decided to try my luck and see whether is there any sweet desserts with mushrooms as one of its ingredient. One thing I've learnt is that, there's a mushroom called Candy Cap Mushrooms, which are dried and used for dessert making, because of their maple-like taste! Imagine that!  Mushrooms with a maple taste, how I wish I could get my hands on some of these! Since I do not know where to get dried Candy Cap Mushroom, and I really doubt that I could get it over here in Malaysia, I will just have to settle for these cookies that uses fresh mushrooms! I am really, really curious as to the taste of fresh mushrooms in chocolate cookies. So the only way is, to bake these cookies, even at 33 degrees C in a blazing hot kitchen!  Are these good? Read on to find out!

Mushroom Of The Day : Brown Button Mushroom

I use fresh brown button mushrooms. They are chopped coarsely and mixed into the batter ....

... along with some golden raisins and chopped walnuts. The original recipe uses sour cream, but I have substitute with homemade yoghurt and only use 1/2 cup instead of 3/4 cup, because the batter is very soft and if I used up all 3/4 cup, it would end up like a cake batter.

Drop teaspoonfuls of batter onto prepared pans, spacing them 2" apart.

These cookies do not spread much. The texture is crispy on the outside and soft in the centre. Since we do not like soft cookies in my house, I have baked these cookies longer, maybe 10-12 minutes longer, rotating the cookie sheets in between, until they are crispy.

There, Mushroom Chocolate Cookies! Would you have known that these chocolate cookies have fresh mushrooms in them, by the look of these cookies?  I definitely can't tell. Well, how about if you have munch on one, can you tell? Read on the reaction from my family, of course I did not let them know that there's fresh mushrooms in the cookies, until later!

Review from the family :
After munching on one piece of these cookies, here's the response :
Son : Yum! One more please!
Me : Can you guess what's in the cookies?
Son : Raisins and nuts.
Me: There's one more ingredient.
Son : (crunch, chomp, chomp, crunch). No idea, but can I have another one?
(The son ate the cookies fresh after baking, when the cookies are still crispy, and surprisingly, good).

Daughter and hubby : Both of them ate a few, trying to figure out the mystery ingredient, and still could not guess what that ingredient is. When I finally told them that it's mushroom, they were very surprised and could not believe that there's mushrooms in the cookies, asking me whether was I joking!

My review : Unfortunately these cookies do not stay crispy for long, later in the night, when we ate it again, they have turned soft and tender! Just as stated in the recipe "They will stay beautifully moist and tender for days". These cookies are actually quite nice, just like regular soft chocolate cookies. But advisable to finish them as soon as possible, since they contain fresh mushrooms, I don't think they can keep for much longer than a few days. I guess these are really for those who love chewy or soft cookies, but not for my family, we still like crispy cookies the best.

Note : This recipe was originally from "The Mushroom Cookbook" by Sybil Henderson, published in 1968. 

These cookies looks like just like any other chocolate cookies. For fun, bake a batch of these, let the family guess the mystery ingredient, and I bet that, nobody would know that there's mushrooms in the cookies! Haha! Have fun!

I'm linking this post to Little Thumbs Up event, hosted by Joyce, kitchen flavours, organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen for my little favourite D.I.Y.

To join us, simply bake or cook any recipes using the ingredient for this month MUSHROOM.  Submit your post by linking to the thumbnail linky provided at the bottom of this post. 

• Your submission must be a current and new post.
• Mention Little Thumbs Up in your post, and submit your post to the thumbnail linky to the host of this month, Joyce from kitchen flavours, and link to Bake For Happy Kids, and my little favourite D.I.Y. 
• Feel free to display Little Thumbs Up badge in your post.
• Last date of linking will be on 31st May 2013.

Mushroom Chocolate Cookies
(source from : here, original recipe from this book)

1/2 cup butter (add 1/4 tsp salt if butter is unsalted)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

60gm unsweetened chocolate, melted

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 cup yoghurt

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup coarsely chopped fresh button mushrooms

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla extract and beat thoroughly. Stir in chocolate, Sift flour, soda and salt (if using), and add to creamed mixture alternately with the yoghurt. Mix well and add remaining ingredients. Drop from teaspoon at least 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake in moderate oven at 350F for 12 minutes or until done. Remove from pan and cool. They will stay beautifully moist and tender for days.

Fettuccine with Spring Onions and Soya Bean : IHCC

To submit your post to :
~ Little Thumbs Up, Mushroom event, click here.

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

"Use Your Noodle" , our theme for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), where we are cooking from Yotam Ottolenghi's recipes until September. There are a couple of recipes that I've listed down to try and finally chose this "easy and comforting" pasta meal, so says Ottolenghi. The original recipe uses dried wide rice noodles and can be substitute with fettuccine instead. I've decided to use fettuccine since I have a packet in my pantry and some frozen soya beans in my freezer which is one of the ingredients used.

This dish uses lots of spring onions, I have no problem with that, as we love spring onions in my house, and usually when I cook any dish with spring onions, I will use lots of it! I have some green jalapenos in my fridge and use that to replace the green chilies.  Some sesame seeds are toasted to be mixed in later. Seasoning used are some sesame oil, rice-wine vinegar, salt and lemon zest. Fettuccine are cooked till al dente. The spring onions are sauteed in a little oil together with the sliced jalapenos for about 2 minutes, add in the soya beans and pour over the drained fettuccine,  the seasonings are added in, and mix well to combine.

Top with some lemon zest before serving. This dish is just OK me. I would not say that it is entirely not tasty, but a little plain if eaten as a meal. It would be OK if served as a side dish alongside some roasted meat, but to eat it as a meal by itself is pretty much boring in my opinion. I made this for my kids' after school lunch, and not sure they will like this, so I have jazzed it up a little. I pan-fried some chopped bacon, along with some leftover sausage filling from my Portobello Pizza, and toss the bacon-sausage mixture with the fettucine, with some black pepper.

Bacon and sausages never fails to add flavour to a dish! Tastes so much better. My kids ate this without complaints, even commented "Wow, with bacon, very nice!" 

Please do stop by I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) to view what my friends have made for the theme of this week, "Use Your Noodle" , and if you are interested to join us, please find out more details from IHCC.

Fettuccine with Spring Onions and Soya Beans
(source from : here, Yotam Ottolenghi)
250 gm dried wide rice noodles (or fettuccine)
3 tbsp sunflower oil
32 small spring onions, trimmed and cut diagonally into 3cm slices
2 green chillies, thinly sliced
250 gm frozen soya beans, blanched for two minutes, refreshed and drained
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
1-1/2 tsp rice-wine vinegar
2 tbsp chopped coriander (optional)
salt
grated zest of 1 lemon

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the noodles for four to six minutes, until al dente. Drain, wash off the excess starch with hot water and set aside in a large bowl with half a tablespoon of sunflower oil stirred through. Keep the bowl somewhere warm, covered.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining sunflower oil in a large wok or saute pan and add the spring onions and chilli. Cook for two minutes on high heat until the onions soften a little, then add the soya beans and heat them through for 30 seconds.

Pour the contents of the wok over the warm noodles, followed by the sesame oil, sesame seeds, vinegar, coriander (is using) and half a teaspoon of salt. Stir and serve at once, sprinkled with lemon zest.

English Muffins : ABC May 2013

To submit your post to :
~ Little Thumbs Up, Mushroom event, click here.

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

"English Muffins" is this month's bake at Avid Baker's Challenge (ABC). That is one more item off my list of to-do! I have always wanted to try English Muffins, but with so many bakes to try, somehow it has not reached  the top of my list, that is until ABC's chosen bake for May is English Muffins! ABC is currently baking from King Arthur Flour's website until December, where a different recipe will be chosen each month. 

I am a little late for this month's link at ABC. These muffins was made more than a month ago, and  only completed the post a couple of days ago (smiling sheepishly!!!). So here it is: 

1. Make the dough. I used the stand mixer to knead the dough. Let it rise for 1-2 hours, deflate gently and divide dough into two equal portions. 
2. Divide each portion into six equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, then flatten until they're about 3 to 3-1/2" in diameter. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes until they puffed a little.
3. Sprinkle a saucepan with some cornmeal, place the muffins and sprinkle the top with more cornmeal. Cook the muffins over low heat for 7-15 minutes. 
4. The muffins puffed up during cooking.
5. Turn muffins over and cook the other side until light brown. To make sure the muffins are fully cooked inside, remove muffins to a baking sheet and continue to bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.
6. Remove muffins and let cool on wire rack.

English Muffins are not supposed to look like buns, so if it is puffing up like a bun, you may want to weigh them down gently during cooking by placing a baking sheet over the top. But I did not bother to do that, I don't mind the very puffy muffins!

Split it the traditional way. English Muffins should not be sliced with a knife, rather split it open by using a fork, working it round the sides and split it open gently. Reason is fork-split muffins would have nooks and crannies, see above, while cut-muffins don't.

Eat it like the English would, toast the split muffins under the broiler for about 2 mins till brown and spread some butter over, it would melt deliciously on the hot muffins, and ....

.......  spread with your favourite jam. I've used my homemade Kumquat Marmalade, so good! Makes the perfect breakfast! 

Overall review : These English Muffins are really good! I love the soft chewiness of the outer crust, and the soft and tasty texture on the inside. I would definitely make this again! Having it split and broiled, and spread with a generous amount of butter and jam, is simply delightful!
It is even great made as a sandwich bread, which we had for our dinner with homemade meat patties.

For the full recipe for this English Muffins, you may refer to King Arthur Flour.

     

To view the other members bake on this bread, please stop by Avid Baker's Challenge (ABC). We are currently baking from King Arthur Flour website, if you are interested to join in, please contact Hanaa.

Portobello Pizzas

 Little Thumbs Up : Baking and Cooking event, selected ingredient for the month of May is "MUSHROOMS"

Little Thumbs Up, is an event organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen from my little favourite D.I.Y. , where an ingredient is selected each month and everyone is welcome to join in by using the selected ingredient either in your bakes or in your cooking pot. I am the host for this month, and my selected ingredient is "MUSHROOMS". Please do join us, cook or bake any recipes using Mushrooms as one of its ingredient, post it in your blog within this month, (only new and current posts), and link to Little Thumbs Up, in the thumbnail linky which is provided at the bottom of this post. To find out more details on Little Thumbs Up, please click here.

While this month's theme is MAY : MUSHROOMS, the selected ingredient for June is Curry Powder or Paste and will be hosted by Everybody Eats Well In Flanders. Cook  or bake any of your favourite curry dish, and link that up in June which shall start on 4th June.

Mushroom Of The Day : Portabella Mushroom

Portabella is the largest of the cultivated mushrooms. They have tan or brown caps and measure up to 6 inches in diameter. These mushrooms have deep, meat-like texture and flavour. Portabella can be grilled, broiled, and roasted and they make a flavourful vegetarian alternatives and are great served as "burgers" on toasted buns. On the nutrition side, one medium cap provides 22 calories, 0 gram fat, 4 grams of carbohydrates and is an excellent source of B vitamin riboflavin, a good source of the antioxidant selenium, potassium, phosphorus, the B vitamins niacin and pantothenic acid and copper.

Let's get down to the recipe for today : Portobello Pizzas.
I made these Portobello Pizzas for the kids' after school lunch, and boy, do these bring out those smiles! I am a fan of Rachel Ray! I have tried many of her recipes and so far they have not disappoint me yet, including this Portobello Pizzas. These are downright delicious! 

Firstly, remove the stems and scraped out the gills from the Portobello caps. Wash them gently under running water to remove any dirts. Dab them dry gently with some paper towels. Place them on a greased baking tray and season with a sprinkling of salt and black pepper on both sides. Drizzle some olive oil over and broil in the oven, caps side up for about 2-3 minutes, turn over and broil other side for another 2-3 minutes or until tender, watch out that they do not burn. Remove and stuff with filling.

To make the filling :

The recipe uses Italian sweet sausage. I use my own homemade Italian sweet sausage, will share the recipe on another day. The filling is made up of the sausage, cherry tomatoes which are cooked until they burst, a delightful process to watch when the cherry tomatoes popped!

The mushroom caps are stuffed with the filling, top with some cheese, here I have used mozzarella cheese.  Grill these mushrooms under the broiler for about 1-2 minutes until the cheese melts, keep a close watch, taking care not to burnt the cheese.

Serve immediately. Delicious!

I'm linking this post to Little Thumbs Up event, hosted by Joyce, kitchen flavours, organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen for my little favourite D.I.Y.

To join us, simply bake or cook any recipes using the ingredient for this month MUSHROOM.  Submit your post by linking to the thumbnail linky provided at the bottom of this post. 

• Your submission must be a current and new post.
• Mention Little Thumbs Up in your post, and submit your post to the thumbnail linky to the host of this month, Joyce from kitchen flavours, and link to Bake For Happy Kids, and my little favourite D.I.Y. 
• Feel free to display Little Thumbs Up badge in your post.
• Last date of linking will be on 31st May 2013.

Portobello Pizzas
(source from Rachel Ray)
6 large portobello mushroom tops, stems removed and gills scraped
extra-virgin olive oil, for liberal drizzling plus 1 tablespoon
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound Italian sweet sausage
1/2 pint grape tomatoes
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup basil leaves, shredded or torn
1/2 cup shredded Parmigiano ( I use Mozzarella )

Preheat broiler.

Dress the mushroom caps with liberal drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Broil the portobello mushrooms 5 minutes on each side until tender.

While caps are broiling, heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin oil in a skillet over medium high heat, add sausage and brown and crumble the meat. Then add tomatoes to the skillet and cook another few minutes until they burst. Add cream to skillet and reduce 2 to 3 minutes more. Remove the sausage from heat and fold in basil.

Fill mushroom caps and top with cheese, place under broiler to brown 2 to 3 minutes, then quarter caps and serve.