Cooking Irish can also be found at Pinterest and PETITCHEF.
I have always loved the taste of mushrooms whether raw, grilled, or sautéed. This hors d'oeuvres is called focaccine farcite with wild mushrooms. I am intrigued with true wild mushrooms and would love to forage through the forest and fields to find them. Reading some of the many books published on the topic of safe retrieval of the fungi is on my retirement to-do-list. Until then, conveniently many mushrooms that are considered wild are also cultivated like the morel, chanterelle, and porcini.
So I appreciate any recipe that can contains the mushroom, especially one that substitutes the mushroom for meat or beans. I enjoy mushroom omelets, sautéed mushrooms and onions on a NY strip steak, a mushroom soufflé, marinated mushrooms, or a filling and tasty Portabella panini. I always put mushrooms in salads and soups and red sauce and pizza. Dr. Phil McGraw includes a recipe that uses mushrooms to make a lean "meatloaf" in his The Ultimate Weight Solution Cookbook published in 2004. I also make a variation of a tapenade with mushroom instead of olive. My favorite quick lunch is a large baked portabella filled with shrimp and cheese topped with buttered cracker crumbs. YUM!
The Mushroom Council has an interesting website with a wealth of information on the many varieties of mushroom, the history of the mushroom, how the mushroom grows, the care, handling, and preparation of the mushroom, nutrition, recipes, growers, and much more. The link is:
www.mushroomcouncil.com.
Some basic information on the edible cultivated mushroom: agaricus bisporus is known by many names. A young specimen with a closed cap and either pale white or light brown flesh is known as a button mushroom or white mushroom. When the flesh darkens, the immature mushroom is variously known as a crimini mushroom, baby portobello, baby bella, mini bella, portabellini, Roman mushroom, Italian mushroom, or brown mushroom. At this stage of maturation, the cap may also begin to open slightly. In maturity, it is called a portobello (frequently spelled as portabello or portobella). The Mushroom Council uses the spelling portabella. The French name is champignon de Paris, the Paris mushroom.
One interesting nutritional tidbit is the mushroom is the only fruit or vegetable with natural vitamin D; a serving of 4-5 white button mushrooms provides 15 IU. 5-minute exposure to natural sunligh can produce mushrooms that provide almost 100% of the daily value to keep bones strong and fight disease. Mushrooms are low in calories, fat-free, cholesterol-free, and very low in sodium, yet they provide several nutrients, including riboflavin, niacin, and selenium, which are typically found in animal foods or grains. Often grouped with vegetables, mushrooms provide many of the nutritional attributes of produce, as well as attributes more commonly found in meat, beans, or grains.
If you are interested in reading about all the mushrooms of Europe and North America, both edible and poisonous, a wonderful site is the Rogers Mushrooms website: www.rogersmushrooms.com. The site is based on Roger Phillips's seminal work Mushrooms and Other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe and a similar book published on the mushrooms and fungi of North America. Phillips's twenty-year study makes the site the most complete collection of photographs and mushroom information from both sides of the Atlantic ever assembled. There are over 3000 images on the site to help one identify and learn more about the mushroom. Here are just a few of their photos.
Here are some more photos of one of my favorite places on earth, Masada in Israel, taken on a holiday to Israel and Egypt in July of 1985.
Masada taken from the gondola
The living quarters atop Masada
Eli and Erin atop Masada
FOCACCINE FARCITE WITH WILD MUSHROOM AND THYME [Makes 20]
Ingredients:
1 tsp. of quality olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
¼ lb. of wild mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 tsp. of thyme, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 recipe of unbaked bread dough [Recipe included below]
1 tsp. of coarse salt
3 thyme sprigs, roughly chopped for garnish
Essential Equipment: 2-inch plain pastry cutter
Preparation:
To prepare the bread dough:
Bread Dough Recipe [Makes ¾ of a lb.]
Ingredients:
12/3 cups of bread flour
¾ tsp. of salt
5/8 cup of tepid water
1 tsp. of quality olive oil
1 tsp. of dried yeast
Preparation:
Place the flour in a bowl and make a well in the center. Place the salt along the raised edge of the four. Pour the water with the oil into the well. Sprinkle the yeast over the liquid. Let stand for five minutes; stir to dissolve. Draw in the flour from the sides of the bowl with a spoon. Mix to make a rough, sticky dough.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly-floured surface. Use the heel of one hand to gently push the dough away from you. At the same time, use your other hand to rotate the dough slightly towards you, guiding it around in a cirlce. Repeat these kneading actions until the dough is smooth, shiny, and elastic, 10 minutes.
Put the dough in a large clean bowl, and cover with a dish towel. Let it rise until doubled in size, about 1½ hours. Deflate the dough by pressing down with the palm of your hand. The dough is now ready to be shaped.
Tips: Make and knead 12 hours in advance. Cover and let it rise in refrigerator overnight. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before shaping. Shape and bake according to the recipe. Also, the quantity of liquid required will often vary according to the type of flour used, as well as the level of humidity and temperature on the day of breadmaking. It is best to err on the side of making a dough too soft rather than too dry. Add extra water after drawing in the flour to form dough, as necessary 1 tbsp. at a time.
Using a Machine: Follow recipe and method for bread dough, but place ingredients after they have been mixed to a rough dough, into the bowl of a standing mixer equipped with a bread hook. To knead, set the mixer at low speed for 10 minutes. Or use the bowl of a food processor fitted with a plastic dough blade. To knead use the pulse button for 30 seconds at a time until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400°. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the shallots and mushrooms. Stir fry over high heat until softened, five minutes. Add the chopped thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Cool completely. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out 40 rounds with the pastry cutter. Place 20 dough rounds onto a floured baking sheet. Spoon the wild mushrooms onto the rounds. Top with the remaining dough rounds. Spread edges down to seal. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake until crisp and golden, 15 minutes. Garnish with thyme sprigs and serve warm.
Tips: Bake these focaccine up to 1 day in advance. Store in an airtight container. Crisp for 10 minutes in a preheated 400° oven. Another option is to freeze the unbaked focaccine. Spread them out on a baking sheet and place in the freezer uncovered until hard, 30 minutes. Once the items are frozen, pack into plastic freezer bags or an airtight container and return to the freezer. Remember to label clearly for easy retrieval. Next up: two more focaccine recipes and then a cajun food complete menu that could be offered at my college roommate's restuarants, The Dinosaur Bar-B-Que® in Syracuse, Rochester, Harlem, Brooklyn, Troy, Buffalo, Newark, Stamford, CT, and Chicago.
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