Italian Mushroom Starter Food

ITALIAN MUSHROOM PATE

Steps:

• Add 1 tbls olive oil to a medium pan (not a non-stick frying pan)
• Finely Chop the onion and fry with the crushed garlic until soft, just before they start to brown.
• Add the chopped mushrooms, chili and thyme and continue cooking until the mushrooms are soft. Be carful not to overcook, as the mushrooms will make the mixture too liquid.
• Try the mixture and add salt and pepper to taste.
• Take off the heat, add the remaining olive oil and breadcrumbs and mix in a blender. I suggest not blending for too long and the pate will have a nice coarse texture.
• Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
• Comment:. This is quite spicy so you may want to use less chili. Or perhaps more!

STILTON, BACON AND MUSHROOM STARTER

Steps:

• Preheat oven 375ºF.
• Heat the oil and fry the onions, mushrooms and bacon together until browned.
• Share between four (sprayed with cooking spray) ramekin dishes or a small souffle dish.
• Beat the Stilton together with the cream cheese and cream and stir in most of the
• chives, reserving a few for a garnish.
• Season and spoon over the top of the mushroom.
• mixture.
• Toss the breadcrumbs in the paprika and sprinkle over the top of the Stilton.
• mixture.
• Cook for 20-25 minutes, until browned and bubbling.
• Serve hot with small slices of toasted French bread or endive leaves.

CREAMY GARLIC MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Pour the oil into a flat, shallow frying pan and place over a gentle heat. Finely slice the garlic and shallots and add to the pan. Fry gently for a few minutes, stirring occasionally and ensuring the garlic and shallots do not start to brown or burn.
• Prepare your mushrooms by gently wiping any dirt from their surfaces with a piece of kitchen towel - never wash mushrooms as they will absorb the water and become slimy. Slice the mushrooms into chunky pieces and add to the pan, stirring so that they become coated with the oil.
• Once the mushrooms have all started to colour, pour the glass of wine into the pan and turn the heat up so that the alcohol burns off and the liquid starts to reduce.
• After a few minutes, the mushrooms should be cooked, so turn the heat back down quite low and add the cream to the pan along with black pepper according to taste. Stir everything around and heat gently for a couple of minutes.
• Preheat the grill to high.
• Transfer the mushrooms and cream mixture to two shallow, heat-proof dishes. Spinkle the grated cheese over the top of each and place the dishes under the grill. Keep an eye on these so that they don't start to burn - it should only take a couple of minutes for the cheese to be browned and bubbling.
• Stand each dish on a large plate (don't forget to warn guests how hot the dishes will be!) and serve with granary toast for mopping up the sauce.
• Variations:
• Reduced fat cream such as Elmlea works perfectly in this dish if you are counting calories. You could also omit the cheese and skip instruction point 6.
• For a slightly sharper taste, try using creme fraiche in place of the cream.
• To make the dish more substantial, try using finely sliced baby leeks in place of the shallots.
• If you are fond of blue cheese, you could grate a strong cheese such as stilton over the mushrooms before grilling - this produces a much richer dish.