Nobody is ever half hearted about Mushrooms
The Normans praised their aphrodisiac qualities and the ancient Egyptians decreed them to be food for royalty alone.
These days truffles, porcini, morels, crimini, ceps, portabella, black Chinese, yellow chantarelles, cinammon caps, hon-shimeji and their cousins are no longer seen as either the food of gods or of devils.
A mushroom is a healthy wholesome and altogether delicious treat
Big Stock Photo
There's a lot of food value in a mushroom
Nutritional Value of Mushrooms
Depending on the variety, mushrooms contain 1 to 3% protein and all the essential amino acids, making the protein complete. You wouldn't think so to look at them but, for vegetarians, mushrooms make an ideal meat substitute. A tasty substitute too.Mushrooms also have many of the B vitamins, and the vitamins C, K, and E.
I could go on more .. mushrooms are a rich source of potassium and phosphorous. About 5 raw button mushrooms contain 370 mg. of potassium and 104 mg. phosphorous.
Take the portabellas for example. Portabella Mushrooms are an ideal food for those watching their waistlines. They contain no fat or sodium, are high in fibre, and low in calories (40 calories for a medium size).
porridge
Wild Mushrooms
Always be careful when you harvest wild food
Be careful when picking wild mushrooms, or any wild food. Some species of mushrooms are poisonous.
Remember to always cook wild mushrooms thoroughly, no half measures here, you not only want to release the flavors but to convert the proteins into a more usable form
Storing Mushrooms
* Keep mushrooms refrigerated
* Remove the plastic from packaged mushrooms
* Keep fresh mushrooms in a porous paper bag
* Avoid air-tight containers which cause moisture condensation and spoilage
* Don't rinse until ready to use
Mushroom Burger Recipe
Substitute Portabello Mushrooms for Meat
Ingredients
- 4 large portobello or large field mushrooms
- 30m l/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- salt and ground black pepper
- 4 crusty ciabatta rolls or hamburger rolls
- crisp lettuce
- sliced tomatoes
Instructions
What you do
Place the mushrooms in a shallow dish, add the oil, garlic and seasoning and toss until the mushrooms are evenly coated. Leave to marinate for at least 10 minutes.
Cook the mushrooms on the barbecue, or in a flat frying pan for 8-10 minutes turning once until browned on both sides and tender when tested with a fork. Transfer to a plate, gill side down and leave for a couple of minutes.
Toast the ciabatta rolls on the barbecue, or pop into a toaster. Fill with lettuce, tomato and top with the mushrooms.
Delicious served with houmous!
Million Dollar Portobello Mushroom Burger
Risotto Portabella Recipe
- Serves: 2 -4
- Prep Time: 5
- Total Time: 35
Ingredients
- 1 large garlic clove minced
- 2 cups Arborio rice
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 200-250g
- 8 oz Portabella mushrooms
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Instructions
Method
In a medium-sized heavy saucepan, heat some oil. Add onion and garlic; sauté and stir until softened, about 4 minutes.
Add rice; continue to cook and stir coating the rice with oil. Add the wine; cook, stirring often, until the liquid is absorbed.
Meanwhile, trim mushrooms and cut into bite-sized pieces. In another pan heat oil. Add mushrooms; cook and stir until tender, 5 to 6 minutes.
Pour 3 cups of stock into the rice, over medium-high heat stir until almost al dente. Stir in the cooked mushrooms and add more stock if needed.
The risotto should be creamy, not runny.
Remove saucepan from heat. Stir in a 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese until completely dissolved. Stir in parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve with remaining parmesan.
Crimini with Port
Ingredients
- 1/2 medium onion cut in half and thinly sliced
- 1 TBS chicken or vegetable broth
- 4 cups whole small to medium crimini
- 6 medium cloves of garlic chopped
- 1 TBS chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/4 cup Tawny or regular Port
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
Remove ends of mushroom stems and wipe clean if necessary. Slice
Heat 1 TBS broth in a stainless steel pan. Saute the onion for 5 minutes over medium heat stirring frequently.
Add garlic, mushrooms and rosemary to onions, and continue to saute for another 5 minutes.
Stir in port and simmer for about 4 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Shiitake with Feta
You can serve this up as a side dish or as a topping/sauce over fish or poultry
Ingredients
- 500g 1 lb fresh sliced shiitake mushrooms
- 3 TBSchicken or vegetable broth
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
- 2 TBS feta cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Chop garlic and let sit for 5 minutes to enhance its health-promoting properties.
Remove stems from mushrooms and slice.
Heat broth in a stainless steel pan When broth begins to steam, add mushrooms and saute covered, for 3 minutes.
Remove cover and let mushrooms cook for 4 more minutes.
Toss with olive oil and feta - season with salt and pepper.
Preparing Mushrooms
To Scrub or not to Scrub a Mushroom?
To remove the stems, give them a gentle little push with your thumb and they will loosen easily. Keep the stems for adding to soups, stir fries, and stuffing.
The true aficionada doesn't wash her mushrooms at all, but merely wipes them lovingly with a damp cloth.
Utzi the Ice Man's Mushrooms
They were polypores!
In the winter of 1991, hikers in the Italian Alps found a body. It turned out not to be a crime scene, but the well preserved remains of a man who died more than five thousand years ago.He became known as Utzi, the Iceman, and we have learned a great deal about this man, including what he ate, where he lived, and what he wore.
He was well equipped with a knapsack, flint axe, arrows and a string of dried Birch Polypores (Piptoporus betulinus) and another yet unidentified mushroom. The mushrooms would have been very handy trekking across the Alps, and not just for a snack on the southern slopes.either!
The Peerless Polypores
The polypores can be used as tinder for starting fires and as medicine for treating wounds. It can be boiled into a rich tea with immuno-enhancing properties. You can chew on a dried one as you walk.
Uzi the Iceman was well equipped for traversing the wilderness, aided by the noble polypores.
Reconstruction of Utzi, Museum Belesta France
The Noble Polypores
A necessary part of the ecosystem
The polypores are among the most common, widespread, and easily identifiable groups of wild mushrooms.Almost all polypores grow on wood, such as trees, fallen logs, stumps, or semi-buried wood. Apart from being attractive and interesting mushrooms, common polypores are wood rotters, assisting in the decomposition of dead wood.
So they're important in natural ecosystems, recycling the nutrients and minerals in the wood and releasing them over a long period of time--- sometimes several hundred years from a single large tree--- and making the nutrients available for other forest organisms.
Taxonomically, the polypores are complicated, and we don't completely understand them.
image : wikipedia
Mushrooms and More Mushrooms
It is easy to despise gold and silver, but exceedingly difficult to refuse a plate of mushrooms.
Epigrams of Martial
Mushrooms are tough!
Mushroom pushing through the macadam in Paris
tangoposo on wikimedia commons
Is it edible?
100 Edible Mushrooms
Amazon Price: $18.51 (as of 02/16/2012)
Michael Kuo loves mushrooms too. In this guide he identifies 100 species of mushroom, using full colour illustrations and some tips on where and when to find them. He also includes how to cook them in creative and delicious ways.
Shiitake Mushrooms
A Feast of Mushrooms
An Old Favourite
The Mushroom Feast: A Celebration of all Edible Fungi, Cultivated, Wild and Dried, with Recipes
Amazon Price: $14.11 (as of 02/16/2012)
Besides the traditional use of mushrooms to enhance meat and vegetable dishes, these delightful edible fungi are made into pate, powdered, pureed into mushroom ketchup, baked into a flan (an Alice B. Toklas specialty), baked as a cake and used in many other dishes - from the simple to the highly sophisticated - for soups, sauces, stuffings, main courses, and all too intriguing to resist.
Oyster Mushrooms
Mushrooms Demystified : A Guide
Mushrooms Demystified
Amazon Price: $22.94 (as of 02/16/2012)
The reference book for everything about mushrooms in USA. Covvering "fungophobia" (fear of eating wild mushrooms), mushroom biology, mushrooms and the environment, scientific names and classification, mushroom collecting, mushroom identification, and all about LBMs (little brown mushrooms).
Gourmet Mushroom Recipes
Baked Mushroom Parmesan
With portabella mushrooms, tomato pasta sauce, bas more...0 points
Funghi Fritti
Mushrooms in rice flour, with white wine, fresh ro more...0 points
Seafood Stuffed Mushrooms
If you're a stuffed mushroom connoisseur, this is more...0 points
Pork and Pancetta Stuffed Mushrooms
Food Network invites you to try this Pork and Panc more...0 points
Mushroom Chilaquiles
Chilaquiles made with portobella and shiitake mush more...0 points
Sauteed Duck Breasts with Wild Mushrooms
Duck breast with wild mushrooms, shallots and red more...0 points
Mushroom Wellington
A tasty pastry parcel, filled with a rich mushroom more...0 points
More Delicious Dishes with Vegetables
More from my kitchen
How about you?
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Fanmail and Feedback for Fungus
You can be fresh, or dry.....
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Reply
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bjslapidary
Feb 16, 2012 @ 6:02 pm | delete
- Lots of great info here. The recipes sound great. Bookmarked this to come back to. Thanks for sharing.
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Reply
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StevenCousley
Jul 3, 2011 @ 5:23 am | delete
- Mushrooms cooked any style or fresh in salads work for me. Love em!
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Reply
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PaulOnBooks
Jul 3, 2011 @ 2:35 am | delete
- Mushrooms as an ingredient in Chinese dishes, a few in a steak and kidney pie, otherwise no - it's the texture I dislike,
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About Susanna Duffy
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G'day! Let me tell you about mushrooms. I love them!
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