Chicken, Mushroom and Leek Pie

S has become somewhat of a show-off :-) . She made this and sent pictures just as I was posting an Okra recipe.  That has gone into the draft folder for a while.  This looked super delicious.

Vegetarians : The recipe can be adapted to a vegetarian dish - the filling can be totally different - just substitute the chicken for Spinach, mushroom and corn or leek for a great combination. And modify cooking of sauce accordingly.

Adapted from Nigel Slater's recipe on BBC Foods

Ingredients

• Chicken breast -1
• Peppercorns - 5
• Onion, chopped -1
  
  Bay leaf (dried, use fresh if available) -1
• Milk (enough to cover chicken pieces)
• Butter - 10 gms
• Leek, sliced into ½ inch discs -1
  
  Mushrooms - few - cut into quarters
• Plain flour - 3 tbsp
• Dijon mustard - 3 tsp
• Puff pastry - 500 gms pack
• Egg, beaten, for glazing - 1
• Cheddar, grated, for topping
  
  Take a saucepan. Add chicken, pepper corns, onions, bay leaf. Cover with milk
  Bring to boil, and simmer till chicken is cooked ( approx 25 mins)
  Melt butter, add slice leeks allow to soften.  Followed by mushrooms
  Once the chicken is cooked, remove from milk, flake the meat into the pan with the leeks and mushrooms.
  Add flour and cook for two minutes before adding milk through a sieve to remove peppercorns, bay leaf.
  Add the Dijon mustard. Stir continuously to make a thick sauce.
  Pre-heat the oven to 200C /400F
  Roll our sheets of puff pastry to a round shape at a coin thickness.
  Lay the filling one one sheet and then cover with second sheet and crimp the edges
  Brush the pie with beaten egg and sprinkle grated Cheddar cheese on top
  Bake for 35-45 minutes
  
  

1. 

   
   Enjoy !

Cream of Mushroom Soup

This was prepared by La .  And it was so delicious.  Very filling and very yummy.  I had it with a slice of brown meal bread.

Ingredients:


Button Mushrooms - 5 large - finely chopped
Garlic pods - 3 finely chopped
Onion - 1 small finely chopped
Butter - 1 tbsp
Refined flour - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Cream - 2 tbsp (optional)
Mixed Italian seasoning - 1 tsp (optional)
Pepper - to taste - be liberal
Salt to taste
Water - 2 1/2 cups

Put mushrooms in a pan for about 30 secs along with half the garlic and Italian seasoning - basically some oregano, garlic powder
Add 2 cups water and bring to a boil.
Drain the mushrooms from the stock.  Keep stock and mushrooms separately.

In a separate pan, add the butter, the onions and remaining garlic
Stir till onions turn translucent.
Add the flour slowly, mix.  Ensure no lumps.
Mix in cold milk
And after about 30 secs add the stock
Bring  to a boil.
Add the mushroom, salt and pepper to taste.
Add more water to bring to soup consistency.
Simmer for a while.

Remove and serve with a dollop of cream.  Have with soup sticks or bread.

Mushroom curry - Konkani style

Ingredients -
Mushrooms - 50 gms
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Ginger - 1' piece finely chopped
Coconut - 100 gms - grated

Red chillies - 6-8 according to taste
Tamarind paste - 1/2 tsp
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp

Oil ( for typical konkani curry use coconut oil) - I used refined sunflower oil
salt to taste.

Roast the red chillies and coriander seeds lightly.

Grind with coconut to coarse powder.

Take a wok, add oil. Heat

Add the onion , ginger , saute.

Add the sliced mushroom and saute for a while.

Add the ground masala and tamarind paste and a little water.

Simmer over low flame till tender.

Add salt to taste.

Note : The dish in Konkani is Alambe Buthi … and I got it here

Mushroom Risotto

A recipe that was adapted after some online searching, and YouTube watching! Tasted good!



Button mushrooms- 10 nos
Rice - 3/4 cup - wash and keep soaked till use.
Cheese - recipes said various varieties. I had Cheese cubes - 2 nos
( use one more if you want it cheesier)
Olive oil - liberal use
Butter
Onions - 2 large
Garlic - 6-8 large pods
Pepper
Red chillie flakes
Oregano



Slice the mushrooms.
Dice onions and garlic fine
Grate cheese


Heat a pan.
Add butter and olive oil. Add the onion and garlic( half of what is diced) .
Saute but do not brown.
Add the mushroom slices and saute , add a little water and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add some pepper powder and salt.
Remove and keep aside.



Take the pan and now add butter , olive oil
Add the onion, garlic
Drain the rice from water and add to the oil.
Saute till slightly translucent. The rice is now coated with oil/butter
Now add water ( recipes call for chicken stock - was not available! )
Water is to be added a little at a time. Stirring all the while. Requires you to be at the stove all the while.
As the water gets absorbed, keep adding little more.
This process goes on for about 20 minutes.
Meantime, add oregano, pepper, chillie flakes.
Stir, add a little more water. The recipe uses water which is about thrice the quantity of rice ( approximately) if not more.
The rice should be 'al dente' - tender but firm/crisp
At this stage salt is added.
Keep stirring. Add the grated cheese. Mix till creamy.
Add the mushroom mixture. Blend. Remove from fire.
The risotto is now done.
Some recipes tell you to serve the rice on a plate and then place the mushroom mixture on top. Either way, it will taste good.
Serve hot.