I was tidying out a drawer and found a couple of blank postcards on them with these recipes. I’m afraid I don’t know how I came across them (poor recipe / coding documentation!) so I hope they’re not super copyrighted and I get into trouble…
Let’s call this one a deferred success 😉 It was a bit sub-par because I’m unfamiliar with celery as a baked thing and underestimated how long it might take in my oven, which is old and might not quite get to the right heat.
It looks better than it tasted, I need to adapt the recipe better to my oven.
I followed this “Baked celery with walnuts and cream” recipe from Riverford but should have given it the full 40 minutes. Also I stuffed up with the dish (big dish, thin layer of celery) as the stock / cream and gratin covering were a bit stretched I think. Mine came out very dry and a bit crunchy.
I’ll be interested to see if it works better with the full 40 minutes and in a smaller but deeper dish but I also have this “Cream celery gratin” recipe in mind from BBC Good Food. That one involves more steps and dishes to wash as there’s a extra bit of softening the celery in a pan first before baking, but might work better with my set up.
As the recipe is copyright I won’t repeat it here (just click the first link) but it contains celery, onion, garlic, walnuts, dried coriander, dried cumin, single cream, veg stock, breadcrumbs and parmesan.
I used packeted breadcrumbs which were already crispy but if you have a whizzy blender you can just make them with a few slices of bread.
Here’s what it looked like, better luck with yours! Next time I will use red onion for a bit of colour.
Chopped celery in a dishHerbs and walnuts addedBigger dish to make room for the stockEverything added and stirredParmesan and breadcrumb gratinAfter being in the oven
Recently I did a freeIntermediate Cookery course in Greenwich (London, UK – you don’t have to live in Greenwich to attend) which was great fun and also made me realise that I’m probably not as terrible at cooking as I think I am. Though I still think I have a tendency to make meals by just ‘combining several heated items on a plate’ rather than the alchemy of creating something that’s greater than the sum of its parts, and which ’emerges’ from it (like a pie). These two recipes (stuffed mushrooms, then omelette containing leftovers) are somewhere between the two.
I’ve been trying out the stuffed mushrooms and really like this though I think I used too much oil in this batch.
(Blender – if you want to make your own breadcrumbs)
Ingredients
One or more large flat mushrooms, washed or peeled as you prefer (hang onto the stalk)
A bowl of things you’d like to stuff it with, quite finely chopped (so that it packs into the mushroom), such as
Garlic clove or two
Olives – I like the pitted black olives from Cypressa, tasty and come in small jars
Breadcrumbs – I used ready made crisp breadcrumbs though I think fresh breadcrumbs from some slices of bread and a blender would be even nicer. They will crisp up in the oven anyway.
Coriander leaf – or a leaf that you like if you don’t like that
Mozzarella cheese – I used a pack of the slightly yellower stuff that looks like it’s going to melt, as opposed to the whiter version I use in unmelted salads.
Sun-dried tomatoes (I didn’t use in this batch)
The bits of mushroom (stalk and gills) from the preparation
Slice of ham – I had a bit left over (leave out for vegetarians!)
Some oil (tablespoon) to hold it together
(Bread – if you want to make your own breadcrumbs)
Preparation method
Oven on at 180˚C or Gas Mark 4
Up to you if you peel the skin of the mushroom(s) but if not give it a good wash.
Remove and keep (‘reserve’ in cooking lingo) the stalk.
With a spoon scrape out the black gills and add to the bowl
Mix the ingredients together well
Use your hand (probably packs in better) or spoon (hand doesn’t get dirty) to ‘load’ the mushrooms with as much of the stuffing mix so that you get a nice domed effect. Bits will start to fall off once you’ve reached the tipping point.
Mushrooms on the tray, in the oven for 12-15 mins. Mine’s a gas oven so probably a good idea for me to rotate the tray round after 8 mins or so as the browning effect of the heat is rather directional.
2. Omelette with the leftovers
Two-egg omelette in pan with a chaotic mess of mushroom stuffing and stuffed mushrooms on top. There is no cous-cous here, it’s just breadcrumbs honest.
I made four mushrooms but found that two were sufficiently filling (which surprised me). I also had a bit of leftover uncooked mix (it doesn’t need to be cooked but the mozzarella doesn’t melt without it).
I turned this into a sort of omelette. No doubt purists will be horrified. Was delicious and filling.
Utensils
Jug or similar if you want to whisk the eggs to mix
Fork or whisk to do that
Frying pan or omelette pan or any flattish pan
Ingredients
Eggs (2-3 depending on how hungry / how big your pan is)
Bit of oil
Any leftover uncooked mixture plus the leftover cooked stuffed mushrooms, chopped up and mixed in with that.
Preparation method
Put the frying pan on a low-medium heat and add a bit of oil
After it’s warmed up a bit add the whisked eggs, adjust the heat so it starts to cook the egg
Pour on top some of the mixture while the egg is still runny
Leave it to cook on a low-medium heat so that it heats all the way through (and any uncooked mozzarella can melt a bit) but not so hot that you overcook the bottom.
Slide it onto a plate, enjoy!
Omelette on the plate plus a few spare olives. I shouldn’t have used the flash when photographing this!
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