My Favorite Holiday Recipes

Food!

 Let’s face it – I’m a fan. I am especially a fan of mushrooms

 One of my favorite recipes this time of year is a Sarah Brown’s Layered Cashew and Mushroom Roast. It echoes the richness of gatherings amongst family and friends, it is satiating and warm, absolutely delicious and can be topped with a mushroom gravy. Here’s the deal:

 Layered Cashew and Mushroom Roast

Serves 6 … if serving 12, just double the recipe

 Needs:

1 T oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

8oz (225g) cashew nuts

4 oz (110g) fresh breadcrumbs; can use gluten free crumbs

1 egg

3 med parsnips, cooked and mashed

1t rosemary

1 t thyme

1 t yeast extract, dissolved in 4oz boiling water

1 oz (25g) butter

8 oz (225g) mushrooms

 And …

Heat the oven to 180C (350F). Cook and mash your parsnips. Fry the onion and garlic in the oil gently until soft. Grind the cashew nuts, then mix with the breadcrumbs. Add the beaten egg, then stir in the mashed parsnips, herbs and onion. Mix well and then add the yeast extract dissolved in the hot water until the mixture is moist but not soggy. Season with salt and pepper.

Melt the butter or oil and sauté the chopped mushrooms. Grease and line a 2lb (900g) loaf tin and press in half of the nut mixture. Cover with the mushrooms and then top with the rest of the nut mix. Press down, cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. For a crispier top, remove the foil for the last 10 minutes to slightly brown the top. Remove from the oven and let the loaf sit in the tin for at least 10 minutes to cool before turning it out and slicing.

(with thanks to the Shoestring Cottage for reposting this recipe)

 For the gravy

 Needs:

1.5 oz. dried porcini mushrooms

30 oz. cremini mushrooms, coarsely chopped

6 T unsalted butter

1 T olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp.)

2 T all-purpose flour

3 1/2 cups dry red wine

1.5 t minced fresh rosemary

And …

Pour 4 1/2 cups water over porcini in bowl; steep 30 minutes. Strain liquid through coffee filter, reserving liquid and mushrooms separately. Chop porcini.

Heat butter and oil in skillet over medium-low heat. Add cremini mushrooms, cover, and cook 20 minutes, or until browned. Uncover, add garlic, and cook 30 seconds.

 Stir flour into mushrooms. Add 3 1/2 cups wine, and scrape up brown bits. Stir in remaining 1 cup wine, reserved mushroom liquid, and porcini. Simmer 7 minutes, or until sauce has reduced by half. Stir in rosemary.

That’s it. I often run this through a blender, so that the gravy is close to a puree, but not quite.

Mushrooms have beyond more than a handful of medicinal properties. Excellent immunomodulators, antioxidants and afford a degree of cognitive protection. They are a highly prized anti-inflammatory. There are many, with varying degrees of medicinal properties, which we can indeed discuss one day. Mushrooms are often grown using a huge array of pesticides so do be sure to purchase, barter or trade for organic fungi, or certainly those grown without chemicals.

~ happy eating

~ with much gratitude

 While many are focusing their eyes on turkey and stuffing, I want to give a big shout out to sage. As a popular ingredient in stuffings, its presence makes sense this time of year. Sage helps us digest fat and turkeys are known to be fatty birds. Sage also makes sense at Thanksgiving dinners as its an amazing antimicrobial and a sound ally when working with viral and bacterial infections as well as digestive disturbances. And because it’s so drying, we might often turn to sage for wet conditions such as a drippy nose or excessive sweating. It’s also tasty and is an aromatic herb. Indeed, if you’re still hunting around for a stuffing recipe, try this:

Sage, onion and chestnut stuffing

Needs:

160g (~6oz) chestnuts

2-3T of vegetable oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 T sage

½ T rosemary

80g (3oz) breadcrumbs

Salt and pepper

2 eggs, beaten

And …

Preheat the oven to 230 C (450 F). Score each of the chestnuts with an X and place in a baking pan to form a single layer. Pour in 60ml (or about 2 oz) water to cover the bottom of the pan and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the shells peel away with ease.

Turn the oven down to 180 C (350 F).

While still warm, remove the chestnuts from their shells and chop finely.

Add the vegetable oil to a frying pan and over a medium heat add the chopped onion. Sweat the onion for around 3 minutes, until translucent. Add in the sage, rosemary, chestnuts and sauté for a further minute or so, stirring often. Transfer to a large bowl and add the breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and mix.

At this point, it’s possible to split the recipe into two batches; half to be cooked separately and half can be used to stuff a bird.

If using as a stuffing, place the mixture into the cavity of the bird. It can be scooped out before carving, after the bird has cooled slightly.

The remainder of the mixture can be used to make small dumplings which can be cooked in a separate pan from the meat. To this mixture, add in the egg a little at a time, until the mixture can be easily shaped into balls. It’s possible that some of the egg mixture may be left over. The mix should not be overly wet. Place onto a baking tray and bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the balls are golden brown and beautiful!