Weekend Herb Blogging-Portobello Mushrooms

This week’s entry for Weekend Herb Blogging founded by Kalyn from Kalyn’s Kitchen is Portobello mushrooms. My recipe for these huge mushrooms follows. You can catch all the WHB entries this week hosted by Susan at foodblogga .  Onto my information about these mushrooms. Portobello or Portebello either way, or sometimes called Flats or Field Mushrooms range in size from 4 - 6 inches in diameter.

They are very meaty ( a great substitute for vegetarians ) and lend them selves too many methods of preparation. Frying, baking, grilling, stewing, smoking. They can be used in simple dishes like sandwiches or burgers, onto risotto, individualy stuffing, serving steaks on and more. Today I will go through the process that I use to marinate overnight then cook on a low temperature for 30 mins.

Firstly you need to de stalk the mushrooms, these stalks can be used for sauce or stock or soup, there is nothing wrong with the stem but for my use I need to remove them. To do this, just firmly but gently break them away from the flesh, you can cut them if you wish. For the marinade you will need, the zest and juice from 2 lemons, 2 desert spoons of crushed garlic, 1 bunch of basil blended with 300ml of vegetable oil, mix all together.  

This will be enough for half a box of portebellas, depending on their size about 15 -25 pieces. Toss the mushrooms through the marinade and then lay them on a tray. Turn plenty of cracked pepper from the mill, about 30 turns over them. Cover in the refrigerator over night or 12 hours. Cook on a low temperature 140oc for 30 mins. Remove and allow to cool. They will shrink a little but will have great flavour.

They can now be used for a variety of dishes. I now stuff them with goats cheese and sun dried tomato then I fold them in spring roll paper and fry them til golden. I serve them on chick pea puree.

More about mushrooms

Red Onion Confit

This is my second entry in Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this time by Chris from Mele Cotte. Chris you do have lots of entries I am going to need a holiday to get to see them all. Sorry that I missed out last week with the founder of the Weekend Herb Blogging event Kayln hosting. Read more

Weekend Herb Blogging

Wow look, I got accepted with my peppercorn entry for this week on Weekend Herb Blogging. I am very excited about it. I need to read all the other entries for this Weekend Herb Blogging event and learn some more. Obviously I have to try for next weeks show. No rest for me, even if I had time to. Enjoy the round up over at Astrids foodblog.paulchens.org

Peppercorns, black, white, green, red..

After finding some very good food blogs out there today, which put mine to shame I must add, especialy those which are posting on the topic  Weekend Herb Blogging. It is now in it’s 87th week and growing. 

This week it will be hosted by Astrid from Paulchen’s Food Blog. I might be a bit of a late joiner but I guess thats the fun of the Internet. Anyway without dribbling too much lets get down to business.

Peppercorns, black, white, green, red and two cases of pink!!

I was just going to fill up my pepper-mill when I came across these the Tasmanian Peppercorns in my pantry. Which led me to do this entry. My first, so it can only get better, I hope.

But first let’s find out a little more about pepper.

Pepper comes from a flowering vine called Piperceae. It is grown in tropical regions of the world. After the vine flower’s the berry appears.

Green, white, pink & black pepper all comes from the same berries from the above plant.

Green and Black pepper are made from the unripe berries. The unripe berries are naturally green, and the green peppercorns that are usually available have been pickled in brine or dried. They mainly come from Madagascar and are firm and spicy also a little powdery.

The black peppercorns mainly from India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, start out green, are washed then sun dried or kiln dried. The natural enzyme in the pericarp or fruity outside in the corn helps to break down the enzymes and release the oil which in time turns them black. The corns shrink and wrinkle up in the drying process.

White and Pink pepper are made from the ripe berries. The white pepper is made by soaking the berries in cold water which allows the fruity outside to decompose, inturn allowing it to be easily rubbed away. The berries are then dried. They mostly come from Malaysia.

As for the pink or red pepper (Latin name piper nirum) from India, which we must not get confused with the pink peppercorns is made from the ripe red berries which are preserved in brine. They have a spicy flavour much like the black pepper.

The pink peppercorns, pepper rose or baies rose are from a different pepper tree. (Latin name schinus terebinthifolius) Rose colour pink berries have a hard brown seed with a papery shell. It has a delicate flavour, slightly piquant. They usually come from Brazil and are either pickled or dried.  

As for the Tasmanian Peppercorns which look very much like the black peppercorns they taste a little sweet at first with only a mild spice to them.

I am not sure if this will be accepted by the WHB committee, but off it goes and lets see next week. Many thanks to all involved with the Weekend Herb Blogging. It is a fantastic idea and I wish you continuous success with it.

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