Mushrooms

After breakfast of mushrooms and scrambled eggs at Carluccios I decided to repeat a recipe I made earlier in the week - actually part of a recipe. For a pot luck lunch at the office I made crepes filled with a cheesy bechamel sauce and a fabulous mushroom concoction which proved more delicious than I thought possible.

So today I am repeating the mushroom part.

Saute some chopped onion in oil until brown and caramelised. Add torn up mushrooms - as many as you want. Soak some dried porcini in boiling water. When they are soft, drain them and toss into the mushroom and onion mix in the frypan. (My hot tip: if you want the porcini in smaller pieces, rather than cut them when they have soaked which can be really messy, rip them up before you soak them.) Add some red wine, some tomato passata, salt, dried chilli flakes, strained porcini liquid (strain this to remove any dirt) and simmer until the liquid reduces and mixture is thick.

I'm not sure what I'm going to serve this with this time. I think it will go nicely with some brown basmati rice, and it should be great with some pasta - maybe tagliatelle. Only problem is, if I have it for lunch at work, I can't enjoy a glass of red with it...

A fairly lazy Friday

After a few nights of not sleeping well, it was a relief to roll-over at 6 am and continue snoozing. Then it was to Carluccio's at Dubai Mall for breakfast. The scrambled eggs and mushrooms were the best I've tasted. I'll definitely be doing that again.

On Tuesday we plan to celebrate arrivals and birthdays at the office and as it's Shrove Tuesday, I thought my contribution to the pot luck lunch would be pancakes. I have been wanting to try a new recipe (picked up at Organic Foods and Cafe) for some time and thought I had better try it out before I inflict it on my unsuspecting colleagues.

Orange and Ricotta Pancakes
(makes about 8)
250g Ricotta
4 tbspns sugar
3 eggs separated
1 large orange
50g plain flour
2 tbspns butter

Combine ricotta, sugar and egg yolks. add grated orange zest and flour and mix well. Beat egg whites unil stiff then fold into ricotta mixture (remember, you want to keep as much air in them as possible, so don't beat the mixture too hard - cut and fold with a metal spoon is how Miss Searle taught me to do it in Home Science classes in the 70s). Melt butter in a non stick pan. Drop heaped tablespoons of batter into the pan (don't try more than 3 at a time). Cook over a medium heat until coloured and turn to cook other side. Eat.

Now I'm spending today thinking about what to serve them with. Tried honey and jam (separately!) yesterday and they were quite nice. Looking for something a little more exotic today...