Michael Haggert
A little while ago, my wife brought
home a tray of stuffed mushrooms, ready to
cook. They were a delicious example of how
our flavour palate has started to change
with no children left at home.
Then, a week ago, she brought home a
bag of mushrooms. She had picked through,
looking for the plump round ones that
looked like appropriate candidates for
stuffing, and asked if I could give it a try. So
today, I did.
I took the stems out of a dozen
mushrooms and gave them a fine mince. I
added half an onion, also minced, and about
300g of pork, finely chopped. Four
tablespoons of breadcrumbs and two
tablespoons of grated Parmesan came next.
I seasoned with salt, pepper and sage, and
bound it all together with a raw egg.
Effectively, I made a mushroomy
meatball and stuffed it in the mushroom
caps. I baked them in the oven for about 50
minutes at 350F and they turned out pretty
darned good.
But I’m not writing this because I think
you need a recipe for stuffed mushrooms.
I’m writing this because you don’t need a
recipe for them.
I’ve been cooking for a while now, and
I’ve been eating for a bit longer. I’ve cared
enough to pay attention for long enough
that I remember what went with what well
enough without having to look it up in a
cookbook.
You probably do too. Flex your culinary
muscles. Let your imagination tailor your
recipes to suit your tastes. The same
There’s an app
for that
Basil
Discover great new
recipes from the web,
add your own
masterpieces and get
cooking tonight with
Basil! Basil helps you
find recipes, organizes
them for you and
makes cooking easier.
Exclusively for iPad,
this app retails for
about $3
shopping trip that brought home the
mushrooms also featured enough pork loins
(on sale) to divide into several meals’
worth. My wife suggested I try making
stroganoff made with pork rather than beef.
I did, and it was delicious too!
Just when all this experimenting was
going on, one of the chicks returned to the
nest for her first Fall Reading Week. As her
recent diet seems to be consisting of Kraft
Dinner, Starbucks and the occasional
vegetable, I was eager to see what her
reaction would be to new foods on her plate.
Pleasingly, it went well. Along with
independent living, adult life seems to come
with a willingness to try new things and
new tastes. I suppose there’s a possibility
that it’s just a newfound appreciation for
food cooked (and paid for) by someone else,
but I’m an optimist. She also asked a few
questions over the week: what goes with
this, how did you do that, etc. Hopefully,
she’ll try some mixing and mashing of her
own in the near future.
Have reasonable expectations. After all,
even major league baseball players don’t hit
a home run every time they step up to the
plate. They practice and then they take a
good swing at it. Head into your kitchen and
do the same.
And if you happen to come across a
home run, tweet us @TheHubWE
#foodmatters. We’ll try to share your best
ideas so everyone can enjoy them.
Tell us on Facebook about your adventures with food this month,
or tweet us @thehubWE #foodmatters
November 2014 - The HUB 7