Mushrooms on Toast

When I was growing up my mom used to make left-over roast-beef and gravy on toast for a quick meal. When I became vegetarian, I searched for replacements for these homey meals that I remember loving as a kid, and this is how I discovered mushrooms on toast.

This recipe is awesome in the winter as it's earthy and filling, but even better in the summer as there are so many varieties of fresh mushrooms to experiment with. Last week at the farmer's market I grabbed a bag of fresh morel mushrooms, and their texture and flavour are just amazing - perfectly featured in this dish.

Served with a quickly microwaved sweet-potato, dinner is thought to plate in about 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 - 3 cups mixed mushrooms
1 tbsp butter
1 splash of oil
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp white wine
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parmesean cheese

2 slices of bread

1 med sweet potato (optional)

Pre-heat oven to broil.

Finely chop garlic, Rince and roughly chop mushrooms.

Place pan on medium heat, add oil and butter (the oil stops the butter from browning). When butter has melted, add garlic, wait toss, for 45 sec, then add mushrooms. When mushrooms have started to reduce (2 min?) splash white wine and mix, add salt and pepper to taste. (if I just have button mushrooms I often add some basil, or for a change oregano and some halved cherry tomatoes now)

While mushrooms are cooking, the toast will probably pop up. The mushrooms will be done in about 5 minutes, pour over the 2 pieces of toast, shave some parmesean on to the warm mushrooms and place in oven so that the juices soak into the toast.

Poke holes in sweet potato with fork, wrap in a paper towel and place in microwave for 7 min. When sweet potatoes are done, take the mushroom toast out of oven, plate the sweet potatoes and enjoy.

Savoury Quinoa Pilaf

I love this recipe. It's unusual, healthy and delicious; quite possibly the only reason I purchased the cookbook it came in.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup quinoa
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 1/2 cups sodium reduced vegetable or chicken broth
1 table spoon fresh lemon jice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
3/4 cup green peas (cooked fresh or thawed frozen)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Rinse quinoa well and pat dry. In a large saucepan over medium heat, tost quinoa stirring occasionally for 5 to 8 minutes or until golden. Transfer quinoa to a bowl, set aside.

In the same saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; add ionions and saute until soft. Add mushrooms; cook 10 minutes more. Add quinoa and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook, covered until liquid had evaporated about 15 minutes. Add lemon juce, lemon zest and peas. Stir until heated through. Stir in dill, salt and pepper. Serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.