Posts Tagged ‘mushrooms’
Mushroom Risotto with Duck Marylands
I love going to the market, buying a cut of meat and then figuring out what to do with it. This week the mystery box was duck marylands. Chicken marylands are pretty much my favourite cut of any meat and I was hoping the duck would be just as good. Alas, it is far too sinewy and tough and not quite as flavoursome as I was hoping. I probably won’t be buying the marylands in the future (though I’d appreciate suggestions), sticking with breast instead.
A quick Forage and I found Abstract Gourmet’s Duck Breast and Shitake Risotto and this is based on that.
Duck Maryland
- Mustard seeds
- Fennel seeds
- Salt
- Pepper
- Thyme
- Pimento
- Whatever other spices you feel might go nicely.
Dry roast all the spices in a frying pan,then grind them, most of the thyme and the salt up in a mortar and pestle. Rub the mix into the skin of the duck. On high, heat the vegetable oil and the remainder of the thyme in the same pan, when the oil begins to smoke, fry the duck, skin down. Turn the heat down to medium and cook on both sides until it’s cooked, but not overcooked.
Mushroom Risotto
- Olive oil
- 2 handfuls of field mushrooms, sliced
- 1 leek, quartered and chopped finely
- 2 cloves garlic
- thyme
- 1 1/2 cups of Arborio rice
- 1-2 litres Chicken stock, preferrably home made.
- 1 glass dry white wine
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- 1 tablespoon butter
Saute the leek in the olive oil in a large frying, when the leak is soft and begins to lose its colour add the mushrooms, garlic and thyme and cook until soft. Now, pour in your rice and give it a good toasting for about a minute. They say you shouldn’t stir risotto, so shake the pan instead. Next, add the white wine and let it cook down. From now on, be careful not to let the rice go too dry. As the rice starts to dry out, add a couple of ladles of chicken stock. You will probably use about 1.5 litres of stock, but work by taste and feel. It’s important to season this as you go, you’ll probably find (depending on the stock) you will probably end up using a metric shitload of salt.
When the rice is firm, but not hard. You are almost done. Take it off the heat, and fold in the butter, and the parmesan. Serve it while it’s hot and garnish it with a few sprigs of thyme and perhaps a squeeze of lemon juice.
Wine
Duck and mushrooms. The perfect ingredients to match with an earthy, intense Pinot Noir. Try something from Geelong or Yarra Valley. Our selection was the 2008 Ata Rangi “Crimson” a perfect match for about $30.
You should follow me on Twitter.Fried Mushrooms: A 5 step guide
Frying mushrooms is an easy process, which can be repeated time and time again. There is a few things to remember when you are cooking mushrooms, mushrooms are quite fragile so the heat doesn’t need to be scorched earth setting. A medium heat is where it’s at and whatever you do don’t let them dry out. The steps:
- Select your mushrooms. I prefer Swiss Browns, but button mushies are also good. Definitely keep clear of bigger dark mushrooms such as Portabello, the flavours are overpowering.
- Slice, don’t dice. There is no need to peel the mushrooms, or even take off the stalks. Though if it so inclines you, wash them all and slice the mushrooms, not too finely.
- Heat your saucepan to a medium heat, add the mushrooms and a good dollop of butter to them. It’s really important not to burn either the butter or the mushrooms. If you don’t stir (I prefer to shake,) the mushrooms will form a golden crust on them. That’s exactly what you want.
- As the butter melts, add seasoning. This means cracked pepper and cracked rock salt, not too much salt but the pepper you can go crazy with.
- Reduce the butter slowly and serve on some fresh toast.