September 05, 2006

Experiment canelloni with mushrooms

Autumn has come to Stockholm! I am not complaining, this is a really pleasant time of the year I think, with the clear air, glowing trees and endless possibilities to enjoy cups of tea on the couch instead of having to run around and play outside even if you don´t feel like it. What I do like to do outdoors is to pack some fika, put on my rubber boots, bring some nice company (or enjoy my own company) and go mushroom-picking in the forest. My man likes it too, and what´s more, he is really good at it. I have learned a lot since I met him but still I don´t always have the "eyes" to see the chanterelles. He always, always succeeds, and hence brings home truckloads of mushrooms. We rinse them and cook them and freeze them in little bags, over and over every weekend until the snow comes. But do we actually eat them? No. We love mushrooms, but it feels a little luxurious to use them in everyday cooking. And that is why I opened the freezer this Sunday and found about 20 little bags of chanterelles dated "04". And let me just say that it is totally OK to eat frozen mushrooms from 2004, as long as you have cooked them without any fat they are fine!

I decided then and there to put more luxury into our everyday life and started off by defrosting two bags for this canelloni, also invented then and there. I used thinly sliced and shredded beef instead of the mince I had planned but didn´t find at the store, and spiced half of the canelloni with crumbled blue cheese, half of them with Dijon mustard. Sorry, no proportions and no picture but I think you´ll get a good picture of this anyway. A tasty and flexible dish.

Experiment canelloni
Mushrooms and thinly shredded beef, about 50/50. I used about 300 grams of meat and maybe 200 ml mushrooms
chopped onion, I used one yellow onion
salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar
fresh lasagna sheets
cooking cream
some good grated cheese
It is good to flavour the mix with dijon mustard or some blue cheese. Or maybe some fresh herbs!

Brown the meat and then add the onions and mushrooms. Let it simmer for some minutes and spice to taste with salt, pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar (which I always use with mushrooms in any form). Put in some mustard or cheese, or both (but not in the same canelloni I think)
Cut the lasagna sheets in about 15x15 cm long pieces, put on some filling, roll it up and put in an ovenproof dish
When you have all the canelloni you want, pour over cooking cream or maybe some good stock to almost cover the rolls. Mine wasn´t really covered and was a bit on the crunchy side after baking.
Scatter over some cheese and bake in the oven until golden.
Serve with a fresh salad and start to think about what you are going to do next with mushrooms.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Help! I have two bags of chanterelles in my fridge that are going to go off any day now - I read that they are not suitable for drying (and therefore not dry-freezing) - how did you freeze yours, and were they OK afterwards?

Clivia said...

Oh dear, better work quickly then! No, chanterelles are no good to dry. Instead rinse them very carefully with a brush, cut them in smaller pieces (but not too small, it is nice to be able to see what it is when you use them) and then put them in a skillet on low heat. After a little while they will produce some own fluids. Let the mushrooms simmer until the fluids has gone back into the mushrooms, take away from the heat, let it cool off and pack in freezer bags. The mushrooms will be fine for a couple of years!

Anonymous said...

Thank you! You have saved me half a kilo of gold.

Anonymous said...

How about leaving some chanterelles for other mushroom-lovers? Or maybe you can sell the bags. I hear bags of mushrooms are very popular around clubbers.

Anonymous said...

Hello,

today I made a very nice dish using a handful of the dried funnel chanterelles you sent me in your EBBP #5-parcel, see http://peho.typepad.com/chili_und_ciabatta/2006/09/rehragout_mit_b.html
Thank you again!

We also love to go mushroom-picking as you can see here http://peho.typepad.com/chili_und_ciabatta/2006/09/pilze.html

Drink Recipes said...

Grateful for you writing this blog