Nourished

King Oyster Mushroom

Alba Truffle

Oeufs en Cocotte, Alba Truffle, and King Oyster Mushrooms

Some supper dishes are so simple that they should be saved until you have some really special ingredients – oeufs en cocotte (baked eggs) are the perfect example.  A quick tour of the fridge reveals lovely Legbar eggs, the remains of an alba truffle from Christmas, and king oyster mushrooms.  Baked together like this it’s not a supper dish but a feast…


Ingredients:

Legbar eggs (at least one per person, depending on their size and your appetite)
Single cream or creme fraiche
1 finely diced shallot
2-3 king oyster mushrooms
Truffle butter, or unsalted butter
Alba or black truffle

Method:

  • Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF)
  • Chop the mushroom stems into fine dice (duxelle), but reserve the top of the mushroom to slice finely
  • Cook the diced mushroom and shallot in the truffle butter until they are softened and set aside
  • Gently fry the sliced mushroom tops, making sure they retain their shape
  • Butter the inside of a small ramekin or similar dish
  • Put a quantity of the diced mushroom into the bottom of the ramekin
  • Place a sliced mushroom on top of the duxelle, and a few slices of truffle on top of that
  • Pour a little cream over the mushrooms
  • Season each layer!
  • Break one or two eggs into the ramekin, and place a few slices of the mushroom cap delicately over the egg
  • Top the mixture with single cream, or some creme fraiche thinned with a little milk
  • Top with a little more sliced mushroom and grated truffle
  • Put the ramekins into the bottom of a roasting tin, and fill up the outside of the tin with boiling water, which should reach up to half the height of the ramekin.  It’s much easier to do this on the actual oven shelf, to avoid spilling boiling water all over yourself
  • For Legbar eggs, cook for about 18 minutes
  • Finely slice some more truffle over the cooked egg and serve with either a little toast, or perhaps some asparagus if in season.
Mushroom duxelle, garlic and finely sliced mushroom top
On the bottom, the seasoned mushroom duxelle, topped with slices of mushroom and grated truffle
Add a layer of cream or creme fraiche

Make a little indent in the mixture, and tip in the egg

Top again with a little cream, and further layers of mushroom

Don’t forget to season the layers

Place the ramekins in a deep pan, and top up with boiling water, up to about half way

Serve with some good toasted sourdough, like Poilaine

Casserole

Chicken Casserole with Fennel, Lemon, Garlic and Mushrooms

I’ve no idea where this idea came from, as I’d originally intended to make a chicken chasseur.   When I opened the fridge though, I had an excellent head of fennel, amazing lemons, some beautiful pink garlic and some of my new favourite king oyster mushrooms. It reminded me of one of my absolute favourite summer lunches – finely sliced fennel, served with a garlic and lemon dressing, and seared chicken breasts which have been marinated in garlic and lemon juice.  I think it just seemed logical to give it a go…


Not everything is going to work each time you take a punt, but I’m sure there’s a similar Greek dish that I think contain olives…  As I’ve never been to Greece, it’s not something I’ve tasted, but it seemed to make sense in a Mediterranean kind of way…

Ingredients:

4 good organic chicken breasts
4 king oyster mushrooms
1/2 a large head of fennel
2 shallots
3 tablespoons of plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic
800ml good chicken stock

Method:

  • Butterfly the chicken breasts and cut them in half lengthways 
  • Dust the breasts in well-seasoned flour
  • Heat a tablespoon of butter and olive oil in a pan, and fry the breast until crusty and golden – do not move them around in the pan, you want the crust to stay on the chicken.  Only fry up to three breasts at a time too, so that you don’t overcrowd the pan
  • Removed the chicken and set aside 
  • Roughly chop half a large head of fennel into rough dice
  • Cut of about 1/4 of the king oyster mushroom and set the tops aside, roughly dice the remaining 3/4 of the stalk
  • Chop an equivalent amount of shallots roughly, and then sauté the mushrooms, fennel, two garlic cloves finely sliced and shallots in the pan, scraping up the chicken juices.  Do add more butter or oil if the pan is too dry
  • When everything has softened, deglaze the pan with about a glass of marsala
  • Add 1/2 bottle of white wine to the pan 
  • Finely slice the mushroom tops – I didn’t fry them, I poached them in the pan and in the white wine – because king oyster mushrooms are so flesh and meaty, I wanted to keep them tender
  • Peel a lemon and cut into segments – I cut mine lengthways vertically, then into quarters, then cut the quarters into halves horizontally
  • Put the chicken and lemon segments back into the dish, and add 500ml of good chicken stock
  • Put the casserole dish into the oven for at least an hour, I left mine at 160ºC for two hours.  If you needed it faster, you could raise the temperature up to 180ºC
  • I served mine with green beans.
Notes:
  • If you don’t like lemon chicken, you’re going to loathe this, avoid at all costs
  • If you like lemon chicken, you’re going to LOVE this… It’s much more complex than lemon chicken, the chicken stock adds a certain savouriness that rounds out the sourness of the lemon segments
  • You could easily add marinated olives to this, the saltiness would add another flavour dimension (in fact I even have lemon stuffed olives in my pantry, perhaps I’ll add them next time!)
Chop the fennel and 3/4 of the mushroom stalk into rough dice.
Slice the top of the mushroom top into slices.
The chicken, before it goes into the oven
Chicken casserole with fennel, lemon, garlic and mushrooms

detox

Puy lentil salad, with roasted vegetables and king oyster mushrooms

It’s inevitable, as predictable as the rising sun – come the first of January and we all feel the call of the detox. I’ve been craving lentils ever since I caught the Nigel Slater show over Christmas – his dish of warm lentil salad, horseradish and rare beef chimed somewhere with my overloaded palate… However I really wanted to make it meat-free, and to incorporate some roasted king oyster mushrooms. The mushrooms are meaty enough – they’re perfect for roasting and absorb the flavour of anything they’re dressed in.  I coated them in porcini oil, and salt and pepper and roasted them for around 30 minutes.

I also roasted some red and golden beetroot in another dish, with fennel, radish, sweet potato and lemon and lime zest.  The lentils came courtesy of one of those ready packs, always a handy standby.  The juice of the lemon and lime were added to the oil from mushrooms as a dressing, and I left the entirety to meld for half an hour before serving.
The puy lentils were earthy and added to the savouriness of the king oyster mushrooms… Granny smith apples added texture and a touch of acidity, and the roasted vegetables were both sweet and crunchy.  For the first time in days I woke with an appetite, and raring to go! Bring on the detox – I’m ready for it now…

King oyster mushrooms

The mushrooms were sliced, and dipped in porcini oil

Sweet potato, radish, fennel, red and yellow beetroot, and lime and lemon zest

The dressed dish, roasted vegetables, king oyster mushrooms and puy lentils