I’ve shamelessly stolen this recipe! Admittedly I stole it from my very own ski bum, so maybe stolen is a bit strong, shall we agree on borrowed? I also got him to make it and take the photos, while I studiously sipped on a glass of red wine and jotted down the recipe. Aaahhhh!

It’s a recipe that is perfect for this time of year, when mushrooms are in season, and the days are getting cooler and all you want to do is light a fire, hunker on down on the sofa, read a good book and eat comfort food.

Get the best mushrooms you can, you only need a few of the more specialist / expensive ones, they do add lots of flavour. I struggle to get really good fresh mushrooms locally, but I know that when I’m in France I’ll be able to make this using a handful of delicious griolles or forestere.

The en croute bit? Consider it as a delicious but big mushroom pie! AKA “Shroom Pie”. It’s a perfect Sunday dinner dish, served with roast potatoes, lots of greens and a red onion and wine gravy.

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Serves 4 to 6 people, depending on how hungry you all are

Mushroom en Croute

Ingredients ~

• Olive Oil / butter for shallow frying
• Sliced mushrooms ~
• 100g of cepes / forestere / grillioles / oyster / open field mushrooms
• 200g chestnut mushrooms
• 200g button mushrooms
• 2 – 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 small glass of red wine
• Herbs – thyme, parsley, tarragon – whatever you have or fancy
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• A packet of Puff Pastry, defrosted (but kept in it’s wrapper and in the fridge until you need it)

Method ~

• Heat some olive oil and butter in a large pan and gently fry the onion until soft
• Add the garlic and fry for 2 minutes
• Add the mushrooms and fry them. You need to get all the moisture out of the mushrooms.
• Add the red wine, I also add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and cook off until the liquid has evaporated
• Add a tsp of herbs and mix well
• Season with salt and pepper
• When cooked, scoop out approximately half the mushroom mixture and finely chop on a chopping board or whizz for a couple of minutes in a food processor. You are wanting a very finely chopped mix.
• Then combine the 2 batches of the mushroom mixture
• Grease a baking tray, and then place the puff pastry out onto the tray. Put all of the mushroom mixture into the middle of the pastry. Fold one side of pastry over the mix then the other side of pastry, and then the sides so that you have a very large pie. Firm down the edges with your fingertips and some water
• Brush a beaten egg over the pastry and make a few holes in the pastry top to let the steam out
• Place in a hot oven to cook – roughly 20 to 30 minutes, until the pastry is cooked and golden brown

Gardening Notes ~

We ate the last of the Desire potatoes (sob sob), which make perfect roast potatoes, dry and fluffy on the inside and nice crispy skins. It’s just a shame there were so few, the summer was so dry that all the potato varieties I grew this year weren’t as prolific as they should have been.

Alongside these we had carrots from the freezer and fresh greens of Chard and Spinach from the plot (this photo was taken in the summer, guess who forgot to take her camera out with her?).