New paintings and regular art updates.
Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt was mushrooms. I drew Shaggy ink caps. Very recognisable. They look like drumsticks as they grow, the cap is tall rather than flat like a parasol. They have scales and they turn black at the base which gradually moves up the cap and makes them seem to melt back into the ground.
A quick curry using vegetables and a small amount of Quorn pieces and prawns.
Ingredients.
One jar of curry sauce, chose your favourite. I got tikka massala. One onion, one sweet pepper, a handful of button mushrooms, a big handful of washed baby spinach, about a quarter of a bag of Quorn pieces and a small packet of kingprawns (or small prawns). A packet of microwaveable rice.
Method.
Defrost the Quorn in the microwave if you have one. Peel and chop the onion. Put in a frying pan in oil and start to fry. Roughly chop the pepper and add to the pan. Chop the mushrooms and add. Put the Quorn and prawns in. Finally stir in the baby spinach, add the packet of rice and pour the curry sauce over the mix. Cook on a low heat with a lid on for about twenty minutes. Make sure the curry is thoroughly cooked before serving.
Serves two or three as a main meal.
I decided to cook some salmon and I usually use a tomato pasta sauce and cook fuselli pasta. This time I made my own sauce from scratch. I don’t know if its the right thing because I’m not a chef, I just cook.
Recipe (serves two)
Two salmon fillets
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
1 large flat mushroom
A handful of green olives, de-stoned
Half a tin of tomatoes
Olive oil
Half a teaspoon of lazy chilli
Dried Basil.
Method (how I did it)
Crush the garlic cloves and fry gently in the olive oil (other oils could be used)
Put a pan of water on to boil for the pasta
Once the garlic is softened I placed the salmon skin side down in the pan. You can skin it first if you don’t like it.
Chop the olives into small pieces and add to the frying pan with the chilli.
If the saucepan of water is boiling add the pasta (a couple of handfuls) and lower to a fast simmer.
Slice the mushroom in thin pieces and add to the frying pan. Make sure all the pieces of veg and salmon are turned frequently so they don’t burn and stick on the pan.
Add half a tin of peeled plum tomatoes or chopped tomatoes.
Sprinkle in some basil to taste (not too much).
Then get some fresh cherry tomatoes and add them to the pan. Turning all the ingredients and cooking long enough to soften the fresh tomatoes. The salmon should be cooked through but not overcooked.
Drain the pasta. Add salt and pepper to taste (I didn’t bother) I like my pasta slightly Al dente (a bit chewy).
Serve the Salmon/sauce mix on top of the pasta.
I hope it’s nice, spicy and edible?
While the salmon and courgette with pasta sauce was cooking on the stove the mushrooms with garlic remained still and solid? It was only after ten minutes of stirring them with chopped garlic and olive oil that I realised that the gas hadn’t lit, even though I’d switched it on! Luckily it didn’t take too long to heat them through once I did ignite the gas.
I also added some tiny pasta flower shapes into the sauce to thicken it slightly. It ended up very tasty with the pasta being slightly aldente. It was good to have the mushrooms seperate. I would normally have just thrown them into one pan, but I wanted to seperate the textures and tastes. It was a good meal when I finally switched on the gas ring!
I thought I would try and lighten my mood by posting about food.
These oatcakes (like savoury pancakes but more oaty,) with a savoury filling.
Traditionally its bacon and cheddar cheese, but that can be too greasy. So I cooked cherry tomatoes and button mushrooms on the hob with a little olive oil. Then when they were cooked I added camembert so I ended up with a melted creamy sauce.
In the meantime I put the oatcakes under the grill and toasted them on both sides so that they were crispy. Then I poured the mixture onto the oatcakes and rolled them up. Result, hot and tasty lunch.
These are shaggy ink caps, they are a species of fungus found in Britain in the autumn. They are actually edible before they start to mature too much when the fruiting bodies, the ink caps (also known as lawyers wigs) start to turn black and break down, which is where the ink bit of their name comes from. I will not post anymore images of fungi because its easy to confuse edible with poisonous. There are a few types that are unmistakable like huge parasol mushrooms with foot wide caps, also football sized and shaped fungi (forgotten the name) which when you cut them up have white mushroom flesh throughout them.
NEVER eat fungi you cannot identify. There are dangerous ones that can kill.
Mallaband-Brown