Monday, September 22, 2008

Recipe sniping: appetisers

Two fish courses?!


TWO FISH COURSES??!!


Are you guys serious?!

Seeing as I'm just playing spoiler anyway, I'm not gonna play by those rules. I am a relative beginner in the fish cooking department, and I follow recipes to the letter. (I might be trying this week's two proper recipes soon - I prefer PhysioProf's recipe, but Isis' cooking method sounds like more fun). And there's no point in me just copying a recipe that you can find elsewhere - it's much more fun to post recipes that I've adapted or invented myself!

Plus there are no vegetarian courses on the original menu, and I think that's a shocking omission.
So here's my fish vegetarian course #1 appetiser!

This recipe is adapted from Crystal Surprise. The surprise is that my awesome local market does not sell polenta. I think the mushrooms work better anyway (sorry, Crystal!) as they hold the topping better.

Ingredients (all amounts are a matter of taste; you decide):
1 large portobello* mushroom cap per person (try to get ones that are shaped more like a bowl than a plate)
Cherry, grape or other small tomatoes, cut in half
Garlic, roughly chopped
Red onion, as finely sliced as you can get it
Black eyed peas or other bean-type things
Cilantro / coriander / whatever you call it**, the chopped fresh leaves, not the powder
Olive oil
Butter
Grated cheese (Parmesan is best)

Gently sauté the onions and garlic in the oil until they start to soften. Add the tomatoes and continue to cook on a medium-low heat. After about 5 minutes, add the cilantro and peas. Turn the heat down.

Place the mushrooms (gill side up, with small dabs of butter on the surface) under the grill. Cook until juicy and delicious. Put the mushroom caps on plates, fill the caps with the tomato mixture, cover with the cheese, and put back under the grill until the cheese is melty and delicious.

Also good as a side dish with pork chops, roast chicken or steak (as pointed out by Mr E Man when I first made them, as a main course with salad on the side. He also thinks my vegetarian quiche would be better with bacon in it, and my vegan curry would be better with lamb. But he also likes them - and me - just the way they are).

*apparently both this spelling and portabella are somehow correct

**regional variations exist


See also:
amuse bouche
salad
vegetable curry

8 comments:

  1. Cath, did you see my note about going veggie next week? I love you crazy plant eaters. Sure, I'll have some side of fish something for those that are sticklers to the rules, but plan to see a veggie option.

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  2. I did actually - sorry, I forgot to mention it! I had this post all ready to go, so I just linked to your two recipes as soon as I saw them this morning, and then posted.

    I'm only a part-time plant eater, so I'm looking forward to both parts of next week's post!

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  3. Yum! I'll be taking Mr. E man's suggestion and making these as a side to the lovely steaks my husband just bought.

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  4. Vegetables suck my dick.

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  5. Well, remind me never to go grocery shopping with you.

    This dish is mostly fungi and fruit. I dread to ask how you feel about them...

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  6. Yum! The cilantro sounds like a very nice touch.

    When the Recipe War is over (do you think it'll be over by Christmas?) we should carry on the science bloggers recipes theme somehow. Science bloggers are clearly the BEST cooks.

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  7. Kudos to Crystal for the cilantro!

    I love the idea of carrying this on. Like a recipe Friday or something. Hmmmm...

    ReplyDelete

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