Bastille Day Wrap Up - Mushroom Puree

Bastille Day is over! And thank goodness for that, there were a couple of moments there where I thought I was in a Masterchef pressure test! I had stupidly thought that I could buy a bulk of my ingredients on the day, and I ended up only giving myself 4 hours prep/cook time. But in the end the whole thing went fantastic, I judge that by the number of people who suffer food poisoning, less than 5 is a success! I hope to post a series of recipes from the night. I'll keep them short so the enjoyment level will be high.

So for the amuse bouche I made a mushroom puree topped with sauteed mushrooms and a drizzle of truffle oil. Just in case any one is wondering, I get my black truffle oil from my local veg grocer. It cost me $9.10, I have bought white truffle oil from the french cheese shop at Queen Victoria market before. Its quiet easy to come across, just thought I would let people know. As a funny side note, you need to use the oil pretty quickly or else all the flavour will be lost. Daz likes to drizzle it on his 2 minute noodles. Yep, two minutes noodles with truffle oil....who said instant noodles were a poor mans food!?!

Here is the recipe for Mushroom Puree

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4 entree sized dishes

250g mixed mushrooms, chopped, any variety or size as long as there is a mixture of different types

250mL beef stock

1 sprig of thyme, plus extra for garnish

2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly

50-80 gram butter

2 tbsp of sour cream

truffle oil

METHOD

1. Place 1 tbsp of butter into a medium sized sauce pan. Melt butter over high heat then add the garlic. Cook garlic until fragrant, 10-20 seconds. Add the mushroom and cook until they collapse a little, 2-3 minutes. Add the leaves of 1 sprig on thyme to the mushrooms. Set aside a few mushroom to use for garnish later on.

2. Add the beef stock and let it come to the boil. Decrease the heat to low and cook until half the stock has evaporated.

3. Place in a food processor and blend until very smooth. Return the puree to a saucepan and heat over low heat. If the puree is too thick, add a little hot water, or beef stock. Add the sour cream and butter. Stir until fully incorporated into the puree.

4. Spoon puree into individual bowls, top with a few sauteed mushrooms and a few thyme leaves. Drizzle some truffle oil ontop and serve immediately.

Despite this dish's appearance, brown on brown, it taste delicious! The earthy mushroom flavour is fantastic, and the truffle oil ontop takes the dish to a whole new dimension. You can skip adding the truffle oil if you like, and replace it with some good Olive oil. Either way, the dish will still taste great!