Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding - veggies: swap your stroganoff for this

It's that time of year that when walking the dog you cannot help but notice the proliferation of fungi in the woods and fields and if you know what you are doing you can literally have a field day with some of the wonderful wild varieties growing out there. But, I always err on the side of caution and never pick wild mushrooms for fear of a potential poisoning! Anyway, this recipe uses the good old dried porcini variety and a few shiitake and button mushrooms - all types that are readily available in your supermarket or grocery shop. There is something about the texture and flavour of mushrooms that provide a 'meaty -satisfying' substitution for meat that non-vegetarians will often appreciate.

The recipe for Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding can be found in Susan Spaull's Ideal Home Entertaining (1999) page102  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ideal-Home-Entertaining-Susan-Spaull/dp/075221750X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350386646&sr=8-1. I love this book. I've had it for years and I often turn to it when I want inspiration for a dinner party menu. Some of my favourite recipes are the Sweet Chilli Sea Bass page 96 - an elegant and simple main course; Grilled Goat's Cheese With Gooseberry Chutney page 25 - my favourite starter ever!!! What about the exceedingly tasty Dill Blinis With Mustard Creme Fraiche page39. A nice touch to this book is that many of the recipes come with wine recommendations, so why not try serving a Sancerre with the goat's cheese or an Australian Chardonnay with the sea bass? Surprisingly for me, I've never made any of the puddings or cakes and tarts in this book. That's not to say they don't look very exciting as there are definitely contenders in there waiting to be created! For example the White Chocolate and Mint Cheesecake on page 132 looks incredibly light and refreshing; Strawberry Tiramisu, page 138 is making me yearn for summer likewise the Sanguinello Sorbet page 164. Anyway, enough of my drooling, here's my next recipe:

Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding on a bed of wild rocket

Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding (copyright 1999 Susan Spaull)

Serves 8 as an accompaniment or starter

15g dried porcini mushrooms
55g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
110g shiitake mushrooms
110g button mushrooms
Butter for greasing
140g slightly stale white bread
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
55g walnuts, chopped
4 medium eggs, beaten
290ml single cream
290ml milk
salt and ground black pepper

Porcini soaking in boiling water

Sweating the veg

Cooking the mushrooms

1. Place the porcini mushrooms in a small bowl and pour over 100ml of boiling water. Place to one side.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the onion and celery. Place a piece of damp greaseproof paper on the vegetables and cover with a lid. Cook over a low heat for 15 minutes or until soft. Remove lid an d paper.
3. Slice the fresh mushrooms then add to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes until tender, then set aside.
4. Butter a 1 litre flan dish. Discard crusts from the bread, then cut into small cubes. Place in flan dish and sprinkle with the herbs and walnuts.

Cubed bread

Chopped herbs and walnuts

5. Combine the eggs, cream and milk. Remove the porcini from the water and add to the vegetables. Add the procini water to the cream mixture, ensuring you leave any grit in the bowl. Season well.

6. Stir the vegetables in to the bread, then pour the egg mixture over the top. Leave to stand for 30 minutes or cover with cling film and chill for up to 24 hours.

Ready to bake

7. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees centigrade and bake for 30 minutes or until the eggs are set. Brown under the grill for 2 minutes if desired.

Ready to be served as our starter

Noteworthy points: I found it took more like 45 minutes in my oven rather than 30 minutes. Also there seemed to be rather a lot of liquid so I ended up leaving some in the bowl as the flan dish would have overflowed. In terms of serving this as a starter, there was rather a lot! It would certainly make an ideal lunch or after-work supper. The flavours were good and this should satisfy veggies and meat-eaters alike.

In the pipe-line: as promised some more kids' cookery but very soon a tasty Thai chicken stir fry courtesy of the great Ken Hom.

Mini Eve's puddings and blackberry ice cream...seasonal heaven!

These cute little puddings were a must what with the glut of apples and all those lovely free blackberries waiting to be picked from the hedgerows. So, one Tuesday I peddled round the lanes of Norfolk scanning for the juiciest blackberries I could get my hands on, already having in mind a recipe for blackberry ice cream! The apples were picked from the garden so it would be criminal not to include a seasonal recipe making use of them.

A really good combination: mini Eve's pudding with blackberry ice cream

The blackberry ice cream recipe was so simple it was literally a case of quick preparation and then chucking it all in to the ice cream maker. Last year I had made a blackberry custard ice cream which was a creamy concoction of blackberries and yes, you've guessed it custard. But in the spirit of my challenge I thought I better not replicate it and chose a different recipe. So the one I selected was from another book I had not yet had the pleasure of cooking from: Rosemary Moon's Ice cream machine book (1997) Page 36 http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Ice-Cream-Machine-Book/dp/1840923172/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1349035760&sr=8-2  I bought this book from a charity shop in Rochester, Kent whilst on holiday there ( and certainly didn't pay anywhere near the price a new copy is on this link!) The book is pleasing on the eye with lovely colour photography and doesn't seem that dated despite being first published in 1997. Other recipes that have caught my eye are the mint chocolate chip on page 34, Tangerine Sherbet page 62 and Cafe Con Leche (made using evaporated milk so slightly less fattening) page 90. In fact, there are so many others too, (including a section on tofu ice creams), I feel I'm going to have to try something else soon and post it on here!

The Eve's puddings took a little more thought as I had decided to adapt the recipe from one large pudding to make 4 - 6 smaller versions. I used a recipe from Great British Menu (2006) page 83 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-British-Menu-traditional-recipes/dp/1405316500/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349036914&sr=1-2, some of you may have seen the different series on the BBC featuring a whole host of celebrity chefs pitting their culinary wits against each other. Again, this is another fantastic book and it seems a shame to adapt the Eve's pudding recipe and not showcase something else as well, so I might yet return to this book as I've spied a Sea Bass in coconut milk recipe...

Eve's pudding (copyright 2006 Dorling Kindersley Limited)

Serves 4, you'll need 4 buttered ramekins

6 Bramley's apples, peeled.cored,sliced
100g sultanas (optional)
50g brown sugar
Sponge mix
100g caster sugar
100g margarine
2 large eggs

Deciding on how many ramekins to use,  don't need any more than four

100g self-raising flour

Sliced apples

Mixing up the sponge ingredients

Ensure ramekins are well buttered to assist in easy removal!

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
2. Place the apples in the buttered ramekins, scatter on sultanas. Sprinkle with the brown sugar.
3. To make the sponge mix, cream together sugar and margarine. Beat in the eggs, then fold in the flour.
4. Spoon the sponge mix over the fruit. Bake for about 20 to 22 minutes until the sponge is golden brown and cooked through. Serve with the blackberry ice cream - see below!

Blackberry ice cream (copyright 1997 Quintet Publishing Limited

450g blackberries
juice of 1 lemon
150g sieved icing sugar, or to taste
3 tbsp blackberry liqueur (optional)

Sieving the blackberries to remove the seeds

300ml double cream

Blackberry puree

1. Blend the blackberries with the lemon juice, then stir in the sugar until dissolved.
2. Sieve the fruit to remove any seeds. Add the blackberry liqueur if using.
3. Stir in the cream and chill for a few hours before churning in your ice cream maker*

Stirring in the cream

Ready to chill for a few hours

Churning in the maker

Ready to be stored in the freezer

*If you haven't got an ice cream maker, there is no reason why you can't make this by hand. It does mean stirring every few hours about three or four times whilst freezing in order to prevent ice crystals forming.

Yum, yum - half way through eating after lunch on Sunday!

This was another winner in our house! It made a change from your bog-standard blackberry and apple crumble and custard. The sponge on the Eve's puddings was light and the apple shone through nicely. The contrast of hot pudding and cold ice cream is always a treat in my eyes too. So give it a go if you've managed to get out there blackberry picking before it's too late!

Next time: I've already made the promised veggie recipe so hopefully I'll get that written up soon. Some kid's cookery is in the pipeline and I'm also in the process of sourcing some important ingredients for some Greek cookery - watch this space...