Garlic Mushroom Parmesan Muffins #MuffinMonday

This week’s Muffin Monday ingredient is mushrooms!  I have to admit that when I first got the email, I was taken aback.  As much as I love mushrooms, I wasn’t sure about mushroom muffins.  But I am never at a loss for muffin inspiration for long.  I sautéed the mushrooms with a healthy helping of fresh garlic and butter because mushrooms and garlic and butter are best friends.  And they play nicely with Parmesan as well, so I added some of that to the muffins, along with a small jalapeño that was going begging in my daughter’s refrigerator.  I knew if I left him behind, he would probably never be used and it made me sad to think of Señor Jalapeño all shriveled and finally thrown away.  He gave his short life to make these muffins better.  To him, I say, gracias.

Ingredients
5 oz or 140g  Cremini or other mushrooms
2 large cloves garlic
1 small jalapeño
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 oz or 85g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup or 60ml sunflower or canola oil
3/4 cup or 180ml milk

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your muffin tin by spraying it with non-stick spray or lining it with paper muffin cups or greasing it with a little olive oil or butter.

Slice the mushrooms and set aside 12 cross-sections to add to the top of the muffin batter before baking.  Finely chop the rest of the mushrooms.

Peel and mince your cloves of garlic.  Mince your jalapeño.

Sauté the mushrooms, garlic and jalapeño in the butter until the mushrooms are golden.

They are going to get watery first.

Just keep cooking till they dry up again and brown a little.  Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile combine your flour, baking powder, Parmesan and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In another small bowl, whisk your eggs with the oil and milk.

Fold your wet ingredients into the dry ones.

Then fold in the sautéed mushrooms, garlic and jalapeño.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups.  Top each with the reserved slices of mushroom.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Beef Stroganoff

If you’ve been around and reading this blog since Individual Beef Wellingtons then you know the provenance of the beef for this stroganoff.  I had half of a filet mignon or tenderloin and used the thick side to make two generous steaks.  The skinny end of the tenderloin, I sliced up into pieces suitable for stir-fry or stroganoff and threw them, bagged carefully, into the freezer.  In fact, I labeled the bag: stroganoff meat.  It wasn’t a lot of meat, but I knew it could be bulked out with onions and mushrooms and, served over linguine, make another generous meal for two or three.  And so it did.

Ingredients

1 cup sour cream (or 1 cup whipping cream, 1 tablespoon white vinegar, plus 1 pinch of salt)

320g or 11.25 oz beef, cut into thin pieces

2 medium onions

200g or 7 oz Swiss brown or other mushroom of your choice

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 beef stock cube

300g or 10.5 oz linguine or other dried pasta of your choice

15g butter

Olive oil

Sea salt

Black pepper

Method

First, I make my sour cream.  Obviously skip this step if you have store-bought.  Add a tablespoon of white vinegar to your measuring cup.  Fill to the 1-cup line with heavy whipping cream.  Stir thoroughly.  Add a pinch of sea salt.  Stir again and set aside.  This will continue to thicken and will be just like store-bought sour cream by the time you need to use it.  (This can be used anytime sour cream is called for in a recipe, sweet or savory.)

Over a low fire, melt the butter, adding a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet. The oil will raise the burning temperature of the butter so it doesn’t burn by accident. While the butter is melting, chop your onions.

Add the onions to the pan and sauté gently until they are soft and translucent.   This could take as many as 10 or 15 minutes over a low flame.

Meanwhile, slice your mushrooms.

Add the 1/2 cup white wine to the pan and cook till it’s hot again. 

Add the beef cube and keep cooking over a low heat until the wine is almost completely reduced.  Once again, this could take 10 minutes or more.  You want the onions dissolving almost to a mush.

Put water on to boil and cook your pasta according to package instructions.

When the onions are pretty dry again, move them to a small bowl off the heat.

Turn the fire up high and get your pan really hot.  Add the beef all at once and continue to cook over a high fire so it browns.  You can add another couple of glugs of olive oil at this point. 

When the meat is mostly cooked, add the onions back in and then add the sliced mushrooms.  Your heat is still on high at this point.  Let this cook for several more minutes, until the mushrooms have softened and then turn the fire right back down to simmer.

Add in the sour cream, stirring gently.  Let it bubble along for a few more minutes until it thickens slightly.  Serve over the cooked pasta. 

Enjoy!