The Epicurean Table - www.epicureantable.com

vegetable - vegetarian, mushroom, champignons, pumpkin, green beans, ragout

t=teaspoon T=tablespoon

These recipes are for your personal use only and may not be added in any form to archives other works.

Winter Ragout of Mixed Mushrooms and Vegetables
A delicious and savoury winter dish, it is worth it to find a good source for wild or mixed mushrooms. If you must, use no more than a quarter of the mushrooms using champignons as they are rather bland. Diced pumpkin and the addition of green beans makes this a colourful and unusual ragout. Serve this over firm polenta or a mash such as Mashed Chickpeas and Parsnips or brown rice.

serves 4

400g. mixed mushrooms such as wild, porcini, portobello (See note below for alternative)

1 med. onion

1 med. red onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 T. butter

1 T. olive oil

1 sm carrot

1 stalk celery

a good handful of diced pumpkin such as acorn or butternut

a good handful of green beans

125 ml. red wine

200 ml. hot vegetable or chicken stock

1/4 t. winter or summer savoury (or thyme)

3 or 4 sage leaves, chopped or 1/8 t. dried or 1/4 t. chopped fresh rosemary

1 bay leaf

2 T. parsley

salt, pepper

Clean mushrooms gently. Leave small ones whole, trim off tough ends of large ones and cut into thick slices or quarters.

Slice the onions thinly lengthways. Dice the carrot finely and finely slice the celery. Add half the butter and oil to the skillet and sauté the vegetables until almost soft before adding the chopped garlic. Continue sautéing until the onions are glassy. Add a little salt and pepper. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally until all begins to brown slightly.

Add the herbs and the mushrooms. Sauté until the liquid released from the mushrooms is reabsorbed. Add the red wine. Simmer gently a few minutes to cook off the alcohol. Cover and allow to cook over low heat for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in another pan melt the remaining butter and oil. Cut the green beans into about 3 cm. pieces. Sauté the pumpkin and the green beans several minutes then add the vegetable stock. Add a little salt and a grating of pepper. Cover and allow to cook until just tender.

Add to the mushrooms and toss gently. Heat together with the parsley for another minute or so before serving.

Note: If you cannot find a good mix of mushrooms then use about 300 g. portobello or champignons and a good handful of dried porcini (about 50 g.). Allow the porcini to soak in very warm water for at least 30 minutes. Reserve the liquid for using in place of or with the amount required for the stock. Allow the champignons to cook several minutes before adding the reconstituted porcini which require less cooking time.

You can add a little more stock if you prefer or if you wish a thicker sauce, you can make a paste of a little corn starch (a teaspoon or so) and water and add to the ragout. Stir well and heat until thickened. Also, a little miso stirred into the mushroom mix is also very nice.

All recipes are excerpts from "Welcome to My Kitchen" - The Epicurean Table and are copyright of the author. Recipes are not to be

added to any form of archive or other works of any kind. Contact the author for further information.