Mushroom & Cashew Nut Stroganoff / Lemon seasoned brown rice / buttered baby carrots

image courtesy of bbc good food

Its been a while since i ate / made a mushroom stroganoff. I do however get the urge once in a while to make and eat one, even if it is to relive some halcyon days from my years in the industry. Theres a number of things i like about it, the tanginess and mellow spices, the earthy mushroom flavour and of course its hearty and homely feel. This recipe in particualrly aims to bring out all of those elements, whilst at the same time creating a delicate balance of them all.

You will need (makes a faily sized batch serves 4-5):


1 Kilo of close cupped mushrooms, sliced
2 Onions, finely diced
2 Cloves of garlic, crushed
75g of cashew nuts
50g of pickled gherkins, diced
2 Red peppers, skinned, seeded and cut into 1 cm strips
125ml of milk, 125ml of double cream mixed
1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard
Healthy splash of Worcestershire sauce
Seasoning
Paprika

The doing bit:


Sauté off the mushrooms, once soft set aside to drain in a colander

Fry off the onions and garlic till soft; add the peppers and cashew nuts. Cook for a couple of minutes.

Add cream / milk and reduce then season

Once thickened add mustard and the Worcestershire sauce, stir in the mushrooms and gurkins, check the seasoning and serve.

For the rice (4/5 person batch)

350g brown rice
2 lemons, zested and juiced. keep the peels though we will use these as well
Handful fresh coriander chopped.
tsbp butter or margarine

Cooke the rice as normal in water until the rice begins to soften. Strain the rice then add the rice to a large oven tray adding the lemon juice, lemon peel and zest and mix thoroughly. Ad the butter, then vover the tray with greaseproof paper and tinfoil and put into oven at about 200C. Check every five minutes until done. When done remove the lemon peel, and stir in the coriander. Serve.

For the carrots:

allow 5/6 baby carrots per person. Cook in a pan of hot water with 1 tsbp sugar added. When cooked to preference, strain and serve with 3/4 portions of herb butter (optional) or alternatively glaze with ordinary butter or margarine.