Anyone attempting home repairs, restorations and such will tell you the importance of having a good team of builders to back you up. Balazs our carpenter is the poster child of great work ethic, affordability and affability. We have dared to undertake many a departures from reality like say, come spring 2013 we commence building a library and view room in our forest, solely banking on his skills with all things wood. That and the fact that Balazs is super enthusiastic about our culinary (mis)adventures makes him a welcome presence at Sargahaz.
It therefore comes as no surprise that when he told us about his scheduled television appearance earlier today, we suited and booted up and made our way to my inlaws’ Arctic cold summer house (they have TV) just to watch Balazs on National TV.
To celebrate the occasion and keep us warm while we waited the program to commence, we sipped on hot honey lemon tea and munched hastily assembled toasted mushroom and cheese filled baguettes.
Incidentally the mushroom filling is incredibly versatile when it comes to serving. You can eat it with nice warm rotis fresh off the tava, serve it with rice, or stuff leftovers in a sandwich as I just did. Or top it on your pizza if you dare!
Here’s the recipe
Mushroom a’la Sargahaz
White button mushrooms washed, de stemmed, and finely sliced length wise.
Ginger finely sliced length wise – I usually go heavy on the ginger, it’s a love affair!
1 onion sliced length wise
A knob of unsalted butter – how much is that exactly? You decide.
1 can of chopped tomatoes in tomato sauce or equivalent quantity fresh diced tomatoes
Black pepper
Salt to taste.
Melt the butter in a pan. Add the ginger and onions and fry on a medium flame till the onions are transparent. Add the tomatoes and gently simmer till sauce thickens. Add the mushrooms and cook till whatever consistency you like. I like to cook the hell out of the fungi while Gabor prefers them more plump and less “sorry” looking. Add salt and pepper towards the end.
The flavour is amazing! You can add your stamp to the dish by experimenting with a whole host of spices. I prefer mine basic, peppery and gingery.
To serve with rice, you don’t need to cook down the tomatoes too much. I like my gravy on the thicker side so my tomatoes are cooked down quite a bit regardless of my serving it with rice or stuffing it in a sandwich akin to meatballs.
Cook it, savour it and tell me what you think!
Happy culinary kills!
HangMyHat 