Mushrooms gone wild.....

So I gave the July starter a go last night. It's still going........

It's actually turned out better than I thought it would because I didn't do it as I intended simply because I wasn't paying attention.

I should have guessed it would give me difficulties from the start because I couldn't get fresh wild mushrooms from the supermarket and had to plump for some dried ones. I'm not sure that they are too bad either because there is a great variety in them, much more than I'd get if I'd found one or two wild ones packaged on the shelves

My idea is to make a kind of mousse from some cooked chestnut mushrooms (with a little shallot, chopped garlic and a dash of marsala) whizz that up with soft cheese an egg yolk and some double cream to give the setting part of my terrine.

Then I want to take my coarsely chopped fresh wild mushrooms, give them a quick sauté in a little butter and combine these with the mousse a whisked up egg white to lighten the texture up a bit and then finish it of with some dill.

For some reason or another I forgot that I wanted to cook this and when making the first part I added melted butter and omitted the soft cheese as if I was going to make an uncooked pâté. Oh well it was too late now so I just carried on with cooking it in a bain marie and hoped that the butter wouldn't split out and ruin it.

After 90 mins I took it out and it actually looked fine so after letting it cool it went into the fridge and there it remains. I'm hopeful that it'll actually be rather good and that the mistake of adding in the butter might have been a lucky one.

Whether it sets fully is another matter, if not then perhaps I can rescue it by folding in the soft cheese and then remoulding it......now there's an idea !!!

I also tried the Quails Egg in the water bath for the same amount of time at 62C but I'm not convinced on that and I think just a minute in boiling water followed by a quick cooling in some iced water will work for this recipe just as well if not better.

The flavours will definitely be there no matter so regardless of how this first try comes out I'll be able to see if the combinations work. That really is the great thing about creating your own dishes you get to experiment with technique and with that brings increased knowledge ultimately making you a better cook each time.

So onwards and upwards....toodlepip xx