You can’t just eat good food. You’ve got to talk about it too. And you’ve got to talk about it to somebody who understands that kind of food.

– Kurt Vonnegut, Jailbird

A couple of weeks ago, there was a three-day weekend starting on the Friday. As a result, I invited some of my teacher school-friends to come for dinner on Thursday—no school the next day meant I could be lazy with the clean up! I decided to introduce them to some Irish food, and some Irish inspired food.

For starters, I had a cheese board with Edam, Smoked cheese and Brie (I know, I know none of those cheeses are Irish but we DO love cheese!).  I made that quintessentially Irish dish, Shepherd’s pie, using beef as the main ingredient and I chose to serve some side dishes using traditional ingredients of rasher, kale, cabbage, celery, onion and leek. I made my Kale Baked Beans and Stuffed Mushrooms. Everything was a hit with my friends, but the Stuffed Mushrooms stood out as a clear favourite!

Mushrooms are one of those foods that people seem to either love or hate. As I’ve mentioned before I have sisters who don’t like mushrooms. Sharing images or recipes with them of mushrooms is futile (although I do keep trying in hopes that someday they will succumb to the deliciousness!). So, when I made this recipe, instead of running to my sisters, I told my friend Kate about them. We spent ages, at the time and since, talking about different types of stuffed mushrooms. We even planned a wine and stuffed mushroom making night. Unfortunately, the night in question, she hurt her foot so we had to postpone our cooking adventure for the time being. However, I went ahead and re-made the below recipe and shared them with her. Both she and her boyfriend really enjoyed them.

I would suggest using this as a starter or as a side dish at a potluck. They would work well for an Irish themed meal or with the Roasted Pork Chops and Sweet Potatoes.

Kale and Rasher Stuffed Mushrooms

Serves 5 – 10*

Ingredients

• Around 20 button mushrooms, stems discarded.
• 1 cup finely diced kale
• 1 tbsp olive oil.
• 1 cup finely diced white cabbage
• 1 leek, finely sliced into rings
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 stick celery finely diced** (optional)
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 5-6 rashers/slices of bacon, chopped***
• Olive oil for the mushrooms (optional)

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200°C.
2. Bring a pot of water to the boil and then add the kale.
3. Bring back to the boil and then reduce and simmer for around 10 minutes. Drain, squeeze out any excess water and set aside until step 6.
4. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a saucepan or frying pan on medium heat.
5. Add the remaining vegetables minus the mushrooms with plenty of black pepper and some sea salt to the saucepan and saute gently.
6. Once the vegetables are soft and the onions are starting to get translucent, add the kale. You could also add some more pepper at this stage.
7. Continue to saute for a further 2-3 minutes until everything is heated through and soft. Do not let anything brown.
8. Remove from heat and set aside.
9. Heat a separate frying pan and, once hot, add the rashers. Cook for a few minutes until almost brown and there is plenty of oil in the pan.
10. Add the vegetable mix and cook thoroughly until the meat is completely cooked and the vegetables are gently browned.
11. Meanwhile, wipe each mushroom with a damp paper towel and place on a baking dish covered with parchment paper. If you want to, at this point, you can coat the outer mushroom with olive oil, but it’s not necessary.
12. Heap the filling into each mushroom and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Don’t burn the rashers/bacon!
13. Remove and serve immediately.

*If using as a starter, I’d use the amount in this recipe for a maximum of ten people, which would mean two mushrooms each.

**The celery is really nice in these mushrooms, however the second time I made them, I left it out.

***For Irish/British readers use streaky rashers.

You can cook all the vegetables up the night before. The first time I made these that’s what I did.

TIPS

Make it your own: Substitute some shredded carrot, or finely diced broccoli for the cabbage and celery. Or add these vegetables to the mixture.

For lunch or breakfast:  If you have any of the filling leftover, make with scrambled eggs and put it in a wrap.