Thursday, July 8, 2010

Baked Wild Mushroom and Cheese Omelette

Thunderstorms and lightning bring both concern and joy to me. I’m worried that strong thunder will cause, as it usually does, our circuit breakers to shut off and of course, without electricity there will be no computer access and internet connections, at least in our dwelling. On the other hand, they excite me because for reasons I am not quite sure, when there are thunderstorms and lightning, there is a good chance that wild mushrooms will be sprouting, as it always happens as well, in our lawn and garden the following morning,

The other morning, I found several wild mushrooms in our backyard. I realized it has been raining with occasional lightning and thunderstorms the previous night, hence the mushrooming. I eagerly harvested the wild vegetable and stock them inside the fridge before going to work. I usually cook wild mushrooms into tasty vegetable soup like the one I posted here. That day however, I contemplated on preparing a different dish using some of the surprise exotic harvest. In that afternoon, I ended up baking wild mushroom and cheese omellette.

While mushroom is actually the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, some varieties can be very delicious. But proper care and familiarity should be considered in harvesting the wild vegetable as some kinds can be potently toxic and highly poisonous. I won’t advise anyone to just pick wild mushrooms from their gardens and backyard and cook into meals. Basic knowledge on the edible varieties should be acquired first before even thinking of gathering them for food.

There are mushrooms that are high in fiber and good source of vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, biotin and ascorbic acid; and minerals, like selenium, potassium and phosphorus. But basically mushrooms, especially those taken from the wild are prized for their distinct taste. So, with wild mushroom in my baked omelette, I am expecting that the rare vegetable will further elevate the taste of the dish several notch higher.

Since we are talking about mushroom omellete, the main ingredients needed in preparation are eggs and wild mushrooms. About four large farm fresh eggs, to be lightly beaten, and 2 pieces large mushrooms, to be diced, should be enough for the dish.

The other ingredients needed are as follows: ½ cup grated cheddar cheese, ½ cup grated mozzarella cheese, 1 large tomato, finely diced, 2 tbsp chopped leek, 1/3 cup milk, ½ cup diced sausage, 1/8 tsp dried basil, 1/8 tsp paprika, ¼ tsp salt and ¼ tsp ground pepper.

First, pre-heat oven to 350 ˚F or 180 ˚C. Then, in a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and cheddar cheese. Add in basil, paprika, salt and ground pepper. Continue beating. Add in milk and then fold in mushroom, tomato and leek.



Finally, fold in mozzarella cheese and and diced sausage. Lightly stir to evenly mix all ingredients then transfer and spread evenly into a greased baking dish.



Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 30 to 40 minutes or until a fork poke at the center comes out clean. Mine took about 40 minutes. Let stand for 8 minutes before slicing.



Transfer in a plate, garnish and serve warm. Serve with steamed rice or bread of your choice. Yummy! Enjoy! :-)

This should be good for 4 servings but for really hungry diners, like us, it could hardly satisfy 3 males already starving and profusely drooling in anticipation. c“,)

2 comments:

  1. do you happen to know the scientific name of this mushroom?

    ReplyDelete

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