Champignons a la Grecque ©

Easy

A nice cooling starter for summer !

Ingredients

225g small button mushrooms

2 dl white wine

2 med onions

1.5 dl Olive oil

1 ripe tomato or 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes

Juice 1 lemon

1 Bay leaf

1 tsp Whole small coriander seeds, crushed a little

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Garnish

2 tbs Chopped parsley

Method

1.Clean mushrooms with a damp clean cloth.When cooking straight away you can also wash them very briefly under the tap. (Do not soak in water, or they will blacken.)

2.Trim stalks and cut into 4 long ways, if you were not able to find really small mushrooms.

3. Dice onions finely and skin tomato, by blanching in boiling water 2-3 seconds and peeling. Then cut into small cubes.

4. Place all ingredients in saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer with lid on for 5 mins.

5. Drain off liquor into small saucepan and reduce to syrupy consistency. ( Boil rapidly with lid off for 3-5 minutes.)

6. Place mushrooms into serving bowl, pour over reduced sauce and leave to chill thoroughly in fridge,

7. Just before serving, sprinkle with chopped parsley.

This is an old fashioned dish, but is excellent. It is nice as a starter, but can also be part of a buffet.

COOKING TERM : To “reduce” means to boil rapidly, thus reducing the liquid by half or more, which intensifies the flavor.

To “blanch” means to submerge fruit or vegetables into boiling water for a few seconds, to release the skin as in tomatoes or almonds, or to enhance the color in green vegetable and sometimes to whiten meat.

Clean your mushrooms by wiping them with a clean damp cloth.

Cut into four lengthwise, if the mushrooms are large.

Place chopped skinned tomatoes and diced onion in saucepan, together with olive oil and other ingredients

and simmer with the lid on for five minutes.

Place large sieve over saucepan and drain mushrooms, reserving the liquor in saucepan.

Boil rapidly and reduce by half. The liquor will thicken.

Pour thickened  sauce over mushrooms and arrange in a suitable serving dish.

Place in refrigerator for 2 hours to chill thoroughly and before serving sprinkle with chopped parsley.