Mushroom Parcels

Sophia's Midnight Mushroom Parcels

I will make your life easy and say, buy your puff pastry.  Although it's an amazing thing to make your own (and I will share the recipe some time), it is quite a process and the bought versions are good.

I used brown mushrooms for my creation.  They are about 60mm in diameter.  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (about 400 degrees Fahrenheit).  Roast the mushrooms whole for about 12 minutes in some grapeseed or olive oil.  Turn them around after 6 minutes.  When done, set aside to cool down.

Roast pine nuts until light brown.  Set aside.  Finely chop a handful of fresh sage. 

Roll out the pastry - not too thin.  Cut it into squares of about 160mm x 160mm.  Place a mushroom in the middle of the square, top with some feta cheese, freshly chopped sage and a teaspoonful of pine nuts.  Gather together to form a parcel and pinch together to form a 'neck'.  Brush with egg yolk and bake for about 30 minutes or until brown.

I served it with a sauce.  To make this, chop up an onion and fry until transparent in a blob of butter.  Add 200ml beef stock and cook for about 8 minutes to reduce the liquid by half.  In another pot, place 350ml good red wine and reduce to half of that.  Add the wine to the stock, add 30ml hoi sin and 30ml sugar.  Five minutes before serving, add 2 tablespoons of butter and whisk the butter into the sauce.

Serve one parcel per person, and drizzle some sauce around it.  Decorate with a sage leaf, or chopped sage.