Rustling up Russula Tacos

We've been talking a lot recently about wild mushrooms (did you notice?) and also our last post touched on our love of Mexican food.  Recently we combined both by making some tacos with wild mushrooms as the main theme.  Ideally we would have used our own homemade tortillas to make this recipe but we had a part-used pack of shop bought taco shells to use up so employed these.

Having multinational culinary tendencies, our plates on this occasion crossed borders and continents; and why not?  So along with the Mexican tacos, Phil travelled all the way to Spain and cooked up an Iberian influenced stew before dropping down to the Middle East and creating a Yeminite rice dish with the help of Zhoug spice paste.  

Our friend Dominic, Master of Spicing, Pickles, and Chutneys (among his various other artful skills) had put us onto Zhoug paste a few years ago.  The ingredients can vary, from simple to complex, and can include blends of fresh coriander, parsley, and cloves, with a delicate background of basil, cardamon, cumin, chilli, and Phil's nemesis; garlic.  We never did get around to making it ourselves before we discovered it for sale ready made by Belazu.  Phil has since explored its use in many ways but the simplicity of this rice dish really lets the flavour sing all on its own.

Talking of simplicity, and returning to the centre stage, the tacos here were made predomantly with Yellow Russula mushrooms (among a few others - see the photo left and bottom) we found out whilst foraging but they could be made equally as well with any mushrooms you buy in the shops.

Phil made all these dishes separately but when it comes to serving a taco plate, they could be piled on in any combination, along with lettuce, tomatoes and avocado to your liking. Tacos don't have rules or borders and neither should any plate of food!

Oven Roasted (Yellow Russula) Mushroom Tacos

15-20 Yellow Russula mushrooms (or alternative)

Vegan Worcestershire sauce

Franks Redhot Original Sauce

Cholula Chipotle Hot Sauce

Oil

Sprinkle of salt

Slice up the mushrooms quite chunkily and chuck into a baking dish.  Splash on the Worcestershire Sauce, and both hot sauces, along with the sprinkle of salt and a little splash of oil.  Do all this to taste and to coat the mushrooms.  You'll know how much!  Roast in the oven on about 200 degrees C for 30 minutes until nice and golden. Towards the end of the cooking time, put your tacos in the oven to heat up.  Load your mushrooms into your warm tacos either on their own or with whatever feels good.

Add lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado to the plate - that is always good!

Iberian Stew

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion sliced

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon hot paprika

1 large red pepper sliced

1 large yellow pepper sliced

2 tablespoons tomato puree

1 tin of chickpeas

1 teaspoon vegan stock powder

Water to just cover

2 Taifun tofu weiners sliced in 1" chunks

2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion to saute until soft.  Add the 2 types of paprika, and stir in for 30 seconds, then add in the peppers and continue to cook for a further 5 mins.  Add the tomato puree and mix well, then all the other ingredients except the coriander.  Cook for a further 5 mins, and then add the coriander just before serving.

Zhoug Rice

1 1/2 cups white basmati rice, washed well and drained

2 tablespoons Belazu Zhoug Spice Paste

3 cups boiling water

Mix all of the above into a saucepan, bring back to the boil, and then turn down to a slow simmer and cook for 10 minutes.  Then leave to rest for 10 mins.

Enjoy!