miso mushroom gyoza.

An exciting parcel arrived on my doorstep recently. An exciting parcel bursting with organic goodies. To celebrate Organic September, Organic UK had sent me a variety of fresh, dairy and dry produce to get creative with. From vibrant fruit and vegetables to soy sauce and plain flour to pasta, there were lots of ingredients to play around with in my #OrganicUnboxed package... even wine! I hadn't realised so many foodie products could be organic and couldn't wait to experiment. 

After getting my thinking cap on, I knew I had to use the red miso paste and soy sauce to create something Japanese inspired. And so I present to you... homemade miso mushroom gyoza featuring and organic mushroom filling, pastry made from Doves Farm flower and Clearspring soy sauce for dipping. Yum - and they're vegan too!

mushrooms en croute.

shopping list
♥ 375g pack ready rolled puff pastry
♥ 4 large white flat mushrooms
♥ 4 tbsp fresh pesto sauce
♥ 8 sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained
♥ 1 mozzarella cheese ball, sliced
♥ milk to glaze





i was recently contacted by the lovely people from more to mushrooms asking if i'd like to try out one of their mushroom recipes for national vegetarian week - starting today 20th may! this one really jumped out at me and i had to try it! it was so, so simple with minimal ingredients so thanks again for the recipe inspiration :) 

i also learnt that mushrooms are such an underrated vegetable. as well as being high in protein and low in fat and calories, they are a natural source of antioxidants, b vitamins and minerals, and full of fibre to aid digestion. perfecto!

homemade mushroom, onion and leek soup.

shopping list
♥ 500g mushrooms, finely sliced
♥ one leek
♥ one onion
♥ a handful of spring onions
♥ three garlic cloves
♥ 30g butter
♥ 500ml vegetable stock
♥ black pepper






begin by putting all the onions and leeks in a saucepan with the butter on a medium heat for around 5 minutes. when they have caramelised, add the sliced mushrooms and do the same for another 5 minutes. 


next, add the vegetable stock and let it simmer for another 5-10 minutes. keep stirring add a little black pepper to taste!




finally, put all ingredients in a blender and whizz up until the desired thickness. looking back i would've made mine more chunky - it was so tasty but difficult to take an attractive looking picture.


i've only just got into attempting to make my own soup - let me know if you have any tasty soup recipes! :)

grilled aubergine, leek and mushroom risotto

serves four


shopping list
♥ one aubergine
♥ three leeks
♥ handful of mushrooms
♥ one red onion
♥ 250g risotto or paella rice
♥ 3 tablespoons of philly
♥ vegetable stock
♥ cherry tomatoes to garnish

now i should probably begin by explaining how this particular dish came about and the unusual choice of ingredients! it was basically a bit of a "bung it" and it made me feel a little like i was on ready, steady, cook! when you have to make a dish out of odds and ends. i even chopped everything up nicely, see? which is all part of the fun of course!


so hopefully that explains the paella rice you can see as well as the lack of garlic in a risotto (dun, dun dunnn). oh and it also made it nice and veggie too!


so i began, as all great recipes do, with caramelising the onions in the pan on a low heat. when cooking with aubergine the first thing i do is slice them up and leave them to rest with a bit of salt. i'm not really a fan of adding salt to food (always black pepper for me!) but i learnt that it takes away the bitterness you sometimes get.


in a separate griddle pan, or grill if you prefer, begin grilling the aubergines. so now you should have the onions cooking nicely and aubergines beginning to soften. the aubergines will take around 10-15 mins so just keep turning.


next add in the rice - lightly toasting at first and then very soon after adding in a splash of stock as and when. as i mentioned before, i created this when using up food in my cupboard. and i just so happened to have paella rice instead of risotto. so hands up that this isn't strictly a risotto! however - the difference between the grains is that risotto rice is creamier which is why paella rice suits having a more tomato based, spicey accompaniments. so cue philly cheese - i used this to create the creamier texture and flavour i desired. low in fat too  :)


keep adding in the stock when the rice seems like it may stick. you then add in the chopped leeks, then mushrooms and lastly the aubergines, chopped up. you could leave one slice for the top like i did too :) you then put in the philly cheese. you don't have to use it of course and totally up to you if you want to use more or less. when cooking with philly i pretty much always put it in last or at least near the end as it can go gloopy and separate under heat.


my tip for any risotto is whatever vegetables or meat you use... just think of how you want them all to come together in the end and how each component might need to be cooked. so if you're cooking with meat, perhaps start that first or in a seperate pan. think about how if you want to use bacon you might want to grill it and slice it up. or perhaps if you use veg, for example frozen peas, how these might cook or defrost in the stock like they would if you were simply boiling them. i really so find that risotto or paella works out different pretty much every time - you just need to really mother it and keep adding stock or changing the heat when needed really. you'll be making all sorts of combinations of perfect risotto in no time!


if you like this you also might like my parma ham and mozzarella risotto recipe. over and out! x