Speedy Mushroom Sauce

Things are not quite 'right' here at the moment. Sous Chef J is rather unwell (more on that in later posts, I should think) and, as a result our life is even more chaotic than usual.

Luckily, we were sent some samples of Boursin Cheese the other week and during a lunchtime fridge audit (those of you that follow me on twitter may recognise that term!) I spotted the Garlic and Herb Boursin loitering alongside a few mushrooms.  It wasn't a great leap of culinary genius that lead to my mind coming up with a plan to use them together but a moment of thinking "that'd go well together"... so I gathered the ingredients and set about trying an ad hoc concoction.

An onion was finely chopped and fried in a little oil over a low heat for a few minutes during which time the mushrooms were cleaned, de-stalked and chopped.   The 3 chestnut mushrooms (they were quite large) and a handful of button mushrooms were added to the frying onions and a knob of butter was added.  This was all then left over a low heat for about 10 minutes to sweat down.  A squeeze of lemon juice was added to the pan and mixed well.

The mushroom mix was then drained in a sieve to remove excess moisture.  It was then blitzed using our Braun stick blender.

Finally, a whole pack of "Boursin Ail & Fines Herbes" was added and quickly whizzed to combine.  The mix was then placed in a jar and stored in the fridge until teatime when we cooked some Dove's Farm Gluten Free Pasta, drained it, returned it to the cooking pan and mixed the mushroom sauce through. 

We thought it was delicious, although in his current, under the weather state, am sorry to report that Sous Chef J would "not even taste a molecule". 

However, we tried half of the summer flavour Sun Ripened Tomato, Onion and Chive Boursin stirred through the warm pasta and the young Chef's plate was cleared so fast, there was no time for a photo! 

To use up the remainder of the pack, we also added the cheese to a salad to accompany our steamed salmon the next night making another quick and tasty meal. 

Thanks to Kirsty for sending the samples.  They've provided us with the chance to make speedy, tasty food when we've really needed to be spending as little time as possible on daily chores. 

Individual Chocolate Cheesecakes

When Sous Chef J saw Cadbury's Philadelphia cream cheese packs in the chiller cabinet at the supermarker he thought he "might like to try it".  So, a pack was bought.  It's been in the fridge a while and, in an attempt to use it up, we decided to make our own mini-cheesecakes.

Gathering together the ingredients didn't take long and in a short time Sous Chef J was ready to get started on the day's mission to create.  We used 10 gluten free digestives, a knob of butter and a pot of aforementioned chocolate cheese.

First of all the butter was melted over a low heat.  Whilst this happened Sous Chef J used a rolling pin to turn the gluten free biscuits into crumbs.

Once the biscuits were crumbs, the melted butter was added to the bowl and everything was mixed together.

Then it was time to add the biscuit mix to the base of the ramekin dishes.  Once divided equally, the mix was pressed down firmly and then the dishes were chilled for about an hour.

When the bases had been cooled, the chocolate cheese was opened up... although to be honest, it's far more chocolate spread-like texture than cheese.  Rather thinner and less 'gloopy' than we were expecting.

Undeterred, we set about dividing the pot's contents between our three ramekins.   The toppings were smoothed to the best (of our rather pathetic) abilities.

This is what we ended up with.  Again, the pots were returned to the fridge and left whilst we went out to burn off some calories...

Finally, we were almost ready for our easy to make cheats' cheesecake... however, there was a pot of double cream calling to us when we opened the fridge door (those of you who follow us on twitter may realise this means that the use by date was upon us/near)  So we poured a little cream into a pot and whipped it BY HAND... and when I say "we" I mean ME... Sous Chef J claimed muscle weakness as his defence and offered, most gallantly, to lick the whisk once I'd whipped the cream!

Once my upper arm was burning, in that "I've done too much" way, the cream was ready to be added to the dishes.  A few chocolate sprinkly/chunklet thingies were liberally added and then we all dived in.

All in all, it was a tasty dessert and was very simple to make.  Easy to 'create' in advance and not too challenging to eat (important for Sous Chef J.)  This is the first time we've had a cheesecake of any type since adopting the Gluten Free lifestyle.  It was pretty filling but we all struggled through and managed to clear our pots!