Mushroom and Ricotta Danish

I love mushrooms and last year I was lucky enough to visit the Costa Mushroom farm in Caversham. It was an incredibly impressive operation and I had no idea that this was all happening in Perth’s outter suburbs. And mushrooms are just amazing. So many incredible health benefits. A lot of work has been done to research their health benefits and they are numerous. You can read a lot more about that here.

I was recently gifted a beautiful new apron, emblazoned with one of my all time favourite logos, the bold green of Buy West Eat Best. I love that this familiar symbol helps consumers to identify products that are grown right here in our fare state. Having lived here my whole life I feel passionately about supporting local and that getting behind our hard working West Aussie farmers is really important.

So I wanted to share one of my favourite, super easy but very tasty mushroom recipes. It works well for any meal or for a morning or afternoon tea or a snack (whenever really), though it is best enjoyed fresh from the oven.

Ingredients

• 150g Mundella Ricotta
• 300g Mushrooms (I used buttons but you could also use Swiss Browns)
• 50g butter
• 1 Lemon – zest and juice
• 1 big tablespoon of fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper
• 1 Egg (whisked)
• 2 squares of Puff pastry

Method

• Turn on the oven to 180C
• Thinly slice the mushrooms

• Melt the butter in a pan gently (you don’t want it to burn) and add in the mushroom to sauté, you want all the mushrooms to have come into contact with the butter. When they are all looking slightly softer, likely only a few minutes, add in the fresh thyme and stir through. Take the pan off the heat, drain off any excess liquid and pop the mushrooms onto a plate and into the fridge or on the window sill. You want to cool them down.

• Take the two pieces of puff pastry and when it has defrosted slightly, cut them in half.  Place the pieces of puff pastry on a baking paper lined tray.

• Take a small bowl and add in 150g of the ricotta, along with the zest and juice of one lemon, and some little salt and pepper. Give it a good stir until combined.

• Take some of the ricotta mix and arrange it in a line down the middle of a piece of puff pastry, leaving a gap of around two centimetres of pastry along each edge. Place some mushrooms on top of the ricotta.

• Take the whisked egg and with a paint brush, paint on the egg wash along the gap of puff pastry each side of the ricotta and mushroom.

• Place the trays into the oven until the puff pastry is a beautiful golden brown. Between 10-15 minutes.

• Best served straight away, either a big piece for one person or further sliced into smaller pieces to share.

For mushroom fans it is well worth giving a go! Easy peasy and with WA ingredients in the mix, a whole lot of tasty.

Note: This is a sponsored post for Buy West Eat Best and I love mushrooms!