Tarragon- and walnut-stuffed mushrooms

I am going to go vegan for Lent. That seems like quite a big undertaking; I've been vegetarian for the last three Lent periods and that was getting too easy, but even so I feel veganism is quite a big step. With that in mind, I've been eyeing up some of my regular meals to see how easily they might be converted into vegan recipes. The answer is not at all: there really is quite a lot of cheese in there.

This is one recipe which I would, normally, have dumped a couple of handfuls of grated parmesan into, perhaps also using butter instead of olive oil. The good news is that it didn't need either of these: it was delicious just as it was.

You want to get hold of quite deep mushrooms, despite the name - you need them to form a cup to hold the stuffing. Although it certainly wouldn't hurt if a little of the stuffing falls out and goes extra-crisp in the oven.

I've called for the garlic to be sliced as I like having little hits of garlic in different bites, rather than a smooth flavour throughout, but for those interested in the intersection between vegan cookery and garlic processing options, this article may be of interest (garlic apparently becomes more pungent when cooked in vegetable fat vs animal fat).


Tarragon- and walnut-stuffed mushrooms

2 large flat mushrooms
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
10g/four stems' worth/half a supermarket pack of tarragon leaves
50g walnuts
handful breadcrumbs

Heat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade.

Finely chop the onion and gently fry in a generous glug of olive oil, seasoning with salt, until softened and starting to get golden. Slice the garlic, add to the pan, and fry for a further couple of minutes.

Meanwhile, drizzle the mushrooms with a little more oil, pop into a small roasting dish, and pop them in the oven for 15 minutes.

Chop the tarragon and walnuts, then stir into the onions and garlic, together with a large handful of breadcrumbs. What do you mean, you don't have a handful of breadcrumbs? All single people have stale bread issues: whizz it up in a food processor, freeze, and then grab handfuls out when they're needed.

Remove the mushrooms from the oven and stuff them with your herby nutty mixture, pressing it in firmly. Return them to the oven for a further 10 minutes or until nicely crunchy on top. Fine on their own, but you could serve a little green salad alongside if you fancied it.