Winter Walnut & Mushroom Stew

Whenever I make this stew it conjures up images of a little magical house in the woods with a delightful puffing chimney, cozy wooly jumpers and lazing in front of the fire. Its just soooo comforting & delicious. I will place bets on you falling in love with this veg-head stew – even  it doesn’t transport you to the magical woods – unless you add some mushrooms of the magical variety off course…

Ingredients:

• Shiitake mushrooms x 6
• 8 sprigs of spring onions, chopped finely
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 cups of black portobello or oyster mushrooms (chopped if large)
• 50g butter/ ghee or macadamia oil
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 150ml port or sherry
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs
• 150g walnuts, toasted and chopped, plus extra (optional) to serve
• Large handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, plus extra to serve (optional)

Method:

In a deep pan, sauté both the shiitake & portobello mushrooms, spring onions and grated/ crushed garlic for approx. 10 minutes on low heat.

Then add the port/ sherry, thyme, tomato puree and season well with salt – then stir through well and let it simmer for 30 minutes without the lid on.

Served with chopped parsley & creamy polenta (cook polenta according to package instructions – but over low heat and instead of just water & salt add veggie stock powder too, in addition you can also stir through a big dollop of mascarpone cheese before serving)

And that’s it! How easy and comforting can one meal be 🙂

Happy cooking!

Marlien x