Champignons Languedociennes

It is not entirely clear why this recipe is called “Champignons Languedociennes” because “Á la Languedociennes” normally means containing tomatoes, aubergines and ceps and, apart from tomato purée, none of these are involved.  Nonetheless it is an excellent dish to serve as a dinner party starter.  All the preparation can be done in advance, leaving only the deep frying for the last moment.  The pâte will keep for four days!  The sauce can be reheated.

As well as a starter, the dish makes an excellent tapas dish.

Preparation Time: 40 Mins

Cooking Time: 30 Mins

Total Time: 1½ Hrs

Ingredients

For 6 servings…

  Breadcrumbs  - dry           

1                    Egg  - beaten         

24                  Mushrooms  - button, slightly open, stalks removed 

For the pâte

340 gms          Chicken livers          

70 gms            Butter       

140 gms          Onion  - chopped roughly       

15 grinds         Pepper  - black        

½ tsp             Salt          

1 clove            Garlic  - chopped     

¼ tsp             Nutmeg     

¼ tsp             Tarragon  - dried     

For the sauce

40 cl               Stock  - beef

1                    Carrot  - chopped finely          

½                   Onion  - chopped finely          

1 stick             Celery  - chopped finely         

30 cl               Wine  - red 

1 sprig            Parsley     

1                    Bay leaf     

1 tsp               Tomato purée         

1 tsp               Sugar  - brown        

2 tsp               Cornflour   

For deep frying

                      Oil           

To garnish

                      Parsley     

Method

To prepare the pâté…

Melt 1 oz of the butter in a frying pan and sauté the onion until a rich golden colour with the garlic.  Cut the livers in half, add them to the onions and garlic with the tarragon and nutmeg.  Cook the livers until they are just a faint pink inside – they should not be crisp on the outside.  Season.

Put the contents of the frying pan together with the remaining butter and the seasonings into a food processor and blend until absolutely smooth.  Turn into a bowl and chill for at least half an hour until firm.

To make the sauce…

Put all the sauce ingredients except the cornflower (and keeping back 2 tbs of wine) into a pan, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.  Lift out the bay leaf and sprig of parsley and put the remaining mixture into a food processor and blend until absolutely smooth. Mix the cornflower with the remaining wine and pour into the sauce.  Simmer for two minutes until smooth and glossy.

To prepare and cook the mushrooms…

Take each mushroom and fill it with some pâté, mounding it up slightly.  Then dip it in the beaten egg and breadcrumbs.  Refrigerate for at least half an hour to set the coating.Heat 7 cm of oil in a pan.  When the frying temperature is reached (190°C or when a cube of bread browns in 40 seconds), put in some of the mushrooms and cook for three minutes or until golden. 

Keep each batch hot the next I cooked.

To serve, arrange some of the sauce on individual plates and arrange four stuffed mushrooms on one side.  Garnish with a sprig of parsley.  Serve at once.

Wine recommendations

Conventional

     Vouvray sec

Interesting

     Crozes Hermitage blanc

     Juliénas

     Mâcon

     Pinot Gris