Aegeaneating

They are small in size but their nutritional value is greater than chicken egg. Yes, it is quail egg that contains more protein than a chicken egg. It has been used in China for thousands of years to combat allergies, hay fever, cough and for eczema. It is recorded that they are a natural combatant against digestive disorders like ulcers.

For a natural miracle like this, a very easy finger food recipe!

Clean the mushroom. First remove the stem then scrape out the gills by the help of a spoon.

Place them by setting in order in a tray. Drizzle over extra virgin olive oil. Bake in 200° C pre heated oven until they are soft.

Put the quail eggs very carefully to a boiling water. Boil them for 3 minutes. Peel the shells under water. That will make easier to shell the eggs.

Cut them in half. Sprinkle with salt.

Mix crushed pine nuts with fresh curd well. Squeeze(or simply spoon) it into each mushroom hat.

Finally put each egg half on top.

With every falling rain, the mushrooms under the trees give off their excellent scent. The Autumn leaves fall one by one to the ground. Very soon we will welcome winter, even if we still did not given up on summer! We should be careful what we are eating as the season is changing.

I think pastry with mushroom is a great appetizer for this period.

For the filling:

Cut strips of the filo about 10 cm wide. Place some filling at one end. Fold the sides a bit inside, so the filling doesn’t drop out. Roll like a cigarette till the end. Dribble hazelnut oil and milk over all.

For garnishing:

Autumn is a beautiful transitional season that prepares people for winter. The savoury tastes of autumn familiarize people for cold weather, no matter how sad the end of summer.

One of the Autumn taste is mushroom. If fall starts out rainy, like this year; it means, there will be many varieties of mushrooms. Experiencing fall in a city like Istanbul is immeasurable. One of an outdoor bazaar of the city, you may encounter truffles, kanlıca type or any kind of cultivated mushrooms on sale.

Naturally, it is a must to prepare a dish with mushrooms during the season.

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together. Roll out the dough into a greased and floured 28cm diameter cake pan.

For the filling:

Pile the sliced mushrooms on top of the dough. Fill the pie with whey cheese. Cover with grated hard yellow cheese.

Brush the top with beaten egg. Sprinkle with black pepper flakes.

Bake in 190° C pre-heated oven for 25 - 30 minutes until golden brown.

Clean mushrooms gently. Remove the stem of the mushroom from the body one by one carefully. Chop the stems.
Fry the diced pastırma in a pan until crispy. Add chopped stems into it and cook 2 or 3 minutes until any excess liquid has evaporated. I don’t put salt as pastırma is salty enough, but taste it if needed. Add rosemary, breadcrumbs and the cheese. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Put the mushrooms caps in a greased oven-proof form and portion out the mixture into each cap and sprinkle with olive oil.
Bake in pre-heated 200° C oven for about 10-15 minutes until the caps are golden.

Today’s pie is a splendid combination of Gorgonzola cheese and Pleurotus or oyster mushroom. Gorgonzola is a kind of blue cheese which has bacteria in it. The characteristic flavor of the cheese tends to be sharp, rustic-flavored and a bit salty; while,mushrooms are health food as they are excellent source of potassium, selenium and vitamin D. Selenium is an antioxidant that works with vitamin E to protect cells against cancer. They are also an ideal low energy diet for diabetics.

For the filling:

Heat the oil and stir-fry the chicken spice mixtured chicken pieces for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan. Add sliced mushrooms, gorgonzola cubes and hazelnuts.

For the dough:

(or you can buy a ready-made pastry)

Combine the flour and room temperature butter in mixing bowl. Mix them until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add yogurt and baking powder. Knead well. Divide dough almost in half. Dust rolling pin and work surface lightly with flour. Roll it almost like your rectangular flan tin. Place this pastry into the greased pie tin. Pour the chicken mixture. Form the upper dough and carefully place it on top of the chicken mixture. Gently press into form of tin and cut parallel lines with a knife.

Bake at 180° C preheat oven for about 40 minutes.