Sunday, September 25, 2011

Mushrooms with butternut and basil pesto

I am just back from a trip along the Garden Route in South-Africa and one of the places where I stopped was in Wilderness. It was lunchtime so we entered a restaurant called the Blue Olive. The idea for this recipe is based on what I ate there a big mushroom with butternut and basil pesto.

Ingredients:
- A big mushroom
- Butternut
- 2 cups of basil leaves
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- Olive oil
- A pinch salt

Prepare the mushroom by getting out the stem and fry it in a pan with olive oil. It should be nice brown when ready.

The basic idea of the filling is to make a butternut puree mixed with basil pesto. Start by estimating how much butternut you will need. It depends on the size of you mushroom. Peel the butternut and boil it soft (I personally steam it in my microwave). Make the butternut into a puree and add the the basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil and salt to it. Mash it further down and scoop the mixture into the mushroom.

You can eat it either warm or cold.