Mushroom Cacciatore

Adam and I do ‘Meat-free Monday’ each week and this week I was inspired by some leftover Kalamata olives I had in the fridge. Given mushrooms have a fairly meaty texture I thought it would make for a good sub for chicken and I wasn’t wrong. I served this with brown rice and quinoa to use up an empty packet but you could do white rice, pasta, cous cous or even just some crusty bread.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 small-medium red onion, chunky diced

• 1 small-medium red capsicum, chuky diced

• 500g mixed mushrooms (I used baby oyster and gourmet oyster mushies), chunky/torn

• 3 cloves garlic, diced (or 1 tbsp jarlic if you cbf)

• 1/4 bunch flat parsley leaves, stalks finely diced

• 1/2 tsp paprika

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 1/2 cup veg stock or 1 tsp veg stock powder

• worcestershire sauce

• 2 400g tins good quality whole tinned tomatoes (you could also use diced tomatoes but the flavour/texture of whole is superior for this dish)

• handful of whole kalamata olives, pitted or unpitted nobody cares

METHOD

1. Get prepped by chopping up the veg, keep everything nice and chunky so the dish has a nice mix of textures. Pop your tinned toms in a bowl and smoosh them up with your hands (good job for the kids or your husband) or you can break them up in the pot but I find it easier to do it by hand first.

2. Heat a large saucepan/casserole dish over mediun heat. Add olive oil and onion.

3. Give the onions a few minutes to cook off and add garlic, parsley stalks and paprika.

4. Once fragrant, add the tomato paste and saute for a couple of minutes until the colour darkens slightly.

5. Add the mushies and saute for a couple of minutes (if you have any softer mushrooms don’t add these until towards the end or they’ll put the mush in mushroom). I like to season the dish here so the mushies can build their flavour as they cook, be mindful of salt as the stock and olives will add saltiness.

6. Rinse out the tomato tins with a little bit of veg stock (or water if using stock powder), and add to the pan to deglaze and scrape off any bits from the bottom of the pan.

7. Add a couple of dashes of worcestershire sauce followed by the tinned tomatoes and let the heat come up to a strong simmer.

8. Once it’s bubbling away nicely, turn it down to a low simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes until the veggies are cooked but still retaining bite/texture and the sauce has reduced slightly.

9. Add the olives and softer mushrooms if using, and check for seasoning. I added a little sprinkling of brown sugar to the dish here as my tomatoes were on the slightly sour end but I’d recommend tasting first and adjust if needed.

10. Serve with carb of your choice and a sprinkling of chopped parsley.