Simple eat Stuffed mushrooms, quinoa, butternut squash and blue cheese

OUT of all the recipes I’ve done so far for The Herald this is one of my favourites. There is nothing not to love here. I urge you all to give it a go – it’s so simple and so comforting. I honestly believe it’s one of those things you will make over and over again.

STUFFED MUSHROOMS, QUINOA, BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND BLUE CHEESE

Serves 2

Ingredients:

4 x flat cap mushrooms

100g quinoa

500ml vegetable stock

1 x butternut squash

50g blue cheese (more if you desire) Olive oil

Salt

Pepper Thyme sprigs

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180c/Gas Mark 4.

Add the quinoa and vegetable stock to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Continue to cook for 15 minutes, or until the quinoa is cooked through but retains a bit of bite. Remove from the heat, drain off any excess liquid and leave to cool.

Peel the butternut squash, remove the seeds and dice into small cubes, roughly 1cm dice. In a pan, heat a small amount of olive oil and add the squash, season with salt and add a few sprigs of thyme. Continue to cook on a low heat until the squash is just cooked. Set this aside.

Peel your mushrooms and place on a baking tray upside down. Cover with a drizzle of olive oil, small amount of salt and pepper.

In a mixing bowl mix together the quinoa butternut squash and crumble through the blue cheese. Reserve a small amount to finish them with once they are out of the oven. Place the mix on top of each mushroom then into the oven for around 10-15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and serve. I’ve finished them here with some mixed leaves. This is an ideal dish to serve as a starter. This can also be suitable for gluten free, vegan and dairy free should you remove the cheese, which could be replaced for another type of cheese.

PHOTOGRAPH: ALAN DONALDSON