HALOUMI STUFFED MUSHROOMS

Shrooms are definitely my favourite vegetable! With so many varieties and so many ways you can use them they are just so fun to cook with, but best of all, they are super nutritious!

They are a great source of B group vitamins, as well as selenium, phosphorus and potassium. It’s also a great source of antioxidants and the medicinal varieties like shiitake are great for our immune system. What I love the most is their ability to provide us with Vitamin D as we have high rates of Vitamin D deficiency in Australia and limited food sources (the sun is the best source). Mushrooms exposed to sunlight for 10-60 minutes can increase their vitamin D levels by 10 times and can provide you with the recommended daily intake! The best way to do this is to slice up your raw mushrooms and place them gill side up in the sun for 10-15 minutes (up to 60 minutes is fine). You can store these UV mushrooms in your fridge for up to 8 days and if you want to cook them just add some lemon juice to help retain as much vitamin D as possible. Just 100g of mushrooms (5 button mushrooms or 1 portobello) exposed to sunlight is enough to give the recommended daily intake for vitamin D and can be just as effective as supplementation for deficiencies - incredible huh?

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 x sweet potatoes, cut into chips

8 x large flat mushrooms (or 12 smaller sized ones)

1 handful thyme, leaves picked

2 x garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon honey

1 x lemon, rind and juice

1 x 180g packet haloumi, sliced into 8 squares (or 12 if using 12 mushies)

4 handfuls rocket

1 x zucchini, very finely sliced

1 x pear, halved, cored and thinly sliced

1 x handful walnuts, roughly chopped (toasted if preferred)

Directions

Preheat oven to 200⁰C. Bake sweet potato chips in the oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, core mushrooms and finely chop stalks. Combine the thyme, garlic, honey, lemon rind, juice of ½ lemon, 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and the mushroom stalks in a small bowl. Place the mushrooms gill side up on a baking tray and place 1-2 teaspoons of the thyme and garlic mixture into each mushroom centre. Place in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove the mushrooms and top each one with a slice of haloumi and drizzle over the remaining marinade. Place back in the oven for a further 10 minutes (if your haloumi doesn’t brown switch to the grill for a few minutes). Meanwhile combine the rocket, zucchini, pear and walnuts and drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil and the remaining juice of ½ lemon (some balsamic vinegar is also nice). Serve up the salad with the mushrooms and sweet potato chips.