The holiday season is in full swing by now and you’ve probably got most of your special menus planned out. If you’re looking for a quick, tasty appetizer to serve with your holiday drinks, though I have just the thing for you. And, bonus, a few of these with a salad make an excellent quick lunch to enjoy between all those holiday chores!
I’m excited to be a sharing these mini beef and mushroom bites for Mushrooms Canada today – a “Blend & Extend” recipe featuring mushrooms and Ontario Beef. Mixing mushrooms with ground beef is a great way to add an extra serving of vegetables to dishes and no-one (including kids!) will even notice! Finely chopped mushrooms look similar to ground beef so they blend in easily – adding mushrooms “extends” your beef too. Mushrooms and beef together are a powerful combination that provides important nutrients and antioxidants.
- 1 medium onion,roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 225g mixed mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons vegetable/ canola/ sunflower oil
- 225g minced (ground) beef
- 1.5 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ⅓ cup frozen peas
- ¼ cup beef stock or water
- 2 sheets puff pastry (rolls), thawed
- 1 egg, beaten
- Pre-heat your oven to 375˚F.
- Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
- In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse the onion, garlic and mushrooms until finely chopped. You may need to stop the food processor a few times to re-arrange the ingredients to ensure they are evenly chopped.
- In a large heavy skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat.
- Sauté the beef until it's just cooked through then remove from the pan and drain on paper towels until you are ready to use it again.
- Wipe the skillet clean then heat the second tablespoon of oil, then add the mushroom/ garlic/ onion and sauté until the mushrooms start to lose a little liquid then add back in the meat.
- Season with the coriander, cumin and cayenne and stir to make sure the spices are evenly blended throughout.
- Add the frozen peas and the stock/ water and cook the mixture over medium heat for approx 5 minutes - the meat should be cooked through and the peas just tender. Most of the liquid will have evaporated but it should still be a loose mixture.
- Remove pan from heat while you prepare the puff pastry*.
- Working with one sheet at a time, roll out the pastry.
- Cut the pastry into 9 squares (approx 3"/ 7.5cm) (you will probably have some of the mixture leftover but you can use that another day!)
- Place the squares on one baking tray, leaving a good amount of space in between. I like to stretch the pastry slightly at this stage to make sure I will have room to add the filling and old the edges.
- Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the edges of the pastry squares with the egg wash.
- Place 1-2 tablespoons of the meat/ mushroom mixture in the centre of each square then fold the pastry closed. You can make either triangle or rectangle shapes.
- Press the edges together with your fingers then seal with the tines of a fork.
- Brush the tops of the pastries with egg wash.
- Repeat with second sheet of puff pastry.
- Bake at 375˚F for 25-30 minutes of until the pastry is puffed and golden.
- Serve warm. May be re-heated in a warm oven (around 275˚F for 15 minutes) but best eaten the day they are made.
- (*You can make the filling the day before and just assemble when required)
These were so tasty that Neil and I ate them for a few dinners in a row in different iterations – tiny hors d’oeuvre size like these, paired with a salad or much larger ones served with vegetables – it’s a really versatile mix (and for those of you wondering, it tastes like there’s just beef in there. The perfect blend of mushrooms and beef!
Looking for more Blend & Extend recipes? How about my beef and mushroom tortilla pie or these beef and mushroom kofta served in pita bread pockets with minted yoghurt and beet “slaw”? You can find even more tasty ways to blend mushrooms with beef over on the Blend & Extend site.
Disclosure: This post is in partnership with Mushrooms Canada who generously sponsored my attendance at the Food Bloggers of Canada conference in October 2015. I did not receive further compensation for writing this post and all opinions are, of course, my own.
These are really cute and the perfect hand held treat for a gathering. Happy holidays Mardi.
A bit hot down under for these at present… but worth keeping mind for the southern winter.