Cherry Tomato & Couscous Stuffed Field Mushrooms

The couscous is flavoured with garlic, spring onion, cherry tomato and herbs. It’s then stuffed into mushrooms, topped with cheese and baked. You can choose to cover the top with cheese entirely, the only reason I didn’t is because I wanted the couscous to be visible

Yield; Four servings Cook time; 30 minutes

Firstly we’ll start by preparing the vegetables and couscous

You’ll need;

One teaspoon oil
Two cloves of garlic, minced
Three spring onions, thinly sliced
270g/9.5oz cherry tomatoes, halved
Half a teaspoon of both dried basil and dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Method;

Add the oil into a small frying pan over a medium heat. Then add the garlic and cook for one minute
Next add the spring onion and tomatoes. Sprinkle over a pinch of salt and black pepper, the salt will help to draw out the moisture in the tomatoes, cooking them down into a sauce
Sprinkle over the herbs and give the mixture a stir. Cook for about ten minutes, or until the mixture has thickened and looks like this

Now you can set the vegetable mixture aside and make the couscous

You’ll need;

50g/1.7oz (dry weight) couscous, either regular or whole wheat, it’s up to you
75ml hot vegetable stock

Method;

Place the dry couscous into a bowl and cover with the hot stock. Cover the bowl with a lid and leave it for ten minutes to absorb
After ten minutes it’s done. Fluff up the grains with a fork and give it a good stir
Now it’s ready to be mixed through the vegetable mixture, just scatter over the couscous, and fold it through to fully combine

Now move on the preparing the mushrooms

You’ll need;

Four field mushrooms, washed
One tablespoon of oil
The couscous mixture you just made
Grated vegan cheese, to taste
Half a teaspoon of dried mixed herbs

Method;

Peel and discard the skin from the mushroom caps. Then turn them over and using a spoon, gently remove the gills. There’s a lot of moisture trapped in the gills, and we don’t want that to water down the couscous, so that’s why they’re removed. Then you’ll have something that looks like this
Once the gills are removed, place the mushrooms gill side down into a baking dish. Add the oil into a small dish and use a pastry brush to brush a little over each cap. You may not need all the oil
Next place the mushrooms gill side up and spoon the couscous mixture into them
Top with vegan cheese to taste (I only used a bit, but feel free to use more) then sprinkle some mixed herbs over the top
Bake at 220°C/200°C fan assisted/400°F for 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the mushrooms are cooked