Dazz Switalla Flavour Secrets No.1 The Strand Chef www.no1thestrand.co.nz

During the holidays the fridge has been rather full, with every nook and cranny jammed with jars of pickles and packets of this and that.

As most of our visitors are now gone it's time to examine the leftover contents and see what needs chucking out – or recreating into something gourmet to take to a barbecue.

Sometimes when cleaning out the fridge you come across forgotten produce and at the back, paper bags full of slightly wrinkled button mushrooms.
The ‘eureka' light bulb goes off as I extract a tub of hummus from the fridge and check the expiry date – which is all good.

I decide to pickle the mushrooms in balsamic brine, then fill them with hummus and take chilled to the barbecue as a gourmet treat.

Pickled balsamic mushrooms filled with hummus

Ingredients

300-500g button mushrooms
3/4cup brown sugar
1/2cup cider vinegar
1/4cup balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic
100g (approximately) hummus
1 Tbsp creamed cheese
1 Tbsp chopped parsley

Method

In a stainless pot bring mushrooms, garlic, sugar, and vinegars to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Cool the mushrooms in the liquid.
Remove once cool and remove any stalks from mushrooms.
Some readymade hummus have a lot of added liquid, so add in the cream cheese to thicken the hummus, then pipe into the mushroom cups and sprinkle with parsley.
Chill in the fridge for several hours, this will set the mushrooms.
The remaining liquid in the pot can be reduced further on the stove top until thick and then poured over as a glaze.