Wild Mushroom and Coach farm dairy goat cheese Strudel (Meatless Entree)

Submitted by Russell Scott, CMC, Executive Chef. Isleworth Country Club, Windermere, Fla.

by C&RB Staff (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
November 2007
 

Yield: 10 portions

Amount  Ingredient
8 lbs.   mushrooms, quartered
4 oz.   olive oil
1/2 cup   shallots, minced
1/4 cup   garlic, chopped
8 oz.   sherry, dry
11 oz.   goat cheese, soft
1 bunch  chives,
2 tbsps.  thyme, fresh
2 each   eggs, whole
to taste   salt and black pepper, ground

For Lentils:
1/2 cup  lentils orange or French
1 qt.  vegetable stock*
5 ea.  bay leaves
6 ea.  thyme fresh sprigs
1 ea.  clove, whole

For Spinach Cream:
4 lbs.  spinach, trimmed
2 fl. oz. olive oil
6 oz.  onions, sliced
1 1/2  garlic, minced
as needed salt and black pepper
as needed nutmeg
12 oz.  heavy cream, well reduced
1/2 cup  Parmesan cheese, grated

1 box   phyllo dough
8 oz.   butter, clarified

20 oz.   roasted peppers
2.5 oz.   almonds, toasted

Procedure    
• Sauté mushrooms in oil (in batches) until golden brown. Add shallots and garlic, cook until all liquid reduces down dry, stirring often. Deglaze with sherry, reduce to syrupy. Allow to cool to room temperature. Add goat cheese and herbs and eggs, mix well and season to taste. TASTE!
• For Lentil:  Wash lentils and cook in vegetable stock* with aromatics. Cook only until tender, the orange cook faster and will fall apart if cooked too much. Use no salt during this process, drain and cook quickly on a half sheet pan in the walk in. Reserve for service.
• For Creamed Spinach: Rinse and drain the spinach, removing any stems or tough leaves. Heat the oil in a sauté pan, add the onions, and sauté until they begin to turn translucent, one to two minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until it begins to release its aroma. Add the spinach, filling the pan (the spinach will wilt down as it sautés). Toss or turn the spinach as it sautés. Sauté the spinach until it is completely wilted and tender and very hot. Season with salt, black pepper and nutmeg. Add the cream and cheese as needed. This produce should not be soupy but thick and creamy like a risotto that could be spooned on a plate and maintain a mounded shape.
• For each Strudel: Roll out phyllo dough and fill with prepared mushrooms. Score each roll and brush outside with clarified butter and roast carefully on paper and a rack in a hot oven until browning starts then reduce heat and rotate as needed to encourage even browning.
• Plate Assembly: Spoon three even (1 oz. each) mounds of the roasted peppers, that have been heated in a sauteuse with olive oil and seasoned on to a hot 12 inch plate in oriented with the diamonds on the rim.
• Place the creamed spinach onto the 12-in. plate between the peppers oriented with the circles on the plate. Top each mound of creamed spinach with toasted sliced almonds.
• Square off the ends of the mushroom strudel with a serrated knife then slice in half on a bias at the 2/3 mark making 2 uneven pieces, place them standing on the center of the plate.

* For Vegetable Stock:
2 oz.  peanut oil
8 cloves garlic, crushed
3 large  Spanish onions, cut into eighths
1 ea.  horse carrot, peeled, rough cut
1 ea.  fennel bulb, cut into sixths
1 ea.  leek
1/2 lb.  green cabbage
2 ea.  celery stalks, washed, rough cut
2 ea.  parsnips, peeled, rough cut
3 ea.  bay leaves
20 ea.  whole black peppercorns
8 springs fresh thyme
1/2 bunch parsley stems, washed
2 ea.  tomatoes, seeded
6 qts.  Water

Procedure
• For Vegetable Stock: In the peanut oil roast the garlic, onions, carrots, fennel, cabbage, celery, leek and parsnips in a 350°F oven until they are wilted but not brown - about 10 -15 minutes.
• Combine the roasted vegetables with the remainder of the ingredients and simmer for one hour, skimming often. 
• Strain through a chinoise and cool to 45°F.
• Note: a small amount of mushrooms could be added, this stock should not be allowed to become very dark.