This post is proudly sponsored by The Mushroom Association of Australia.
Christmas is a wonderful time to welcome friends and family into your home and a great opportunity to become adventurous with our culinary delights. Less is more in regards to portion size if you really want your guests to experience a broad array of flavours and textures in your cooking. Tapas baby, tapas is the answer this Christmas!!
Now, you may be thinking that’s all well and good Amy, if you have the time to cook 6 dishes and I just don’t. Or perhaps you’ve been so used to eating one main dish which has meat and three veg that you’re concerned that you won’t be nourished at all during the Christmas season if you don’t take the opportunity to provide such a meal when it is your turn to entertain?
Well they were my thoughts also. However, the Mushroom Association dropped to me a ‘Christmas in a Box’ pack which included six mushroom canapés with two bottles of wine to share with 6 friends. This generous box opened my mind to the following:
- Mushrooms are SO versatile and there are many ways to use them.
- Using mushrooms as the focus ingredient and building around that allows you to ensure that you are getting the many health benefits that mushrooms offer, whilst still being a little spoilt in the way some of the dishes are cooked (which is all ok because a healthy lifestyle includes balance, these are only small portions and it’s Christmas!).
- Stuffed Button Mushroom with a Spiced Cream
- Buttered brown bread crouton with mushroom duxelle and roast capsicum
- Ragout of Mushroom banquette
- Sushi a la fungi with wasabi jap mayonnaise
- Swiss brown mushroom with pesto dipping sauce
- Trio of mushroom Arancini with Aioli (above)
Mushrooms – a super food
The best thing about mushrooms is that a daily serve provides 20% of the daily requirements for seven crucial nutrients – riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, copper, chromium and selenium. If you leave the mushrooms in the sun for 30 minutes, you will also expose them to vitamin D, another essential nutrient!
How do you use your mushrooms? If you would like the recipe for the sushi or the arancini balls, please comment below and I will post them! The chef was kind enough to provide them for those who would like to try their hand at these yummy dishes.
What do you find difficult about entertaining at Christmas? Health conscious? Time? Relationship conflict? Comment below! Hope you enjoy your last couple of weeks leading up to Christmas. x

Amy Darcy


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