Bigne con Crema de Funghi and Coxinhas Encantadas

I'm using The Vegeterranean by husband and wife hoteliers Malu Simoes and Alberto Musacchio. I initaly gave this thing as a Christmas present and it's never been used bacause all the recipes are super fiddly. It's a nice big glossy book with dishes from their restaurant so it's as much about presentation as it is about the food. I've had a couple of comments from the nearest and dearest to the tune of 'all the dishes I've cooked so far are E-Z', so I've decided to try something more challenging and learn some new skills! Go skills!
Also we were having a barbeque this weekend, a total sausagefest, so I wanted to make some elaborate vegetarian side dishes.

So first dish is Bigne con Crema de Funghi, which translates from Italian as Mushroom Eclair (I guess). Here are the substitutions I've had to make for all the fancy ingredients, Manitoba flour became flour, but that's only the beginning! Parsley became basil, and Robiola turned into Keci Peyniri from the Turkish supermarket up the road. I'm sure I'm robbing myself of a unique taste experience, but that's a crime I will have to make my peace with later, right now I have half a kilo of mushrooms to chop up. It looks like a lot, but it boils down to not that much. Mustachioso magnanimously doesn't specify which fancy expensive mushrooms you are meant to forage for and use, so I've bought Flat Caps, Oysters and Shitake. That was obviously the wrong decision because instead of becoming 'golden brown' they've turned into pidgeon poop gray. Look at all that crap, I really couldn't find enough nice bits to fish out for garnish so I put everything in the blender.
The pastry is really easy to make, and I fashion a piping bag out of a food bag just like they showed us on Ready Steady Cook. And behold the inamorata!












They actually look quite revolting side by side :(




Result: Maybe all that was a bit too easy, you know what I mean? Because look how they turned out!
The puffs are a little anaemic looking and the mushroom paste doesn't gain anything cosmetically from being in the blender, but they taste really good. Although the goats cheese and basil were not the prescribed ingredients they taste really good with the mushrooms so I rather think they should have been. I used the exact quantites specified and the overall yield was 18 mis-shapen pastries but I only ended up using about half of the mushroom mix. I would probably make the choux again but most likely fill them with something like choklit!
But really, if I have learned anything it's that I need a proper camera instead of my crappy phone.

My other attempt to class up this hibachi was with Coxinhas Encantadas.These are really impressive looking and are on the cover so let that be the reason! But I think it's supposed to have chicken inside.
I didn't have any thyme but got some rosemary from the garden, I didn't make the Vegetable Stock as required and outlined on page 36, and what is the difference between Parmesan and Pecorino Romano? They taste the same, especially if you're only using 2 tablespoons, wrapping it in mashed potato and chucking it in the fryer.
OK, lets get going. I have never peeled an aubegine before, and what's the difference if you're putting it in the blender afterwards? You can't taste the rosemary anyway...
The dough is quite tasty, it would be a good thing to make out of leftover mash, but you know, with meat on the inside.
I'm a little bit nervous about the deep frying, I always worry that the pan will catch fire, tip over, splash me in the face, and explode.

Result: Well I dodged the deep fat fryer appocalypse bullet once again, but lets put it this way - this would be the most appropriate dish to make for my next S&M sex party because it's both humiliating and painful to do. It's clear now why the Coxinhas are in the shape of teardrops, it's to symbolise the frustration of the person stuck in the kitchen cooking them, it took me almost 5 hours to get 18 of the other ones and 11 of these. They look gorgeous and taste really nice, but why would you bother? I had 4 pans, countless plates and the blender to wash and it totally killed any buzz I got from eventually eating the now cold appetizers. I guess it's because I don't need to try to impress people with my cooking skills, on account of my winning personality! Duh.