Croustade De Champignon (French Bread Stuffed with Mushrooms): Low Fat Recipe for Liver Cleansing Diets

This French recipe is easily adapted to suit a low fat vegetarian or vegan diet, and as such is good news for anyone contemplating beginning a liver cleansing diet. Doing a liver cleanse does not mean you have to give up interesting and good tasting food. In my version of Croustade de Champignon there are no animal fats or dairy products, no sugar or other additives. It's healthy and easy to make, yet looks impressive enough to put on the menu for a dinner party. Another advantage in a recession is that the ingredients are inexpensive.

French bread rolls are the best for stuffing because of their thin and crispy crust, but any round bread roll will do. Rolls made from organic wholemeal flour are especially liver-friendly as well as being more nutritious and with a richer flavour. You can also scale up the recipe if you prefer to make a large stuffed loaf instead of individual rolls.

I've used ordinary button mushrooms for this recipe but more exotic types will be even better. The sauce for the mushrooms is actually a variation of the classic French peasant garlic and bread soup. Therefore if you are serving these stuffed rolls as the main dish you can make extra sauce and eat the mushroom rolls with the garlic and bread soup which is delicious in its own right. Just add extra stock if you want to convert or extend the sauce to soup.

One final secret ingredient that you won't find in any French recipe has been added to the sauce here - vegemite! This is of course optional.

Ingredients for 6 people

6 French bread rolls (round)

1kg fresh button mushrooms or other variety

2 onions

1 head of garlic

1 bouquet garni, or vegetable stock cube

3-4 cups water

2 tblspn olive oil

Fresh or dried herbs, eg chives, parsley go well with mushrooms

½ tspn vegemite or equivalent

Procedure

Cut the tops of each bread roll and take out all the middle, leaving only a thin exterior crust. If the crust is left too thick the roll will be difficult to cut and eat. Break up the soft bread from the interior into crumbs and set aside to make the sauce. Dry roast the garlic whole in the oven until soft; peel and set aside. Finely chop the onions and sauté them in 1 tblspn olive oil until soft and translucent. You can omit the olive oil from the onions if you prefer, a little water in the pan will prevent them from drying out and burning. Place the cooked onions into a saucepan with the bouquet garni and water, or stock, roasted and peeled garlic, and the bread crumbs. Cook on low to medium heat until bread has broken down to form a smoother yet thick rustic consistency. Add herbs and vegemite if using.

Clean and slice the mushrooms then sauté in a pan with 1 tblspn olive oil. Discard any water from the mushrooms. Add mushrooms to sauce and fill each bread roll. Replace the tops on the rolls and heat at 180^oC in the oven for 10 minutes or until rolls are crisp just prior to serving.

Serving Suggestion

During the middle 4 weeks of liver cleansing these rolls can be served by themselves or with green beans and the garlic soup. However during the first and final 2 weeks of the diet they can be served as a side to steamed chicken. For those not dieting the rolls are great with roast chicken or any meat.