Be a fun-guy (sorry) this weekend and whip up a dish with these recipes using the ever-versatile and delicious mushroom. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, you can do wrong when you turn to a mushroom recipe!

Recipes and images courtesy of Australian Mushrooms.

Baked breakfast mushrooms stuffed with spinach, feta and egg

Serves 2 (2 mushrooms per person)

4 large flat mushrooms (large Portobello mushrooms also work well)

1 big handful of baby spinach leaves

4 medium free-range eggs

1 1/2 Tbsp marinated creamy feta cheese 

Sea salt, to taste

Cracked pepper, to taste

2 thyme sprigs

1 Tbsp parsley, roughly chopped, to serve

Pre heat the oven to 180°C.

To clean the mushrooms, brush the skin with a dry paper towel to remove any dirt. Using a small paring knife, remove the stems.

Fill the base of the mushrooms with the baby spinach leaves, ripping larger leaves into smaller pieces.

Carefully crack an egg into each mushroom on top of the spinach. Add a spoonful of marinated feta cheese as well as a drizzle of the feta marinating oil on top of the cracked egg. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and sprinkle a few leaves of the fresh thyme on top.

Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until the mushroom has softened and the egg is still soft inside. Serve straight away topped with parsley.

Baked polenta tart with sautéed mushrooms, caramelised red onion, and spinach

Serves 4

Polenta tart base

1 Tbsp unsalted butter, for cooking

1 garlic clove, minced

1 cup coarse polenta

500ml vegetable or chicken stock

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1 1/2 tsp rosemary leaves

Sea salt, to taste

Cracked pepper, to taste

Tart toppings

Unsalted butter, for cooking

1 red onion thinly sliced into half moons

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

150g (1 bunch) English spinach, rinsed, ripped into smaller pieces

150g Swiss Brown mushrooms, thinly sliced

100g button mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

100g marinated goats cheese

Sea salt, to taste

To serve

Parsley, roughly chopped

Pre heat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 35cm pie tin and set aside.

Warm up a heavy base medium saucepan to medium heat, add a knob of butter. Once the butter has melted, add the minced garlic and sauté until it turns a light golden colour. Add the polenta and stir thoroughly to coat in butter.

Gradually pour in the stock while continually stirring to prevent lumps forming. Once the polenta thickens and the grains soften, add the grated parmesan cheese, fresh herbs, pinch of salt and a good amount of cracked pepper.

Remove from the heat and turn the polenta out into the pie tin. Using a spatula, level out the polenta and allow for a nice thick side crust (the pie crust is meant to be thicker than a traditional pastry crust). Trim off any excess.

Place the tart casing in the oven to cook for 25-30 minutes or until it becomes crispy and a darker golden colour.

To cook the caramelised onion, add a knob of butter to a heavy base frying pan. Add the thinly sliced red onion and allow to sweat down, stirring until the onions become translucent and soft.

Add the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar and stir through. Cook for a further 5 minutes while the sugar dissolves and the balsamic vinegar caramelises. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In the same fry pan on medium heat add a small knob of butter and the English spinach. Sauté until it becomes soft and wilted, remove from the heat and set aside.

Using the same fry pan, add a knob of butter followed by the sliced mushrooms and the thyme. Sauté until the mushrooms become tender and juicy. Remove from the heat and set aside.

To fill the tart, spread out the caramelised onion across the base. Follow with the wilted spinach and top with the sautéed mushrooms. Finish off with spoonfuls of marinated goats cheese, a drizzle of the oil from the cheese and a sprinkle of fresh parsley over the top.

Serve warm straight away.

Dip into the Canberra Daily recipe archives here.