Mushroom Delight

The highlight here is clearly the mushroom sauce. When I normally cook it, it's more along the lines of fry the mushrooms with some onions, add some whipping cream and bring it to a boil. And that's not really bad considering how simple the whole process is. But it doesn't hold a candle to this sauce.
You need a lot of ingredients and it's rather time consuming. The end result is worth all of it. It's flavourful and the rosemary and thyme give it a nice pep.

I had some ideas to make ground meat muffins. But at the time I already had some other things planed. So I postponed it to a later date (like a lot of things I'm planing, there is just not enough time to cook all the dishes I have in mind).
That was around christmas time and I was visiting my family. For Christmas Eve my mom and I cooked an absoloutly delicious fish (I'm planing to do it again and sooner or later I'm going to share the recipe with you). But when there is fish my brother always needs special treatment. So we had to make an alternative for him. I used the chance to try out the ground meat muffins.
They were really great. Because they cooked in their own juice they turned out rather moist. And the top had a nice cunch to it. But... I won't do that again. The muffin pan was more or less ruined. It was already hard to get the molds mostly clean. But the top of the pan was a lost cause. Small bubbles were burned into the metal.
It's so sad. You have to weigh out what you want more, a delicious meat muffin or a whole muffin pan. I chose the pan. I have to think of the future. Of all the muffins and cupcakes I still plan to make in my muffin pans.

As an alternative for the muffins I made meat balls in a casserole dish. That way the balls would also cook in their on juices. It's not as good as the muffins, but it's close.
I have the recipe for the mushroom filling from my mom. It's kind of a common fillin for her meat loaf.

_____________________________________________________

Mushroom Delight

Meat

500 g ground meat, pork
1 big onion
2 garlic cloves
1 potato
1/3 cup milk
1/8 cup water
2 tbsp mayonnaise
salt
pepper

1. Peel the garlic. Mince it afterwards.
2. Peel the onion. Use a grater to make a puree out of it.
3. Peel the potato. Use a grater to make a puree out of it.
4. Put the ground meat into a big bowl. Add the onion, the garlic, the potato and the mayonnaise. Gradually add the water and milk. Combine everything with your hands. The mass should not be to watery or it won't hold when you later form the meat balls.
5. Season with salt and pepper.

Filling

1 onion
150 g mushrooms, jar
salt
olive oil

1. Peel the onion. Cut it into fine cubes.
2. Use a colander to drain the water out of the jar. Rinse the mushrooms with cold water.
3. Cut the mushrooms into fine cubes.
4. Heat some oil in a frying pan.
5. Add the mushrooms and onions into the pan. Fry everything until the onions turn translucent.
6. Season with salt.

To Assemble

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/390°F.
2. Grease a casserole dish. It shouldn't be to big, just enough place that the meat balls won't touch.
3. Take a small handful of the prepared meat. Hold it in your hand and press it flat.
4. Put about a tabelspoon full of the mushroom mixture into the middle of the patty. Form a ball around the mushrooms.
5. Place the formed ball into the prepared casserole dish. The meat balls shouldn't touch.
6. Bake for about 60-70 minutes.

Sauce

500 g pasta
1 cup reserved pasta water

3 tbsp olive oil
400 g mushrooms, fresh
2 tsp rosemary, dry
1 tsp thyme, dry
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 tsp soy sauce
salt
pepper

2 tbsp butter
3 garlic cloves
1 onion
3 tbsp flour
4 tbsp white wine, dry
1 1/2 cups milk
salt
pepper

1. Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water for later use.
2. Clean the mushrooms. Cut them into thin slices.
3. Peel the garlic. Mince them afterwards.
4. Peel the onion. Cut it into fine cubes.
5. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large frying pan.
6. Add the mushrooms to the pan. Fry them for about 10 minutes, the mushrooms should turn brown.
7. Add the rosemary, the thyme and the red pepper flakes. Fry along for another minute.
8. Add the soy sauce and season with salt and pepper. Fry along for 3 more minutes.
9. Take the mushrooms out of the pan.
10. Use the same frying pan to melt the butter with the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil.
11. As soon as the butter is completely melted add the garlic and onion to it.
12. Fry them for 5-7 minutes.
13. Add the flour and mix it for about 2 minutes. If the mixture is to dry add 1-2 tsp olive oil.
14. Stir constantly while you add the wine.
15. Add the milk. Stir it until the sauce thickens.
16. Add the fried mushrooms.
17. Use the pasta water to thin down the sauce. Add more or less of it depending on how thick you prefare your sauce.
18. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the pasta with the sauce and the stuffed meatballs.

Bon appétit!!

Paprika Meat Pie

Looks delicious and tastes delicious.

I used a tart pan here. It looks better this way. But you can just use a normal cake pan. 

The taste reminds me a little of stuffed peppers.  

So that's it, there really is nothing more to say. It is a rather simple recipe. 

_____________________________________________________

Paprika Meat Pie

Dough

170 g potatoes, floury
150 g flour
80 g butter, soft
1/4 tsp salt

1. Peel and wash the potatoes. Cube them roughly.
2. Cook the potatoes in salt water for about 15-20 minutes.
3. Drain the water. Let the potatoes cool down and afterwards mash them.
4. With a dough hook mix the flour, the butter and salt together.
5. Add the mashed potatoes and mix everything to a solid dough. Knead the dough with your hands until it's smooth.
6. Butter a 28 cm sized tart pan.
7. Press the dough evenly into the tart pan. At the edges press the dough as high as you can.
8. Put the tart pan in the fridge to cool.

Filling

2 onions
1 red pepper bell
1 yellow pepper bell
1 green pepper bell
400 g ground meat, pork
3 eggs
150 g crème fraîche
150 ml milk
2 tbsp bell pepper paste or tomato paste
bell pepper powder, sweet
olive oil
salt
pepper

1. Skin the onions. Cut the onions into fine cubes or alternately use a food processor.
2. Wash the bell peppers. Cut them roughly into 1 cm big cubes.
3. Heat the oil in a big sauce pan. And braise the onions and peppers in the pan for about 5 minutes. Afterwards take the vegetables out of the pan.
4. Add a little oil into the pan. Fry the meat crumbly in it.
5. Season strongly with salt, pepper and the bell pepper powder.
6. Mix the meat and bell peppers together.
7. Blend the eggs, the crème fraîche and the bell pepper paste. Add the milk and season with salt and pepper.

To Assemble

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/390°F.
2. Take the tart pan out of the fridge. Spread the pepper-meat mixture on the dough.
3. Pour the milk mixture carefully over the tart. Don't fill the tart to the brim. Leave out at least 1/2 cm at the top. During the baking the filling will rise some and drop after it's out of the oven.
4. Bake the tart for about 50 minutes.
5. Put the tart on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes. Carefully release the pie out of the tart pan.

Bon appétit!!

Stuffed Peppers

I love this recipe. I've got it from my mom.
It's rather simple, only the chopping takes some time. But it is worth it.

It's not actually a soup, but the way I make it, you can count it as one. If I could I would have poured in some more water, but my biggest sauce pan is just not high enough.
I actually forgot to put in the dill here. Damn!

If you only have small sauce pans, you can just distribute the stuffed peppers between two smaller sauce pans. On the other hand, if you want more peppers, you can just double the amount of the ingredients and cook them in two big sauce pans.

_____________________________________________________

Stuffed Peppers

Filling

5-6 red bell peppers
500 g ground meat, pork
3 tbsp parboiled rice
2 onions
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp crème fraîche
salt
pepper

1. Wash and dry the bell peppers.
2. Cut off the top of the peppers and clean out the insides. Use the cut off tops in the broth.
3. Cook the rice for about half the time then stated on the instructions.
4. Cut the onions into fine cubes or use a food processor.
5. Combine the ground meat,the onions, the rice, the milk and the crème fraîche in a bowl and mix it with a fork.
6. Season it with salt and pepper. Make sure everything is mixed well.
7. Stuff the peppers with the meat. Fill them to the top. If there is some meat mixture over, not enough for a whole pepper, than you can make a small dome on the already stuffed peppers. Make sure to press it in firmly.

Broth 

1 red bell pepper
3 onions
3-4 carrots
1 cup sieved tomatoes
2 tbsp oil

1. Finely cube the cut of bell pepper tops. Do the same with a whole, cleaned out pepper.
2. Skin the carrots. Grate them afterwards.
3. Quarter the onions and cut them into fine slices.
4. Heat the oil in a frying pan.
5. Add the peppers, the onions and the carrots to it. Fry the vegetables until they are soft and the onions are translucent.
6. Add the sieved tomatoes and mix everything together. Fry it for a few more minutes, until the sieved tomatoes become thicker.
7. Take the frying pan of the stove and put it aside.

To Assemble

boiling salt water
2 tbsp dill, fresh or frozen

1. Arrange the stuffed peppers with the opening upwards in a big sauce pan. The sauce pan should be high but not to wide. The peppers should be packed close together, so they don't fall over.
2. Bring the salt water in a separate sauce pan to a boil. Better boil a few liters more than not enough.
3. Carefully pour the boiling water in the sauce pan with the peppers. At least fill in enough water that the peppers are covered. For the end result it's better if you fill in some more.
4. Let the peppers simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Add the fried vegatables to the bell peppers. Carefully stir it in a little bit.
6. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.
7. Add the chopped dill right before you take the sauce pan of the stove.

Bon appétit!!