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.

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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!!

Cauliflower Steak with Couscous

 

This dish tastes like Orient. Or at least the cauliflower steak does. All these spices make it pretty intense.

The couscous is rather bland but in combination with the sauce it's just right for this dish. I actually liked the couscous this way, with the onions and garlic. It just needs a little more pep. Adding some salt would already make a huge difference here. And then the couscous would be a great side dish for other recipes. And not only for oriental ones.

This is a great method to prepare cauliflower. Only to cut them as steaks is pretty impractical. I mean it looks rather attractive. It's just that you can only get 2 steaks out of one whole cauliflower. If you plan a nice dinner for two, go ahead and make the steaks. But if you are preparing a meal for 3 or more people, cut the cauliflower into bigger florets, spread them on the baking sheet and bake them all at ones. Of course you have to adjust the amount of spices, but that shouldn't be a problem.

You can of course use other spice blends. When I was visiting my parents, we grilled some shashlik. I made some cauliflowers as a side dish. Me and my mom just mixed together all the different spices she's got at home. Our spice blend tasted pretty italian. It all went into a big bowl, a lid on top. And than just shake, shake, shake!

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Cauliflower Steak with Couscous

Cauliflower Steak

1 small cauliflower
1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp coriander, dry
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1. Pre-heat the oven to 230°C/450°F.
2. Place baking parchment on a baking sheet.
3. Cut the of the leaves from the cauliflower.
4. Cut off the bottom evenly, so it can stand on it.
5. Cut the cauliflower in half.
6. Cut a 1,5cm thick steak from each half. The remaining florets are superfluous and can be used for something else.
7. In a small bowl mix together the oil, the coriander, the cumin, the cinnamon, the salt and the pepper.
8. Place the steaks on the prepared baking sheets.
9. Pour the spice blend on the steaks and use your fingers to spread it evenly on both sides.
10. Bake them for about 20 minutes. After the first 10 minutes turn the steaks around.

Couscous

1 cup couscous
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup water

1. Peel the onion. Slice it into half moons.
2. Peel the garlic. Mince the cloves.
3. Heat the oil in a sauce pan on medium-low heat.
4. Add the onions and fry them until they turn translucent.
5. Add the garlic and fry for another 30 seconds.
6. Add the water and bring it to a boil.
7. Add the couscous. Stir it in and then take the sauce pan of the stove.
8. Put a lid on the pan. Leave the couscous for 8 minutes or until the water is absorbed.
9. Carefully fluff it with a fork.

Lemon Tahini Sauce

1/3 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp sour cream
1 tbsp water
salt

1. Use a fork to blend all the ingredients together in a small bowl.

Bon appétit!!

White Chicken Pizza

A while back I ate a pizza with a white sauce and I was delighted with it. Don't get me wrong I love "normal" pizza, with tomato sauce. But this was something new, something different. And as is mostly the case, I wanted to do it myself. I had some research to do, but as you can see I managed it in the end.

As regards to the taste it turned out a little Indian stlye, what with all the curry and masala. But it goes well with the red onions and the corn.

I have a huge cookbook full with Italian dishes. And I think I only cooked about 1% (but in my defence it's like 300 recipes and I have so many other cookbooks and lets not start with all the bookmarks I have saved on my laptop). So I thought before I create extra work for myself I just use the pizza dough in that book.
The end result was ok, but it didn't enthrall me. The fault does not necessarily lie with the recipe. I'm kind of at war with yeast. I just can't stay away from it even if more often then not the whole thing ends with frustration.
Or maybe I just want a dough that's as good as that of a stone-baked pizza. Yeah, good luck with that.

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White Chicken Pizza

Dough

10 g dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 pinch sugar
1 tsp salt
3-3 1/2 cups flour

1. Warm a bowl by swirling some hot water in it. Drain it again afterwards.
2. Put the yeast in the bowl. Pour the water in.
3. Add the sugar and use a fork to stir it in.
4. Put the bowl aside for 5-10 minutes, until the yeast starts to foam.
5. With a wooden spoon mix in the salt and about 1/3 of the flour.
6. Add another 1/3 of the flour. Mix with the spoon until the dough starts to form a mass and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
7. Sprinkle some of the flour on a smooth surface. Place the dough on it and start kneading.
8. Add a little of the flour at a time and work it in.
9. After kneading the flour for 8-10 minutes the dough should be smooth and elastic. Form the dough to a ball.
10. Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough into the bowl.
11. Dampen a clean towel and wring it out. Stretch it over the bowl.
12. Leave the bowl in a warm place for about 40-50 minutes. The dough should have doubled in volume. To test wether the dough is ready, poke two fingers into it. If the indentations remain your good to go. Make sure the place is not to hot, no more than 37°C/100°F.
13. Use your fist to punch out the air out of the dough. Afterwards knead the dough for 1-2 minutes.
14. Place baking parchment on a baking sheet. Oil it lightly.
15. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin.
16. Transfer the dough onto the baking sheet.
17. Press some of the dough from the middle towards the edge, to make a thicker rim.

Topping

1 red onion
125 g mozzarella
1/2 cup corn
300 g chicken breast fillet
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp curry
1/8 tsp masala
1 tbsp olive oil

1. Peel the onion. Cut it in half lengthwise, then cut the two halves into thin slices.
2. Grate the mozzarella.
3. Use a colander to drain the corn.
4. Cut the chicken into thin short stripes.
5. Season with salt, pepper, curry and masala.
6. Heat the oil in a frying pan.
7. Fry the chicken stripes in it. It should be done but only just. Or it will be too dry after it gets out of the oven.

Sauce

2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup parmesan
30 g butter
3 tbsp flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tsp curry
1 tsp masala

1. Peel the gralic. Mince it afterwards.
2. Grate the parmesan.
3. Let the butter melt in a sauce pan by medium heat.
4. Add flour and whisk it in until there are no more lumps.
5. Gradually add the milk. Whisk constantly.
6. Mix in garlic, salt, pepper, curry and masala.
7. Add the parmesan. Whisk it in until it's melted.
8. Take the pan of the stove. Let it cool down a little so it will thicken.

To Assemble

1. Pre-heat the oven to 250°C/480°F.
2. Spread the still warm sauce evenly on the dough.
3. Scatter the onions, the corn and the chicken on top.
4. Cover everything with the mozzarella.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Bon appétit!!

Zucchini Gnocchi with Zucchini Sauce

My parents grow among other things zucchini in their garden. And the last time I visited them, my suitcase was almost empty on the way back. So I filled that space with zucchinis. I ate lots of zucchini dishes in the following two weeks.

This was the first time I made gnocchi. I think they turned out pretty good. And it isn't as hard to make them as I thought.

The gnocchi themselfes didn't really taste like zucchini. But I already thought that would be the case, hence the zucchini sauce. And I was rather surprised how well the dried tomatoes went with it.

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Zucchini Gnocchi with Zucchini Sauce

Sauce

20 g pine nuts
1 jar dried tomatoes, in oil
3 scallions
150 g zucchini
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
pepper

1. Fry the pine nuts in a frying pan without oil until they are gold braun. Put aside for later.
2. Let the tomatoes drip off and cut them into small pieces. Put aside for later.
3. Wash the scallions and dab them dry. Cut them into slices. Put aside for later.
4. Bring water in a small sauce pan to a boil.
5. Wash the zucchini and dab it dry. Cut it into rough slices.
6. Blanch the zucchini in the boiling water for about 30 seconds. Take them out and let them drip off.
7. Put the zucchini with the oil in a foodprocessor and blend them together until they reach a creamy consistency.
8. Season with salt and pepper.

Gnocchi

4 cups zucchini
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup basil
3 tsp lemon zest
1 1/2 cups ricotta
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup parmesan
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp pepper

1. Grate the zucchini.
2. Put the zucchini into a colander and mix the salt in. Leave it for at least 20 minutes. Squeeze as much water out of the zucchini as you can. First with bare hands, than with a paper towel.
3. Chop the basil.
4. Grate the lemon zest.
5. Grate the parmesan.
6. Put the zucchini, the basil, the zest, the ricotta, the egg yolks and the parmesan into a bowl and mix it together with a wooden spoon.
7. Season with pepper.
8. Add flour until the dough reaches a consistency with wich you can work. The less flour you use so much the better.
9. Dust your working surface generously with flour.
10. Roll the dough into 2,5 cm thick strings. Cut the string into 2 cm thick pieces. If you want, you can roll the pieces over a gnocchi board or use a fork to get the typical grooves.
11. Bring water to a boil in big sauce pan.
12. Put the gnocchi in the pan and cook them until they swim at the top. Stir constantly.
13. Take the gnocchi out with a slotted ladle.

Serve the gnocchi with the sauce and the pine nuts, the scallions and the tomatoes strewn on top.

Bon appétit!!