Celeriac cream soup

Early and cold this year's autumn is a fact. That is why we are going to use the whole splendid celeriac the good mother-in-law we are given by.

 Celeriac cream soup
(two portions for abnormal, according to Septime, people or 4 for the others)



1 medium (about 10 cm in diameter) celeriac with leaves
4 medium size potatoes
2 carrots
1 onion
1 tomato
fresh ginger 3 slices
50 g butter
1,5 l vegetable or chicken stock (can be from cube)
half tsp nutmeg salt and pepper to taste
thick cream and fresh chopped parsley for finishing

1. Peel and cut vegetables into chunks.

2.  Soften the celeriac leaves on butter on medium heat in a pot.

3. Add the vegetables and ginger and cover with stock. Bring to boil.

4. Cook until the vegetables are soft. Blend well and season.

5. Decorate with a dollop of a thick sour cream or plain yoghurt  and some chopped parsley. Serve with yummy bread. I am in.

Mushrooms in cream

Another mushroom must dish are mushrooms in cream. This is the easiest way to go with them (unless we taste them raw). This is a very easy starter that can feed you as well as a main course. This recipe applies to different mushroom kinds. Really elegant and a very ancient one option are chanterelles or saffron milk caps just fried on butter with no cream added and sprinkled with some parsley. Onion is optional in both cases but I prefer it.

Mushrooms in cream

for 2 people

150 g bottom mushrooms, porcini or others

1 small onion

50 g butter

salt to taste

150 ml double cream

1. Melt the butter in the frying pan. Chop the onion and fry until transparent.

2. Cut the mushrooms into slices. Add to the frying pan. Toss while frying. Season. You can experiment with spices here (I've tried recently the fennel  sprig which produced a nice result).

3. When the mushrooms are done add the cream, reduce the cream until thickened a bit, check the seasoning. 

4. Serve hot with bread.

Except the photos nothing is left. It's curtains.

Veggie's must mushroom cutlets

 While my husband was away I held a mushroom festival in my kitchen. Cutlets are rather rare fare among the mushroom dishes. They are worth trying as mushrooms provide the nice moist consistency to the dish. That is way you have to be quick with quite loose mixture to be fried. The carrot gives extra colour to the food and the parsley gives a really pleasant taste to the final product, as the optional ginger. Enjoy!

 

Mushroom cutlets

for 2 people

150 g bottom mushrooms

1 onion

1 carrot

2 Tbsp oil

1 tsp fresh ginger chopped, soy sauce (optionally)

1 egg

5 Tbsp flour

salt, pepper

small bunch of parsley

breadcrumbs

oil for frying

1. Chop the onion and brown in the frying pan. Add the chopped carrot.

2. Wash and cut the mushrooms into smaller pieces, add to the onion, cook until the mushrooms are done. Here add some ginger and soy sauce and fry for 2 minutes. Cool down.

3. Chop half of the parsley. Process the mushrooms (it doesn't have to be a smooth paste), add parsley, flour and slightly beaten egg. Mix well.

4. Take about 2 tablespoons of the mixture and coat carefully in the breadcrumbs. If you find the batter to loose you can add more flour but then the final product won't be so juicy.

5. Heat the oil (a layer of 0,5 cm should be fine) and fry on both sides.

6. Serve with mashed potatoes and cooked vegetables. Decorate with the remaining parsley.

It also goes well between two bread slices:-)

Polish marinated porcini mushrooms

Boletus edulis, more commonly known as porcini (meaning a piglet, did you know that?!) used to be served only in the noble houses in the Old-Polish era. Polish name of this mushroom, borowik, means 'a forest mushroom' and the popular name calls it prawdziwek meaning a true mushroom', both stressing its royal status among Polish mushrooms (by the way, the English name is penny bun or cep and the French cèpe de Bordeaux). They have something aristocratic in their look and their firm flesh makes a great base for many dishes. Mostly it would be boletus in cream or soup of dried mushrooms. One of the favourite ones are the pickles which are said to be perfect to go with Polish vodka. Thus it is unbelievable that boletuses were introduced to New Zealand and the South Africa...

Marinated boletus (marynowane prawdziwki)

For a 200 ml jar

100 g cleaned mushrooms cut into pieces

1 small onion, halved and sliced

300 ml water

1 tsp salt

pinch of sugar

Bring the water with spices to boil. Add mushrooms and onion and cook slowly for half an hour. Drain.

Marinade:

300 ml water

200 ml table vinegar (10%)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

5 allspice grains

5 peppercorns

1-2 bay leaves

Bring the water with spices to the 

boil, simmer for 5 minutes. 

Place mushrooms in a warm sterlized jar and carefully cover with boiling marinade. Quickly screw the lid on and turn over the jar. Leave it upside down until cold. That way it should be sealed well (with the lid concave). However if you are not sure if the jar is airtight, you can pasteurize it by placing the jar in a pot and pouring over the water nearly to the lid, bringing to boil and boiling slowly for 10 minutes or so. Then take the jar out and leave to cool.

Let the mushrooms marinate at least for a month. It keeps really well and makes a good gift when visiting friends from other countries;-)

This recipe applies to many types of mushrooms, among others chanterelle or the bottom mushroom. Enjoy!

Not fancy for a liver?

This was a liver testing week for me. This happens if you buy a kilo of offal that your husband doesn’t eat. Following Peter Gordon’s tips on sautéing livers, I went from rumaki through liver and beans to the liver and plum paté. Imagine that you prepare your own homemade paté, you exactly know what is inside and there is nothing artificial! Not mentioning the whole mistery of making a paté! It is a good thing as a spread for a party canapés or simply to go with some cracers. Or with some toasts for the open-air breakfast...

Liver and plum paté

360 g chicken livers
50 ml red wine
5 Tbsp vegetable oil
130 g red plums
2 Tbsp honey
50 g butter salt

1. Wash the livers, remove the sinews. You can cut them into halves so they cook more quickly. Heat up the oil in the frying pan, place the livers when it’s very hot. Fry for a minute or two on one side, or until you see that the upper side changes the colour into some grey brown. Turn over and keep frying for another two minutes. The livers should be cooked through but still pink. Place on the sieve and let it cool down and drip the oil and some juices.

2. Remove stones from the plums, cut the fruits into small cubes, heat up the honey in the frying pan and cook the plums until they start to soften. Remove from the heat and leave to cool down.

3. Melt the butter. Put the livers, butter and wine in the food processor and blend well. Now’s the funny thing. You have to pass the paté through a sieve, using a spatula or by pounding the paté on the sieve with a ladle. 4. The rest is the easy task. Season well with salt, add plums with all their honey juices and mix well. Place in a container. It will keep at least for a week in a fridge. You should get 300 g of your own homemade paté.

Besides did you know that livers are actually more valuable as a source of vitamins, minerals and proteins than the meat itself? Chicken and duck livers are both tender and versatile in using. Apart from these, the best it is said are those of calf, than lamb’s livers. Beef’s, pork’s or sheep’s livers have stronger flavour. It is important to remove sinews and fibres. You can soak livers in milk for getting a fair colour. You don’t salt the livers until it is cooked, otherwise it will harden – a good exception from that is to marinate livers in the soy sauce. Stewed liver with the onion sauce is a classic Polish dish, equally loved and hated. Liver for a living?

"News from Gosia’s kitchen" part 2 : Puff pastry

First dish which I made in wok was a puff pastry and golden beef.These easy, crispy pillows of pastry filled with spice beef and potatoes are delicious.
I made the pastry because it needs just a few minutes and is ready to eat for lunch or supper especially if you don’t have time or if you are so hungry after seasoning the wok like me.

What do you need to make it?

2 sheets puff pastry
1 tbsp sunflower oil
½ small onion
1 garlic cloves
1 tsp grated fresh root ginger
1 fresh red chili
2 tbsp curry powder
75 g minced beef
115 g mashed potato
4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Oil for frying
Salt and black pepper

Chop onion, garlic and chili. Heat the sunflower oil in a wok, add the chopped onion, garlic, chili, and ginger. Stir-fry over a medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the curry and beef and stir-fry over a high hest for 5 minutes, or until the beef is browned.

Transfer the beef mixture to a large bowl and add the mashed potato and coriander. Stir well, then season and set aside.

Lay the pastry on dry surface and cut out 8 rounds. Place a large spoonful of the beef mixture in the center of the pastry round. Fold each round in half to enclose the filling. Press and crimp the edges with the tines of fork to seal.

Fill a wok one-third full of oil and heat. Deep- fry the puffs, in batches, for 2-3 minutes until puffed up and golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and serve garnished with fresh coriander leaves. Offer a small bowl of tomato ketchup for dipping.

Enjoy!

"News from Gosia’s kitchen" part 1 : Wok- King

Last two months were busy for me.
I changed a flat and I had a few problems in my job, but now I’m back and start new series on my experience with wok, South - East Asian and Mexican cuisines.
I gave it a name "News from Gosia’s kitchen" and it will be not only about my current interests.

Let's start. One month ago I bought new professional wok with bamboo steamers. I was very excited and I wanted to cook immediately I read on the packaging the following instruction.



1) First wash the wok thoroughly in warm water and detergent to remove special Anti- rust coating.

So, it looked easy, but I was scrubbing it the whole hour, uff.

2) Rinse and dry thoroughly over your gas ring or electric hot plate.

3) Put in two tablespoons of cooking oil. When the oil is hot warm rub the interior with a paper towel until the whole surface is lightly coated with oil.


Be careful on fingers. I used silicon gloves, they are very useful.

4) Heat the wok slowly for about 15 min. and wiping occasionally with more oil....


This part was very easy. The wok heated while I was sipping wine from the glass and was reading wok meals recipes.

4a) you will see that it will start to darken in color. This means that your wok is becoming seasoned and with use will get even darker or almost black.

So, it meant my wok was ready to start a new part of my kitchen life. Now I use wok not only to cook Asian food. My wok is ideal to make Italian sauces for pastas and fillings for Polish pierogi. The rest of my pots are still in boxes, because now I use my new versatile pot – Wok-king.

But the king needs a lot of attention and I can't leave it for a long time alone and dirty after cooking because the rust also likes wok.
Wok is easy to clean. Once it’s seasoned the wok should never be washed with detergent.
I simply remove any food and wash it in hot water. Next I dry with paper napkin and rub a little oil into the surface. That’s all.

It is important to never use detergent or scrub during washing. If you do it or when rust appears you must season wok again.



So let’s start cooking... but in next episode, see you.