Tag: Mushrooms

Stuffed Peppers – 2

  • Everyone liked my stuffed peppers so much I decided to try out a variation.
  • This time I used rice as one of the fillings instead of buckwheat.
  • I went to Leeds market and found that the red pepper season seemed to be over.
  • There were lots of orange peppers but they were more a medium size.
  • If you can get peppers with a flat bottom rather than a pointed one.
  • Of course, you might not have any choice – you might have to use a knife in the baking try to hold the peppers up.
  • The method is as before – but written up again for ease.

INGREDIENTS

  • 6 orange or red large peppers
  • 250-300g of minced or finely chopped chicken breast
  • 1 large onion – finely chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic – finely chopped
  • 150 – 200g of mushrooms
  • 200g of cooked rice
  • Butter for frying mushrooms and onions
  • 1 teaspoon of dried thyme
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • 300ml of vegetable stock – I used marigold powder
  • 1 -2 tablespoons of tomato purée or ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon of dried paprika.
  • *
  • 1 tablespoon of soured cream or yoghurt – optional

METHOD

  • Fry the onions in butter until they are golden.
  • Chop the mushrooms into small pieces and add them to the onions.
  • Fry them both together.
  • Add the garlic and fry the mixture together.
  • Pre- heat the oven to GM3 – 150°C.
  • Cut the tops of the peppers and keep to one side.
  • Scoop out the seeds from the peppers.
  • Put the peppers into a roasting tray.
  • Add some of the vegetable stock to the base.
  • Cook for around 15 minutes to soften the peppers.
  • Leave to cool slightly.
  • Turn up the oven to GM4 – 180°C
  • Mix together the cooked rice with the minced chicken and the mushroom mix, add the marjoram.
  • Season to taste.
  • Fill each pepper with the filling and put on the tops.
  •  
  • *
  • Add the rest of the vegetable stock to the baking tin and the paprika and tomato purée or ketchup and stir.
  • Put the peppers to stand in the stock mixture.
  • You might need a knife laid down to help keep the peppers vertical.
  • Put back into the oven and cook for around 1 hour.
  • You might need longer so the peppers are softish.
  • Keep looking at the progress and pour some of the stock mixture over the peppers to keep them from drying out.
  • *
  • Add the soured cream to the stock mixture to make a sauce.

NOTE – 1

If you think you will have any left – before adding the soured cream put them into an ovenproof pyrex dish with a lid with some tomato stock liquid – you can reheat them the next day in a microwave and them add some soured cream.

NOTE – 2

You can use cooked pearl barley instead of rice – NOT tested.

Pierogi – Sauerkraut & Mushrooms

  • I started to write up a new filling for pierogi and realised that many of my different fillings were in one general pierogi – Polish filled pasta  post.
  • This was one of my earlier posts before I realised that shorter posts were better.
  • So I am going back and posting shorter versions of this original post.
  • Each with just 1 filling.
  • Sauerkraut & Mushrooms is a very popular filling.
  • Some people make these for Wigilia – Christmas Eve.

Ingredients – Filling

  • 1 jar of sauerkraut
  • 25 – 30g of dried mushrooms
  • 1 or 2 onions – chopped fine
  • 1 -2 bay leaves
  • Ground pepper to taste

Method – Filling

The filling must be allowed to cooled before using  –  you can make it in advance – even the day before.

At the end the filling must be as dry as possible to make the assembly of the pierogi easier.

  • Put the mushrooms in a small bowl and cover them with boiling water.
  • Leave them overnight.
  • Strain the mushrooms – but keep the liquid.
  • Chop the mushrooms into small pieces.
  • *
  • Strain the sauerkraut, keep the liquid, and chop into small pieces.
  • IMG_20160608_085355101
  • Put the sauerkraut into a pan, add the liquid from the sauerkraut and some from the mushroom liquid.
  • Cover with boiling water if need be.
  • Add the bay leaves.
  • Cover the pan with a lid.
  • Simmer gently for around 30 minutes.
  • Checking it does not dry out.
  • Remove the lid.
  • Then boil off as much liquid as possible without burning the sauerkraut.
  • *
  • Allow the sauerkraut to cool and remove the bay leaves.
  • Strain the sauerkraut using a sieve to get it as dry as possible.
  • You can put this into a clean dry cotton or linen cloth and twist the ends together –
  • Squeeze to get it really dry.
  • *
  • Whilst the sauerkraut is cooking heat the chopped mushrooms gently in a small pan with the rest of the liquor, stirring to prevent it burning but reducing as much of the possible.
  • *
  • Chop the onions finely and fry them till they are soft and golden.
  • Add them to the mushroom mixture and mix well together.
  • Mix the sauerkraut, mushrooms and onions together.
  • Add some ground black pepper to taste; salt should not be necessary.
  • OPTION 
  • Add fresh mushrooms fried in butter and chopped fine to the filling.

  • Ingredients – Dough

  • 250g pasta flour or strong flour or plain flour & 2 tablespoons of fine semolina
  • 150ml water
  • 1 tablespoon oil – sunflower or light olive
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg yolk
  • *
  • Melted butter for serving or chopped onions cooked in butter.

Method – Dough

  • In a jug or bowl mix together the water, oil and the yolk.
  • Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
  • Pour in the liquid from the jug and initially use a knife to mix this into the flour and then use your hands to mix the liquid and flour to get a ball of dough.
  • Turn this out onto a floured board and knead the dough for a few minutes until you have a smooth ball.
  • Cut the dough into quarters.
  • On a floured board roll out a quarter at a time until you have a sheet of thinly rolled dough.
  • Now prepare a large tray and cover it with a clean tea towel and sprinkle this with flour.
  • Have a large surface such as a tray covered with a cotton or linen cloth which has been lightly floured ready  and place the sealed pierogi on this until they are all made, do not let then touch each other.
  • I cut them out using a 7 cm diameter cutter.
  • I have noticed some people make them larger – I will try this out soon.
  • The excess dough can be re-mixed and rolled out again.
  • Around a half tablespoon of filling is put on  each circle and then they are folded over and the edges pinched together to make a good seal.
  • You learn from experience how much filling to put in as too much will make it hard to seal them and if not properly sealed they will burst on boiling. 
  • Do not worry if you have a few mishaps – it still happens to me even with experience – it is hard to salvage one that has gone wrong – just accept that there will be a few that you do not cook.
  • *
  • To cook the pierogi, use a large pan of boiling water to which you have added some salt and a drizzle of oil.
  • Drop the pierogi in one by one and allow them to boil.  I usually do about 6 to 8 at a time (I only do 6 at a time if using frozen ones).
  • As they cook they will float to the surface, let them boil for 2 to 3 minutes, (a bit more if they were frozen*), and
  • Then remove them with a slotted or perforated spoon and put into a colander above a pan for a few seconds to drain and serve.
  • Continue boiling batches in the same water.
  • If you want to make all the pierogi to serve together then you need to get a large shallow dish.*
  • Put in the pierogi and add melted butter.
  • Keep the dish warm in a low oven.
    • *I often open freeze them for later.

  • Serve with melted butter or
  • Melted butter and breadcrumbs or
  • Onions fried in butter or
  • Fried bacon bits – skwarki.

Dark Mushroom Soup

  • I have recently returned from a trip to the Netherlands to visit my old school friend.
  • We were invited out to dinner and had a lovely meal, which gave me several ideas for new recipes.
  • Our host had cooked venison and had used venison stock to make a soup.
  • Now I am unlikely to get any venison in the near future so I decided to used beef stock (from a cube) to make this soup.
  • Whilst eating this soup I thought it had ingredients, which could easily be a soup that would be very popular in Poland.
  • These were: fresh mushrooms, sauerkraut and smoked bacon. 
  • I did not have any flat leaved parsley on the day I made this or I would have used it to garnish the soup.

Ingredients

  • 200g mushrooms – white or brown caps.
  • 1 large onion 
  • 3-4 rashers of smoked bacon
  • 100 – 150g sauerkraut 
  • 1½ litres of beef stock (can be from cubes or concentrate)
  • Sauerkraut liquor – to taste 
  • Salt & pepper to taste.
  • *
  • Flat leaved parsley to serve

    Method

  • Chop the onion into small chunks.
  • Slice the mushroom caps into thin slices.
  • Add the onion and mushrooms to the stock.
  • Bring to the boil and then let it simmer with a lid on the pan.
  • Simmer for around 30 minutes.
  • Cut the bacon into thin long pieces.
  • Drain sauerkraut and chop it into smaller strands.
  • Add the bacon and sauerkraut and let these simmer for another 30 minutes.
  • *
  • Adjust the sourness with sauerkraut liquor to taste.
  • Season to taste.
  • *
  • Serve with flat leaved parsley if available.
Soup Plate by Royal Doulton – Carnation

Mushroom Sauce – Fresh Mushrooms

  • Nowadays you can get fresh mushrooms all year round so this sauce can be made at any time.
  • In Poland you can buy mushroom stock cubes which are very useful especially for making sauces.
  • Years ago I brought loads back to England – now you can find these in the many Polish food shops.
  • The ones I use are made by Knorr and contain a small amount of dried mushroom extract.*
  • * If you cannot get these maybe use a few drops of  Henderson’s sauce or Lea & Perrins – NOT TRIED.

Ingredients

  • 150g fresh button mushroom caps – white and/or chestnut
  • 500ml hot boiling water
  • 1 mushroom stock cube
  • 1 heaped tablespoon of potato flour or cornflour
  • 3 tablespoons of milk
  • 2 large tablespoons of soured cream.
  • Butter to cook the mushrooms in.

Note

I rarely have to add any more salt or pepper as the stock cube has enough seasoning in it.

Method 

  • Dissolve the stock cube in the hot water.
  • Slice the mushroom caps into fine slices and fry them gently in some butter till they are soft.
  • Simmer gently for about 5 to 10 minutes.
  • In a little dish mix the potato flour or cornflour with the milk.
  • Add the cornflour mixture to the cooked mushrooms and stir gently over the heat until the sauce thickens.
  • Remove from the heat and add the 2 large tablespoonfuls of soured cream and mix.

Note

None of these amounts are exact – they are a rough guide depending on what you have – you can use more water, milk or soured cream and so on.

Super served with boiled or creamy mashed potatoes – sprinkle chopped dill or parsley over them before serving.

Great for any roast dinner – especially on Christmas Day.

Served on Carnation (1982 – 1998) and Burgundy (1959 – 1981)  by Royal Doulton.

Mushroom Sauce using Dried Mushrooms

  • Mushroom sauce must be my favourite sauce.
  • I posted a long post with two versions of  mushroom sauce over a year ago.
  • As I have been posting lots of sauce recipes lately I thought I would re-visit mushroom sauce and have split the old post into two.
  • I looked through my Polish cookbooks and many of the mushroom sauces are made with only dried mushrooms.
  • These are delicious and have a strong flavour however it works out very expensive and are not available everywhere.
  • Dried & fresh mushrooms are used in this recipe.
  • The best dried mushrooms are Boletus edulis, in Poland they are called borowik or prawdzik (translates as the “the real thing”), in Italy porcini.
  • I recently got some other dried mushroom which are also good.

Podgrzybki – Xerocomus badius

Mushroom sauce 

Ingredients

  • 150g fresh button mushroom caps – white and/or chestnut
  • 5g of  dried mushroom (around 3 slices)
  • 500ml hot boiling water
  • 1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour
  • 3 tablespoons of milk
  • 2 large tablespoons of soured cream
  • Butter to cook the mushrooms in
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Method

  • You need to start this sauce the night before or in the morning for use in the evening.
  • Cover the dried mushrooms with 500ml of boiling water and leave to soak.
  • The following day take out the reconstituted mushrooms and using a knife you can chop then up into tiny pieces or if the are soft enough you can  spread out the pulp on a chopping board.
  • Slice the mushroom caps into fine slices and fry them gently in some butter till they are soft.
  • Add the dried mushroom pulp and the liquor in which they were seeped.
  • Simmer gently for about 5 to 10 minutes.

  • In a little dish mix the cornflour with the milk.
  • Add the cornflour mixture to the cooked mushrooms and stir gently over the heat until the sauce thickens.
  • Add salt & pepper to taste.
  • Remove from the heat and add the 2 large spoonfuls of soured cream and mix well in.

Note

None of these amounts are exact – they are a rough guide depending on what you have – you can use more water, milk or soured cream and so on.

Super served with boiled or creamy mashed potatoes – sprinkle chopped dill or parsley over them before serving.

Served on Burgundy (1959 – 1981) and Carnation (1982 – 1998)  by Royal Doulton.

Cabbage & Mushrooms

  • Cabbage and mushrooms are a classic combination in Polish cookery.
  • Recipes abound for combinations  using fresh cabbage through to sauerkraut, cultivated or wild mushrooms – fresh or dried – the list is endless.
  • Recently I wrote about kulebiak a large Polish pastry, which had a filling of fresh cabbage and fresh mushrooms.
  • This filling  can be served hot as a side dish – it goes well with hot roast meats.

Ingredients

  • Small head of white cabbage or sweetheart cabbage.
  • 250 -300g of mushrooms
  • 1 large onion
  • 100g of butter
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Optional – 2-3 hard boiled eggs

 

Method

  • Shred and then chop the cabbage into small pieces.
  • Chop the onion into small pieces.
  • Chop the mushrooms into small pieces.
  • Melt half the butter in a large deep frying pan.
  • Slowly cook the onions and the cabbage but do not brown.
  • Cover with a lid and let them simmer till they are both soft.
  • Stir occasionally – you might need to add a little hot water.
  • In another pan melt the rest of the butter and fry the mushrooms.
  • Add the mushrooms to the cabbage and onion mixture and mix well.
  • Heat gently together to remove most of the excess liquid.
  • Season to taste.
  • Sprinkle the chopped hard boiled eggs on top – optional.
  • Serve hot.

Note

You might want to look at an earlier post for Sauerkraut & Mushrooms

 

 

Liver with Potato Topping

Here are a couple of super liver recipes.

I have also found that the potato topping is easy to make and is so delicious and will be using this for other recipes.

The first recipe is a version for liver and onions with sage and the second recipe does not use sage but has fresh mushrooms in the mixture.

Ingredients – version 1

450g pig’s or lamb’s liver

1 tablespoon of plain flour

3 onions

Large handful of sage leaves

250ml of chicken stock

500g of starchy potatoes

500ml of milk & water

1 tablespoon of butter

Butter & sunflower oil for frying

Salt & pepper

Method – version 1

Butter a rectangular ovenproof dish.

Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.

Cut the potatoes into thin slices.

Par-boil them for 5 minutes in the milk and water.

Remove the potatoes from the liquid.

*

Slice the onions and fry them in a butter and oil mixture until golden.

Season and add to the buttered dish.

Slice the liver into small pieces.

Dip the pieces in flour.

Fry in the butter and oil mixture on both sides.

Season and add to the onions.

Mix the liver and onions together.

Add the sage leaves and stir.

Pour the stock over the liver and onions.

*

Arrange the par-boiled potato slices over the liver and onions.

Cover the whole of the dish.

Cover the dish with a piece of foil.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour.

Melt the butter.

Remove the foil.

Pour the butter over the potatoes.

Put back in the oven and bake for at least 30minutes.

Served on Royal Doulton – Carnation – 1982 – 1998

Ingredients – version 2

As in version 1 but without the sage

150ml stock – a mushroom stock cube is good

200g sliced mushrooms

Method – version 2

As in version 1 plus

Fry the mushrooms and add them to the liver and onions.

Served on Royal Doulton – Tapestry – 1966 – 1988

Kulebiak with Cabbage & Mushrooms

  • Kulebiak is the nearest there is in Polish Cookery to a pie or a pasty.
  • It can be made with a yeast dough, a short crust type of pastry or puff pastry.
  • It is very much a large version of   paszteciki – the small savoury pastries,  which I posted in November 2019.
  • Popular fillings include cabbage & mushrooms of various sorts, hard boiled eggs and fish.
  • Many people serve this for Wigilia –  the Christmas Eve meal.
  • Sometimes the several fillings are put in as layers.
  • Here I have made it with a yeast dough with a fresh cabbage and fresh mushroom filling.
  • It is best served hot.
  • *
  • In the early part of the 20th century Auguste Escoffier, the French chef, wrote about this dish and called it Coulibiac.
  • Was this the start of dishes such as Salmon en croute?

Ingredients – Yeast Dough

  • 250g plain flour or a mixture of spelt & plain flour
  • 1 tablespoon of dried yeast
  • 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar
  • 125-150ml of milk
  • 1 egg & 1 yolk
  • 40g butter – melted
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 egg white & water for a glaze

Method – Yeast Dough

  • Put 50g of the flour into a bowl.
  • Add the yeast and sugar.
  • Add enough of the milk to make the mixture as thick as double cream.
  • Leave in a warm place to bubble and froth up.
  • *
  • Place the rest of the flour into a bowl.
  • Add the salt and mix.
  • Lightly beat the whole egg  and the yolk together.
  • Add the egg mixture to the flour.
  • Add the yeast mixture to the flour.
  • Start to mix together using a wooden spoon.
  • Slowly add as much milk as needed.
  • Bring the dough together using your hands until it leaves the side of the bowl.
  • Knead the dough lightly until it is smooth.
  • *
  • Flatten the dough into a rectangle.
  • Slowly pour on the butter and fold over the dough.
  • Keep kneading the buttery dough until it is all incorporated.
  • Knead a little longer until you have a nice glossy ball.
  • Put the dough back into a bowl.
  • Cover with a cloth or a shower cap and leave to rise in a warm place.
  • *
  • Grease a baking tray.
  • Take the pastry and shape into a rough rectangle.
  • Roll out into a large rectangle around a finger width in thickness.
  • Place the cold filling in the centre lengthwise.
  • Fold the two long sides over the filling so the pastry just meets and is not too thick.
  • Fold over the short sides.
  • Turn the roll over so the “seams” are underneath.
  • Place on the baking tray, cover and leave to rise.
  • *
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 180 °C.
  • *
  • Lightly beat the egg white with a little water and brush this on the top.
  • Bake in the oven for around 1 hour.
  • *
  • Best served hot – but still good cold
  • Cut into thick slices to serve.

Ingredients – Filling

  • Small head of white cabbage or sweetheart cabbage.
  • 250g of mushrooms
  • 1 large onion
  • 100g of butter
  • 2 or more hard boiled eggs
  • Salt & pepper to taste

 

Method

  • Shred and then chop the cabbage into small pieces.
  • Chop the onion into small pieces.
  • Chop the mushrooms into small pieces.
  • Melt the half the butter in a large deep frying pan.
  • Slowly cook the onions and the cabbage but do not brown.
  • Cover with a lid and let them simmer till they are both soft.
  • Stir occasionally – you might need to add a little hot water.
  • In another pan melt the rest of the butter and fry the mushrooms.
  • Add the mushrooms to the cabbage and onion mixture and mix well.
  • Heat gently together to remove all the excess liquid.
  • Leave to go cold.
  • Rough chop the hard boiled eggs and add them to the mixture.
  • Season to taste.

Note – this might be more filling than you need – you can always freeze what is left 

Served on a vintage Pyrex platter and Royal Doulton – Carnation plates – 1982-98

 

 

Łazanki with Mushrooms

  • I have adapted a recipe for  łazanki with mushrooms from there.
  • I used ready bought flat pasta – tagliatelle.
  • Break up the dry pasta or snip it up at the end.
  • Boil the pasta as per the instructions – do not over cook it.

Ingredients

  • 250g flat pasta (such as tagliatelle) (broken up)
  • 1 onion – diced
  • 250g button mushrooms – sliced
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 125ml soured cream
  • 40g cheese eg Gouda – grated
  • Butter
  • Salt & pepper to taste.

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM5 – 200°C
  • Have ready a large shallow oven proof dish.
  • Mix the egg yolk and the soured cream in a little dish.
  • Cook the pasta as per the instructions – do not over cook.
  • Fry the onion in quite a lot of butter until soft and golden.
  • Add the mushrooms and cook these together.
  • Add the mixture to the drained pasta.
  • Mix well together.
  • Season to taste.
  • Put the mixture in the oven proof dish.
  • Pour the yolk and soured cream mix over the pasta
  • Stir lightly.
  • Scatter the cheese on top of the dish.
  • Bake in the oven for around 10 minutes until the cheese has melted.

 

 

Mushroom Sauce

Mushroom sauce must be my favourite sauce.

  • I looked through my Polish cookbooks and many of the mushroom sauces are made with only dried mushrooms.  These are delicious and have a strong flavour however it works out very expensive and are not available everywhere.
  • I am going to  give instructions for a sauce using fresh mushroom and just a small amount of dried mushroom and
  • Another versions of this mushroom sauce using a mushroom stock cube.
  • The best dried mushrooms are Boletus edulis, in Poland they are called borowik or prawdzik, in Italy porcini.
  • I recently got some other dried mushroom which are also good.

Podgrzybki – Xerocomus badius

  • In Poland there are now mushroom stock cubes which are very useful especially for making sauces.
  • Years ago I brought loads back to England – now you can find these in the many Polish food shops.
  • The ones I use are made by Knorr and contain a small amount of dried mushroom extract.

Mushroom sauce 1 – using dried mushrooms

Ingredients

  • 150g fresh button mushroom caps – white and/or chestnut
  • 5g of  dried mushroom (around 3 slices)
  • 500ml hot boiling water
  • 1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour
  • 3 tablespoons of milk
  • 2 large tablespoons of soured cream.
  • Butter to cook the mushrooms in
  • salt & pepper to taste

Method

  • You need to start this sauce the night before or in the morning for use in the evening.
  • Cover the dried mushrooms with 500ml of boiling water and leave to soak.
  • The following day take out the reconstituted mushrooms and using a knife you can chop then up into tiny pieces or if the are soft enough you can  spread out the pulp on a chopping board.
  • Slice the mushroom caps into fine slices and fry them gently in some butter till they are soft.
  • Add the dried mushroom pulp and the liquor in which they were seeped.
  • Simmer gently for about 5 to 10 minutes.

  • In a little dish mix the cornflour with the milk.
  • Add the cornflour mixture to the cooked mushrooms and stir gently over the heat until the sauce thickens.
  • Add salt & pepper to taste.
  • Remove from the heat and add the 2 large spoonfuls of soured cream and mix well in.

Note

None of these amounts are exact – they are a rough guide depending on what you have – you can use more water, milk or soured cream and so on.

Mushroom sauce 2 – using a mushroom stock cube

Ingredients

  • 150g fresh button mushroom caps – white and/or chestnut
  • 500ml hot boiling water
  • 1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour
  • 3 tablespoons of milk
  • 2 large tablespoons of soured cream.
  • Butter to cook the mushrooms in.

Note

I rarely have to add any more salt or pepper as the stock cube has enough seasoning in it.

Method 

  • Dissolve the stock cube in the hot water.
  • Slice the mushroom caps into fine slices and fry them gently in some butter till they are soft.
  • Simmer gently for about 5 to 10 minutes.
  • In a little dish mix the cornflour with the milk.
  • Add the cornflour mixture to the cooked mushrooms and stir gently over the heat until the sauce thickens.
  • Remove from the heat and add the 2 large spoonfuls of soured cream and mix.

Super served with boiled or creamy mashed potatoes – sprinkle chopped dill or parsley over them before serving.

Served on Carnation (1982 – 1998)  by Royal Doulton.