Zupa Grzybowa (Mushroom Soup)

If you google the web for Zupa Grzybowa you'll find that there are probably as many recipes for this yummy soup as there are Polish cooks. Some start off by cooking a roux which will later thicken the soup. Others thicken at the end with a clever combo of sour-cream and flour. Some add barley. All would probably agree that the best mushrooms for that are those that are grown in Poland... but I really have no access to them fresh or dried, so I can't comment! The addition of dried porcini, however, does add a lovely depth of flavour to it. Perhaps one day I will be able to use Polish mushrooms - if so, I'll tell you what they are like. :)

I'm giving you my version which does not use a roux, and is usually not thickened at the end. It freezes well at that point. You can thicken it with sour cream and flour if you wish when re-heating - instructions will be given below. Or you can simply serve with some sour cream on the table for people to add to their liking.

You can very easily make this soup either vegetarian or vegan by using vegetable stock and omitting the sour cream

Zupa Grzybowa

500g mixed fresh mushrooms
100g dried porcini (or if you happen to be able to get dried Polish mushrooms give them a whirl!) - soak these for about an hour before use.
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 litres good quality vegetable or beef stock - use the fresh kind, not one made up from stock powder!
1 cup pearl barley (optional)

cook onions in olive oil until translucent. Add in fresh mushrooms, dried mushrooms, and the water the mushroms were soaking in (run through a sieve to catch any grit). Stir through. Pour in the stock, add in 1 cup of rinsed pearl barley. Put a lid on it and cook at a medium-slow heat for about an hour. If using the pearl barley make sure you cook it long enough so it is soft - the hour usually suffices.


for thickening...
2tbs cornflour
2 cups of sour cream
mix the cornflour and sour cream together. Whisk in a wee bit of the hot soup to loosen it and bring it to the same temp as the soup (so it doesn't curdle when added). Pour into the soup, whisking until it comes to a boil.

Delicious served with toasted sourdough.

As the Polish say smacznego! or Bon apetit!

Bread and butter cucumbers

These are still really in testing phase, I don't think I have yet found the *perfect* bread and butter cucumber recipe but I have made a few batches and arrived at one which I think is quite yummy, and that I would be happy to give away to a friend. I started out with a couple of recipes from the web - one that was too tart, and one that was WAY too salty. Once I realised that their methods were basically the same, I threw them out and have adjusted the quantities to better reflect my tastes.

Bread and Butter Cucumbers

6 small or 3 large cucumbers
1 or 2 small spring onions
2 tsps salt
1 tsp mustard seed
3 cups sugar
2 cups vinegar

Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, and mustard seed and bring to a boil. Simmer gently for 2-3 mins on a gentle heat. Cool slightly.

Slice the cucumbers and onions finely. Arrange them in sterilised jars. Pack them fairly tightly.

Fill the jars with the warm vinegar syrup. Put the lids on, let cool, and then refrigerate. Leave until the cucumbers have changed colour - usually a few days. I find that it is usually a week or two before the flavours are really mellowed together, but you can eat them before then if you just can't wait!

Creamed Corn

I love creamed corn, especially on toast - one of my fav comfort foods. So, when I found out corn was really really cheap at the local market I bought a heap and cooked up a pot of it! This is a really easy recipe and though you can make it in smaller batches I usually try to make larger ones because it freezes well. It can also be used as a basis for corn chowder, or other soups, as well.

There are lots of recipes for this, some with actual cream in them - but I much prefer this method. It keeps the flavour of the corn better IMO. I'm guessing you could veganise it with a non-dairy milk, though that might alter the taste a little. The recipe has a wee bit of sugar in it - it helps with breaking down the starch while cooking.

Creamed Corn

6 cups corn cut from the cob
1&1/2 cups milk
1 tbs sugar
2 tbs cornflour

Puree 4 or 5 cups of corn in a food processor or blender. The more corn you leave out the more "bits' of corn will be in at the end so just adjust the quantities of pureed vs whole to your liking.

Place pureed corn, the remaining corn, in a pan with the cornflour, milk and sugar. Stir to combine.

Heat over a gentle heat till the corn is soft and has thickened. Stir occassionally to make sure it doesn't catch and burn on the bottom.

Serve with toast or as a side dish. Cool if you wish to freeze or store for later use.

Lussekatter - St Lucy Buns

December 13th is the feast day of St Lucia (St Lucy). St Lucy is my confirmation saint. It was also the day I was given my precious and precocious Lucy Cat by a good friend of mine. So in honour of all the Lucy’s I decided to bake some traditional feast day buns. Set aside a morning or an afternoon to make these – the dough needs time to raise, and it also takes time to shape them. (though you could just make them in normal bun shapes, but IMO they just wouldn’t be the same.)

These are called Lussekatter which translates to Lucy Cats ... I am not sure what connection St Lucy has with cats other than these delicious light saffron buns. Try one still warm from the oven – heaven!

Lussekatter
1 kg white flour (plain)
500ml milk
45-50 g yeast
a little white sugar
1 egg
2 g saffron
150 – 200 g butter
200 – 300 ml sugar

• Dry saffron in warm oven. Grind fine with a little sugar in a mortar and pestle
• Dissolve yeast in warm water with a little sugar & leave to activate
• Melt butter in a pot and pour in milk and warm to lukewarm
• Blend saffron into milk. (The groundsaffron can also be diluted in a little
• schnapps or cognac and poured into the milk mixture.)
• Pour liquid into mixing bowl and stir in flour, a little at a time, until a loose, thick,
• smooth batter forms
• Blend in the yeast, sugar, egg and then more flour, a little at a time
• Knead vigorously, adding flour as needed until the dough is smooth, thick and shiny
• and doesn’t stick to the bowl ... for the breadmakers out there – this will be a very soft moist dough – resist the urge to overflour it – keep kneading!
• Sprinkle top of dough with a little flour and place a clean dishcloth over the bowl and
• leave it in a warm place and let rise until double in size (can take up to an hour)
• Turn out onto board and break off pieces ofdough and roll with hands into 4 in. (10 cm) long and ! in. (1.5 cm) thick ‘ropes’ (note most of mine were that size, but I did make a small batch of larger ones as well - you can see one at the back of the plate - they will take a little longer to cook)
• Coil each end in, making a figure “S”.
• Place one “S" cross-wise on top of anotherand place on a greased baking sheet
• Press a raisin into the centre of each spiral
• Cover and let buns rise until about double in size (until they feel spongy when pressed lightly with finger)
• Gently brush a lightly beaten egg onto thebuns
• Bake at 375°F (190°C) The buns should have a nice golden brown colour and feel light when done (approximately 10 minutes)
• Place buns on a soft cloth, cover with aclean towel and let cool

recipe from: Ingrid Kroll, 2005. Recipe adapted from
Stora Kokboken: Hushållets Uppslagsbok i Alla Matfrågor. Wezäta Göteborgslitografen. Göteborg, 1945

Haupia - Christmas style :)

 Am just about to head out the door to a Christmas dinner with some of the neighbours. It's a pot-luck affair & I elected to bring dessert. Of course - what else would I bring lol? I racked my brains about what to bring and then decided to do a test run of the haupia for another friends Christmas party next week which has a Hawaiian theme. Haupia is a sort of set-custard made of coconut milk and is really quite delicious. I paired this with some tropical fruits, and some red-coloured dessicated coconut and came up with this fruit platter. I think I could have done a much better job with the presentation, but given this is the first time I have made haupia I think I did OK.

Haupia

4 cups of coconut milk (which is about 2 cans)
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup cornflour

Combine the coconut milk and water. Stir till smooth, add in the sugar and cornflour. Cook over a low heat, stirring until it turns thick and shiny. (A bit like making a white sauce!) Pour into a clean baking tray and cool to room temperature, before chilling in the fridge. The haupia will set - it will be wobbly like a gelatin-based pudding but quite soft.

I then used cookie cutters to cut one of my haupia slices into christmas stars, and coated them with dessicated coconut and arranged some tropical fruits around it on the platter.

 

I even cut my kiwi fruit into little stars :)

 

Cucumbers - KOVÁSZOS UBORKA

SUCCESS!!! I did it - I made Hungarian fermented/pickled cucumbers - and they taste AMAZING. It's not just me saying that, either, an independent tester also found them yummy!

They were amazingly easy to make - and I can't wait to get my hands on some more baby cucumbers to make some more. These won't last long around here... we've already hooked into them this afternoon and at dinner time :D



The recipe is  from Zsuzsa and her wonderful blog at http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2011/08/fermented-pickles-kovaszos-uborka.html

Burramundi with Oranges

This is a great way to cook fish because even if you do happen to leave it in the oven a tad long there is no way that it will become overdry. This particular version uses oranges and capers which sounds like an odd combination but works well. You could substitute lemons and dill, or lime with chilli and mint - or any other combination of citrus and herbs you can dream up! This version uses barramundi but you can use any firm fleshed fish.

Ingredients4 portions of barramundi
3 oranges finely sliced
3 tps capers whole

Method

Cut 4 sheets of baking paper - enough to envelope each portion. Place fish on the paper, top with the sliced  oranges and sprinkle the capers around. Wrap with the paper so that no steam will escape. Cook in a pre-heated 200 degree oven for about 20 minutes (depending on the size of your portions!). Serve with salad or steamed vegies :)