Potato muffins

Those muffins are a delicate combination of potato puree and mushroom aroma. Baked are nicely crisp and brown. They could be even more delicious with a mushroom thick sauce. That’s a version I’ll make soon!
Great as an appetizer or dinner’s addition.

Ingredients (make 12 muffins)
3 cups mashed potatoes
handful dry forest mushroom
1 onion
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary
2/3 cup wheat flour
2 whisked eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
salt, pepper


Method
Soak the mushroom in a cold water. Chop drained mushrooms. Sauté mushroom with chopped onion and rosemary. Cold and mashed potatoes mix with remaining ingredients, season to taste. Spoon the batter into a lined muffin pan. Bake until golden at 360F/ 180 oC.

Pickled chillies

Inspired by the Jamie Oliver’s recipe for pickled chillies I made a quite big jar of them as a present for my Dad – biggest fan of such a preserves. Maybe it’s a matter of culture, taste or other differences but we couldn’t eat those peppers. The recipe required changes as in the original one were simply peppers with vinegar. After these changes the peppers became nice appetizer. Spicy but still eatable!

Ingredients
22 oz (600 g) chilli peppers
15 black peppercorns
5 bay leaves
2 tbsp coriander seeds
4 tbsp salt
2 cups white wine vinegar
2 cups water
few full tablespoons sugar so the marinate will have interesting sour taste


Method
Slice each pepper from stem to end on one side and remove the seeds. Pour the boiling water over them and let them steep for 5 minutes to remove any remaining seeds. Drain. Take a jar add the spices. In a saucepan warm the water, vinegar and sugar. Pour the vinegar mixture the jar of chillies. Allow it to cool, then put a lid. Eat after 2 weeks!

Creamy pate with Mirabelle and wine jelly

Martha Stewart – woman institution! In my private opinion she’s not a good cook but she has a hand to make a business! One of her chefs made this pate, delicate and quick. There is Martha’s signature under the recipe – the pate is just too good! ;)

Ingredients
5,5 oz (150 g) butter
10 oz (300 g) chicken livers
10 oz (300g) mushrooms
handful dry forest mushroom (soaked in water)
1 teaspoon garlic
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tbsp salt
pinch nutmeg
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon dry thyme
1 medium onion
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
jelly:
½ cup red wine
1 glove
1/3 cup Mirabelle juice (natural, thick) or plum/cherry juice, originally pomegranate juice
1 gelatin leaf ( or 1,5 teaspoons)


Method
Melt 2 tbsp butter, add chopped mushrooms, forest mushrooms, chopped livers, onion, garlic and pepper, sauté for 5 min. Add a teaspoon of salt, thymes, white wine and breadcrumbs. Simmer on a low heat for about 10 min. Slightly cooled mixture with butter puree in a blender. Place in a fridge for 30 min. In a meantime heat up the red wine with glove. Let the alcohol evaporate. Make the gelatine according to the instructions on a gelatine package. Combine gelatine with fruit juice. Cool it down. Take out the glove. On top of cold pate pour liquid cooled jelly. Place for a few hours in a fridge so jelly gets firm.

Oscypek’s (or Parmesan’s) baskets with dry tomato mousse

A while ago I got this idea: stuffed oscypek’s bowls. I knew that the filling can’t be very distinct as the oscypek cheese itself is quite salty. I made delicate mousse with sour cream and dry tomatoes with a basil-garlic note. Such an appetizer we’ll take to the New Year’s party tonight. Hope the guests will like them- fingers crossed!

Ingredients (make about 40)
2 cups grated oscypek cheese (or similar amount Parmesan cheese)
1 cup double cream with a teaspoon gelatin
2 oz (60 g) cream cheese (i.e. Philadelphia)
2 oz (60 g) thinly chopped dry tomatoes
2 teaspoons tomato puree
pinch salt and pepper
few drops lemon juice
½ teaspoon dry basil and a little bit of fresh garlic


Method
Grate the cheese. Heat up the Teflon pan. Place a tablespoon size cheese mixture on a pan. When cheese starts to melt or gets brown take the cheese pancakes off the pan with your hand dressed in an old kitchen glove ( will get quite dirty). Shape the cheese, ‘wrapping’ it around bottom of a glass or (better) around mortar’s pestle. Leave it to cool down.

Beat the sour cream, combine with cream cheese, tomatoes and spices. Season to taste. Keep the filling in a fridge, each cheese ‘basket’ fill with tomato mousse (using a pastry bag). Serve decorated with a half of olive, pinch oregano or dry tomato.

Yeast pasty

Today: pasty with sour cabbage and mushroom. With a cup of borsch – typical Autumn warming up appetizer! To make those pasty I used recipe from Dorotus’s blog.

Ingredients
filling
18 oz (500g) sour cabbage
1 garlic clove
3 tbsp butter
1 medium onion
10 oz (300 g) mushroom (or dry forest mushrooms soaked in water)
pepper, 2 bay leaves, 3 grains pimento, ground nutmeg, salt

dough (I used 1,5 portion)
14 oz (400 g) wheat flour
0,7 oz (20 g) fine sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 cup milk
1 oz (30 g) melted butter


Method
filling:
Chop cabbage (you can rinse with water when too salty). In a big pan melt 2 tbsp butter, add chopped garlic, chopped cabbage, bay leaves and pimento. Simmer for about 10 min on a low heat. Place the cabbage in a bowl. In a pan sauté chopped onion and sliced mushrooms. Fry on a low heat until excess water evaporate. Combine mushrooms, onion with cabbage. Season to taste.

dough:
All ingredients (in a room temperature) combine and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a bowl and covered with a clean kitchen towel leave in a warm spot until doubled in size (for about 1,5 hours depends on temp.). Roll out the raised dough (1/4 inch/ 0,5 cm. thick), cut it in rectangles (size of a palm). Spoon a full spoon of filling in centre of each rectangle. Crimp tight the edges of the pasty: first join two opposite corners, next parallel, so you got a ‘bun’ shape. Place the pasty on a baking tray with a ‘joined’ side underneath. Cover with a kitchen towel and leave to rise for about 30 min. before placing in an oven brush the pasty with whisked egg or milk, slash long way. Bake for about 20 min. at 360F/ 180 oC.

Tsar’s appetizer - blins with caviar

There are some dishes that I don’t eat every day. Hardly one start a day with a glass of champagne, fresh oyster and bowl of caviar! From time to time we can afford extravagant afternoon with elegant appetizer!

The charm of this dish is hidden in its simplicity. Delicate yeast pancakes are the background for distinct caviar taste, sour cream and lemon juice as the final addition!

The recipe is from ugotuj.to website.

Ingredients (make about 40 blins about 10 cm in diameter):
starter:
1 oz (30 g) fresh yeast
2 tbsp flour
5 tbsp water
½ teaspoon sugar
batter:
7 oz (200 g) wheat or buckwheat flour ( I used wheat flour – the batter is quite watery so I added 4 tbsp whole wheat flour)
3 eggs
about 2 cups milk
6 tbsp butter
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
sour, thick cream – 1 tbsp for each blin
caviar (eventually smoked salmon) – 1 tbsp for each blin
lemon juice


Method
Prepare starter: yeast, sugar and 2 tbsp flour mix with warm water, put aside. After 10 min. it should rise.
Beat the egg whites until stiff. In a large bowl mix sieved flour with warm milk, add egg yolks, melted butter, sugar, salt and starter. Well combine all ingredients, gently stir in the beaten egg whites. Cover with clean kitchen towel, leave the bowl with batter in a warm spot for 2-3 hours until doubled in size. Place a spoonful of batter at a time on the hot pan. Fry both sides until golden. Serve warm (kept wrapped in aluminium foil when taken off the pan) with sour cream, caviar and drizzled with lemon juice.