Drunk Mushrooms

Lets assume you do not mind peeling onions and garlic cloves. Good. So keep on reading then. If you also do not mind Ouzo in your food then go for it.
It is an old Ottolenghi recipe that I decided to turn Greek, mostly because a few ingredients were missing from my supply cupboard.
It is unusual but very tasty.

olive oil

80g butter

25 shallots, peeled

25 garlic cloves, peeled

dried thyme 

2 cinnamon sticks

200g portobello or oyster mushrooms, chopped

250g chestnut mushrooms, quartered

100g buna-shimeji or wild mushrooms

pinch of chilli flakes

200ml vegetable stock

1¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground black pepper

100ml Ouzo

dried parsley & dried oregano

250g ricotta or (hard to find in the UK) Manouri cheese

Zest of 1 lemon

Heat the olive oil and two-thirds of the butter in a large pan and gently sauté the shallots, garlic cloves, thyme and cinnamon for about five minutes, until the onions begin to soften. Add the portobello and chestnut mushrooms, stir well so the mushrooms pick up the oil, and cook for a couple of minutes on a medium-high heat. Add the buna-shimeji and chilli flakes, and cook for a further minute.
Pour in the vegetable stock and simmer over a high heat for eight to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has almost disappeared, and the shallots and garlic are cooked through. Season, then pour in the Ouzo. Cook for a minute or two to allow the alcohol to evaporate, then stir through the remaining butter and all the chopped herbs.
Mix the ricotta (or manouri) with the lemon zest in a small bowl. Divide the warm mushrooms between four plates and top each serving with a quarter of the ricotta mixture. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with watercress or other leafy salad and rice.

The Butter Bean & The Chorizo

I made this stew for the 'welcome back' party of a dear friend who just came back from Spain.
I don't know what I was thinking with the chorizo. I bet he must be so fed up with it, but I guess I thought it would make him feel like home.
I also thought it would be a very heavy dish but it wasn't at all. It is a stew that -apart from the initial preparation, chopping etc- you can let it do it's own thing and just stir occasionally.


180g dried (or canned) butter beans
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
250g raw chorizo sausage (available at every good deli), cut into 5mm-thick diagonal slices
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
paprika
400g can chopped tomatoes
500ml chicken stock, hot
dried oregano
Grated zest of 1 lemon

Soak the butter beans in a bowl of water overnight.
The next day, place the beans in a saucepan and cover with plenty of fresh water. Bring to the boil and simmer rapidly for 1 hour until just tender. Drain. You can always use tinned butter beans instead.
Heat the olive oil in an ovenproof casserole and fry the raw chorizo for 2-3 minutes until starting to brown. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the onion, garlic and paprika to the pan and cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until the onion is beginning to soften.
Add the chopped tomatoes, stock, oregano and lemon zest and add the chorizo and beans to the casserole. Mix well, bring to the boil and simmer, partially covered, for 1¼ hours or until the sauce is thick and the beans are tender. Check the seasoning.
Serve with crusty bread and leaf salad and of course Rioja.

Fresh Courgette Spaghetti

People who call courgette, 'snozcumber' and refuse to even try it, do finally surrender to this simple but tasty combo.
It is one of the quickest and freshest recipes, really cheap too. I made it with gluten free spaghetti and vegetarian parmesan. You can add bacon for a non-veggie version.
• 3 medium courgettes grated
• zest and juice of half a lemon
• spaghetti
• grated parmesan
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 3 gloves of garlic
• Olive oil
• salt and pepper
• half a pot of crème fraîche
Put the spaghetti into boiling water along with the stock cube and 1 peeled garlic clove.
While the pasta is boiling, grate the courgette or ask your kitchen bitch to do it. Then grate the parmesan.
In a frying pan put the grated courgette and the rest of the garlic, finely chopped.
Cook for a few minutes, stirring, until just wilted.
Stir in the lemon zest and crème fraîche. Simmer for a few minutes – it will look quite runny. Season to taste and keep over a low heat.
Remove pasta from the pan, get rid of the garlic clove and drain well.
Return to the pan and add the courgette mixture. Toss well until the pasta has soaked up the sauce, then stir in the lemon juice and toss again. Serve hot with parmesan on top.

Peas In Tomato Sauce (Arakas Latheros)

This is indeed a lovely, hearty dish from home land.
It is also by far, my son's favorite food at the moment.
Here is how it goes. It is divine.

500g frozen peas
3 carrots sliced
2 small potatoes diced
1 onion finely chopped
1/4 bunch of dill finely chopped
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 can of peeled or chopped tomatoes
water

Heat some olive oil in a saucepan and sauté onion until translucent and soft. Add frozen peas and stir for a couple of minutes.
Add carrots and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add tomato and water, reduce heat and simmer until cooked, for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more water if necessary.
In the last ten minutes of cooking add the dill and an extra bit of olive oil.
Remember to mop the sauce in the end with bread, a fine activity known between Greeks as 'papara'.

Viva Pancake Day

It's Shrove Tuesday. This recipe is gluten free and makes 8 pancakes.

• 100 g gluten free plain white flour
  
• 2 eggs
• 300 ml milk

Mix together the flour, eggs and milk.

Heat a little oil in a heavy frying pan and as it starts to smoke, pour in just enough batter to thinly coat the base of the pan. Cook until golden, then turn the pancake over and cook other side until golden.
Stack the cooked pancakes on a plate and, if you’re not eating them straightaway, cover with foil to stop them from drying out. Serve with sugar and lemon.

Homemade Gluten Free Gnocchi

I wanted to surprise my gluten intolerant man and make the food he enjoyed the most back in the days when he didn't have a bad reaction to wheat. Found this recipe for homemade gnocchi. Regardless of the fact that afterwards the kitchen looked like Randy Marsh had cooked in it, it was so totally worth it. I cleaned the mess and enjoyed looking at the glow on his face.
1 kilo waxy potatoes, scrubbed
1 tbs sea salt
240g gluten-free flour
2 tbs butter
Place the un-peeled potatoes in a large pot of salted water, Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender, but not falling apart. Drain, and peel the potatoes as soon as possible, while they are still hot.
On a work surface spread out a layer of flour. Mash the potatoes with a hand masher directly onto the flour. You can also use a food mill or ricer if you have those. Sprinkle the top of the potatoes with about half of the remaining flour and mix lightly. Begin to knead the dough, drawing in more flour as you knead. Keep doing this until the dough is light to the touch, no longer sticky or moist, and can be rolled easily. Do not overwork the dough, or the gnocchi will become too heavy.
Divide the dough into 4 parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a snake about ¾ inch thick, and cut the dough into ¾ inch long pieces. Hold an ordinary table fork, with long tines sideways. Once by one press and roll the gnocchi onto your thumb, making ridges on one side and a depression from your thumb on the other side.
Bring large pan of salted water to boil. Then drop about ½ the gnocchi in. When the gnocchi rise to the top, after about 3-4 minutes they are done. Scoop them out, allow them to drain and place in a serving bowl. Dot them with butter. Keep warm while remaining gnocchi are cooking. As soon as they are done, stir in with other gnocchi and more butter. Then serve with extra butter and Parmesan cheese, tomato sauce or any other sauce you wish.

Broccoli Rice Casserole

Today I had one of those 'panic moments'. Had to think of something quick and easy and also delicious to cook, without having the chance to go shopping. I used whatever we had in the fridge. It worked!

• 300g chopped broccoli
• 250g easy cook rice
• 500g good quality cream of mushroom soup
• 250ml water (veggie stock cube can be used)
• 200g cheddar cheese, cubed
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 bunch celery, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• salt and pepper

Steam broccoli and cook rice according to package directions. Preheat oven 175 degrees C, gas mark 4.
In a medium saucepan over low heat, mix cream of mushroom soup and water. Gradually stir in cheese until melted. Be careful that the cheese doesn't burn.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and saute celery and onion until soft.
In a large mixing bowl, combine broccoli, rice, soup and cheese mixture, celery and onion. Season with salt and pepper. Pour mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, until bubbly and lightly brown.