Wild mushroom terrine

Where should I start? I stumbled upon another favorite!!
Maybe I shell start with the fact that Costco sells very nice and fresh mushrooms.. :D
I can't wait for the Chanterelle mushroom season and the big trays sold by Costco, but meanwhile I had to settle with something easier to find.
Hubby got home a tray of Portobello mushrooms and they had to be used.
I usually make either mushroom paprikas (stew Hungarian style) or just saute them filled with feta, but I felt I want something different.

A friend bought me a cookbook for last Xmas and I remembered that it had some pretty easy and as such tempting looking French recipes. So, I opened The Little Paris Kitchen by Rachle Khoo and found in no time the recipe above.
It is baking in the oven, so very curious what the end result will be..

Ingredients
1 pound, 0.5 kg preferably mixed, wild mushroom
4 eggs
1 cream fresh (sour cream) 200 g, 1 cup
2 cloves garlic
2 shallots finely chopped   
1/2 tsp or less salt
1 pinch nutmeg ( I used smoked paprika powder as I didn't have nutmeg)
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
5-6 tbsp butter or oil for frying

Prepare two small 8 ounce (05. liter)  loaf pans lined with parchment paper.
Slice the mushroom if needed to have equal sized pieces. I cut the Portobello mushrooms in 4.
Heat a pan with the butter, add the finely chopped garlic cloves and shallots, and when the shallots start to brown, add and sauté the mushrooms. I had to sauté them in two batches.
Fry each side for about 5 minutes, all together ~10 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350F.
Remove the mushrooms from the pan, place them on a plate covered whit kitchen paper to get rid of the excess oil.

Beat the eggs, add the sour cream (cream fresh), pinch of salt, nutmeg, and the chopped parsley.

Place the mushrooms in the pans and pour the egg-sour cream mixture in equal quantities to cover the mushrooms..
Bake for about 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and let it cool down slightly. Best serves till warm, about at room temperature.

You can remove the loafs from the pan or slice them in the pan.
Bon appétit!

Grilled trout

My Costco mania is getting a tiny bit out of hands, but what can one trout fan do if they sell the best trout on the market?
Coming from inland with small, cold rivers trout is one of the fish you get used to, and it has many benefits.
Number one, which is hard to look over with a family of five on a low budget: price.
Second: the mild taste, so even the pickier eaters are gonna make peace with it.
Third: I don't think one can really go wrong with it.
Fourth: no cleaning involved! Yeeee!!!
Fifth: lazy people without a grill, or without wanting to heat up a grill can easily make it in 20 minutes.

Ingredients
1 trout / person

Serving
rice or boiled potatoes

Wash the trout, rinse both inside and out, and cut the head off. If preferred cut the tail as well, I sometimes do as it fits better on my grill.
Sprinkle a little salt (I prefer the Himalayan pink salt from Sprouts) , maybe pepper (or pink pepper) in the inside of the trout.
Sprinkle additional salt on the outside skin as well. Do not add too much tough!
Wrap it in aluminum foil and throw it on the pre-heated table grill, and fry it at the highest temperature. Turn, and fry for additional 10 minutes.
Meanwhile boil some Basmati or Jasmin rice, they'll be ready in just about the same time.
While the rice is boiling and fish frying, you can also prepare a quick salad.
Serve with lemon slices, and optionally with some soy sauce.

I I were thinking ahead, as I wasn't, I'd have made my favorite salad to accompany this fish: "ecetes uborka", aka fresh cucumber in vinegar. Recipe next time.. :), now I settled for some fresh sliced cucumber and radish.

Bon appétit! Enjoy!

Rázott, alias "shaken" or nyers lecsó

Ok.. This is cheating, 'cause it isn't really baked or cooked. But it's season, and summer, and I just love it.
Just couple of years ago, khhhmmm..  I reached teenage age and appearance started to matter. And me, the picky kid who ate only the meat sauce with bread, rarely the meat itself, and tho' loved veggies I wasn't choosing it over some comfort food, moved from the block of flats to my grandparent's village with a HUGE garden full of seasonal veggies.
Every evening I went to water the tomatoes, peppers and at the same time pick a handful for dinner.
My favorite was the beef tomato, so I picked a large one, with a medium sized pepper, a yellow, sweetish pepper, and a green onion with a large head.
Night, after night, after night...
I guess, besides the veggies, I loved the ritual as well: first doing my duties, that picking the tasty, fresh reward right away.
Those summers changed my life forever.. Having experienced this, I'm so happy that in addition to our little home garden, the schools around, including our elementary school, started to "grow" some green thumbs as well :).

I prepared this salad for middle one for dinner tonight and I thought I'll take the opportunity to snap a pic and share the story with you.
Our garden offers an amazing variety of tomatoes, thanks to the organic plants I purchased from Costco months ago.
In the picture you can see some of them: green zebra, sweet 100, super sweet 100, better bush and plum tomato. One is more delicious that the other, and they all taste DIFFERENT! What a feast!

Well, the story behind is longer than the ingredient list, plus I described it already, but here it is.

Ingredients for 1 person
1 large tomato
1 medium sized pepper
2 green onions (you can add half or quarter of a sweet onion as well)
1-2 tbsp oil, I like avocado oil for this purpose
salt
pepper (optional) 

In a small bowl, a cereal size bowl, cut the peppers in small finger size, sprinkle with salt. Cut the tomatoes in your favorite shapes, add to the pepper, as well as the onions, cut into small slices.
Sprinkle the oil on top, add more salt if wanted, SHAKE them together, and enjoy!
I suggest serving it with a freshly baked baguette or a slice or two of home made bread.
Or just as is..
Don't forget to dip the bread in the sauce left to clean the bowl completely :D.

Tofu Kimchi medalions

Visits to our "local" Asian shops always end up with loads and loads of ingredients one doesn't really know what to do with, but this time I went there with a plan.
I am replacing some of our meaty meals with vegetarian meals, and will try to reduce our meat consumption, at least when it comes to the youngest and myself.
Now that's all thanks to our... backyard chicken. We just LOVE them :).

Tofu seemed to be a natural meat replacement for our breakfast, and I couldn't 'till morning to prepare these patties.


Ingredients
2 cups tofu
1 cup well fermented kimchi
3 green onions¼ cup flour (2 tbsp)
2 eggs
1-2 clove garlic, finely chopped
salt to taste
4-5 tbsp sunflower oil for frying
1 tsp hot red pepper if you prefer it more chilly, for us the kimchi was enough for start (Ming's artisan chilly sauce would probably be a perfect match, but be aware, it is shit hot :D)


Finely chop the kimchi and place it in a strainer to get rid of the excess liquid.
Shop the green onions in small pieces and chop or press them through a garlic press.

In a medium sized (2 l - 2 qart) bowl mix the eggs with the flower. Crumble the tofu in the egg-flower mix into small crumbs, add the chopped onions and garlic, and salt to taste.
Mix them well.

Heat a frying pan with 1-2 tbsp oil, and scoop tablespoon sized amounts of mixture in the pan. Press down gently to make flat, about 1 cm, 1/4", thick patties.

Fry on medium heat 2-3 minutes each side.
Slide them in a plate and let them cool until just lukewarm. They tend to fall apart easier when they are too hot, but their consistency becomes very easy to handle ones they are colder.
Mine are a bit nubbly as I added more kimchi than the recipe asks for.

It is an easy snack to take to the beach or pack for school lunch.
Bon apetite! 

Bean soup - 20 minute meals

I like to eat home made and tasty food, but sometimes time is an issue. I suppose it's not just me...
I noticed in Finland that people tend to buy ready made food on a regular bases on the way home (I get creeps just thinking of those tasteless "laatikko"s.. grrr...) (and here they go to fast food or cheap restaurants) because they think of the cooking as some kind of tiring gourmet exercise, while an everyday cooked meal is not, or at least shouldn't be.
We have invented couple of 20 minutes meals (or just brought them from home) that are tasty, healthy and are ready in ~20 minutes, about the same time it takes to dress up a family and drive to the nearby fast food. The ingredients are all non-perishable, canned, with minimal effort is easy to guarantee that you have some hiding in your storage.
If you can afford spending 20 minutes in the kitchen after you arrive home (and the kids won't roll on the floor in a terrible temper tantrum caused by hunger), this is a meal one can consider.
They have now organic canned beans on discount at Sprouts, so it looked like a perfect opportunity to empty and refill our provision, besides, yesterday only the dog and the youngest wanted to eat baby ribs, everybody else was fed up of meat.
A big plus eating these easy, home made meals is that your kid won't get used to the mass taste of fast food and will be a more balanced eater.
Sorry for the big portion, I never made it smaller, even with this quantity is a battle who gets to eat a second round. I took a pic with less zest to show the "content", you will however have a much more juice soup, just like most of the Hungarian soups are..

Ingredients (makes 4 litres)
3 tbsp oil
3 flat tbsp flour
1 small yellow onion
200 g frozen green beans, preferably cut into ~ 1 in pieces (if you don't have any in the freezer don't panic, is gonna be good enough without)
1 can organic pinto beans
1 can organic kidney beans
1 can organic white beans
1 can black beans
spices: salt, black pepper, paprika powder, vinegar
optional (but good): 1 small tomato cut into 4, 1 tsp minced red paprika pure or 1/2 small  fresh paprika (any type)
2-3 tbsp fresh Italian parsley (chopped if you like, leave it un-chopped if you don't like the parsley floating in your soup)
PS. Feel free to replace any of the beans with another one, I just like a colorful plate and tend to put more types of beans because of the look rather than the taste.

Serving
sour cream
fresh bread (optional, if you wanna skip bread)
spring onion, or thinly cut and salted onion slices, or paprika slices (optional)

In a pot put the oil to the heat, when the oil is hot add the flour, stirring continuously "fry" the flour just for 1 minute or two until gets golden, remove from the heat, add the tbsp paprika powder, stir it in the oily flour base (we call it rántás), and pour in water, about 2.5 litres. Put it back to the stove, and the onion and the green beans, the fresh or minced paprika, the tomato and cook it for ~15 minutes. The frozen green beans should be cooked during that time. You can remove the cooked tomato and paprika if the family doesn't like them.
Meanwhile empty the bean cans in a strainer and wash them thoroughly, I never liked the sauce of the cans as it is so thick, and I have no clue what they used to thicken it.
Add the beans to the pot, season with salt until you like the taste, black pepper (~1/4 - 1/2 tsp) and add 2 tbsp of parsley, bring to boil, now add ~1 l milk (1/4 gallon), and boil for an additional 5 minutes at lower heat. Be careful not to have your milk running all over you stove, you might want to stir occasionally.
Let it cool down for a while, then add some vinegar. How much? it depends on you. From 0.3 dl to 0.5 dl to none or more, it is all a personal taste. It is wiser not to add too much if you haven't tried yet, you can add more when served individually (but watch the quantity, being so small is becoming tricky).
Serve as is, with a tbsp of sour cream/plate, sprinkled with more fresh parsley, with spring onions, onion slices, or paprika slices. In my opinion the sour cream is a must :D, and the onion is also on the edge to deserve the "must" category.
I think it took me longer to write this blog then to make today's lunch.. :)
Bon apetite.

Puliszka - polenta - 20 min meals

Puliszka is not a Hungarian, it is a Transylvanian Hungarian dish :).
It sneaked into the Transylvanian kitchen from the Romanian kitchen, with adjustments of course.
The Romanian "mămăligă", or puliszka, or polenta, was (is) made of fine corn grits, almost flour, cooked for very long time, dumped onto the table, cut into slices with a thread, and consumed with smoked bacon or sheep cheese (the shepherds were mainly Romanian, or some Székely = a Hungarian group of people living at Transylvania's borders mainly in the Carpathian mountains).

The Hungarian "puliszka" however is made of corn grits, cooked for much shorter time, and consumed as side dish with.... there are sooooooooooo many possibilities you can eat your "puliszka" with :)....
This is one of them... and something I love this puliszka for is the fact that can be served in 15 minutes. Ok, 20 if I count the time it takes to bring the water to boil and add the cheese.

Ingredients (4 modest portions)
3 cups water
1 cup corn grits
1 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp oil
!!!! I had the wrong water vs corn grits and I just noticed the mistake! So please add water MORE and less corn grits or it won't work..

Serving
feta cheese (sheep or cow), or blue cheese, or cottage cheese
sour cream (optional, but sooo good)
spring onion, chopped (optional)

Put the water to boil with the salt and oil. When boils add gradually the corn grits, stirring continuously. Reduce the heat.
You can choose to stir for about 12 minutes, or stir for couple of minutes (~5 min), and then let it cook under a lid for additional 10 min (reduce the heat even more..). Remove the lid, stir well again, and is ready.
When ready serve still hot with cheese, sour cream and sprinkle with freshly cut spring onion..
After adding the cheese you can let it stay a little for the cheese to melt on the puliszka, but add the sour cream (and onions) just before eating. The contrast of hot puliszka, warm cheese and the cold, fresh sour cream is just soo good :D.

Ps. If you don't know whether people like or not onion, just clean the onions and let people decide and have it bit by bite.. :)

Omenahyvä - apple good :)

In general I'm skeptical about Finnish food that look like omenahyvä (not to mention mämmi). It is aesthetically not so appealing, to say the least..
But... Unlike mämmi (sorry mämmi :) ) this is just soo good and easy, and healthy, and has so many things I like, like almond, and oatmeal, and cinnamon, and vanilla ice cream.... that after I ate at a friend's house I baked it at home too, regardless of the look.
Given that the preparation takes about 10 minutes plus 30 minutes baking time, I would definitely say is worth the effort :).
It is an absolute beginner dessert, as soon as you trust your kid with a knife and handling the oven they can bake it on their own.

Ingredients (~8 portions)
4 large, sourish apples (like Jonagold), or 6 smaller ones, pealed, cut into ~1-1.5 cm cubes
1/2 lemon zest
75 - 100 g butter (~2/3 - 1 stick), depends how buttery you like it
2 dl rolled oats ( a bit less that a cup)
1 dl sugar (a bit less than 1/2 a cup), if you use brown sugar even better
1/2 dl almond, sliced
1-2 tsp cinnamon

Serving
vanilla ice cream or
whipped vanilla cream

You can consider adding 1/2 dl raisins.. 

Peal and cut the apples into cubes (~1 - 1.5 cm cubes) and sprinkle them with the lemon zest (helps them keep the nice color).
Spread the apple in a buttered tray (20x30 cm, but size is not critical) evenly. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon, add the almonds, evenly distributed on top of the apples (sprinkle again with cinnamon), add the oatmeal evenly spread (sprinkle with cinnamon :)), and last pour the melted butter mixed with the sugar on top of everything.. Do not mix them yet in the tray!!
Bake them in a preheated oven at 200 C (400 F) for 20-25 minutes. After 20-25 minutes with a spoon mix the ingredients lightly so that the apple from the bottom is mixed with the oatmeal and almond, and the oatmeal gets to soak in the apple's juice . Bake for additional 5-10 minutes (the baking time is all together 30 minutes). The earlier you mix them, the softer the oatmeal gets, decide or try whether you like it more crispy or more soft. I like it crispy, so I mix them only about 5 minutes before removing it from the oven.

Serve while still warm with vanilla ice cream, I just love the warm apple-cinnamon-oatmeal with the melting vanilla ice cream on top..

You can serve it with whipped vanilla cream as well if you don't have, or like, ice cream.
Have a nice sunshiny day!