Polpette carote e porri

 

 

Another teaser from the meatballs series, this time meatballs with carrots and leeks. They have a super crunchy cereal bread crust but are extra soft inside. Some hearty spices that include cumin make them a great comfort food. An apple and leek salad adds to the zestiness of the dish.

Boules de Picolat

 

Boules de Picolat or Catalan meatballs - despite their name, they are actually a dish tipical of the southern French region of Roussillon bordering with Spain. A mixture of beef and pork, tipically served with white beans in a spicy tomato sauce, but mine are served with chickpeas instead. I added also one more secret ingredient into the meatballs themselves to make them unlike any other Catalan meatballs ;)

Here I give you just a teaser, since I decided to save my meatball recipes for a special collection that I'm putting together.

    *Pictures courtesy of KD.

Momos

Being stuck at home did not prevent me from taking my tastebuds on a culinary journey to the faraway lands of Nepal, Tibet or Northern India where these steamed dumplings come from.Typically they are eaten with hands, often as street food, dipped in a spicy chili chutney.

You'll need:
round wrappers
pork mince
spring onion
red onion, finely chopped
fresh cilantro
garam masala
chili powder
turmeric
garlic, finely chopped
ginger, finely chopped
salt
For the chutney:
dried red chili(s)
1 tomato
garlic paste
rice vinegar
a pinch of sugar

1. Mix the ingredients for the filling all together. Make the dumplings by putting a tea spoon of the filling in the middle of the wrapper, wetting with water the edges of the wrapper and then closing it like a little pouch. You hold the dumpling in your hand and with the support of your thumb close the pouch by adding more and more of the wrapper with your index finger going round.

2. Prepare the chutney, by putting the tomato and the dried chilis in boling water for a few minutes. Remove from the water, deskin the tomato, and blend together with the chillies and some garlic paste. Add rice vinegar, a pinch of sugar and some water if need be.

3. Boil some water in a pot and steam the momos in a bamboo basket over the boiling water. To prevent sticking, put some cooking paper in first. Your momos should be ready withing 3-4 minutes.

Buon appetito!

Gyoza

Continuing on the Japanese theme. If using ready made gyoza wrappers, these little pockets of delight can be made within minutes. They are different from the ones I ate in Utsunomiya, but also very good. Ponzu sauce is an absolute must.

You'll need:
300gr pork mince
3 pak choi leaves, finely chopped
spring onion, finely chopped
3cm ginger, finely chopped
sriracha sauce or chilli flakes
Worchestershire sauce
20-25 gyoza wrappers
ponzu sauce to serve with

1. Mix the pork mince with pak choi, spring onions, ginger, chili and a sprinkling worchestershire sauce and season with salt.

2. Put a spoonfull of the filling in the middle of the gyoza wrapper, wet the edges with some water and close into a half moon shape. Pinch the edges. TIP: do not put too much fillling inside - gyoza wrappers are not as elastic as dough for Polish pierogi or Georgian chinkali and so they would break if overfilled.

3. Heat up some oil on the pan and fry the gyozas until golden brown and then add some water to the pan (1-2cm), cover with a lid and steam the dumplings for a minute or two (no more as they become soft very quickly). This way they will be both crunchy and soft. Serve immediately with ponzu sauce!

Buon appetito!

Cheesy meatballs in a dill sauce

Meatballs in a dill sauce are typical of Polish cuisine. Unfortunately, in my mind they took place of when-you're-sick food that is rather bland in taste, especially with boiled meatballs. Thus, to disenchant them, I experimented a bit with the flavours to make them more distinct, but still delicate. Instead of boiling the meatballs I baked them (no oil used so it's still on the healthy side) and added fennel and blue cheese inside. Also, the dill sauce, which in my house was a poor man's sauce based on water, is done using stock and complemented with a pinch od mustard powder and two types of pepper. The result was very pleasing, I'm definitely making them again soon!

You'll need:
For the meatballs:
350gr mince pork
1 egg
breadcrumbs
blue cheese (or gorgonzola piccante)
fennel seeds
white pepper
black pepper
salt

For the sauce:
1/4 glass vegetable stock
3 spoons of dense sour cream
dill
1 spoon flour
English mustard powder (optional)
White pepper
Black pepper

1. Crumble the cheese and mix the ingredients for the meatballs. Form meatballs and put them in an open oven dish. Put in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for around 20-30 minutes until the meatballs turn golden brown on the outside.

2. To prepare the sauce, warm up the stock in a small pot. Mix the flour with the cream and slowly transfer into simmering broth, stirring all the time so as to avoid lumps forming up. Wait until it denses up and season with pepper and mustard. Add dill, et voila!

 Buon appetito!

Gooseberry meatballs

They might resemble Swedish ikea meatballs, but they are so much more than that. Inspired by a Hairy Bikers recipe, these meatballs differ in their key ingredient - goosberry jam (prepared by my dad with gooseberries straight from our garden).

You'll need:
400gr pork mince
1 tea spoon of sour cream
freshly ground allspice
nutmeg
1 egg
75gr breadcrumbs
2 anchoives (finely chopped or a bit of anchoives paste) (optional)
medium golden onion
one clove of garlic
salt & pepper
40gr butter
two spoons of flour
50ml white wine
150 ml bouillion (I used a ready made wild bouillion, which is worked very well for the intensity of flavour)
3 spoons of gooseberry jam
dill for decoration

1. Start off by finely chopping the onion and frying it on a pan. Towards the end, add finely chopped garlic and fry for another 30 seconds before putting aside to cool down.
2. To prepare the meatballs mix the meat with one egg, adding nutmeg (be careful it's very strong if freshly grated), ground allspice, salt & pepper, breadcrumbs, anchoives and a tea spoon of sour cream. Add fried onion and garlic. Mix everything together and then start forming meatballs, the size roughly of a golf ball.
3. Put the meatballs in an open oven dish and bake for around 20 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees. They will be ready when they start to turn beautifully golden brown on the outside.
4. In the meantime prepare the sauce. Start off by melting butter in a pot. Then add the flour, allow it to brown a little, and then add white wine, stirring all the time, not allowing lumps to form. Then proceed to adding the bouillion, still stirring. Finally, add gooseberry jam and stir. If the sauce turns too dense, add more bouillion to loosen it up.
5. Remove the meatballs from the oven, pour over the sauce, decorate the dish with fresh dill, et voila!

 Buon appetito!

Pork tenderloin in a green pepper cheese sauce

A very simple and quick recipe for a last minute special occasion dinner that can be ready within 20 minutes! I can't believe it's almost a year since I came up with this idea - reminiscing on the time I've spent in Belgium :) 

You'll need:

pork tenderloin

100g creamy cheese spread (also known as fromage fondu in Belgium (e.g. the one produced by Maredsous or the popular Hochland triangles))

50ml cream

a spoonful of marinaded green pepper

salt & pepper

potatoes (optional, to serve with)

1. Prepare the sauce by melting the cheese in cream in a small pot over a small heat. Once your cheese has completely dissolved, add green pepper and simmer for a few more minutes.

2. Fry the tenderloin on a warmed up pan, seasoned with salt and pepper (preferably freshly grated)

3. Allow the tenderloin to rest for a few minutes, then slice it and serve with your cheese and pepper sauce and a side of boiled potatoes (optional)

Bon appétit!

White sausages with topinambur

White sausage is one of the foodstuffs that I always miss when I'm away from home for a long time. Polish white sausage is different from white sausages I encountered in Western or Southern Europe, which in consistence resemble more German frankfurters. It is worth paying a visit to a Polish shop for these. Today I combined my white sausage with a side of baked topinambour (also known as Jerusalem artichoke or sunroot), a new discovery of mine. Topinambour is a root vegetable known for its healthy properties for type 2 diabetes that has a slightly sweet nutty taste. It goes very well with white sausage.

You'll need (a portion for one):

one Polish white sausage

one medium onion

4 dried plums

150g of topinambour

white pepper

black pepper

salt

olive oil

1. Wash your topinambour, no need to peel it, and then cut it into thin slices. Put in an oven dish, sprinkle with white and black pepper, salt and some olive oil and put in the oven set to 200 degrees (covered) for around 30 minutes. You might want to remove the cover from the dish towards the end of the baking to make it more crispy.

2. In the meantime chop the onion and fry it on a pan together with plums cut into small pieces.

3. Cut the sausage into half longways and make small cuts across on the outer side, fry together with the onion.

4. Serve hot together with baked topinambour.

Bon appétit!

Wherever my thoughts will lead me...

I got on the train back from work intending to buy ingredients for chili con carne, but then I started thinking...and came up with the above. This new invention of mine does not have its own name yet... it's mince lamb with chick peas, bromley apple sauce and cheddar with a hint of oregano. Bromley apples are very sour, so the end result is very unconventional, but it will surely appear on my menu again! I prepared it all on the pan, but I think it could benefit from a few minutes in the oven ;). Can be served with rice, but today I ate it with a recent discovery from a local Turkish shop - Iranian flat bread, yum!

 Bon appétit!

A variation on countryside style savoury tart

Remember my Countryside style savoury tart? Like I said tarts come in all shapes and sizes... This one is almost identical, but this time I added mushrooms and omitted olives and parsley.

Bon appétit!

Countryside style savoury tart

Tarts come in all different forms. They can be both savoury and sweet. The only limit is one's imagination really. They can be eaten both hot and cold. You could prepare one to eat as a lunchtime snack or as a dinner course. It takes some time to make one (mostly because of the time it has to spend in the oven), but once done you can eat it over a few days. Of course, provided you can resist eating it all at once!

This one has a very classic taste. It has bacon, two types of onion, olives, cherry tomatoes and herbs in the filling.

You'll need:
5 eggs
4 spoonfulls of sour cream
250g of flour
150g of butter/margarine
1 medium white onion
1 medium red onion
250g (un)smoked bacon
12 cherry tomatoes
30/40 black olives
some freshly grated gouda
dried rosemary
dried thyme
fresh parsley

Pastry making:
You need to start by preparing your pastry dough. Mix flour with butter and one egg. It will need some kneading. When ready put it in the fridge for an hour. After that roll it out and fit into a flan dish. Don't forget to butter the dish first, otherwise the dough might stick to it. Cut the edges. Cover with foil  and put some dried beans or rice on top. This is to prevent the pastry from growing when put in the oven. Put in the oven set for 180 degrees for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes.

Filling:
When the pastry is in the oven you have time to prapere your filling.
1. Start by cutting the bacon into thin slices and chopping the onions.
2. Fry them all. I did it separetely, but you could mix them together if you wish.
3. Cut the tomatoes into halves, do the same with olives.
4. Break the remaining four eggs and stir them vigourously with a fork. Add cream and stir again. Then proceed to add the herbs into the mixture (parsley needs chopping beforehand).

Remove the pastry bottom from the oven. Spread grated cheese on it. Then put bacon, onions and olives on top.

Now pour the egg and cream mixture evenly over it. Put the tomatoes on top. It's ready to go into the oven again. The whole thing will be ready when the egg filling turns solid and golden brown. It might take around 30-40 minutes.

et voila!

Bon appétit!