Mushroom and Spinach Strudel

Ok, so, I saw this picture and thought, “Man, that looks good! Let’s figure out how to make it!”

  

It was called, “Wild Mushroom and Spinach Strudel". So, it must have mushrooms and spinach and figured that is probably some good cheese in it and it looked like Phyllo dough on the outside.

So, gathered some ingredients and started trying to do this.

That’s some mushrooms (sliced), green onions, garlic, spinach, goat cheese, oregano, salt and an egg yolk. You probably noticed that I buy oregano in bulk from our local grocer. I do that for most of the spices. Here is part of the spice rack. This is fish net attached to the inside of one of our kitchen cabinets where small clips are used to hold the spices to the net.

So, back to the trial. Figured that the stuffing had to be cooked, and, that it had to be pretty dry in order to be sure that the dough doesn’t get too wet.

So, first dried the mushrooms before slicing them.

Then sliced them and then placed them in a linen towel.

 

Then, folded the whole towel up.

 

And started squeezing the heck out of it to squeeze as much liquid out as possible. Here’s how much liquid I got out of the mushrooms, along with the mushrooms afterwards.

Then, heated up the frying pan, added some olive oil and started cooking the green onions.

 After giving them a head start of about a minute, I added the mushrooms.

 

Just when the liquid started coming out of the mushrooms, I added some salt, minced garlic and chili flakes to it. After 30 seconds it came off the heat and scraped onto paper towels to drain off more liquid.

Used the last of my Hungarian Hatch Chili peppers!

Now, into the now dried frying pan went the spinach. Heat lowered to low, cover on, and wilt the spinach. (Takes about 3 minutes.) Then the spinach goes on paper towels to drain off more liquid. I also pressed paper towels on top to soak up more liquid.

Then it was time for assembly.

Decided to start with 4 sheets of the phyllo sheets.

 

Placed these on parchment paper and then brushed it with olive oil.

Then, spread some goat cheese in the center. I found out that spreading the cheese with my fingers worked best.

 

Sprinkled some oregano on it and then placed some spinach on it. Also some raisins as all strudels have raisins, right?

Then the mushrooms.

Then the Phyllo sheets are folded over and placed on parchment paper on baking sheets. Decided that on a couple of them I will brush on some egg yolk and sprinkle salt. The other two were just brushed with olive oil. Then all go into a 375 F oven. After 20 minutes in the oven (rotating to ensure that they were cooking evenly), they were done.

Here’s the ones with the egg yolk.

 

And here’s the ones with just the olive oil.

 

The filling is fantastic. Need to work on the packaging. So, next time will probably increase the oven temperature to 400. May think about how to wrap the Phyllo sheets around the stuffing. Also need to try with my own puff pastry dough.

Roasted Wild Boar

4-5 lb Wild Boar Roast

¾ cup kosher salt

¾ cup brown sugar

½ cup Balsamic Vinegar

4 cups hot water

8 cups ice water

¼ cup Worcestershire Sauce

1 cup Chicken Stock

Salt and Pepper

Stick of butter

¼ cup of honey

1-1/2 Tablespoons of flour

1 bottle of your favorite Porter

Need to brine the roast. So, dissolve the salt and brown sugar in the hot water. Add the Balsamic Vinegar, then the ice water to cool it down. Place the roast in the brining bucket and pour the mixture over it. Place in refrigerator for 4 – 6 hours.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Pat dry the roast with paper towel. Score any fat on the roast. Then massage in the Worcestershire sauce and season whole roast with salt and pepper. Place roast on rack in roasting pan. Place roast in oven.

After 10 minutes pour about ¼ cup of the chicken stock over it. Continue roasting at 425 F for another 20 minutes. Pour another ¼ chicken stock over it. Reduce temperature to 350 F.

Continue roasting at 350 F, using pan drippings and or the additional ½ cup of chicken stock to baste every 30 minutes.

Total roasting time will be around 3 to 4 hours to reach an internal temperature in the roast of 170 F. When it reaches 160 F, melt ¼ of the stick of butter and mix in the ¼ cup of honey then pour over the roast. Place another ¼ stick of the butter on top of the roast and place back in the oven. When roast is at 170 F take it out of the oven and out of the pan, tent the roast with aluminum foil.

Deglaze the roasting pan with ½ of the bottle of Porter and then degrease the liquid.

Melt another ¼ stick of butter in a sauce pan until foaming. Sprinkle in the flour and cook the flour, stirring with a whisk, for a couple of minutes until the flour is brown in color. Then, while whisking, drizzle in the other ½ bottle of Porter. Then whisk in the degreased pan drippings liquid. This is now the sauce.

Slice the roast and place on platter. Pour some of the sauce on it and serve with the remaining sauce on the side.

Bruleed Sweet Potatoes

2 lbs sweet potatoes

1 cup brown sugar – divided

1 stick butter – divided, plus some more to butter the baking dish

2 tablespoons olive oil (or other vegetable oil)

1/3 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash and dry the sweet potatoes. Rub the oil all over the sweet potatoes and place on a foil lined baking sheet.

 Roast for one hour.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool enough to peel the skins off.

Heat ¾ stick of butter and cream in a small sauce pan over medium low heat until barely simmering and butter is melted.

Rice the sweet potatoes into a mixing bowl.

Add ¾ cup of brown sugar to the sweet potatoes and stir to combine.

Add the simmering cream/butter to the potatoes and stir to combine.

Set oven to broil.

Butter the baking dish and pour the sweet potatoes into the dish.

Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of sugar over the potatoes. And place under the broiler. Want to melt the brown sugar on top to caramelized and bubbly, at least 2 minutes. Could go longer, like 20 minutes, to form a crispy caramel on top.

Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving.

Fried Peaches

3 or 4 peaches sliced

6 Tablespoons of butter

2 – 3 Tablespoons of flour

¼ cup of brown sugar mixed with a couple of tablespoons of cinnamon and a tablespoon or so of coriander.

Melt the butter in a sauté pan until foaming. Add the flour and cook, stirring with a spatula until it starts to brown.

Add the sliced peaches and cook the peaches for a few minutes on one side. Then, flip the peaches.

Once the peaches have been turned, sprinkle on the sugar mixture and continue cooking until mixture is a good, dark brown color, but not burnt.

Serve. Could top each serving with a brandied Chantilly whipped cream.

Caramelized Cipollini Onions

1 lb of Cipollini onions

3 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup dry white wine

½ cup chicken stock

3 Tablespoons butter

Blanch the onions in order to peel them. Here is a photo of the onions after peeling as well as after blanching. You can see how the skins on the blanched onions have been softened.

Preheat medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the butter and melt. Add the onions and cook.

Stir periodically until they begin to turn golden brown, about 6-8 minutes.

Increase heat to medium high and add the white wine, cook until the liquid is almost all evaporated.

Add balsamic vinegar and chicken stock and continue cooking until liquid becomes thick and syrupy, about another 5 minutes.

Serve!

Chocolate Mousse

When the table is set like this:

You have to have a fitting dessert, such as this!

First the ingredients:

4 large eggs

1 ½ Tb instant coffee dissolved in ¼ cup hot water in a small saucepan

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup dark rum

6 ounces semisweet chocolate

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter

Pinch of salt

Scant ¼ tsp cream of tartar

And the tools to get'er done:

Small glass jar for separating egg whites

2 ½ to 3 quart stainless steel bowl or sauce pan for egg yolks

Clean, dry 2 q/w quart mixing bowl, preferably of stainless steel for beating egg whites

Portable electric beater

Cover for the small saucepan holding the coffee

Larger pan with 1 inch or 2 of simmering water to hold the small pan for melting chocolate

Another and even larger pan with simmering water to set the egg-yolk pan into

1 or 2 rubber spatulas

Electric mixer on a stand for final beating of egg yolks

Egg yolks and sugar – preliminary blending. Start separating the eggs, dropping the white from number one egg into the jar, and the yolk into the stainless bowl or pan. Be sure there is no speck of yolk in the white – scoop it out with a bit of shell if there is, then transfer white into the egg-white beating bowl. Continue with the rest of the eggs. Set whites aside, out of the way. Using portable beater or wire whip, beat the yolks for 2 to 3 minutes until pale, lemon colored, and thick; this is a kind of anit-curdle insurance, and prepares them for being heated. You are now ready for the sugar syrup.

Set pan with coffee over high heat, blend in the sugar, and bring to the boil, swirling pan by its handle. Let boil a moment or two, swirling, until sugar has completely dissolved – liquid will be clear rather than cloudy. At once, bring hot liquid over to egg yolks; begin beating the yolks at moderate speed while you slowly dribble the hot syrup into them. Then set aside for a moment while you prepare the chocolate for melting.

Melting the chocolate. Stir the ¼ cup rum into the now empty sugar-boiling pan, and break the chocolate into it. Remove larger pan of simmering water from heat, place chocolate pan in it, stir up once, cover pan, and let chocolate melt slowly while you continue with the egg yolks.

Egg yolks and sugar – thickening over hot water. Set the egg-yolk pan in the second pan of water, and keep water at just below the simmer. Beat the yold mixture rather slowly but continuously with portable mixer or whip for 5 minutes or longer, until it doubles in volume and becomes a thick cream that is hot to your finger. When warm and thick, scrape into the bowl of your electric mixer (or place egg-yolk pan in a large bowl of cold water). Beat at moderate speed 5 minutes or so, until cool, and when you lift a bit on a spatula it dribbles off in a thick ribbon that takes several seconds to dissolve and absorb back into the surface of the main body.

Combining egg yolks with melted chocolate and butter. Remove chocolate pan from the hot water and stir up; if not quite melted, renew hot water, and beat a few seconds, until chocolate is perfectly smooth and shining. Remove from hot water. Cut butter into 1-inch pieces, and beat it rapidly piece by piece into the chocolate, using electric mixer or whip. Scrape chocolate over egg yolks, then combine the two with a rubber spatula by cutting straight down through the center with edge of spatula, drawing spatula to edge of pan, then bringing it up to the surface in a scooping motion. Continue thus, rotating pan, and scooping rapidly until yolks and chocolate are fairly well combined. They will get more mixing later, and you need not be thorough as long as you are fast – about 30 seconds in all.

Beating the egg whites. At once, before chocolate and butter have time to cool and thicken, get to the egg whites. If they are chilled they won’t mount properly; set bowl in hot water and stir about for a few seconds until the chill is off, testing with your finger to see if they are room temperature. Being sure your beater is perfectly clean, start whipping the egg whites at moderate speed for a minute, until they are broken up and foaming. Add the salt and cream of tartar, and gradually increase speed to fast – circulating beater all about the bowl to incorporate as much air as possible, and taking about a minute to arrive at top speed. Continue until beater leaves definite traces in the egg whites, then begin testing. Egg whites should form stiff shining peaks when lifted in wires of eater, just the tops of the peaks bending down slightly. Proceed at once to next step. (“Stiff but not dry” is a phrase often used, but it is the shine and the sheen of them that you look for, since if you overbeat egg whites they lose that look, begin to break down, and turn grainy. But if this does happen, add another egg white, and beat again.)

Completing the mousse. Immediately turn one fourth of the beaten egg whites out on top of the chocolate with your rubber spatula; scoop and fold in rapidly to loosen the chocolate mixture. Turn the rest of the egg whites on top, and rapidly fold them in, just as you combined the chocolate and egg yolks, by rapid scoops with your spatula, rotating the pan or bowl as you do so. The whole process should not take more than a minute, and remember you are trying to deflate the egg whites as little as possible. 

To get the mousse into glasses without making a mess, I made a special funnel:

I like to add raspberries and then top with Chantilly cream flavored with rum. You can do whatever!

Braised Radishes

Ok, so, we had a bunch of radishes already sliced and in water (to tame the bitterness). Besides salads, what else could be done? 

How about a good garnish for a pork loin? Or, something to go on a roast beef sandwich?

Here's what was used:

First I sliced the shallot, then started sauteing that in a wee bit of butter. When the shallots started to soften up, in went a couple of handfuls of the sliced radishes, followed by (probably around) a 1/3 of a cup of the chicken stock and a splash of red vinegar. To this was added a small pinch of salt, a large pinch of sugar and a few grinds of pepper. Then, let it boil down the liquids until there was just a coating for the radishes.

Good stuff!