Mushroom Risotto with Parsley and Lemon

I've got a friend who's an excellent cook, but he confessed he never makes risotto because it's so difficult to make it perfect. It's either under- or overcooked, too dry, too wet - or, worst of all, tasteless! But that's not the case with this garlicky mushroom risotto with lemon-parsley sauce: it's an explosion of tastes.

And it's 100% vegan as well.

Serve this risotto on pretty plates, pour some of your favourite Chianti in your glass, put some Irene Grandi music on - and you couldn't have it better off in any Italian restaurant :)

For 3 people you need:

• 1 medium-sized onion


• 4 Tbsp olive oil (divided)


• 250ml risotto rice


• 600ml vegetable broth


• 350g fresh mushrooms


• 2-3 garlic cloves


• salt and pepper to taste

For the parsley dressing:

• 1 tsp grated lemon zest


• 1 Tbsp lemon juice


• 5 Tbsp olive oil


• a generous handful of fresh parsley

 

Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan. Chop the onion and sauté over a medium heat for about 3-4 minutes. Add the rice and stir another 1-2 minutes. Gradually add the broth (previously heated, preferably) and let simmer over a low heat, partially covered. Let cook until the rice is al dente, or about 18 minutes. Once in a while, check that there's enough liquid - if not, add more!

While the rice is cooking, it's time to prepare the mushrooms and the lemon-parsley sauce.

Chop the mushrooms and sauté them in a large (iron) pan with no oil on it, stirring constantly, until the mushrooms have lost most of their liquid. Then add 1-2 Tbsp olive oil and the crushed garlic cloves and stir and fry 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle with some salt and pepper.

For the sauce, just combine all ingredients in a jar and mix with a hand mixer until smooth. If you don't have one, chop the parsley with a pair of scissors as fine as you can, the add the rest and stir.

Now you should have all the three elements ready. Check once more that the rice is not too dry - if it is, you can still add more hot broth or water! Divide the rice on three plates, then sprinkle with those garlicky mushrooms and drizzle 1-2 tsp of the sauce on top. Serve immediately! And wipe any rests with a piece of baguette ;)

 

 

 

 

 

Spätzle with Chestnut and Mushroom Ragout

Spätzle is the king of all home-made quick dishes: after you've got 3 liters of water boiling, it only takes one minute for you to have a plate full of these German noodles on your plate!

Traditionally, the batter consists of special spätzle flour, salt, water, and eggs, but this time, I wanted to try it 100% vegan.

Again, no weird substitutes needed: I just left the eggs out and used more water. Spätzle flour is not available in Finland, so I used Italian durum wheat flour instead. I couldn't really tell any difference - only that the durum flour is yellow, so even without eggs, the spätzle had exactly the same appearance.

Spätzle can be eaten with grated (vegan) cheese on top - that's the fastest option. But if you're not in a hurry, do try this delicious ragout! The idea for it comes from the Vegan Love Story, but I changed it quite a bit (the only ingredients in common being chestnuts, red wine, and onion). The ragout combines chestnuts with shiitake mushrooms, carrots, onion, a lot of garlic, and red wine, and the result was exquisite. It made me think of boeuf bourguignon...

This recipe should be enough for four hungry eaters!

This is what you need for the spätzle:

• 400g spätzle or durum flour


• 440ml water (a bit more or less, the quantity really depends on the flour you use)


• 1 tsp salt

And for the ragout:

• 1 medium-sized onion


• 2-3 garlic cloves


• 2 medium-sized carrots


• 200g shiitake mushrooms


• 200g canned chestnuts


• 200ml red wine


• 500ml vegetable broth


• 3 Tbsp tomato paste


• salt and pepper to taste


• a handful of chopped parsley

Begin with the ragout: chop the onions, crush the garlic, slice the carrots, and quarter the mushrooms. Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a heavy pan and sauté the onions first about 3-4 minutes, add the garlic and carrots, and sauté 3-4 minutes more. Then add the mushrooms, stir two more minutes, and add the chestnuts, wine, broth, salt, and pepper. Let boil over a medium heat partly covered until the carrots are tender. Add the tomato paste, stir, check the taste and add more salt if needed. Sprinkle generously with chopped parsley (or how about thyme?).

In the meantime, prepare the spätzle: Combine flour and salt in a baking bowl. Add the water - first a bit less, then gradually adding more if needed. Mix energetically with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth batter, almost like very dense pancake batter. The amount of water depends heavily on the type of flour you're using. Mine took 110ml water for each 100g of flour.

Bring 3L water to the boil in a big saucepan. Press the batter through a spätzle grater (spätzlehobel) into the boiling water. If you don't have one, try pressing the batter through the holes of a regular colander. The spätzle are done when they rise back to the surface, or in about one minute. Remove the cooked ones with a skimmer, and repeat until all of the spätzle is done.

Serve with the ragout!

P.S. I wasn't familiar with the etymology of the word ragout  - well, now I am! It comes from old French ragoûter, or to revive the taste. In this case, it's an appropriate name indeed  :)

 

 

Rustic Root Vegetable Stew with Coffee and Brown Lentils

Inspiration for this recipe came from a book called New Vegetarian Kitchen, written by Nicola Graimes. I changed quite a lot of things, though, mostly out of pure laziness, or because some ingredients were not easily available. “Oh, this tastes so rustic!”, was the first comment of my one-man test group. And yes, that would be the best word to describe the taste. You don’t notice the coffee at all, but it gives depth to the taste, so even if you don’t like coffee, I’d suggest you give it a try.

For four portions you need:

• 800g root vegetables (I used carrots, swedes, celeriac, and root parsley - and found that a perfect combination)


• 100g shiitake mushrooms


• 1 medium-sized onion


• 1-2 garlic cloves


• 3 Tbsp olive oil


• 1-2 bay leaves


• a twig of rosemary


• 1 espresso


• 400ml vegetable broth


• 100g cooked brown lentils (or beans)


• salt and pepper to taste

Chop the onion and garlic clove(s). Cut celeriac into thin sticks, the rest of the veggies in equal-sized cubes. If the mushrooms are small, you don’t need to cut them - if they’re bigger, halve or quarter them. Heat the olive oil in a pan (one with a lid, preferably), and sauté the onions for a few minutes. Then add garlic, stir, and add the rest of the veggies and mushrooms. Sauté for a couple of minutes, then add broth, coffee, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and rosemary.

Let cook, covered, over a low heat until all vegetables are tender, or 30-40 minutes. Once in a while, check that there’s enough water - add if needed! In the end, remove bay leaves and rosemary and add the cooked lentils (or beans).

Serve with cooked or mashed potatoes.

Savoy Cabbage Stew with Mushrooms and Sour Cream

Back in the late 70’s when other kids were throwing a tantrum to convince their parents to buy them candy, I’d do the same - but not to get candy. Instead, I wanted smetana and rye bread! The advantage of this craving was that I’d get what I want, so I normally left the supermarket with a can of smetana in one hand, a rye-bread in the other. Happy life!

Smetana, or sour cream still is one of my favourite things. In this recipe, it softens nicely the taste of cabbage. The recipe is for two very hungry people or three reasonably hungry ones. And the costs are next to nothing, especially if you leave the mushrooms out (or pick mushrooms yourself!). I ended up paying 4,20 € for everything (I already had molasses, onion, rice, and oil).

You need:

• 400g savoy cabbage (or white cabbage)


• 100g mushrooms (I used shiitake)


• 1 medium-sized onion


• 100g (soy) sour cream (smetana, schmand)


• 1 Tbsp molasses


• 100ml rice


• 200ml water


• 2 Tbsp oil for frying


• salt to taste (I used one heaped tsp)

First, bring 200ml water to the boil in a small pan. Add rice and cook until tender, or about 10 minutes. In the meantime, chop the onion and sauté it in a large pan over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Add chopped (savoy) cabbage and mushrooms. Continue frying them over low heat until cabbage is tender, or some 20 minutes. Add water if necessary. Now, add salt, molasses, sour cream, and the cooked rice, and stir until well combined.

Place the stew in an oven pan (preferably one that has a lid). Cook in a preheated oven (200 C) with the lid for about 30 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 175 C, remove the lid, and cook until pale golden.

This dish would traditionally be served with Russian-style pickles and lingonberries, but I couldn’t find neither of them. So I served it with dill and fresh cucumbers instead!

Omelette Rolls with Sour Cream and Smoked Salmon or Fried Mushrooms

For me, omelette is an essential part of a brunch. Yet that’s one dish I’ve never fully mastered! It's hard to know how many eggs exactly one needs, it gets burned easily but still might be uncooked from inside, it's tricky to transfer it from the pan to a serving plate without breaking it.. Luckily these omelette rolls are easy to make - a bit like pancakes, but even easier! And they taste fantastic - either with smoked salmon or fried mushrooms. You can keep them warm in the oven, but they are even better when served right away. I’d advise at least two per person, but the amount obviously depends on how many other dishes you have prepared for your brunch!

For four omelette rolls, you’ll need

• 4 eggs


• ⅓ tsp salt


• a bit of oil or butter for frying


• 150g smoked salmon, in slices OR 200g mushrooms, thinly sliced and fried, sprinkled with salt


• 150g sour cream


• a couple of basil leaves


• freshly ground black pepper

Crack the eggs into a baking bowl, add the salt, and beat until the mixture is pale yellow. In a frying pan, place a bit of butter or oil, then pour just enough mixture to make a thin, pancake-like omelette. Fry from both sides, then transfer on a plate. When all of your omelettes are ready, it’s time to fill them: spread about 2 Tbsp sour cream on each omelette, place salmon or mushroom slices and 2-3 basil leaves on top of the cream, then grind some black pepper on top. Roll the omelette and transfer on a serving plate (oven-proof if you’re not serving them right away and want to keep them warm).

If you want some smoke flavour in the veggie version, you can sprinkle your fried mushrooms with a bit of liquid smoke - but don’t exaggerate!