Recipe for Beef Stroganoff with Chantarelle Mushrooms

Recipe by Nami-Nami. Above photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the September 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed ("Home and Garden", an Estonian monthly magazine. I've been their food writer since October 2012)

Boeuf Stroganoff, a popular family classic, gets an seasonal-autumnal touch here from fresh chanterelle mushrooms. As I've mentioned in another post, stroganoff doesn't usually include mushrooms over here. Yet I can see why mushrooms are often paired with beef in this classic Russian dish. While cultivated mushrooms are all right during the winter season, it'd be silly to use the pale and rather bland-tasting white button (or even small brown cremini) mushrooms when the local forests are full of wonderful wild mushrooms. Hence the use of chanterelle mushrooms here instead.



Beef Stroganoff with Chanterelle Mushrooms
(Kukeseentega böfstrooganov)
Serves 4

vegetable oil for frying
300 g beef sirloin or tenderloin or "stroganoff" or stir-fry strips
salt and black pepper
1 Tbsp mild paprika powder
1 onion, finely chopped
300 g fresh chanterelle mushrooms
3 Tbsp concentrated tomato purée
200 ml fresh cream*
fresh parsley, finely chopped

If you're using sirloin or tenderloin, then cut the meat into thin stirps about 1 cm wide and 5 cm long (1/2 inch wide by 2 inch long). Clean the mushrooms thoroughly, cut into smaller pieces, if necessary.

Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add the beef strips and brown quickly on all sides (in batches, if necessary). Transfer the meat onto a plate, sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika pwider.

Add a little more oil to the pan, reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion and fry gently until softened.

Increase the heat to medium-high again, add the chanterelle mushrooms and fry for 4-5 minutes, until mushrooms are cooked.

Add the tomato concentrate, cook for a minute. Return the seasoned beef strips to the pan, alongside any liquid that's dripped into the plate. Add the cream and cook gently until heated through, the sauce has thickened and the meat is tender.

Taste for seasoning, add more salt and/or pepper, if necessary. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.

We like to eat our stroganoff with mashed potatoes, but buttered wide egg noodles would also work well.

* You can use single cream, double cream, pouring cream, whipping cream, even half-and-half. Any of those would work well, giving you a lighter or richer stroganoff.

More Stroganoff recipes:
Kurzeme stroganoff aka Latvian pork stroganoff with pickles @ Nami-Nami
Oven-baked pork stroganoff with mayonnaise @ Nami-Nami
Mushroom stroganoff (vegetarian recipe) @ Nami-Nami
Classic beef stroganoff @ The Cook Who Knew Nothing
Mushroom stroganoff (vegetarian recipe) @ Cook Sister
Skinny mushroom stroganoff (vegetarian recipe) @ Skinny Taste
Ribeye and mushroom stroganoff @ Farmhouse Delivery Blog
Beef stroganoff @ Simply Recipes
Beef strogranoff @ My Baking Addiction
Beef stroganoff with gnocchi @ Eat, Live, Run
Chicken stroganoff @ Kayotic Kitchen
Venison stroganoff @ Hunter. Angler. Gardener. Cook
Maria's Russian beef stroganoff @ Natasha's Kitchen
Stroganoff (recipe in Finnish) @ Pastanjauhantaa
Savumakkara-stroganoff (recipe in Finnish) @ Hellapoliisi
Böfstrooganov (recipe in Estonian) @ Da Vahtra Residence
Böfstrooganov (recipe in Estonian) @ Ise tehtud, hästi tehtud
Böfstrooganov sinepi ja kartulipüreega (recipe in Estonian) @ Puhas rõõm

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How do you take your tea? Russian Revels and their Tea Horse tea

Although I like my coffee - a lot - I've been drinking more tea again recently. My tea-loving friends are to blame - first KAFO sent me nine jars of their just t's Black Label No X teas  to try (I'm still in love with their Luxury Earl Grey tea that I used to me those dainty Earl Grey cookies). Then a Tallinn-born and London-based food blogger Katrina of The Gastronomical Me mentioned that she and her food-loving friend Karina have created a tea blend.

Tea blend? I knew that film stars, singers, models and such like always end up creating their own perfume, but apparently that's so old-fashioned. Nowadays you blend your own tea :D

Karina and Katrina together run a supper club in London, called The Russian Revels, hosting Russian feasts with Slavic generosity, Soviet attitude and British humour. These two Russians joined forces with London-based tea club Tea Horse and  came up with their own tea blend, called "Russian Revels". The tea was included in the March 2013 taster box:

"A bright Ceylon Uva black tea is blended with lemon and cloves for a refreshing and lightly spicy infusion. Enjoy black, with a splash of milk or a slice of fresh lemon for an extra citrus zing."

I know I spent seven years in bonnie Scotland, but never got used to drinking tea with milk. Instead I've been enjoying this tea for almost daily now, always with a slice of lemon, like instructed. Lovely - the cloves add a surprisingly mellow, yet distinct flavour - nothing chai-like at all.

If you're based in the UK and if you like your tea, you may want to give the Tea Horse's subscription a go.



Disclaimer: I was sent the 75 g packet of tea for free by aforementioned Karina. Thank you!

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Canteen classics: Solyanka, Estonian style

 
(This recipe was originally posted in December 2006. Fully updated in May 2012).
 
Here's a recipe for a soup that must have frequently featured in one disguise or another in every single canteen and many households across the former Soviet empire: solyanka (see also this informative article about Russian soups). A hearty soup originally from Russia and Ukraine that can be just as humble or elegant as you want. If you're a flashy Slav, you use seven types of meat (incl. kidneys) and throw in a handful of black olives, a slice of lemon and a generous pinch of capers. If you're a more modest Estonian, you stick to sweating onions and a choice of sausages. You can add cabbage or other vegetables, make a vegetarian, fishy or meaty solyanka.

Whatever you do, you must use salted/brined cucumbers (aka pickles), which give the soup its characteristic salty-sour note.

Solyanka, Estonian style
(Seljanka eesti moodi)
Serves: 4

3 large onions (about 400 grams in total)
4 Tbsp oil
100 ml boiling water
100 grams of concentrated tomato puree
1 litre beef stock (use boiling water and 2 beef stock cubes, if necessary)
3 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
3 salted cucumbers, halved lengthwise and sliced
300-400 grams of cooked lean meat products (choose a mixture of Frankfurters, Polish kabanos or Krakow sausages, sliced cooked beef, mild chorizo sausages etc - 2-3 different types)

To serve:
sour cream or smetana or thick plain yogurt

Quarter the onions and slice thinly crosswise.
Heat oil in a heavy saucepan, add onions and fry gently for 5 minutes. Add peppercorns and bay leaves alongside 100 ml of boiling water and simmer for 15 minutes, until onions have softened.
Add tomato puree and stir until combined.
Add the hot stockm sliced cucumbers, and chopped meat products.
Bring slowly to the boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer gently for about10 minutes, so the flavours can develop.
Taste for seasoning - you can add some lemon juice to sharpen the soup.Serve with a dollop of sour cream and some rye bread.

More solyanka recipes:
Salmon and wild mushroom solyanka @ Nami-Nami
Frau T's solyanka  @ Urban Foodie
Solyanka @ Eastern Europan Food (About.com)
Russian meat solyanka  @ Food.com
Solyanka @ Pavel Chuchuva (in Melbourne)
Simple Solyanka @ Windows to Russia

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Layered Vegetable Salad with Smoked Salmon

"Kasukas" - "fur coat" - is a name for a layered vegetable salad that is very popular here in Estonia, especially during the cold and dark season. The salad has chopped cured herring as the bottom layer, topped with layers of grated or chopped beets, carrots, potatoes and other vegetables and "glued together" with thin layers of mayonnaise. The recipe - or rather an alternative way to serve the popular "rosolje" salad - came to Estonia from Russia in the second half of last century. In Russia "fur coat" aka "shuba" is still one of the most popular salads on the festive table (here's a lovely English-language blog post about the traditional "cured herring under fur coat"), and the un-layered "rosolli" is also a must on Finnish Christmas tables). Whereas I love beets, I dislike cured herring, so I tend to skip that salad on buffet tables. When making this at home, I'd usually make a double portion and divide the salad between two glass bowls - one with herring and the other without. Until I came across a version using smoked salmon in Natasha's Kitchen blog. That was about a year and a half ago, and since then I've made this salad over and over again and converted many kasukas-haters into kasukas-lovers.

Traditionally this salad is made and served in a big glass bowl that proudly shows off all the layers, and then it's spooned into serving plates (rather like a trifle). For a neater presentation, you may want to use individual glass bowls instead (see top photo). A note to my Estonian readers - I like making this with külmsuitsulõhe aka cold-smoked salmon (Pepe Kala makes a wonderful one!), rather than with kuumsuitsulõhe aka hot-smoked salmon.



Layered Smoked Salmon and Vegetable Salad
(Suitsulõhega kasukas)
Serves about 6 to 8



200 g smoked salmon
400 g potatoes
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
200 g cooked beetroot (roasted, steamed or boiled)
250 g carrots
about 300-400 g good-quality mayonnaise
2 eggs

Boil (unpeeled!) carrots and potatoes until soft, but not mushy. Drain, cool a little, then peel.
Hard-boil the eggs, then cool and peel.

To compose the salad:
1. Cut the salmon into small pieces and scatter evenly at the bottom of a 2-litre (approximately 2-quart) glass bowl.
2. Grate the potatoes coarsely, scatter over the salmon.
3. Scatter chopped onion over the potato layer.
4. Gently spread about half of the mayonnaise over the onion layer.
5. Grate the beetroot coarsely, scatter over the mayonnaise layer.
6. Grate the carrots coarsely, scatter over the beetroot layer.
7. Spread rest of the mayonnaise over the beetroot layer.
8. Finely grate the eggs, scatter over the mayonnaise layer.

NB! As the mayonnaise is seasoned already, there is no need to season any of the layers with salt and pepper!

Cover the bowl with clingfilm and put into the fridge for a few hours for the flavours to combine (and the beetroot colour to stain the other layers :)) The salad can be happily made on a previous day as well, as it keeps rather well.

This recipe was also included in my latest cookbook, Jõulud kodus ("Christmas at Home"), published in Estonian in November 2011.

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My favourite beetroot soup, vegetarian borscht

October 2011

Here is one of my very favourite soups of all time, which I make about once a month (at least!). It's a vegetarian version of the famous Russian-Ukrainian beet soup, borscht. My version is delicious and heartwarming - brilliant for cold autumn days and dark winter nights. Yet it's light and refreshing enough, so it would also be good during summer. I tend to use sauerkraut during winter and plain white cabbage during summer (and prefer the first one).

Depending how good your knife-skills are, but it could be on your table in about 40 minutes or even less. I use the food processor to shred (or 'julienne') the vegetables.

My favorite beet soup
(Mõnus peedisupp, täitsa lihavaba)
Serves 4 to 6 as a main course


September 2007

400-500 g (about a pound) of beets
2 medium onions
2 large carrots
400-500 g (about a pound) white cabbage or mild sauerkraut
2 Tbsp olive oil
1.5 litres vegetable stock
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice or wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

sour cream, to serve

finely chopped parsley or dill, to garnish

Peel the beets, onions and carrots. Cut all vegetables into thick matchsticks (you can use a food processor here to speed up the process). If using fresh cabbage, shred it thinly.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add carrots, beets, onions and a pinch of salt and saute for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then.
Add the shredded cabbage or sauerkraut, then pour in the hot stock. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer on a low heat for about 20-30 minutes, until vegetables are softened.
Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice, keeping in mind that a proper borscht should have a slightly acidic taste.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream (or omit, if you want a vegan soup) and sprinkle with some chopped parsley or dill.
Serve with some crusty (rye) bread.

UPDATE 21.9.2007
Hedgehog made this soup, too - check out her post here.

NOTE: This soup recipe was originally posted in September 2007. It's been fully revised and updated in November 2011.

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Easter paskha for chocolate lovers

Chocolate paskha, 2011, decorated with dried apricots

It's Easter Sunday this weekend and many a festive table will have a paskha (also spelled as 'pascha') as a centerpiece. We will, for sure.

Paskha is a sweet and rich curd cheese dessert that's traditionally served during Easter. I've shared two favourite recipes with you before - my traditional uncooked paskha with pistachio nuts and craisins and creamy cooked paskha with egg yolks. Here's another delicious paskha, especially for those of you who love chocolate!

Chocolate paskha
(Šokolaadisõbra kohupiimapasha)
Serves 8


Chocolate paskha, 2009, decorated with candied kumquats

500 g curd cheese (kohupiim/tvorog) or ricotta
100 ml whipping cream
100 g dark chocolate, chopped
75 g butter, cut into cubes
50 g caster sugar
handful of dried apricots
handful of dried seedless raisins

Place raisins and apricots into a colander, pour over boiling water and drain thoroughly. Put aside.

Place cream, chocolate and butter into a small heavy saucepan and heat gently, stirring with a wooden spoon, until chocolate and butter are melted and you've got a luscious brown sauce. Remove the pot from the heat and immediately fold in the curd cheese, sugar, apricots and raisins. Mix until combined.

Line a special paskha-dish or a fine sieve with a double layer of cotton muslin that you've rinsed under cold water and wrung dry. Pour the curd cheese mixture into the dish, place a small plate on top. Place the filled paskha-dish over a bowl to collect any whey liquid that will drip out of the paskha.

To serve, turn the paskha onto a plate, remove the muslin and paskha dish or sieve.

 Decorate as you please - I love the contrast of chocolate-coloured paskha and something orange (apricots, candied kumquats etc).

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Cod liver paté on toast

I've briefly mentioned cod liver on Nami-Nami previously - here and here, but it deserves a new post :) There are almost no blog posts on the topic - a FoodBlogSearch enquiry ends with plenty of posts about cod liver oil capsules, and just one food blog posts apart from mine, written by Rosie Dequattro (now available only in in cache) and a mention of foie de morue by Clotilde back in 2004 (!). I always keep a can of cod liver chunks in oil in the larder, as it's a great stand-by to have when you have unexpected friends. Or when you simply need a lunch in a hurry.

I got the recipe from my mum, but it's the same universal recipe used in pretty much every cod-liver-loving family in Estonia (or Russia, for that matter, as Rosie's post reveals). I love it on toast, but you can also serve it to fill vol-au-vents or top small crostini.

Cod Liver Paté
(Klassikaline tursamaksasalat)



190 g can cod liver chunks in oil (look for it in Russian markets)
1-2 eggs, boiled, peeled and finely chopped
a small (shallot) onion, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Drain the cod liver, then place in a small bowl and mash with a fork. Add the egg and onion, season with salt and pepper. (You can add some mayonnaise, if you want a smoother paté, but it's not really necessary).
Garnish with fresh herbs (dill, parsley and chives are especially fine here) and serve.

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Russian syrniki aka curd cheese patties

A little something from the Russian kitchen - fried thick curd cheese patties that are best enjoyed while still hot with a generous dollop of soured cream or a jam of your choice. You'll find curd cheese or quark cheese (tvorog, read more here) in Russian or Polish or German shops. Remember, the higher the fat content, the tastier the end result - or try farmer's cheese instead. Ricotta is too smooth and lean to work, in my opinion.

We love them for breakfast, but syrniki also make an excellent mid-day or mid-afternoon snack.

Syrniki
(Sõrnikud)
Serves 4

500 g curd cheese
2 egg yolks (or 1 egg, if you wish)
60 g plain flour (100 ml), or slightly more, if necessary
a generous pinch of salt
1 Tbsp sugar (for sweet syrniki)

flour for breading
oil for frying

Combine curd cheese, egg yolks, salt and sugar, if using.
Sprinkle some flour on the work surface and on your hands. Form small patties from the curd cheese mixture (add a spoonful or two of flour, if the mixture is too loose), flatten them slightly. The curd cheese patties should be about 1 cm thick.
(You could put them into the fridge for about and hour - it helps them to stay in shape).
Heat some oil on a frying pan over moderate heat. Fry the syrniki on both sides for 3-5 minutes, until they're golden brown.

Serve when still warm.

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Salmon and Mushroom Solyanka (a thick Russian soup)

If you look around Estonian foodblogs, then we all seem to feast on thick and filling Russian-style mushroom soups at the moment - Tuuli has been cooking up mushroom borscht and mushroom rassolnik, Aet has a mushroom solyanka simmering in her saucepan. We had friends over for dinner last night, and as I had got a large bowl of blanched and slightly salted wild mushrooms from K's mum yesterday morning, and made a Russian-style mushroom soup as well, but with addition of fish.

You'll get a best result if using various wild mushrooms. Gypsy mushrooms (Rozites caperatus; kitsemamplid), Russula-mushrooms, Lactarius-mushrooms - all would be perfect, but cultivated mushrooms would work as well (perhaps a mixture of white mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms for some texture?). I had mainly meaty Lactarius scrobiculatus mushrooms (võiseened/kollariisikad)*, with an odd Russula thrown in.

Check your mushroom guide for instructions (some mushrooms - like gypsy mushrooms and many Lactarius-mushrooms can be cooked fresh, some need to be blanched first.

* Note that Wiki considers this an inedible mushroom (well, "Western authors" do). It's much liked over here for its meaty texture and characteristic flavour. It does need to be thoroughly blanched and cooked first, however, and smaller mushrooms are preferred to larger ones.

Mushroom and Salmon Solyanka
Serves four to six



1 large onion, peeled and chopped
about 400 g fresh (wild) mushrooms - pre-blanched, if necessary
2 Tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
3 Tbsp concentrated tomato pureé
1 litre fish stock
4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and chopped
300 g salmon filet, cut into 1 cm cubes
2 small pickled cucumbers, halved lengthwise and cut into slices
2 Tbsp capers
a small bunch of dill
salt
black pepper
lemon juice, to taste

Heat oil in a saucepan, add onion and mushrooms and sauté for about 5 minutes.
Stir in the tomato paste, cook for a minute or two.
Pour in the fish stock, bring to the boil. Add the potato cubes, then simmer for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked.
Add fish, capers, cucumber slices and most of the dill. Simmer for another few minutes, then remove the saucepan from the heat.
Season to taste with lemon juice, salt and pepper (solyanka needs a slightly sour note!).
Sprinkle some extra dill on top, garnish with lemon slice or wedge and serve.

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Cold Beetroot Soup (kind of Chlodnik or Холодник)

Although the tropical heat wave has given way to a beautiful Estonian summer (temperatures at around 25 C, with some
showers), it's still warm here in Estonia. Perfect excuse for eating lots of cold summer soups. My cold soup repertoire isn't huge, I must admit. I love Ximena's gazpacho (and will be making it again and again in a week or so, when our tomatoes are ready). I also love this simple cold kefir soup with herbs and radishes. But radishes are finished for this year, so I needed a new cold soup recipe. The recipe here is slightly adapted from this Russian foodblog, and we loved both the flavour as well as the stunning colour. Our little daughter, who's almost 1 year and 6 months now, heartily approved as well!!

I love roasting the beets, as this gives them an exceptionally sweet and earthy flavour. If you're short for time, then this works with boiled (and even ready-grated and vacuum-packed) beets as well.

Cold Beet Soup with Kefir
(Külm peedisupp)
Serves four to six



3 small beets, each about the size of a tennis ball
2 short green cucumbers ("Lebanese cucumbers")
handful of green onions, chopped
3-4 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
1 litre kefir
1 Tbsp grated horseradish
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2-4 eggs

Wash the beets, wrap in foil and roast in a 200 C oven for about 45 minutes, until cooked through (test for doneness by piercing with a sharp knife). Cool completely, then peel and grate coarsely.
Hard-boil the eggs, then cool under cold water. Peel and cut into half lengthwise.
Wash the cucumbers, cut into small dice.
Take a large bowl, throw in the grated beets. Stir in some of the kefir, then season the soup base with horseradish and some salt and pepper. Add the rest of the ingredients, except boiled eggs. Taste again for seasoning - you may want to add more salt or pepper, or perhaps even some lemon juice.
Serve very cold, topping each portion with a boiled egg half or two.

Keeps well in the fridge for a day or two.

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