Wild Mushrooms and bechamelle sauce

This is a great way to showcase often costly, precious and gorgeous gourmet wild mushrooms, delicious on gnocchi, polenta, pasta of all sorts, mashed potatoes or just scooping it up and eating by themselves. On a pinch the regular button mushrooms (champignon) can be used, but a splurge on more exotic shrooms will be highly worth it. Frozen ones can be used too.
(Above picture shows my latest effort with chanterelle, served over strangolapreti)

Ingredients:
About 500g of roughly shredded wild mushrooms (porcini, chanterelle, or mixture), or more as desired.
3-4 shallots, finely shredded (or 1 small onion)
2 garlic cloves, smashed or chopped
2 tbsp butter
about 10 leaves of fresh sage, chopped
dash of salt and pepper
250ml bechamelle
milk, as needed

Sautè the shrooms, shallots(onion), garlic and sage in butter on medium heat, until they are completely softened and the liquid from the veg evaporates, about 15-20 minutes.
While cooking add a dash of salt and pepper. (I go very generous on pepper)
Add the bechamelle, stir it to blend it in. If the bechamelle is too thick add a small amount of milk to thin it slightly.
Heat it through.
Enjoy with your choice of treat (pasta, polenta etc.), or without!!

Zesty Coconut Chutney

This recipe was introduced to me by my friend Yakuta on www.discusscooking.com when I was looking for a good recipe for fresh coconuts when I wanted to try something savoury with it. It's unique and refreshing flavour will surely be a crowd pleaser during the season full of get-togethers and group dinners!
As a serving suggestion in above picture I used the chutney with grilled chicken breasts and tossed the chutney with cooked couscous.

Coconut chutney

1/2 of a fresh coconut, chopped it into small cubes
2 bunches of fresh coriander washed and roughly chopped
juice of 2 limes
4 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
greek yogurt or sour cream
2 tsp of sugar

Blend all of this together in a food processor/mixer with just enough yogurt/sour cream to make the mixture smooth. The texture of it should be thick not runny.

Serve with grilled fish fillets, chicken breast or as a condiment for seafood/avocado salad. Nice also for canapè!

Hummus

Hummus

Hummus is a delicious dip/spread made with garbanzo beans/chick pea, popular throughout in the Mediterranean-Middle Eastern region. The name "Hummus" is transliterated from the arabic word for garbanzo, thus the spelling can vary widely, and it can be written also hamos, hummos, hommus, houmous etc. A very versatile snack, tapa, antipasto, enjoy Hummus with toasted pita breads (alternatively crusty toasted bread or crackers), or accompaniment to falafel, grilled or raw vegetables.

300g dried garbanzo(chickpea)*
80g tahini (middle eastern sesame paste)**
1 lemon
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 tsp cumin
Extra Virgine Olive Oil
salt
pinch of cayenne pepper

Soak the garbanzo beans overnight (12-15 hours) in water with 1 tbsp of baking soda mixed in.
At the end of soaking rinse the garbanzo several times, then boil for 1,5 hour, or 45minutes in a pressure cooker.
Drain and transfer into a food processor/mixer. Add the rest of ingredients, with first about 1/4 cup of Olive Oil, pulse a few times, check the consistency and the flavour and adjust the amount of oil, add it gradually to make a smooth, creamy texture, as well as the salt and spice to your taste.
Garnish with chopped flat parsley or fresh coriander leaves if desired.

*It IS a bit of pain preparing the dried garbanzo while you can just pop open a tinned chick peas, but the difference in flavour is so significant it is highly recommended to use the traditional method with the dried beans!! Garbanzo beans are so versatile, you can prepare multiple doses in one go and make a few different items as well!

**as an emergency solution when you can't find Tahini, you can mix in some good intense quality sesame oil with the Olive oil, about 2-3 table spoons. Not exactly the same thing and significantly lighter in taste, but quite similar essence can be attained.

Orange parmigiano cream sauce

I just mixed up these ingredients on a whim in order to jazz up the ready made tortellini, which are a bit bland. And it was a smashing success!! It's simple and quick, and it makes an impressive difference to these store bought stuffed pasta!!

for 2 people

1 orange
20g butter
1/3 cup freshly grated parmigiano or grana padano
200ml cooking cream
some drops of milk

Thinly peel the orange skin, then grate it finely.
Sautè the grated orange peel lightly in the melted butter, just for a minute or two
Add the juice from orange, cook for about 5 minutes and let it condense itself a little
Add the cheese and cream, stir well and heat thoroughly. Add some drops of milk as needed to keep the sauce from getting too thick.
Serve over piping hot pasta, it is ideal for ready made spicach and ricotta tortellini!

Lemon Poppyseed Dressing

This is a very fresh tasting dressing for various salads. It has a delicate balance of light sweetness from honey and sugar, savoury touch from the pinch of salt and olive oil, and the slight tanginess from the lemon, but none of them should overpower other flavours. Carefully taste the dressing as you mix, and bring it to the taste you like.

1teaspoon black poppyseeds
2 tablespoon honey
1 lemon, zest+juice
200ml sour cream
1tablespoon sugar
30ml (or shotglass full), circa, extra virgine olive oil (or little more if necessary)
drop of milk (optional)
pinch of salt

Mix vigorously all the ingredients, adjusting the amount of honey, sugar, salt.
Add some drops of oil or milk and bring the dressing to desired consistency. (creamy but not too thick)

*I will introduce a yummy salad on the next installment which is perfect for this dressing!!

Salsa ai quattro formaggi (4 cheese sauce)

Quattro formaggi (4 cheese sauce), a real treat for any cheeseheads, is one of our favourite condiments for pasta, gnocchi and steamed vegetables (like broccoli, brussel sprouts, potatoes etc.), also popular as a pizza topping.
Below is an example of our winning combination in our household, however you may experiment with different kind of cheeses that melt well in the heat, for example toma, casera, tilsiter, emmental, edam, gouda, maasdamer etc. Combining some of the mild cheeses and strong, tangy flavoured cheeses is the key for a rich, multi dimentioned flavour. (I particularly reccomend a touch of gorgonzola, even if you don't like the raw, plain blue cheese like myself, belive me, it really takes on a different dimention used this way!)

100g fontina
100g taleggio
100g gruyere
100g gorgonzola
100ml cooking cream (or more, or less, depending on the preference)
dash of white pepper
dash of nutmeg (optional)

cut the cheeses in small cubes
put the cheeses in double boiler and let them melt (if you don't have a double boiler, use a thick saucepan with very low heat, take care to not to burn the bottom, stirring more often.)
when the cheeses soften, add the cream and stir gently to incorporate the ingredients
add some more cream if desired, to the desired consistency
season with pepper and nutmeg
Continue to stir until the mixture becomes smooth.
Serve immediately

Pesto alla Genovese

Pesto alla Genovese (Liguria)

This bright green condiment for pasta has an incomparably rich, refreshing aroma and flavour, but be sure to carefully choose the ingredients!! (good quality extra virgine olive oil, well aged hard cheese, and fresh basil leaves in season are the absolute must!) Then you will taste the EMORMOUS difference from those jars available at supermarkets!! you will need...

-a big bunch of fresh basil leaves separated from the stem and well rinsed, then well drained

-Extra virgin olive oil about 3/4 of amount (in grams/ozs) of the leaves.

(please experiment with the amount of below items, adding them gradually... to your personal taste...for a rough measure I use about 75g of cheese, 2 big cloves of garlic 75g of nuts to make about !/2 lt./1lb. of pesto)

-well seasoned parmigiano, pecorino cheese or grana padano cheese, freshly ground

-cloves of garlic

-mixture of pine nuts and cashew

First you whip the basil with oil in a blender/food processor to make a smooth goo, adding the oil gradually. Then add the next 3 items and mix further until everything is well blended.
It can be frozen in portions (using ice cube tray or small container), make sure you pack it well and it will freeze fairly quickly. To keep in the fridge you put it in a bottle, and cover the surface with extra olive oil, to avoid the contact with the air. It will last about 2 weeks.