Spinach Crepes with Mushroom and Ricotta

A little short on Magnesium? You may feel generally fatigued, and think it's from all the partying you've been doing this festival season. You may feel bloated and blame the beer. But hey, let's not get caught up in the blame game, because we both know that there is one whole month of Summer left and the show must go on!

I'm going out on a limb here and suggesting that a little bit of nutritiously fortified feed will go a long way into putting that spring back into your step so that you don't miss another spontaneous moment of fun while the sun's a-shinin'. Spinach is full of good stuff, such as magnesium, Vitamins A,C, E, K.... This little recipe should get you started. For other recipes packed full of spinach goodness, check out these other recipes.

Crepes are fun because they sound fancy, but they're really as basic as it gets. These are green because the spinach goes right into them. Pretty.

Spinach Crepes
1 bunch of spinach (about 300 grams)
1.5 cups of milk
3 eggs
3 tablespoons olive oil + more for the frying
1 tbs marjoram
1 cup flour

Cook the spinach until wilted in a pan on medium heat with a pinch of salt. Mix in with the wet ingredients in a food processor and blend until a nice green color is throughout. Slowly add the flour.

Ricotta Filling
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 tbs marjoram
some chopped spring onion, greens only
salt and pepper to taste

Mushroom Filling
2 tbs olive oil
1 small spring onion, whites only, chopped
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup of cream or sour cream

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and sautee the onions until transparent. Add the mushrooms and wilt (if fresh. I used canned so there wasn't much need for the cooking). Whisk in the wine wine vinegar and cream and remove from heat almost immediately.

Eat these crepes with either filling or both. Surprisingly filling and it'll keep you going for a long time. Now get outside and get some sunshine.

Pasta with Chantrelle, Thyme and Leek Cream Sauce

Chantrelles are abundant in Finland this time of the year. I'm visually attracted to these mushrooms for their yellow hue and trumpet shape. So pretty! But I also like the earthy taste they take on when cooked. Raw, they really do not have much taste at all. Some good parings with chantrelles are leeks, tomatoes, goat cheese, salmon, thyme and the list goes on. You can see a long list of recipe ideas for chantrelles here.

Stuffed Mushroom Salad

I had about 10 button mushrooms left in the fridge, a smidgen of pesto left, and I finally remembered this salad that I've been wanting to make for a long time. Usually salads are something I throw together at the last minute to accompany a meal, and this one requires slightly more thought, but it doesn't have to. In the original recipe, raw mushrooms were stuffed with pesto. In mine, I decided it might be nice to bake the mushrooms after being stuffed to let the oils and herbs marinate and soften the mushrooms. This serves 2 if you're working with leftovers, like me. Feel free to up the anti if you've got guests because this is a simple yet delicious and impressive salad.

10 buttom mushrooms

1/2 cup basil pesto

50 grams oakleaf or butter lettuce

50 grams arugula (rukola)

10 black olives, pitted and halved

about 5 or 6 large sundried tomatoes, diced

tablespoon of torn fresh basil

parmesan shavings (garnish)

2 tbs olive oil

2 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1.) Heat the oven to 170C. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms gently, leaving the caps intact. Spoon the pesto into the caps. Bake 15 minutes or until soft and brown. Let cool.

2.) Whisk together ingredients for the dressing. Set aside or in the fridge.

3.) Mix the lettuce and arugula on separate plates, top with the mushrooms, basil, olives, sundried tomatoes and parmesan.

4.) Drizzle the dressing to serve.

Mushroom and White Bean broth with Polenta and Asparagus

Ok this is not the most photogenic dish, but also this was a picture of the leftovers because the original was devoured too quickly for pictures. (and it was late in the evening when the lighting was bad)

It does seem like a whole menu here, but I assure you the combination of these flavors goes so well together that it makes sense to list it as one recipe. Asparagus and mushrooms both just went in season recently, so it makes sense to try to pair them.

Polenta is a good thing to know how to make because it goes with so many other delicious things. If you can find the instant variety, it takes about 5 minutes to make, including the time to boil the water.

Polenta

3 cups vegetable broth

3/4 cup instant polenta

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Bring broth to a boil.

2. Stir in polenta and continue stirring for about 3 minutes until the mixture gets thick and bubbly.

3. Stir in the parmesan.

4. Serve immediately (or else it hardens and will not look as pretty, but will taste just as good!

Mushroom and White beans in broth

1 1/2 cups mushroom stock

3 cups chopped fresh mushrooms, such as crimini or portabello (the smaller ones), chopped roughly if they are too big, but if they're bite size you can leave them whole

2 tbs olive oil

1 bunch scallions (greens included) minced

2 cloves garlic

1 1/2 cups canned white beans drained

500 grams asparagus

1. Saute the mushrooms until golden brown in color.

2. Add garlic and scallions and cook for another minute.

3. Add the stock and beans and simmer until mushrooms and beans are well heated and soft.

Serve with steamed asparagus and polenta. Just pour the mushroom mixture over both and garnish with grated parmesan.

Asparagus & Mushroom Risotto

Happy Mother's Day!

I would have loved to make this recipe for my mom, who will be visiting me later this summer. This was the best risotto I ever made. I was a little disappointed, though, that the package of Carnaroli rice said that the cooking time took only 14 minutes. I used to use Arborio but saw this as a new and interesting option for risotto. I thought, 'hey, now I can make myself risotto in a jiff, whenever I want!' but of course I was wrong. I suppose the lesson was, the best things in life take time and patience.

Overall the cooking time was about 45 minutes. I was starving when it was finished and I didn't have any more time or energy to go on a run like I planned. There's always tomorrow!

4+ cups water

1 vegetable boullion cube

6 stalks fresh asparagus, cut thinly on the diagonal

1 small can of sliced mushrooms, about 125 grams

1 onion, diced

2 gloves garlic, crushed

1 cup risotto rice, such as Carnaroli or Arborio

2 tbs olive oil

2 tbs butter

1/2 cup dry white wine

grated parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

1. Blanch the asparagus slices in the vegetable broth. Since they are already cut thinly, they won't take long to make al dente. Maybe 5 minutes maximum.

2. Drain the asparagus and set aside. Reserve the broth.

3. In a large sauce pan or pot, heat oil and butter. Add garlic and onion and stir until translucent on medium heat.

4. Add mushrooms and stir for a few more minutes.

5. Add the rice and coat with the butter and oil, stir for 1 minute.

6. Add the white wine and stir until absorbed.

7. From the reserved brother, stir about 1/3 a cup at a time. Waiting between each interval until all the liquid is absorbed, stirring constantly.

8. More water may be needed, check the consistency of the rice after you have added all cups of broth and continue adding HOT water if more cooking is needed.

9. Stir in a few tbs grated parmesan, or to taste, and stir the asparagus in last. (This preserves the look and taste of the asparagus and doesn't over cook it).

10. Garnish with more grated parmesan and serve hot.

This, like most risotto recipes, is not as good leftover. It will thicken quite a bit more in the refridgerator. I suggest this as a good recipe to make to impress guests, because though easy, it is time consuming. This recipe serves only about 2.5 (1.5 for dinner last night and 1 for lunch today). And so it can be doubled or tripled quite easily.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Before it gets too warm for creamy soups, I wanted to try cream of mushroom soup after I bought half kilo of mushrooms.  And in April it has gotten quite cold again, after teasing us with +9C , it even snowed last weekend for a spell.

This was a pretty easy soup, and I took an extra shortcut here.

This was just something to give it the forest-y taste, because the jumbo crimini mushrooms I bought were rather mild in flavor.

I started this soup with the standard basics:

• 
  
  1 onion, finely diced
• 
  
  3 stalks celery, diced
• 
  
  2 carrots, sliced
• 
  
  olive oil
• 
  
  4 cups millk or water
• 
  
  3 vegetable boullion cubes
• 
  
  1 pck Knorr premade mushroom sauce
• 
  
  1 cup cream (7%)
• 
  
  .5 kilo jumbo crimini mushrooms, sliced on the diagonal

1. Add the onion, stalks, carrots to hot oil in a dutch oven.
2. Add the mushrooms, saute for about 5 minutes until they have softened and lost most of their moisture.
3. 
   
   Add the water and vegetable stock and bring to a boil.
4. 
   
   When the vegetables are soft, turn down the heat to medium low.
5. 
   
   Add the sauce and cream.

Wild Mushroom Spring Rolls

I am lucky to have someof the best friends and know some of the nicest most generous people in Helsinki. With their support, I havebeen able to make Helsinki my second home.

One of them, currently my landlord, MK, and his girlfriend LY, are now my neighbors. They are also Chinese. I wanted to make them a special dinner to show my gratitude, but I was given a special challenge. LY is allergic to seafood, and accustomed to mainly meat dishes. In any case, I was excited about this chance to try making some authentic dishes that the true experts could judge for themselves. I was rewarded with the compliment that it tastes 'better than in some Chinese restaurants in Helsinki'. I know that's not really saying much, but it made me happy!

First, I wanted to start with these mushrooms typical to China. There is the typical shitake mushroom, which is meaty and juicy, and then the black fungus, which when rehydrated, unfurls into a beautiful flower like form, but has a rather delicate yet distinct taste. I bought these from Vii Voan on Hameentie 3, for 3,50e and 1,90e respectively.

Then I decided to make mushroom spring rolls, using frozen spring roll pastry, only 1,90e for 280 grams. I had way more wrappers than needed for this recipe, so I can use the rest to make different spring rolls another time! The rest are waiting for me in my freezer.



Wild Mushroom Spring Rolls (makes about 12-15 rolls)
Preparation time: 1 hour 15 minutes*

• about 1lb of mushrooms, rehydrated (this is about 4-5 handfulls of dried mushrooms)
• bunch of scallions, diced
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 2 cups cabbage, shredded
• 50grams bean thread noodles (1 individual packet, if you can find them packaged as shown below), blanced (easiest if you leave the string tied around it while it soaks in boiling water)
• frozen spring roll wrappers
• 1/2 tbs ground ginger, or fresh grated ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs roasted sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp Chinese 5-spice blend (I ground equal portions of star anise and cloves with pestle and mortar then added a pinch of salt, pepper, and cinnamon)
• 1 egg, beaten
• peanut oil for frying
• Spicy Mustard Dipping Sauce (recipe follows)

Bean thread noodles

1. Soak the mushrooms in warm water for approximately an hour. If the shitake mushrooms still seem hard in the center, cut them in half after soaking partially and soak longer. They should double or triple in size. Drain, but save the water (this makes invaluable mushroom stock for soup recipes).
2. Dice mushrooms.
3. In a large pan, heat a few tablespoons of peanut oil. Add the garlic, ginger and scallions and fry until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4. Add the diced mushrooms to the pan and fry for another minute.
5. Add the cabbage, carrot, spices**, soy sauce, and sesame oil and continue to fry until tender.
6. Using a large space, prepare your roll wrapping area by placing the beaten egg in one bowl, the stack of wrappers thawed and handy for use, the blanched bean thread noodles, and mushroom mixture in two separate bowls, and one parchment lined baking sheet.
7. Placing the wrapper at a diagonal, place about 2 tbs mushroom filling, topped with a thin layer of bean thread noodles, and roll the wrapper until the filling is covered.
8. Fold in outer corners of wrapper, brush the end triangle with egg, then continue rolling all the way. Place on baking sheet.
9. Heat oil to a high temperature, and fry each spring roll until golden and rest on paper towels to drain. Serve and enjoy immediately.

Spicy Mustard Sauce

• 1/2 cup spicy yellow or dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 3 tbs rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp roasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp sugar

1. Blend all ingredients together.

* I know this seems like a long time, and rolling the filling into the wrappers can be tedious. But do what I did and enjoy the rolling process while watching a movie :) I watched 'Hurt Locker' which was very intense and seemingly realistic but enjoyable.

** Also it would be good to add about 1 tbs oyster sauce, though I did not add it due to LY's allergy.