Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Mushrooms

Lamb Steaks Wild Mushroom Sauce and Dill Mash

A comforting recipe for Eat Welsh Lamb and Welsh Beef

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Lamb Steaks with Wild Mushroom Sauce and Dill Mash

Prep

Cook

Total

Yield 4 servings

A creamy and comforting recipe using Welsh lamb steaks. 

Instructions

  1. Season the lamb steaks with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, on both sides. Drizzle a little oil onto the steaks and rub the oil into the meat. Set to one side.
  2. Drain the peeled potatoes and put them into a pan of fresh cold water, cover, bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Drain into a colander and set to one side to dry.
  3. Place a dry frying pan onto a low heat. Throw in the pine nuts and allow them to toast until they turn golden – this will take around 30 seconds. Tip the pine nuts onto a plate and set to one side.
  4. Add a little oil to the same pan, turn up the heat to medium-high and add the lamb steak to the pan. Fry for 5 minutes on one side then flip them over. Add the mushrooms to the pan and a teaspoon of butter and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove the lamb steaks (which will be cooked rare-medium rare) and leave them to rest on a plate.
  5. Pour the stock into the pan, swirl the stock around and allow to bubble for a minute. Add the fresh dill and double cream, stir and and bring up to the boil. Then take the pan off the heat.
  6. Mash the cooked potatoes, or put them through a potato ricer. Add one tablespoon butter, double cream and the fresh dill. Season with salt and pepper. Using a wooden spoon, stir the butter, cream and dill into the mashed potatoes, until the potatoes are creamy and smooth.
  7. Divide the potatoes onto 4 plates. Slice each lamb steak in half and place on top of the mash. Spoon over over the creamy mushroom sauce. Sprinkle with the toasted pine nuts and serve straight away.

Courses Main

Cuisine British

You may also like:

Lamb Steaks with Mint Ajika Sauce (Olia Hercules for Marley Spoon)

One-Pot Cypriot Lamb with Orzo 

Make-Ahead Lamb and Potato Moussaka

Jamie Oliver’s Mothership Roast Lamb

This is a paid recipe commission for Eat Welsh Lamb and Welsh Beef. Find more Llambassador recipes here.

 

Recipe:Turkey Stroganoff with Soured Cream

It’s time to think smart when it comes to making the most out of the food we buy and using up our leftovers. I was pretty shocked to read that the average family in Britain wastes nearly £60 a month (the equivalent of 6 meals a week or 24 meals a month) in unused food. As we approach Christmas, two for one deals and special offers go into overdrive, which means that if we’re not careful, we’ll end up buying too much and then throwing some of it away. The one thing we are very good at doing is coming up with ways to use up our turkey leftovers and I’ve been challenged to do just that by the Lean on Turkey campaign. Although we shouldn’t just be thinking of leftovers at Christmas or Thanksgiving, using up all the little bits we have in the fridge and making the most of a roast should be the way forward all year round. I’m tapping into my Eastern European roots a little with this recipe for a turkey stroganoff, which uses up leftover turkey (or any poultry, really) along with some red onions, mushrooms, mustard, soured cream and a few sprigs of dill. It’s perfect for a Boxing Day buffet or for a quick family supper, whenever you have some leftovers to use up. Stroganoff can be made with a tablespoon or mustard or tomato puree and an optional sprinkle of paprika. Always use ‘smetana’ or soured cream.

Turkey leftovers (1 of 3)-2

Costings (to come in at under £10 for 4)

  • Leftover Turkey (nominal as it should be leftover) – £2
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil (store cupboard)
  • 1 red onion – 40p
  • Mushrooms 200g – £1.69
  • 1 tablespoon mustard – 5p
  • Soured cream 300ml – 99p
  • Fresh dill – 25p
  • Noodles/Rice – £1.50

Total – £6.88 to feed 4 (Ocado)

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Turkey Stroganoff with Soured Cream

Prep

Cook

Total

Yield 4

A quick and easy dish to use up leftover turkey

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 red onion
  • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • 300g mushrooms
  • 500g leftover turkey
  • 300ml soured cream
  • A splash of whole milk
  • Fresh dill to garnish
  • Noddles, pasta or rice to serve

Instructions

  1. Cook the noodles, pasta or rice according to the packet instructions.
  2. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to a large frying pan. Cook the onions over a medium heat for five minutes, until soft. Stir in the wholegrain mustard and the mushrooms and season with freshly ground black pepper and a little salt. Cook for a further five minutes.
  3. Add the leftover turkey to the pan and mix together well. Pour in the soured cream, adding a splash of milk if the sauce is a little thick. Cook for another five minutes, or until the turkey is piping hot.
  4. Serve on a bed of noodles, pasta or rice and garnish with fresh dill. Optional: drizzle over a little extra olive oil.

Previous #LeanonTurkey recipes

Challenge 5 – Turkey and Leek Meatballs with Tomato Tagliatelle

Challenge 6 – Coronation Turkey Picnic Rolls

Lean on Turkey Blogger’s Page

This is a recipe commission in association with Lean on Turkey. Ingredients + development time paid for.  

Recipe: Polish Wild Mushroom Soup

Wild Mushrooms

Today is a mushroom soup day. The half-term school break was really busy, added to which, I’ve been flu-fighting. Polish wild mushroom soup reminds me of home. I crave warmth, and a strong, earthy flavour when I am sick.  A hearty bowl of soup, a thick blanket and a book. This is a lovely, simple family recipe, rich, yet simple to bring together allowing the mushrooms to speak for themselves.

Wild Mushrooms

A a really good, Polish mushroom soup is very often made with foraged mushrooms, since mushroom hunting is a national pursuit in Poland. I used some beautiful winter chanterelles (kurki in Polish) from Natoora UK, but you could very easily use a mixture of dried forest mushrooms (boletas/borowki/prawdziwki or porcini are the best) with a few fresh chestnut mushrooms thrown in. My mother adores mushroom hunting, just as her mother did, and the throw-back to my childhood is almost instantaneous whenever I cook with mushrooms. I’m very much looking forward to going foraging again when it’s time.

Mushroom Soup

I also separately cooked and added some kasha or kasza, which are pearl or hulled barley groats, which you’ll find in any Polish deli or shop. They added extra substance, and also made this meal stretch much further, since wild mushrooms can be expensive, particularly when out of their usual season. If you can’t find kasza, you could add whole pearl barley, or even some wild rice. You’ll also see instructions below for making a fresh stock (with or without pork ribs) but you can also use a porcini mushrooms cube stock or any vegetable stock as an alternative.

There’s also a Mushroom Soup recipe in my book on Modern Polish Recipes called Wild Honey and Rye, as well as recipes for Rosoł (Polish Chicken Soup), Sour Gherkin Soup, Beetroot Soup and my Mama’s Tomato Soup.

Mushroom Soup

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Polish Wild Mushroom Soup

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A a really good Polish wild mushroom soup is very often made with foraged mushrooms, since mushroom hunting is a national pursuit in Poland. I used some beautiful winter chanterelles (kurki in Polish) but you could very easily use a mixture of dried forest mushrooms with a few fresh mushrooms thrown in. It's worth the extra step making the stock, but if you are short on time, you could use shop-bought stock, too. 

Ingredients

To make the fresh stock:

  • 1 kg pork ribs (omit for vegetarian version)
  • 2 carrots 

  • 2 onions
  • 2 stick celery
  • 10g fresh parsley 
 

  • 2 litres of water 

  • 1 bay leaf 

  • 2– 3 allspice berries

Or, use 1.5 litres of shop-bought or stock made with chicken or mushroom stock cubes

  • 40g dried mixed forest mushrooms, soaked in 1 cupful hot water
  • A handful of fresh mushrooms, such as chanterelle, chopped
  • 1 tsp butter
  • 1 tsp olive oil 
  • 1 large onion, very finely chopped
  • 150 ml double cream 

  • 100 g wide egg noodles or kasza (barley groats)
  • 3 tsp cornflour (optional) mixed with a little cold water 
  • Fresh parsley to garnish

Instructions

  1. To make the stock: Roughly cut up the carrots, celery and onion. Add them to a large pot with with the pork ribs (if using) and pour over 1.5 litres of cold water. Add the parsley, bay leaf and allspice berries. Simmer the stock on a very gentle heat (barely boiling) for an hour. Skim any foam that forms with a large spoon and discard. Strain the stock. You can use the pork ribs to make these roasted ribs. 
  2. For the mushroom soup: Strain the soaked mushrooms to remove grit. Chop the mushrooms finely. In a large pan, add the butter and olive oil. Cook the onions for 5-10 minutes until soft.
  3. Add the mushrooms and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally. Pour in the strained rib stock that you made earlier (or 1.5 litres of bought stock) and bring to a boil. Add the liquid from the soaked mushrooms too, avoiding the grit. Simmer for 25 minutes.
  4. To finish: Cook the pasta or kasza/grains according to instructions and drain.
  5. Stir in the cream. If you would like a thicker texture to the soup add the cornflour and stir well. Simmer gently for a further 5 minutes. 
  6. Place the pasta or kasza in the serving bowls and ladle over the soup.
  7. Garnish with parsley. Smacznego! (Bon appétit!)

Courses Soup

Cuisine Polish

Recipe: Creamy Chicken and Spinach Savoury Dutch Pancakes

Pancakes are definitely not just for Shrove Tuesday. You can rustle up these pancakes with a creamy chicken, mushroom and spinach filling in less than fifteen minutes, particularly if you use good quality, ready made pancakes as your base. We all love a shortcut.

Chicken and Spinach Pancakes

The folks at Abra-ca-Debora pancakes sent me a couple of packets of their new Dutch pancakes to try, along with some ingredients. I had the choice of savoury (original pancakes) or sweet and since I often make pancakes for tea, I thought I’d try them with a savoury filling.  

On their beautiful website, there are some more super-simple recipes to try. Make sure you take a look at these mincemeat pancakes with brandy cream, the super-fast sausage Bolognese pancakes are yummy, too. For a sweet treat, we’ve been filling ours with a classic combo of banana and Nutella, but there are some lovely ideas on the website, too, such as Sweet Dutch pancakes with cinnamon sugar.

Abra-ca-Debora Pancakes

Creamy Chicken and Spinach Savoury Dutch Pancakes

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 2 Abra-ca-Debora Original Dutch pancakes
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 small clove garlic, minced
  • 150g/one cup chestnut mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 100g/one cup cooked, leftover chicken breast or pieces
  • 100g/two cups fresh baby spinach, washed
  • 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • 80ml/1/3 cup heavy/double cream  
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for about three minutes. Add the cooked chicken pieces and spinach and stir together until the spinach wilts.
  2. Heat the pancakes in the microwave for one minute.
  3. Add the grated Parmesan cheese and cream to the chicken, mushrooms and spinach. Stir well and add sea salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Take the pancakes out of the microwave and spoon the creamy chicken sauce over the top just before serving.

Pancakes with Chicken and Spinach

It doesn’t get quicker, or tastier than this!

Keep a bag of fresh spinach and some mushrooms in the fridge over Christmas and you can make these with leftover turkey, too.

Thank you to Abra-ca-Debora for sending me the pancakes to try along with a selection of ingredients.

Are you a fan of pancakes throughout the year or just on Pancake Day?!

 

Food on BBC Three Counties Radio and a Mushroom and Thyme Cream Bruschetta Recipe

On Saturday I was very lucky again to be invited back onto BBC Three Counties Radio as a guest on Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen. What fun! It’s always such a great show to listen to and even more enjoyable to take part as a guest. The show involves two hours of food, talk and music along with host Nick Coffer. What’s not to love?! I was slightly thrown by the fact that it was a vegetarian-themed week, but I managed to pull three tasty and easy recipes out of the bag and luckily, there were no Bridget Jones-type moments live on air. 

My veggie offerings included a Mushroom Bruschetta with Thyme Cream, a Roasted Farmer’s Market Vegetable Penne Pasta with Local Goat’s Cheese (Childwickbury) and to finish, Victoria Plum & Almond Muffins with lashings of warm vanilla custard.

Three simple vegetarian, seasaonl treats

My two co-pilots were local foodies too, a lovely lady named Kate Keane who has impressively launched her own company called Whole Food Creations making wholemeal pizza and wholemeal pizza bases. Kate cleverly spotted  a gap in the market for wholemeal pizza and started her company by making them from home and selling them at her local farmer’s market. The pizzas are now produced on a larger scale and can be found in shops and online. They were thin, crispy and delicious and Kate was kind enough to share her recipe for the wholemeal bases, too. I’m definitely a convert and the kids would never know they were eating something that is good for them, especially piled high with lots of veggies.

We were also joined by Frances Hale who runs at vintage tea room at the Copper Beach Art Gallery in a Hertfordshire village called Little Wymondley. Fran made a Spinach, Pesto and Ricotta Quiche as well as her brilliantly named Disgustingly Gorgeous Chocolate Cheesecake. The best tip I took from the show was from Fran who said that she lines a deep cake tin with tin foil first, before lining the tin with pastry – letting the edges of the pastry hang over the edge. After blind baking the pastry until it is almost fully baked, she then spoons a layer of red or green pesto in the bottom before filling with the pastry with the creamy quiche mix. Once cooked, she takes the quiche outside and gently chops away the edges, leaving the crumbs for the birds! Adding pistachio to the crumb of her cheesecake was also a great tip, too.

To say that we were well and truly spoilt and well-fed would be an understatement. I made two new friends and am looking forward to visiting Fran and her fellow artists at the art gallery and tea rooms soon.  

Fran’s ‘Disgustingly Gorgeous Chocolate Cheesecake’

You can find all the recipes via the link to the Weekend Kitchen Fact Sheet here. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with my Mushroom and Thyme Cream Brushetta recipe in case you are in need of some inspiration for tonight’s supper.

You can listen to a recording of the show here on iPlayer up until this Saturday.    

Ren’s Mushroom Bruschetta with Thyme Cream

Ingredients

Serves 4

  • 4 slices artisan baked bread, such as sour dough
  • 300ml double cream
  • 2 springs fresh thyme
  • 1 garlic clove, whole
  • 50g vegetarian Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped/minced
  • 500g mixed mushrooms, such as chestnut, oyster, finely sliced

Method

  1. To make the thyme cream, pour the double cream into a small pan, add the thyme springs, whole garlic clove and grated vegetarian Parmesan cheese and leave to boil gently. The cream will reduce and become thicker.  
  2. In a separate frying pan, pour in two tablespoons of olive oil, add the onions and gently fry for 2-3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add the finely sliced mushrooms and stir well, cook gently for five minutes, or until the mushrooms are soft.
  3. Take the double cream off the heat and carefully take out the thyme sprigs and garlic clove. Stir well. Pour the thyme cream over the mushrooms, stir well again.
  4. Toast the sourdough bread and drizzle over a tablespoon of olive oil. Spoon the creamy mushrooms over the toast and serve immediately.  

 

Thank you to Nick, Emma and Alex at BBC Three Counties for inviting me back onto the show.

 

Penne Cocoa Pasta with a Creamy Mushroom Sauce

I have to admit to being completely stumped this month when I saw the We Should Cocoa challenge set by Choclette over on her Chocolate Log Blog. The February challenge was to come up with something chocolate, savoury and vegetarian. Not many things came to mind. Until, at the very last minute, I spied a packet of chocolate/cocoa Penne pasta and had a flash of inspiration! I found the pasta in my local Hotel Chocolat store (the smell always seems to intice me inside) in a little corner called Cocoa Cuisine, which including the chocolate pasta, cocoa nib balsamic vinegar and interestingly too, a black truffle and chocolate tapenade. So, I quickly swiped a packet of pasta (at £5.00 per 250g it is a bit extravagant) and decided to go home and cook it for our lunch with a creamy mushroom sauce (ingredients already in the fridge.) 
 
 
The result – well, I’d say that the pasta has a much stronger aroma of cocoa than flavour. The taste is actually extremely mild. I’m wondering whether a spoonful or two or some organic cocoa powder in the sauce wouldn’t have gone a miss just to add an extra hit. The children had some of it plain, with butter and were quite excited about getting chocolate pasta, although at that price, I told them not to get used to it! Having said that, we each had a bowl making the dish (including the mushrooms and cream) something around £1.75 a head – s0 perhaps for a dinner party or a special supper this wouldn’t be so bad. You can also use the pasta to make sweet dishes, although the recipe included on the packet was for Salmon and Mascarpone Cocoa Pasta…maybe that will be next?!
 
I also asked my sister who lives in Italy whether she had heard of chocolate pasta and she said she had and told me about a ‘Chocohotel’ in Perugia. A quick look at the restaurant menu revealed Ricotta cheese patties with chocolate and sweet pepper cream and Pasta with cocoa and courgette – so two more savoury, vegetarian dishes to fit the brief! Perhaps it wasn’t such a wild idea after all!

 

[gmc_recipe 2807] 
 
Keep an eye out for Choclette’s round-up to see all the other exciting creations. I’m pleased I joined in – I’m quite inspired by the idea of Cocoa Cuisine!
 

 Have you ever cooked a savoury dish with cocoa?!

British Baby Leek and Mushroom Three Grain Risotto

Having survived National Cupcake Week, my scales are pleased that we are now into British Food Fortnight. Whilst I could continue to bake cakes, I am moving instead, into savoury, autumnal cooking-mode.

I know, I know, I could have chosen a British dish to cook, but I was mainly inspired by the lovely British baby leeks that are in season at the moment and by some British mushrooms (not foraged, this time) and by coming across a ‘three grain’ risotto in the back of my cupboard.
 
I’ve been buying locally produced organic spelt flour for some time now (made at Redbournbury Mill) and often enjoy spelt bread, but I have never actually cooked with or eaten spelt as a whole grain. So, I was quite keen to try it. The three grains I used included long grain rice, pearl barley and pearl spelt and I cooked them in the same way that I would cook a normal risotto. 
 
The baby leeks and wild mushrooms give this risotto a lovely flavour and if you top it with some vegetarian cheese, it will also tick the Meat Free Monday box. Aren’t we all being so good? 
 
 
 
You shouldn’t have any trouble at all finding British produce to cook with if you are in the UK, particularly during British Food Fortnight, but I am finding that generally, shops are very keen to push British produce and the double-bonus is that fresh British produce will most likely be in season too.
 
As a random aside, if you are interested in hearing more about spelt, catch up with this week’s Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen on iplayer. Nick’s guest was Edd Kimber, the winner of last year’s Great British Bake Off and about half an hour into the show you’ll also hear me talking about spelt flour in my ‘Ren Recommend’s’ slot! If you are into baking, you’ll find a factsheet on the same page with lots of free recipes on it too, including Edd’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and his Orange and Passion Fruit cake.
 
 
Over the next fortnight up until 2nd October, look out for ‘meet the producer’ style events, special promotions in the shops and in restaurants, healthy eating activities for kids (or, if like me, you overdosed on cupcakes, then for yourself) and generally for the “Buy British” message that the campaign is trying to push.
 
If you are a tweeter, you can follow @theBritFFGirls and add the hashtag #BritFF to your posts/tweets too.
 
You can also follow the campaign by ‘liking’ the Love British Food Facebook page.
 

 

British Baby Leek & Mushroom 3 Grain Risotto

Serves 4
 
Ingredients:
300g Three Grain Risotto (I used the Riso Gallo brand)
1 Tablespoon British Rapeseed Oil
1 Small Onion, finely chopped
220g British Baby Leeks, cleaned and finely chopped
150g British Oyster Mushrooms, chopped
50g British Chestnut Mushrooms, sliced
1 Litre Vegetable Stock
 
For the topping
110g British Baby Leeks, washed and finely chopped
15g Butter
A twist of pepper
A handful of freshly grated vegetarian-style Parmesan cheese
 
Method:
 
1. Boil the kettle and make up the vegetable stock to one litre in a separate sauce pan. Leave the pan on a low heat so that your stock is constantly simmering as you add it to your grains/rice.
 
2. Add the oil to a large heavy-based pan and gently fry the onions and leeks for around five minutes. Add the rice, stir it well until it is coated in the oil and mixed with the onions and leeks.
 
3. Add the mushrooms and risotto rice/grains, mix well until all the grains are coated. Over a medium heat, add a ladleful of stock to the rice and vegetables and simmer. As the stock bubbles in the pan and is absorbed, add another ladleful and again stir. If your rice/grains are in any way sticking to the pan, your heat is too high. Add more as necessary, until all the stock has been used up and the grains are cooked. The grains should take no more than 25 minutes to cook and should still have some bite to them, but should not be hard.
 
4. Using your (now empty) stock pan, add the butter and the extra baby leeks and gently fry for three minutes or so. Serve your risotto in bowls and top with the extra baby leeks, a twist of pepper and plenty of grated cheese.
 
 
 
I will be linking this recipe up with Simple and in Season – running up until 15th October.
 
Don’t forget to leave me comments too if you are writing about or eating British food over the next two weeks.
 
Thank you for all your help, comments and feedback about my blog name! I am sticking with Fabulicious Food! and the move is happening as I type.