Chow Down to Eurovision 2015 - Poland

Dobry wieczór we have arrived at the penultimate country for Chow Down to Eurovision 2015, Poland.

I'm a big fan of mushrooms so always happy to add mushroom recipes into the Chow Down, sadly AB isn't a fan but does suffer through bravely. 

When I heard about Zapiekanka I thought AB likes toast and cheese so 2 out of 3 aint bad and it was on it's way to represent Eurovision food for Poland.

I also had a moment of delight when I was listening to Reckoning* by Magda Szubanski & there was a passage about her queuing for hours for hot dogs in Poland only to get to the front of the line to be given mushrooms in a bun and I thought I know this dish!  

Magda also suggested the dish for Chow Down to Eurovision 2014 so it felt strangely right there an unknowing connection this year. 

*I use affiliate links to products I have purchased myself and enjoyed

Zapiekanka -Mushroom cheese toast

Ingredients

• 1 baguette about 30cm 
• 4-5 large mushrooms
• 1 small brown onion
• 1 rasher bacon (optional)
• 2 handfuls grated cheese
• Tomato sauce or sriracha

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C
• Roughly chop mushrooms
• Finely chop onion
• Thinly slice bacon rasher
• Saute mushrooms, onions and bacon in a fry pan till golden and softened
• Season with salt and pepper
• Cut the baguette in half and place on lined baking tray
• Butter baguette and cover with mushrooms mix
• Cover with cheese and bake for 10 minutes
• Serve with tomato sauce or sriracha for the bearded hipsters in the group

This year's Eurovision was the most inclusive for people with disabilities and now that the "magic bridge" has been crossed I hope it leads to further participation in the future.

See more interviews about Eurovision and Inclusion here 

Monika Kuszyńska sang In The Name Of Love for Poland and after coming 8th in semifinal 2 finished 23rd in the final.

Previous Chow Down to Eurovision Poland:

2014 Polish Beetroot Soup with Porcini Potato "Gems"

Chow Down To Eurovision 2015 - Russia

Dobryy vecher from Russia with love... (Don't boo it's a blog, no one can hear you) 

The year 2000 saw Russia come 2nd in the contest with their first entry in English, Solo. Alsou did  manage sing So Low but the deadly serious big burly backing dancer doing jazz ballet are the most memorable part of the act.....are there some early Beyonce moves there?

Russia dish is a great source of vitamin B which is helpful of you find yourself on the wrong end of a Eurovision drinking game. 

Mushrooms Julienne make 12 small ramekins or you could make a big one

Ingredients

• 1 leek
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 onions
• knob of butter
• a few sprigs of rosemary
• 400g mushrooms
• 1 whole nutmeg
• A splash of verjuice
• 150g hard cheese of your choice grated, (I had some hard greek sheeps cheese)
• Quantity of white sauce, recipe below

Method

• Dice the leeks, onions and garlic
• Fry in a saucepan with a knob of butter till softened 
• Add the rosemary and stir
• Add the mushrooms and cook on low heat till starting to soften
• Grated in 1/2 the nutmeg, add verjuice and stir
• When softened fill some ramekins 3/4 full
• Fill the ramekins till just full with the white sauce
• Top with a hand full of grated cheese
• Bake at 180 for 20 minutes
• Serve with little toasts for a douze points dish

White Sauce

Ingredients

• 40g butter
• 60g plain flour
• 750ml light milk
• Vegetable stock cube

Sauce Method

• In a saucepan melt the butter
• Add the flour, stir to combine, 
• cook the flour for about 1 minute
• Add milk to a jug with a good quality stock cube)
• Slowly add some milk  while whisking to make a smooth sauce
• As the sauce thickens add more milk a little at a time, you might not use all the milk.
• While whisking let the sauce cook to thicken further for a few minutes, it should have a thick pourable consistency (but not thick enough you can slice it!)
• Season to taste

Like little cheesy ponds

Nobody could boo that dish! 

Russia will bring a song of peace to Vienna, I'm sure that won't be awkward...

There is no doubt they will be booed during the performance, which I do not support.

I find booing very disrespectful to the artist and the respect of the audience and possible not the most effective way to have your point of view heard.

Polina Gagarina  will give a great performance and I wish her the best of luck in what really is a tough gig.

удача!

Past Russia Chow Down to Eurovision: 

2014 Garlic Tongue

2013 Vodka Babushka

Chow Down to Eurovision 2014 - Poland

Dobry wieczór, after a 2 year absence from Eurovision this is Poland calling.

This is Poland's first entry in Chow Down to Eurovision, so please let's make them feel welcome.

The inspiration for this entry came after listening to a talk by the amazingly brilliant Magda Szubanski on reclaiming fear. (It's a must listen)

During the talk Magda speaks of family history in Poland so of course while tweeting her it was magnificent, I had to ask her for a Chow Down to Eurovision Dish! (never miss a trick)

If you don't follow her on twitter yet, you most certainly should! @MagdaSzubanski She is one of the world's good guys and I'm very thankful for her suggestion though she may not recognised the final dish. (Did I avoid crazed fan territory? I tried so hard)

 

I have played around with the idea of the pierogi and it became almost like a porcini potato gem, the best of Poland and Australia.

 

Continuing today's Magdalena theme, Magdalena Tul sang Jestem for Poland in 2011 and while it has a touch of the single ladies about it, she came last in the Semi Final.

 

Perhaps next year they could send Magda Szubanski for guaranteed douze points
(I'm calling shot gun on back ups ok?)

 

Like languages with multiple dialects there seems to be endless variations of this soup, some that are allowed to infuse for days and even ferment.

 

My homage is  perfect for when you need a super changed hit of vegetables, ok so the gems are deep fried, but think of the antioxidants!

 

Polish Beetroot Soup with Porcini Potato "Gems"

Ingredients

• 3 beetroots
• 1 parsnip
• 1 swede
• 1 turnip
• 2 brown onions
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery stalks, with leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp. peppercorns
• 5 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 bay leaves
• Big pinch of salt

Gem ingredients (about 15 gems)

• 2-3 potatoes boiled, cooled
• 50g dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 egg
• 3-4 tbs. fine semolina flour
• Panko breadcrumbs
• oil to fry
• Salt and pepper

Method

• Add beetroot to a baking dish, splash with olive oil and salt and cover with foil
• Roast in a 160°C oven for about 1 hour till tender
• Make the stock in a heavy based pot.
• The stock will be strained so the vegetables can be quartered and added whole
• Heat a splash of oil to coat the vegetables and brown for about 2 minutes
• Cover with boiling water and simmer for 2-3 hours (can be left overnight to develop)
• Strain the stock
• When the beetroots are cool, cut into fine strips (remember one man's fine is another man's chunky so don't stress, just cut)
• Add beetroot back to stock, the colour will be a brilliant purple
• Heat slowly
• Season to taste
• Serve topped with parsley or herbs of your choice, mine is a bit light on herbs due to my love of purple, I don't want to cover any of it up!

 

To make the gems

• Cover the mushrooms in cold water, let sit for 30 minutes
• Pass the cooked cooled potatoes through a ricer (medium holes)
• Drain the mushrooms and roughly chop (liquid can join the soup or be saved for later)
• Add egg, mushrooms, pinch of salt/pepper and flour
• Gently combine, the lighter the touch the lighter the gem
• Shape into desired shape and coat in breadcrumbs
• Deep fry in hot oil for 1-2 minutes
• If not too big they will float when ready like gnocchi

Donatan & Cleo will shake what their mama's gave them in My Słowianie - We Are Slavic, a touch of the not single for long ladies!

Will they twerk their way into the final?

Powodzenia!

Don't be livered it's only mushroom

Many years ago when I was at uni, (just turned 18) I had a vegetarian coming for dinner. It was my very first vegetarian ever, what would they eat? What would we talk about? What would I wear? And would I need to give them a bath before dinner just so the other guests wouldn't be sick from the smell? OK the last point may be been a little dramatic but a meal without meat that was unheard of, what was I going to do?  

I thought OK a salad, that's vegetables, but every salad I knew was coated in a fairly decent amount of crispy bacon. There was a split second where I thought of using a can of meat substitute, but that looked remarkably like a can of Pal dog food.

In the end I found a recipe for a Chinese vegetable soup, that had fried rice squares that when added to the serving bowl hissed and sizzled for theatrical effect. That was our winner, perfect!

I spent the good part of the day in the kitchen preparing the soup. The rice needed to be cooked and shaped in a tray and then cut to size. There were also some ultra exotic vegetables involved that were a bit pricey but this was a special occasion, bok choy, oh how times have changed.

After the, what seemed like hours of finely julienning vegetables, making sure the flavours were right, and even testing the rice for appropriate sizzle, my friend arrived. (no bath was required in the enjoyment of this meal)

My friend loved the soup, the rice block spectacle was a hit and she was really appreciative for all the effort I had made.

Then things took a turn for the worse.

She said "this is so delicious, what stock did you use?" I replied "oh just a chicken stock powder, it's only a powder so doesn't have meat in it"

She requested to see the packet and low and behold 8% chicken meat and fat.

I thought I had done so well but one little naive error scored me a lecture about the poor bloody little chickens. The fact she loved the other 92% should have counted for something, normally that is a great pass mark. Well that was dinner over, and I can't remember if I had a dessert or pretended there was none just to end the evening.

So naturally I am a little more skilled when it comes to vegetarian cooking now, let me tell you about that time I cooked for a vegan........!

After the recent accusation of my "hoity toityness", I have developed a strong allergy to the highfalutin so I can guarantee this recipe is 100% Falutin free. 

Mushroom Pate on Witlof

Ingredients

• 500g mixed mushrooms, (Portobello, Swiss Brown, button, the mix is up to you)
• 5 french shallots
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar or verjuice
• 5 sprigs of thyme
• 100g walnut crumbs
• 3-4 witlof
• 150g feta crumbled
• Olive oil

Method

• Chop mushrooms into 1/2 cm pieces
• Finely chop the shallots and garlic
• Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil to a hot fry pan
• Add the shallots and garlic and cook to soften
• Add the mushrooms and stir to ensure they are coated in the oil
• Add the vinegar or verjuice.
• Lower the temperature and let the mushrooms cook down
• Add the thyme leaves and season to taste (remembering the feta will also add some salt)
• When the mushrooms have cooked down, take off the heat and stir through the walnuts
• Let cool in the fridge
• Separate the witlof into individual leaves
• Fill the witlof leaves with the mushroom mix and sprinkle with some feta.