Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Stuffed Butternut Squash With Mushroom And Couscous

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I started the pumpkin season with this stuffed squash recipe and it became one of my favourite autumn main courses. Sweet soft butternut squash with a nice spicy heat from chili and packed with porcini and couscous and other herbs. Yum!

I found the recipe in one of Jamie’s cookbook (Happy Days with the Naked Chef). The dish is really perfect for cold fall and winter days because it warms our heart and soul. 🙂 Jamie made it with rice and pine nuts but I changed these ingredients for couscous and walnuts. The interesting thing is that the rice or couscous cooks in the squash using only the moisture from its flesh.

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Stuffed Butternut Squash With Mushroom And Couscous

Ingredients (serves 4)

– 1,5 kg butternut squash, cut in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds and soft fibres
– 1 small handful dried porcini mushroom
– 1 red onion, finely chopped
– 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
– 5 pieces sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
– 100 g couscous
– 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
– 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
– 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
– 1/2 handful walnuts, very coarsely chopped
– olive oil
– salt, black pepper

Method

In a bowl soak the porcini in 200 ml water for about 5 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200C (392F).

Using a spoon, score and scoop out some extra flesh from the length of the squash. Finely chop this flesh and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a  frying pan and add chopped red onion and garlic. Saute them for a few minutes, then add coriander, chili, rosemary, the chopped butternut squash flesh and the sun-dried tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes until tender. Add the porcini and soaking water, season with salt and black pepper and cook for another 2 minutes. Stir in the couscous and walnuts, then spoon the mixture tightly into the 2 halves of the squash and then press the halves together.

Rub the skin of the squash with olive oil, wrap it in foil, place in a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 1,5-2 hours until the squash is tender.

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Spinach Gorgonzola Strudel With Sesame Seeds From Karin Of Yum And More Blog

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fresh Turkish spinach

Karin and I met two years ago in London at Food Blogger Connect.  We got on well for the first time we started talking. Karin likes talking a lot… and I love listening to her stories for hours. She is lively, friendly and funny. She writes the wonderful blog Yum and More.

Hers she is sharing a delicious struder recipe. Karin says: “I am very excited about doing this guest post on Zita’s wonderful blog Zizi’s Adventures for two reasons: it means that Zita and Ivan’s precious child has arrived into this world and because it is an honor.

I have chosen a simple recipe for spinach gorgonzola strudel with sesame seeds. It is delicious and elegant, a perfect combination of tastes and can be ready within an hour and 15 minutes. Although we never ate spinach when I was a child and I didn’t like it as a teenager I really love it’s versatility now and will buy it fresh whenever I see nice spinach at an acceptable price. I then wash it and shrink it in olive oil as described below and freeze it in portions of around 300 grams about the amount left over from 500 grams of fresh leaves. I prefer Turkish spinach to the local German kind, its stems are longer and the leaves are thinner and don’t leave that thickness on your tongue that some spinaches do. I use spinach in pasta sauce, on quiche or pizza, and in this lovely spinach strudel that makes a perfect light meal for three with a side of tomato or other salad, a dollop of yoghurt. It is also perfect as an appetizer for a larger crowd.”

spinach mound on pastry

Spinach Gorgonzola Strudel With Sesame Seeds

Ingredients

– 270 g puff pastry, rolled into a rectangle
– 120 g ripe Gorgonzola cheese or other blue/green cheese
– 500 g fresh spinach or 300 g cooked spinach leaves
– 6 large mushroom, cleaned and cut into pieces*
– olive oil
– 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
– 1 teaspoon Arrabiata spice mix (a spicy chili based mix used for pasta sauce usually contains: garlic, tomatoes, hot chili, carrots, celery, basil and salt)
– 1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped
– 1/2- 1 clove of chopped garlic, optional to taste
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– flour for dusting while rolling pastry dough
– 1 egg, beaten for egg wash
– plain yoghurt for serving

* You can leave out the mushrooms if you prefer.

Method

If you are using fresh spinach, cut off the stems and wash the leaves 2-3 times until no sand or dirt remains. Spin the leaves in a salad spinner to shake off excess water.

Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Now place all the spinach leaves into the pan at once, squish them in or pile them up, don’t worry they will shrink. Cover with a lid or other top. After 3 minutes lift the top and add some salt, mix and stir gently until all leave have collapsed. Do not overcook you just want the leaves to shrink together. Remove from the heat and put spinach in a colander to let any further water drip off and to cool it.

Cut the Gorgonzola into smaller pieces.

Preheat the oven to 180° C.

Wipe down the pan you used to shrink the spinach and reheat on medium heat with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Put in the chopped shallot, the mushrooms and the garlic if using, stir-fry for 4 minutes lowering the heat so that it doesn’t burn. Squeeze the spinach one last time to remove any excess water, roughly chop it and put it in the pan. Add the Arrabiata mix. Stir the mixture carefully to blend and remove from the heat.

Roll out the dough on baking paper to the size of a baking sheet – use some flour if needed. Place the spinach mixture on the dough carefully making an even mound of it on one end of the long side of the baking sheet. Leave a spinach free rim of dough on either end of the mound. The spinach will still be warm and will make the dough soft so you need to be fast and careful.

Distribute the chunks of Gorgonzola along the spinach and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.

Now roll up the strudel carefully. Start by folding in the short sides and then rolling up the long way. Use the baking paper and a dough scraper for help. The dough will be soft because the spinach is warm.

Turn the strudel over if necessary so the seam is on the bottom, and the strudel in the middle of the baking sheet on the baking paper. Cut two small slit in the top to release steam or make 2 holes and decorate them with pastry cut-outs. Brush the roll with egg wash and bake for 35 minutes until the pastry is done and golden brown.

Serve in slices – use a bread knife to cut the slices – with a dollop of yoghurt and enjoy!

spinach strudel served

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Interview to get to know Karin more…

Where are you from?
K: I am orginally from the United States I was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in New England and in France living with my French Grandmother outside of Paris.

Where do you live?
K: I live in Frankfurt am Main, Germany since 1984 and have lived in Germany since 1977. I really like living in Frankfurt but hope to retire to the United States some day.

What is the name of your blog?
K: Yum and More.

How long have you been blogging?
K: Since September 2010

When did you start cooking/baking?
K: As a child and for my family as a teen.

Who (where) did you learn cooking/baking from?
K: From my Grandmother, my mother and from my own curiousity.

What is your signature dish?
K: My “Leaning Towers of Peaches and Tomatoes”. My lasagna is the most asked for but it is not my personal favorite although delicious. My best dishes definitely contain lemon, tarragon or cilantro, mustard and vinegar and are composed salads or veal dishes such as “blanquette de veau”, my sauces are pretty awesome too.

What is your favorite vegetarian/vegan meal?
K: This strudel or something with fresh peas. I detest green beans!

Where do you get inspiration from?
K: Everywhere! The market, my travels, magazines, blogs, cookbooks…. I soak up inspiration through my eyes and it goes straight to my taste buds and my food inspiration memory.

What was the most memorable food you have eaten during your travels?
K: Definitely whole crab in thick curry sauce on Lankayan Island in Malaysia. I also found Singapore to be an amazing city for food inspiration.

Name three things you always have in your fridge!
K: Mustard, cheese, fresh herbs

Is there a food that always reminds you of home?
K: Lobster, clams, steak and cheesecake

What would people be surprised to find in your kitchen? Is there anything you want to share?
K: I have 30 types of mustard and 15 types of vinegar. I prefer cooking with gas to induction and I love my built-in steamer. My kitchen would not be complete without the frog picture.

Mushroom Bruschetta

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Isn’t this mushroom beautiful? Its name is cloud funnel, a type of wild mushroom. It appears both in conifer-dominated forests and broad-leaved woodland in Europe and North America. When it’s cooked it has a strong, spicy aroma. Mixing with button mushrooms, fresh herbs and lemon juice it gives a tartish ragout. You can use any kind of wild or farmed mushrooms or a combination of both.

This bruschetta is a quick weekday dinner. Use good quality of sourdough bread and it’ll be perfect!

Mushroom Bruschetta
(Recipe: Jamie Oliver – Jamie At Home)

Ingredients (serves 2)

– 300 g mixed mushrooms (I used cloud funnel and button mushroom), wiped clean, sliced
– 2 cloves garlic, chopped
– 2 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
– 6 sprigs of fresh parsley, chopped
– 20 g butter
– 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
– juice of 1 medium lemon
– salt, pepper
– olive oil
– 4 slices of sourdough bread + 1 clove garlic

Method

In a large pan heat 2-3 tablespoons olive oil. Add mushrooms to the pan, give it a shake. Add the chopped garlic, thyme and parsley. Season with salt, pepper, chilli and leave to fry for 5-6 minutes.

Once the mushrooms have got some colour going on, add butter and lemon juice. Toss again and add 2-3 tablespoons of water into the pan to make a creamy sauce. Simmer for 1-2 minutes more until you have a simple sauce.

Toast the bread slices, rub them with garlic. Pile the mushrooms with the sauce on top of the bread.

Serve immediately!

Kale And Mushroom Lasagne

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The recipe comes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall‘s vegetarian cookbook Veg Every Day!. Hugh spent one summer to get to know the vegetables more. He’s come up with an abundance of veg-tastic recipes. I could cook and bake all the recipes from the book. With over 200 recipes and vibrant photography, River Cottage Veg Every Day is a timely eulogy to the glorious green stuff. You can watch the series on  YouTube-on.

This lasagna was a winner. Everyone in my family loved it.

Kale and Mushroom Lasagna

Ingredients (serves 4-5)

For the lasagna
– 300 g kale, tough stalks removed, leaves cut into bite size pieces
– 500 g button mushroom, sliced
– 3 cloves garlic, chopped
– 180-190 g lasagne sheets
– 30 g butter (unsalted)
– 20 g Parmesan, grated
– 2-3 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
– olive oil
– sea salt, pepper

For the béchamel sauce
– 750 ml non-dairy milk (oat, rice, soy, you can substitute with milk)
– 1 onion, chopped
– 1 small root of celery, chopped
– 50 g butter (unsalted)
– 50 g plain flour
– 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
– 1 bay leaf
– a frew black peppercorns
– sea salt

In a pan heat the milk with bay leaf, onion, celery and peppercorns until just below simmering. Remove from the heat and set aside to infuse.

Put the kale leaves into a pan and cover with cold water. Add salt. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Drain well and set aside.

In a large pan heat 30 g butter, add mushroom, some salt and pepper. Cook for 5-10 minutes until the liquid released by the mushroom has evaporated. Stir in garlic and thyme, cook for 2-3 minutes longer. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

Reheat the infused milk slowly, then strain. In a large saucepan heat 50 g butter for the bĂ©chamel sauce. Stir in the flour and cook gently for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add about a quarter of the hot milk and beat vigorously until smooth. Repeat with the remaining milk until you have a smooth sauce. Return to the heat and cook for a few minutes – stirring -, allowing it to bubble until thickened. Stir in the mustard, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Stir about half of the béchamel sauce into the kale, put to one side.

Spread half the remaining sauce over the bottom of a 29*20 cm (11,4 * 7,8 inch) ovenproof dish. Put one layer of lasagna sheets in the dish, then spoon the kale over the top. Add another layer of lasagna, then the mushrooms. Finish with a final layer of pasta and the remaining of béchamel sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan and olive oil and bake at 180C (350F) for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Moroccan Mushroom with Couscous

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I always smile when I think about our Moroccan trip. It has made our journey very exciting from the very  start: two backpacks, two flight tickets, a Lonely Planet guide book and some money – that was all we took. And – of course – the road plan in our head about what we would like to see.

No accommodation bookings, no pre-paid train tickets, nothing.

We had so many adventures during those 12 days. Climbing the Jebel Toubkal (1,5 km vertical distance in 7 hours and 11 km long hiking trip until the refugee house and 11 km back to the village Imlil, the next day) is an experience that will remain with us forever. This was my very first hiking trip and a very difficult one. I brought home two small pebbles from the Atlas mountains, which are still sitting on my computer desk at home and they constantly remind me that if I endured the climbing and hiking I’m able to accomplish everything in life.

I’ve brought you a Moroccan recipe for today that I found on BBC’s GoodFood Healthy Recipes for the iPhone (a very useful app for a food blogger :)).

Moroccan Mushroom with Couscous

Ingredients (serves 4)

– 300 g button mushroom, quartered
– 400 g (1 can) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
– 400 g (1 can) chopped tomatoes, drained but keep the tomato juice
– 1 red onion, chopped
– 1 teaspoon cumin
– 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
– 1 teaspoon honey
– 180 g couscous
– 50 g soft dried apricots, diced
– small handful of parsley, roughly chopped
– salt, pepper
– olive oil

Method

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan and fry the onin for a couple of minutes until softened. Add cinnamon and cumin and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Add the mushrooms, cook for 2 minutes, then stir in the tomatoes, half of the juice of the can tomatoes, chickpeas and honey. Season with salt and pepper, simmer for 7-8 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a pan mix the couscous with the dried apricots, some salt and pepper. Pour over 250 ml boiling water, then cover. Leave to stand for 8-10 minutes or until softened. To serve, fluff up with a fork, stir in the parsley and top with the mushroom mixture. We can pour over the dish with the remaining tomato juice.

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