Rumbledethumps, Hungarian Mushroom Soup, No Knead Bread, Spaghetti Squash Puttanesca

Rumbledethumps
Potatoes, cabbage and onion -- in one form or another -- are a classic main or side dish in the UK -- Bubble & Squeak, Irish Colcannon, and this dish.  Rumbledethumps comes from the Scottish Borders and has the added advantage of cheese (always a good thing).

                               

2 lbs Potatoes, or mixed Potatoes & Turnips or Swedes (rutabaga)
10-12 oz chopped Cabbage
1/2 large Sweet White Onion, chopped
Optional --  1/2 cup diced carrots or whatchagot leftover vegetables
Butter or Sour Cream or Skyr to make mashed potatoes
1/2 tsp Mace or Nutmeg
Sharp Cheddar for topping

Cook the potatoes and cabbage separately -- boiling is traditional, but the microwave with a splash of water in the bowl does a good job too.  I like to leave the peels on the potatoes/turnips -- that's where a lot of the nutrients are.   Red potatoes with the peel on also add a bit of color to the dish.  A dash of salt & pepper will not go amiss here.

Make sure you don't over cook the potatoes, turnips and cabbage.  You don't want them mushy.  Keeping them al dente gives you a much more satisfying mouth feel.

Saute the onion until it starts to caramelize.

Mash the potatoes with a bit of butter or sour cream.  Dust with the mace, then fold in the cooked cabbage and onion. 

Transfer to a baking dish, top with the cheese, and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes.  Dish it out and serve with a splash of hot sauce if you like.

If you're lucky you'll have some leftovers which can be flattened and fried on the bottom as a cheesy potato cake!

Hungarian Mushroom Soup
We got a pound of huge beautiful whole mushrooms in our Co-Op box this week, and that means Mushroom Soup for supper!  This time I'm trying a Hungarian version of the classic soup.   This really turned out GREAT -- will be making this one over and over again!

1 lb Mushrooms, chopped
4 cups Broth with Mushroom Powder
1 Tbsp Paprika -- Hungarian, of course; 1/2T of sweet and 1/2T of smokey
1 large Onion diced
Carrots
Sour Cream or Skyr or Cashew Cream
Optional: chopped Dill and/or Parsley to garnish

Saute the mushrooms hot and fast for a couple minutes to bring out the flavors.  Transfer to your soup pot and saute the onions and carrots likewise.  

With everything in your soup pot, add the broth and spices, bring to a boil, then simmer 30 minutes or so to marry all the flavors.  To thicken you can add fine bread crumbs, a cornstarch slurry, Bistotm Gravy Crystals, or Wondratm.  I used some fine breadcrumbs I sliced and ground from the butt of my last piece of whole wheat Irish Soda Bread.

Before serving, garnish each bowl with chopped greens if you like,  and add a dollop of your cream of choice. 

I made a dilled Cashew Cream from 3/4 cup raw cashews, 1/2 cup water, 1 tbsp lemon juice, and some fresh dill tossed in the food processor while I took the nuts and liquid for a long spin (5 minutes or more) to make a smooth concoction. 

No Knead Bread!
This is absolutely the BEST BREAD I've ever made!  It's been awhile since I posted this, and it pairs so well with soup, so this is the perfect occasion.   I'm making this as a sandwich loaf, but if you make this as a low-wide round (or even square) foccacia you can even bake it in your toaster oven!  The recipe comes from No Need To Knead: Handmade Artisan Breads  by Suzanne Dunaway, which  I picked up on Kindle for $2.99 about a year ago.  I've made this recipe often and it's been successful every time!

2 cups warm Water
1 packet (2 tsp) Active Dry Yeast
4 cups AP or Bread Flour
1-2 tsp Salt
Olive Oil for brushing
Rosemary (fresh or dried) for flavor, to taste

Bloom the yeast in the warm water for 10 minutes or so while you measure the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and get everything else together.  

Stir the salt into the flour.  I put a couple teaspoons of dried rosemary in the dough too.  Make a well and add half the yeast-water, stir with a large spoon to start combining.  Then add the remaining yeast-water and stir for about 4 minutes to incorporate all the flour and create a "shaggy" dough that just pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

You can make this bread "same-day" or "next-day".    For same-day, cover the bowl and tuck it in a warm place (75F or more) to rise for 45-60 minutes, until doubled.  For next-day, cover and stash in your refrigerator over night where it will rise slower but gain more flavor.  

Scrape the risen dough into a greased or sprayed 5x9" loaf pan or 9-10" round cake pan and let it rest another 20 minutes or so to rise again.  If using the next-day version, bring the dough to room temp for at least 2 hours before transferring to the baking tin. 

Brush the surface with EVOO and dust with rosemary.  Bake in a pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes for Focaccia,  or 45-60 minutes for Sandwich Loaf -- until the internal temperature is 190-220F.  

Sphagetti Squash Puttanesca
Here's another oldie but goodie.  I originally made these as  "boats" and filled the seed cavity with ordinary commercial pasta sauce.  That was 20+ years go before I started making my own sauces.   

Halve the squash and scoop out the seeds.  You can roast the squash for 20-30 minutes at 400F until the shells get soft.  Or nuke them in the microwave for 6-10 minutes.  The use a fork to rake the strings of 'spaghetti out.

Puttanesca is  "working girl's" sauce.  Quick and easy to make, after a hard day's or night's work, from whatever is at hand, not slow simmered for hours like an Italian housewife or grandma would make.  For two people (1 spaghetti squash) you'll want to make about 3 cups of sauce.

It starts with tomatoes, of course, as do many Italian sauces.  Today we can use cans of crushed, pureed, chopped, diced or even whole, fresh tomatoes chopped up and added to a pot.  Then add whatever vegetables are handy in the fridge:  chopped mushrooms, diced carrot, onion, bell pepper, pitted kalamata olives, garlic, celery,  capers, pepperoncini if you like a bit of heat... you get the idea.  For an authentic puttanesca you'll want to add a couple of anchovies, of course.   Spices, of course -- basil first, then some red pepper flakes, and an Italian blend or individual spices to taste.  Bring it all to boil and cook for 15 or 20 minutes to marry the flavors.  Add some bread crumbs if you want to thicken it up a bit. 

Top your spaghetti squash with sauce and dig in!