Wild Mushroom Soup and Varenyky

I realized that the last "recipe" I posted for Varenyky would leave most people at a loss of where to start. So last night we made varenyky and served it with a Wild Mushroom soup. I started the recipe making as many potatoes as when I first learned the dish and increased the amount of dough in hopes that it would be enough to use up all the filling. We ended up with leftover filling (which we plan to pan fry for breakfast). The recipe that follows should get you close to equal amounts of dough and filling. Keep in mind that you can also be creative with the fillings. Spinach and cheese filling would be delicious. I tried a sweet potato, asiago cheese, and Italian sausage filling that was very tasty. The recipe that follows is more traditional, minus the addition of dill. My friend had used feta cheese in hers, but my sister-in-law is lactose intolerant, so we omitted that and added more salt. My brother helped stuff the dumplings. He had plenty opportunity to taste test the filling, since he was licking excess filling off his fingers. It's a good thing we're all family here.

Varenyky with Potato Filling

4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
3 large onions, two finely chopped and one halved and sliced into thin half moons
1/2 c olive oil
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp dill weed
2 c whole wheat flour
1 c unbleached white flour
1 c water (approximate)
sour cream (for serving)

Place potatoes in a pot filled with water and boil until tender.
While potatoes are boiling, heat 1/4 c olive oil in a saute pan.
Add the two chopped onions to the oil and fry until they start to brown.
Remove onions from the heat.
When potatoes are tender (fork inserts easily into them), drain well and place in a mixing bowl.
Use a potato masher or ricer to mash the potatoes well (you don't want any large chunks).
Add sauteed onions with oil to the potatoes.
Add ground black pepper, salt and dill and mix well.
Set aside.
Place flours in a wide, shallow mixing bowl.
Add water a little at a time, mixing well with your hands.
Once dough becomes a ball, begin kneading the dough and adding water as needed.
You should knead the dough five to ten minutes so that it is uniform on consistency. The finished dough should be slightly tacky, but not sticky.
Take a portion of the dough and roll into a 1 to 1 1/2 inch log.
Cut pieces from the log about the size of a large marble and roll into a ball.
Use your fingertips to press the dough into a circle, starting with the center of the ball and slowly working out to the edges.
The dough circle should end up covering the palm of your hand and should not be so thin as to see through it.
Place a heaping teaspoon of filling into the center of the dough. You can fill more or less depending on the size of your circle.
Fold the dough over the filling and, starting with the center of the half moon, press edges firmly together. Edges should be sealed well.
Place prepared varenyky onto a place dusted with flour.
Once you have a layer of varenyky, dust with flour and continue piling the varenyky. Dust with flour between all layers so that they do not stick together.
When you are nearly done filling the varenyky, fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
To cook the varenyky, add enough varenyky to the boiling water so that they do not overlap. Stir once.
Once the varenyky float to the top of the water, cook for 60 seconds longer.
Remove the varenyky from the water with a slotted spoon and place in a serving bowl.
While second batch of varenyky are boiling, heat the remaining olive oil in a pan.
Add the sliced onion and saute until starting to brown.
Pour some of this over the already cooked varenyky.
As each batch of varenyky goes into the serving bowl, pour a little more of the oil and onion over the top.
Serve warm with sour cream.

As we wanted to have a vegetable with our dumplings last night, my sister-in-law and I decided to make a mushroom soup. As I was making dinner, this posed a welcome challenge to me. I admittedly use a lot of dairy. My typical fat of choice is butter. In my favorite mushroom soup recipe, you fry the onions in butter and add half and half for a creamy texture. This would have left my sister-in-law in quite a bit of pain, so I needed to make a flavorful broth based soup. I knew that my typical recipe, which only uses portabella mushrooms, would have lacked in depth. So when we went shopping we bought fresh portabella and shitake mushrooms and a small package of dried porcini mushrooms. I used the water in which the porcini mushrooms were reconstituted as the broth for the soup. If I had thought enough in advance, I would have made the soup as it reads below. As it was, I forgot that I would not be using the stems from the portabella and shitake mushrooms. So, they are sitting in the refrigerator to be used in a future mushroom broth.

Wild Mushroom Soup

1 package dried porcini mushrooms
3 large portabella mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed and caps chopped
1 6oz package shitake mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed and caps chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, finely diced
2 tbsp onion, finely diced
2 c reserved mushroom broth
2 c water
1/2 tsp chicken better than bouillon
salt and pepper to taste

Bring 3 c water to a boil in a medium soup pot.
Place portabella and shitake mushroom stems in cheese cloth and tie shut.
When water comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and add the porcini mushrooms and the cheese cloth package.
Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until porcini mushrooms are tender.
Remove cheese cloth package.
Place a strainer over a liquid measuring cup and drain porcini mushrooms, reserving 2 cups of the broth (or more if you'd like).
Make sure soup pot is dry and place over a medium heat.
Add olive oil to pot to heat.
Add shallots and onions, cooking slowly until translucent (reduce heat if necessary).
Add portabella and shitake mushroom caps, sprinkle with salt and cook until mushrooms are tender.
Chop porcini mushrooms and add to the pot.
Add reserved mushroom broth, water, bouillon, and salt and pepper.
Simmer for 20 minutes and serve hot.

Varenyky (Ukrainian Dumplings)

This past summer, while in the New York area for work, I visited a great Ukrainian cafe with some colleagues of mine. The borscht was delicious, but I fell in love with the varenyky, or dumplings. The cafe had a wide variety of fillings, some traditional and some not. One of my colleagues is from Ukraine and graciously offered to teach me how to make them. It's quite simple, even without measurements. Like all good home cooked food, this is a recipe of approximation. Relax and have fun with it! This recipe is not traditional because my friend adapted it to her and her Greek husband's own tastes.

flour
water
potatoes
onion
olive oil
feta cheese
salt
pepper
dill weed

In a mixing bowl, place enough flour for the amount of potatoes you plan to make. (perhaps 2 cups) Add water slowly, mixing and kneading the dough until it is slightly sticky and the consistency of pizza dough. Set aside. Peel and quarter four to six potatoes. Place in a pan, cover with water, and boil until tender. While potatoes are boiling, chop one to two onions finely. Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a saute pan add the onions. Cook onions until they begin to brown and remove from heat. Once potatoes are tender, drain and use a potato ricer to mash. Add the onions (with the oil) and feta cheese, salt, pepper and dill weed to taste. Mix thoroughly. Take a portion of the dough and roll into a log until the diameter of a quarter. Cut off pieces of dough about 1 1/2 inches long and roll into a ball. Use your fingers to press into a circle of dough. (It should be thin, but not so thin that you can see through it.) Place enough filling so that the dumpling is plump, but you can still seal it. Press the edges firmly together into a half moon shape. Set aside and continue until all the dough or all of the filling is used up. You might need to flour the dumplings so that they do not stick together before cooking. Once all dumplings are assembled, fill a stock pot with water and bring to a boil. Add dumplings one at a time until the bottom is covered with only a single layer of dumplings. Stir once and let boil. While first batch is boiling, chop another onion. Heat a generous amount of oil in a pan, then saute onion until it starts to brown. Once dumplings float to the top, cook another 60 seconds, then remove from pot with slotted spoon. Place in a serving bowl. Pour a little of the onion and oil on the dumplings. Continue to boil dumplings in small batches. Once all dumplings are cooked, serve hot with sour cream.

Black Bean Stew with Cornbread Dumplings Served Over Collard Greens

It is so rare for my fabricated recipes to turn out near to perfect. Typically I develop something in my mind and, once made, find multiple ways in which I might tweak the recipe to perfect the flavors and texture. Tonight, I nearly nailed my imagined meal on the head. It's so close to perfect, it seems like it should have taken much more work.

My inspiration for this meal:
Healthy eating in Brazil
A craving for black beans, possibly in soup form

As I developed in my mind, this recipe started as a very liquid black bean soup with collard greens, similar to the kale in Zuppa Tuscana at Olive Garden. Then I thought, "What about some dumplings?" Thus the idea to make cornbread dumplings. I also thought some canned pimentos might be a nice color and flavor addition to the soup. Imagine it, a black soup with bits of bright green and red popping up here and there.

In the making, I added as I went, pulling from some Puerto Rican flavors, Southern flavors, and cooking methods I have already adapted. The result was a flavorful, but not oppressive, black bean stew with savory cornbread dumplings floating on top. I spooned this over collard greens that I cook enough to soften, but not turn to complete mush. I appreciate greens with a little bit of body left to them. It makes the texture so much more appealing. The only adjustment I might make in the future would be to add a tablespoon of sugar to the cornbread dumplings to create an interesting blend of savory and sweet.

Black Bean Stew with Cornbread Dumplings Served Over Collard Greens

Black Bean Stew
2 tbsp oil
1 jalapeno, seeded and sliced into thin half-moons
1/4 c chopped onion
1/2 a canned pimento, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thin
pinch of ground cumin
pinch of dried oregano
2 cans black beans, undrained
1 1/2 cans water
1 tsp chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp sazon (red flavor packets used in Puerto Rican cooking)
1/2 tsp adobo

Cornbread Dumplings
1 c flour
3/4 c cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar, optional
3 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 c milk

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.
Add jalapeno and onion, cooking until soft.
Add garlic, pimento, cumin, and oregano, cooking until garlic is soft and mixture is aromatic.
Add black beans, water, chicken bouillon, sazon, and adobo.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
While stew is simmering, mix together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
Cut in butter until in small pieces like coarse meal.
Stir in milk, just until moistened. Do not over stir.
Make sure stew is only simmering, if it is boiling, reduce heat until it is simmering.
Drop in all of the dumpling dough in rounded tablespoon measures, evenly distributing over the surface of the stew.
Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
Cover and simmer 10 more minutes.
Spoon stew and dumplings over collard greens.

Collard Greens

1 tbsp oil
1/4 c onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 a canned pimento, chopped
1 large bunch collard greens, stemmed, sliced into 1/2 in strips and washed well

Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat.
Add onion and cook until soft.
Add garlic and pimento and cook until garlic is soft.
Add collard greens and cover, stirring occasionally.
Cook until greens are soft, but not mushy.