Piroshki - a Christmas tradition

There are two foods that I have always remembered eating over Christmas. One is sausage rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning, and the other is piroshki. Originating from Russia, these little savoury treats were introduced to our family by a Latvian friend of my mother's, who she first met in the early 1980s when studying textiles at Strathfield Tafe. They have been a family favourite ever since.

Mushroom, bacon and onion filled piroshki. It's hard to stop at just 1. or 2. or 5. 

I don't know how they came to be a Christmas tradition, but I suspect the first time mum had them was Christmas. Making these has been a bit of a tradition too. They are quite simple, but VERY TIME CONSUMING! So we have all had to make a few to help.

Sadly this year mum wasn't involved in making them as she unexpectedly passed away in August. So I was on my own. In a kitchen I have rarely cooked in since I left home aged 17. With a few helpful comments from dad {but not actual get-the-hands-dirty help}.

However I KNOW she would have been watching and laughing at me, especially when I ended up covered in flour, and with sticky dough bits all over the kitchen. And when I struggled to make little round balls of filled dough - most of mine have leakages. Oh well. They still taste just like I remembered. The test will be when the rest of the family taste them too! In about 10 minutes. Eek!

The hardest part of this was actually finding the recipe - I knew it was on a very yellowed scrap of paper, but the mystery was where! Luckily I found mum's recipe folder, and there it was - covered in much flour and oil stains (and yes, it's now been scanned and copied)!

As we eat these as part of many meals over Christmas and usually have hordes of people popping in, I made double the quantity. They also freeze well and just need about 5 minutes in the oven at about 180c to reheat.

Ingredients - dough
11g dry yeast (or two sachets)
2 1/2 tbs sugar
3 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cup milk
125g butter
2 tbs salt
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
beaten egg to glaze

Ingredients - filling
olive oil
3 large onions, finely chopped
250g bacon, finely chopped
250g mushrooms, finely chopped
fresh ground black pepper

Method
Combine the yeast, 1/2 tbs sugar and 1/4 cup milk in a small bowl, stir and leave for about 10 minutes so it can react, become frothy and rise. {I didn't have scales OR any measuring spoons so had to guesstimate the amount! I was a bit worried I had under-estimated so added a bit extra. THAT was unnecessary! But it turned out OK. Phew!}

My frothy, yeasty mix. This continued rising to almost over the bowl!

Heat the butter, salt and remaining milk and sugar in a saucepan until it's lukewarm. Stir occasionally. {I overheated mine and then promptly burnt my hand when I started kneading it all in a later step. D'oh!}.

Butter, milk, sugar and salt - DON'T LET IT OVERHEAT!

Place the flour in a large bowl and make a well. When the milk and butter mix is ready {and not too hot!}, add it, the yeasty mixture and the egg yolk. Stir it with a wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated. Knead it with your hands for about 3 minutes until it's smooth and elastic - note that it will be very sticky and this is how it is meant to be. Sprinkle some flour on top, cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave it in a warm-ish spot to rise, for about an hour.

This was my dough before it rose. It rose to the top of the bowl.

While the dough is rising, heat a large frypan with a tablespoon or so of olive oil, add the onion and gently fry until clear (3-4 minutes). Add the bacon and mushroom and cook through (about 5-8 minutes). Once this is cooked, let the mixture cool.

This is where I realised I had miscalculated the time as it was 4pm and we were going to a Christmas party and needed to leave at 5pm! Eek! I left the dough to keep rising and when I came home I popped it in the fridge for it to rest overnight. On the plus side, this made it a bit less sticky when I came to use it the next day. I also put the filling mixture in another container and kept it in the fridge overnight.

So the NEXT day I did this bit.

Heat the oven to very hot - about 230c (or 450f).

Crack the egg into a small bowl and mix together - this is the egg wash for brushing over the piroshki before baking.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface {I just used the kitchen bench - easy to clean after!}. Knead it lightly until it comes together. Because it was still quite sticky I used a bit of flour on my hands too.

Lightly kneaded dough

Get the filling mix and give it a bit of a stir.

With the dough, tear off pieces that are a bit smaller than a golf ball and flatten it out on the bench. Add a teaspoon of filling to the middle of the dough and roll it up. In theory it should look like a ball. In practice this didn't really happen.

Squashed dough with filling in the middle, before it was rolled up

Place them on baking trays lined with baking paper (or similar) so they don't stick. Leave them for about 10-15 minutes to rise a bit more, then brush with the egg wash. Place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden.

Yeah, yeah, they are not all round. But they still taste the same!

CAUTION - the filling takes longer to cool down that the outside once they are out of the oven {Yes, I was impatient. Yes, I burnt a few tastebuds. Yes, I RACED to get a cold glass of water. No, I doubt I learned from that moment of greed. It's the once a year piroshki after all!}. 

Et voila. YUM. 

Making these piroshki was a bit of a comedy of errors {if you were following me on twitter you would have felt my horror at finding the HUGE weevil at the BOTTOM of the bag of JUST PURCHASED flour immediately AFTER I had added the wet ingredients}. 

Sorry loved ones who have just read this after eating. Think of the extra protein {smiles}. 

Do you have any Christmas traditions? I'd love to hear them! 

{And yes, I'll post a sausage roll recipe too!}

UK culinary genius Heston Blumenthal is coming to the Goldie!

In today's exciting food news, UK culinary genius Heston Blumenthal is coming to Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast - 18-20 March 2011. 

Heston Blumenthal

Heston will host In Conversation with Heston Blumenthal - an exclusive weekend event that offers participants an insight into the unique philosophies of one of the world’s most intriguing chefs.

If you have ever watched any of his TV shows, been to his restaurant The Fat Duck {and LUCKY YOU if you have!}, or read his book, you'll know he has made his name blowing up, reducing, foaming, freezing, deconstructing and reconstructing what was once mostly normal food. 

According to the media release, a special feature of the weekend will be the “Evolution of Taste” sessions where Blumenthal will be sharing his unique philosophy and approach to cooking, exploring taste and flavour, and his passion for the multi-sensory experience of eating and drinking, supported by extraordinary photographic images, and clips from his renowned television shows.

Another highlight will give participants the chance to get-up-close-and-personal with Blumenthal when he hosts a dinner on the Saturday night joining his guests at their tables instead of cooking.”

Tix are $3,750 per couple, and in case all that food is too much for you, it also includes a round of golf! 

For info and to book contact Events Worldwide on 1300 788 666 or visit www.events.com.au. 

I'd love to go - does anyone want to sponsor me?? Pretty please? 

Speedy asparagus tart

I was making sausage rolls on the weekend (yes, those lamb ones for those of you sampled them!) and found myself with 1 leftover sheet of puff pastry. I really didn't want to throw it out, so I had a quick forage in the fridge to see what else needed to be used up.

A few other bits and pieces later - the remnants of a container of ricotta, a couple of eggs almost at their best before date, a scrap of parmesan, a few cherry tomatoes and some gorgeous asparagus - and I had the makings of an easy-peasy tart.

Not my greatest photo - but you get the general gist of it!

Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
3 eggs
1/2 to 1 cup of ricotta (I think I had something in between)
about 20g grated parmesan
1 bunch of asparagus - ends snapped off, rinsed
6 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180c.

Place the puff pastry into a quiche or pie or flan dish - I used a long one that had a removable base. I needed to cut the pastry sheet to fit.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs, ricotta, parmesan, salt and pepper. Pour into the pastry (it won't look like a lot, but it will puff up when cooking).

Arrange the asparagus and cherry tomatoes on the eggy mixture.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Leave in the dish to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. You could serve it with a salad for a light lunch or dinner.

Option - to make the pastry base flakier you could pre-bake the pastry for 10-15 minutes. Cool slightly, then push the base down before you add the egg mixture. I was hungry so didn't bother pre-cooking the pastry, but the base pastry was a bit doughy. Next time I'll try not to be so impatient!

Do you have any "use up the leftovers" tricks?

Pulled pork - Mexican style

This is a dish I have been hankering for since seeing pulled pork at a food truck in San Francisco in October. Which I didn't try as I had already scoffed too many other foods that night. And which I was rather annoyed about as the smells were just lip-smacking!

This version is very different as it has Mexican flavourings and not the southern BBQ I desired in San Francisco. That version will be made for another post. When we've finished eating the mound of pulled pork still in the fridge. mmmmm

The only problem with this dish (and it's really NOT a problem if you are organised) is that it takes about 8 hours to cook. And that is only a problem if you are a) impatient and b) have a serious, uncontrollable, need-it-NOW craving.

What you need:

• vegetable oil - I use grapeseed or ricebran
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced or chopped
• 2 kg boneless piece of pork (I used boneless pork leg), skin and excess fat removed
• 3 tsp smokey paprika
• 4 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp dried coriander (you could also use a handful of fresh, but I had dried that was bought in error and I wanted to use it up)
• 4 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce, and 2 tsps of sauce (chipotle chilis are what make the flavour of this dish so try and get them. Many good gourmet food stores will sell small tins of them)
• 1 cup water

What to do:

Turn on the oven and heat it to about 140c. 

Heat the oil in an oven proof pot that has a lid (I used a Le Crueset casserole pot) and fry the onion and garlic on a low heat until soft (about 3-4 minutes). 

Saute onions and garlic

While the onion and garlic are cooking, mix together the paprika, cumin, salt and coriander. Make deep cuts into the pork (not all the way through) and rub the spice mix all over the pork and into the cuts. Rub on both sides. Place the pork into the casserole dish and brown it on both sides (about 1-2 minutes on each side). 

Pork rubbed with spice mix, in the casserole dish

Add the water and chopped up chipotle chilis, cover with the lid and bring it to the boil. Once boiling place in the oven and let it cook for about 6-8 hours. Check it every hour or so, and turn the pork over at about the 3 hour mark. This can also be cooked in a crockpot, I just don't have one! 

I've just been flicking through Donna Hay's latest book. It's pretty obvious that her "cooked" shots are not actually in the pot the dish was cooked in. They look waaay too pristine! Anyway, this is the cooked pork. You can see from the waterline that the liquid has reduced, which is what you want it to do. 

Once the pork is cooked, you should be able to pull it apart with two forks - which is why it's called pulled pork :) 

Pulled pork - this took about 15 seconds as it just fell apart as soon as the fork went near it!

Once this has been done, I normally let it cool then pop it in the fridge overnight to let the flavours develop. It can be eaten the day it's made, but it tastes a LOT better 2-3 days later. 

I served it with homemade corn tortillas (but you can buy your own from the store if that's easier - but they taste SO MUCH BETTER if you make them). 

Making the corn tortillas was SO EASY. And a HUGE thanks to Natascha Mirosch for blogging this on her blog Degustation which gave me my inspiration. 

I bought a tortilla press and masa flour (I bought it from Pennisi's Fine Food in Brisbane, but other good providores should have it too). Masa flour is corn flour, so great for coeliacs. Follow the directions on the flour - mix 2 cups of flour with 1/4 tsp salt and 1 1/4 cups of water. Roll into 16 golf ball sized balls, and squish each one in the tortilla press. My 10 yo step son did this bit. Cook in a fry pan with no oil until brown and a bit puffy, then turn to cook the other side. Serve warm. 

Tortillas rolled into little golf-ball sized balls

I used Glad Bake so the tortillas wouldn't stick to the press.

Using this press (which cost me $35) was so much easier and quicker than using a rolling pin.

Brown in a non stick fry pan. Mine is big so I can do 3-4 at once which made it a lot quicker

The finished product - these can stay warm by covering with foil and placing in the oven on a low heat. They taste pretty yuk when they are cold, but delish when warm. 

I served the pork with the tortillas, a quickly pan-fried mix of sliced red capsicum and red onion, guacamole and salad of black beans, corn, red pepper, red onion, cherry tomatoes from the garden, coriander, squeeze of lime and splash of olive oil. 

My tomatoes! Am proud of these even though I did nothing to grow them! They just appeared thanks to the wonders of our compost. 

Pulled pork

Red capsicum with red onion, quickly cooked in the pan I cooked the tortillas in. As the pan was still hot, I added a tablespoon of olive oil, the veggies, and it was cooked in about 2 minutes. 

This is one of my favourite salads. I LOVE black beans but they are a bit of a drama in Australia as I have to buy them dried, soak them, cook them, then freeze them in ziplock bags until I want them. Well worth the monthly cookup.

Bean and corn salad

Finally, EAT! 

When serving I also added some store-bought green chilli sauce for extra flavour (you could also use Tabasco). 

A big thanks to Julia Birks (who was a lunch guest) who took a few of the photos and who reminded me I needed to get the final shot before we ate it all! And for providing a few boutique wines. 

I also made a baked chicken dish for this meal - but that's another blog post.