Cuisine: Creamy Mushroom Soup

I racked my brain for what kind of cuisine to make for The S. Kitchen presents...Sing for Your Supper as we were supposed to make food inspired by music. So I thought I should probably start with picking the music and then the food. After a couple of weeks spinning different cds and shuffling of my ipod, I settled on German music, and not the German music of yesteryear. No, I wanted the pop/rock German music of Kraftwerk and Nena Hagen and Marlene Deitrich.

Then, I wandered around German food blogs. Having recently traveled to Berlin to visit my dear friend Dan, I knew that there would be an additional challenge to this cuisine: how to stay true to the German palate, which is incredibly dull, while bringing in a little kick, which I have to have in all my food. I ended up making a mushroom gravy called Scwammerl Soße. I made it exactly as the recipe was written. It turned out good, but I wanted it to be better.

Then, I crafted this recipe. Needless to say, there wasn't a single drop left.

***
You Will Need:
4 TBSP butter
2 onions, finely diced
2 lbs fresh mushrooms
1/2 tsp bittersweet paprika
1/4 tsp hot paprika
1/4 tsp lemon zest
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fine ground pepper
3 cups water
2 cups cream
3/4 cup flour
vegetable base to taste

What To Do:
Wash and quarter the mushrooms. Put the quartered mushrooms into a food processor and pulse until the are finely diced. Melt the butter in a dutch oven. Add the mushrooms and onions and fry for 10-15 minutes or until they are releasing their juices and starting to brown.

Combine the cream and the water. Add three cups of this mixture to the mushrooms and onions. Add the paprikas, lemon zest, salt, and fine ground pepper. Cover and cook for about 30 minutes.

Whisk the flour into the remaining cream/water mixture until it is smooth. Cook for about 15 more minutes or until it thickens into the consistency you want. Taste and add vegetable base if needed.

Cuisine: Daphne's Delectable (Mushroom) Galettes RECIPE

Dough
Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 tblsp sugar

12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces

1/3-1/2 cup ice water

Directions:

Mix the flour, salt and sugar together in a bowl. Cut in the butter by hand or using a mixer with a paddle attachment, leaving pea sized chunks. Sprinkle the ice water over the top by the tblsp and toss it with the flour mixture until you can bring the dough into a ball. Press it into a disk ad refrigerate for 15 min if the butter feels soft.

Filling and Assembly
Ingredients:
2 cups mushroom stock
2-3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Red wine
½ cup olive oil
1 large onion cut into ½ inch dice
2 teaspoons minced rosemary
Salt and freshly milled pepper
2 pinches red pepper flakes
1-pound large white mushrooms
½ pound portabella or shitake mushrooms 2 garlic cloves minced
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1-tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons melted butter or beaten egg for the glaze

Directions:
Season stock with a few teaspoons mustard and just enough vinegar to sharpen the flavours. Set aside

Heat 1 tblsp of the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and rosemary and cook over medium heat until the onion is slightly browned, about 12 min. Season with ½ tsp salt, a little pepper, an the red pepper flakes. Remove to a bowl.

Heat half the remaining oil in the same skillet over high heat. Add half the mushrooms and sauté until browned, and then season with salt and pepper. Remove to the bowl with the onions, and then repeat with the remaining mushrooms. Return everything to the pan, add the garlic and tomato paste diluted with a few spoonfuls of the stock. Add a tspn of the vinegar. Add the remaining stock, bring to a boil, and then stir in the butter and the parsley. Cook for 5 min, then drain, reserving the juices.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. roll out the dough for one large or 6 Individual galettes. Then add mushrooms. Loosely fold the dough over the filling and brush it with melted butter or egg. Bake until the crust is browned, about 25 min. Heat any reserved juices and spoon them into mushrooms.

Recipe from Daphne Morgen.