Mushroom Turnovers & a Busy Weekend

I truly can't believe how quickly this past weekend flew by. I look forward to being able to just relax and veg for a bit and unfortunately this was not one of those weekends. However, it was full of adventures all around that made it all worth it.

Friday night was spent with my baby brother, Jordan, who will very politely and proudly tell you that he is "5 and three quarter years old". We had a sibling sleepover which was full of mac'n'cheese (Mrs. K's recipe) and movies and snuggles all around. Honestly, how cute is he!!??!?

Then, on Saturday morning we headed to Andrew's Scenic Acres to pick out some pumpkins. I learned the hard way that when going to get pumpkins at the patch, bring more than on adult because almost 6 year old children do NOT like to help carry pumpkins. That being said, we did have quite the adventure :)

After our patch adventure, there was some serious pumpkin carving (photos to follow) and then I headed off to the Delicious Food Show at the Better Living Centre in Toronto. I promise there will be an entire post about it within the next few days.

On Sunday, our family got together to remember my Grandfather (my Dido) since it's been a year since he passed away.

Baba, Dido and I in early 1989

We had a lovely lunch together and I whipped up some mushroom turnovers to bring over to Baba's house. I'm sorry to say that I didn't take any process pictures but the end result was delightful.

Here's the quick rundown of how I made them.

• Bring your puff pastry to room temperature (frozen puff pastry makes this RIDICULOUSLY hard to say the least). 
• Slice 1 pint of mushrooms
• Melt 1 tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp of butter in a saute pan and add 1 small onion and 1 clove of finely chopped garlic. Cook on medium heat until softened. Add 1 tsp of fresh thyme leaves. 
• Stir in 3 tbsp of marsala wine and 1 tsp of maple syrup. 
• Add the sliced mushrooms and 1/4 tsp of salt. Saute until the mushrooms are soft and cooked through. 
• Stir in 3 tbsp of heavy (35%) cream and cook until a thick sauce is made. 
• Roll out your puff pastry into a 9 x 13 rectangle. Cut the rectangle into 12 square-ish rectangles. 
• Add one spoonful of filling to the middle and fold the square in half and pinch the edges. 
• Place on a baking sheet and brush with a beaten egg. 
• Bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. 

Ta-Da!

 

Look at the delicious layers of pastry!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and that it was slightly more relaxed than mine.

Happy cooking!

t

Soup? Really? On the HOTTEST day in Toronto?

It's true. Today, of all days, I decided to make soup for dinner. I had bought some beets a couple of weeks ago and didn't use all of them and didn't want them to go bad. So, naturally, the only reasonable thing to do was to make some Borscht! 

For those out of the loop, borscht is an Eastern European soup which is typically made primarily of beets. My maternal grandmother has always made an amazing rendition of this soup for the holidays and it is such a comfort food it's not even funny. I think that's why I was craving it; I guess I was just looking for some comfort on this hotter than an inferno day!

While I'm sure my grandmother would screech at me for not making a fully 'authentic Ukrainian borscht", I have to tell you, I may even be almost as fond of my own version almost as much as my Baba's. My version is adapted from the version in The Joy of Cooking with a few twists.

Begin with 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tsp of olive oil in a soup pan. Heat on medium high heat and add in:

• 3-5 grated carrots (depending on how much soup you want to make and how much carrot you like in your soup), 
• 1 large red onion, chopped and
• 3-4 beets, (previously roasted in a 400 degree oven for an hour while wrapped in tin foil)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup

Stir all ingredients in the pot until the vegetables soften a little bit. It should look something like this.

Add 10 cups of chicken stock and 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. I know what you're thinking... 'why am I putting vinegar in my soup?'. Let me tell you that the vinegar makes all of the difference! Let  the soup simmer for 30 minutes. 

I found that after 30 minutes of simmering that I needed to skim the surface of the soup. This stuff is a little gross but completely normal from the stock. Just skim away and it will be delish! 

After skimming, I let the soup simmer for another 15-20 minutes to soften the veggies up a little more and then served it in a mug with some yummy crusty bread! This is the easiest soup to make and the results are so amazing you won't know how you lived without it.

Happy Cooking! 

tamara