Russian inspired goodness. Creamy Cheese Mushrooms.

In a previous post I wrote about Oleg and my search for this creamy mushroom dish. Think of this as a flavorful creamed mushroom cheese dip. If you make this please do eat this with the Russian farmer's cheese patties (syrniki) or the very least a really fluffy french bread. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of white or crimini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced.

1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin

3 cloves of garlic, minced

*3 cups of shredded cheese (Gouda and mozzarella)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tablespoons of butter

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cup half and half 

1 teaspoon parsley

1 vegetable or chicken bouillon cube

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper 

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper or smoked paprika (your choice)

*Note: You can use a cheese mixture of your choice or all Gouda or all mozzarella.

Directions:

Heat the butter in a skillet on medium high. 

Saute the mushrooms, onions and garlic. 

Add in the half and half, sour cream, salt, pepper, cayenne and bouillon cube.

Bring to a simmer then remove skillet from heat.

Pour mixture into casserole dish or baking pan.

Mix in 2 cups of cheese and parsley. Top with the remaining cheese. Sprinkle on a little more pepper and parsley.Cover baking dish with foil and bake on middle rack at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. 

Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the cheese is toasted brown. 

Russian Syrniki

I previously posted a recipe for Russian Farmer's Cheese (Tvorog) and now I'll post the recipe for Russian Syrniki--this is why I exercised my patience and went through the 15 hour process of making Farmer's Cheese. I've adapted the basic Syrniki recipe to be gluten free but you could easily make it with regular all-purpose flour, just leave out the xanthum gum. Syrniki is a Russian pancake and lots of people will serve them with berries and powered sugar. Some put fruit in the batter. I'm keeping these plain since I'm using a savory mushroom spread and using them as appetizers.

Ingredients (makes about 12 - 4 1/2" pancakes):

2 cups of Farmer's Cheese

4 large eggs
*1 cups gluten-free flour mix

3/4 cup gluten-free flour mix for dredging

3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1 teaspoon xanthum gum or guar guar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
olive oil for pan

*Click on the link for my gluten free mix towards the bottom of the link.

Directions:

In medium mixing bowl combine eggs, sugar, salt, xanthum gum, 1 cup of the flour and 2 cups of Farmer's Cheese and mix.

In a small bowl mix up the baking soda and apple cider vinegar.

Add the soda and vinegar mixture to batter and mix well by hand.

In a clean bowl or plate, add the remaining 3/4 cup of flour. Scoop a large spoonful of batter onto the flour and coat on both sides.

-

As with most gluten-free batters this is sticky. Coat your hands with some of the flour and gently form little round patties. Do this until all of the batter is gone.

In a large non-stick skillet, drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and heat to medium. Arrange your pancake patties in pan ensuring they don't touch and you have enough wiggle room to flip them. Like pancakes they puff up. Cook for approx. 5 minutes or until golden brown then flip and cook for an additional 5. Plate them up with your choice of toppings or use my cheesy mushroom spread. :)

Russian Farmer's Cheese (Tvorog)

My fondness for Russian food started about 15 years ago when my co-worker Oleg took me out to lunch at a nearby Russian restaurant. Like an old fashion gentleman of 70 (but he was only 27) he ordered our meals without consulting me--strange but quaint. I didn't mind since afterall the cuisine was from his home country not mine. Oleg told me stories of his childhood in Russia and the story of how he migrated to America by himself at the age of 17. That's one of the things I love about food, it brings us stories from all over the world and conjures up old memories while making new ones. We enjoyed a surprisingly delicious bowl of borscht -my first. Onto some piroshki served with a side of creamy mushrooms. It was all very fabulous.  My virgin Eastern European tastebuds were well pleased! Since that time my other co-worker Donna; who is a bit of a foodie even back before there was such a term, brought these lovely soft Russian pancakes called Sirinki to the office and wouldn't you know it, that awesome mushroom sauce too! 

I had begged Oleg for a very long time to get that mushroom sauce recipe from his mom. He did, but it wasn't quite the same. I went to bookstores and thumbed through Russian cookbooks and scoured online for recipes for years. It took alot of trial and error and borrowing from this recipe and that one, but I did finally settle on a concoction that I'm happy with. Let's start with the homemade farmer's cheese (Tvorog). I've tried various methods and recipes over the years and I like Yelena's from Yelenasweets.com the most. This is her mother's recipe and I always like hand me downs. It's very much like making ricotta but the method is a bit different. I like mine to be alittle more flavorful so I borrowed from the Italians and put in a dash of salt and a bit of lemon. Beware that this method takes at least 16 hours and up to 18. I start mine on a Friday or Saturday night and finish up the next afternoon.

Ingredients (adapted from yelenasweets.com) 

1 gallon of whole milk

1 cup of buttermilk

dash of salt

1 tsp. of lemon juice

cheesecloth 

Directions:

First figure out if you want to make a whole batch or half.  I went for the half batch this time and decreased my ingredients accordingly. Keep in mind it breaks down quite a bit during processing.

In a large pot pour in the milk and heat on medium heat. Miss Yelena writes to heat up until lukewarm and not hot. 

Add in the buttermilk, salt and lemon juice and stir.

Once it's lukewarm, turn off the heat and put a lid on the pot.

16 hours later, check to see if the mixture is a bit like separated yogurt. If not, let it sit for up to another hour.

Now heat your stove up to medium low and once again heat the milk mixture back up to lukewarm and stir every 20 minutes for 2 hours.  The mixture will curdle and bits will rise to the top.

Prepare your cheesecloth by folding it into 4 layers, large enough to cover a pasta strainer. Place strainer and cheesecloth in sink.

Pour the mixture into the strainer. Let it sit for a few hours. For dry farmer's cheese I let mine sit for 3 hours. But if you're going to use this for a creamed dessert or cheese spread recipe let it sit for about 2.

Squeeze out excess water. A gentle squeeze for creamy and a tight squeeze for dry cheese. Note how much this process broke down the milk? My little over 1/2 gallon turned into about 2 cups of cheese.

Your lovely cheese is ready to use. Or store in the fridge in a ziplock or airtight container for up to a week.