Herb Dumplings in Mushroom Stroganoff

Firstly, I'm a big fan of the concept of "Meatless Monday". Unfortunately, my schedule is not. Mondays tend to be that day where I am exhausted after dealing with the deluge of problems that have occurred at work over the weekend, and by the time I come home, I either (a) hopefully have something I was smart enough to pre-prep on Sunday or (b) go for something ultra convenient.

But either way, I do try to have 1 meatless dinner a week. And this usually is the day I try something a little new.

Now this week isn't new, it's more taking 2 very tried and true concepts and mixing them together to make a rib sticking, hearty winter meal (now that the cold weather seems to have finally kicked in).

So I bring you this week: "Herb Dumplings in Mushroom Stroganoff".

Pretty simple theory, take dumplings - English, made from flour, butter and water. Not German made form milk and stale bread and not Chinese made form wrappers and yummyness. Then serve in/on. under a cremy yummy mushrooms stroganoff. Simple.

Yes I know the photo looks terrible. I took it halfway through plating up and then forgot to take another one before we ate it all.

Now a few quick changes to the recipe below. I had some left over "garlic sautéed kale and mushrooms" from the other night, so I have added this to the version in the picture but not to the recipe below. For the wine, use whatever you have lying around, substitute with sherry, marsala or brandy or anything that pleases you omit it all together, it just depends on your preferential taste. Feel free to mix the herbs up. As always I just used whatever happened to be available in the garden.

Herb Dumplings in Mushroom Stroganoff - Serves 2

• 1 Cup Self Raising Flour
• Pinch Salt
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder
• 2 Tbsp Finely Chopped Fresh Herbs (we used Thyme, Caraway Thyme, Rosemary and Parsley)
• 1/4 cup Butter or Shortening
• Ice Water
• 2 cups Vegetable Stock
• 2 cups Large Diced Mushrooms (we used a mix of Portobello and Button as this was what was on hand in the crisper)
• 1/ White Onion, Diced
• 2 cloves Garlic, Crushed
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Wine
• 1/2 cup Cream
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream
• Large Pinch Smoked Paprika
• Pepper and Salt to taste.

To start with, let's make the dumpling. I love dumplings because they are super easy. Place your flour, baking powder, herbs and salt in a bowl. Mix it around a bit to disperse everything. Add your butter and rub in with your fingertips until completely incorporate (they always say at this stage in recipe books that it should resemble the consistency of sand or breadcrumbs, but it's never looked like any sand or breadcrumbs I've ever seen).

Now pour in a little ice water and mix it up. Keep adding ice water until it come together as a soft, slightly sticky dough. set aside.

Place your vegetable stock in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Once boiling, divide your mixture into 4 (2 large dumplings each) and pop them into the stock. Cover with a lid and turn the heat down to low. They should be ready in about 7 to 10 minutes and will double in size. Once ready, just turn off the heat and keep the lid on an they will stay warm.

For the mushroom stroganoff (more a sort of creamy mushroom sauce), sauté the onion in the oil until soft. Add the mushroom and sauce for 2 minutes, then add the garlic and stir through. De glaze with the wine, and once cooked off, add the cream and sour cream and stir through. Raise the heat to a good simmer and reduce by 1/3rd. season with Paprika, Salt and Pepper.

Now to Serve, remove your dumplings form the pan with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl. Top with the sauce. If you want to be fancy, you could pour the sauce into the bowl first and delicately place the dumplings on top. Honestly, it doesn't really matter, just eat up the deliciousness.

Bon Appetite

Lemon & Olive Chicken Bake

So tonight's dinner is Lemon & Olive Chicken Bake, and it is delish.

I love this dish firstly, because it is one pot, secondly because it is just bursting with flavour and thirdly, because it is currently warming up my house :)

And it's fairly simple to boot.

Lemon & Olive Chicken Bake - Serves 2

• 6 Chicken Pieces of your choice ( i recommend skin on).
• 1/2 large onion diced
• 2 table spoons olive oil
• 4 to 6 garlic cloves thinly sliced
• 2 lemons (see instuctions below)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halves
• 1/4 cup mixed olives
• 2 cups chicken Stock
• Pinch smoked Paprika
• Pinch Sumac (or chilli of your choice)
• 150 - 200g feta cheese
• 3 sprigs Basil
• small handful of parsley

First up, prep your lemons. Mr G hates the taste of lemon pith (and I'm not such a fan myself to be honest), so For a dish where you are cooking the lemons into the sauce,  always only use the flesh. So fist step, zest your lemons. Did i mention where making a gremolata to go with this? No, I didn't, yeah, that was on purpose. I am a big advocate for gremolata and most people will usually skip it if they know it is there, thinking it is just a decoration, but it is oh so much more! You'll understand when you get to the end of this recipe and smell (and taste) the amazingness it adds (you can thank me later).

So are those lemons zested yet? Good. So put the zest aside. Now take one of the lemons and cut it in quarters and remove the pith (it doesn't matter if you leave some lemon behind, just save it and squeeze the juice out of it straight into the pan after you brown the chicken). Then simply cut each segment into thirds and put aside. Then just cut the other one in half and set aside until the very end (where going to squeeze it over when we get it out of the oven).

Take the "chicken pieces of your choice" (i had a chicken breast and 2 marylands sitting in the freezer, so i just jointed the marylands into 2 pieces and cut the breast into 3rds (it was a big breast). Season liberally with fresh ground salt and pepper.

Brown the "chicken of your choice" in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, making sure to put them skin side down first). I used my lidded cast Iron skillet for this, but and deep sided frypan or shallow pot that is oven safe will do. Don't have a lid? alfoil will do in a pinch.

Once golden brown, transfer to a plate. Now turn down the heat and cook your onions in the remaining oil until soft (not browned). Once translucent, add your garlic and stir around for 30 seconds. Now add your lemon pieces, smoked Paprika, sumac and chicken stock. Bring to the boil and add your chicken pieces back in. reduce to a medium boil, and cook for about 10 minutes or until the liquid reduces by about half.

Pre- heat your oven to 200 degrees.

Now while your waiting for it to reduce, mix together your cherry tomatoes and your olives. You may have remembered the "Tomato and twin olive topper" i made for the anniversary cheese toast on the weekend.

Not surprisingly, we still had some left over, so i added this with some extra green olives instead. But you can just add the tomatoes and olives listed in the ingredients.

Now cover your cooking vessel and place into the oven and let cook for about 20 to 30 minutes (depending on whether your chicken had bones in or not).

Once the chicken is cooked through, remove the lid and sprinkle with the feta cheese. I like to then brown it under the grill, or you can just leave it in the oven for another 5 minutes or so.

Now for the serving, before servicing, squeeze over your reserves lemon halves and sprinkle with the gremolata and take a deep breath. Smell the lemony basily goodness as the heat hits the mix and releases the oils.

Place on the table and watch it be devour.

Viola :)