My earliest recollection of eating rabbit was back in 1974 when I visited Greece for the first time. There were rabbits in a barn and although back then I thought they were pets, I soon found out they’d  be used for sustenance. The most popular Greek dish with rabbit is Stifado…a stew of rabbit, wine, vinegar, spices and lots of onions. Tomatoes are the base of the sauce and this stew simmers until the sauce is rich and the rabbit meat just falls off the bone. Stifado is sublime when using a wild hare or jack rabbit (love to get some from any local hunters).

Today’s recipe goes in another direction, a light brown sauce that’s perfumed with thyme, bay leaves and slices of orange peel. There’s also onions, garlic, wine and stock  and some carrots for some sweetness balanced by savory mushrooms.. This dish is a wonderful winter meal: oranges in season, rabbit plentiful and delish!

Braised Rabbit With Mushrooms and Orange

(serves 4)

1 whole rabbit, butchered into piece

coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper

all-purpose flour

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion, diced

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

the peel of 1/2 orange, thinly sliced

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

2-3 bay leaves

2 tsp. of fresh thyme leaves

2 cups of sliced mushrooms

1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into rounds

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 – 1 1/2 cups of vegetable or chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse your rabbit and pat-dry. Season with salt and pepper and lightly dredge in flour. Place a large skillet on your stovetop and add the oil. Over medium-high heat, brown both sides of your rabbit pieces then reserve.
2. Now add the onions, garlic, carrots, bay leaves, thyme and stir. Add some salt and pepper and stir in then sweat for 5-6 minutes. Now add the tomato paste and stir-in and cook for a minute.
3. Now the rabbit pieces go back in the sklllet along with the wine and enough stock to come up halfway up the meat. Bring up to a boil then reduce to simmer and place the lid on (slightly ajar) and cook for about 45 minutes or until the rabbit is fork-tender. Remove the lid and simmer uncovered until the sauce has thickened and adjust seasoning one last time with salt and pepper.
4. Serve on a bed of hilopites (Greek egg noodles) and pair with Carras Limnio white from Halkidiki.

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© 2012, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

Let’s face it – pork tenderloin is the equivalent of chicken breast: lean/little fat, mild in flavour and a healthy protein. The down side is that it needs help with flavours as it’s lacking fat. So, opportunity abounds with pork tenderloin and today I’m adding lots of flavour in three ways: by browning the meat, serving it with an easy but flavourful mushroom sauce and finally – created a flavourful crust. The “crust” becomes a second skin to the meat and in this instance I’ve taken some dried mushrooms and ground them to a powder using an electric coffee mill I have dedicated to spices and such.

The mushroom crust is blended with coriander seeds, black peppercorns, thyme and rosemary, sea salt and some sugar. The sugar is in there so that the meat browns quicker. Pork tenderloin is not that thick and I do not want to overcook this lean meat – sugar aids in the browner and no…there’s no sweetness in the dish! The final step in this quick yet fancy and delicious dish is to make a pan sauce with drippings, onions, garlic, mushroom broth, wine and some cream at the end.

You can buy dried mushrooms at most supermarkets and they range for Cremini to exotic Morels and Porcini. For grinding, use the less expensive dried mushrooms and re-hydrate the more exotic funghi to make your flavourful broth. Dried mushrooms are an excellent flavour enhancer to your dishes and you should consider stocking some in your pantry. Look what I did hear – I made a flavourful mushroom broth with them, created a crust for pork tenderloin begging for more flavour and they enhanced my creamy mushroom sauce. Go update your shopping list!

Pork Tenderloin Seared With a Mushroom Crust

(serves 4)

2 pork tenderloin, trimmed of silver skin

olive oil

approx 2 tsp. fine sea salt

2 tsp. of sugar

1 tsp. of whole peppercorns

1/4 cup dried mushrooms (your choice)

2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped

1 tsp. fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

Pre-heated 400F oven

Mushroom Sauce

2 Tbsp.  extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup diced red onions

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup of mushrooms (sliced Cremini plus your choice of other mushrooms

1/3 cup re-hydrated dried mushrooms

1 tsp. all-purpose flour

1/4 cup dry white wine

3/4 cup of mushroom stock (from re-hydrating the dried mushrooms)

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1. Pre-heat your oven. Place your dried mushrooms, peppercorns, coriander seeds, thyme and rosemary leaves in coffee grinder and process into a powder (you may use a mortar & pestle). Rub the pork with some olive oil and season with salt and sugar then place your ground dry mushroom mixture in a plate and roll the pork until well-coated.
2. Place an oven-safe skillet on your stove-top and pre-heat your stove-top to medium-high heat and add 2-3 turns of olive oil and when hot, sear the pork tenderloin until golden on all sides. Transfer to your pre-heated oven (middle rack) and roast for 6-8 minutes then carefully remove the skillet, remove the pork from the pan and cover with foil and keep warm.
3. In the same skillet, add some more oil (if needed) and add the onions and garlic over medium heat and stir and sweat for about three minutes. Add the mushrooms, some salt and stir until just browned for another couple of minutes (add more olive oil if needed). Now add the flour and stir-in for about a minute. Now add the wine, stock, thyme leaves, salt and pepper and bring up to a simmer and reduce until the sauce is thick enough to just coat the back of a wooden spoon. Add the cream and simmer for another 2 minutes and adjust seasoning once again. Add the chopped fresh parsley into sauce and reserve.
4. Cut your pork tenderloin into medallions and pour the sauce into a platter and place the the medallions on top of the sauce and serve with a rice pilaf or scalloped potatoes. A bottle of  Aidarinis Xinomavro-Negoska blend from Goumenissa.

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

I like thin crust but not too thin, I like fresh toppings on my pizza and even though I like “the works” on my pizza, often less is more (besides the mound of toppings slides off). I like pizza baked on my pizza stone and if you don’t have one already, still time to ask Santa for me! They’re great for both baking bread and pizza and while you’re at it, ask Santa for a pizza peel…it’s those wooden paddles one uses to slide pizza or bread into an oven.

Those two kitchen tools are very important to making really good homemade pizza: the pizza stone pre-heats in the oven, emulating a brick oven and the pizza peel allows you to form your pizza on it and with a sprinkle of cornmeal under the dough, it just slides right into your oven and onto the hot pizza stone. Most pizzas take around 12-14 minutes to bake!

This pizza was inspired by one of the pizzas at that “Tweet-up”: a mushroom pizza with cheese and herbs. My take was to add a thin smear of Bechamel on the crust which contained oil or butter, flour, milk, garlic, grated cheese and a pinch of nutmeg. You can be creative here and use a favourite cheese that goes well with mushrooms. I had some sharp, aged Graviera cheese on hand and I used that for my pizza and some leftover grated Kefalotyri cheese for the Bechamel base.

Obviously you have to love mushrooms or this ain’t gonna work for you and you can again be creative and use whatever mushrooms you like. I opted from Cremini mushrooms which grow to become Portobellos when full grown. They are more flavourful as Creminis and far better than white button mushrooms. I found some affordably priced Oyster mushrooms to add variety in flavour, presentation and texture and the end result was nothing short of tremendous. This pizza makes a good case for opening a chilled bottle of white wine, getting a unncessary bad-rap. There’s a time and a place for every wine and tonight it’s white!

Mushroom Pizza

1/2 recipe for pizza dough

Bechamel

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 tsp. all purpose flour

1/2 cup warm milk

grated nutmeg to taste

1/2 cup grated Kefalotyri or Romano cheese

approx. 1 cup grated Graviera, Mozzarella or Fontina cheese

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup sliced Cremini mushrooms

1/2 cup oyster mushrooms

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 tsp. dried Greek oregano or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup diced smoked pork loin or bacon

1 small onion, thinly sliced

cornmeal to dust the pizza stone

Pre-heated 500F oven, middle rack position

1. In a small pot, add the butter over medium heat and once melted add the flour and stir for a minute. Slowly add the warm milk while stirring and continue until the Bechamel has thickened. Add some grated nutmeg, the grated cheese and some fresh ground pepper and salt to taste. Take off the heat and reserve.
2. Pre-heat your oven with the pizza stone placed inside to pre-heat. Wipe your mushrooms with a wet towel and slice the Cremini mushrooms and place in a bowl with the Oyster mushrooms, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper and toss well.
3. Roll (or stretch your pizza dough and place on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or pizza pan and evenly spread the cooled Bechamel on the pizza dough. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the dough then spread your mushrooms over top followed by the sliced onions and diced smoked pork/bacon.
4. Drizzle with some olive oil and place in your pre-heated oven, reduce the heat to 450F and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of your pizza just brown and your pork has just crisped. Remove from the oven, slice and enjoy! Serve with cold beer or a Peller Estates Chardonnay from Niagara.

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

I still like a good deal when I dine – looking for value, good quality food with wholesome and seasonal ingredients and it’s always fun to try new and may an ethnic dish here in multicultural Toronto. There’s a great new web site called DiningDateNight where you can 30% off your bill from Toronto’s top restaurants and eateries. Click here to see how it works.

One of my favourite dishes was the Pan-fried Cajun Rainbow Trout. Canada boasts of having lots of rainbow trout. I love trout for its flaky texture, it has a pink, almost salmon colour and it’s a versatile fish as it’s great grilled, broiled or in this case, pan-fried. Below is my Cajun spice blend good for chicken or fish. Mix the ingredients in a jar and shake well. I’ve omitted the salt so that you may control seasoning and the batch is good for a few recipes before you have to mix another batch.

The pan-fried trout is easy to make and I love it paired with this simple mushroom pasta-ideal with linguine or you could used fettucine. Here, you can easily multi-task and start on the pasta sauce then finish the meal off with pan-frying the trout. This makes for a satisfying weeknight meal giving you that restaurant feel right in your own kitchen.

Pan-Fried Cajun Rainbow Trout

(serves 4)

4 boned rainbow trout fillets, skin on

olive oil

fine sea salt

all-purpose flour for dredging

oil for frying

Cajun seasoning

2 Tbsp. of garlic powder

2 Tbsp. of onion powder

1 tsp. ground white pepper

2 Tbsp. ground black pepper

2 tsp. cayenne pepper

4 tsp. of dried thyme

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 Tbsp. cornmeal

Mushroom Linguine

(serves 4)

500 gr. package of linguine

1/4 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups of sliced Cremini mushrooms

1 shot of dry white wine

1 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp. of thyme leaves

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

lots of freshly grated Romano cheese

1. Place a large pot of water on your stovetop and once aboil, add good amount of salt and the pasta and cook according to package instructions. In the meantime, add your olive oil and mushrooms in a skillet with some salt and pepper and cook the mushrooms until just browned. Now add the onions, garlic, thyme and stir in and allow to sweat for five minutes. Add the wine and reduce for a couple of minutes and then add the cream. Simmer for another 5-6 minutes or until thick. Add some grated cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Divide and serve with your pan-fried Cajun trout.
2. In a jar, add your Cajun seasoning ingredients, seal and shake in a jar. Brush your fillets with olive oil and season with fine sea salt then sprinkle a good amount of Cajun seasoning on both sides of the fish then dredge them in all-purpose flour.
3. In a large cast iron pan or non-stick skillet add a couple of turns of olive oil over medium-high heat. Place your fillets in the pan skin-side down for about 4 minutes or until you see the flesh of fish turn opaque halfway up the side view of the fillets. Carefully flip the fish and fry on the other side for another 2-3 minutes or until a deep golden colour and crisp (add more oil while frying if needed)
4. Serve with a squeeze of lime juice and a side of rice or try a linguine with a mushroom-cream sauce…just like at the Whistling Oyster used to!

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

Native Indians used to harvest wild rice by hand then roast it over open fires. Today, the harvest is conducted with air-propeller boats then dry roasted before reaching market. Beyond wild rice’s nutty (and mildly smoky) flavour, it’s high in fibre, easy to digest and if it matters to you – it’s gluten-free.

My calendar is getting colder day by day and that means more soups in my diet. I love salads and soups truly make Winters bearable for me here in Canada. They are a great way for incorporating vegetables in your diet and one of those vegetables are mushrooms.

I love mushrooms, have always loved mushrooms and they are available here winter or summer with the help of indoor cultivation and dried mushrooms. Drying fruits and vegetables is an old method used to preserve ingredients at their height/prime. Dried mushrooms figure prominently in this dish, mushroom soup.

This is a riff on my stand-by mushroom soup but with the addition of wild rice and dried mushrooms – funghi lovers will adore this soup. There are many varieties of dried mushrooms available out there but I wouldn’t use the more exotic (and expensive) ones. I used dried Shitakis with were re-hydrated in boiling water which also transforms into an earthy, rich mushroom stock.

The mushroom stock, the fresh mushrooms, onions, bay and thyme along with some vegetable or chicken stock make this soup a rich in flavour and by far one of my fave soups. The soup is creamy not to the point of being like a chowder in consistency. I used evaporated milk instead of cream – you choice here and you may add as much as you desire – depending on how thick (or thin) you like your soup.

Sometimes mushroom have some dirt on them – wipe them with a wet towel or quickly scrub under running cold water. Either way, dirt and grit with your mushrooms is not included in this recipe and I don’t think you want it in yours.  I’m using regular white or button mushrooms for the base of the as I don’t want it to be too dark and then some sautéed sliced Cremini mushrooms are added for more depth and to stand out when the soup is served. Soup is on!

Mushroom & Wild Rice Soup

(inspired by Canadian Living recipe)

(serves 6)

1/2 cup of wild rice (cooked)

1/3 cup of dried mushrooms

2 cups hot water

1 1/2 cup of sliced Cremini mushrooms (rinsed)

1/4 cup of unsalted butter or olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1 stalk of celery, diced

1 lb. of white or button mushrooms, rinsed and sliced

1 bay leaf

6-8 sprigs of thyme leaves

1 shot of Metaxa brandy

4-5 cups of chicken or vegetable stock

1/2 cup heavy cream or evaporated milk

salt and pepper to taste

1. Place your wild rice in a small pot with about 1 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add some salt and simmer for approx. 30 minutes or until the rice splits (should be able to bite into it). Remove from the heat and strain, reserve.
   

   cooked wild rice

2. In the meantime, Boil about 2 cups of water and then place in a bowl with your dried mushrooms and tightly cover for 30 minutes. The mushrooms should be re-hydrated and soft and the water will have turned into a mushroom stock. Strain the stock (remove any grit) and sliced the mushrooms and reserve.
3. In a large pot, add the butter or olive oil over medium heat and add the onions, celery, bay leaf, thyme and sliced white mushrooms and a pinch of salt and some ground pepper. Stir and cover and allow to sweat for 5-7 minutes. Add the brandy and reduce for 2 minutes then add the reserved mushroom stock and vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes uncovered and check and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
4. In the meantime, add some olive oil to a small pan and add your sliced Cremini mushrooms along with some salt and pepper and saute until just browned. Remove from the heat and reserve.
5. Back to the soup, remove from the heat and take out the bay leaf and any sprigs of thyme floating around and discard. Puree your soup in with a hand blender then place back on your stovetop along with the reserved cooked wild rice and browned sliced Cremini mushrooms and bring simmer over medium-low heat. Add up to 1/2 cup of cream, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and simmer for  minutes and take off the heat. Serve as part of your lunch with your favourite sandwich or as part of a dinner course.

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.