Learning... to like mushrooms

This recipe dates way back to my first attempts at cooking.
And I didn't start cooking until I was back home from university, and only because I had to. How things are different nowadays. I was telling my mother-in-law just a few days ago how I'd rather cook all day than do any other housework, especially when it comes to cleaning up after cooking ^__^.
And in that particular period of my life I had to start taking care of the whole household. On one side it wasn't easy to take my mom's place, because she was an excellent, and yet very simple cook. On the other side, I had from the very beginning this thing for searching recipes in cookbooks, magazines, etc. trying to prepare something different from the usual array of everyday dishes.
As a child I didn't like any kind of mushrooms, I found their taste horrible and their consistance disgusting. But as a young cook I was determined to learn cooking and eating them.
So this recipe for mushroom sauce, that I found in my mom's old, old, old cookbook, was the first I ever tried, and I've been making it ever since. It is delicious served in this vegetarian combination with fried cauliflower, but I've also served it often with chicken or turkey cutlets, and fried squid as well.
Although champignon (crimini) mushrooms aren't particularly tasty in my opinion, they are quite acceptable in this preparation, just make sure you add enough pepper and parsley ^__^




Fried Cauliflower and Mushroom Sauce

Fried cauliflower:
1 medium sized cauliflower
250 g flour (2 cups)
3 eggs
2,5 dl beer (1 cup approx.)
10 g fresh yeast (1/5 package dry yeast)
salt
oil for frying (I advise to use olive or extravirgin olive oil)


Mushroom sauce:
250 g Champignon mushrooms (cremini/cremini/button mushroom, whatever you call them :)))
2 TBspoons butter
1 medium size onion
vegetable stock (2-3 TBspoons, or more, depending how thick you want the sauce to be)
1 TBspoon flour
1 TBspoon sour cream
1/2 bunch parsley leaves, chopped
salt, pepper

Divide the cauliflower into small florets and steamcook them. It should get soft but not so soft to fall apart. Salt it and season with little lemon juice.
Dissolve the yeast in the beer, add the eggs and the flour, whisk everything together to get a pretty thick batter (similar to pancake batter), if too thick, add little milk. Let the batter rest while preparing the mushroom sauce.

Clean and chop finely the onion.
Clean and slice or chop mushrooms.
Melt the butter in a skillet, add the onion and cook stirring until translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook stirring until they soften and release their liquid.
Sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour, stir well and then add the vegetable stock (I start with 2-3 Tbspoons, and then see if I need a bit more). Cover and cook on low for a couple minutes.
Season with salt and pepper, add the sour cream, finely chopped parsley, stir well and remove from heat.

Dip each cauliflower floret into the batter you've prepared and deep fry on all sides until golden. If not using olive oil, the second best oil for home frying is peanut oil.
Let the fried florets drain on several layers of kitchen paper, and serve them warm with mushroom sauce.

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Cavolfiore fritto e salsa ai funghi

Cavolfiore fritto:
1 cavolfiore medio
250 g farina
3 uova
2,5 dl birra
10 g lievito di birra fresco
sale
olio per friggere (consiglio l'olio di oliva o olio EVO)


Salsa di funghi:
250 g funghi champignon
2 cucchiai di burro
1 cipolla media
un po' di brodo di verdure (2-3 cucchiai)
1 cucchiaio di farina
1 cucchiaio di panna acida
1/2 mazzetto di prezzemolo
sale e pepe


Dividete il cavolfiore a cimette piccole e cuocetele a vapore, finché morbide ma non troppo. Salatele e condite con un po' di succo di limone.
Sciogliete il lievito nella birra, aggiungete le uova e la farina e mescolate bene per ottenere una pastella densa, tipo quella per le crepes (se troppo densa, aggiungete un pochino di latte). Lasciate riposare la pastella mentre preparate i funghi.


Tritate finemente la cipolla e soffriggetela con il burro per qualche minuto.
Aggiungete i funghi tritati e cuocete mescolando finché diventino morbidi e rilascino il liquido.
Cospargete i funghi con la farina, mescolate, aggiungete il brodo e lasciate cuocere coperto per un paio di minuti.
Aggiungete il sale e il pepe, il prezzemolo tritato e la panna acida.
Togliete dal fuoco.


Riscaldate l'olio. Immergete le cimette nella pastella e friggetele nell'olio bollente. Quando sono dorate, toglietele dall’olio e appoggiatele sulla carta assorbente.
Servite i cavolfiori accompagnati dalla salsa di funghi.



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Ovaj mjesec u igri Ajme koliko nas je, koju je pokrenula Snježana s bloga Dalmacija down under, tema je gljive, a domaćica je Lusitanija s bloga Na putovanju.
Sasvim slučajno na početku mjeseca sam već objavila jedan recept s gljivama, lisičarkama, koje sam kupila iz znatiželje jer osim šampinjona koje kupujem često, i vrganja koje kupujem rjeđe nego rijetko s obzirom na cijenu, nisam baš iskusna ni pri odabiru ni pri pripremi gljiva.
Ovaj put nešto klasično, umak od šampinjona sigurno svi pripremate slično ili približno ovako. Ja sam recept našla u nekoj staroj maminoj kuharici, u vrijeme kad sam o kuhanju znala jako malo, i vjerojatno mi je zbog toga i postao/ostao dijelom redovnog repertoara. 
Ovako kako vam ga predlažem danas bio je upravo predložen u dotičnoj kuharici (kojoj se nikako ne mogu sjetiti naziva, niti nju samu mogu više pronaći), poslužen uz pohanu cvjetaču, i kombinacija mi je jako dobra, priznajem,  iako rijetko radim pržene stvari (što zbog zdravstvenih što zbog "mirisnih" razloga).
Osim ove kombinacije, puno češće sam ga pripremala kao prilog uz piletinu, puretinu, pa i lignje.

Pohovana cvjetača i umak od šampinjona


Pohovana cvjetača:
1 srednja glavica cvjetače (karfiola)
250 g brašna
3 jaja
2,5 dl piva
10 g svježeg kvasca
sol
ulje za prženje


Umak od šampinjona:
250 g šampinjona
2 žlice maslaca
1 srednje velika glavica luka
malo juhe
1 žlica glatkog brašna
1 ravna žlica kiselog vrhnja
1/2 svežnjića peršina
sol, papar


Cvjetaču podijelite na manje cvjetove i skuhajte, najbolje na pari, da omekša, ali pazite da se ne raskuha. Posolite je i pokapajte s malo limunovog soka.
Namrvite kvasac u pivo, dodajte jaja i brašno i izmiješajte da dobijete gušće lijevano tijesto. Ako je pregusto, dodajte malo mlijeka. Ostavite da tijesto odstoji dok pripremate umak.
Nasjeckajte sitno luk i popržite ga na zagrijanom maslacu da postane staklast. Dodajte sitno narezane šampinjone pa dinstajte miješajući dok gljive ne odmeknu. Pospite ih sa žlicom brašna, kratko popržite pa zalijte juhom, poklopite i ostavite da kuha par minuta na laganoj vatri. Posolite, popaprite, dodajte kiselo vrhnje i sitno nasjeckani list peršina.
Zagrijte ulje u dubljoj posudi (najzdravije ulje za prženje je maslinovo, ako nemate/ne volite onda ulje od kikirikija). Umačite cvjetove cvjetače u lijevano tijesto i stavite ih pržiti. Pržene cvjetove ostavite da se dobro okapaju na nekoliko slojeva kuhinjskog papira.
Poslužite cvjetaču uz umak.