In most Eastern-European countries, stew is everything. Hungary, where I’m from, is no different, we have all sorts of stews including goulash, which Hungarians eat as a soup. I know, we’re weird. The cuisine is of course heavy in meat dishes. Luckily, a lot of meat based dishes can be turned into a lovely vegetarian meal quite easily. My mum used to make a great mushroom stew, but it can be a little bit bland for some tastes. So I spiced it up a little bit and decided to serve it with home made gnocchi (dead easy, don’t get scared!) instead of the traditional Hungarian pasta pearls. (That is something I don’t have the time and the patience to make.)
Although the word “stew” somehow indicates that it’s heavy and fulfilling, this dish is lovely both in summer and in winter, not heavy at all. Well, as long as you can resist eating too much gnocchi, which I find very hard! I’m all for pasta and bread. Requires about an hour of your time to prepare this yummy dish.
Yield: 4
Ingredients:
For the spicy mushroom stew
250g chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
250g portobellini mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 onion, chopped finely
100ml wine (of any kind)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
200g creme fraiche
3 heaped tbsp of full fat greek yogurt
3 tbsp of olive oil
2 handfuls of fresh, chopped parsley
2 tsp of lazy chilli or chilly flakes
2 tbsp of ground, sweet paprika
1 tbsp of flour
For the gnocchi:
2 large potatoes (you’ll need 250g cooked, mashed potatoes), diced
250g plain flour
1 egg
Method:
No need to add water as the mushroom will produce some liquid when cooking.
Caramelise the onion on the oil for 15 minutes using low heat. Let them turn golden brown. Use a large pan. This will allow you to make a creamier, tastier sauce. Add the paprika, the chilli and the wine. Cook it for 5 minutes. Add the vegetables, simmer for 5 minutes, then comes the parsley in. Cover it and cook it for 15 minutes. In a small bowl, mix the creme fraiche, the yogurt and the flour, then add the mixture to the mushroom stew, bring it to boil. Reduce heat and cook it for a further 10 minutes.
To prepare the gnocchi, cook 2 large potatoes until they are cooked, but still a bit firm, approximately 10 minutes when diced. Mash them with a fork, let it cool and measure 250g of mashed potatoes. Add the flour and the egg and combine well using your hands, forming a bread like dough.
(For the future: all you have to remember is the measurements: 250-250-1. Easy.)
Divide your dough into 3-4 portions and form snakes of approximately 1.5cm diameter of each dough ball. Keep dusting with some extra flour to avoid stickiness. Cut them into 2-2.5cm diameter pieces.
Bring the water boil in a large pan, add your gnocchi and cook them for 3 minutes or until they start to rise to the top. Drain them and all done.
Serve it immediately.
