Feed Of A Pantry

#10 Salad

The easiest and most delicious salad, if you are lucky enough to find good vegetables in February, as I did.

Ingredients:

• 3 tomatoes
• 1 green pepper 
• scallions
• olives
• olive oil
• salt

Just chop all veggies, sprinkle the scallions and olives over, add salt to taste and lavishly pour some flavorful extra-virgin olive oil.  

#9 Pork with mushroom sauce

Last month has been inspirational - the best winter in 15 years in Bulgaria! Temperatures vary between - 24 to -6C, there is approximately 50 cm snow cover in the city, and it will not stop growing, till end of the week. Having in mind those circumstances, I concluded that the frequent usage of pork is obligatory, for survival purposes, of course.  

Tonight, Pork Fillet with Creamy Mushroom Sauce:

• 4 pork fillets, app. 400g
• 250g/0.5 lbs mushrooms
• 20g/4 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp flour
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 tsp sour cream
• 1/4 cup white wine
• a pinch of garlic powder
• salt&pepper to taste

Just melt 5g of the butter in a pan, with a droplet of olive oil. Preheat at medium high temperature. Sprinkle the fillets with flour and put them in the pan. Cook until golden brown. Cook both sides and remove from fire. Turn down the heat to medium low. Melt 13g of butter, stir in the flour. Stir well, until creamy, no lumps. Add the withe wine and stir energetically. When the alcohol evaporates, add the cream, again, stir it well and pour the milk. No surprise, stir, vigorously, continuously until creamy. Sometimes, if you have added a little bit more of a certain liquid, you may stir for 15 minutes, so beware the proportions or you may get bored and tired. If everything goes normal so far, melt the remaining 2g of butter in another pan, heated at medium high. Slice the mushrooms to 50mm pieces and throw them in. Cook 3 min, add very little salt, stir, cook another 30 sec and remove from heat. Join the mushrooms and sauce, add the salt and pepper, the pinch of garlic powder and pour over the pork fillet.  

#8 Pumpkin Soup

Easy and delicious, seasonal and healthy. The pumpkin has lots of vitamins (A, C), beta-carotene, as well as minerals. 

Pumpkin Soup

• 300 g/ 10 oz. pumpkin, peeled
• 2 potatoes
• 3 carrots
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• salt & pepper to taste
• freshly chopped parsley
• yogurt (drained from the water) 
• 1 bay-leaf

Boil well all vegetables with the broth, salt and pepper. Puree the soup, remember to remove the bay-leaf. Stir in the chopped parsley and add one teaspoon of yogurt to every bowl of soup.

Another tasty, fix is the cheese-stuffed bread I made. Of course, it is easy, too.

Get a loaf of nice, handmade bread. Cut a linear hole in it, in my case it was circular, following the shape of the bred. Stuff it with white Bulgarian cheese (or Feta), sprinkle with savory and top the hole with butter. Bake in the oven (10 min to 200 C/ 93 F).

#7 Snow & Dog

#6 BG Beans soup & Rhodopes’ Breakfast

Last evening I was in a taste-of-childhood mood. In the pantry I found a pack of peeled beans, which I have bought some time ago without any idea what to do them. I had have some gloomy visions of purees but instead decided to go traditional with the Bulgarian beans soup (боб чорба). 

I also stumbled upon a pack of curd cheese (the best translation I got, still not sure it is the best for извара). So, the Rhodopes’ Breakfast (the name of the curd cheese filling comes from the beautiful Rhodope Mountains) was in its way. 

Rhodopes’ Breakfast stuffed in green peppers/ 2 servings

• 1 green pepper, halved
• 1 tomato
• olives

For the filling

• 150 g/ 1 cup curd cheese (low fat)
• 100 g/ 3/4 cup white Bulgarian cheese or feta
• 1/2 teaspoon savory
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/3 teaspoon red pepper
• 1/3 teaspoon garlic (powder or very well chopped cloves)
• salt to taste
• 1 tb. spoon olive oil

Mix all ingredients for the filling in a bowl and puree them. Cut the juicy, fresh green pepper in half and fill in the mixture. Add tomatoes and olives on the side and sprinkle all with olive oil. You may also spread the cheesy filling on a toast, stuff it in a tomato, or something else. It is very healthy, low-fat, low-carb, high-protein, good for you thing.

The beans soup is my favorite. However, this was my first time making it. The recipe is easy, so I managed. The original meal includes any kind of white beans but I decided to try with the peeled ones. They boil for 1/3 of the time needed for non-peeled and are better for the digestion. Unfortunately they loose structure and make the soup more creamy than necessary. The taste was the same, but the feeling was different. Therefore, I recommend the normal, non-peeled beans.

Bulgarian beans soup/ 4 servings

• 2 cups beans
• 1 red pepper
• 1 onion
• 1/4 celery
• 1 tomato, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon spearmint
• 1 teaspoon red pepper
• salt to taste

Put the beans in 1l unsalted water. Remember, trow away the water after it comes to a boil. Then pour 2l of fresh water, add the vegetables and condiments and boil until the beans are read (for the peeled ones about 40 min). Then add the chopped tomato and the salt. Boil 10 - 20 min more and serve. Hot peppers are excellent addition.