World’s Greatest Filling for Just About Everything

 

 

Here, finally, is the recipe from Yiddishland .

One of you called it "the world's greatest filling for just about anything," and that is just about it.

World’s Greatest Filling for Just About Everything

Olive oil (be liberal)

1 small onion

1 small carrot

1 stalk celery

1pound fresh mushrooms

½ ounce dried mushrooms, soaked in hot water

 

(You may add all or just some of the following six ingredients)

1 tablespoon chia seeds, soaked in 3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

2 tablespoons hemp seeds, lightly toasted (be careful, they can easily burn)

¼ cup sunflower seeds, lightly toasted, ground or whole

¼ cup pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted and crushed, ground, or chopped)

¼ cup pine nuts, ground or whole

Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste

 

(½-1½   cup cooked brown rice, white rice, or barley, if desired)

 

Dice the onion, carrot, and celery into little ¼-inch cubes, or something close to that.  Warm a liberal amount of olive oil in a large pan (I used a 12-inch cast iron skillet).  Add the diced aromatics and stir and fry for about 15 minutes until golden.  Meanwhile dice or process the fresh mushrooms.  Drain the dried mushrooms, reserving the liquid for the sauce, and dice.  Add the diced mushrooms and continue cooking.  They will give off a lot of liquid.  Cook until the liquid is almost completely absorbed.  Season with salt and pepper.

Add all or some of the seeds listed above.  The soaked chia seeds provide a matrix to hold everything together, the toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds amplify the savory flavor of the mushrooms, sesame and pine nuts are just plain delicious, and the hemp seeds lend themselves to all kinds of vegan applications.  Stir everything up and taste for seasoning.  Now, if you are going to use this filling for pasta or pastry like knishes, pierogi, varenishkes, or strudel, you are all set.  If you are going to use it to stuff cabbage leaves, or a pumpkin or squashes, or eggplant, or kohlrabi, you might want to add the cooked grain. This recipe makes enough for you to do both.