Braunschweiger Buns with Spinach and Mushroom

This is my other braunschweiger buns recipe. I usually add mushroom, spinach and cheese. This time it is without cheese as I had run out. Well, it is still yummy! Come join me.

For the bread recipe click here.

Filling:

200gm or more braunschweiger, cut into small cubes
9oz frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed out the water.
1 medium onion, chopped 
1/2 cup fresh button mushroom, chopped 
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil

Add this only if the filling is too soggy:
2 to 3 tbsp potato flakes


Prepare the bread dough. click here for dough instructions.

While waiting for the bread dough to be ready, heat a frying pan on medium high. Pour in oil, onion and mushrooms, stir until it just turns soft. Add braunschweiger and saute for about 5 minutes. Then add spinach and cook until it heats through. At this point add potato flakes if you find it is soggy, if not skip this step. Add salt to taste, remove from pan and let cool on a flat plate. 

 

Once cool, divide into 12 portions and make into balls. Cover with plastic wrap and put into the fridge until it is ready to use.




 
When the bread dough is ready, divide into 12 portions and roll into balls.

Use a rolling pin and roll out the dough into round shape. Place the braunschweiger filling at the middle and wrap.

 
I placed 8 pieces of the unbaked buns into a 11" x 5" bread pan (see picture on the right) and the remaining 4 pieces in a 8" square cake pan about 1 inch apart. Make sure all the buns are placed seam side down. Let rest for another hour or until the buns double in size.

Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes or until the food thermometer reaches 160 °F. Serve warm.

Note: 

The buns that come out from the bread pan are too tall to heat up in the bread toaster, but the ones from the cake pan are OK after I cut off the top a little. Please make sure the filling is not exposed or you might spoil your toaster. I heat the tall buns in an oven. 

If the fillings are too soggy add 2 to 3 tbsp of potato flakes, this will help absorb the extra moisture, remember to add a bit of salt after that.

Braunschweiger Buns

Braunschweiger is a type of liverwurst or liver sausage.  We normally had ours sliced and added into sandwiches together with some mustard and cheese or some sliced tomatoes, pickles and onion. Or we would spread it on bread or crackers. Today it became the buns' filling. Heating up is easy, just put into the bread toaster ...viola! it is ready to eat in minutes. The best part is the bread stays crunchy even after heating it the next day.

Bread recipe:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup warm milk (about 110°F to 120°F), add more in cold weather and reduce when weather gets warm.

1/3 cup potato flakes

3 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1 full tsp salt
 
Filling:

200gm braunschweiger

Set the bread machine on dough function. In the bread machine pan, pour in the warm milk and olive oil, followed by all purpose flour, potato flakes and sugar. Make a well at the center of the dried ingredients and add the yeast into it. Place the salt at one corner of the pan and press start.

While waiting for the bread to be ready, cut the braunschweiger into 12 pieces, (I had it cut into wedges), wrap with plastic wrap and return it to the fridge until it is ready to use.

Once the kneading and proofing of the bread dough are done (about an hour), divide into 12 pieces and roll into balls.

Use a rolling pin and roll out the dough into round shape, place the braunschweiger at the middle and wrap into triangle shape.

 
Place the pieces at least 1 inch apart from each other onto a baking sheet with seam side down. Let rest for another hour or until the pieces double in size.

 




Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes or until the food thermometer reaches 160 °F. Serve warm.

Note: You can warm up the buns in a bread toaster. If the buns are too thick, cut off the top a little, please make sure the filling is not exposed. Or you can also heat them up in the oven.

Smoked Ham with Hand Pulled Pan Mee (flour noodle)

Today is the third day after Easter. We still have some left over ham, after 3 days of having the same food for dinner..... mama mia today must change.  I wanted something soupy and I thought of this. This is an easy and simple meal and I hope you like it!

Dough ingredients:

280 gm all purpose flour

3/4 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp oil



For the Soup:

4 cups chicken stock
Smoked ham, shredded
Asian green mustard or any vegetable you like
Salt to taste (you might not need salt as the ham is salty)

In a bread machine pan add all dough ingredients: All purpose flour, water, salt and oil. Set the machine on dough function and let it knead until all ingredients are well combined and the texture is smooth. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest for at least 15 minutes. You can make this a day before, wrap the dough in a Ziploc bag and refrigerate it.

Bring chicken stock to a boil in a medium size stock pan. Use your fingers to pull apart the dough into small pieces and drop them into the boiling stock. (The dough should be a little sticky)

 

The uncooked dough will sink to the bottom. Once it is cooked it will float to the top. (See picture on the left, the cooked ones are floating on the top, and the uncooked ones are at the bottom), scoop up the cooked dough and place in a big bowl. Continue pulling, dropping and cooking the rest of the dough in the stock until finished.

Next, add all the ham into the stock, cook for a couple of minutes and put in all the vegetables. Once the vegetables turn dark green, it is ready. Add salt to taste (please remember the ham is salty, you might not even need salt). Place the pan mee in a  serving bowl, pour the soup onto it and top with the ham and vegetables. Serve warm.

Meat Loaf stuffed with Spinach, Mushroom and Cheese

This is a "less-meat" meat loaf. Most meat loaf recipes that I read have no filling and are too meaty for me. So I had mine stuffed with vegetables and cheese, to reduce the amount of meat. We enjoyed this very much.

8 oz Pork, grounded
7 oz Beef, grounded
3 pieces Garlic, finely chopped
1 medium Onion, chopped
1 tsp Poultry Spice
1 tbsp Paprika
1 Egg, beaten
2 tsp Salt and pepper (do not add too much salt, as the cheese is salty)

1/4 cup Bread crumbs
3 tbsp Milk
 
1 cup Cheese, shredded (any cheese you like. I used Colby Jack)
1 cup fresh Spinach, chopped
1/2 cup fresh Parsley, coarsely chopped
1 can Mushroom, sliced 

I medium Cauliflower, cut into chunks
1 cup Baby carrots

Plastic food wrap

9" x 13" Baking pan 



In a small bowl mix together milk and bread crumbs and set aside. 

In a big bowl add the first group of the ingredients: pork, beef, garlic, onion, poultry spice, paprika, beaten egg and add the bread crumbs. Mix until just combined. Over mixing will make the meat hard.



Wet the counter top with a damp cloth, and place the plastic food wrap on it.This is to prevent the plastic from moving around. Spread the meat mixture into a rectangular shape.

Arrange the filling (please chop the spinach smaller, I made a mistake by not chopping smaller, it was difficult to cut when it is cooked). There are no rules on which ingredient comes first.

Once all the fillings are in, carefully use some of the plastic wrap to fold half of the meat over the other half, carefully seal all the filling inside the meat. Then pull the other side of the plastic up and wrap up the whole meat. See picture on the left.

Refrigerate for an hour or more to firm up and maintain the shape of the meat.

 

Preheat Oven to 350°F and bake for an hour or  until the kitchen meat thermometer reaches 170°F. It does not require more time to bake as fillings are vegetables and the meat is not thick. 1/2 hour before it is done add baby carrots and cauliflower.

Let cool for 5 minutes, cut and serve.