Meat Patties with Mushroom Sauce (Russian Kotlety)

These juicy Russian meat patties, "kotleti”, a staple in every Slavic household are the epitome of comfort food done right. Served here with a delicious mushroom gravy.

Meat Patties:
1 lbs extra lean ground beef 5% fat
1 lbs extra lean ground pork 5% fat
1 medium onion
1 slice stale white bread
½ cup whole milk (125 mL)
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. black pepper, freshly ground
oil, for frying

Wild Mushroom Sauce:
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 lbs wild mushrooms of your favourite kind or better yet a mix of different kinds
2 cups double cream (500 mL)
sea salt
black pepper, freshly cracked
flat leaf parsley

Garnish:
flat leaf parsley, chopped

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C/180°C fan, Gas Mark 6).

For the Meat Patties:
Soak a slice of stale white bread in milk for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile combine ground pork and beef in a large mixing bowl. Process a medium onion in a food processor with two tablespoons of water until you have a paste or grate it on a grater, add to the mixture. Add soaked bread together with milk, salt and pepper and mix well with your hands.

Scoop the meat mixture with a 1/3 cup and form an oval shaped patty, flatten it with a palm of you hand. Continue until all mixture is used up.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and brown patties in batches to avoid overcrowding and steaming. Fry patties on both sides over medium heat for approximately 5-7 minutes, resist the temptation to flatten your puffed up patties for even cooking.

Put your browned patties in an oven proof pan in a single layer and cook in the preheated oven for additional 10 minutes.

For the Wild Mushroom Sauce:
Whilst the meat patties are cooking in the oven it's time to make the mushroom sauce. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and cook the chopped onion over low heat for 7-10 minutes, add minced garlic, and minced parsley stems but reserve the leaves for garnish. Add chopped mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes. Add cream, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

Blend into a smooth sauce in a food processor or a blender.

Serve meat patties with hot wild mushroom sauce, sprinkled with parsley.