Tarte Tatin

On a recent trip to France I got the chance to eat a home mage Tarte Tatin - which is similar to an upside down apple cake but I felt that the ratio of apples to dough was more to my liking ( = more apples).

Upon my return I searched for a recipe and found this one that I adapted a bit since I don't have a pan that can go into the oven.

Ingredients
Apples, peeled, cored and quartered
Lemon juice
100g sugar
2/3 stick butter, cubed
2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of allspice
3 tbsp calvados
Puff pastry, rolled out in a circle shape a bit larger than the baking dish.
Egg yolk with a bit of water

Mix apples with lemon juice.
Add sugar to a pot and heat on medium heat until the sugar caramelizes.
Then add butter, cinnamon, and allspice.
When the butter is melted, and the mixture boils, add calvados and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the apples, then cover and let cook on low for 10 minutes.
Get a baking dish ready. Add the apple mixture and cover with puff pastry.
Brush the egg yolk onto the dough. Bake for ~30 minutes.

When I took the cake out of the oven, I let it stand for a little bit before I turned it over, to let the liquid settle.

Curry - #Whattodowithpotatoesmushroomsandtofu

Today we had some dish in mind that would use up the soaked beans we had in the fridge. But the beans had other plans - they must have spoiled some time this week.

We were left with potatoes, mushrooms, tofu and onions. A quick google search revealed a bunch of great recipes with those ingredients, and we settled on a recipe for a curry with coconut milk

Ingredients
Oil
2 onions, chopped in half rings
3 potatoes, chopped into cubes
6 big mushrooms, sliced
1 package of firm tofu
100ml vegetable stock
100ml cream
400ml coconut milk
Curry powder, cumin, salt, pepper to taste

In a dutch oven, heat some oil, then add onions and potatoes. Cook for 5 mins until the potatoes start to soften. Add tofu and mushrooms, and cook for a few more mins, adding stock to avoid burning on the bottom. Add spices, cream and coconut milk, and simmer for 10 mins.

The potatoes came out very creamy, and the tofu was flavorful! We served it over brown rice and it was delicious!

Breakfast roll ups

When I made enchiladas recently, I had some tortillas leftover. So I looked online to see what else I could make and found breakfast roll ups!
They are very easy to make, quite tasty and they look wonderful.

Ingredients

Eggs
Tortillas
Cheese
Spinach

Beat the egg and fry it in a pan, covering the whole surface. Slide the cooked egg onto a tortilla and top with grated cheese and spinach. Roll it up and enjoy!

Campfire dough

One thing I love about camping is the cooking outside. We mostly cook our dinner on the campfire, but for breakfast we have a camping stove.
On our last trip, I prepared dough for campfire breadsticks. I accidentally made way too much so we had leftover dough in the morning - it worked out perfectly as a sort of camping pancake :D

1 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup water

Mix all the ingredients and store in a plastic bag until it's time to wrap it around a stick or to fry it as a pancake.

Braised French Onion Chicken with Gruyère

We recently signed up for a fruit and vegetable box that is delivered to our door every two weeks.
The last box contained a whole bunch of onions so I decided to make a dish that I made once before and really enjoyed: Braised French Onion Chicken with Gruyère!
It takes a bit of time to make, but it is very yummy.

This time, I also made mushrooms in a cream and brandy sauce to go with the chicken:

Ingredients

Butter
Mushrooms
Onions
1/2 cup cream
2 tbsp cognac or brandy
Corn starch
Salt
Pepper

Melt the butter in a pan, add onions and fry until translucent. Cut the mushrooms into halves or thick slices and add them to the onions. Fry for two minutes. Add the cream and brandy, and increase the heat. Simmer until the liquid is reduced. Add cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I served the chicken and mushrooms with potatoes. Yum!

French Savory Pumpkin Tarte

I have made this pumpkin pie recipe a bunch of times over the years. It's my favorite pumpkin pie - why add sugar to a dish when you can add cheese instead, right!? :P

Ingredients

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, cut into small pieces
4 tbsp (or more) cold water

For the filling:
400g of pumpkin, peeled and cut into small pieces
1 onion, diced
2 eggs
1 egg white
2 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
50g parmesan,
50g gruyere,
25 g butter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Melt the butter in a pan and add onions and pumpkin. Cook until pumpkin is reduced to a puree. Let the mixture cool and add the eggs, cheese, creme fraiche, parsley, salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, add flower and salt. Use your hands to "massage" in the butter until the mixture has a slightly coarse consistency and when you pinch it, it sticks together in clumps. Add cold water and work into a dough. Make a thick disk, wrap in cling foil and chill for about 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough. It's easiest when you roll out the dough between two sheets of cling foil. Line a round baking pan with the crust, use a fork to make some small holes in the dough. Bake for about 10 minutes.

After the crust is pre-baked, brush it with the egg white. Add the pumpkin puree.

Turn the oven down to 360 F (360 °C. Bake for 30-40 minutes until done).

Avocados filled with Shrimp

This is a quick and simple recipe and it tastes great. It's easy to make the filling and bring it with the avocados to a party where the avocados can be cut and filled in no time. 

The recipe is based on this one, which uses crab meat instead of shrimps.

Ingredients:
Avocados
Cooked mini shrimp, chopped
Celery
1/2 - 1 Shallots

Mayonnaise
Cream cheese

Lemon or lime juice
Salt

Pepper

Chop celery and shallot very finely in a food processor. Mix with shrimp, mayonnaise, cream cheese, lemon juice, salt, pepper and sea food spice if desired.

Cut avocados in half and take out a little bit of the flesh to be mixed in the filling. Salt the avocado halves. Fill with shrimp filling. Add pepper or parsley to garnish.

Enjoy!

Fig and Bree Puff Pastry Bites

This recipe is similar the one I've made recently. But it's based on this recipe.

Instead of putting the puff pastry sheets in the oven with the filling already added, this recipe instructs the baker to pre-bake the puff pastry sheets, resulting in fluffier dough.

Ingredients:

1 puff pastry sheet

frozen figs

2 tbsp honey

1/4 cup water

brie

macademia nuts

blue cheese

pear

pecan nuts

cranberries

Heat figs, honey and water on the stove and let simmer until the liquid is thick enough to cover the back of a spoon. Remove from heat.

Roll out puff pastry sheet and cut into 12 rectangles. Place rectangles into muffin pan molds and bake for 12 minutes at 375 F (190 C). When done, remove from the oven and gently press down on the middle of the puff pastry cups. Fill 6 cups brie and top with macademia nuts and fig mass. Fill the other 6 cups with pear pieces, blue cheese, pecan nuts and cranberries. Return to the oven for 5-7 minutes until cheese is melted and puff pastry is golden brown.

Puff pastry pockets

I was browsing recipes with figs and puff pastry and found this one. It was surprisingly fast and because it included cheese it was much to my liking :)

Ingredients:
1 puff pastry sheet
frozen figs
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup water
brie
1 egg, beaten

Heat figs, honey and water on the stove and let simmer until the liquid is thick enough to cover the back of a spoon. Remove from heat.
Cut puff pastry sheet into squares and line a muffin pan. Place some brie and a bit of the fig sauce into the puff pastry cups.
Fold the edges towards the middle to create little pockets.
Brush with egg.
Bake at 350 F (180 °C) until golden brown.
I served them with roasted Macadamia nuts :)

I thought that the liquid from the fig sauce was making these delicious pockets a bit soggy, although not excessively so. There were other interesting-looking recipes that included pre-baking the puff pastry. Definitely something I want to try out! :)

Pancakes

One Saturday I woke up realizing that I have never made pancakes from scratch. I quickly went about changing that.

Using this recipe I whipped together 

1 egg, beaten fluffy

3/4 cup of milk

2 tbs of butter, melted

1 cup of flour

1 tbs of sugar

1/4 tsp of baking powder and

1/2 tsp of salt.

Using 1/4 cup at a time I poured the batter on a hot pan and in zero-point-nothing (Null Komma Nix) I had 6 and 1 half pancakes for breakfast.

They weren't quite as fluffy as pancakes usually come (I believe it has something to do with either too much or too little liquid in the batter). But with berries, maple syrup and whipped cream they were quite enjoyable.

Chicken-Vegetable-Roll with Coconut and Peanut Butter

I've made this recipe on a whim while talking on the phone with my parents. So I was distracted. I think I originally wanted to make something else and then some ideas got jumbled up.
The ideas were:

• I should make something with this left over filo dough to finally get rid of it and never buy it again
• I should use this coconut creamer that I bought last week.
• No one is eating that unsalted peanut butter that sits in the fridge, what could I do with it..?
• Chicken and coconut and peanut butter might be good together, I should look up some recipes
• ..that fish that I cooked in milk turned out quite yummy..
• Oh, half a butternut squash in the fridge!

The result was ok, if somewhat weird.

Ingredients
filo dough (or puff pastry)
chicken
coconut milk
peanut butter
butternut squash, cut in 1 inch cubes
zucchini, cut into half slices
carrot, cut into half slices
Cashews
Soy sauce
onion, cut into cubes
salt, pepper, turmeric, paprika
egg, beaten

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 425 F (220 C). Roast butternut squash in the oven.
Turn oven down to 375 F (390 C).
Mix coconut milk and peanut butter in a pot and cook chicken in it until tender.
Fry onion until translucent, add salt and spices, add zucchini, carrot and cashews and fry until almost done. Add some coconut milk and a splash of soy sauce and continue frying for a couple of minutes.
Mix chicken, butternut squash and vegetables from the pan together.
Place sheets of filo dough into an oven pan, brushing each sheet with oil or butter. Place chicken-vegetable-mix onto the filo dough sheets and place more on top to cover.
Brush with the beaten egg.
Bake until the top is golden brown.

Autumn Mac and Cheese

This recipe is basically the same as the Mac and Cheese recipe that I posted a while ago. Only I've added roasted butternut squash and zucchini :)

Ingredients:
elbow macaroni
butternut squash, cut into 1 inch cubes
zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch slices
olive oil
1/4 cup of butter
1/8 cup of flour
1.5-2 cups of milk
0.5-1 cup of stock
0.7 lb of cheese (I used medium cheddar)
turmeric
white pepper

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 425° F. Place butternut squash and zucchini in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and stir until they are coated with oil. Place vegetables on a roasting pan and place it in the oven. Stir after 5-8 minutes and return to the oven for another couple of minutes until vegetables are almost done.

Cook the elbow macaroni in salty water until they are not quite done. Submerge in ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain. Combine with vegetables
Melt butter in a skillet, stir in the flour on low heat until the color becomes a light brown. Add the milk and keep stirring. Then add spices, stock and cheese. The cheese does not have to melt all they way.
Measure an equal amount of macaroni and vegetables and cheese sauce (e.g. 2 cups) and mix them together in an oven proof dish. Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes.

Bagel Chips

Bagels go stale after a day or two.

To refresh them, you can dip them into water for a second and then bake them in the oven for 3-5 minutes at 325 F (160 C).

Or you can make bagel chips.

Cut them into slices and put them on a pan. Brush them with oil and add salt, pepper and/or other spices and herbs that you like. Bake at 375 F (190 C) until they are golden.  ..that happens quite fast, I almost burned my first batch as you can see in the picture :)

Serve with soup, salad or dips.

Apricot-Blueberry-yogurt Snack

Refreshing snack, perfect for summer.
..once summer comes around again..

Ingredients:
apricots
yogurt
blueberries

Cut apricots in half and take out the pit. Fill with yogurt of your choice (I used vanilla). Add blueberries.

Super easy zucchini salad

This salad is incredibly easy to make and very tasty!

Ingredients:
zucchini
garlic
olive oil
salt
pepper
roasted almond slices

Use a carrot peeler (or zucchini pasta maker) to cut zucchini into thin slices.
Heat up olive oil, fry the garlic and add zucchini, salt and pepper. Fry while stirring for about 5 minutes, not too long so that the zucchini doesn't loose all of its bite. Serve with roasted almond slices.

Mac and Cheese

The other day I volunteered in a kitchen and made Mac and Cheese for the first time. I didn't get to try our creation as our volunteer shift ended before the meal was baked. So I tried it at home.

I thought it lacked a bit of salt, maybe I didn't put enough of it in the boiling water of the elbow macaroni, maybe I didn't use the right kind of cheese. I'll experiment some more with this recipe in the future!

Ingredients:
elbow macaroni
1/4 cup of butter
1/8 cup of flour
1.5-2 cups of milk
0.5-1 cup of stock
0.7 lb of cheese (I used medium cheddar)
turmeric
white pepper

Cook the elbow macaroni in salty water until they are not quite done. Submerge in ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain.
Melt butter in a skillet, stir in the flour on low heat until the color becomes a light brown. Add the milk and keep stirring. Then add spices, stock and cheese. The cheese does not have to melt all they way.
Measure an equal amount of macaroni and cheese sauce (e.g. 2 cups) and mix them together in an oven proof dish. Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes.

I also tried adding mushrooms and served the Mac and Cheese with broccoli.

Banana Chocolate Bread

I really enjoy reading the book BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher and there are tons of recipes that I want to try out. Most of the ones that I have tried out so far have been incredible so I was exited to try the banana bread recipe. As always I used coconut sugar instead of white sugar and I added 1 cup of chocolate chips because. The original recipe uses baking powder as well as baking soda, so I substituted the baking powder with more baking soda (not one to one as baking soda is 4 times more powerful).

1 3/4 cups of flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups coconut sugar
1/2 cups canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 mashed very ripe bananas (about 2 cups)
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup whipping cream
Mix together flour, baking soda, salt and sugar.
In a second bowl, mix together canola oil, vanilla extract, eggs, buttermilk and bananas until well combined. Then add chocolate chips and roasted nuts.
Make a mold in the dry ingredients and add the banana mix.
In a third bowl whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Then fold the cream into the batter.
Bake in a 8 x 4.5 x 2.5 inch (20 x 11 x 6 cm) loaf pan at 375F / 190C for about 35 minutes until the center springs back when touched and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

As I didn't have a loaf pan I used an 8 x 8 inches square baking pan. The result was disastrous. After 35 minutes the batter was still very liquid and after another 30 hour the outside began to burn while a knife inserted in the center still came out smeared with uncooked batter.
So I took it out of the oven, cut it in half and tried saving it by frying it on the stove. The result looked very sad.
On the plus side it did taste quite good and was happily received as a sweet breakfast addition on our camping trip.

Next time I would still use my square baking pan but only make half of the batter. I don't know how all this batter can fit in a loaf pan and not overflow when it rises during baking!

Pelmeni

This Russian national dish is easy to make, albeit I suspect no one would call it quick, but everyone likes it.

For the dough I used this recipe from a German website. Then I made a beef filling and a vegetarian filling.

Dough
400 g flour
2 eggs
150 ml warm water
1/2 tsp salt
Add the salt to the flour then add warm water to the flour and begin mixing. Then add the eggs and knead until all ingredients are well combined. Cover with a wet cloth and let the dough sit for 20-30 min.

Beef filling
1 lb ground beef
1.5-2 onions, blended
2 tbsp soft butter
salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, parsley
Combine all ingredients. Done.

Potato filling
boiled potatoes
milk
butter
1/2 onion
salt, pepper
Cut the onion in little pieces and fry until golden/translucent. Mash potatoes with a bit of the water they were boiled in, add milk, butter, onion, salt and pepper.

To form the Pelmeni separate the dough in half and make about 1.5-2 inch thick rolls. Then cut 1.5-2 inch pieces off, roll them into balls, use flour to dust the table and roll the dough balls out into very flat circles.
Then place filling onto a circle, fold it in half making sure to pinch the outer line of the half circle together. Then fold the edges together. (See picture)
Cook for about 10 minutes. Serve with butter and or sour cream.

Cookie Butter Mug Cake

10 seconds after I saw this video I was already mixing together butter, cookie butter, sugar and so on. Every since I heard of microwave cakes I was intrigued! My first attempts to make brownies in the microwave were all quite disappointing as they were all quite spongy, even when the recipes claimed they wouldn't be.
This cake was a pleasant surprise and I call it a success! It still can't compete with a real cake, but for 3 minutes of work it is a worthy little snack.
I added chocolate chips :)

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cookie butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
pinch of salt
In a 2 cup Pyrex dish, melt the butter in the microwave. Add the remaining ingredients and combine well.
"Bake" in the microwave for 90 seconds.
Serve hot with whipped cream on top.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

This recipe is another one that I have learned at the community kitchen. The recipe we made at the community kitchen was adapted from this chocolate cake recipe. We used less garbanzo beans and less sugar.
The result was a very light and fluffy chocolate cake that had a little, not altogether unpleasant, garbanzo bean taste.
So I changed the recipe yet again. Instead of garbanzo beans I used lima beans (thanks to Sarah for this idea!) and instead of white sugar I used ...coconut sugar! As coconut sugar has a more distinct taste than white sugar, I hoped it would help mask the taste of beans even more.

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
15 oz cooked baby lima beans
4 eggs
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
powdered sugar for dusting
Meld chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave.
Combine beans and eggs in a blender until smooth. Add sugar, baking powder and blend again. Then add melted chocolate.
Make for 40-45 minutes at 350F / 180C until knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Dust with powdered sugar after cooling.