Baked Eggplant

Half a loaf of bread dried out so I cut it into little pieces and used the blender to make breadcrumbs. I wanted to make an eggplant dish using the breadcrumbs and nutritional yeast. After looking up a couple of recipes, I combined some ideas. This one for Eggplant Parmesan with Crisp Bread Crumb Topping is the closest to what I ended up making.

My version:
- 1 small eggplant (or half a big one)
- egg mixture
  1 egg
  1/2 tsp basil
  1/2 tsp parsley
  pepper, salt
- breadcrumbs
  3 tbsp breadcrumbs
  3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- tomato sauce
  4 small fresh tomatoes
  2 tbsp tomato paste
  1/2 onion
  1/2 tsp basil
  1/2 tsp parsley
  pepper, salt
- olive or canola oil
- mozzarella
Wash eggplant and cut into 1/2 cm round slices.
Blend the ingredients for the tomato sauce except for the onion. Cut the onion into small pieces and add to the sauce.
Mix ingredients for egg mixture and ingredients for breadcrumbs in two separate bowls.
Cover the bottom of an oven proof dish with oil.
Dunk eggplant slices in the egg mixture and then in the breadcrumbs. In the oven proof dish, arrange one layer of eggplant, add one layer of tomato sauce. My dish was small enough to add another layer of eggplant and tomato sauce. Finish with a layer of mozzarella slices.
Bake for 15 min at 450 F.

Cakes in Jars - or in a Muffin Pan

After seeing this video of how to bake cakes in jars I thought, I could do the same in my beloved muffin pan. I am also a big fan of recipes with few ingredients and this recipe has only five: berries, flour, sugar, butter and a pinch of salt.

So I distributed 2 1/2 cups frozen (instead of fresh) berries among the 12 muffin molds, mixed 1/2 cup of flour with 1/2 cup of coconut sugar and some salt and poured it on the fruit. At the end I added about 1/8 stick of butter (1/2 oz or 15 g) to each mold.

It tasted chewy and very good especially topped with ice cream!

But the mini cakes did not hold their form and it was only possible to eat it out of the muffin pan or spooned into another dish (hence the jars would be much more convenient) and for my taste it was too much butter. I thought that the butter would not seep through all the flour sugar mixture resulting in pockets of dry flour. But that was not the case at all.

I next time I want to try using half the amount of butter.

Chicken Pie

I tried baking mini Chicken Pot Pies in my muffin pan. I didn't actually look up a recipe and the only Chicken Pot Pie that I ever had was the microwave Chicken Pot Pie the day before which led to me thinking "Hm, I bet I can make this myself!"
Apparently I couldn't and the result didn't taste like Chicken Pot Pie usually tastes. So I am calling it a Chicken Pie

For the Crust:
1 cup of flour
1/2 stick of butter
2 eggs
salt, pepper
Mix together, roll out between two sheets of cling foil. Lift the upper foil and use a big cup to cut out circles to press in the muffin pan molds. Safe some dough for sealing the pies. Blind bake at 300 F for about 10 min.

For the filling:
onion, chopped
broccoli, cut into small pieces
peas
carrots, pealed and cut into small pieces
chicken breast
Fry the onion in some oil and add the vegetables. Fry for a couple of minutes, then add the chicken and fry until chicken and veggies are done. Cut chicken into small pieces.

For the sauce:
Turkey stock
corn starch or flour
butter
cream
paprika, salt, pepper
lemon juice
Melt butter in a hot pan, add corn starch or flour and spices. While stirring fast add the turkey stock and cream until the sauce has the desired consistency. Add more salt, spices and lemon juice if needed.

Mix the sauce with the veggies and chicken and fill the muffin pan. Add dough lids and bake until lids are golden for about 20-30 minutes.


I need to learn how to use my seasoning and spices. The pies had too much pepper and not enough salt. But otherwise they were quite tasty.

Savory Madeleines II (filled with cheddar)

So this is the second time I made Madeleines and then liked them so much that I made a second batch on the same day. They are just so easy and fast to make and only bake 10 minutes!

On the same day after I added a blended mix of parsley, nuts, nutritional yeast and cheddar to this recipe of Parmesan-Herb Madeleines, I wanted to make them again. But instead of blending the ingredients, I mixed the chopped parsley and pine nuts into the dough. Then I filled the Madeleine pan with half the dough, added the grated cheddar and spread the rest of the dough on top.

It tasted so much better than when I blended the ingredients! The taste of the pine nuts and cheddar was much richer. We ate them all before I could take a picture..

Savory Madeleines I

For Christmas I got a Madeleine baking pan. I have yet to try a sweet recipe, but so far I've tried out this savory recipe of Parmesan-Herb Madeleines.

The first time I tried it I thought it would be a good idea to add some veggies (and/or bacon for the meat eaters) and the result was quite good. For some reason they turned out to be very salty, though. The recipe only calls for 1/4 tsp of salt and I didn't put in any other salty ingredients. That made them wonderful snacks to have with some beer!

Today I tried the recipe again and only put in a pinch of salt. Instead of veggies, I blended the following ingredients together to add to the dough:
1/2 bunch of parsley
1/4 cup of pine nuts
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
about 50g cheddar

The result tasted very good. The madeleines didn't rise much, but I don't know which ingredients could have interfered with the baking powder. The result was still very tasty and I am sure I will make it again.

Puff Pastry Roll Filled With Salmon and Spinach

Puff pastry is great! For dishes with spinach, with cheese, with tomatoes, with cinnamon, with nuts and sugar..
..and for salmon! I tried out this German recipe of a Salmon and Spinach Puff Pastry Roll and adapted it a little bit. It's now one of my favorite recipes even though I've only made it twice so far. It's easy and quick to make and tastes really good!

Puff Pastry Roll Filled With Salmon and Spinach
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
1/2 - 1lb salmon
1/2 onion, chopped
1 bunch spinach or frozen spinach
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup cream cheese
salt, pepper
1 egg, whisked
Thaw the puff pastry and roll it out with a rolling pin.
Fry onion in a pan, add spinach and fry for a couple of minutes. (optional: add some flower). Add salt and pepper.
Fry salmon for a couple of minutes and cut into 1-2 inch cubes.
Mix sour cream and cream cheese and season with salt and pepper.
Spread the sour cream mix on the pastry, leaving 1-2 inches. Distribute spinach and salmon on top of the sour cream mix. Roll the pastry with the filling from one side to another, ending without the sour cream mix.
Transfer roll unto a baking dish and brush with the egg.
Bake at 375F for 25-30 minutes until golden.

This yummy roll can be served by itself, or with a simple white sauce.

For the White Sauce:
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup cream
salt, pepper, white wine, lemon juice
Melt the butter, slowly add the flour. Then add vegetable stock and cream until the sauce has the consistency you like. Season with salt, pepper, white wine, lemon juice. Serve with the puff pastry roll.

Another one of my favorite recipes that goes well with this one is Potato and Corn Casserole from Argentina.

And of course veggies :)

Maple Apple Tarte - Mapple Tarte

This morning felt like a Maple-Apple-Tarte-morning. So before breakfast I got to work to fulfill what felt like this morning's destiny.

For a pie crust I like to use this recipe. I make only half of it and I can line my pie pan twice or make a covered pie with it.

For the filling I was trying to find a recipe that I used to make some years ago. But I couldn't find it. So here is my approximation of what I remember.

Maple-Apple-Tarte filling: 
4 apples (e.g. Granny Smith)
1/4 stick of butter
1/2 cup apricot jam (preferably one with more fruits than sugar)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
a little bit of butter and 2 tbsp of maple syrup for the top
Peel and cut 3 apples in little chunks and mix with butter, jam, maple syrup and brown sugar in a pot. Bring to a boil and stir until apples are tender (I like my apple tarte filling very soft).
Fill the apple sauce in the pastry shell. Peel and cut the remaining apple into half, then quarters, core and cut of thin slices to decorate the tarte. Drizzle with a little bit of butter and 2 tbsp of maple syrup.
Bake at 375F for about 30-35 minutes, until apples begin to brown.
Enjoy with whipped cream and/or ice cream!

Fearing that it would end up too sweet (with the jam, brown sugar and maple syrup), I added very little sugar to the whipped cream.
It turned out appropriately sweet for a pie, but I would try this recipe next time with no sugar, or maybe with no jam and more apples as I don't like my desserts / breakfasts too sweet :)

Tarte Flambee

Strolling through the grocery store I was looking for some quick ready-made dinner but couldn't decide on what to choose. That one was too small, the other one too expensive, the third not appetizing enough.. Then I came to the frozen pizza section and my mood lightened. Not because I chose a pizza, but because I remembered a recipe that I used to make all the time. It's easy, it's fast, it's yummy and it is topped with cheese: Tarte Flambee!

For the dough I prefer the recipes without yeast. Like this one:
2 cups of flower
4 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of water
Mix together and roll out thinly.

For the topping I used the following ingredients:
Mix sour cream and cheese yogurt, add salt and pepper and spread evenly over the dough.
Then top with
red onions (cut into quarter rings)
leek (cut into half rings)
sliced mushrooms
grated cheddar
Bake at 375F for 15-20 minutes.

The tarte flambee turned out very well. The crust was crunchy on the bottom and gooey in the middle. The mushrooms give it a wonderful flavor.

I'm looking forward to getting my rolling pin in the mail so that I can stop using wine bottles to roll out my dough (doesn't work as well..)!

Turkey stock, turkey yoghurt soup and crunch bars with sour cream chocolate frosting

After Thanksgiving we had a lot of left overs and I got to try out some new turkey recipes.

I was especially exited about the recipes I could make with the turkey stock.
The stock recipe I used was a mixture of this turkey stock recipe I found online and what I found in my newly acquired book "Julia's Kitchen Wisdom" by Julia Child.

My turkey stock:
I cooked the turkey carcass with carrots, celery and onions and also added a bouquet of herbs (dill, rosemary and thyme). After bringing everything to a boil I let it simmer for about 2 hours.
The stock turned out a bit cloudy so I guess I didn't skim enough in the beginning but I think that's ok.

Now, today is the day I got to make my first soup and I chose this spicy turkey yogurt soup with chickpeas, rice and mint. The recipe sounded like a Turkish yogurt soup I tasted in Berlin and I'm pretty happy the way this recipe turned out. I might make it again, I still have about 2 liters of stock in the freezer!


In other news, this week is the week we got a hand mixer! Let the baking begin!

The first "cake" I made (while waiting for the laundry) were crunch bars.
I did change the recipe a little bit and used coconut sugar instead of brown and white sugar. That gave the crunch bars a taste of caramel which turned out very well!
I also changed the frosting because I wanted to try out chocolate frosting with sour cream! The result was not very sweet (which I like) with a nice light tartly taste. I probably wouldn't put it on just any cake but luckily was delicious on the crunch bars!

My sour cream chocolate frosting:
100g (3.5oz) 60% dark chocolate
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup of sour cream
1 cup of coconut sugar
Melt the chocolate in a bowl above hot water. Add the vanilla extract and instantly whisk in half of the coconut sugar. Then add the sour cream and the rest of the coconut sugar and whisk until smooth.