Salmon Quiche

I tried this recipe once in a big pie form and then again in my muffin form.
It features cheese and almond meal in the pie crust and refreshingly little instructions. I changed it a little bit, adding more cheese and baking the crust at a lower temperature. Despite the crust being so brittle before baking it comes out great and is quite easy to get out of the pan.

Crust:
1 cup flour
1 cup cheddar, grated
1/4 cup almond meal
1/4 tsp paprika
6 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
Combine all ingredients and set aside 1/2 cup. Press the rest of crust into bottom and sides of 9 inch pan, bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Quiche:
1/2 lb frozen salmon
3 beaten eggs (I used 1 egg and 1/2 cup of egg whites to get rid of some of the egg whites that had piled up in our fridge after all the Tiramisu we enjoyed)
1/4 tsp dill weed and/or other herbs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cheddar, grated
1/2 chopped onion
chives
paprika, salt and pepper
Thaw, fry and flake the salmon. Add all other ingredients. Put in baked shell. Sprinkle reserved 1/2 cup crust over top. Bake at 325 F for 45 minutes (or less when using the muffin form) until the tops are golden.

Nine Layer Dip

This dip is usually called 7 Layer Dip (we used this recipe). But when making it for the super bowl weekend, we added some more cheese and avocado and ended up with 9 layers.

8 oz refried beans
1/2 pack taco mix spices
8 oz sour cream
4 oz cream cheese
8 oz mild salsa
1 avocado
lettuce
green onion
1 big tomato
1 green bell pepper
cheddar
black olives

Mix refried beans with taco mix spices and put in a dish as the first layer.
Mix sour cream and cream cheese. Spread over the refried beans.
Mash avocado and add some salt, pepper and lemon juice. Spread over sour cream.
Add a layer of mild salsa.
Add a layer of grated cheddar cheese.
Chop lettuce, green onions, tomato and bell pepper. Make one layer of each.
Top with a layer of  cheddar. And another one if you like. No one will know. They will just think it's one thick layer.
Garnish with black olives.
Enjoy with chips, nachos or bread.
This is also a great left over food.

Peanut Butter, Banana, Cholate Smoothie

I like Reese's and was delighted to find recipes with the same idea (peanut butter and chocolate) for smoothies.

This one also calls for flax seed and Greek yogurt (which I substituted with a tablespoon of sour cream and nuts ;) ! mmh!) and gets my full recommendation!

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 :)

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.