too much sunshine..?!

Not long ago declaired I how winter time had begun for me and how from now on it will be all about christmas and all that. I was wrong. Somehow I still have an eye and appetite for autumny things although I keep telling myself 'come on, girl! Get over it! It's already December!' Could it be because of all the sunshine here in Freiburg? Is it too much for someone who is used to 27 hours of light during December. Yes, 27. And those hours don't yet promise sunshine from a clear blue sky, it just promises that you are able to see where you are going without a flashlight. Okay, that was exaggerated... Finland is not one big forest, although we do have a few trees and lakes.
Back to food. I had some brussels sprouts which I wanted to turn into something edible. I'd had a picture in my head of a brussels sprout quiche and to add a touch of christmas, I through in some cumin seeds as well as nutmeg. Good old orange found it's way to the pre-christmas party too and they all came along very well together!
What's different about this quiche is that it's made with a yeast dough. That means it's lighter and less buttery as the usual one. And for the filling: if you dont't find quark, replace it with 200 ml cream and leave out the milk.







Brussels Sprout Quiche



200 g spelt flour (or normal)
1 teaspoon sugar
10 g fresh yeast
125 ml water

700 g brussels sprouts
olive oil
50 ml water
salt

2 eggs
150 g quark (curd cheese)
75 ml milk
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon orange zest
hint of ground nutmeg
pepper and salt



Mix the yeast, sugar and 125 ml of luke warm water. Add the flour and 1/2 tablespoon salt and knead into an even dough. Set aside for 30 minutes and cover it with a towel. Set oven to 175 °C.
Meanwhile cleanse the brussels sprouts and cut in half. Heat the oil in a pan and cook them first for two minutes and then add water. Add some salt and braise for 5 minutes.
Mix together the eggs, quark, milk and spices.
Butter a quiche form and roll the dough on the bottom and on the sides. Pour the quark mixture on the bottom and set the brussels sprouts on top, round side up.
Bake for 45 minutes and let it stand for 10 minutes before cutting into pieces.

Saying good bye and moving forward

This Sunday was a special one for me. I woke up and discovered the mountains outside my window all white and snowy; winter had arrived to Freiburg. Conveniently this happened the same day as the traditional Weinachtsmarkt, christmas market was do to open.
Of course that snow is already gone and is substituted with cold rain and sleet but what stayed was my christmas feeling, from which there's no return. The only obstacle was, that I hadn't yet had the chance to close the earlier season properly.
There I was with a few Boskoop apples, a friend coming over and an urge to bake. What happened next was an apple pie so fluffy, mellow (can this word be used in this contents..?) and delicate, that I could at peace leave this one as the last autumnal pastry for this year and hereby state that christmas is exactly ONE MONTH away from this day. Welcome woolen stockings and gingerbread and everything related to it!







Apple Pie from Alsace


200 g flour
100 g butter
1 egg yolk
30 g sugar
hint of salt
2 tablespoons cold water

4 large sour apples (I used Boskoop)
2 tablespoons lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
100 g sugar
3 eggs
the seeds of one vanilla bean (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1/8 liter cream


Measure all the ingredients from the crust into a bowl and knead either by hand or with a mixer until you have one block of dough. Wrap it in aluminum foil and place it in the fridge for an hour.

Preheat oven to 200 °C (400 F). Press the dough on the bottom and sides of a 26 cm springform (I used two rectangular glass dishes) and poke some wholes to the bottom with a fork.
Peel the apples and cut into thin slices. Arrange the slices on the pie crust.
Bake the whole thing in the lowest part of the oven for 35 minutes. If it starts getting brown, just put a foil on top.

For the filling combine the eggs and sugar and whisk until fluffy. Add the vanilla and cream and pour on top of the apples. Bake again for 25 to 35 minutes until it gets some colour. When ready, let cool almost completely before cutting out pieces.

This was wonderful when almost completely cooled but still slightly warm. Didn't even need ice cream or whipped cream but they won't do any harm either!

Plumcake allo yogurt

As soon as I saw that this recipe uses yoghurt, I knew I had to make it. Everything with yoghurt and quark and what they do to bread and food in general make me happy at the moment (new recipes are very welcome!!). This Italian breakfast cake was no exception. It represents exactly what it is that I like so much about cakes using yoghurt; they are moist, dense and stay long fresh without drying out and they have a yoghurty sourness which I often crave for. Thank you, Veera from Prinsessakeittiö for the recipe!




The original classic plumcake was made with dryed fruit when they were imported to Europe in the old days. A cheaper version of the cake used plums, and addition to the name have the main ingredients stayed the same.



Plumcake allo yogurt


130 grams powder sugar
2 eggs
120 grams cooking oil (for example rapeseed oil)
400 ml natural yoghurt
zest of one lemon (preferably organic)
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract)
280 grams flour
1 tablespoon baking powder


Mix together the sugar, eggs, oil, yoghurt lemon zest and vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder together and add to the yoghurt mixture. Stir well, cover with a towel and leave in a warm place to rise for 1,5 hours.
Grease a regular loaf pan (I used several small ones) and fill them up to 3/4 .
Bake for 40 minutes at 200 ° C . Let it cool before serving.

Onion pie with bacon- Schwäbischer Zwiebelkuchen

This onion pie or Zwiebelkuchen is a speciality from the area where I live, Baden-Württenberg. It is served especially in the autumn with Neuer Süsser (new wine) at farmer's markets, street stands and restaurants. This one has a yeast dough and it is traditionally baked on a baking sheet but I already broke that tradition by using small pie moulds. It can also be made without bacon, if preferred!

Zwiebel Kuchen

375 g flour
1/2 tablespoon salt
20 g fresh yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 liter milk (room temperature)
60 g butter (room temperature)

for the filling:
1,5 kg onions (peeled and cut in half rings)
200 g bacon (cut in small dices)
4 eggs
150 ml sour creme
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon cumin seeds


Mesure the flour into a bowl and make a whole in the middle. Add 1 tablespoon of lukewarm milk, the yeast (crumbled) and sugar. Then cover it all with flour from the sides of the bowl and set a side on a warm place, covered with a kitchen towl for 15 minutes.

Fry the bacon on a pan. Add the onions and glare until onions are soft. Let it then cool down.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the dough and knead well (it goes easily with the spiral whisks of an electric mixer). The dough should have a firm consistency, and not stick to the bowl. You can regulate it by adding flour and lukewarm milk by turns.
Then leave it covered again on a warm place for 30 minutes.

For the filling, mix together the eggs, salt, pepper, cumin and sour creme. Then combine with onions and bacon.

Preheat oven to 190 °c.
Roll the dough on a buttered backing sheet (or first on a same sized backing paper, which you can then shift on the actual backing sheet) and mold the edges a bit higher.
Make some small holes with a fork on the dough and spread the filling evenly on the base. Let it set for just a little while and bake for 45 minutes.
Let cool slightly before serving.


source: www.chefkoch.de

The spinach diaries, part 2

It was a hectic week, but we made it! I did have time to cook and eat but not so much to write about it, so now I've got some catching up to do!
Let's begin with something I picked up on my voyage to France last summer. Okay, not exactly a big journey since it's an hour's drive away from Freiburg, but a different country anyway. On this trip I learned a groundbreaking fact: a cake isn't necessarily always sweet. It can also be a savoury and moist creation to be companied for instance with soup or salad. I made one mini loaf (15cm x 8 cm) but you can double or tripple the ingredients depending on what size cake you prefer to make. I used spinach (still got some left!) and fresh herbs but basically the only limit is you're imagination.
It tasted great with a hot bowl of creamed pumpkin soup.

Herb cake

1 egg
pinch of salt, sugar and black pepper
1 tablespoon yogurt
1 tablespoon olive oil
50 g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1 handful fresh spinach
3 tablespoons fresh herbs chopped (I used chive and basil)

Preheat oven to 180°c. Beat the egg with salt and sugar. Mix flour and baking powder together and add to the egg. Stir in the yoghurt, olive oil and black pepper.
Chop spinach and add to the batter together with the herbs.
Spoon the mixture to an oiled loaf pan and bake for 40 - 50 minutes depending on the size. Let the cake cool completely before removing from the pan and serving.


Cream of pumpkin soup (with green beans and bacon)

500 g pumkin of your choice (butternut squash, hokkaido, etc.)
1 onion
500 ml chicken stock
1 tablespoon creme fraiche
salt and pepper
pinch of ground nutmeg
(honey)

a handful of green beans
2 tablespoons minced bacon

Peel and cut the pumpkin into smaller pieces and cook in chicken stock with the chopped onions until soft. Puree with a mixer and add the spices.
Fry green beans on an oiled pan for a few minutes and add the bacon. Let it fry until beans are softer but still crunchy.
Stir creme fraiche (honey if sweetness needed), beans and bacon into the soup and serve with some herb cake.

Torilta saa eurolla nipun mangoldia.

Ostin sitä ensimmäisen kerran viime keväänä ainoastaan visuaalisista syistä. En ollut aiemmin tiedostanut tällaisen kasviksen olemassa oloa, mutta kun sen neon-väriset varret sokaisivat minut, nippu lähti oitis mukaani. Ihanan ulkonäkönsä lisäksi se myös maistuu hyvältä!




Mangoldi-vuohenjuustoquiche


Monkeyfoodin sivuilta (alunperin Peppermintiltä bongattu) löysin nerokkaan reseptin pohjaa varten. Linsseistä, kaurahiutaleista ja kananmunasta syntyy ravitseva ja herkullinen vaihtoehto perinteiselle taikinalle.

Täyte:

3-4 kpl mangoldia varsineen ja lehtineen
70 g murenevaa vuohenjuustoa
2,5 dl kermaa
2 kananmunaa
mustapippuria
suolaa


Ryöppää mangoldin lehtiosia kiehuvassa vedessä muutaman minuutin ajan ja kuullota n.15 cm:n pituisiksi leikattuja varsia hetki voissa pannulla.
Purista vedet ryöpätyistä lehdistä pois ja hienonna.
Sekoita kerma, kananmunat, murennettu vuohenjuusto, hienonnetutu lehdet ja mausteet keskenään.
Asettele esipaistetun pohjan päälle varsiosat ja kaada seos päälle.
Paista vielä 30 minuuttia 200 asteessa.


Lähde: monkeyfood.net