Birthday Dilemmas

What to bake for a birthday of your beloved one when his not a fan of sweet pastries and cakes, and at the sight of thick, luscious creams... just want to say ‘oh no thank you very much’.... Well, and how to please the palate of your beloved one... I can’t say which birthdays is that as I get myself into serious trouble here :) but I assume that he is still young – at least he says so :) I must admit that the plan is partly selfish because I am not a fan of sweets too and my refusing reaction to a chocolate or biscuits offer always causes people to look at me like I was from another planet :) heheh Well! I'm not from another planet but I can easily swap sweets for a delicious sandwich with fresh bread, with an excess of lettuce and some good cheese....

But coming back to the subject, I got another problem with this birthday business – lack of time.... I wish the day was longer – maybe 48 hours long day would be perfect?!

So after returning home I began hurriedly flip through magazines and cookbooks in search of something that would even resemble the appearance of a birthday treat. Well, I found these mini tarts that can be made in just an express pace and contain everything that I could find at the moment in our fridge - brilliant! I thought – I don’t need to go shopping (uffff great relief), I do not have to spend half a day in the kitchen, and I can already imagine the smile on his face.... Mine too :)

So let’s start:

Mini Onion Tarts with Anchovies

First, shortcrust pastry - the easiest recipe that I got once from a friend and is great in about every recipe for tarts - sweet, spicy, the quick ones and the most demanding. And I have to admit that there is no way to not get it right and a number of components is a super minimal:

125g plain flour

75g butter; chilled and diced

1 egg

Knead all the ingredients together into a thick, smooth dough. Then form a ball, wrap in foil and put it into the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.

Ingredients for filling:

2 tbsp Olive Oil

30g Butter

450g Onions, thinly sliced

750g Curd Cheese

115ml Milk

2 large Eggs

1 tsp Cumin Seeds, crushed (optional)

1 pinch Salt

1 pinch Black Pepper, freshly ground

60g Anchovy Fillets, halved lengthways

Roll out the pastry thinly on a lightly floured board, then use a glass with large diameter to cut it and line the muffin tin. Chill for 30 minutes.

Heat the oil and butter in a pan, and add the onions. Cover and cook over a gentle heat, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes, or until the onions are soft but not browned. Uncover and cook for a further 4–5 minutes, or until golden. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6). Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper and baking beans, and bake blind for 15 minutes. Remove the beans and paper, and bake for a further 10 minutes.

Reduce the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Spoon the onions into the pastry case, spreading them in an even layer. Beat together the curd cheese, milk, eggs, and cumin, if using. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then pour into the flan case. Lay the anchovy fillets in a S letter shape on top, and bake for 25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the filling is set. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Just to survive...

Today post will be super fast and short... Do you ever have these moments in your life that you just can't manage with all your responsibilities and tasks at once... And you would probably want to extend the day to 72 hours? This is exactly where I am at this moment... huge exam at Uni is just round the corner, my brain evaporates, yet so much valuable knowledge to explore but the time is playing up here with me... :) for last few days, we've been eating only comforting quick food.. just to survive... to Tuesday... Therefore, today super extra fast eggs... 

Eggs in a cups

inspired by Cenk's recipe and modified by me a bit

6 large eggs

3 large tomatoes

3 cloves garlic

fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

a few slices of pastirma

olive oil

A little bit of parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

To prepare a three-minute tomato sauce, peel the tomatoes and squeeze the juice, remove the seeds (if you do it in a bowl, you can use the juice and seeds to the salad later). Finely chop the tomatoes and cook with 1 tablespoon of olive oil for about 2 minutes. Season with garlic, salt and pepper and set aside.

Take a muffin tin (if you don’t have one, you can use soufflé cups instead) and oil the cups with 1 tsp of olive oil, place the slices of pastirma inside, leaving a quarter inch overhang from the edge of the cup (be careful not to leave any gaps between or beneath the slices, though). Add a spoonful of tomato sauce and eggs on top. Season with salt and pepper to taste and bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes. After removed from the oven, sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and serve hot.

Great with fresh bread or as an alternative to fried eggs, which are usually served in our home with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables and of course with sour milk. Great food for my hungry brain... :)

Enjoy a warm and peaceful Sunday!

Roasted Chilli Frittata... a 'la minuta!!!

Have you ever wondered what makes you love a specific country? Why have you visited this specific country on five consecutive years for the holidays? Why are you talking about this specific country with nostalgia? 

I still wonder what makes me and Jarek feel that way about Italy.... and why with every dish we love it more ...? We have an impression that there is something magical in Italian cuisine - firstly it catches you with its flavour and appearance and then seduces with the taste ... and that is all prepared a 'la minuta... :) 

Everyone knows that Italians love to cook and eat - it's the most important activity of daily living. I guess, it's just made by the ancient tradition of family gatherings that has survived to this day. During the feast, among the stormy debate about politics, sports or just a day, Italians  always exchange their comments on the consumed food. We fully support this tradition and practice in our house every day. Therefore, Italian food most often appear on our table - it's like a trip to sunny Italy ... 

Today, we prepared Roasted chillies frittata... In Italy, the frittata is a common way to use leftovers - usually made of pasta or vegetables from the previous day. Frittata is always fried, never baked in the oven as the other omlets, tortillles and tarts. Not for nothing it is called a frittata [Fritt-fried - comes from the verb fry - friggere]. Frittata is particularly popular in rural areas, and usually contains eggs, boiled or fried vegetables. Sometimes it also contains herbs or chopped chives, or fresh bread crumbs. In certain provisions, you can find meat or fish and cheese (fresh pecorino or formaggio fresco) or ricotta.

Roasted Chilli Frittata
inspired by Jamie Oliver
Ingredients:
4 chillies
1 green pepper
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
'Extra Virgin' Olive Oil
handful of parsley
5 eggs
a handful of grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic
100g feta cheese (or goat's cheese)
salt and pepper to taste
rocket salad

Preheat your oven to full whack. Prick each of your chillies and pepper with a small sharp knife then blacken over a gas flame, in a dry griddle pan or under a grill. Once they’re nicely charred, pop them in a bowl and cover with clingfilm. After 10 minutes, remove the skin, stalks and seeds, then delicately tear lengthways into thin strips. Put these back in the bowl and marinate in red wine vinegar, a lug of olive oil and the parsley stalks. 

Heat olive oil and some butter in a small ovenproof frying pan, then add half of your marinated chillies and the garlic. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl with some grated parmesan and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Put a few of your parsley leaves to one side, then finely chop the rest and add them to the eggs. 

Pour the eggs into the pan then crumble in half of the goat’s cheese. Move the pan around a bit to spread everything around. When the egg is just starting to set, crumble most of the remaining goat’s cheese over, then pop the frittata in a hot oven for 5 minutes or until it doubles in size. Some people cook their frittatas all the way through, but I prefer mine only just done. Once it’s out of the oven, delicately drape the rest of your marinated chilli strips over the top, crumble over the last few bits of goat’s cheese, then drizzle over a little of the chilli marinade. Sprinkle with the reserved parsley and serve with something fresh and lovely, like a rocket, lemon and parmesan salad.

Enjoy!!!