Pasta Salad with Roasted Tomatoes and Sweet Pepper Dressing

There really is nothing better than a roasted cherry tomato. They are so sweet and delicious. This pasta salad is fantastic. I added goat's cheese to the original recipe but it would be just as nice without. I liked the creaminess though.

Pasta Salad with Roasted Tomatoes, Goat's Cheese and Sweet Pepper Dressing
(from Waitrose Recipe Card)
(Serves 4)

400g cherry tomatoes, halved, at room temperature
2 roasted red peppers
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice 1 lemon
250g dried pasta shapes
100g mixed pitted olives, roughly chopped
bunch chives, roughly chopped
bunch fresh basil, leaves roughly torn
bag rocket, roughly chopped
50g goat's cheese

Preheat the oven to 150°C.

Place the cherry tomatoes in a roasting tin and cook in the oven for 45 mins, until slightly caramelised.

Place the roasted peppers in a small food processor with the vinegar, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. Blitz until smooth, season and set aside.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the pasta and cook according to packet instructions. Drain well and toss in a large bowl with the dressing until coated then leave to cool to room temperature.

Divide the rocket between 4 bowls and top with the pasta, tomatoes, goat's cheese, olives and herbs, serve.

Daring Kitchen February 2016: Katmer Pie

So Daring Cooks is no more. There were not enough people to keep it going, but Daring Bakers and The Daring Kitchen still exists and some of the recipes on there will be cooking rather than baking every so often. So I'll have a go whenever the feeling takes me!

This month we were challenged by Milkica from Mimi’s Kingdom to prepare a traditional Serbian Katmer pie. This one is still baking but I felt like I could cope with it. I'm not much of a cake maker, well complicated ones anyway, give me a traybake and I'm well away, but this Spinach and Ricotta Pie seemed doable. It felt a bit like a riff on a Spanakopita, which I have made before for Daring Cooks. I loved the pastry, which was fun to make and really lovely and crispy. The filling could have done with a bit of chilli or something to pep it up a bit but it was by no means inedible. I love being challenged to make new things and turn my hand to things I would never normally make and The Daring Kitchen really lets me do that.

  

Katmer Pie

DOUGH

One large pie baked in a dish approximately 16 x 16” / 40 x 40cm (enough for family of six)

Ingredients
4 cups spooned & scraped / 500g all-purpose (plain) flour 1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups / 300 – 350ml warm water
More all-purpose (plain) flour for dusting
2 – 3 tablespoons / 30 – 45g soft lard

Directions: 

Measure all purpose flour, warm water and salt. Put lard in a small bowl and leave on a warm place.

Mix all ingredients except lard in glass or plastic bowl. You will have relatively soft dough. 

Transfer dough on a floured surface and knead it a little until you achieve elastic, but soft dough.

Divide dough in six equal pieces and shape every piece in round form. Leave them to rest 10 minutes. 

Using rolling pin roll every piece of dough into flat, round shape, approximately 1/8” / 3 - 4mm thick. Divide pieces in two groups of three. Brush first piece of dough with melted lard and cover with another piece of dough. Brush second piece of dough with lard and cover with third piece. Do not brush this third piece of dough with lard! Repeat the same with another three pieces of dough.

You will have two piles of dough pieces. Leave them again to rest for 10 minutes. 

Roll each pile using rolling pin into round shape, approximately 1/4 - 1/3” / 5 - 8mm thick. 

Using sharp knife make eight cuts around the formed circle (see picture). 

Brush surface with melted lard.

Fold brushed, cut petals into middle part of dough.

Continue until you fold all eight of them.

Turn the dough so the folded parts are underneath. Do the same with another pile of dough. Leave both pieces of dough to rest until you prepare the filling. 

CHEESE AND SWISS CHARD
Given recipe yields enough for one Katmer pie.

Ingredients
2 cups / 500g soft cottage cheese (or ricotta)
1 pound / 500g Swiss chard
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt (amount depends on cheese you use, you should try prepared filling and add more salt if necessary)

Directions: 

Cut Swiss chard into strips and place it in big glass, plastic or metal bowl. Add eggs, salt and cheese.

Mix all ingredients using spoon or your hands. Filling one is ready. 

Turn on your oven on 350°F / 180°C. Roll one of your pieces of dough on a lightly floured surface into large, square or rectangular shape to fit your baking tin. 

Transfer layer of dough on baking tin brushed with melted lard. 

Arrange your filling all over the first layer of dough. 

Roll out the other piece of dough and transfer it to baking tin, covering filling completely. Press edges with your fingers to stick together.

Brush surface of pie with melted lard.

Cut whole pie into small square pieces. Bake pie in preheated oven for around 30 minutes until deep golden in color. 

Jacket Potato with Sweet Chilli Prawns

This was so good. I had a huge craving for baked potato with prawn cocktail, but I thought some sweet chilli would give it a bit of kick. 

Jacket Potato with Sweet Chilli Prawns
(Serves 2)

2 Baking Potatoes
200g cooked prawns
1 tbsp Greek yogurt
1 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1 tsp freshly chopped coriander

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Stick a skewer through your potato lengthwise, rub with oil and sprinkle with salt.

Place onto an oven shelf and back for 1 hour turning half way through.

Mix the mayonnaise, yoghurt, sweet chilli sauce and coriander together and season well. Fold the prawns into the mixture.

When the potatoes are cooked, remove from the oven and remove the skewer, cut in half and top with the prawn mixture.

Foodie Reads 2016: The Umbrian Thursday Night Supper Club by Marlena Di Blasi - Whole Roasted Cheese and Wild Mushroom-stuffed Pumpkin

Every week on a Thursday evening, a group of four Italian rural women gather in a derelict stone house in the hills above Italy’s Orvieto. There – along with their friend, Marlena – they cook together, sit down to a beautiful supper, drink their beloved local wines, and talk.

This is the second book about Italy that I have read so far this year. I found this one a bit rambling and confusing. It is apparently a memoir but it reads more like fiction, the characters don't feel quite convincing as real people. It's also not very fast paced so might be good to take on holiday.

There is a section of recipes in the back of the book and I went for the Whole Roasted Cheese and Wild Mushroom-stuffed Pumpkin. I made a mini version and stuffed a small squash. It was delicious and after taking a while to cut some of the flesh out of the squash actually really easy to make. I can see how it would make a good sharing dish if done in a whole pumpkin.

Whole Roasted Cheese and Wild Mushroom-stuffed Pumpkin
(from The Umbrian Thursday Night Supper Club)

1 large pumpkin
105g butter
2 large onions, finely chopped
300g mushrooms
salt and pepper
720g mascarpone
300g emmental cheese, grated
100g Parmesan, grated
3 eggs, beaten with 80ml cognac
2 tsp nutmeg, grated
8 slices day-old bread, cut into 2cm squares

Slice the top of the top of the pumpkin, remove the seeds and strings, then carve away a cm or so of its interior flesh with a thin, sharp knife. Cut the flesh into small chunks and set aside.

In a medium frying pan, melt 45g of butter and saute the onions, reserved pumpkin flesh and mushrooms until they are soft. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl combine the cheeses, eggs and cognac and nutmeg. Beat with a wooden spoon and then stir in the onions, pumpkin and mushroom mixture.

Melt 60g butter in a frying pan and brown the bread, tossing the pieces about until they are golden and crispy.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Place the pumpkin in a large heavy baking dish or baking tray. Spoon 1/3rd of the cheese mixture into the pumpkin, add half the bread, another third of the mushroom mixture, the remaining bread and then the last of the mushroom mixture. Put the top back on the pumpkin and roast for 1 1/2 hours until the pumpkin flesh is soft.

Serve cut into chunks.

Treacle Tart

I made a treacle tart. It's a very old English pudding and I knew that my next door neighbour loves them. So to say thank you for all the things she does for me I made her one. This was a bit different from the ones I've tried before as the breadcrumbs were coarser but I really liked it, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Treacle Tart (from Jackson's Champion Bread)
(Serves 6-8)

For the pastry

120g plain flour
60g butter or margarine
30g caster sugar
1 medium egg

For the filling
4 slices bread
300g golden syrup
zest and juice 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

For the pastry, sift the flour into a bowl, stir in the caster sugar then using your fingertips rub in the butter until it forms the consistency of breadcrumbs, then mix in the egg, and squash the dough into a ball. Place onto a floured board and roll the pastry out then line an 20cm flan dish.

Roughly cut the bread slices into 4 and place into a food processor fitted with chopping blade. Chop into breadcrumbs – they can be as coarse or fine however you like them.

Place the syrup and lemon zest into a mixing bowl then fold in the breadcrumbs. Spread the mixture over the pastry base. Bake for about 25 - 30 mins until golden on top.

Hot Smoked Salmon with Beetroot, Barley and a Whisky Dressing

Beetroot, salmon, barley - what more could you want for lunch?!

Hot Smoked Salmon with Beetroot, Barley and a Whisky Dressing (from Foodie Quine)
(Serves 2)

100g Pearl Barley
1 fillet hot smoked salmon, flaked
1/2 raw beetroot, grated
2 spring onions, sliced
small bunch parsley, chopped

For the dressing
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 tbsp whisky
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp honey
salt and pepper

Cook the barley according to packet instructions. Drain, run under the cold tap and the drain again well.

Combine the barley with the salmon, beetroot, spring onion and parsley and mix gently.

Place dressing ingredients in a jam jar and season with salt and pepper. Shake vigorously to combine. 

When ready to serve; mix the dressing into the barley salad and serve.

Meal Panning Monday

So last week was half term. A well-earned break, but not really long enough to fully relax, anyway I had a lovely time galavanting about.

On Monday I went to Ottolenghi with a friend and I had the sweet potato fritters and two salads; mixed roast peppers with labneh and pea and bean salad. Once again it was delicious, I loved the combination of flavours.

In the evening I went to Busaba Eathai in Soho. We had their Taste of Thailand Menu and had fishcakes, chicken satay and then Smoked Chicken with Noodles. I wasn't overly impressed. The food was fine, nothing particularly exciting and I found the noodles a little dry.

On Tuesday I met a friend at Princi in Soho. We ate in the restaurant rather than the bakery, I had a Capricciosa Pizza, which was ham, artichoke and olive on a tomato base with mozzarella and was delicious. I want to go back and try the bakery, where you can get a slice of pizza or a sandwich and cake.

We then went to Primrose Bakery for pudding. I had a hot chocolate and brownie. I wasn't very impressed with the brownie, it was cake rather than brownie. I might go back and try a cupcake sometime.

Towards the end of the week I went to Easton Walled Garden with my Mum to see the snowdrops. It was a beautiful sunny day and there was a carpet of snowdrops. I want to go back and see the sweet peas in the summer.

I also got a veg bag last week. It had savoy cabbage, mushrooms, Jerusalem artichokes, beetroot and onions. I keep getting onions, if anyone has any ideas of things that use a lot of onion, other than French onion soup, which is on my list of things to make, please let me know!

On Saturday I took my sister out for a Birthday afternoon tea. We went to Ma Pluckers for an American BBQ style tea. We got three small sliders, roast chicken with coleslaw, fried chicken on a waffle and pulled chicken with chipotle chilli sauce. Then we had three desserts; cherry pie, mini doughnuts and a chocolate and cornflake scotch egg.

It was really good, the meat was really flavourful and I would definitely go back to try a full sized portion of the fried chicken and waffles.

This week is quite busy, I'm finally going back to pilates tonight, tomorrow I am going to see The Big Short at the cinema, Thursday I'm going to see The Father at the theatre and on Saturday I am going out for my sister's birthday.

Monday
Smoked Salmon and Dill Quinoa Lunch Pot
Turkey Ranch BBQ Pasta with Salad

Tuesday
Pasta Salad with Roasted Tomatoes and Sweet Pepper Dressing
Out at Itsu before the Cinema

Wednesday
Katmer Pie with Salad
Trout with Stir Fry Veg

Thursday
Brussels Sprout and Cheddar Soup with a Scone
Out before the theatre

Friday
Spinach and Mushroom Quiche with Salad
Sausage and Sauerkraut Skillet Bake

Saturday
Beefburger
Out

Sunday
Mackerel Burger
Baked Salmon and Aubergine Cannelloni

Secret Recipe Club: Chocolate Chess Pie

So I have started a new thing, Secret Recipe Club, well I haven't started it, but I have started participating in it! Basically, each month, I get assigned another members blog to make a recipe from and write a blog post all about it and someone will do the same to me, it's all secret though, so I don't find out who made what from my blog until today. It is a fab way to find out about new blogs and see what everyone is doing out there! 

This month I got Nicole from I am a Honey Bee, I loved her blog and the fact that she, like me, hates being called Nicky! She also has a great variety of recipe on her blog and lots of cakes and puddings. I had to make a pie, I hummed and hawed over which one to make and finally plumped for a Chocolate Chess Pie, something I have heard of lots of times but never tried before, so I had no idea how it was going to turn out! I took it to a dinner party at my sisters last weekend and it went down a treat. Everyone loved it and I totally recommend the addition of the coffee as I think it cut through the sweetness beautifully.

I made one change, I made a graham cracker crust rather than a pastry crust. I have so many graham crackers sat on the side in my kitchen that I really had to use them in something! Obviously if you're in the UK and want to make this, make the pastry crust as you can't get graham crackers ANYWHERE here!

Chocolate Chess Pie (adapted from I Am A Honey Bee)
(Serves 8)

For the crust
1 sleeve graham crackers
113g butter, melted
1 tbsp sugar

For the filling
250g granulated sugar
30g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp espresso powder or 1/2 tsp instant coffee powder
4 tbsp butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat your oven to 180C.

To make the crust, put the graham crackers in a plastic bag and smash them with a rolling pin until they are fine crumbs. Add the sugar and melted butter and mix until well combined. Push into a 23 cm pie pan to form a thin crust on the bottom and sides. Bake for 8 mins, remove from oven, and chill until firm and crunchy, about an hour.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, and espresso powder. Pour the butter into the cocoa mixture and beat until all combined. Then add the vanilla extract and eggs.  Mix for 2-3 mins. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake for 35-40 mins until the pie is set on top but still soft in the middle. Allow to cool for at least an hour before slicing. The pie will continue to set as it cools.

An InLinkz Link-up

Kielbasa, Sauerkraut and Mushrooms

I have an enormous jar of sauerkraut. They only seem to come in huge jars! Then you have to find things to do with it! So this is one idea, it's actually really scummy, I loved this recipe and the coolness of the sour cream just helps to set all the flavours off.

Kielbasa, Sauerkraut and Mushrooms (from Nigel Slater in The Guardian)
(Serves 2)

1 onion, chopped
200g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
200g kielbasa, sliced
2-3 tbsp oil
200g sauerkraut, rinsed
2 tbsp dill, chopped
2 heaped tbsp soured cream

Heat a tbsp of oil in a large frying pan then add the onion and let it soften over medium heat for 5 mins, then add the mushrooms and kielbasa.

Continue cooking until the mushrooms are starting to turn golden brown. Add the sauerkraut to the pan, tucking it among the mushrooms and onions. Season with salt, pepper and the chopped dill. Divide between 2 bowls and top with the soured cream

Parsnip and Maple Syrup Cake

This was the second cake I made for the staff meeting and it went down a treat. Everyone really loved it. I swapped out the pecans as I can't take nuts to school and added raisins instead. The frosting was delicious, a definite success and you can't taste the parsnips at all!

Parsnip and Maple Syrup Cake (from Good Food Magazine November 2009)
(Serves 8)

175g butter, plus extra for greasing
250g demerara sugar
100ml maple syrup
3 large eggs
250g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
250g parsnips, peeled and grated
1 medium eating apple, peeled, cored and grated
50g raisins
zest and juice 1 small orange
icing sugar, to serve

For the filling
250g tub mascarpone
3-4 tbsp maple syrup

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line 2 x 20cm sandwich tins.

Melt the butter, sugar and maple syrup in a pan over gentle heat, then cool slightly. Whisk the eggs into this mixture, then stir in the flour, baking powder and mixed spice, followed by the grated parsnip, apple, raisins, orange zest and juice.

Divide between the tins, then bake for 25-30 mins until the tops spring back when pressed lightly.
Cool the cakes slightly in the tins before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.

When the cakes are cool, mix together the mascarpone and maple syrup. Spread half the mixture over one cake and sandwich with the other. Spread the rest of the mixture on top of the cake and serve.