Montag, 27. Oktober 2014

Plum/Prune jam

Hi there!

Wow, this week has just been flying by! But I love the cooler weather we've had in Switzerland. There's nothing quite like enjoying a warm cup of tea and treating yourself to whatever it is that makes you feel great. For my part that is savoring all the produce fall has to offer and get the best of the fruit. For example with this simple recipe from my godmother. It is super simple and super low-effort, but tastes great. I don't use a gelling agent for this one as I like this jam to be very soft and a little runny.

Here's the recipe:

about 3 kg (105 oz) plums or prunes, both work equally well; you need 2,5 kg (88 oz) pitted fruit
600g (2 + 2/3 cups; 21 oz) granulated sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2-3 cloves
1 empty tea bag

1) Wash your fruit, then pit it and cut it into small pieces, about 0,5cm (1/4 inch) wide. 

2) Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Place the fruit and sugar on a baking tray and stir carefully, but thoroughly to distribute the sugar evenly. 

3) Cut the cinnamon stick in 3 pieces, then put on top of the fruit at different ends of the tray. Put the cloves into a tea bag and place them on the tray as well. This way it'll be a lot easier to remove them once the fruit is cooked.

4) Put the tray in the oven and let the fruit cook with for 1 hour.

5) Remove from the oven, take away the cinnamon stick and cloves and, working quickly, fill the jam into glasses all the way up to the top. Let the glasses cool head first. This way, you'll generate a vacuum which will help the jam to keep longer. 

Yield: I ended up with 7 glasses of about 250ml (1 cup) capacity
Active preparation time: about 20 minutes
Total preparation time: 1 hour and 20 minutes + cooling time (about 2 hours)

Here's how it looks:


You can play around with the amount of sugar depending on the quality of fruit you can get your hands on. My plums were fairly ripe and sweet, so I didn't add a lot of sugar. Most jam recipes call for 1kg sugar for 1kg fruit or at least 500g sugar for 1kg fruit. If you don't like cloves, you can easily omit them.

This is one of my favorite ways, besides cake, to work with fruit. And you can enjoy it so much longer. You can have a piece of fall for breakfast for a few more weeks. 

Have fun trying! 




Montag, 20. Oktober 2014

Pearl barley risotto with marinated feta

Hi guys!

I hope you had a lovely weekend. Mine was filled with baking and sunshine. The weather was breathtakingly beautiful and I enjoyed every second. Today's recipe plays with flavors that simply shout sunshine. Sunny tomatoes and tangy lemon help with making this recipe special and interesting. The recipe comes from Yotam Ottolenghi's book "Jerusalem". I accidentally discovered it in a magazine.

Here's the recipe:
200g (7 oz) pearl barley
30g (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter
90ml (1/3 cup + 1 dessert spoon) olive oil
2 small stalks of celery
2 echalots
4 cloves of garlic
4 thyme sprigs
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika powder (pimenton)
1 bay leaf
4 strips lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
1 can (400g; 14 oz) canned tomatoes
300g (10.5 oz) sieved tomatoes
700ml (2 3/4 cups) vegetable broth
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
300g (10.5 oz) feta cheese
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
salt and pepper, to season

1) Rinse the pearl barley thoroughly with cold water and set aside.

2) Cut the celery stalks, echalots and garlic cloves into small cubes (about 1/2cm; 1/4 inch).  

3) Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the butter over medium heat and cook the celery, echelons and garlic for 5 minutes until tender. Add the barley, thyme, pimenton, bay leaf, lemon peel, chili flakes, canned tomatoes, sieved tomatoes, vegetable broth and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and stir thoroughly.

4) Bring to the boil, turn the heat to medium-low and let cook for 45 minutes, stirring here and there, or until the barley is soft and has almost absorbed all liquid. You can add a little water if necessary.

5) In the meantime, roast the cumin seeds in a pan without oil for a few minutes. Afterwards pound the seeds using mortar and pestle. Add the feta and olive oil and mix to combine. 

6) At the end of cooking time, taste the barley risotto and season with salt and pepper. Serve the risotto with a little marinated feta on top. 

Yield: 4 as a main dish
Active preparation time: about 20 minutes
Total preparation time: 1 hour and 5 minutes

Here's how it looks:


This dish offers a ton of different flavors. Don't let the long ingredient list discourage you. All of the ingredients are easy to find at any grocery store. And the final product is worth using all the ingredients. 

The lemon peel adds a nice tang, the tomatoes brighten things and the feta adds creaminess once it is starting to soften and saltiness to the recipe. If you don't like feta, try substituting a little cottage cheese or omit the cheese altogether.

I hope you can enjoy the last days of summer and have fun trying!

Dienstag, 14. Oktober 2014

Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bake

Hi guys!

I'm a little late for meat free monday, but I still want to share a vegetarian breakfast recipe with you. I am a little obsessed with anything that includes quinoa at the moment, so when I discovered the following recipe, I was hooked. It combines my favorite grain with all of fall's goodness. Sweet or tart apples and those spices like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg you love from your Pumpkin lattes.

I discovered the recipe on the website "www.fitsugar.com". The website focuses on everything surrounding fitness and offers a ton of healthy, easy to follow recipes. Here's the link to the recipe:
http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Apple-Cinnamon-Quinoa-Breakfast-Bake-32210316

Here's the recipe:
1 cup (200g) uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 apples
1/4 cup (50g) raisins
2 eggs
2 cups (500ml) vanilla soy milk
1/4 cup (60ml) maple syrup
1/3 cup (about 60g) whole almonds
Sunflower oil or butter, for greasing

1) Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Rinse the quinoa thoroughly. 

2) Grease a 18 x 28cm (7 x 11 inch) baking dish. Fill with the quinoa and spices and mix.

3) Peel the apples and cut them into 1cm (1/2 inch) cubes. Add the apples along with the raising to the quinoa.

4) Put the eggs, soy milk and maple syrup in a bowl and whisk to combine. 

5) Pour the liquids over the quinoa and apples and carefully stir everything. 

6) Roughly chop the almonds and sprinkle over the top. Bake for 1 hour or until set. 

Yield: 6 slices
Active preparation time: about 20 minutes
Total preparation time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Here is how my bake looks:


This is perfect to make ahead on the weekend and reheat in the oven (about 10 minutes at 150°C (300°F) or microwave. 

I love the combination of soft quinoa and the fall spices. I made this bake once using regular soy milk and the second time using hazelnut milk. Almond milk should work perfectly, too. I personally like the addition the hazelnut milk gives this dish. It really complements the apple. I guess you could use your favorite variety of apples. I personally prefer crisp, tart apples that taste rather sour than sweet, but feel free to choose any sort you like.

Most of all though, I like the fact that this is warm. In autumn, the nights get chillier and I am feeling better starting my day with something warm.

Have fun trying and start the chilly fall days right!

Montag, 6. Oktober 2014

Apple Pie

Hi guys!

It's Monday and time for a meat-free recipe. Today's recipe is for all of you with a sweet tooth. As autumn is in full swing right now, I love to bake more than ever, because it means my favorite fruit is in season. It's not something extraordinary or hugely decadent - I love apples. In crumbles, in a tray cake, baked, but especially, as apple pie. The list goes on and on... 
This recipe for apple pie comes from Cynthia Barcomi and is the first apple pie recipe I have ever tried. I just love the buttery pie crust as it isn't sweet and nicely contrasts the tart and sweet baked apples. 

Here's the recipe:

For the pie crust:
420g ( 2+3/4 cups; 14.8 oz) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
240g (2 sticks; 8 oz) unsalted butter
90g (3.17 oz) palm oil 
160ml (2/3 cup; 5 fl.oz) cold water

For the apple filling:
4-5 apples (The recipes recommends Granny Smith, I like Boskoop as well or Elstar)
35g (2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour
70-100g (1/3-1/2 cup) granulated sugar
pinch of cinnamon powder (feel free to use 1 teaspoon or more)

1 egg

1) Cut the butter and oil in small pieces. Put them in a bowl and let them cool in the freezer for about 15 minutes. I personally have never used the palm oil, but replaced it with equal amounts of butter. You could also use coconut oil, as it is hard at room temperature as well.

2) Place the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl and mix.

3) Add the butter and beat the dough with a hand-held mixer or kitchen machine until small crumbs form. It should look a little a crumb topping.

4) Add the water, reserving one tablespoon at first. The dough should just be coming together. Add the remaining water if necessary. 

5) Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. The recipe calls for 2 hours, but I have never found it necessary to refrigerate it this long.

6) Preheat the oven to 225°C (437°F). Peel and core the apples and cut them in pieces, about 1/2 inch quarters. 

7) In a bowl, mix the apples with the sugar, flour and cinnamon and set aside.

8) Grease a 26cm spring tin with butter. Take the dough out of the fridge and cut in tin half. Place one half on a flour-dusted surface and roll it into a round disk of about 36cm caliber. You should be able to place the dough into the spring tin while it forms the bottom and sides in one piece. Fill the apples into the tin.

9) Take the other half and roll until about 2-3mm thick. Either you can roll it into a round disk and cover the pie with it completely, cutting the cover a few times so the steam can escape when baking. Or you cut the dough into 2cm-wide strips and braid them. I know, the braiding takes a little bit more time, but I think it looks much much nicer. For some extra glow, brush with one whisked egg. 

10) Bake the pie at 210°C (410°F) for 15 minutes. Then, reduce the heat to 190°C (374°F), cover the pie loosely with aluminum foil and bake for another 50 minutes. The pie is done when it is golden brown. 
© Copyright: Cynthia Barcomi's "Backbuch", p. 145f.

Here's how mine looks:

As you can see: The braiding is a little bit freestyle. It's easiest starting in the middle and working your way out. 

Here's a peek at the inside

I really love this recipe. The pie crust is the perfect combination between buttery and flaky and soft from the apple juices on the inside. The butter makes sure that no apple juice can escape. I always use more cinnamon than the original recipe calls for, as I love it. It's completely up to you. Feel free to leave it, if you're not into cinnamon, but I think nothing beats this classic, winning combination. 

Have fun trying and curl up on the sofa with a nice piece of warm apple pie!