appetizers

Cashew & sundried tomato spread

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cashew tomato spread-2

This is  ❤ ❤ ❤

Ingredients

    • 60 g raw cashew nuts
    • 140 g sundried tomatoes (drained, in oil)
    • 3 – 4 small capers
    • 1/4 of tsp garlic
    • salt and lemon juice to taste
    • add water if you prefer it more spreadable
    • bunch of cherry tomatoes
    • olive oil
    • basil leaves to garnish
    • rye crackers

Preparation

    1. Soak cashews for couple of hours, preferably overnight.
    2. Oven roast tomatoes: sprinkle with olive oil and salt. Bake at 200ºC vent for 30 – 40 mins.
    3. Mix soaked cashews, sundried tomatoes, salt, capers, garlic and lemon juice using a food processor.
    4. Serve with rye crackers. Garnish with roasted cherry tomatoes and basil leaves.
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cashew tomato spread

Easter, bread and sunshine

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pleteničke

First really warm spring sunny days made me think of summer. It’s approaching so quickly. Two, three months. I’m counting my days by the pages I’ve written. By the books waiting to be read. A morning. An afternoon. A night. Whole day. Day by day. And one month has past. One month after another. Where have they gone?

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After today’s four hour Easter breakfast at my grans I’ve been wondering why can’t we just have a normal coffee & cereals breakfast… Too much of everything. Except for bread…
The base. The life. Nothing more. Just people to share it. Braids, easter buns and potica. It’s a part of our tradition. And this year I let the real masters in our family do the thing.
I went for something else. Simple. Savory. The best to be shared with the people you love. Bread.

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dough*:

  • 40 g fresh yeast
  • 350 g plain flour T500
  • 150 g wholegrain spelt flour
  • 10 g salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 120 g butter at room temperature
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 150 -170 ml milk
  • 1 egg for egg wash

preparation:

  1. Prepare yeast: crumble the yeast, mix with 50 ml of warm milk and 1 tsp of honey. Let double in size.
  2. Mix both flours and salt. Add the yeat mixture, beaten eggs, butter and the rest of the milk (depending on the flour you will need more or less of it, so add some 100 ml at first and then you’ll see if it needs more). Mix and work the dough. It takes some 8 – 10 mins. It should be very soft, but not sticky. Form a ball and transfer to a bowl sprinkled with flour. Let rise.
  3. Divide the dough in three parts if making three different fillings* (check below). Roll out to about 0,5 cm thick into a rectangle. Spread one of the fillings, leaving aprox 2 cm blank on one side of the dough. Roll. Use sharp knife to cut lenghtwise. Open each side facing up and make a braid. Transfer to a baking tray and let rise.
  4. Meanwhile preheat oven at 220ºC. Before putting the braids into the oven, brush with egg wash. Bake for 10 mins, then turn the tin and bake for another 10 mins. Reduce the heat to 190ºC and bake for aprox another 10 mins.

* this was enough for 3 braids

 

filling*:

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1. Brie & pecans

  • 200 g of brie cut into pieces
  • 3 handfuls of roughly crushed pecans

Sprinkle equally over the dough.

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2. Black olive pesto

  • 250 g pitted black olives
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil

Mix everything into a smooth paste using a food processor.

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3. Sundried tomatoes & mediterranean herbs

  • 200 g sundried tomatoes (from oil, drained)
  • 5 small capers
  • 2 tbsp dried mediterranean herbs
  • 1 big garlic clove

Mix everything into a smooth paste using a food processor.

 

Colours of fall

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image

Fall. In full colours.
I gaze upon the sky.
Bright blue sky. Red, orange and yellow.
That’s what I see. Smiling.
A cold breeze spinning around the fallen leaves.
Sea marshes.
A reflection on the surface.
Calm. And free.
Far away from this world. 
Magic.

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This fall seems different. I’ve never seen it in such beautiful colours. Or maybe I just wasn’t looking… The light, the smells, the last fruits of the nature before the winter, the cosiness and warm, strong, colourful food.  Earth. Pumpkins and grapes, reflecting its colors in the sky.

pumpkin focaccia

Pumpkin focaccia
Ingredients

dough:

  • 500 g spelt flour
  • 300 g pumpkin puree
  • salt
  • 2 Tbsp oil
  • 20 g fresh yeast
  • 50 ml milk
  • 1 tsp agave syrup
  • 8 g salt
  • 10 Tbsp pumpkin seed oil

to garnish:

Focaccia with grapes, mozzarella and rosemary 

  • grapes
  • 1 mozzarella
  • fresh rosemary

Focaccia with sage, feta and pecans

  • fresh sage
  • 100 g feta
  • 2 handfuls of pecans

Preparation:

  1. Cut pumpkin in bigger pieces. Use hokkaido or butternut. Remove the seeds. Sprinkle with some oil and salt. Bake at 200°C until soften (around 30 – 40 min).
  2. Let cool the pumpkins. Remove the skins and puree using a hand blender.
  3. Prepare yeast: mix 20 g fresh yeast, 50 ml warm milk and tablespoon of agave syrup. Let double in volume.
  4. In a big bowl mix flour and salt. Add yeast and 300 g pumpkin puree. Mix and knead. Gradually mix in 6 Tbsp of pumpkin seed oil. The dough for focaccia should be very soft and not firm. Let rise.
  5. When doubled in volume, gradually mix in another 4 Tbsp of pumpkin seed oil while kneeding.
  6. Divide the dough in smaller parts. Add some neutral oil, like sunflower, to the baking sheet. Using your fingertips flatten the dough to aprox 1 cm thick. Testo razdelimo na več manjših kosov. Z oljem namažemo papir za peko ali pekač. Garnish. Let rise.
  7. Preheat oven to 230°C. Leave in the baking tray so it gets warm. Take it out of the oven and place on focaccias on baking sheets. Bake 10 – 15 min at
    230°C.

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Fig galette

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fig galette

I’ve been just too busy lately, so I’m leaving you with this. Makes a perfect combo with a glass of cold prosecco. And (I actually can’t believe I’m saying this since it’s like 35ºc outside) is totally worth of heating up the kitchen.

Be good!
Lots of ice cold Prosecco!
And enjoy the summer!

xo

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Ingredients

crust:

  • 100 g wholegrain spelt flour
  • 50 g butter
  • 40 g ground walnuts
  • 1 egg
  • pinch of salt

filling:

  • 4 – 5 big figs
  • 80 g sheep’s milk cheese
  • 3 Tbsp balsamic glaze
  • salt
  • fresh thyme
  • two handfuls walnuts

Preparation:

  1. Mix flour, ground walnuts and salt. Add cubes of cold butter and mix evenly. Add and egg. Wrap in plastic foil and let sit in the fridge for 30 mins to 1 hour.
  2. Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper.
  3. Cut figs and cheese. Put in the middle of the dough, sprinkle with salt, fresh thyme, balsamic glaze and roughly crushed walnuts. Fold in the dough.
  4. Bake at vent option at 190ºC until cheese is lightly browned (about 20 – 25 mins).

Tabbouleh: there’s never too much mint. Or olive oil.

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I was sitting on my balcony, chilling, looking at my vegetables and thinking what to prepare for lunch. That gorgeous green mint caught my eye and made me think of something… It’s been almost 10 years now, since I visited France for the first time. It must have been then that I’ve fallen in love with it… Anyway, I was staying with a family in Antibes, in the south. Tabbouleh was le plat de resistance. Every day. Every lunch. It was more or less a cous-cous salad with some tomatoes, raisins and mint. To be honest, I was not a big fan. It was something I’ve never had in my life before. But, years pass by and you get wiser… and you travel (now a visit to a local Lebanese is practically a must on all my trips), returning at home, hoping that one day you’ll be able to sit down in an restaurant ordering some hummus, falafels and tabouleh in your home town. And one day when you return, your wish comes true. Mezze.

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Tabbouleh comes from Middle Eastern cuisine and is usually served as mezze. It’s fresh, healthy and really easy to make in the summer. The real thing is actually lots of mint and parsley, tomatoes, some onions, sprinkeled with lemon and some bulgur. Yes, sprinkeled with bulgur.

My recipe is a mix of everything. Cranberries and pistachios came across when I was staying in Canada. And bulgur is so much healthier than cous-cous. It’s not that common to use it at our place, but you should definitely be using it more. Bulgur is cracked durum wheat and is considered wholegrain, so rich in fibre and has approx. 10% of protein. It is made by cooking the wheat, drying it, partially removing bran and craking it. This actually means that there is no need to cook it. You can just soak it and drain when soften.

So, serve it with one of these beauties  plus some grilled vegetables. And you’ve got yourself a real feast!

 

Ingredients:

  • 250 g bulgur
  • 350 g cherry tomatoes
  • 2 big handfuls cranberries (or raisins)
  • 150 g salted pistachios in shell
  • 20 g mint leaves or more
  • 15 g parsley
  • 1 small spring onion
  • juice of 1,5 lemon
  • 1 Tbsp aged balsamic vinegar.
  • salt
  • olive oil. lots of it.

Preparation:

  1. Cook bulgur according to instructions. Do not overcook. Let cool completely.
  2. Chop mint leaves, parsley and spring onions. Cut cherry tomatoes in half. Remove pistachios from the shelves and chop roughly.
  3. Add lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and lots of olive oil to cooled bulgur. Mix in pistachios, cranberries, chopped herbs and spring onions. Salt according to taste and mix. At the end mix in cherry tomatoes and serve.

BBQ season: best dips for roasted veggies

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namazi-4Last weekend was the official barbecue season opening at our house. And we had a good reason for it. We were celebrating the release of a new album of a band my dad plays at. Demolition group. I was growing up with the band and their music, but never considered them like big stars. They were more of a  family. I think it was not until I’ve grown up (hope my dad won’t be reading this. lol) that I realised how significant actually is what they are doing.

It was a lovely day, we had great time and we ate well.

Usually there’s a lot of meat when you organise a barbecue. Luckily I was not the only vegetarian and there was abandonce of meat free dishes. As far as I’m concerned, the best concept for a barbecue is to follow the mezze principle, as I call it. Small, fresh, colorful sides that accompany the main thing, so that everyone is satisfied, veggie and meat lovers. I was thinking, what would go best with grilled vegetables and came up with these three easy and delicious dips:

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Greek yoghurt with lemon, mint and black olive paste 

Ingredients:

  • 1 kg greek yoghurt
  • peel of 5 organic lemons
  • 1 – 2 tsp salt
  • mint leaves
  • 80 g black olives
  • 6 Tbsp olive oil

For this recipe you will need a cheesecloth

Preparation:

  1. Drain greek yoghurt: put cheesecloth into a strainer and place over a large bowl into which you will collect excess water from yoghurt. Pour in your greek yoghurt, put into the fridge for at least a day. The longer it drains the firmer it gets.
  2. The next day, mix drained yoghurt with salt and peel of 4 organic lemons.
  3. Mix olives and olive oil and grind into a paste using a mortar or food processor. You can also leave larger pieces of olives.
  4. Put the lemon yoghurt into a larger bowl, garnish with black olive paste. Grate zest of 1 lemon and sprinkle with fresh mint leaves. Sprinkle with olive oil.
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Chickpea, roasted red peppers and walnut dip

Ingredients:

  • 10 -12 long red peppers
  • 1 can chickpea
  • 2 handfuls of walnuts or pecans
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 6 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 – 2 tsp salt
  • garnish: feta, coriander or parsley leaves, olive oil

Preparation:

  1. Oven roast peppers at 200°C until soft and well grilled. You can also barbecue them. Let cool and remove the skins.
  2. Put skinned peppers, drained chickpeas, walnuts or pecans, garlic, lemon juice, ground coriander and salt into a food processor and mix into a smooth paste.
  3. Garnish with crumbled feta, fresh herbs and sprinkle with olive oil.

 

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White bean and almond butter hummus

Ingredients:

  • 1 can white beans
  • 3 big Tbsp almond butter (you can also replace it with 3 handfuls of almonds)
  • 1 small tsp salt
  • 6 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 3 – 4 Tbsp water
  • ½ garlic clove
  • 1 tsp cumin (Cuminum cyminum) – optional
  • garnish: avocado, olive oil, cranberries or pomegranate, sesame

Preparation:

  1. Make almond butter: you will need at least 400 g almonds. Mix them in a food processor or a blender at highest speed until oils get to separate and grounded almonds turn into a smooth butter. You can substitute almond butter by 3 handfuls of almonds, but the consistency will be less smooth.
  2. Put all the ingredients into a food processor and mix into a smooth paste at the highest speed. Add water according to the thickness you prefer.
  3. Garnish with slices of avocado, pieces of cranberries or pomegranate, sesame and sprinkle with olive oil.

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Be good! Enjoy in sunny days!

DG – U tvojim očima

Easter bread, spring and sunshine

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velikonočnapletenica

It’s funny how all my life people have been telling me I had no sense for writing. Today I write a blog. And blogging mostly is about writing. Or I might just be writing some nonsense that no one is reading… That’s fine too. At least I’m leaving traces behind me. One way or another, it’s true, the words don’t get here out of nowhere. Usually it’s the image that inspires me to write something down. A brief episode. A distant memory. A life worth living.

As I was looking at this photo it made me think of my grandparent’s Easter bread. My grandparents actually owned a bakery. And the most important thing for them was quality and good ingredients. You can’t make good bread out of nothing. True.

Flour has changed. Food has changed. Gluten is an issue, lactose is an issue, sugar is an issue. And probably, we have changed too.

I set off my blog as something to reinvent traditional recipes. But Easter time is special. And I’m saying this without any religious intentions. I don’t see all my family as often as I would like to, so I love it when we all gather at least for Christmas and Easter. I respect this family tradition and I recpect traditional recipes that go along it. It’s all about gathering, sharing and enjoing the moment. And so is bread.

My Easter braid variations:

Basic recipe for Easter braid

Ingredients:

  • 500 g wheat flour T400
  • 60 g sugar*
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 30 g fresh yeast
  • 80 g softened butter
  • 1,8 – 2,2 dl warm milk*
  • 1 egg + 3 egg yolks
  • 2 Tbsp rum
  • peel of 1 organic lemon
  • egg yolk + 2 Tbsp of milk for brushing

* I used 40 g of honey instead and it was sweet enough. The quantity of milk depends largley on the quality of the flour. Plus if using honey, you will need a bit less liquid. Add gradually! Also, you can replace flour with another one, like spelt or wholegrain, but do use at least one half of flour T400.

Preparation:

  1. Mix fresh yeast, 50 ml warm milk and one tablespoon of honey. Let double in volume.
  2. In a big bowl combine the two flours and salt.
  3. In a seperate bowl mix softened butter using a hand mixer. Gradually add eggs, rum and lemon peel.
  4. Mix the rest of the milk and the rest of the honey so it dissolves evenly.
  5. Add yeast and egg mixture to the flours. Add milk gradually, not all at once. Mix with wooden spatula. When the ingredients start to combine, start kneading. Flour the working surface. It takes something like 8 – 10 mins for gluten to activate, so you’ll be probably kneading for about 10 mins. The dough should be firm and silky.
  6. Let rise. When doubled in volume, divide in three equal parts and knead once more. Make three rolls and braid. Let rise once again.
  7. Before baking, brush with mixture of egg yolk and two tablespoons of milk.
  8. Preheat oven at 200°c and place in a baking tray filled with water to create steam. Bake for 10 mins, than lover the temperature to 180°c and bake for another 15 – 20 mins.

Wreath with sundried tomatoes and goat cheese

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I have first fresh herbs at my garden, so I was thinking, why not a savoury braid with a hint of summer. Wholegrain challah with sundraied tomatoes, fresh herbs and goat cheese.

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Divide the dough in three equal parts, roll them out lenghtwise. Than add some filling in the middle, close up and braid.

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Ingredients:

  • 250 g wheat flour T400
  • 250 g wholegrain flour
  • 1 – 2 tsp salt
  • 30 g fresh yeast
  • 80 g softened butter
  • 1,8 – 2,2 dl warm milk*
  • 1 egg + 3 egg yolks
  • egg yolk + 2 Tbsp of milk for brushing

filling:

  • 60 g crumbeled feta or goat cheese
  • 50 g chopped sundried tomatoes
  • dried or fresh herbs (rosemary, oregano, basil)
  • small finely chopped garlic clove

* The quantity of milk depends largley on the quality of the flour. Add gradually!

Preparation:

  1. Mix fresh yeast, 50 ml warm milk and one tablespoon of honey. Let double in volume.
  2. In a big bowl combine the two flours and salt.
  3. In a seperate bowl mix softened butter using a hand mixer. Gradually add eggs.
  4. Add yeast and egg mixture to the flours. Add milk gradually, not all at once. Mix with wooden spatula. When the ingredients start to combine, start kneading. Flour the working surface. It takes something like 8 – 10 mins for gluten to activate, so you’ll be probably kneading for about 10 mins. The dough should be firm and silky.
  5. Let rise. When doubled in volume, divide in three equal parts and knead once more. Make three rolls and roll them out lenghtwise. Than add some filling in the middle, close up and braid. Let rise once again.
  6. Before baking, brush with mixture of egg yolk and two tablespoons of milk.
  7. Preheat oven at 200°c and place in a baking tray filled with water to create steam. Bake for 10 mins, than lover the temperature to 180°c and bake for another 15 – 20 mins.

Torta Pasqualina. Kind of.

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pasqualina

When I asked my friend what I should prepare for Easter, she was like, please do something to use those cooked eggs. I never know how to use them. There’re just too many…

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Torta Pasqualina is a tipical Ligurian Easter dish. Mine is a bit fake. Somewhere in between my quiche recipe and spinach strudel. Normally the recipe uses filo pastry made of flour and olive oil. And there are artichokes, marjoram, onions and of cours lots of grana added to the base. Oh, and usually it’s a round tart. But hey, have fun playing with this one!

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Ingredients (serves 4):

  • 1 pack puff pastry (rectangular)
  • 2 eggs
  • 100 g ricotta
  • 150 g feta
  • 400 g fresh spinach
  • 1 big garlic clove
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 4 cooked and pelled eggs
  • nutmeg
  • pepper
  • egg yolk/white for brushing

Preparation:

  1. Finely chop garlic clove. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil and quickly saute garlic (be careful not to burn it). When it starts to smell nicely, add fresh spinach. Cook until the most of the liquid has evaporated. Transfer into a strainer. Let cool and drain the excess liquid.
  2. Crumble feta using a fork, than mix with ricotta and eggs. Add spinach, season with nutmeg and pepper.
  3. Roll out puff pastry. Divide it in three parts lenghtwise, but don’t cut in.
  4. Put spinach mixture and cooked and pelled eggs in the middle part.
  5. Diagonally cut 2 cm wide stripes on both outer parts of the pastry.
  6. Fold the left and the right stripe towards the middle and press to stick. repeat lenghtwise to close up the pie.
  7. Brush with egg and bake at 200ºc (ventilation) from 20 to 25 mins.

 

This recipe was created as a part of a project for Spar Slovenija and their magazine Dobro zame.

Oeuf cocotte and gluten free walnut buckwheat bread

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Oeuf cocotte, a french classic and probably one of the easiest things to do. I won’s say you don’t need the right technicque to get it cooked to the point where the egg white hardens and the yolk stays liquid, but one way or another, I should have this more often, because it’s soo good and easy to prepare. Choose whatever topping you like, but mushrooms go perfectly with buckwheat.

Gluten free bread is a story on its own… I tried number of recipes, but no matter what flour I used and no matter how much oil I added, it always turned out too dry. So I did my homework and found a solution: psyllium seed husk.

Psyllium seed husk contain soluble and insoluble fibers. It is probably one of the nature’s most absorbant fibers, so this means it will bind all the ingrediends together and will prevent the bread from drying out. Plus, it is really good for digestion.

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Oeuf cocotte with mushrooms

Ingredients (serves two):

  • 4 eggs
  • 150 g mushrooms
  • 1/3 tsp garlic
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3 Tbsp liquid cream or crème fraîche
  • 1 tsp butter
  • salt
  • pepper

Preparation:

  1. Finely chop the mushrooms. Sautee on a tablespoon of olive oil. When the liquid starts evaporating, add garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook for anothe couple of minutes.
  2. Grease the molds with butter. Add mushrooms and reserve some for garnish.
  3. Add two eggs in each mold, top with some cream and the rest of the mushrooms.
  4. Put the molds into a baking tin filled with hot water that rises to the middle of the molds.
  5. Bake at 170ºc from 6 – 10 mins. Keep an eye on it: ideally the egg white should harden and the yolk should still be liquid.
  6. Season with salt and pepper.

Buckwheat bread with walnuts

Ingredients (makes 4 buns):

  • 70 g buckwheat flour
  • 70 g corn flour
  • 20 g corn starch
  • 12 g fresh yeast
  • 1 tsp honey or agave syrup (for yeast)
  • 20 ml milk (for yeast)
  • 250 – 300 ml milk or water
  • 15 g flax seed
  • 40 g walnuts
  • 25 ml olive oil
  • 20 g ground chia seed
  • 20 g psyllium seed husk
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Preparation:

  1. Prepare the yeast: mix 20 ml of warm milk (not hot), fresh yeast and tablespoon of honey or agave syrup. Let double in size.
  2. In a big bowl mix the flours, corn starch and salt. Add flax and walnuts.
  3. Using a cofee grinder, grind chia (you can also grind psyllium, but that’s optional). Than mix chia, psyllium, olive oil and milk or water. Let soak at least 3 mins.
  4. When the yeast and chia mixture are ready, add both to flour mixture.
  5. Mix with wooden spatula until all ingredients combine. Add flour if too sticky or water/milk if to compact. Keep in mind that psyllium soaks up a lot of liquid. Flour the working surface and kneed into a ball. Dough should be soft, but not sticky. Let rise.
  6. When doubled in volume, knead once again to let rise for the second time. If you prefer little buns, now’s the time to divide the dough.
  7. When second rise is done, cut the crosses on the top of the buns. Bake in preheated oven at 220ºc for 30 – 40 mins. The bread is done when it sounds hollow  if knocked on the bottom side.
  8. IMPORTANT: always put some water into a baking tray underneath the  bread rack to create steam. This is how you will get a moist inside and crunchy crust.

 

This recipe was created as a part of a project for Spar Slovenija and their magazine Dobro zame.