Fennel Pear and Parsnip Tart

Veggie Tart for Valentine's Day. No steak and fries dinner for me!

This is a recipe from Austrian Chef Elisabeth Grabmer from Linz. The combination of fruit and veggies sounded appealing to me. Parsnips are a bit sweet too. That should work just fine. 

This tart is baked like a French tarte tatin. It has to be turned after baking. That method prevents a soggy bottom. The puff pastry is roll out on top and brushed with egg wash. The finishing touch to this tart is made  when it us turned andvtge baking paper is peeled off.

Ingredients:

2 fennel bulbs, 1 large parsnip, 1 pear - not too ripe. I used a Conference pear

2 cloves of garlic, dried thyme, salt and pepper, Dijon mustard, fruit balsamic vinegar, 1 egg, 50 ml veg stock, 15 g butter, 1/2 tsp sugar

Use a wide pan and saute the fennel strips first in olive oil. That will take some time. Let it get some charred bits. Season with salt and pepper. Drain on kitchen paper. Next saute parsnips and pear strips. Season them too.

Heat up the oven to 200C.

Place baking paper in the tart form. Fill in the veggies and pear. Add 50ml of stock, more pepper and salt and thyme and butter chunks.

Roll out the puff pastry and place it on top. Tuck it in. Beat the egg wash and brush the top of the pastry.

Bake for 18 min. Take it out and turn it over. Peel off the paper.

Mix mustard, lemon juice, fruity balsam vinegar, sugar and a bit oil. Brush it on top the tart.

 

 

Mango Colada Dessert for Valentine´s Day

Pina Colada as a cocktail is well known and one of my favourites. This is a variation as a dessert. No pineapple this time, but fresh mangos.

Sunday the 14th is Valentine`s Day. Something special as a dessert sounded right. The recipe is from ALDI. The only thing missing in this recipe is the sprig of mint at the end. My mint plant on the balcony is frozen at -10 C in the moment. But the balcony is great to cool down the dessert before serving it.

recipe for 4:

2 ripe mangos, 150 g Greek yogurt, 150 g cream cheese

200 g coconut milk, 1/2 lemon, 1 tbsp agave syrup

1 tbsp vanilla sugar, 100 ml double cream, 30g dessicated coconut

Peel the mangos and save 1/4 of one in the fridge for later. Put the mango pieces into a blender and mix it.

In a small dry pan roast the dessicated coconut until golden brown. Beat the double cream to soft peaks.

Mix all together, except the mango puree.

Fill the mango puree in tall jars, add the coconut cream on top and chill. Later put a slice of fresh mango on top - with a sprig of mint- if you have some.

Cream Cheese and Pecorino filled Pastries

The rest of my strudel dough sheets waited to be baked. I did not use them the day after opening as recommended on the back of the package. Two days later the edges were dried out and have fallen off the moment I unrolled them. But since I only wanted to prepare 2 packages for me alone, there was enough of it to work with.

I used an oil spray on each sheet and folded the 4 sheets in half to have a thicker layer to hold the filling.

As a side salad I served pointed cabbage with date tomatoes in s sweet and sour oil dressing. I just poured 500 ml boiling water ovet the cabbage strips in the colander and tossed it several times to cool it down again. This way the cabbage gets a bit soft. 

Ingredients:

7 sheets of filo pastry, oil

250 g cream cheese, 40 g Pecorino, 1 egg

3 tbsp chives, 4 tbsp parsley,

Salt, pepper, dried herbs, lemon zest

Mix the paste and fill it into the middle of the cut out sheets. The filling is enough for 3. Fold over the edges, brush with oil.

Heat up the oven to 200C

Bake for 15 min.

Mixed Vegetable Soup with Lemon Juice

Icy cold weather with day temperatures of -11 C are not very common here in the middle of Germany. We have a layer of ice and snow outside that is staying for a couple of days now. Normally when we have a little snow here, it stays for a day or two or is gone in hours. 

After beeing outside for a while I needed something comforting to warm me up. The best thing is a good soup. 

I had wonderful homemade chicken stock and a small package of ham cubes. That sounded great as a base. Now all veggies on deck. I collected all leftover ones from previous meals. 

Ingredients:

1 courgette, 1 carrot, 2 parsley roots, 1 potato, 3 celery stalks, a bit of leek, 2 spring onion, 1 clove of garlic, bunch of parsley

700 ml chicken stock, 80 g ham bits, 30 g Pecorino, chili flakes, salt and pepper, tbsp butter, 1/2 lemon

In a bit of butter cook the ham together with onion and garlic and add the other fine chopped veggies. Stir a couple of times and fill up with chicken stock. Bring to a boil, season and cook until eyerything is tender.  Use a stick blender to make a creamy soup. Add the cheese and lemon juice.

Feta Tomato TIK TOK baked pasta Sauce

TIK TOKs tomato feta baked pasta went viral and the hype is worth the try.

I worked from home today and looked for an easy dish that more or less cooked all by itself. 5 min in the kitchen. The pasta is ready in a very short time.

200 g feta (sheep&goat), olive oil

250 g cherry tomatoes, 1 spring onion

6 cloves of garlic, herbes de Provence, thyme salt and pepper

Heat up the oven 170C

Oil the baking dish, place the block of feta in the middle. Set the tomatoes and whole garlic around. Sprinkle with herbs and season with salt and pepper. Pour a bit of olive oil over it all.

Bake for 30 min. Serve it with the kind of pasta you like.

Potato Artichoke Strudel with fried Onions

Finding a jar of artichoke hearts in my cupboard that was forgotten and a bit over the best of its time. But still good to go. Some other stuff was ready to be used up. 

All kinds of strudel, sweet or savoury can be found in many countries. Strudel dough, fillo or brick dough they are called.

I need some for an other recipe tomorrow. On the backside of the package was the advice to use it up in 2 days after opening. 3 sheets were ready to be baked today.

Ingredients for 2:

3 strudel sheets

60 g Greek yogurt, 60 ml milk, 1/4  tsp herbes de Provence, pinch of thyme, salt, pepper, 

3 floury cooked potatoes, 150 g artichoke hearts, 2 tbsp Parmesan, thyme, rosemary, lemon juice

1 egg, 2 tbsp milk, zataar, fried dried onions

Heat up the oven 180C.

Mix yogurt with milk and seasoning. Spead every layer with the mix when you put them on top of each other.

Break up the cold potatoes and place the artichokes on top. Season and grate the Parmesan over it. Roll it up and tuck the ends under.

Crack the egg and mix with milk and brush the strudel all over. Sprinkle with zataar and bake for 20 min.

Top with fried dried onions.

Gorgonzola with hidden veggies and Spaghetti alla Chitarra

The spaghetti alla Chitarra are made from durum wheat semolina, they are bronze drawn and are square. They are rough on the outside and are great with all kinds of sauces. They will stick to the pasta beautifully. My friend had bought the package and tried a tiny bit of the pasta and did not like it. 80% of the spaghetti package went to me.

I wanted to serve some of them with a cheese sauce. Gorgonzola was the right kind of cheese for them. But only cheese and pasta, no way. I wanted something to balance the sauce. 

Lets chop some green vegetables. The great thing about that sauce is that the cheese cream covers the green bits nearly completely. For all Chefs who know people which do not like green stuff. Now is the time to push the veggies. Just chop them very small.

Ingredients for 2:

200 g Spaghetti alla Chitarra

2 spring onions, 1 small courgette, 2 thin stalks of celery, 1/2 bunch parsley

1 tbsp butter, 175 g Gorgonzola

60 ml Noilly Prat, 120 ml double cream

Salt, pepper

Chop the veggies into small pieces. Start with a large pan and melt the butter. Add the veggies and in a second large pot start the spaghetti. They will need about 12 min. That is the time you will need for the sauce.

When the veggies had a couple of minutes, add the Noilly Prat and cook that down. Then add the double cream and cut the cheese in slices and melt it on medium heat in the sauce.

The pasta water will be a bit starchy now. Take 3 tbsp of it for the sauce.

Chop the parsley, add a bit more pasta water to the sauce and stir in the spaghetti.