Broccoli - mushroom quiche

A nice vegetarian quiche for my mums' birthday dinner.

Crust:
160g plain flour
50g rye flour
50g butter, softened
35ml oil
1 egg
2 tsp sugar
0.3 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
20ml milk or water

Mix the dry ingredients and whisk together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones and mix well (use your hands!). Line an oven-proof glass dish with the pastry and set aside.

Filling:
250g broccoli, cut into medium-size florets
200g mushrooms, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
salt, pepper
350g cottage cheese
3 eggs
100g cheese, grated
2 tbsp oil

Fry the vegetables over low heat until the broccoli is soft, season with salt and pepper, set aside.
Meanwhile, thinly cover the bottom of the unbaked pastry case with some of the grated cheese. In a bowl, mix together the eggs, cottage cheese and the remaining grated cheese, season with salt and pepper.

Evenly distribute the fried vegetables over the dough, pour over with the cottage cheese-egg mix, making sure it's more or less even aswell. Bake at 170C for about an hour or until it looks done.
Makes 10-12 servings.

Matzo ball soup

Every now and then I've seen this soup on food blogs and wondered what it's like. Since I didn't know where to get some matzo meal, I couldn't make it until now.
When I went to the Passover celebration, they were selling matzo boxes and for the first time (for me anyway), packs of matzo meal. I had to get my hands on that!

The pack of crushed matzo sat in my cupboard for almost a month, until I finally decided to give it a go. The recipe itself is fairly simple, and requires few ingredients.

Matzo balls
1 egg
30ml water
20ml oil
1/4 tsp salt
dash of pepper
60ml matzo meal

Whisk the egg with oil and water, add salt and pepper and mix in the matzo meal. Cover with plastic wrap and let it stand in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight.

Matzo ball soup
750ml stock (vegetable or chicken or whatever strikes your fancy)
2 medium carrots, sliced
some sweet potato (I have no idea how much I used, perhaps 60g?), cut into sticks
Fresh dill, if you wish

Bring the stock to boil. With wet hands, roll little balls (2-3cm diameter) out of the matzo ball dough and drop them into the boiling stock. Boil for about 8 minutes, then add the carrots. After 4 more minutes, add the sweet potatoes and let everything boil for another 8-10 minutes. Garnish with dill. Enjoy.
Serves two.

To me, it tasted similar to meatball soup, something I haven't eaten since I became a vegetarian and what used to be one of my favourites. Definitely a keeper.

Sweet potato soup

I've had this kind of soup once before, in France. All I remember about it is that it tasted absolutely amazing, so I've been waiting for the chance to make it myself.

Yesterday, while in a shop, I stumbled upon a crate of these magical vegetables and bought one of them. In Estonia, sweet potatoes are worth their weight in gold. Figuratively. They're actually a little cheaper than that. I almost felt like I should dress up for the cooking.

At first, my mind was blown - every time I'm dealing with a new kind of vegetable, I look it up on Wikipedia. I like to learn about the cultural background and different ways of preparation. This time, it was different. I thought they were from the same genus as normal potatoes, but they're not. Silly botanist. They're from the genus Convolvulaceae, which means they're closer to bindweed. How strange, I never would have guessed something edible came from that genus. I even forgot to look up the culture bit.

The recipe I found was with cauliflower, but since I didn't have any, I made it with carrots instead. Feel free to try it out the original way.

Sweet potato soup
3 tbsp oil
1 small onion chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 level tsp turmeric powder
2 medium carrots, cut into rough chunks
1/2 sweet potato (350g), cut into rought chunks. Yes, they're humongous.
1l veggie stock, or chicken stock if you wish
50ml milk, or coconut milk
pepper, cayenne pepper

In a large pot, heat the oil and fry the onions and garlic until soft, then mix in the turmeric. Add chopped carrots and potatoes and cook until they're a bit softer too. Pour the stock on top of the vegetables and cook until they're soft. Puree with a blender, then bring it to boil again and stir in the milk. Adjust seasonings and enjoy.
Makes 4 servings.

Personally, I think it came out really nice, but I think it will be better with cauliflower. I still have half a potato left, so I'll try that next. Coming soon on this blog... or something.

Red lentil dal

Today, I failed my driving theory exam by 1 point. Grue. It's also snowing again, so much for my hopes of the snow melting so I can ride my bike again. Ah well, perhaps it'll get warmer in April.

I've had a thing for Indian food for quite a while now. Today I made one of my favourites - dal. It's really very simple and a true comfort food, especially for days like this.

Red lentil dal:

2 tsp oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup red lentils (~120 ml)
1 cup water plus more if needed (~240 ml)
1 cup tomatoes (~240ml)
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp mild paprika
0.5 tsp hot paprika
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chili flakes

Fry the onion and garlic in a saucepan until the onion bits become transparent. Add lentils, tomato sauce, water and all the spices except the chili flakes and cook stirring every now and then until the lentils are done, about 20 minutes. Add more water if it looks too thick. Mix in the chili flakes and cook for two more minutes. Adjust flavourings, making sure it has plenty of salt and is hot enough for you. Serve over rice.
Makes three to four servings for a small person.

Spaghetti with sundried tomatoes and pine nuts or lament for Trehv

Something horrible happened on 14th of February this year. One of my favourite restaurants in Tartu closed its doors. Their food was affordable even to poor students, generously sized and unbelievably delicious. Their warm strawberry-banana crumble was to die for, but what made the strongest impression on me was this pasta dish they served. I wasn't a big fan of pasta before I went there, but Trehv made me appreciate pasta again. Tagliatelles with sundried tomatoes, peppers, carrots and pine nuts. Oh. My. God.
But now, they're gone, and their amazing pasta with them.

I had two choices - carry on living without being able to eat that amazing dish ever again or make it myself. Naturally, I went with the best option.

So here goes:

Pasta a la Trehv or spaghetti with mushrooms, sundried tomatoes and pine nuts:

120g (dry) spaghetti, boiled
200g mushrooms, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp oil
6 sundried tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp oil from the sundried tomatoes jar
2 tbsp pine nuts
salt and pepper to taste

Boil the pasta as instructed on the package. While the pasta is boiling, chop the vegetables. In a pot, fry the onions and mushrooms with a little salt and pepper in the 1 tbsp of oil until done. Drain the pasta and mix it with the vegetables. Add the chopped sundried tomatoes and the sundried tomato oil. Cook while stirring for about 2 minutes or until all components are warm. Turn off the heat and mix in the pine nuts. Prepare to ascend to culinary heaven.
Makes three portions for a small person.

Yes, this recipe has pine nuts. No, I never learn.

My own sourdough rye bread. Aw. Yeah.

I've been wanting to make sourdough bread for quite some time. As you all know, sourdough requires a starter culture. There are several ways to acquire one: first, you could make it yourself by fermenting bread or fruit for a couple of days. The problem with that method is that it may not turn out strong enough for the first couple of batches of bread to rise properly. The second method is to get a starter from someone who already has a good, working one. Lazy as I am, that's exactly what I did. Since I don't know anyone who makes their own bread, I had think of a clever way to get my hands on some starter.

Once again, I was rescued by The Internet.

I went on a foodie forum and asked people in my area if any of them would be so kind and share their starter with me. I got two replies, which was more than enough. A couple of days later, I was the proud owner of a little plastic box full of greyish, fermented goo and a set of instructions. I am forever grateful, nice lady.

Making sourdough bread has two steps.
First, the evening before you want to start baking, you mix the starter with some water (I used 400ml) and enough rye flour to give it the thickness of yoghurt. Then you leave it to ferment for at least 12 hours, preferably in a warm place. You'll know if it's done by the foam forming on top.
Next, you add more rye flour, salt (1 tsp), sugar (3 tsp, heaped) and caraway seeds (1 tsp) to taste (I had my mum taste it since I can't - due to reasons mentioned in the previous post). The dough should be just soft enough to be stirred with a spoon. This is also the point where you take a new starter (two tablespoons for making one loaf).

Then you ladle everything into a loaf tin, smooth it out with wet hands, cover with plastic wrap or a towel and leave it to rise in a warm for an hour or three.

 

When the dough has doubled in size, preheat your oven at 225C and bake for 15 minutes. Then, turn the heat down to 200C and bake for about 30 minutes, making sure the crust doesn't burn. Finally, turn the heat down to 180C and let it bake for about 25 more minutes (total baking time should be around 70 minutes).
Take your bread out of the oven, brush it with wet hands and let cool under a towel for at least an hour and a half.

Since I forgot to take a starter when I was supposed to, I had to take it when the bread was almost ready to be baked, resulting in my bread having a crater in it. Ah well.
The starter should keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. It can also be frozen, but that may reduce its activity.

If you ignore the bitter undertaste caused by my curse, my bread was amazing.

Of course, this didn't happen without casualties, good things rarely do. Mainly, my bread got stuck in the loaf tin and I had lots of trouble getting it out in once piece. It was soft and fluffy on the inside, but the crust was STUCK. I tried to force it out with a spatula. The bread won. The spatula shattered. Note to self: next time, use baking paper or butter.

Jooseps birthday kringel

Since my last kringel was a raging success, another friend of mine has asked me to make one for their birthday. This time, it will be a savoury one, which means another challenge for me, since I haven't done that before either. What makes it even trickier is that I'm vegetarian, and selfishly, I want my kringel to be something I can enjoy as well. Which means  excluding the best part (according to some) of a pizza kringel - ham. So I needed to think of something that is a) absolutely delicious b) isn't a body part. And Joosep isn't a fan of mushrooms or peppers, so they're out. Which left me little choice, since those were the two things I would have used. I mean, cheese and onions are nice on their own, but they're not enough. I want it to be awesome. At first, I had a blasphemous thought - soy slices, fried with spices and soy sauce would probably fool my carnivore friends. That would be cheating. Also, even to me, soy slices have this Soylent Green aura to them. So, over the course of a week, I've been thinking about components, with the brightest ideas hitting me the night before the party (sundried tomatoes!) and THE best idea reaching me when I was shopping for food. Pine nuts. This is going to be amazing.
Mind, I'm writing this before I've even started baking it, so we'll see what actually happens.

Dough:
40g yeast
375ml warm milk
2 eggs
120g butter, softened
~700g flour
2 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt

Dissolve yeast in warm milk and in another bowl, whisk the eggs and butter (that makes them easier to incorporate) and mix everything together. Add flour, sugar and salt. Knead well. Kneading is important, I can't stress this enough. Give it a proper beating, about 10 minutes, until the dough stops sticking to your hands. Cover with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for about an 45 minutes, punch down and leave it for another 45ish minutes.

Filling:
50g butter, melted
1 large onion, chopped and fried in a tablespoon of butter. Seasoned with salt and pepper.
100g sundried tomatoes, cut into small pieces
50g pine nuts
100g roasted almonds, chopped
300g grated cheese
40g grated parmesan
oregano
1 egg

Fry the chopped onion while the dough is rising and let cool. When the dough is ready, evenly roll it out into a rectangle, making sure it's pretty thin. Cover the rectangle with melted butter, leaving 2 cm on one of the long sides so it will stick when you roll it up. Add all other components, spreading them evenly across the dough. Now for the tricky part. Roll up the dough, stretch if it looks too short. With scissors, cut it up lengthways, making sure the fillings don't fall out. Braid it as shown in my previous kringel recipe and carefully transfer to a baking tray. Pick up all the bits that fell out and stick them back on the kringel. Let it stand for 10 minutes, meanwhile preheat the oven to 165C. When all is done, brush the kringel with egg, stick the tray in the oven and bake for about an hour, until the kringel is nice and golden. While baking: I wish I could take pictures of the smell. Oh. My. God.
Enjoy. Makes one large kringel slightly too big for my silicone mat.

Hopefully it tastes as awesome as it smells!
Happy birthday, Joosep!

Hangover food

I took this picture almost two weeks ago, when unspeakable things happened the night before (read: mixing drinks is a bad idea).

This is THE food for the horrid morning that follows a rough night.

Mushroom pilaf and why I love my freezer

Yesterday I decided to make a dish my grandmother used to make very often, but which I haven't eaten for over three years becuse I turned into one of those annoying vegetarians who don't usually accept food with meat picked out.

After a quick look through my cookbooks and The Internet, I found a decent recipe and modified the hell out of it, as you do.

Mushroom Pilaf
1 cup/240ml long grain rice
2 cups/480ml veggie stock (or whatever you prefer)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium carrot, grated
~150g mushrooms, sliced (estimated amount)
2 tbsp cooking oil
spices (0.5 tsp black pepper, 0.5 tsp turmeric, a little cayenne pepper, two pinches of cumin, 0.5 tsp paprika)

First, you bring the stock to boil in a deep saucepan and keep it warm on a low flame. Then, on a frying pan you saute all the vegetables with spices of your choice, and when they're done, add the unboiled rice. Fry the rice for a couple of minutes, mixing well. Spoon everything into the saucepan with the stock, bring to boil, reduce heat and cover with a lid. This is also the point where you can taste if you got the spices right. Let all this mess simmer for about 20 minutes or until the rice is done, turn off the stove and let it stand for another 10 minutes or so.
Makes about 5 portions for a small person

Afterthought: The rice was a little too soft, so you should add less stock, maybe 400ml. I think the vegetables give out extra liquid. Also, I need to learn how to take pictures of food so it looks as good as it actually is.

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When Roju was coming to my birthday party, she asked me if I needed anything from the shop and I said I needed one large pack of whipping cream for my pavlova (I will write about that sometime later this week). She was nice and bought two. That extra package stood in my fridge, unopened and lonely, until it reached it's date of expiry, which is when I remembered that good stuff should be used and decided to make a creamy pasta sauce for when I'm feeling especially decadent. Or something.
I haven't eaten it yet, but from the numerous tastings I can say it turned out very nice. 

Creamy Pasta Sauce
400g can of tomatoes
1 cup/240ml whipping cream
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper, basil

In a saucepan, simmer the onion and garlic until they are cooked. Add the tomatoes and spices and simmer for about 10 minutes. Now, add most of the cream (leave about 2 tbsp) and simmer for 20 more minutes, mixing every now and then, until the sauce is slightly reduced. In the end, add the remaining cream, mix and serve on pasta. Or in my case, ladle portions into bags and freeze.
Makes 4 portions for a small person.

Carrot soup

Rob was visiting last week, and it was great. This was an exceptionally succesful holiday, almost all planned activities got done in the end. We went skiing, we walked on the river, we watched the movies we wanted to see, we talked, we went to the pub with my friends, we ate at that awesome restaurant that serves unbelievably greasy but awesomely delicious food. 
Celebrated my birthday. Cooked all day. It's so great to have a willing helper at hand!

Rob went back home this morning. After over a week of indulging in all kinds of fatty, sugary and delicious culinary stuff, it's time to take a break.

Here goes my first...

Carrot soup (Rob's mum gave me the initial push)

4 medium carrots (or 2 huge ones)
1 potato
1 small onion
25g butter
1l vegetable stock
salt, pepper, nutmeg or cayenne pepper if you wish.

Put all vegetables(roughly chopped) in a deep saucepan and fry them in the butter for about 15 minutes (the carrots should be a little softer at this point). Season with salt and pepper. Add the stock and boil for another 15 minutes. Puree with a blender. Adjust seasonings.
Yum.