Lack of inspiration

My mum once made this pie when she "lacked inspiration". I wish food like that came out of my struggles for culinary creativity. I can't claim this recipe but I can still enjoy it and spread the word about it. It's a perfect meal to serve your guests in the summer - it's quick, easy and a bit more exciting than a standard, boring pasta which is the first thing you think of when you lack inspiration.

Olives and Feta Pie

1 onion, chopped finely
200g feta, crumbled into medium size pieces
150g pitted, black olives, chopped in half (and drained)
400g chopped, tin tomatoes*
rosemary, thyme **, salt and pepper

some cherry tomatoes, halved

500g puff pastry
(and a 18cm diameter pie dish, greased)
some milk or egg yolk to glaze the pastry

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees
Roll out the pastry and put it in the pie dish. Pierce it with a fork a few times to help the air get out (the pastry will not puff uncontrollably). Bake for about 10 minutes and then put aside to cool.

In the meantime fry the onion in a sauce pan with the herbs, salt and pepper. Add tomatoes, bring to boil and let it simmer until it thickens a bit - it should take about 10-15 minutes. When it's done add the feta and the olives and stir well. You can add some halved cherry tomatoes to the sauce at this stage. Pour the sauce onto the pastry and fold the sides on top of the pie. Glaze it with a brush soaked in some milk or egg yolk. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.

(* I used dry herbs but the pie is even nicer with fresh ones. If you feel like making it a bit more italian you can also add some basil)

Chard and what to do with it

I had, until recently, never cooked with chard. But then again this entire blog should be called "My first ... (insert the name of the dish here)" and it's the case this time, too. Chard soup in its many varieties is a dish that will always remind me of Polish summers in the countryside. There are recipes for chard soup served hot for rainy days
and cold - as a refreshment on lazy, sunny day - a bit like Spanish gazpacho. Either way - don't be put off by chard - it may look and taste a bit like lettuce before you cook it, but it does make a great soup, especially when cooked with beetroot. Just the colour itself is fantastic.

Polish Chard and Beetroot Soup

1/2 L stock
medium sized bunch of chard, rinsed well
2 carrots, chopped into small cubes
2 small beetroots, chopped into small cubes.
1/2 glass of water
1 Tbs plain flour
4 Tbs single cream
juice from half a lemon
salt and pepper

hard boiled egg/some potatoes/cottage cheese/chives (optional)

Soak the chard in hot stock for a few minutes and then take it out to cool it down. Keep the stock. Chop the beetroot and the carrot and add them to the stock. Cook until both become soft. In the meantime when the chard is not too hot to touch chop it roughly into thin and long pieces.
Add 1 tablespoon of flour to half a glass of water and add the cream to it. Mix well, so that there are no lumps in the flour. Add the cream mix to the stock and let it boil for a few minutes. Add the chard and squeeze into the lemon juice into the soup. Season to taste.

You can serve the soup with some hard boled egg, potatoes or a lump of cottage cheese in the middle. It also looks very nice served with some chives.

Enjoy!

Country Life part II

Slut's Spaghetti

You can't really go wrong with a dish called Slut's Spaghetti, right? Especially if you when its taste is the perfect combination of the fiery chilli and tangy capers. Plus - all the ingredients in it come from a tin, so when it's raining outside (just like today) you don't even need to go out to enjoy it. Yet again - thank you Italy!

Spaghetti alla puttanesca 
(based on Nigella's recipe)

6 anchovy fillets, drained and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced, crushed or grated
1/2 fresh red chilli (or to taste), finely chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
150 g pitted black olives, chopped a bit
2 tsp capers
olive oil
salt, pepper
spaghetti for two
some chopped fresh parsley, to serve (optional)

Cook the spaghetti al dente. You can do in whilst the pasta sauce is already cooking. Reserve 2 tablespoons of water with the pasta when draining.

Fry the anchovies in the frying pan for a few minutes and when they are soft and 'almost melted' add garlic and chilli and fry for another minute. Add the tin tomatoes, olives and capers and boil the sauce down. It should take about 10 minutes until it's all nice and thick but still saucy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the pasta (with the remaining water) to the sauce and mix well. Serve with some fresh parsley.
Enjoy!

Wild strawberries, raspberries and cherries (it's summer!)

I went home last week for a few days. Home in the summer means the Polish countryside with its forests and meadows and lots and lots of walks through them. At this time of the year you could easily survive on eating only the stuff that grows in our garden and orchard. We had so many strawberries I could not look at them after a few days and the abundance of cherries would give even the most avid of cherry-eaters a slight headache (followed by a bellyache). Berries of all kinds pop up and mum and gran can’t keep up with the jam-making to get rid of all the fruit. We also hosted a birthday party and after flicking through tons of cookbooks we have decided to go for a seasonal cake – to take advantage of the fruit and the hot weather.

This cake has summer fruit and ice cream (lots of it!) and to make it even more wonderful it is a meringue-based cake. Can you get any better?  It is a bit of a labour-intensive recipe because it requires a lot trips to and fro the freezer. Other than that however – it is a very simple dessert. If you want to make it super-fancy you can make your own ice-cream and your own meringue. We opted for the basic version which only really requires assembling all the bits together.

Summer Cake

2 ready-made meringue bases

250g yoghurt and berries ice cream (or any ice cream of your choice)

200 g double cream

A medium bowl of summer fruit such as strawberries, redcurrants, sweet cherries, wild strawberries and raspberries.

Mint to decorate

Put one meringue base at the bottom of a loose-bottom cake tin. Mix well the ice cream with about 50g of double cream and spread it on the meringue. Place some of the summer fruit on the ice cream base (not too much as you don’t want a layer of fruit here – just an occasional strawberry in the cake). Put the cake tin in the freezer. Beat the remaining cream. Put about 5 tablespoons of it aside (you will need it for the topping). Add some of the fruit to the cream and spoon it onto the ice layer of the cake. Put the other meringue base on top and put the cake tin in the freezer again. Leave for at least an hour in the freezer until the cake sets completely. Before serving remove the cake from the tin. Spoon the remaining cream on top of the meringue and put all of the remaining fruit on top of the cake. Decorate with mint.

Store in the freezer (although this is also good half-melted!)

Enjoy!

Country Life

... or where I go when I run away to Poland in the summer.

More to follow.