Tag Archives: baking

Small quiches: 4 fillings

I Love Pies! Small and large, closed and opened, with fish and hm less meat, whether it’s cabbage pie or raspberry tartlet. So, it was that day when I couldn’t decide what filling to choose and made 4 different savory quiches! Beautiful and delicious! 🙂 It’s a quick (especially if you prepared the pastry ahead as I did), easy and tasty way of using up all those small cheese pieces and veggies leftovers.

Small quiches: 4 fillings

Servings: 4-8
Time: 1hr 30mins
Difficulty: moderate
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Pastry

160g/5.6oz all-purpose/plain flour

120g/4.2oz butter, cold and cut into cubes

a good pinch of ground sea salt

40-50ml iced-cold water

Put flour, salt and butter in a big bowl. Quickly rub ingredients together until coarse breadcrumbs (or use food processor). Add water and mix until the dough is formed. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight. You can keep the pastry in a fridge up to 3 days.

Roll out 3-4mm thick dough to fit your baking tins. Bake blind in 180C preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

Filling

2 large eggs

100-150ml 30% cream (or double cream)

freshly ground sea salt and black-white pepper, to taste

Broccoli+Gruyère cheese
Leek (slightly sautéed in butter)+Cheddar
Zucchini (raw, sliced or grated)+Thyme(fresh or dried)+Parmesan
Sun dried tomato (chopped)+Olives+Basil (fresh or dried)+Pecorino Romano cheese

Whisk eggs with cream and season to taste. Arrange vegetables, grated cheese and herbs in pastry cases. Pour the egg mixture over veggies. Bake in 180C preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the filling is set.

Enjoy!

Sunny pie

Today is the winter solstice, it is an astronomical event that occurs twice a year (summer and winter solstice). Winter solstice is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. During the paganism time in old Russia this day was a special celebration, which was called Yule night. It was a festive and holy day for the honour of greeting the baby-sun named Kolyada, that was born on this night, which slowly but steady began to be stronger and brighter. That means that with each upcoming day nights became shorter, days longer and sun shone brightly and warmly. In the night people had to get together (there was a superstition that to stay alone in this night was unluckily), they set a big festive fire, sang songs and burnt all old and useless stuff; people also prepared chickens and turkey, baked round pies and praised the Sun.

As you can see, I’ve tried to make a sun-looking pie. Rich and sweet pastry holds lemon-scented milky filling and all covered with lightly soured apricot puree. In a word, I liked this bright and tasty pie! It reminds me another pie that I made – ‘cottage cheese and cranberry pie’, so if you liked that one – give a chance to this sunny pie as well. 🙂

Lemon-tvorog pie with apricot top

Servings: 6-8
Time: 4hr
Difficulty: moderate
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I used 20cm loose-bottom baking pan.

*Tvorog is Russian cottage cheese, you can find it in many European or Russian stores.

Lemon-tvorog pie

Ingredients

sweet lemon pastry

400g tvorog*

100g butter, at room temperature

zest of 1 medium lemon

3-4 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 medium eggs

30g (3 tbsp) brown sugar

30g (3 tbsp) white sugar

60g golden raisins

hot black tea or water, to cover the raisins

2 tsp cornmeal

apricot top

Preparation method

While the pastry case is baking, prepare the filling.
In a small bowl, put raisins and cover with hot black tea or water. You can also add a tablespoon of cognac or brandy for extra flavour. Leave to soak while making the diary filling.
In a large bowl, whisk tvorog with butter until just combined. In another bowl beat eggs with sugars.
Add lemon zest and juice, vanilla and beaten eggs to the tvorog mixture, beat until just combined.
Drain raisins and mix into the filling along with cornflour.
Pour the filling into the pastry case. Pour the apricot puree over the tvorog filling.
Bake in preheated 190C oven for 45-50 minutes. If the top begins to burn – cover it with foil.
Let it cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then carefully transfer onto the serving plate. Enjoy!

P.S. The filling wasn’t smooth as you can see from the pics, if you like it -ok, if not- you may push tvorog through the sieve.

Sweet lemon pastry

170g butter, at room temperature

50g golden caster sugar

zest of 1 small lemon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg (40-45g), at room temperature

260g plain flour

Glaze: 1 small beaten egg yolk, optional

In a large bowl, whisk butter with sugar until just creamy. Add lemon zest, vanilla and egg and mix until just combined. Mix in flour. Cover the pastry with plastic wrap and chill overnight or up to 3 days until ready to use.
Roll out 3mm-thick (or as thick as you like) circle to cover your baking pan. You can also make ‘sun rays’ and stick them to the base and sides of the pan, but it’s optional step. If you have any pastry remains, roll out it and cut out cookies, then bake it on a baking tray for 10-12 minutes.
Put the pan with pastry into the freezer for 10 minutes.
Cover the pastry case with foil, add beans/rice/special stones for baking and bake in preheated 190C oven for 20 minutes. Then remove the weight, brush with the glaze (optional) and return to the oven for 5 minutes more.

Apricot Top (optional)

5 small sliced apricots (150g) (or sub with apricot jam)

2 tsp lemon zest

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp cornflour

20-30g (3 tbsp) golden caster sugar

Beat all ingredients with electric blender into a smooth puree. The apricot top was slightly sour, if you like sweeter -add more sugar.

Enjoy!

Sharing with wonderful and full of fun Fiesta Friday party!

Baked apples with walnuts and cowberries

Hi there! It’s been windy, dark and gloomy all day here in Dubai today. The weather intends to spend a day in the kitchen and bake something warm, aromatic and tasty. And I found a deliciously satisfying dish to cheer this day up! Sweet-smelling baked apples with super tasty filling: walnuts and cowberries! Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? The cozy smell of cinnamon and brown sugar was filling my kitchen while apples were baked.. It’s so easy to turn regular apples into a fabulous warm dessert! Enjoy!

Cowberry (also known as lingonberry) is a very tasty, slightly bitter and sour berry; it contains lots of vitamin C, A and B. It’s a popular type of berry in my home-country (Russia), and as far as I know in Sweden and Norway. Their taste remind small sour cranberries, so you can easily substitute it with cranberries (fresh or frozen).

Baked apples with walnuts and cowberries

Servings: 2
Time: 1hr
Difficulty: moderate
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*You can add more sugar to suit your taste.

**I dry-roast walnuts, then chop it or pulse in a food processor.

Ingredients

2 large apples (sort ‘pink lady’ or ‘granny smith’ are good)

20g/2 tsp butter

3 tsp brown sugar*

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 quail egg, optional

5-6 tsp finely chopped walnuts**

3-4 tsp cowberries (if using frozen-no need to defreeze)

1/2 tsp of cinnamon, for garnish

2-3 tsp pure runny honey, for serving

some extra walnuts and cowberries, for serving

Cut the lid from apples, carefully cut out the core and make a hole in each apple leaving the bottom.
In a bowl, stir sugar and cinnamon with butter. Mix in the egg. Fold in chopped walnuts and berries.
Put apples in baking dish/tray and stuff each apple with filling mixture. Cover with apple lids. Pour some warm water into the bottom of the baking dish (1 cm). Loosely cover with foil.
Bake in preheated 200C oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10-15 minutes more, or until apples are tender but not mushy.
Carefully transfer to a serving plate, sprinkle with cinnamon, drizzle with honey and garnish with some walnuts and cowberries, if desired.
Enjoy!

Sunday Breakfast: Healthy Morning Bake

When I wake up in the late morning or almost afternoon I need something quick, tasty and preferably high-protein, like this morning bake. You need max 10 minutes to assemble all ingredients together, including calcium-rich and diet-friendly cottage cheese, always-adored vanilla and some fruits! While, it’s baking you have enough time for the morning routine. And don’t forget to prepare a freshly-brewed tea: English Breakfast or White tea is a good pairing for this healthy treat. Have a lovely weekend, guys! 🙂

Healthy Morning Bake

Servings: 2-3
Time: 30-40minutes
Difficulty: very easy
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Ingredients

1 egg, at room temperature

2 tbsp white sugar (or more to taste)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

180-200g tvorog (cottage cheese)

2 tbsp semolina

few tbsps of full-fat milk

1 large apple

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 large banana

1 tbsp brown or raw sugar, optional

1 tsp butter for greasing

sweet condensed milk or sour cream, for serving

Preparation method

Wash, peel (optional) and grate apple, drizzle with lemon juice and set aside. Slice banana.
In a small bowl, add semolina and some milk just to cover it, microwave on a high temperature for few seconds until it’s warm.
Beat or whisk the egg with sugar, vanilla and cinnamon for few minutes.
In a large bowl, smash tvorog with a folk to make it smooth.
Add semolina and beaten egg mixture into tvorog; stir to combine. Mix in grated apple.
Grease the baking tin. Arrange half of banana slices on the bottom, sprinkle with brown sugar (optional). Pour in tvorog mixture. Top with the rest banana slices and sprinkle with more brown sugar, if desired.
Bake in preheated 200C oven for 25-30 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil the fresh water and make a teapot of your favourite tea. Cut a good slice of the tvorog-bake and serve with a dollop of sour cream or drizzle with sweet condensed milk.
Enjoy!

Oven fries and homemade potato seasoning

Many of us like potato fries/chips, and I’m not an exception. 😀 Yes, I know that they are not healthy.. But if your diet is balanced and healthful most of the time, you can have one cheat day during a week or so. However, it’s certainly preferable to make your own homemade fries. And I mean roasted fries instead of those deep-fried and greasy. My secret to great and tasty fries is a special spice mix, that I prepare myself: for that you need to combine rosemary, turmeric, paprika and some other spices (look at the recipe below). This seasoning suits perfectly to both regular and sweet potatoes. Once tried, you might want to make a larger jar next time! 😉

Enjoy your aromatic snack!

Oven fries and homemade potato seasoning

Time: 1hr
Difficulty: easy
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Oven roasted fries

Sweet or regular potatoes

Potato seasoning

Olive oil

Wash and peel potatoes. Cut them into slices (or wedges if you like), put in a large bowl of cold water. Soak for a 20-30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
Drain potatoes and pat dry on a kitchen towels (or use kitchen paper).
Put potatoes on a baking tray, generously sprinkle with potato seasoning and drizzle with a bit of oil. Spread into one layer.
Bake for 30 minutes. If you have a broiler – broil it for 6-7 minutes more.
Enjoy as is, or with your favourite sauce or as a side dish to chicken or meat.

Potato Seasoning

2-3 tsp dried rosemary (whole or crushed)

1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves, crushed

1.5 tsp turmeric

1.5 tsp coriander, crushed

1 tsp sweet paprika

1/3-1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika

1/2-1 tsp curry, optional

sea salt, to taste

freshly ground coarse black and white pepper, to taste

Happy cooking!

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