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Marinated roasted peppers

Hello, dear friends and all foodies! I’ve been away for awhile. The life and time with my little pie fly by so fast that I haven’t realized that summer is already over and autumn almost too, and I haven’t posted a recipe or even a small note. Hope someone miss me, because I’m happy to come back with new ideas and recipes. 😀

When you think autumn what do you imagine in your mind, I bet not only beautiful yellow and reddish leaves and trees in the woods, also lots of pumpkins and probably carrots. That’s not bad at all, I love those vegetables too; its bright color and wonderful taste turn a dull and boring day into a cheerful one. But I decided to go another way and prepare bright, aromatic and tasty marinated roasted peppers. If you have never tried to make those at home, you have to! Really! It is one of the quickest dishes, and no need to buy those expensive jars from a store! Make your own! The final result is fabulous, you can use peppers in so many ways! One of the recipes will be in the next post, don’t miss it!

But first, you need to roast bell peppers. I usually cut them into halves, remove all seeds and stems, arrange on a tray (line it with a foil – less mess), then drizzle with some oil, and roast in the oven for 40-60 minutes. When they are done, pell off the skin, it comes off very easily. At this step you can stop and eat them, for example on a slice of sunflower seeds bread😀 or be patient, slice them, arrange into jars along with couple of garlic cloves, rosemary, and chili flakes, optionally – a good pinch of sea salt, plus a splash of white balsamic vinegar, and of course drizzle with some oil (I prefer extra virgin oil, but you can use any you like/have).

I keep peppers in this marinade for a week in the fridge (honestly, they rarely stay that long). And what an amazing smell when you open a jar!

If you want to store them longer, I suggest to heat the marinade and use sterilized jars.

About the recipe: I don’t have any exact ingredients, just add as much as you like/feel. Happy cooking!

Spring quiche with asparagus and ricotta

Hello guys! I need to confess, I’m loving quiches and can eat it anytime: for lunch, dinner and simply whenever I’m hungry. I was browsing the net the other day, looking at various beautiful green salads with lots of leaves and spring vegetables, when I realised that I haven’t prepared or even tried somewhere a quiche with asparagus. In cafes asparagus is most of the time served as a side dish or part of a salad. So, I was feeling very excited to make a quiche with beautiful asparagus! While soft and buttery crust was chilling in a fridge, I was wondering about the filling: to use asparagus alone or add something else, use only double cream, or probably add some nice cheese in it.. So many ideas, so little time. Finally, I used double cream along with ricotta, that by a lucky chance was in the fridge, plus I threw a handful of frozen peas in. Milkandbun

Can’t describe how good it was! Flaky, buttery, aromatic crust holds beautifully yellow custard-ish filling. Delicious!

I was enjoying it with a cup of milky tea. You can serve it with some lettuce-cucumbers salad on side. Milkandbun

Spring quiche with asparagus and ricotta

Servings: 6-8
Time: 1hr
Difficulty: moderate
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What You’ll Need

Crust

200g plain flour

100g cold butter, cubed

1 medium egg, cold from the fridge

1/3 tsp salt

1-2 tbsp ice-cold water, if needed

Filling

250g ricotta

2 large eggs

100g 35% whipped cream (or double cream)

baby/young asparagus

a handful of peas (frozen)

S&P to taste

How to Make It

Crust. Put flour, salt and butter in a big bowl. Quickly rub ingredients together until coarse breadcrumbs (or use food processor). Add egg and mix until the dough is formed. Pour in water if needed. 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 tin. Bake blind in preheated 200C oven for 20 minutes, then without weights for 10 minutes.

Filling/Assembling. Whisk ricotta with eggs, add cream and season to taste. Arrange vegetables, pour the egg mixture over veggies. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper, if desired. Bake in 180C preheated oven for 35 minutes or until the filling is set.

Let the quiche slightly cool in the tin, then carefully transfer to the serving plate to wooden board, slice and serve.

Enjoy!

Dates&Figs Tart

When experiments in the kitchen end up like this amazing tart, all I can say is – you have to try it as soon as possible! Really! It is luxurious and creamy, and as many other my recipes is very easy to prepare, especially if you already have a ready shortcrust pastry in your fridge or freezer! Preferably homemade.. Seriously, don’t go out and buy ready pastry. Do try to prepare it yourself, at least once and you will see how easy it is. 😀 Have a look at my unsweetened pastry recipe here (super tasty quiches).

The tender custard-ish filling was done in almost no time. Simple and unbelievably good! Of course it’s hard to get fresh figs, so I do think you can substitute with dried ones, but then reduce the sugar. Fig&Date tart-2

Sweet and tender fruits, rich and flaky crust – all these words make my mouth water!

What you need is to get ingredients and follow instructions. Very easy recipe, believe me. And don’t forget to stand back and admire this beautiful tart before enjoying! 😉

Dates&Figs Tart

Servings: 4-6
Time: 2h
Difficulty: easy
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For 20cm baking tin

*Substitute with orange juice or simply omit.

Ingredients

Unsweeten or sweet shortcrust pastry, any one you like/have.

10-11 medium-size dates

3 fresh figs

1 tbsp orange liqueur or cognac*

2 large eggs

80g brown sugar

250ml creme fraiche (30%)

1 tsp vanilla extract

a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

almond flakes

Method

Line the baking tin with baking paper if need. Otherwise, roll out the pastry to fit the tin. Prick the pastry base with a fork and chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes. If you have a time you can prebake the pastry base.
Pit the dates, keeping them whole; cut figs; put both in a bowl and drizzle with liquor and leave to infuse for 15 minutes.
Beat eggs with sugar.
In another large mixing bowl, whisk creme fraiche with vanilla, nutmeg, add the egg mixture and whisk again.
Arrange the dates and figs over the pastry. Pour over the batter. Sprinkle with almond flakes.
Bake in preheated 180C oven for 20-25 minutes or until the centre is set. Leave to cool in a tin, then carefully take the tart out and serve.

Enjoy!

Winter Spiced Drink

I guess some of you never heard about these beautiful berries, and even not tasted them. Not sure about the correct name in English, but google says “sea buckthorn or hippophae”. These bright orange berries have a sour and slightly bitter taste, and they are well-known in my home country. I remember late September and myself a little girl picking these berries from trees in parents’ garden. It was not easy at all, because of dense berry arrangement on each branch plus lots of thorns among the berries! It was possible to cut the whole branches but in that case the future harvest could be low. But hard works pay and it was such a pleasure to sip freshly brewed tea with bright berries in it or just eat them as is.

Sea buckthorn has lost of benefits for the health, and contains great amount of vitamins E and C. It can be frozen, or used in making jams, pies or preparing liquors.

I make this simple hot drink with frozen berries, they are of course less bitter but still tastes great! Addition of cinnamon sticks and star anise adds a nice spicy note to the drink, that always associated with cold winter days. I haven’t used any tea this time, but you can add a cup of freshly brewed black tea (plain, not flavored) to the drink and simmer all together.

I truly hope that you could get and enjoy these beauties one day! Highly recommend to serve it in a glasses (or transparent tea pot) so you can enjoy not only the taste but also to watch how berries and spices ‘dancing’ in your glass!

Winter Spiced Drink with sea buckthorns

Servings: 4
Difficulty: very easy
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You can add a freshly brewed black tea (plain, not flavored) instead of water or make 50/50 and simmer all together.

Ingredients

150g frozen sea buckthorns

600-700ml water

1 cinnamon stick

1-2 star anise

1tbsp brown sugar or honey to taste, optional

Method

Cover frozen berries with water, add spices.
If using sugar add it along with spices. You can leave the drink unsweetened and serve it with honey, which is better to not to boil and preferably add to the ready drink thus it can keep all its healthy benefits.
Bring the drink to boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Switch off the heat and leave to infuse for few minutes more.
Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Warm butternut squash salad

This delicious warm salad is perfect for cold months. Yes, it is simple but bursting with flavour, and of course it contains the main autumn ingredient – beautiful winter squash! Slightly sweet roasted butternut squash together with salted feta and fresh spinach leaves create nice and tasty salad, perfect in its simplicity.

And don’t forget to sprinkle the salad with raw pumpkin seeds (as I did.. haha)!

Warm butternut squash salad

Time: 40min
Difficulty: very easy
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Slightly adapted from here

Ingredients

1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1cm-thick slices

1 medium red onion, cut into wedges

1 orange

fresh spinach leaves, as much as you like

100-150g feta or white/Bulgarian cheese

handful of raw pumpkin seeds

Dressing*

juice of 1/2 orange

2-3 tsp white balsamic or champagne vinegar

1 tsp honey mustard

2-3 tbsp EV olive oil

freshly ground sea salt &white pepper, to taste

Method

Arrange butternut squash and onion on a baking tray, drizzle everything with olive oil, plus squash with juice of 1/2 orange. Roast in preheated 180C oven for 25 minutes or until squash is soft.
For the dressing, in a small jar combine all ingredients and shake well. *Adjust to your taste by adding more vinegar or oil.
Arrange spinach on a serving plate, top with warm squash and onion. Sprinkle with feta and pumpkin seeds. Drizzle with dressing.

Enjoy warm salad!

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