Lasagna tart

I had a vegetarian friend over and wanted to make something substantial, so I went for a lasagna tart from 101cookbooks. I couldn’t find ricotta at the store so I used cottage cheese, which I like in lasagna anyway. I used 250g, about 1 cup. I also layered parmesan cheese (by eye and taste) over the cottage cheese in each layer.

I did find that the wholemeal olive oil pastry was incredibly difficult to roll out unless quite a lot of water was used. It was very flakey and kept falling apart and was rolled thicker than I usually roll butter-based pastry. I may have to practice a few more times. I didn’t find that the taste of the lemon zest came through either so feel free to skip that. There was also a lot of leftover pastry even though it was quite thick, so I lined a few new mini tartlet tins I wanted to try out. Rolling it out thinly for the small tins was much easier; if you have small tins and don’t mind the tedium, use them instead. I baked them for 20 mins.

Lobiani (Georgian Bean Bread)

I made this recipe from Darra Goldstein’s excellent The Georgian Feast. I brought it to a Super Bowl party, and it was a big hit–a savory, finger-food that’s quite filling but also a little different. The texture wasn’t the same as the lobiani that I bought on the streets of Tbilisi, but it was still very good. My friends suggested, though, that they would prefer a different spice blend; I’m not sure what would be good though. Any suggestions?

Makes 2 incredibly large breads (fortunately you can freeze it after you cut it)

For dough:
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) softened butter
2 eggs
2 cups sour cream (light worked fine)
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda, divided into quarters

For filling:
1 pound dried kidney beans, soaked overnight to soften
3 or 4 medium onions
2/3 cup vegetable oil (yes, you do need that much or else it gets dry)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons salt
Black pepper to taste

one egg yolk to brush on top while baking

Cream the butter. Beat in the eggs and sour cream. Mix in flour to make a soft dough.

On a well-floured board, roll the dough to a 15 x 18 rectangle. The dough will be INCREDIBLY sticky at this stage, but it will calm down fast, so just do your best the first few times. Sprinkle the rectangle with 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. Fold the dough into quarters and reroll, repeating the baking soda, fold, re-roll procedure until the baking soda is used up. Place the dough into a floured bowl, cover it and leave to rise for 6-8 hours indoors or 2-3 hours in the sun.
For filling: Boil the kidney beans for about one hour. Drain, and then mash. Dice the onions and sautee them in the oil until soft. Stir the onions (and oil) into the kidney beans, and add the spices. Divide in half, and set aside.
Before you start assembling the bread, preheat the oven to 350* F. When the dough has risen, divide it into two parts. Roll each out in a large circle, keeping the inside of the circle thicker than the outside. Place the filling in the center, and bring the dough up around it, forming a sort of ball. Flatten this out, to a large disc. Brush the top of the bread with beaten egg yolk, and bake for 40-45 minutes until browned.

Enjoy!
Emma

Blue Cheese and Apple Omelet

I’ve been playing around with sweet and savory quite a lot lately–savory fruits, sweet veggies and the like. This recipe in particular was inspired by my host mom in Tbilisi. I don’t know her actual recipe, so I’ve been messing around with this for awhile to come up with something similar. I don’t think this is all that close to hers, but it’s really good!

(In other, totally unrelated news, my 90s plates from Goodwill were the ones they had in My So-Called Life)

Ingredients:
1 small apple
2 cloves garlic
black pepper
ground cinnamon
butter

2 eggs
a splash of milk
cream cheese (optional)
Blue Cheese that will melt (I like Cambazola or Blue Brie..especially the Saga brand)

Cube the apple and slice the garlic into chunks slightly smaller than the pieces of apple. Sautee the apple and garlic with the black pepper and cinnamon.

While the apple and garlic are sauteeing, beat together the eggs and milk (and if you choose to use cream cheese, it will make the egg part creamier). I learned that one of the tricks to making a good omelet is to make sure your mixture is thoroughly and smoothly beaten together.

Remove the apple mixture from the pan and put it aside. Add a bit more butter to the pan, and turn the heat up to medium high. When the butter is melted, pour in the eggs and swirl the pan to coat evenly. As you go, lift the edges so the uncooked egg can run under and cook.

When the omelet is mostly firm, place the cheese on top of one half. Add the apple mixture to that half. When the cheese is melted, Slide the omelet out of the pan and onto a plate.

In my opinion, this works equally well as a nice breakfast, or a quick dinner.

Enjoy!
Emma

Purple Soup

Alright, well this soup was only purple because I used a purple cauliflower (which I highly recommend, has a slightly more complex flavor). It managed to stay a pleasant purple, but was still a food sort of color. Easy and delicious! Thank you, Jamie Oliver!

(the red bowl and bacon make it look more fushia, but you get the idea)

Cauliflower Cheese Soup
(from Jamie’s Food Revolution, my go-to cookbook)

2 carrots
2 celery stalks
2 medium onions
2 cloves garlic
1 head of cauliflower (use the purple stuff! do it!) cut into florets
olive oil
1 3/4 quarts chicken/vegetable stock (I just used one of the boxes, don’t actually know how much is in there, but it seems to have been about right…)
salt and pepper to taste
8 ounces cheddar cheese (and you can throw in some parmesan, too, for kicks)
1 teaspoon English mustard
nutmeg
bacon (optional, but SO worth it)

Roughly chop the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic, add the cauliflower florets, and sautee in a large saucepan in olive oil. Let cook 10 minutes with the lid askew while you heat the broth in another pot. Add the warm broth to the veggies, bring to a boil, and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes with the lid on. Grate the cheese. After 10 minutes, remove from the heat, and stir in the cheese, mustard, salt and pepper and nutmeg. Smoosh it. Serve topped with another good grate of cheese and bacon (but not if you’re vegetarian, obviously).

Enjoy!
Emma

Irma’s Amazing Eggplant Mush

This is a delicious Georgian specialty, one of my absolute favorites…this is my teacher’s recipe, and it’s one of the best!

1 kg (approximately) eggplant
1 cup walnuts
1 clove garlic
1 onion
Spices (use what you can to taste of the following):
1 tablespoon saffron
1 tablespoon dry coriander
1 tablespoon uckho suneli (Georgian spice blend, don’t use the Russian version…its very different, but yellow curry powder is a possible substitute)
salt to taste
pepper to taste
splash of olive oil
splash of white wine vinegar

Roast the eggplant in a lightly oiled pan (20-25 minutes) until golden.

Mix the walnuts, garlic, spices and vinegar and oil in a blender to make a paste.

Mush the roasted eggplant, chopped onion, and spice mixture together.

Eat as a salad, or serve on top of bread.
Enjoy!
Emma

Apple Snow

This is another thing that the rest of America probably realized years ago and I’m just now catching on to, but I thought I’d share the amazingness in case I wasn’t the only one in the dark.

Take applesauce. Put it in a bowl. Put the bowl in the freezer. Stir after about a half hour. Take it out when it has the texture of snow. Eat (one can only have so much ice cream, after all)

-Emma

A “Doh!” Moment

You can roast broccoli! I can’t believe I had never realized this until my lovely friend, Sara, clued me in. Broccoli is absolutely phenomenal this way, a lovely combination of crispy and mooshy… and best of all, it isn’t really any more involved to prepare than regular old steamed broccoli! Just keep in mind, you’ll need much more broccoli for this that you do steamed broccoli. I’ll often just have two heads of roasted broccoli for my dinner

Broccoli, washed and cut into chunks (as you would for steaming)
a few cloves chopped garlic
a good glug of olive oil

Toss the broccoli, olive, oil and garlic together in your favorite roasting pan, making sure that the broccoli is well-coated with the olive oil (don’t skimp on the olive oil, most of it will stay on the pan, and if you don’t use enough it won’t crisp properly.) You can bake it at any temperature if you have other things in the oven, but I usually put it in at 400F for about 20-25 minutes (and leave it in longer if it isn’t crisped yet). Pull it out of the oven, and fish the broccoli out with a fork, allowing it to drip if necessary. Transfer to a paper towel to remove extra oil, then serve.
Welcome to the New World Order (for broccoli)
-Emma

Chocolate Soup!

Once I saw a soup recipe with chocolate in it, I absolutely had to try.  Adapted from http://www.sheddingit.com/2009/09/25/black-bean-cocoa-lime-soup/

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil (the recipe calls for canola, but I use olive)

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large carrot chopped

1 stalk celery chopped

1 cup diced bell peppers

4 cups vegetable broth (I used chicken)

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chile powder

2 cups canned or pre-soaked black beans

1 lime, zested

Agave nectar, if necessary (I’m often too lazy to measure, and added way too much cocoa powder, making the soup bitter, so this balanced the bitterness)

Sautee the onion and garlic in the oil.  Add chopped veggies, and cook until they begin to soften.  Add broth, beans, and spices and bring to a boil.  Allow to simmer until beans are soft.  Add the lime zest, and simmer for 10 more minutes or so.  Serve with warm, buttered tortillas.

Enjoy!
Emma

Aubergine/eggplant caviar

A nice simple roasted aubergine and red pepper spread. Next time I might add some chilli and raw garlic to sharpen up the flavours.

2 aubergines / eggplants
1 red capsicum / pepper
Half a head/bulb garlic, unpeeled
Squirt of lemon juice, to taste
Salt, to taste
Olive or vegetable oil, to grease

1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (about 350F). Cut tops off aubergines, prick several times into the body with a sharp knife or fork (to let steam escape so they don’t explode, like when you bake potatoes!). Do not peel aubergines.

2) Grease a baking sheet. Lightly grease aubergines. Place onto baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.

3) Cut capsicum in half and remove seedy core and stem. Rub oil over it lightly. Oil the unpeeled garlic bulb. Add to baking sheet; bake, along with aubergines, another 20 minutes or so. Aubergine should be soft, the capsicum should be collapsed with the skin lightly blackened and coming away, and garlic cloves should give way when pricked with a knife.

4) Peel capsicum. Cut aubergines in half and scoop out cooked flesh; discard skins. Peel softened garlic (this should be easy). Blend together in a blender or using a stick blender – or just chop very finely. Add splash of lemon juice, to taste. Season with salt. Make sure to taste and adjust the flavours, adding more lemon juice if you need to. Don’t skip it – it really lifts the flavour.

Melt-in-your-Mouth Indian Eggplant

eggplants, sliced thin, salted and dried on a paper towel to remove bitterness

For frying:

8 whole fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp whole fennel seeds
1/4 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/2 tsp kalonji

To garnish:
salt
tabasco sauce
lemon juice
sour cream

Take the prepared eggplants, and fry them in the spiced oil until golden and crisp.  Garnish with salt, lemon juice and a dash of tabasco sauce, and serve with sour cream.

Delicious!  You won’t be able to find an eggplant big enough to make as many as you’d want to eat.

-Emma