Artichoke and feta tarts - Donna Hay Challenge

I don't have a story for you. The spring overwhelm me. I have photos waiting to be looked through, I have hundreds ideas for recipes to show. But you know... 

And it is another Donna Hay Challenge, and I write this post on a very last day. 

The recipe comes from the most recent Donna Hay magazine nr. 61. The photography is by William Meppem and Styling by Steve Pearce. You can find all the rules for the challenge on the Simone's DHSPC page.

So no story today, no complaining about peas that were not green enough. Just enjoy spring. This is perfect recipe for spring and busy days. You don't need to do much and you have delicious, healthy snack.

Artichoke and feta tarts

• 1 sheet puff pastry 
• 250 g feta, crumbled 
• 4 artichoke hearts, marinated and halved
• 1 egg, lightly beaten (or milk - you need it to brush the pastry borders) 
• 100 g mixed cherry tomatoes,  halved
• 120 g frozen peas, thawed (or canned peas)
• 1/4 cup mint leaves olive oil 
• white balsamic vinegar (or white cider vinegar) 

Preheat oven to 200 C.
Cut the pastry into around 9-cm squares and score a 1-cm border around each square.
Place the square on a baking tray lined with non stick baking paper and top with feta and artichoke. Brush the pastry borders with the egg (or milk) and bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden
Place the tomato, peas and mint in a medium bowl, drizzle with the olive oil and white balsamic and toss to combine.
Top the tarts with the tomatoes salad to serve. Serves 4

Super apple pie with marzipan

Spring is in the air, so finger crossed for the good news in the near future, and let's talk about something really, really good.
I want to tell you about the best apple pie I have made for a long time. I don't make apple pies too often. Reason no. 1 - my boyfriend isn't big fan of them, especially if you add cinnamon, and I like cinnamon. Reason no. 2 - I don't like peeling and slicing apples, it takes time, so most of times I would prefer to bake a good simple banana bread that is simple and delicious.
But there are days when I can't take an apple pie from my mind. And quick question. If you eat a pie of apple pie (or two) you can count it as 1 of 5 a day, don't you?
But this isn't a standard apple pie, this is a super apple pie.
This is a super apple pie because apples are hidden inside of the most delicious marzipan crust.

The recipe comes from the best Polish, baking blog Moje wypieki. Yes, it is a little bit time consuming, but believe me it is worth it.

Super apple pie with marzipan
recipe from a blog Moje wypieki
for deep (around 6-cm deep) 23-cm spring form

Notes: I read that most people trying this apple pie thought that almond crumble is a little bit too much, especially that it is under the crust so you don't get the crunch, I most admit I agree. Next time I will skip it, but feel free to decide yourself. The recipe also don't call for refrigerating the dough, but I think it's good idea. 

Crust:

• 3 cups plain flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 90 g marzipan, chopped
• 225 g butter, cold and diced
• 1 egg 
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp breadcrumbs (optionally)

Apple filling:

• 60 g butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (or less if apples are sweet)
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg 
• 12 apples (around 1.7 kg), peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 Tbsp potato starch
• 4 Tbsp Calvados (or brandy, or whisky)

Almond crumble

• 60 g butter, cold
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup almonds, blanched and slivered 

Crust

Grease the spring form. 

In a food processor combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar. Pulse to mix.
Add marzipan and butter and pulse for a few seconds.
Add egg, almond extract and lemon juice and process until the dough holds together. 

Remove the dough from the processor. Form the dough into two unequal pieces in the proportion 2/3 and 1/3.
Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes.

To make the apple filling 

In a big pot melt the butter. Stir in brown sugar lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the sliced apples and stir gently. 

Simmer uncovered over medium heat stirring frequently until apples will soften, but still hold their shape, around 10-12 minutes.

Place Calvados or other alcohol you are using in a small bowl and whisk in potato starch. Pour the mixture into the pot of apples. Stir it and cook the apples for a moment until the juices will thicken a little. Leave them to cool down a little. 

Almond crumble

In a food processor, combine butter, sugar, flour and almonds (you may want to add almonds separately at the end and mix it by the hand to add more crunch). Pulse several times until the mixture resembles the breadcrumbs.

Remove the dough from refrigerator. 

Roll out the bigger piece of dough on a lightly floured work surface until it covers the spring form base and its sides. Transfer it gently into the tin. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the tin. Prick the dough with a fork.

Sprinkle it with a bread crumbs (they will soak up the excess of liquid, you can skip it if you want to). Transfer still warm apples into the tin. Put the apple crumble topping at the top.
Roll out the top crust until it is big enough to cover the tin. Place it at the top of the tin. Pinch the top and bottom of dough rounds firmly together. Make a few cuts with a knife to let the steam from the pie can escape.
Bake at 180ºC/160ºC fan around 50 minutes or until golden.
Cool the pie before cutting. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Tuna, egg and avocado spread

I feel bad. I haven't posted just for a while and then I became famous. Kind of ;)
Thanks to lovely Aoife from Can I has cook? I was recommended in Irish Independent! How cool is that?

I reminded myself about my plans for preparing something special for St Patrick Day. I had at least a few ideas, but then I was busy, another a few cover letters to send, a few recruiting tasks to do and then a little bit travel to do as well.
But as "a famous blogger" I should be more responsible! There is no recipe in the last post! Shame on me! Ok, I'm just kidding, but I really have recipes waiting for you.
I have a really easy recipe, that actually could work as a treat for St Patrick Day as it is kind of green, and it can be even greener.
But I haven't told you about Polish traditional breakfast yet, have I?

Polish typical breakfast would mostly include open sandwiches with different toppings like cheese, ham, sausages, tomatoes, cucumbers, curd cheese, egg, radish, etc. Children love jam sandwiches. Of course porridge or scrambled eggs are welcome at our table as well and right now plenty people eat muesli or cereals, or pancakes. But sandwiches are the most traditional, everyday option.

When I was 10, I could eat everyday the same thing, that is a sandwich with "yellow cheese" and by yellow cheese I mean Gouda or Edam-like cheeses. Even today I don't need much to be happy. Give me a good, fresh bread or bread roll and butter and that's it. I don't need anything more.
Sometimes I need something different. Good option are home-made spreads. Quite popular are an egg-based spread. Well, there is even a story of successful business based on them.

Franciszek Trześniewski opened a restaurant in Wien in 1902. He sold a variety of open sandwiches made of dark bread cut with various spreads mostly based on boiled eggs. The restaurant still exists and is considered one of the best in town even though the name is unpronounceable for most Germans and probably most of foreigners (so my surname doesn't sound that bad right now ;)).
And I made a spread. Maybe it is not the most standard one, but it's for sure delicious and based on eggs. And it can be easy converted into a lovely salad or a starter. And it is more like a idea than a precise recipe, so feel free to adjust to your needs.

Tuna, egg and avocado spread
recipe from blog Addio pomidory

• 2 eggs, hard-boiled and cooled
• 1 can of tuna
• 1 avocado
• 3 Tbsp spring onions, chopped
• mayonnaise
• Dijon mustard
• salt
• pepper
• eventually lemon juice

Cut an avocado in half lengthwise, take out the pit. To remove the avocado flesh from the skin, scoop it out with a spoon. You can prevent avocado from colour change by sprinkling it with some lemon juice.

In a food processor combine together egg yolks, tuna and avocado (or just squash it with a fork).

Grate egg whites coarsely or just chop them. 

Mix spring onions, grated egg whites and tuna&avocado mixture together.

Stir in mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Adjust taste to your liking (the amount of mayonnaise and mustard is not large, as avocado is quite fat, so start with a teaspoon of mayonnaise and half of teaspoon of mustard and then add more if you feel like it).
Spread it on a slice of bread or a toast.

Notes:

If you want to convert it into a nice starter, just cut an avocado in half, take out the pit and in the hole put prepared mix as above but without the avocado. 

 

An evening of food and wine

Irish Food Bloggers Association is great, sometimes it is a real lifesaver.
I really needed a break from waiting for a call from recruiter and ta-da!, there it is an evening of food and wine with Jean Chirstophe Novelli and Superquinn in the French Ambassadors Residence.
The French Ambassadors Residence is settled in a beautiful building. There are many other embassies or ambassadors residence settled on the same street.
I didn't want to be either too early nor too late. When I was strolling down the street I noticed a woman getting out of taxi and walking one way, then other, than taking the photo of the building. Oh yes, she definitely looked like a blogger. A few minutes later I was introduced to Theresa from The Green Apron. Later I had finally opportunity to meet Vicky from blog Stasty.com just look at her Double LEGO® Cupcakes, they are fabulous.
The evening was a promotion of French Wine & Food Sale in Superquinn. Superquinn was the first supermarket introduced to me when I landed in Ireland, simply it was the closest supermarket to my home, and I was lucky to have a foodie landlord, who provided me with the most important information, where to buy good food. I also made my first shopping there. It was a year ago. Time flies fast.

My first frog's leg

At the door you could smell France, I mean this smell of delicious cheese. Nobody needs to recommend French cheeses to you, does he?

There were also over sixty different wines to taste. So many wines, so little time.

 

We had a sneak peak of what will happened in the stores during the big sale. The Michelin award winning French chef Jean Chirstophe Novelli will be giving cooking demonstrations.
You can easily see his passion for a food and he has a lot of stories to tell, he almost missed his flight because he was talking so much. His chocolate mousse was exquisite, very dark chocolate, really simple and delicious.

Theresa is cooking for the Michelin-starred chef ;)

It was a first time when I got a raw chicken breast as a gift, but good food is always nice to see in goodie bag :)
It was nice evening and nice way to find out about Superquinn sale. Because like everybody else I try to spend money wisely, I really like the wine prices, you can get really good wine from €6, and if you buy three bottles of €7 and €8 wines, you will only pay 20€, and if you buy 6 wines you will get extra 5% discount. There will be cheese too and Jean Chirstophe Novelli. So I know I will go wine shopping :)
I know it may sound like I was bribed with chicken breasts, but believe me I would write about it if I didn't plan shopping there myself, and yes I do like good deals. 
And just one, small remark, recipes from the sale leaflet could be more precise, so read the recipe carefully before you start cooking.

Green pierogi with curd cheese and dried tomatoes filling

It's about time to talk about pierogi. Pierogi are Polish dumplings, similar to Italian ravioli. They can be stuffed with almost everything.
Pierogi can be savoury or sweet. One of the most popular pierogi are ruskie pierogi (Ruthenian pierogi) filled with curd cheese (twaróg), potatoes, and fried onions. They are definitely one of my favourites. Other popular fillings are sauerkraut and dried mushrooms, dried mushrooms (typically made for Christmas Eve Supper), ground meat. You garnish them with melted garlic butter, or fried chopped onion and bacon, or more traditionaly pork scratchings. The sweet ones are mostly made with fresh fruits like strawberries, blueberries, cherries and plums and served with a cream and sugar (I have never really liked them).

Anyway pierogi are delicious. In Poland you can find bars/restaurants specialised in serving only pierogi, they are called pierogarnie (singular pierogarnia). Every August in Kraków there is Pierogi Festival.
Pierogi can be treated as another Polish fast food as you can buy them frozen and cook in a just few minutes. Home-made ones are much better, but it takes some time to make them. If you have a pasta roller it will be easy peasy for you, otherwise it is good to have strong arms. There is nothing difficult about them, and you can experiment with them as much as you want.
Example of less traditional pierogi you see above. I found this recipe at Usagi's blog, she organised Pierogi cookalongs.
Recipe is amazing. Pierogi taste like summer. Ask my friends for whom I made them, or just do them yourself. Photos are made on the next day, that is why you can see the golden crust. And yep pierogi taste nice boiled, fried or baked.

Dictionary:

pieróg - (singular) dumpling

pierogi - (plural) dumplings

You can check the pronunciation here.

And speaking about summer. Last weekend was beautiful. And some people were swimming around here (ok, they do it all year long from what I heard). Beautiful Dun Laoghaire.

Green pierogi with curd cheese and dried tomatoes filling
recipe from Usagi's blog

• 400 g plain flour
• 180 g frozen spinach thawed and drained (after draining I had about 75 g, feel free to use fresh spinach, just boil or fry it briefly)
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• pinch of salt
• water (I added around 100 ml, but it really depends on flour and spinach you use)

Filling

• 140 g curd cheese (twaróg, you can use ricotta)
• 200 g feta cheese
• 100 g dried tomatoes
• 1 egg yolk
• pepper
• Italian spice mix (basil, oregano, thyme, garlic, anything you like)

Garnish

• 80 g butter
• 2 garlic cloves

Sieve flour into a bowl. Add spinach, eggs, oil and pinch of salt. Mix together adding gradually water until the dough comes together. Knead until you get until firm and smooth. The dough should be quite firm, when you start rolling it shouldn't be too easy.
If the dough is too soft add more flour, if it is too hard add more water. Cover the dough with a cling film and leave in a fridge for an hour.
For filling
Mix the curd cheese, feta cheese, dried tomatoes and egg yolk together. Spice it with pepper and Italian spice mix.
Split the dough into a few smaller parts and roll it very thin. If you have a pasta roller, use it.
Cut it with a glass or a round cookie cutter.
Place a small spoonful of the filling into the centre of each round.
Fold over, and press together. If the dough doesn't want to stick brush the edges with water. To make nice seal just pinch it with your thumb and index finger.
Repeat procedure with the remaining dough.
For garnish 
Melt butter in a pan. Add finely grated/chopped garlic.
Boil water with a pinch of salt in a pot. Add pierogi and cook around 2-3 minutes until they float to the top. Remove them with a slotted spoon. Place on a plate and garnish with melted garlic  butter.
Next day, simply fry them until golden on a non-stick pan using some butter or oil, they will taste good.