Slow roast tomatoes

In the shops this time of the year the fruit and vegetable section is full of fantastic surprises; berries of all kind (locally sourced), green leafy vegetables, melons of all kinds and of course tomatoes. This really is the time for this humble fruit (yep, not a veggie) to shine and I eat tomatoes nearly every day in some form. The other day I got a packet of mixed baby tomatoes, some were round, others were yellow and another few were kind of oval shaped. They all got halved and put in the oven with some olive oil and garlic and were left to sit there for a few hours on a low heat. Out came the most delicious little dried up tomatoes, still a bit juicy but just all the good flavour capsuled in one tiny tomato half. Tonight I will put a few into a chickpea and chorizo stew, tomorrow I think they will be great on some bruschetta with mozzarella cheese...there is plenty of things to do with these tomatoes.

250 grams mixed baby tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic
olive oil, salt, black pepper and a sprinkle of caster sugar

Half the tomatoes and put on a baking tray with the flesh side up. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle a little bit of caster sugar on top and place 3 crushed garlic cloves in the tray. Bake for 3-4 hours on 100C.

Spinach and feta cheese pasty

Despite being quite damp and rainy, Ireland still seems to be the perfect climate for growing some fruits and vegetables. Blackberries, strawberries, cabbage and potatoes are just a few to be mentioned. I can only call myself lucky for having a boyfriend who's dad grows all sorts of vegetables, fruits and berries in his garden. Last week I was given a big bag of Swiss chard, a green leafy vegetable similar to spinach. What to do with this one might wonder, but I already knew... a whole wheat flour dough, a piece of feta cheese, some garlic and nutmeg and there they were; Pasties. Basically it is like a savoury pastry that it perfect to eat for lunch with a side salad, or maybe have it for dinner together with a bowl of soup.
There are plenty of yummy fillings to choose from but I have to say that the spinach and feta cheese one is a really good combination. It is vegetarian but filled with iron, vitamins and protein. So go ahead, make some pasties, freeze them individually and you will always have a quick meal ready to just defrost and heat up.
This recipe makes 8 pasties.

Dough
250ml milk
7 grams dried yeast
25ml olive oil
1tsp salt
1tsp honey
200 grams plain flour
140 grams whole wheat flour.

Bring the milk to 45C in a pot. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add honey, olive oil and salt. Stir in the whole wheat flour. Add most of the plain flour, you might not need all of it. Knead the dough for a few minutes until elastic and neither too wet or dry. Let rest for about and or or until it has doubled in size. Meanwhile make the filling.

Feta and spinach filling
500 grams spinach or Swiss chard
75-100 grams feta cheese
2 cloves of garlic
2tbsp olive oil
nutmeg, salt, pepper

Wash and rinse the spinach, remove any big stalks. Finely dice the garlic. Heat up olive oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and sweat for 30 seconds, add the spinach and cook until it is wilted. Drain in a sieve. Let cool down and chop roughly. Crumble the feta cheese and mix with the spinach, add a good sprinkle of nutmeg and season with salt and pepper.

Tip the dough onto a floured surface. Divide the dough into 8 pieces, roll each piece into a ball. Roll out the dough balls to flat rounds with a rolling pin, the rounds needs to be about 15cm across. Divide the filling onto the dough rounds, place it on one half of the dough, fold the other dough over the filling. Use a fork to seal the edges. Brush with a little milk or an egg yolk. Bake for 15-20min on 200C.

Tabbouleh

My home town has a big population of people from the Middle East, and as a result of that there is a lot of small shops selling all sorts of, for us Europeans, new and different ingredients. One of those shops is located not far from my parents house and I recall going there as a child with my mum to buy the best feta cheese, pickled chillies, pistachio nuts and olives. The shop is tiny but sacks full of all types of nuts, seeds and grains are stacked on the floor, and the walls covered in shelves up to the ceiling filled with boxes, bags and containers of all sorts of ingredients. Most things are bought by weight and it makes so much more sense than buying pre-packed, boxed ingredients in the super market. The owner of the shop was called Jakob, an old man with a big heart. He always filled the bag with a little bit extra, but still only charged for the weight you had asked for.
Cous cous and Bulgur is becoming more and more popular here in Ireland but I have had it for more than ten years i think. Personally I eat it instead of rice or potatoes with meat, or even just with vegetables as a salad. One typical dish with bulgur is tabbouleh; finely chopped parsley, tomatoes and onion dressed with lemon juice and olive oil is a tangy side dish to any BBQ and must be tried!

60 grams bulgur
120ml vegetable stock
30 grams flat parsley
1 tomato
1/4 white onion
1 small clove of garlic
1/2 lemon, juice
olive oil, salt, pepper

Bring the vegetable stock to boil and add bulgur. Turn down heat to very low and let simmer under a lid for 15-20 min. Fluff up with a fork and let cool down.
Chop parsley very fine. Cut the tomato in to quarters, take the seeds out, chop into small cubes. Chop the onion and garlic finely. Combine bulgur, tomato, onion and garlic and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper, drizzle some olive oil on top.

Insalata caprese

Sometimes the simplest things are the tastiest, in those cases it is all about the ingredients; they need to be top quality. I think most people knows this dish as Tomato and Mozzarella salad. For me, and the whole of Italy, it is Insalata Caprese. Two weeks ago deep red tomatoes caught my eye in the vegetable aisle in the local super market. Those tomatoes together with mozzarella, freshly ground black pepper, a drop of olive oil and some fresh basil became a lovely lunch. The days are getting longer and the temperature rising and I feel more and more like eating fresh, light food.Go ahead and try this if you haven't, with a piece of bread and maybe even a cheeky glass of wine it is simply delicious.

1 tomato
1/2 ball of mozzarella
basil
salt and pepper
olive oil

Slice the tomato and mozzarella in 1/2cm thick slices. Arrange on a plate, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and ground black pepper and garnish with some fresh basil.

Grilled Aubergine

I have always been a fussy eater and even now I find myself still learning to like certain types of food or flavours. Fish, capers, chickpeas and beans are only a few of the things I have learned to appreciate the last few years. One thing I am still working on is aubergine and I am getting to like it! Now I do not like the chunks of aubergine I so often find in Ratatouille, actually I do not like any chunks of auberinge. No, I want it roasted until soft and mashed up in to Baba Ganoush; a lovely libanese aubergine dip. But lately I have discovered how tasty aubergine is when thinly sliced and char grilled, soaked in a lovely marianade served as a side dich to grilled Halloumi salad and Bulgur wheat.
This recipe can also be used to make lovely Brushetta for a starter. Try to use fresh herbs as it will not only look pretty but also taste so much better.

1 auberine
1 red chili
1 clove of garlic
1 lemon, zest and juice
mint, basil, olive oil
salt and pepper

Cut the aubergine in to 0.5cm thick slices. Heat a grill pan until smoking hot. Grill the aubergine on both sides, it should have nice grill marks on it and start to feel soft. Place on a plate or in a serving dish.
Chop chili (without seeds), garlic, basil and mint. Drizzle lemon juice and olive oil over the aubergine. Scatter chili, garlic, lemon zest and herbs on top and season with salt and pepper.

Another hummus

A couple of days I try to eat vegetarian, there is no particular reason to it; I just like the challenge of trying to come up with new dinner ideas and cutting out the meat makes it trickier for me. Lately there has been a lot of chick peas on the menu and mainly Indian style, channa masala, but another favourite is good old fashioned hummus. I put a good serving of hummus on the side of bulgur, halloumi cheese and tomato salad. It is a fantastic combination of many tasty things on one plate. The other day I made another version of this hummus that I have blogged about before, same technique but with a twist; smoked paprika and red chili.

1tin chickpeas
1 lemon,the juice
2tbsp tahini(sesame paste)
1tsp cumin
1tsp smoked paprika
1clove garlic
1/2 red chili (without seeds)
1/2tsp salt
5tbsp olive oil
3tbsp water

Blend all ingredients with a hand mixer or in a food processor until smooth. Spread on a plate and garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, dried parsley and smoked paprika.

France meets Sweden in a quiche...

When I was younger I used to love cheesy toast. I am not talking about just bread and cheese put under the grill, no Im talking about my grandmothers cheesy toast. That is where smokey bacon, cheese and mustard is mixed together and spread on toast to be baked in the oven and come out like a delicoius meal. I have had it so many times, sometimes in my grandmother's house or in my famliy's house when we were a little to lazy to cook a proper meal...

A couple of years ago Martin and me went to paris for a week around New Years. We lived in an apartment in Monte Martre, just below Sacre Coeur. It was freezing at the time so seeing Paris by foot was quite a challenge but luckily Mont Martre is full of cafes, restaurants and creperies. We visited a good few of these and had the most amazing Crouque Monsieurs and Soup L'Oignon. Every time I think of Paris these days I just think about the smell of melted cheese...

Yesterday I was making a quiche for Martin. I like to bake but he does not really like sweet things, therefore a quiche is perfect for both of us. I know he likes bacon and cheese but I took it a step furter and added loads of white onion that I let fry with the bacon til really soft and sweet. To this I also added a bit of wholegrain-mustard. I think the result is my grandmother's cheesy toast mixed with sweet oninons (think french onionsoup) in a quiche!

6-8portions

Pie crust

255grams plain flour

125grams butter

1pinch salt

1-2tbsp cold water

With your fingers mix flour, salt and butter til it forms crumbles. Add the water and quickly mix in to a dough. Roll out and line a pieform, chill for half an hour and prebake for 10min on 200C

Filling

200grams bacon

1-2 white onion

2tsp wholegrain-mustard

400ml milk

4 eggs

100grams grated cheese (a little mature)

Chop bacon in to small pieces and fry in a pan, slice the onions thinly and add to the bacon. Let fry on a low heat til the onion is really soft and sweet, takes about 10-15min. dd wholegrain-mustard. Let cool down.

Beat the eggs lightly and mix with the milk and grated cheese. Add some salt and black pepper to taste. Add the bacon and onion to the milk and eggs. Pour in to the piecrust and bake on 175-180C for 40 or til set.

Serve with a nice salad.

Halloumi for lunch.

Halloumi is something I tasted only last year for the first time in a Turkish restaurant in London, and I was blown away. It is such a clever product because you can do almost anything with it; grill, deepfry, bake or panfry...

I usually just dip it in spices and panfry in a little oil til crispy and add to salads or couscous. Yesterday I made a small salad that could be a starter, a snack or a light lunch.

2slices halloumi

6slices tomato

1cm green chili, finely chopped

1tbsp plain flour

1/2tsp paprika powder

1/2tsp cumin

1/2tsp turmeric

4leaves mint

olive oil, salt and pepper

Cut the halloumi in to triangles. Mix spices and flour, dip the halloumi in the flourmix and panfry in olive oil for about 1min on each side or til crispy. Arrange tomatoes on a plate, season with salt, pepper and the green chili. Place halloumi on top and garnish with some olive oil and fresh mint.

This one is for Sara

When I came back to Dublin, after seeing a bit of Asia and living a summer in Cork, I lived in a very small apartment that actually was quite similar to a rats nest. I did not like spending much time there at all. My very best friend Sara on the other hand lived in an old Georgian house in one of the posher parts in Dublin, so of course I liked to spend my sundays off work in Saras. In this very part of town they obviously have a very nice food-store. Every sunday for I dont know how long I used to call over to Saras and in this very shop we stocked up on these particular things:

• One bottle of cava (11euro!!)



• One loaf of fresh, crusty bread



• One tub of Hummus (5 euro!!)



• Cucumber

Now this was during the good years in Ireland when we all made plenty of money and had no plans on actually making our own hummus or bake our own bread (ok maybe I did sometimes in my house but not on a sunday afternoon...)

These days Sara is back in Sweden and I have moved in with Martin,and I actually make my own hummus because I realised it is one of the simplest and cheapest things to make, but still so tasty! Every time I make hummus I think about those lazy sunday afternoons...

1tin chickpeas
1 lemon,the juice
2tbsp tahini(sesamepaste)
1tsp cumin
1clove garlic
1/2tsp salt
5tbsp oliveoil
3tbsp water

paprikapowder
oil
parsley

With a handblender mix together chickpeas, water, lemonjuice, oliveoil, cumin, garlic, tahini and salt. If it is a little to dry just add a little more liquid, either water or oil. Taste and see if you might need more lemonjuice or salt. When it is mixed til smooth it is ready.
Put on a plate and make a little well in the middle where you put a little oliveoil,garnish with a sprinkle of paprika and a couple of leaves of parsley. Serve with pitabread!