Strawberry Cheesecake

 

• 500g strawberries,
• 3 tablespoons + 120g caster sugar,
• 150g biscuits (shortbreadts would be great),
• 4 tablespoons melted butter,
• 750g ricotta cheese,
• 4 eggs.

Remove stalks from the strawberries and cut them in half. Put them in a saucepan with two small glasses of water. Heat gently. Add the 3 tablespoons of sugar and let simmer for a few minutes. Purée with a mixer and allow to cool. Set aside.

Reduce biscuites to a fine powder. Mix with melted butter with a wooden spoon. Spread the crumbs in the bottom of a springform pan. Pack them firmly with the bottom of a glasse. Put the pan in the fridge while you prepare the cream.

Preheat oven to 160°C.

Beat the ricotta with a whisk to loosen it. Add sugar, beat well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.

Spread half the cream over the cookie crust. Pour half of strawberry coulis and create marbles with the tip of a knife. Add remaining cream, and pour the rest of the coulis on top. Marble with the knife.

Bake for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake cool. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

Dans : All Things Sweet...
Par popottepotes
Le 15 juin, 2009
A 21:43
Commentaires : 0

 

Oatmeal pancakes

For 6 pancakes, you’ll need:

• 60g flour, 
• 75g small rolled oats,
• 2 teaspoons baking powder,
• 1 pinch of salt,
• cinnamon (to taste),
• 1 egg,
• 15 cl milk.

In a bowl, mix flour, oats, baking, salt and cinnamon.

Then pour in the milk and whisk until you have a smooth batter. Finally, add the egg and whisk again.

Let stand for a few minutes, the time for the oats to soften a bit.

Heat a know of butter in a pan over low heat. Laddle a small quantity of batter in the pan. When small bubbles form on the surface of the pancakes, turn them over with a spatula. Cook for a few more seconds.

Enjoy while hot with some honey or maple syrup!

 

Dans : All Things Sweet...
Par popottepotes
Le 12 juin, 2009
A 20:38
Commentaires : 0

 

Roasted pork with balsamic-baked onions and potatoes

« Comfort food » at its best! Not really summery, I grant you, but ideal if you crave for a simple and really good dish. The recipe comes from Jamie Oliver’s latest book « Jamie at home ». This book is really good, but since I am a massive fan of the man, I am not entirely objective!

For 6, you’ll need:

• 1,5kg small potatoes (Charlotte variety works best for this recipe), peeled and cut into quarters,
• salt and freshly ground black pepper,
• olive oil,
• 50g salted, cut into small cubes,
• 6 garlic cloves, pressed,
• 1 handful of fresh rosemary leaves, chopped,
• 5 red onions, peeled and cut inro quarters,
• 200ml balsamic vinegar (don’t use the most expensive!!).

For the meat:

• 1 pork roast (weighing approx. 1.5kg),
• 1 handful of fresh rosemary leaves, chopped,
• 2 tablespoons fennel seeds,
• olive oil,
• 6 garlic cloves, pressed,
• 1 small onion, minced,
• 2 celery stalks, chopped,
• 2 glasses of white wine.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Cook the potatoes in a large quantity of boiling water for 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.

To prepare the meat, place the chopped rosemary leaves on a wooden board. And salt and pepper, and fennel seeds. Roll the meat on the wooden beard to coat with the chopped herbs. Heat a little olive oil in an ovenproof dish on the stove. Brown the roast on all sides. Add pressed garlic, chopped onion and celery to the dish. Place the dish in the bottom of the oven and cook for 1 hour.

For the potatoes, get a big roasting tin. Heat some olive oil in it, add the butter, garlic and rosemary. Finally place the potatoes and onions. Mix well to coat with oil. Pour in the balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Bake in the upper side of the oven for 50 minutes. Stir the potatoes halfway through cooking.

After an hour, the meat should be cooked. If not, continue cooking for 15 minutes, keeping the potatoes warm. When the meat is ready, remove from pan and let stand for about ten minutes. Remove as much fat as you can from the dish, and crush remaining onions and garlic with a fork. Place the dish on the stove and deglaze with white wine. Simmer until liquid has reduced by half. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Filter the sauce and pour into a small bowl.

Slice the pork roast and serve with the potatoes and onions, and the sauce.

Dans : Savory
Par popottepotes
Le
A 20:17
Commentaires : 0

 

Courgette & goat’s cheese cake

That’s one of my cousin’s many specialties!

You could enrich the cake with some toasted pine nuts, to add a bit of crunch.

You’ll need:

• 3 eggs,
• 200g all-purpose flour,
• 2 teaspoons baking powder,
• 8cl olive oil,
• 12.5cl whole milk,
• 100g grated parmesan cheese,
• 200g goat’s cheese,
• 1 courgette, sliced,
• salt and freshly ground pepper.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Heat some olive oil in a skillet. Sweat the courgette slices until they are tender. Set aside.

In a bowl, break the eggs and mix with flour, yeast, a little salt and pepper. Add oil, milk and parmesan. Mix well.

Stir in the courgettes and goat’s cheese, crumbled into pieces.

Pour the batter into a cake mold and bake for 45 minutes.

 

Dans : Appetizers
Par popottepotes
Le
A 18:59
Commentaires : 0

 

Roasted chicken drums, the asian way

Quick, easy, quite cheap and delicious… What more could you ask for??

Serves 4:

• 20-25 chicken drumsticks,
• 60ml soy sauce,
• 2 tablespoons runny honey,
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil,
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped,
• freshly ground black pepper.

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for the marinade. Add the chicken drumsticks, and mix well to coat the chicken with the marinade.

Cover the bowl with clingfilm and refrigerate for a few hours.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Put the drumsticks in a shallow baking dish and pour in the remaining marinade. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the marinade has thickened and the drumsticks are a little bit caramelised.

Serve with some rice, and eat with your fingers!

and we’ve found something really cute, right HERE!!!

Dans : Savory
Par popottepotes
Le 11 juin, 2009
A 20:53
Commentaires : 0

 

Roast chicken stuffed with rice and vegetables

We made this recipe quite a while ago, inspired by a Moroccan recipe we found on the internet. We chose the easiest way of doing it, using some frozen vegetables (use some ready-made vegetable mix or pick your favorite ones – many sorts of vegetables fit this recipe, really). Or you can simply omit the vegetables, and stick to rice and garlic.

• 1 whole chicken,
• 1 tsp salt,
• 1/2 tsp freshly milled black pepper,
• 1/4 glass olive oil,
• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced,
• 250 grams white rice (uncooked),
• saffron,
• 250 grams vegetables of your choice, cooked.

Start by washing the chicken. Pat it dry with some kitchen paper and set it aside.

Bring a large quantity of water to the boil and add some salt. Cook the rice for 10 minutes, until it begins to soften but is not completely cooked. Drain the rice and set aside.

In a separate bowl, blend the saffron and the pepper with the garlic and the olive oil. Coat the chicken with this mixture.

Mix the rice with vegetables, add some spices if you wish and stuff the chicken.

Place the stuffed chicken in a large oven-proof dish. Cook in the hot oven for about 1 hour, until the skin is crisp and brown.

Dans : Savory
Par popottepotes
Le 19 juin, 2008
A 21:08
Commentaires :1

 

Banana bread with cinnamon and pecan nuts

I am slowly warming to Nigella Lawson’s books. Hesitant at first (all the recipes I tried were a complete disaster, especially her pistachio macaroons), I am now getting used to her patronizing tone and lengthy explanations. « How to be a domestic goddess » may now become one of my favorite cookbooks.

This recipe for banana bread is one I wanted to try for quite a while but somehow didn’t end up baking by lack of time. I’m glad I now did! This « bread » bursts with flavour and remains quite light. I just added some cinnamon and pecan nuts to the original recipe.

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour,
• 2 teaspoons baking powder,
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda,
• 1/2 teaspoon salt,
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted,
• 1/2 cup caster sugar,
• 2 large eggs,
• 4 small, very ripe bananas, mashed,
• 1/2 cup chopped pecan nuts,
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract,
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (or more).

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl and, using your hands or a wooden spoon, combine well. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, cinnamon and sugar and beat until blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the mashed bananas. Then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the nuts and vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each bit. Scrape into the loaf pan and bake in the middle of the oven for 1 – 1 1/4 hours. When it’s ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out cleanish. Leave in the pan on a rack to cool.

You could easily add chocolate chips (or even replace 2 tablespoons of the flour with unsweetened cocoa powder) or raisins.

Dans : Breads & Baked Stuff
Par popottepotes
Le 1 mai, 2008
A 20:34
Commentaires : 0

 

Alsatian Onion Tart (or Ziewelkueche)

Onion Tart may be my favorite Alsatian recipe. A bunch of thinly sliced and caramelised onions, poured along with a mixture of eggs and cream into a pastry shell.  

You can use different kinds of pastry to bake this tart: shortcrust pastry, puff pastry or, even better, bread dough. You can add bacon or gruyère cheese on top if you fancy.

I prefer onion tart sold by the slice at the baker’s, made with bread dough. But for a quick dinner fix, feel free to use any kind of pastry you want.

This is a lighter and healthier take on the traditional recipe, with a shortcrust pastry made using whole wheat flour and olive oil.

For the pastry, you’ll need:

• 200g whole wheat flour,
• 2 tablespoons olive oil,
• 1 glass lukewarm water,
• 1 tablespoon poppyseeds,
• 1 teaspoon salt

For the filling, you’ll need:

• 5 small onions,
• 1 tablespoon olive oil,
• 1 egg,
• 12,5cl heavy cream,
• 1 small glass white wine,
• 1 small glass water,
• salt and pepper.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt and poppyseeds. Add olive oil and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds. Then add the water and pulse until you get a soft and elastic dough. Shape the dough in a ball, cover in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 160°C. When the dough has chilled, roll out the pastry and line your tart shell with it. Cook the pastry in the oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the onions as thinly as you can. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook the onions. Don’t let them get some colour. Add water and white wine, and let the onions simmer gently. They are ready when they are soft and all the liquid has absorbed.

Beat the egg in a small bowl, add the cream, salt and pepper. Beat well with a fork. Add in the onions and mix well.

Fill the pastry shell with the onion and cream mixture. Bake for 30 minutes.

 

Serve with some green leaves (aragula for us) and a glass of white wine (Riesling would be the best, I think).

Bacon on top or not?

Dans : Savory
Par popottepotes
Le 21 mars, 2008
A 21:13
Commentaires : 0

 

Bite-sized scones with green olives and Provence herbs

Those tiny, savory scones make a great appetizer alternative. The recipe comes from one of Trish Deseine’s books, and it is the only one I have been making since. It is almost perfect: the dough is smooth and real easy to work with. You can cut it with a cookie cutter and then give your scones fancy shapes. Provence herbs (thyme, marjoram, rosemary, tarragon, fennel, chervil) and green olives give a summery feel to these scones and with the temperatures drowning, it is really nice!

For approximately 40 mini scones, you’ll need:

• 250 grams all-purpose flour,
• 30 grams sugar,
• 2 tablespoons baking powder,
• 60 grams cold butter, cut into dices,
• 40 grams grated Parmesan cheese,
• 15 cl. milk,
• 3 tablespoons chopped green olives,
• 2 teaspoons Provence herbs.

Preheat oven to 180°C.  

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and baking powder. Stir in the butter by rubbing the mixture between your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs.

Add parmesan and milk, a little at a time, and mix to form a soft dough. Finally add the chopped olives and the herbs. Knead well, adding flour if needed.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 2 centimeters in thickness. Cut small shapes with a cookie cutter. Place scones onto a baking sheet and brush tops with milk. Place in the oven for 7 minutes.

Dans : Appetizers
Par popottepotes
Le 30 octobre, 2007
A 22:49
Commentaires :1

 

Cranberry Muffins for Garden Cook Event

I’ve discovered cranberries quite recently and I really like these tiny, ruby-red berries. They’re still difficult to find in France, but Germany is not too far and dried cranberries can be found more easily there.

I found the recipe for these cranberry muffins under the name of « Christmas-Morning Muffins » in one of Nigella Lawson’s books. I know, it’s not yet Christmas, but I couldn’t resist this cinnamon-sweet smell of baking and decided to make them for this month’s Garden Cook Event.

They’re really easy to put together and the smell of nutmeg, cinnamon and orange is gorgeous! I’ll sure be baking them again for this year’s Christmas!

For 12 muffins, you’ll need:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour,
• 3 teaspoons baking powder,
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda,
• 1/3 cup sugar,
• good grating fresh nutmeg,
• 1 clementine or a small orange,
• approximately 1/4 cup milk,
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted,
• 1 large egg,
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons dried cranberries,

for the topping: 2 teaspoons sugar + 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and sugar. Grate over a generous amount of fresh nutmeg. Squeeze the orange or clementine juice into a measuring cup, then pour in milk on top till it comes up to the 2/3 cup mark. Add the melted butter and the egg, and beat to combine.

Pour the liquid ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir till the ingredients are more or less combined, remembering that a lumpy batter makes lighter muffins. Last of all, lightly fold in the cranberries and fill the muffins cups. [The amount of cranberries specified in the recipe here makes for heavily fruited muffins; if you want them sparser, use half the amount].

Mix together the sugar and ground cinnamon and sprinkle over the tops of the muffins. Stick them in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Dans : All Things Sweet...
Par popottepotes
Le
A 20:52
Commentaires :1