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Christmas party

December 23, 2012 by potatoface

Have I mentioned I love Christmas? It’s the best pagan tradition adapted by Christianity…

This year, for the first time in 5 years, I got Christmas off from work, so me and Boyfriend flew to Poland (yay!)

Before we did, we invited a few friends over for ‘Christmas Dinner’ to celebrate with them.

The Menu

Beetroot soup with mushroom parcels

Beet and Goat Cheese Terrine with Rocket and Roasted Butternut Squash Salad

Spanakopita (Spinach and Feta in Filo Pastry)

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Mince pies in filo pastry

And lots and lots of red wine.

Recipes coming soon…

Category dessert, dinner, Party | Tags: butter,christmas party,cinnamon,cream,eggs,feta cheese,maple syrup,sugar,wine,yummy | No Comments
French themed party

August 15, 2012 by potatoface

To achieve a successful French theme party you need:

1. to befriend a French person, preferably with a family (so you can have a French person times three = more legitimate French party)

2. miniature Eiffel Tower,

3. A la French menu,

4. lots of wine,

5. no nonsense taking attitude,

6. lots and lots of wine and cheese,

7. stamina…

8.selection of French music.

Now, it’s definitely not a good idea to start with a little session called ‘two Cosmopolitans drinking two cosmopolitans’…which is me and my ex flatmate (Kamil, mentioned before in this blog) downing two cosmos before the French arrived. Three words of warning – next day hangover.

And try not to delete half of the photographs you had taken (!)

Anyway, setting the table for the French themed party in my case was more like fishing from a basket of clichés. Baguette here, Eiffel tower there, and voila! Sorted.

French theme party

french theme party

french theme party

For dinner I made green bean and goat cheese tart. The inspiration came from Anna Olson’s book ‘Fresh with Anna Olson’, I just turned it into a vegetarian dish.

Green bean and goat cheese tart

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

1 1/2 cups of flour

120 grams of unsalted butter

1/2 cup of grated parmesan

2-3 tablespoons of cold water

Filling:

200-300 grams of green beans, trimmed and blanched

2 eggs

3/4 cup of sour cream

black pepper

pinch of salt

herbes de provence

120 grams of goat cheese

1. For the pastry pulse the flour and butter in a food processor until crumbly (you can do it by hand, just try to be quick so the butter stays cold)

2. Add parmesan and water and pulse again. Turn the dough out, shape into a disk, wrap in a cling foil and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.

3. Preheat the oven to 190 C. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a circle. Line the tart shell with the dough, trim the edges. Chill for another 30 minutes (trust me, it’s worth it).

4. Stab with a fork a few times (helps letting the air out while baking) and bake till it starts getting golden. Let it cool.

5. Reduce the temperature to 160C. Arrange the green beans, sprinkle herbes de provance.

6. In a small bowl whisk the eggs, sour cream, salt and pepper. Pour this over the tart filling and crumble goat cheese over the top.

7. Bake till the eggs are set. (Don’t engage into a long conversation if you don’t want to burn your tart)

8. Let it cool a bit before slicing.

green bean and goat cheese tart

I served it with a salad made of rocket and watermelon with lemon and olive oil dressing and shaved parmesan on top.

There was also plenty of wine, cheese, baguette, etc.

Dessert is a different story. I decided not to make a cake but biscuits. There were two : normal shortbread filled with raspberry jam and hazelnut shortbread filled with nutella. Yum!

Vive la France!

shortbread biscuits

shortbread biscuits

Category dessert, dinner, French theme party, Party, tart, Uncategorized | Tags: butter,cheese,cream,eggs,flour,goat cheese,green beans,herbs,parmesan,salt,wine,yummy | No Comments
Any excuse is good to have chocolate.Happy Valentines Day!

February 13, 2012 by potatoface

I don’t believe in Valentines Day. If you love someone, you should show it to them all year round and not just on the 14th of February, innit? But any occasion is good for having chocolate.

I followed Jamie Oliver’s brownie recipe. He is the God of cooking. I worship the man. It’s a bloomin’ brilliant brownies recipe you can find on his website. My version is with pistachios, dried cherries and demerara sugar.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chocolate-recipes/bloomin-brilliant-brownies

Jamie Oliver's bloomin' brownie

I also promised Kamil that I’d put up a recipe for chocolate ganache. It couldn’t be simpler – you basically melt a bar of dark chocolate with 50-70 ml of cream and a knob of butter on a low heat. I also add a splash of alcohol (brandy or sweet wine if someone gives it to me – I would never drink sweet wine, yuk).

Jamie Oliver adds to his ganache some clementine zest, I prefer orange though. Then you mix everything, put it into shot or espresso glasses and voila!

Just to set the record straight – Kamil is not the flatmate described in the ‘creamy mushroom pasta’ post. He is the other one, the one who cooked and baked with me, the one my boyfriend and I enjoyed brilliant themed parties and film marathons with.

chocolate ganache

Happy Valentines Day!

Category dessert | Tags: butter,chococlate,cream,dried cherries,Jamie Oliver,orange,pistachios | No Comments
brussel sprouts quiche

December 21, 2011 by potatoface

I don’t understand people who make fun of brussel sprouts.

Anyway, if you want to try something christmassy but different, here’s the recipe for a nice quiche.

The one on the picture has got the base made of wholemeal flour. Not that it’s relavant.

brussel sprouts quiche

Brussel sprouts quiche

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

1 glass of flour

1/2 pack of butter

few spoons of cold water

pinch of salt

for the filling:

300-400 grams of brussel sprouts

100 ml of sour or soya cream

1-2 spoons of nutmeg

pinch of salt

2 eggs

200 grams of hard cheese (any type you like)

fresh or dried herbs (oregano, basil, thyme, parsley)

1.For the pastry go to the recipe for spinach and cherry tomato quiche and make it exactly the same way.

2. Pre-bake the base, in the meantime boil brussel sprouts in a lightly salted water (obviously you have to first cut off the stems, but not so much that the leaves fall. Cut a small X into the base of each sprout to allow the core to cook thoroughly) for about 5-6 minutes. Drain.

3. Arrange sprouts on pre-baked base. Mix eggs with cream, herbs and nutmeg. Sprinkle grated cheese on the sprouts, then pour cream and egg mixture over and sprinkle some more cheese.

4. Bake in 160 C till it’s golden and done.

Category dinner, lunch | Tags: brussel sprouts,butter,cheese,christmassy,cream,eggs,flour,herbs,nutmeg,salt,wholemeal flour | No Comments
pear and almond tart

October 7, 2011 by potatoface

Everyone likes a bit of tart even if they don’t want to admit it. I do. I brought this tart to work once to share it with my colleagues(pears provided by Viv). The result was my tart dish dissapeared. Weird.

pear and almond tart

Pear and almond tart

Ingredients

for the pastry

1 glass of flour

1/2 pack of butter (or margarine)

2 eggs

2 spoons of sugar

for the filling

4-5 ripe pears

2 eggs

100 ml soya cream (or single)

half a glass of ground almonds

1/3 glass of vanilla sugar (or sugar and 4 spoons of vanilla essence)

2-3 spoons of apricot jam

1. Make the pastry by mixing all ingredients. Add few spoons of cold water or more flour if you need to. Leave to chill in the fridge for half an hour.

2. Take the pastry out of the fridge, dust with more flour, roll it out on a floured surface. Butter flan dish, line it with pastry. Stab the pastry with a fork, bake for 15-20 minutes in 180 C.

3. Take the pastry out of the oven. Mix almonds, eggs, sugar and cream. Slice peeled pears. Arrange them in a dish, pour egg, cream and almonds mixture over the pears. Bake in the oven for another 20-30 minutes, same temperature, wait till it starts getting golden.

4. Warm 2-3 spoons of apricot jam in a pot. When you tart is baked, glaze it with the apricot jam using a brush. If you want it to look fancy, sprinkle roasted flaked almonds on top.

Category dessert, tart | Tags: apricot jam,butter,cream,eggs,flour,ground almonds,pears,vanilla sugar | 3 Comments
tiramisu with a Polish twist

August 14, 2011 by potatoface

tiramisu

I was asked to put up a recipe for tiramisu. My friends and Boyfriend’s band buddies love it. It’s nothing unusual, just ordinary Italian tiramisu with a Polish twist. But my friend who’s Italian said it’s really nice and that made me feel really good about myself…I’m that sad.

So here it is, knock yourself out! It’s creamy and boozy, just perfect!

Tiramisu with a Polish twist.

Savoyard biscuits

300g mascarpone

100 ml double cream

2 eggs

Krupnik vodka – that’s the Polish twist. If you don’t have it you can use amaretto or brandy, but honestly, the vodka I’m using is perfect and my Italian friend said the tiramisu I make actually tastes like the one her mom makes, especially that she never uses amaretto, just another type of alcohol, like brandy, etc. So that’s it, I revealed my secret ingredient.

sugar

espresso coffee

cocoa for dusting

tiramisu

1. Make espresso (whole mug), leave it to cool.

2.. Separate egg yolks and whisk them with 4-5 spoons of sugar in a metal or glass bowl over a saucepan of warm water. Wait till the egg yolks thicken and sugar dissolves. When it becomes creamy and the colour changes into vanilla (or magnolia), leave it on the side to cool a bit.

3. Whisk egg whites in separate bowl or pot.

4. Whip cream but not too much, don’t let it become too thick.

5. You can dip your biscuits in coffee first then arrange them, I just lay them into my dish and then using the spoon, gently pour coffee over the biscuits, making sure they are all moist but not too soggy.

6. Mix gently mascarpone, egg yolks, egg whites, whipped cream, add 2 spoons of alcohol and few spoons of icing sugar if you like it really sweet or want to feel high after an insulin rush.

7. Spread the mixture over biscuits. Repeat it with another layer of biscuits dipped in coffee and again marscapone mixture.

8. Chill in the fridge for few hours. Dust with cocoa before serving and if you want to make it look even more presentable – some roasted almond flakes on top will suffice.

Category dessert | Tags: amaretto,brandy,cocoa,coffee,cream,eggs,mascarpone,sugar,vodka | No Comments
Spinach and cherry tomatoes quiche – a dinner party winner

July 31, 2011 by potatoface

spinach and cherry tomatoes quiche

When you invite people for dinner ( I don’t understand why you would want to do that but whatever), you don’t want everyone to enjoy themselves, drink at the table and gossip, while you are slaving in the kitchen. My best advise coming from experience is; prepare dessert in advance and for dinner serve quiche. It’s easy and simple, tastes nice, and when the guests arrive, you can stick it in the oven and enjoy nice conversation and an even nicer glass of wine. Another advantage is that even if you get tipsy during that process, your dessert is already made, so you are not going to mess it up. You can only burn a bit of your quiche, like what I did as you can clearly see on the picture…..

Spinach and cherry tomatoes quiche

For the pastry:

1 glass of flour

1/2 pack of butter

few spoons of cold water

pinch of salt

For the filling:

spinach (300 grams)

2-3 spoons of olive oil

cherry tomatoes

2 eggs

half a cup of soya cream (or ordinary single if you are pleased)

spoon of nutmeg

salt

any fresh herbs (basil, oregano, etc) but if you don’t have any, dried herbs de provence will do

200 grams of hard cheese (whichever you like, cheddar is absolutely fine)

breadcumbs

1. To make pastry sieve the flour, add a pinch of salt, cut room-temperature butter into cubes . Add it to the flour and using your hands mix it together until you have a breadcrumbs texture. Add cold water (just few spoons,enough to make firm dough) and using your hands mix everything until you form nice pastry, then leave in the fridge for half an hour.

2. Saute spinach in a pan with olive oil. Add nutmeg, a pinch of salt and herbs. Leave to cool for a bit.

3. Take the pastry out of the fridge, dust with more flour, roll it out on a floured surface. Butter flan dish, I usually sprinkle the dish with 2 spoons of breadcrumbs. Line the dish with pastry. I never use fancy baking beans, I just simply poke the pastry with a fork, leaving plenty of little holes.

4. Pre-bake pastry in an oven for about 20 minutes (temperature 150 C).

5. Take it out of the oven, sprinkle a spoon of breadcrumbs into the pastry, then some grated cheese. Spread spinach and add cherry tomatoes. Whisk eggs with cream and pour it into the pastry. Sprinkle more cheese on top.

6. Bake it in the oven till eggs set and cheese melts (30 -40 minutes, temperature about 170 C).

Serve with a salad and a smile.

Category dinner, lunch | Tags: cheese,cherry tomatoes,cream,eggs,herbs,nutmeg,olive oil,spinach | 2 Comments
creamy mushroom pasta – carbs are back

June 29, 2011 by potatoface

creamy mushroom pasta

Well, guess what I read recently…? Carbs are back. Apparently high-carb foods thank to ‘resistant starch’ are actually good and can even help you loose wait.

To celebrate the news everyone should have carbs. I’m going to have pasta. I love pasta. I have pasta almost every day. Luckily Boyfriend loves pasta too, otherwise we would have a tricky situation. The household could turn into scenes from the film ‘The War of the Roses’…

It’s not that I ever cared about carbs anyway. I eat what I like and have never been on a diet. As my ex flatmate told me – I’m not fat but I’m not exactly skinny either. Well, I told him he is not stupid but not exactly bright either though…My bitchiness burns off most of my calories intake.

Creamy mushroom pasta (quick recipe, it takes only 20 minutes)

Gnocchetti pasta

400 g of mushrooms (button or any you fancy)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of cream cheese or pack of goat cheese

150 ml of cream (less if you are calorie conscious, you need some to melt cheese, but it’s up to you if you want it extra creamy. I think extra creamy is the best. You can replace it with soya cream, less calories, perfect for vegans)

parmesan

salt and freshly ground pepper

chopped parsley or chives

1. Boil water for pasta with a pinch of salt.

2. You can use any pasta you want but in my opinion gniocchetti tastes the best.

3. Chop or slice mushrooms.

4. Warm olive oil in a pot, add mushrooms. Cover and fry for a few minutes.

5. If the water for pasta is boiling, add your gnocchetti, stir, cover and leave for 4 minutes.

6. When your mushrooms start to get soft and the liquid evaporates a bit, add cream (and again, it can be double or single, I use anything I can find in the fridge) and then cream cheese or goats cheese, or both. Sometimes I add a splash of white wine for added flavour or if I’m left with an open bottle and have to get rid of it before it goes bad.

7. Lower the temperature and stir until cheese starts to melt.

8. Grate some parmesan and add to your cheesy sauce.

9. Pre-warm plates.

10. Drain your pasta ( you can leave some starchy water, pasta doesn’t have to be drained completely)

11. Add pasta to your sauce, add some salt and fresh pepper, mix carefully.

12. Serve with chopped parsley, chives or even basil. This one is perfect with white wine, yumm!

Category dinner, lunch | Tags: basil,cheese,chives,cream,cream cheese,gnocchetti,goat cheese,mushrooms,olive oil,parmesan,parsley,pasta | No Comments