Khachapuri.

Hello,

I have added all kinds of ingredients to yeast dough before, but I haven’t added yoghurt. So of course, when I heard about khachapuri, I had to give it a try.

It’s a flat bread filled with cheese. Uh, hello? How great is that?
They did turn out fabulously, I’ll definitely make them again. Great for lunch or brunch, or in between. They are pretty filling, slightly salty, and really easy to make.

Ingredients:
makes 6 small flat breads

2 cups flour
3 tsps. dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup plain yoghurt
1/2 tsp. salt
about 7 oz. feta cheese
about 3 oz. mozzarella cheese
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp. milk

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and yoghurt. Start kneading; add about 1/2 cup warm water one tablespoon at a time (you might need some more water, or a little less). Knead until all the ingredients are combined and you have a smooth, warm ball of dough. Leave it in the bowl, cover with a dish cloth and let sit in a warm place until the dough has risen (to about twice its original size; for about one hour).

In the meantime, cut the cheese into very small cubes, and mix them.

When the dough has risen, knead it once very quickly, and divide it into six equal portions. Roll these portions into circles on a lightly floured surface. Divide the cheese mix onto the dough circles, leaving a rim.
Pull the rim over the filling toward the middle of the circle and press it together. This should result in six oddly shaped balls. Roll these balls back into flat breads super carefully.

Preheat your oven to 400° F.

Place the breads on a papered baking sheet.
Mix egg yolk and milk; brush the breads with that mixture.

Bake the khachapuris for about 25 mins., until very lightly brown.
Let cool, and enjoy!!

See? Melted cheeses inside a light bread. I had expected the yoghurt to weigh down the dough, but it didn’t at all. I thought it made the dough really flexible, and the bread really interesting.

xoxo, F.

Pasta with Bell Peppers, Feta Cheese, and Balsamico Vinegar

Hello people,

this isn’t much of a recipe, but definitively the most interesting thing we had for dinner this week, and also, in order to stick to my promise to myself to blog once a week, yadda yadda yadda, I’ll just post this, here we go.

Ingredients:
serves 3-4

about a pound of the pasta of your choice

4 bell peppers, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
dried basil leaves (use fresh, if you have it)
olive oil

2 tbsps. orange juice
3 tbsps. balsamico vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

about 1/2 pound feta cheese, roughly chopped

Directions:

Cook the pasta.

Meanwhile, heat about 2 tbsps. olive oil in a large pan. Add the pepper slices and fry them slowly over medium heat until soft. Add the garlic and basil leaves to taste; stir. Add the orange juice and vinegar, stir, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat immediately. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, combine the drained pasta and the pepper mix. Sprinkle with feta cheese. Serve with wine and a green salad. Enjoy!

On a completely different note: I squeezed the most beautiful oranges this morning. They were so pretty I was almost sorry to turn them into juice!

A little bit of sunshine on this grey, grey day.
Have a good weekend! Don’t forget to eat, and drink, and be merry.
xoxo, F.

A New Beginning (and Couscous)

Hello world,

I have been absent for quite a while. Not that anyone cares – despite myself. I don’t like the idea of having started this blog and then letting it die. I want to make use of the advantages of regular blogging: reliability, a little mental excercise, fun, seeing your work grow. Which is why my new year resolution was to blog at least once a week, Fridays. And yes, that was my only resolution – my life will be changing quite a bit, and there’s so much I want to and should be doing, and I’d rather have one extra resolution that I’ll really try and stick with, than several that don’t last long.

Anyways, here comes a recipe for a veggie couscous with feta and parmesan cheese. It is from my new cookbook by Donna Hay which Santa brought me, and I love it. However, the original recipe suggested using store bought antipasti, but I scrapped that and fried some fresh vegetables instead. Not because I’m so sophisticated, but because it is cheaper.

Ingredients:
serves 2-3

1 cup couscous

1 large red bell pepper, cubed
2 big handfuls fresh mushrooms, halved
1 can artichoke hearts, drained, halved
1 garlic clove, chopped

olive oil

1 small handful parsley leaves, chopped

salt, pepper

1 cup feta cubes
grated parmesan to taste

Directions:

This is super easy. In a bowl, cover the couscous with boiling water (I’d say with approx. 1 2/3 cups), add a pinch of salt, stir, and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit until the grains have absorbed the water.

In a pan, fry the vegetables in olive oil until soft and nice. Remove from heat, add parsley, and season to taste.

Loosen the couscous with a spoon, and serve with veggies and cheeses.

Easy, right? And really good!

xoxo,
F.

Pumpkin and Feta

Hello there,

fall is (almost) here! And with fall comes… pumpkin. Which is great! Here comes a very simple recipe which is great for weeknight dinners, but also, maybe with a roast or some other meat dish, fancy enough for Sunday night when the in-laws come for dinner. It requires very few ingredients, and doesn’t take long. So, without further ado:

Ingredients:
serves 3-4

pumpkin, washed, cleaned and cut into cubes; I used one small hokkaido, approx. 1.5 pounds
feta cheese, cut into cubes; I used greek feta, approx. 0.5 pound
salt, pepper, thyme

Directions:

In a pot, bring water to a boil; add salt. Put in the pumpkin cubes, and let boil for 3-4 mins., not longer. Take out, drain, and transfer into a baking dish. Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

Cover the pumpkin cubes with feta cubes, sprinkle with thyme.

Bake for approx. 30 mins., until the feta starts to turn very light brown. Enjoy!

Easy, right?! We ate ours with cooked, sliced beetroot and a fresh green salad.

Ah, I love fall. In fact, I’ll take a nice long walk right now.
Good bye for now! Eat well!
xoxo, F.

Puff Pastries

Good evening!

Here comes the recipe for the puff pastry muffins I promised earlier. Meaning: little pastries made in a muffin pan. Very easy! I made six with tomatoes and six without, because a certain member of the household doesn’t like tomatoes, which is insane. Anyways, obviously all kinds of fillings could be invented for this; however, I would stay away from fillings that are too saucy, since the pastry crust is really thin and the baking time is rather short, so a runny filling would probably cause a big mess.

Ingredients:
makes 12

1 cup feta cheese, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup ricotta cheese

approx. 1/4 pound spinach leaves
I used frozen spinach, thawed and drained; if you use fresh leaves, wash, drain, and chop them

1 scallion, sliced
1/2 garlic clove, minced

salt, pepper to taste

12 cheese cubes; I used gouda

approx. 10 oz puff pastry
I used store bought (I KNOW. Whatever.), which came in one big piece, which I cut into 12 even squares

3 cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions:

In a bowl, combine feta, ricotta, spinach, scallions, and garlic. Stir well, and season with salt and pepper.

Transfer the pastry squares into the molds of the muffin pan, pushing gently so that the walls are covered evenly.

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

Fill the pastries with the feta mix; put a cheese chunk on top of each and half a tomato on six of them. Fold over the pastry rims.

Bake for approx. 2o mins., until the gouda is melted and the crusts are very light brown.
Serve with a fresh green salad. Enjoy!

We ate them for dinner, but obviously they would also make good finger food at parties or picnics.

Goodbye!
xoxo, F.

Baked Shrimp with Feta Cheese and Tomatoes

Hello, my fellow eaters!

We had this lovely meal on Saturday night, and I liked it so much I thought I’d share it here. Again, this is a recipe that I am sure is loved in many homes, since it has been around for a while now and is so easy and yet subtle and impressive. I copied this recipe from a magazine years ago (I forget which one. Gourmet?), and, needless to say, adapted it a little according to my taste and what I had in my cupboard. The copy tells me that this is supposed to serve eight people. Well. In my house, it served two…

Ingredients:

1/3 cup and some more olive oil
2 onions, chopped
29 ounces canned tomatoes
1 tbsp. dried oregano
4 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper ad libitum

2 pounds uncooked large shrimps, peeled and deveined
crushed aniseed, salt and black pepper ad libitum

1/2 cup olives
8 ounces feta cheese, crumled

Directions:

Heat 1/3 cup oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until golden. Add tomatoes (with juice), parsley, oregano, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Stirr well; bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat, cover the pan and let the sauce simmer for about 20 mins. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Preheat  your oven to 400° F.

In a second pan, heat 3 tbsp. oil. Sprinkle shrimps with salt, pepper, and aniseed. Sauté shortly in the pan, maybe for about 3 mins., until they turn opaque. Remove from heat.

In a baking dish, combine tomato sauce, shrimps, and olives. Sprinkle with feta cheese and bake for about 15 mins.

Serve with rice. Enjoy!

Well! As I said, this is really easy, and really good. Lots of flavors come together in a very satisfying way, and this dish is not too heavy, either. Perfect for a spring night.

Next up: Green ricotta gnocchi, and buttermilk buns.
xoxo, F.