My latest post says that there’s more to life than food and drinks and cooking. What happens? I came home one day and Thomas had a surprise for me: an ice cream maker! I always wanted to have one but never bought one in the end because I thought that it will be one of these things which (after a short period of euphoria) stand in the way covered with dust. Or I said to myself that nowadays there is so much good ice cream to buy or (most times) I was just short financially. Little did I know! I already made raspberry, peach, vanilla and banana ice cream and they were all better than any other I’ve had before. I want to get more experimental now and will report here soon. There are two reasons for making antipasti last weekend. The first is that we have tons of courgettes (zucchini) in the garden and I had to grill them in slices because that gives you many ways to add them to any meal like sandwiches, pasta or pizza. The other reason is a little embarrassing. We sometimes watch a cooking show on TV, presented by an unbearably amicable elder couple (married for 30 years) and they are so friendly that sometimes you wish something bad or mean would happen. Like in a Stephen King book or a David Lynch movie. Not that I expect him to cut off her arm and cook it but he could swear at her at least. Well, he just won’t…it’s another Truman show. Anyway, their latest topic was “figs”. As usual they showed a couple of great recipes, my favourite was “crostini with figs and mozzarella”. All you need to do is cut the fig in slices and put them on a tray with baking paper.   Cover each with a slice of buffalo mozzarella and finely cut fresh basil leaves. Add a drop of your best olive oil and put the tray in the preheated oven (200°C) for about 5 to 7 minutes. In the meantime cut and toast really thin slices of Italian bread and place the fig with mozzarella on top and add a pinch of fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt. This doesn’t only look great, it just tastes so good and is a perfect starter. The courgettes I cut into slices lengthwise and marinated them in a mixture of olive oil, sea salt, lemon juice, sugar, salt, garlic and black pepper. Then I grilled them in a pan until they’re golden brown. If you put them in a tray with some more olive oil you have a delicious extra for the next week. Today I just put one on a crostini, added a cherry tomato and some old balsamic vinegar. Very quick, very easy…that’s the way we like it.

Quiche with peas and mint

Do you like quiche? I don’t. Or should I say I didn’t? I’ve tried so many of them, usually recommended by friends with an introduction like “Quiches can be so boring, dry and flat. This one isn’t, have a bite, Im sure you’ll love it as much as I do!”. I’ve been raised up with a mother who taught me to be complimentary and diplomatic, above all when friends give gifts to you or invite you for dinner. You wouldn’t believe how many tasteless dusty bites of Quiches ended in my mouth, turning to unswallowable pulp and doubling its size until a combination of a glass of wine  and body control saved me just before I mumbled “Oh, how delicate!”.

Little Quiches in a muffin tin

Some of my friends wouldn’t do it, they’d say that they don’t like them at all. Why can’t I? Well, I could but why do I think that it’s better to be polite and to suffer myself instead of saying the truth? Do you always say what you think regardless other people’s feelings and effort? If yes, did you ever lose friends due to your straightness? Please, let me know. Let’s get back to quiche now. I’ve tried it any style in many different restaurants in France as well as in Germany and not only the name stays the same everywhere, the taste unfortunately, too. Why making them? A look into the fridge and the article in a magazine about what other things you can cook with your muffin tin lead me there. I tried two different fillings: one with peas and mint and the other one with zucchini and bacon.

Surprise surprise…both results were so good that I have to change my opinion on quiches. All of us liked them and I swear that before we used to be the world’s most convinced hardcore group of anti-quiche activists. Now I know how to make 12 little quiches in a muffin tin and I’ll try more fillings because this is a great starter for guests and you can eat them hot and cold. I’ll surely watch my friends’ reactions carefully after my little introduction: “Quiches can be so boring, dry and flat. This one isn’t, have a bite, Im sure you’ll love it as much as I do!”. 

RECIPE:

Quiches with two different fillings

12 pieces each, use a muffin tin

The dough (for 12 pieces):

250 g all-purpose floure (Type 405)

100g soft butter

1 egg yolk

100 g cream cheese

a pinch of salt

Mix together and knead until you have  nice dough. Wrap into cling film and put into the fridge for 50 minutes.

In the meantime you can preheat the oven to 200°C and prepare the fillings.

Filling 1 – peas and mint:

300 g fresh or frozen peas (to be honest, it doesn’t make a big difference here)

one handful of fresh mint leaves

1 onion (finely chopped)

2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)

3 tbsp olive oil

5 eggs

200 ml milk

100 g crème fraîche

2 tsp mustard

salt

pepper

50 g feshly grated Parmesan cheese

Fry the onions and the garlic in a pan with olive oil until translucent. Mix the peas and the mint in a bowl. Whisk eggs, milk, créme fraîche, mustard and salt and pepper in another bowl.

Oil the muffin tin and cut circles of 10-12 cm out of the rolled out dough (I used a dessert bowl), put them on the hollows of the muffin tin and bring each into the shape of a cup. Now fill in the baked onions and garlic first. Then add the peas and the milk/egg mix and finally add the Parmesan cheese. Put into the oven for 30 minutes.

Filling 2 – zucchini and bacon:

400 g zucchini

2 onions

100 g bacon (chopped)

3 tbsp olive oil

5 eggs

fresh thyme leaves

200 ml milk

100 ml cream

1 tsp mustard

salt

pepper

70 g old Gouda cheese (freshly grated)

Fry zucchini, onions and bacon in a pan. Whisk eggs, thyme, milk, cream, mustard, salt and pepper well in a bowl.

Oil the muffin tin and cut circles of 10-12 cm out of the rolled out dough (I used a dessert bowl), put them on the hollows of the muffin tin and bring each into the shape of a cup. Now fill in the baked zucchini/onions/bacon first. Then add the milk/egg mix and finally add the Gouda cheese. Put into the oven for 30 minutes.

mushrooms in their new home

Every Saturday we go food-shopping at our local market. Yesterday we had bought everything we wanted (and more) when we got a special offer from a market woman who was ready to close the stand and wanted to get rid of a good amount of mushrooms and we couldn’t refuse. At home we first weren’t sure what to do with them but after a look in a couple of cookbooks we made our first selfmade preserved mushrooms by mixing the recipes into one. We love doing this anyway, reading several recipes and putting together the parts which sound best. I have to admit that we like to leave out the more complicated, often time-consuming bits. I also have to admit that it doesn’t work with everything, some things just need their time. Not the mushrooms though, you really should try. After we compared the recipes and mixed about three different into one we discovered that Jamie Oliver has (almost) exactly the same in his book “Jamie at home”. As we love his style anyway we weren’t surprised at all. It’s dead easy, yummy and a great thing to give to friends instead of the usual bottle of wine or prosecco.

Here’s the RECIPE (à la Jamie Oliver) for

1,5 kg mushrooms (big ones cut into halves)

The marinade:

750ml good olive oil extra virgin

6 cloves of garlic (cut into slices)

2 fresh red chilis (chopped, without seed)

fresh thyme

fresh rosemary

fresh sage

The marinade

The vinaigre brew:

1,5l whitewine vinaigre

1,5l water

3 tbsp sea salt

Prepare some smaller sterilized preserving glasses. Mix all ingredients for the marinade in a big bowl. Put the vinaigre, water and salt in a big pot and let it boil. Give mushrooms into the water and let it simmer for 3 minutes. When the mushrooms come up to the surface take a skimmer and dunk them back into the water.

Afterwards take the mushroom with a skimmer out of the water and put them directly into the bowl with the marinade and stir carefully.

Pour the mushrooms into preserving glasses and fill every glass up with the marinade until all vegetables are covered. Lock every glass with its lid and let them cool down. It’s ideal to wait for a minimum of two weeks until you open a glass because the mushrooms need the time to soak in the flavours of the fresh herbs. Store them in a cool and dark place, you can keep them about 3 months. Ours never survive that long, the stuff is too good.