Frittata !

Now here's a recipe for something so easy and comfortable to make, you don't need any particular skills in the kitchen, nor do you need many pots or pans. Just one frying pan, so it's great for a weeknight when you want a quick and easy dinner. This frittata, combined with a mixed salad, a loaf of country bread and a glass of red wine will help you unwind from any stress in just a few minutes !
About the eggs... there's a lot of talk about the quality of eggs and I would suggest you try to get the best there is. Try to eat organic eggs, they also taste better !


Ingredients:

2 tbls. olive oil
1 large potato, peeled and thinly sliced
1 spring onion, diced
1 red onion, diced
salt, pepper
a few drops of worcestershire sauce
3 tbls. full fat milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or any other cheese you like)
4 eggs (organic)

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the potatoes and fry them for about ten minutes. The thinner you have sliced them, the quicker they will cook.
Add the red onion , stir, fry for a few more minutes and season with salt and pepper.
Preheat your grill to 200 degrees Celsius and whisk the eggs together with the worcestershire sauce and the milk.
Add the spring onion to the egg mixture and pour the eggs over the vegetables in the frying pan.
Leave the frittata for a few minutes on medium heat and then you sprinkle the cheese on top.
Transfer the pan to the oven and leave it under the grill for about 5 minutes until the cheese will be golden and bubbly !

Serve the pan directly to the table and help yourself.

Serves 2

With love,
esther.

Linzer Torte !

My grand mother passed away last year... She was 96 and lived in the Black Forest in the South of Germany. I will always remember her for the best Linzer Torte you can imagine. My grandma lived in the south of Germany and when I was a child she would bake it for me and send it to Amsterdam by post. I used to love those kinds of presents and I actually still do. A gift of food will put a smile on my face at any time of the day! The Linzer Torte was a special occasion present, so I had to calculate to eat it slowly. Of course that never worked, especially since the whole family would "help" to finish it off.... Over the years I have learned to make it myself, cause she stopped baking and now she's gone, but her recipe will stay alive. I am thrilled to share it with you!


Ingredients:
300 gr. flour
200 gr. caster sugar
200 gr. hazelnuts (ground)
200 gr. soft, unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 tbs. cacao
1 tsp. ground clove
2 tbs. cinnamon
1 jar red marmalade (strawberry or raspberry)
2 tbs. lemon juice

It's a very simple process, so no worries on how to get it right!
Start with a big bowl and add the flour, the sugar, the hazelnuts, the cacao, the clove, the cinnamon, and the lemon juice. Mix that all up with a fork and then add the one egg and the butter.
Now it's better to use your hands and to knead it into a soft dough. The smell will be amazing, try to stay focused, cause some of my friends like to nibble on the raw product!
My grandmother used to say that we should always leave the dough to rest, so I would advise you to do the same. I have noticed that it's easier to work with the dough, when you have given it some rest.
I put it in the fridge for about two hours and then it's ready to go!
Sprinkle some flour on your working surface and role out 2/3 of the dough. Try to give it the shape of your (medium sized) tart pan. Then butter your tart pan and transfer the dough to the bottom of your pan. Mold it with your fingers so that the dough also covers the sides of the pan.
Preheat your oven to 175 degrees and spread the marmalade on top of the dough.
Take the rest of the dough and role it out like you did before. Cut it into strips of 2cm each. Strips will have various lengths, but that is the point!
You will make a lattice top, so use the longer strips near the center of the pie and the shorter ones near the edge.
Cross the strips over each other and let me remind you that it doesn't really matter how you do it, as long as you are satisfied with the result!
When you're done whisk the remaining egg and brush the strips with it.
Now bake your Torte for about 50 minutes in the oven.

Leave it to cool and serve with icing sugar..
Serves 10 or me!

With love,
esther.

Vegetable Pie!

One of my favorite dishes that I got to know during my time in Greece is a pie made with homemade phyllo. It can be any pie, from cheese pie to pumpkin pie, I eat them all.
My only wish is that it should be a homemade pie, cause the ones you buy at the shops have too much oil in them and the filling is sometimes too little. This may sound as a challenging recipe to you, but it's actually more based on practice than on real cooking knowledge.
I think you should give it a try, make a large pie, freeze half for a lazy kitchen day and enjoy something different on your dinner plate! I'm Dutch and I realize that it's not the smartest thing in the world to take on making my own phyllo, when real Greek women have been doing this for generation after generation, with great success if I may say so. Nevertheless it's time to learn something new, because life is all about adventure and I admit that after a couple of try outs my pie still needs work, but one day it will be perfect!
If after reading this you are already in need of a break, don't hesitate, just use store bought phyllo for your first attempt.
Cooking should be fun, not some kind of performance...
You choose what's good for you and, concerning the filling, I love all the wintergreens combined with feta cheese, that's why I want to share this recipe with you.
It's humble, healthy, homemade food !

Ingredients :
For the filling,
1 1/2 kilo mixed leafy greens, such a spinach, chard, kale etc. (washed and chopped)
2 large leeks, white and light green only, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
4 spring onions, chopped
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
350 gr. feta cheese ( crumbled)
3 eggs
1 tbs. virgin olive oil
fresh pepper

For the phyllo,
600 gr. white flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tbs. olive oil
warm water
2 tbs. wine vinegar
150 gr. unsalted butter


Start with heating up the olive oil in a large pan. Add your spring onions, stir them a bit and let them cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile you prepare the dough. Sieve the floor into a large bowl. Make a hole in the middle and add the oil, vinegar and salt. Sprinkle the salt on top and start mixing these ingredients with your hands. Slowly add water, you must take into account that you will need about half a cup of water, but perhaps you'll need more, depending on the quality of your flour. Knead your dough for at least 7 minutes, then form it into a ball, cover it with a damp towel and let it rest for about an hour. During this time you focus on the filling. Add the greens to the spring onions, even if it looks like it's too much to fit in your pan, don't panic, cause the vegetables will shrink tremendously, so just take your time, let the first part shrink a bit, then add some more, until you have added all the veggies to the pan. Finish with adding the parsley and dill. Leave the greens for about 15 minutes over medium heat. Season with pepper and add salt if you like. I prefer to skip the salt , because the feta cheese is already salty. Let the vegetables cool off a bit and then you crack the eggs inside, stir the filling and add the feta cheese. Check the seasoning, for you may want to add salt and definitely some fresh pepper.
When you've done all that, clean your working surface and sprinkle it with some flour. Divide the dough into 6 balls and role out one of the balls with a thin rolling pin. Keep rolling the dough until it becomes thin and large enough to cover a medium sized over proof dish. Melt the butter in a small pan and brush the bottom of your oven proof dish with a bit of this melted butter. Place your first phyllo on the bottom of your dish and make sure the sides are covered, so the filling will be safe later on. Brush the phyllo with some of the butter and continue with rolling out the next sheet of phyllo. Brush again with butter and make the last sheet for the down part of your pie. Remember to always brush every phyllo with butter before placing the next sheet on top. Cover with the filling and continue with the next sheet of phyllo. Do the same procedure with the rest of the sheets and put them all on top of your filling. While you're at it, preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. When you're done with your pie you take a small knife and remove the edges of the phyllo that are hanging over the sides of the oven proof dish and use your hands to wrap the phyllo around the filling, so it will all stay into place. Brush the remaining butter on top of the pie and carve the pie into individual servings, cause it will be more difficult once the pie is cooked. Place it in the middle of the oven and cook the vegetable pie for about an hour.

Serves 6 people with a glass of chilled white wine.

With love,
esther.