Watermelon and feta salad

We are having a glorious summer in London, it's scorching so food needs are very different. No dreams of bangers & mash or a fish pie! When there is 30 degrees outside my body requires different kind of treatment.

When it started being really warm I asked my hubby to get on his way back a watermelon. Did not think to specify how much of that watermelon I'd have liked. No instructions given so hubby got a whole big monster. I love watermelon but how much of it do I need to it every day? Needles to say I am in the only fruit lover in this little household of two.

Going through one of my favourite cookbooks ever Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty I found this recipe - super quick summer lunch, supper or snack.

Watermelon and feta salad

Ingredients:
All you need is watermelon, feta , basil leaves and olive oil.

Proportions for two:
500 g of watermelon cut into large chunks, bottom part discarded
100g of feta sliced thinly
a handful of basil leaves

Let's do it (the shortest ever!)
Arrange the three in a salad bowl drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and you are done!
Happy summer!

Yogurt cake with fruit variations

At the moment I am going through a phase of baking cakes with yogurt (and not doing posts...) Do I dare to say this? This is a modest cake if you can consider a cake this way. It doesn't contain much fat and it's not so big on the sugar either. Or is this an illusion and excuse to bake? 

Summer yogurt cake and full of fruit

Ingredients (in cups - a cup is 250ml glass) 
2 cups of plain flour
2tsp of baking powder
2 eggs
3/4 glass of golden caster sugar or any other sugar
a cup of plain yogurt, 0% fat or full fat - any yogurt will do
25g melted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence

300-400g fruit of your choice - strawberries, blueberries, cherries, figs, raspberries, etc. / or a mix of fruit 

Let's do it:
Preheat the oven to 170C (fan assisted). Prepare two bowls. Sieve flour and baking powder into one and set aside. Crack eggs into the other bowl add sugar and beat with a handheld mixer on a high speed until it's pale and creamy - around 7 minutes. Next beat in the vanilla essence. Finally gently fold in using spatula all remained ingredients - cooled butter, yogurt and flour until fully incorporated. 
Grease a 23 cm spring tin form line the baking parchment. Transfer the batter into the tray and scatter the fruit evenly. 
When it comes to fruit I am working on various combinations. Last week I made a figs& raspberry one.
I roughly chopped three big figs, melted a bit of butter in a frying pan added the figs, fried for a few minutes then added 2 tbsp of pomegranate molasses and cooked for a further few minutes until they were soft. When the figs cooled down I mixed them with raspberries ( one punnet) and arranged on the top - so far it is my winner. Today I scatter cherries and strawberries on the top. 
Bake for 30 minutes and / or until the skewer comes clean. When cooled sprinkle icing sugar on the top. 

Almond and blueberry cake

It's been raining most of the day today,how typical for Bank Holiday. I haven't baked for a few weeks now and given the weather the only conclusion I come to is "let's bake".
I go through my kitchen books and on this occasion quickly made my choice! It is
smitten kitchen's aka Deb Perlman's blueberry polenta cake. Except I decide to make it my own way, so thank you smitten kitchen for your inspiration - The-Smitten-Kitchen-Cookbook




Almond and blueberry cake with semolina

Ingredients:
115 soft butter at a room temperature
130g of caster sugar
125g of plain flour
60g of semolina
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
2 tsp of almond essence
2 large eggs at a room temperature
80g light creme fraiche
a handful of almond flakes

Let's do it
Preheat your oven to 170C (fan assisted). Grease and lay with a baking parchment a 20 cm spring cake form or square form. 
In a bowl mix using a whisker flour, semolina, salt and baking powder, set aside.
In another bowl using a hand mixer beat butter with sugar until pale, light and fluffy (2-4 minutes) scraping the sides with a spatula from time to time. Beat each egg in separately until fully incorporated. Next beat in the almond essence. Add third of the flour mix, followed by creme fraiche and another third of the flour mix and beat briefly until just incorporated. The remained third of flour mix with blueberries and gently fold into the batter. Transfer to the cake form, sprinkle almond flakes on the top. Bake for 35 minutes until the skewer comes clean. 

Light and summery courgette fritters

It's a truly beautiful day today in London, sunny and warm pure enjoyment. After the winter and months of eating pasta, rice and potatoes my body kindly asked for something light::) So here you are courgette fritters especially for you my dear body!

Courgette fritters with herb yogurt

Serves to 2 -3 as a light meal

Ingredients

500g courgettes - small to medium washed and grated roughly

2 eggs

up to 100g of flour

chili flakes

salt and pepper

sunflower oil or other oil to fry

Herb yogurt 

300g natural yogurt

2-3 tbsp of chopped dill

2 -3 tbsp of chopped chives

1 tbsp of lemon juice

salt

Let's do it:

Sprinkle a tea spoon of salt over the grated courgettes and leave them for up to 30 minutes. Squeeze the excess of water using a kitchen towel or with your hands over a sieve. Add eggs, flour, chili flakes and season well. The batter should be only slightly runny and hold well together.

In a frying pan heat 3 tbsp of sunflower or other oil, lay a table spoon of batter on the hot oil and fry on each side until golden - this may take up to 5 minutes on each side.

For the herb yogurt mix all ingredients and serve over the fritters.

I am one year old! but I forgot about it and...

... no one knows so from myself to myself belated Happy Birthday Bake& Beat:) :)
It's funny how I hardly told anyone about the blog, not sure why. Just did not happen. I am enjoying writing it and keeping as a repository of recipes. Surprisingly when I look back the memory fades and there is no chance I would remember what I cooked a year ago.
I am celebrating with Mexican feast: huevos rancheros, guacamole and frijoles refritos!

Mexican feast

Serves 4
Ingredients:
Huevos rancheros - inspired by Smitten Kitchen 
4 eggs
tin of plum tomatoes 
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
2 small/ medium banana shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
few tbsp of black beans (optional) 
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp  of chili flakes
grated cheddar
salt and pepper

Frijoles refritos - inspired by Mexican Food Made Simple
a can of black beans (reserve the liquid from the can)
20 g of butter
1 big banana shallot or half a white onion
1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of chili flakes 
dry epazote (optional)

Guacamole
1.5 - 2 avocados, peeled and mashed with a fork
quarter of a big or half of a small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
juice from a half of small lime
salt and pepper

Additional suspects:soured cream and corn tortillas

Let's do it:
Let's start with huevos rancheros as they take the longest to cook. Using a hand blender blend tomatoes, onion, garlic, chili flakes adding salt and pepper. Transfer into a ovenproof dish, add beans if using and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes.
Preheat the grill in the oven to 250C 
Break the eggs across the dish, cover the pan and simmer gently for 10-12 minutes. Remove the lid, sprinkle cheddar and grill for a few minutes until cheese melted and is coloring. Serve with soured cream and tortilla.
Somewhere in between when working on huevos rancheros start working on frijoles refritos. Blend the beans with around 100-120ml of the liquid from the tin until a smooth puree. In a pan melt 20 g of butter with a 1 tsp of sunflower oil next add the onion sprinkle some salt and pepper and sweat until soft, add garlic, chili flakes and epazote and fry for a few more minutes. Add the bean puree, simmer for 10 minutes stirring often. Add more reserved liquid if needed to have a smooth puree not too thick. Season well. Serve with grated cheddar and sour cream, chopped parsley.
Finally if you are good in multi-tasking start preparing guacamole. Using pestle and mortar mash the quarter of the chopped onion with salt and mix with the mashed avocado and the remained onion. Add more salt if needed and lime juice - mix well.

All serve with corn tortillas ( I did not make mine, they are shop bought) and sour cream tossed with a generous sprinkle of lime and chopped fresh parsley. ¡Buena fiesta!

Grilled mango and mozzarella salad

Here is a very quick veggie recipe for a light sunshine bringing lunch, starter or supper.
The only downside is peeling and cutting mango, something I simply have never liked doing and never will. 


Grilled mango and mozzarella salad
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 ripen mango, peeled and cut into thick rectangular pieces
1 pack of mozzarella (125g)
rocket leaves
olive oil
balsamic glaze 
salt & pepper

Let's do it:
Heat the griddle pan, do not use any oil - grill the mango pieces on each side until looking charcoal, remove and let it cool. In the meantime arrange rocket leaves, torn mozzarella pieces over, add seasoning and a splash of olive oil. Arrange cooled mango pieces and finish with the balsamic glaze all over the salad.

No egg quick cake in two variations - chocolate&almond ; chocolate&coconut

A need is a mother of invention - here comes a very quick and easy egg free cake in two variations - coconut and chocolate, almond and chocolate.

All ingredients are measured by 1 cup - 250ml glass

Chocolate and almond egg free cake

Ingredients:
Dry ingredients - 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar preferably Rapadura whole cane sugar but any brown sugar will do, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp bicarb soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup ground almond
Wet ingredients - 1 mashed medium banana, 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1/2 cup almond butter, 1 tsp almond essence, 3 tbsp milk

And 40 grams of chopped dark or milk chocolate

Let's do it:
Preheat the oven to 180C (fan assisted).
In one bowl mix all dry ingredients and in another all wet ones. Add flour to the wet ingredients and mix well  until combined.
Transfer to a small loaf tin (grease if necessary - mine is silicone so no need), scatter chocolate on the top and gently push into the batter. Bake for 30 minutes / until a skewer comes clean. 


Chocolate and coconut egg free cake

Ingredients:
Dry ingredients - 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar - preferably Rapadura whole cane sugar but any brown sugar will do, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp bicarb soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
Wet ingredients - 1 mashed medium banana, 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1/2 cup sunflower oil, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 2-3 tbsp milk

And 40 grams of chopped dark or milk chocolate

Let's do it:
Preheat the oven to 180C (fan assisted).
In one bowl mix all dry ingredients and in another all wet ones. Add flour to the wet ingredients and mix well  until combined.
Transfer to a small loaf tin (grease if necessary - mine is silicone so no need), scatter chocolate on the top and gently push into the batter. Bake for 30 minutes / until a skewer comes clean. 

Sopa de ajo - Garlic soup - Soup de masterpiece

Sopa de ajo - Garlic soup 

Sopa de simplicity & sopa de masterpiece! 

Simple, quick & delicious! 15-20 minutes and it's on the table.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

4 fat cloves of garlic peeled and roughly sliced

thin slice of butter

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 tsp pimenton

700 ml water

vegetable stock

2 slices of stale bread

1 egg

salt and pepper

Let's do it:

Melt the butter with the oil in a pan, add garlic and saute for a few minutes but make sure it does not get brown. After few minutes add paprika and pimenton followed by water mixed with a vegetable stock. Add bread whole slices or cut in halves and simmer for a few minutes, finally crack egg and stir quickly so you get bits of the egg in the soup. 

Transfer to bowls, season if required, sprinkle some parsley if desired and  serve immediately. Buen provecho!

No baking brownies

Here are very quick, possibly quite healthy brownies. No baking, no flour, no eggs. No beauty either, but boy what a taste!
Inspired by Minimalist baker recipe for a 5 minutes espresso and walnut brownies

Ingredients are measured in cups (1 cup = 250 ml glass)

No bake dates, apricots and nuts brownies

Ingredients: 
2 cups of mixed roasted and plain (no salt) nuts (pecans, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, almonds)
2 cups of Medjool dates pitted and dried apricots roughly chopped
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp instant coffee
pinch of salt
1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts

2 tbsp date syrup
2 tsp whole cane sugar or brown sugar or muscovado sugar

Let's do it:
In a food processor blitz two cups of mixed nuts until powdery. Adds cocoa powder, pinch of salt and coffee and blitz again. Remove from the processor and set aside. Next blitz dates and apricots until pulpy little chunks. Remove and set aside. Put the dry mixture back to the food processor add sugar, date syrup and when blitzing keep adding a bit of dates/ apricots pulp. All should come together and remind a dough a bit dry though. Have a little baking tray with a baking parchment prepared. Using a spatula transfer all the mixture and even it up. Refrigerate before cutting. Yam! 

Quorn bacon warm salad with carmelised onions and sundried tomatoes

Here is what I served on Saturday night with a great bottle of red (Lust Colides by Some Young Punks) and tortilla (this one unfortunately shop bought)

It's a very hearty vegetarian salad but a delicious combination for a windy cold February evening.

Glazed Quorn rashers salad with carmelised shallots and sun-dried tomatoes
Serves 2 as a side dish 

Ingredients:
50g mixed salad leaves - spinach, watercress and rocket
a pack of Quorn bacon style rashers halved
2 medium banana shallots peeled and thinly sliced
handful of black olives halved
handful of baby plum tomatoes halved
a few sun-dried tomatoes rubbed gently in a paper towel to removed excessive oil then cut in thin strips
1 tsp of sugar
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp chopped parsley

Glaze:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp balsamic glaze
salt and pepper

Let's do it:
In a frying pan heat the spoon of oil and add shallots fry gently for 5-8 minutes until soft but do not let them brown. Sprinkle salt and sugar and gently cook for another 15 minutes until starting to carmelise then add sun-dried tomatoes. 
In the meantime arrange the leaves in a salad bowl, scatter olives and plum tomatoes halves over the leaves. Prepare the glaze mixing all above ingredients. 
Heat a little oil in a grill pan and fry rushers but do not let them become too brown or burnt, glaze using a brush and turn to the other side. Glaze on the other side and turn again. 
Arrange rushers in the salad bowl and scatter on the top carmelised onions with sun-dried tomatoes. Sprinkle parsley and the rest or some more of the glaze. Serve immediately with bread, Spanish tortilla or on its own as a modest but hearty supper.

Squash production - soup and cheescake

Hubby is out tonight so what do I do all evening ? Of course I am spending it in the kitchen!
Two cakes and a soup. My result tonight. The second cake is still in the oven so must become a part of a different story.

Coquina squash soup and squash& curd cheese cheesecake with a blueberries sauce

Coquina squash soup
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1/2 a leek - only green top part sliced
1 parsnip peeled and sliced
1 carrot peeled and sliced
600g peeled and cubed coquina squash
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili flakes
1/2 tsp ground ginger
20g butter a little oil
3 cubes of vegetarian oxo 
salt and pepper

Let's do it:
Melt the butter with a little bit of oil in a big pan. Add leeks and spices - chili flakes, cumin, ginger and fry for a few minutes.Then add all vegetables and crushed oxo cubes with your fingers and mix well until coated in spices, fry until starting sticking to the bottom. Pour hot water from the kettle - enough to cover vegetables and simmer until they are tender which takes around 15 minutes. Blend with a hand blender. Serve with creme fraiche and almond flakes if you like. Toasted or not toasted if you like. 

Squash & curd cheese cheesecake with blueberries sauce

This is an oddity, I used Dan Lepard's recipe Pumpkin cheescake as an inspiration but had my crazy professor moment and did all differently. I recommend using Dan's recipe. 
Aah and then there was the catastrophe when trying to transfer the cheesecake to a plate! Cutting long story short it became an upside down floor cheesecake! I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry. Managed to rescue most and covered it with the blueberries sauce to keep its dignity!

Ingredients:
Base
For the base I recommend using Dan's recipe as I did a very odd thing - I crushed all sorts of biscuits - to be specific salted crackers, caramel digestives and hobnobs but kept the weight of 170g and then added around 50g of butter, blitzed it in a food processor and transferred to the spring form loose bottom tin. Left in the fridge to solidify.

Cheesecake
Now this is a bizarre concoction, again you may choose Dan's recipe. I simply experimented with what I had available so here they are:
300g coquina squash peeled and cut in small cubes
250g curd cheese (this can be replaced with quark)
150g  of vanilla cheese (serek waniliowy) easy to find in a polish shop but can be replace with a thick yogurt like onken or creme fraiche and added more sugar to compensate
3 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla extract
50g of brown sugar or more if using creme fraiche or yogurt
1 tbsp of lemon juice


Blueberry sauce
1 punnet (250g) of blueberries
30g brown sugar
1 tbsp of lemon juice

Let's do it:
Preheat the oven to 140C fan assisted. Boil the squash until soft, drain in a colander and leave to cool completely. In a food processor blend the squash with vanilla extract and sugar. Add curd cheese or quark and blitz again. Using a spatula scrape the bottom and sides each time you add another ingredient, add serek waniliowy or replacement and blitz briefly, finally add lemon juice eggs and do the final blitz. Transfer to the tin with the base, the mixture may seem a bit liquid but it will be fine. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 - 60 minutes. 
In a small sauce pan boil blueberries with sugar and lemon juice until start bursting. Leave it to cool completely. Pour over the cheesecake when both are completely cold.

Very quick cake for a weekday at work

This is a very quick and easy to make cake, one of those coffee cakes (tea loafs) that it's nice to have at work during week with a cup of coffee. Inspired by Taste of Home

Cinnamon, prunes and mixed peel tea loaf 

Ingredients:
2 cups ( 1 cup is a 250ml glass or mug) of flour
half a cup of light brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk (1tsp of white vinegar or lemon juice mixed with milk, left to stand for 15 minutes)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarb soda

1/4 cup of sunflower oil
1/3 cup of dried fruit of your choice - in this recipe I used mixed peel and chopped dried prunes but I think it could be anything you like raisins, cranberries, cherries or a combination of some of them
1tbsp of cinnamon mixed with half 1/3 cup of muscovado sugar set aside
which could be replace with 1tbsp cocoa mixed with the same amount of sugar set aside


Let's do it:
Preheat the oven to 180C (fan assisted). Sieve flour with bicarb soda and salt into a bowl and mix with sugar. In another bowl mix egg with buttermilk and oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix briefly until just combined. Add dried fruit of your choice and transfer to a small tea loaf tin greased with a bit of oil and baking parchment lined in the bottom. Sprinkle over sugar with cinnamon or sugar with cocoa and using a knife swirl into the cake. Bake for 40-50 minutes until a clean skewer.

Strudel with blackcurrant conserve and frozen berries

 

I do not often bake strudels, in fact I don't think I did any beforehand, apart from Xmas stolen. The original recipe comes from White Plate- a beautiful polish blog and it sounded wonderful however not having any orange marmalade I did mine with blackcurrant conserve and frozen berries.

 

Strudel with blackcurrant conserve and frozen berries

 

Ingredients:

125ml warm milk

1tsp of instant yeast

1 egg

50g of butter melted and cooled

300g all purpose flour

20g sugar

pinch of salt

1tsp vanilla extract

 

For the filling:

2 handfuls of frozen berries

few tbsp. of blackcurrant conserve (approx. 100g)

1 tsp brown sugar, muscovado sugar or vanilla sugar

 

Glaze:

egg white mixed with 1tbsp of water

little sugar to sprinkle, the same as used for the filling

 

Let's do it:

Dissolve yeast in the warm milk, in a big bowl mix dry ingredients: flour, salt, sugar. Add milk, butter, vanilla extract and egg - bring all together and knead briefly until smooth. Put in a clean bowl cover with cling film and leave to double its size - this will take approx. 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 170C (fan assisted) On a lightly floured surface using a roll pin roll the pastry to 1cm thick rectangle. Leaving 1cm but the fruit and then scatter the frozen berries finishing with sugar of your choice. Roll the strudel from the longer side, make sure that the seal underneath and the very gently roll "on the spot" to seal well, squeeze the sides together. Put on a flat baking tray with baking parchment and allow to rest for 30 - 40 minutes. Just before putting into the oven glaze with the egg white and sprinkle with little sugar the same you used for the filling. Bake for 25-30 minutes. 



 

 

Veggie butternut squash, chickpeas and spinach curry with tarka dhal and homemade naan bread

All to say about this combo is that it's simply delicious and perfect for when it's cold or it's raining. It's reviving and revitalising! Absolut perfection of veggie curries:) Based on Allegra McEvdy's recipe published in the guardian: Sweet potato curry

Veggie butternut squash, chickpeas and spinach curry with tarka dhal and homemade naan bread

Ingredients:

Naan
Makes 4
340g of all purpose flour
1 tsp of instant yeast
1tsp sugar
190ml warm water
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp of olive oil
2/3 cup of plain yogurt
Nigella seeds
20g of butter melted

Tarka dhal
3 tbsp of oil
8 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
4 cardamom pods, crushed seeds removed and the shells discarded
1 tbsp of mixed seeds: coriander, cumin, mustard seeds
250g of green split peas

Curry
400g butternut squash, peeled deseeded and cut into 2cm chunks
400g carrots, peeled and sliced
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
200g of fresh spinach
1 tin of coconut milk
3 banana shallots, peeled and chopped
60 ml of oil
1 tbsp turmeric
2 tbsp of mixed curry spice, or make your own using ground spice (except for mustard seeds) as follows: 1tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1/3 tsp fenugreek, 1/3 tsp chilli powder, 1/3 tsp ginger,1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1, 5 tsp of chilli flakes
squeezed juice of a half a lime

Let's do it:
Start with naan. In a bowl mix warm water with yeast and sugar, leave to stand for 30 minutes until frothy on the top. Add flour, olive oil, yogurt, salt and mix well. The dough is very sticky but try to briefly knead it on a floured surface. Put in a clean oiled bowl and leave to rise for 1-2hours.

Now it's time to get your tarka dhal started. Heat the oil in a pan, add garlic, cardamom seeds and the mix of seeds. Gently fry for a few minutes until golden and stir the split peas coating well in the oil, seeds and garlic. Pour in approx. 700 ml of water, bring to boil and simmer for 1 hour until the water has evaporated and peas are soft.

When tarka dhal is cooking and naan dough is still rising start the curry - heat the oil in a big pan add the chopped shallots and fry for 5 minutes with the lid on. Next add the spices and chilli flakes followed by the carrots and squash stir well to cover vegetables and fry on a high gas until sticks to the bottom. Stir the spinach in, when starts wilting add some salt, chickpeas, coconut milk and mix well. Bring to boil and simmer on a medium gas for up to 30 minutes until carrots and squash are tender. Season well and add the lime juice.

Preheat the oven to 220C (fan assisted) When naan dough has risen and doubled or tripled it's size knocked it down on a lightly floured surface and cut into four balls. Flatten each of four balls using your fingers and shape them into naans. Arrange on a oiled flat baking tray or foil, sprinkle with Nigella seeds and using your fingers gently pat into the dough. Leave to rest on the baking tray for 15 minutes. Bake for 12 minutes until golden brown. Brush with melted butter.
Serve all together in a big bowl with plain yogurt and rice.
 

Spinach and chard tart and unexpectedly some biscuits

Ideal for a snack, ideal for a lunch box, ideal for a comfort of homemade tart in a very long month such as January is.
 
Spinach and chard tart

Ingredients:
For the pastry:
- 200g all purpose flour
-  125g chilled butter cut in small cubes
- 1/2tsp salt
- 1 yolk
- 2 tbsp cold water

For the filling:
- 50g of butter
-250g of mixed spinach and chard leaves
- 3 banana shallots peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic crushed
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp lemon thyme (leaves only)
- salt and pepper

For the cream & cheese mix:
 - 3 eggs
- 250ml soured cream
- 25g pecorino cheese grated 
- 125g of mozzarella or feta (a packet from any supermarket)
- salt and pepper

Let's do it:
Pastry - sift flour and salt into a bowl, add butter and with your fingers rub until fine breadcrumbs. Next add the yolk and water, bring together and wrap in cling film, chill for a half an hour.
On a dusted with flour surface roll the pastry so it bigger than your 25cm tart baking tray. Line the pastry in the tart tray, cut off the excess of the pastry and prick the base with a fork, chill for 30 minutes. When chilling preheat the oven to 190C (fan assisted) Next line the pastry with a baking paper and baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes then remove thepaper and beans, bake for 5 more minutes and leave to cool.
Meanwhile for the filling melt the butter with a little bit of oil add shallots, garlic and dried thyme and lemon thyme - fry on a low gas for around 5min. Keep gradually adding the leaves until wilted and season well. Leave to cool.
In a bowl lightly beat eggs, add soured cream, cheese, salt and pepper and beat well.
Scatter over the tart case greens and pour over the creamy mixture. Torn mozzarella ball with your fingers or if using feta crumble feta with your fingers and arrange bits evenly on the top.
Bake for 25 minutes until golden and set. Great with a simple salad or as a part of a bigger meal with boiled potatoes. Enjoy!

And here is some little extra from the remained excess pastry - biscuits! Hurrah!

Now for the pastry we cut off - I personally do not like throwing away anything so if you want some biscuits for a dessert and little to do add to the remaind pastry 1 tbsp of muscovado sugar, 1/4 tsp of vanilla essence and optionally a little bit of any colour (red for me) food colouring paste and then quickly bring it together and chill until you are done with the tart and it's in the oven. Next roll the pastry on the lightly floured surface and cut individual biscuits using whatever shape of biscuit cutter.
Bake in 160C (fan assisted) for 10-12 minutes.
Here you are not much more work and lovely biscuits to accompany your weekend cuppa:)

Do you remember XMas cake

It's got a bit cold so I decided to make a cake in a bit of a nostalgic post Xmas spirit, it is a pumpkin puree and Xmas spices tea loaf.

It was inspired by a recipe from a polish blog Mala Cukierenka

Spiced pumpkin tea loaf

The measurements are in cups - a cup is 250ml glass

Ingredients:
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp of baking soda

pinch of salt
2/3 glass of caster sugar
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of gloves
1/2 glass of dried cranberries or barberries (smaller and more sour berries)

3/4 glass of pumpkin puree 
1/2 glass of  honey or agava syrup
1/3 glass of half fat creme fraiche or yogurt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 glass of sunflower oil
1 tbsp of mixed peel
2 tbsp of almond flakes

Let's do it:

Preheat the oven to 170C (fan assisted), brush with a bit of oil a tea loaf cake tin and put a strip of baking parchment on the bottom of the tin.
Mix dry ingredients in one bowl - flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, spices and add berries.
In another bowl mix wet ingredients - puree, honey or agava syrup, creme fraiche, eggs, vanilla extract and oil. Stir the wet mixture into the dry one and mix briefly until fully incorporated. Transfer to the tin and sprinkle some mixed peel and almond flakes on the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the skewer comes clean.

Goodbye dry January welcome wet January!

Hubby and I have been testing dry January for 10 days. We read about big improvement in sleep quality, the way skin looks, and all sorts of other benefits. For 10 days we saw hardly any of that. Perhaps because we don't drink every day and have a relatively healthy life style therefore on Saturday we decided that it was time to say goodbye to dry January and welcome wet January!

For the celebration we choose Sicilian whites, wonderful Malvasia which is one of my favourites among whites and typical Sicilian catarratto grape. Both great Malvasia absolutely brilliant - full of flavour, round and rich. Catarratto lighter, more mineral very good for a warm day like today in London was around +3C in the night;)
Both from a really great wine shop in South Kensington Handford Wines

We did a wonderful walk today and it was all in all such a beatiful and full of small adventures day. We discovered this amazing little museum house which belonged to a Victorian artist Frederic Leighton. Throughly worth recommending - Leighton House