Awesome cherry and mascarpone trifles

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I swear it feels like I was going to Poland 5 minutes ago and I’m already back from my holidays,unpacked, thrown back into my routine and I’m missing my family like crazy.It was soooo amazing!At times I feel like it never happened,like it was just a beautiful dream,but then I look at the photos(hundreds of them!) to reassure myself I’m not freaking out and that it was all real.

Poland is an amazing country and I would just love to take you guys all there and show you some of my favourite places.So just be patient and wait for the next post ๐Ÿ˜‰

For now I’m going to leave you with this lovely recipe.Do you also have a weakness for puddings served in glasses?Seriously,I melt the minute I see them arriving into the room.And cherry and mascarpone combo-OMG!-you want to try it!
The recipe sat unfinished on the blog for a long while and I had this very ambitious plan to write about it when I was in Poland.Hahaha!I know!What was I thinking?I didn’t even open the laptop once and only wastedย  space in my luggage where I could jam some more wild flower teas on the way back….lesson learned!

Boycotting internet and social media may be good idea on holidays but GOD!I missed this space!

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RECIPE:

Makes 6 glasses

INGREDIENTS:

for crumble

140g almond flakes
50g sesame seeds
4 tablespoons of ground almonds
4 tablespoons unsalted butter,melted
2 tablespoon honey or maple syrup

for cream

250ml double cream (cold)
400ml mascarpone
2 tablespoon maple syrup

Additionally

1kg cherries + 2 tablespoons hone/maple syrup/unrefined cane sugar

PREPARATION:

Preheat the oven to 190C.Mix all the ingredients for the crumble together and arrange it on a baking tray lined with a baking paper. Bake for 10 minutes,flipping the crumble with a spoon from time to time to prevent burning.Put on the side to cool.

Remove the stones from cherries,put 600g in a pot on medium heat.Cook for around 10 minutes,add the sweetener (honey/maple syrup or sugar) if needed (ripe and seasonal cherries may be sweet enough). Leave to cool or blend the cherries straight away(depending on the blender you’ve got-some shouldn’t be used with hot food). Put to the side.

Whip the double cream with maple syrup and fold in the mascarpone.The cream should be thick but quite light and fluffy.

Arrange puddings in glass cups,starting with a layer of cream,followed by cherry sauce,fresh cherries,crumble and repeat.

Enjoy with your favourite people ๐Ÿ˜‰

Baked eggs

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When I lived with my mum and dad I never used to have any interest in cooking.An ability to prepare some scramble eggs was enough to survive in case of a hunger attack and so I had no urge to learn more.
Eating,however,was a totally different story!
My mum can really work magic in the kitchen and she would always spoil us rotten with the delicious meals.Sharing food with other (ravenous!) dwellers (including two brothers and one always hungry dad!) was never easy…It involved a lot of ferocious fights over who is licking the bowl or why someone had eaten more apple and carrot salad!Hiding food was sometimes the best(if not the only)option,so I would tuck oranges and apples under the pillow in my bedroom ๐Ÿ™‚
Mum would always try her best to make everyone happy and made sure that everyone had their fair share,she would divide a tin of cake into 5 long slices and cut first letters of our names with a knife on the top of each piece so we didn’t argue who’d eaten more cake…
(Just to let you know,nobody starved to death,we all survived and love each other to bits :))

Despite my lack of interest in cooking,I am amazed of how much I learnt about preparing food from my parents.They always emphasized that making a meal starts long before turning the oven on.It starts from choosing the ingredients.They would always pick fresh and seasonal produce from shops and farms they knew and they trusted.
It stayed with me and this approach is a fundamental principle of how I cook.Ingredient is what really matters.

You know that tomato on the shelves in the supermarkets in the middle of winter,picked before it ripened and shipped thousand of miles is not a tomato really.It only pretends to be.A real tomato turns into its colour on the vine,somewhere at a local farm,warmed by the summer’s sunshine and is super delicate,sweet and juicy.And this real tomato is the one you want to cook with!

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Simple food.This is exactly what I love the most.Garden picked,seasonal vegetables,juicy tomatoes,fresh eggs and fragrant herbs thrown together onto an iron pan and baked in the oven is all I need these days.
We always have a batch of fresh eggs at home and we like to turn them into some amazing meals.
This recipe is our ultimate WINNER!

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RECIPE:

for 2

INGREDIENTS:

1kg ripe tomatoes
splash of rapeseed oil
2-3 shallots
2-3 baby courgettes
1 small yellow pepper
4 duck eggs
favourite herbs(dry or chopped fresh ones)
salt,pepper

METHOD:

1.Boil a full kettle of water.Cut a shallow cross on the ”bottom” of each tomatoes,place them in a pot and cover with boiling water.The skin(where the cross is cut) should start to peel after about 20-30 seconds.Remove from the pot and leave to cool.You may place them in a bowl full of ice to cool quicker.Remove the skin and stems and chop them tomatoes.Place in a pan and cook for around 30 minutes until all the water will evaporate and you’ll be left with a thick tomato sauce.Season with salt and pepper and add some of your favourite herbs.

2.Preheat the oven to 190C.

3.In the meantime,add a splash of oil onto a frying pan,add chopped shallots,pepper and sliced courgettes.Fry for few minutes until they are all soft.Leave on the side.

4.Grease two iron pans with a little oil,arrange the tomato sauce and vegetables,leaving space for eggs,then crack the eggs in.

5.Bake for 15 minutes for soft eggs or 20 minutes for hard.

NOTE:You can prepare the tomato sauce the day before if you would like to eat baked eggs for breakfast but haven’t got enough time to cook it.(This is what I often do!)

Asparagus SPRING tart

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Hey!I’ve made a tart!It’s almost as green as my garden in June and it tastes like Spring.Would you like a recipe?

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I’ve lost my common sense a little bit……ok maybe a little bit more……ok, A LOT!
I’ve been buying asparagus every time it’s near me.I can’t help it when it looks at me from a market stall.I swear.It stares at me and shouts “buy me”!How can I say no?I simply can’t ๐Ÿ™‚

Somewhere at the back of my minds I know these green guys won’t be here forever so I hope I can eat as many as I can in advance so I don’t crave them later in the year(Yeah,I wish!). Asparagus is pretty cool and easy going so we hang out a lot together.I think you should too ๐Ÿ˜‰ And when you get a fresh bunch of this amazing veg,don’t forget about pairing it up with some peas,onions,parma ham and feta cheese and making this tart.Trust me,you want to make it.It’s staring at you!

Enjoyย  ๐Ÿ˜‰

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Recipe:

Ingredients:

for a baking tray of 30×20 cm in size

For the base:

125 g wholegrain flour
125g plain flour
150 gย  salted cold butter
1 egg
3 tablespoons cold water

For the filling:

10 asparagus
5 slices of parma ham,cut in half along the length
couple of drops of your favourite oil(I use rapeseed oil)
2 medium red onions,sliced into thin wedges
2 shallots,sliced into thin wedges
160g peas
3 eggs
400g natural or greek style yogurt (room temperature)
4-5 tablespoons spelt flour
125g feta cheese
salt,pepper

Method:

1.To make the pastry:sift the flour into a medium bowl,add butter and egg.Rub the butter and egg into the flour with your fingertips.Add cold water and combine together using your hands.If the mixture feels too crumbly add some more water.Flatten the pastry into a disc(it will roll better),wrap with cling film and put in the fridge for 1 hour.

2.Preheat the oven to 190C.

3.Take the pastry out the fridge and roll out on a lightly floured surface to a size of a baking tray(30 x 20 cm).Place the pastry over the tray and run a rolling pin on the rims of each one to get a perfectly lined tart.Prick it with a fork,cover with baking paper and baking(or dry) beans.Bake for 20 minutes.

4.In the meantime steam or boil the asparagus until tender but not too soft.Wrap each individual asparagus with half of parma ham slice.Make sure your asparagus isn’t too long for your tray,if so trim the ends.Fry the onions with a little bit of oil until golden.Leave them to cool down.

5.Mix the yogurt with eggs,add flour, onions,most of the peas,leaving a handful to sprinkle on the top.Season with salt and pepper,leave on the side.

6.Take the tart from the oven,remove the beans and paper,put back in the oven for extra 10-15ย  minutes until the pastry turns golden.Remove from the oven.

7.Pour the filling over the pastry,arrange the asparagus wrapped in parma ham on the top,sprinkle with peas and crumble feta cheese on the top.Season with some more salt and pepper.

8.Place back in the oven and bake for around 45 minutes.

Serve with fresh rocket.