Purple rain...

by Karolina, 28th October 2012

"Autumn had come, giving not a damn for the inconvenience it caused"- these words by Andrey Kurkov say it all...

The short days have come bringing the chill with it. Beautiful Indian summer is over and rainy, grey time had taken over :(

To fight cold weather blues I made these...

Purple madeleines with a hint of lavender.

As a base I used Dorie Greenspan's recipe for madeleines. After all if you learn, learn from the best!

However I was making violet madeleines, so I infused the butter with little bit of dried lavender and for the colour I used a few drops of coloring. I didn't want to have just one plain colour. So I added tiny drop of colouring when the dough was already in the madeleine pan and then swirled it using wooden stick. Like this I got pretty purple swirls.

I'm really happy with the result. I got nice fluffy madeleines with hint of lavender which reminded me of summer and quite quirky look :) Together with nice cup of tea made be forget the weather outside - so definitely reccomended.

And how do you like my madeleines?

What is your way to beat autumn blues? I'd love to hear from you!

Fig fling

by Karolina, 21st October 2012

What would be Autumn without its seasonal fruits and veggies?
Apples, plums, pears, pumpkins - they make grey clouds and chilly weather more bearable  and comfortable.

But my favourite of all is beautiful fig.

With amazing colours of purple and violet and lovely sweet taste, it's one of my most loved fruits.

And today, I'd like to show you classic, no fail combination of fig and goat cheese.

This quick and easy recipe makes a lovely starter.

All you need is:

- figs (as many as people at your table)
- goat cheese
- balsamic vinegar
- a few pistachios
- salt and pepper

How to?

- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
- Cut the figs across and open them slightly to make cavity for cheese
- Crush or cut goat cheese and insert into the fig's cavity
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper and pistachios
- Pour a little bit of balsamic vinegar on top
- Put into the oven for about 10-15 minutes (when the cheese is nice and melting it's ready)
- Serve immediately

This dish is a yummy combination of sweet & salty, smooth and crunchy.
Give it a try! You won't regret it!

Apricot forks

by Karolina, 14th October 2012

Sorry for longer silence here on the blog...I'm guilty of catching some holidays :)
While I'll tell you more about it some other time...today a little, quick appetizer.

Taking advantage of last apricots this season, I made a quick and easy appetizer which is tasty and good looking at the same time.

Forks with apricot, goat cheese and bacon.
I really love the combination of fruits and meat - in this case smoky bacon. Goat cheese adds a bit of tangy, salty taste to it, which goes perfectly with smooth sweetness of apricots.
You can use as well peaches instead of apricots and Parma ham instead of bacon.

 It really is as easy as it sounds...

All you need to do is:

1. Prepare the goat cheese (preferably softer one) - add pepper (little bit of salt if needed) and form little balls
2. Roll the balls of cheese in bacon
3. Fork the rolled cheese
4. Grill quickly the apricot quarters
5. Fork the apricots
6. Serve - I served it with small salad, a few more apricots, walnuts
7. Gently sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and honey

This looks really lovely on the individual serving plates but I'm sure it will be stunning on one big serving dish as well.

All of it takes not more than 15 minutes to prepare.
So, go on - give it a try and let me know how you like it!

Speedy Hostess 3 or Cheese Platter Decalogue

by Karolina, 5th October 2012

Really speedy post today...It's been really crazy and busy week...Uffffff.........
And the best part- we decided for last minute holidays. Yay! We're leaving tomorrow. So actually I should be packing right now...but I'm an "almost" good blogger and I'll write a few words before leaving for a week.

So, I thought that Speedy Hostess post would be perfect for speedy post :)

Today, one of my "to go" entertaining tools. Good, old....Cheese platter!

Couldn't really be quicker, right?
But there are a few things you should remember when preparing a cheese plate.

So here's my...

Cheese Platter Decalogue:

1. Have at least 3-4  different cheeses to offer
2. Vary the cheese by type of milk (cow,sheep,goat)
3. Have a variety of tastes - from smooth and silky to pungent (OK, not too pungent because you have to live in your home afterwards)
4. Offer different cheese textures - hard cheese & softer ones
5. Remember that eyes are eating first - think about different shapes and colours of cheese
6. Try local or unusual cheeses (makes a nice twist and a good conversation starter, in case you've run out of subjects after mains ;))
7. Don't forget about additional items for your platter - fruits, nuts etc.
8. Good bread is a MUST.
9. Try something new - like honey or quince membrillo with your cheese
10. Let the wine flow!

How is your cheese platter? Did I forget about some important rule?

Let me know!

Lavender fields

by Karolina, 30th September 2012

I love the smell of lavender. I use lavender soap and air freshener. I have lavender on the balcony to remind me of Provence.

unfortunately this is not my garden...

But can you imagine -  I have never tried lavender in the kitchen!
I had to change it quickly...especially seeing some mouth-watering recipes online.
I managed to get dried lavender at the local farmers' market and went back home to experiment :)

So far, so good :) I made lovely lavender creme brulee using this recipe from No onions please.
Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to make any pictures...sorry...

Then I tried it again and again and again in different combinations, using different ingredients...

Today, I wanted to show you my super quick lavender peach tart.
This was my variation on the subject, as I needed some dessert and needed it now!
And that's how this tarte came to life...

Quick peach-lavender tarte

2 peaches (pitted and cut into wedges)
1 pack of puff pastry
1 cup of custard
1 teaspoon of dried lavender

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
Roll out the pastry and fill the tarte (quiche) tin with it. Make little holes with fork or fill the pan with baking beans. Bake the pastry for about 15 minutes until starting to brown.
Fill the pastry with custard and arrange the peaches. Sprinkle the top with lavender.
Put back into the oven for about 10-15 minutes.

Done :)

Final effect was simple, rustic tarte with lovely sweet, peachy interior with delicate flavour of lavender.

Do you cook with lavender? I'll be happy to hear what you've tried to do with lavender.



Keeping the sunshine...

by Karolina, 20th September 2012

I can already feel the autumn's breath on my back. It's close, veeeeeery close.
Evenings are shorter and morning a little chilly. Yes my dears...we have to say goodbye to summer and brace for long cold months.
But i decided to keep a little bit of sunshine with me, to steal tiny sweet ray of summer...

I made apricot jam. With these lovely sunny like gems.
I was inspired by lovely Bea from Bea in the kitchen and her incredible canning skills. She has dozens of amazingly good jam, confiture and marmalade recipes. I'm making her plum-chocolate jam pretty much every year.
This time I decided to combine couple of ideas from her apricot recipes and created my own apricot jam

To usual suspects: apricots and sugar, I added as well cardamon and fresh thyme.
And they cooked...What a smell!!! Amazing!

At the very end I added some almond flakes.
The end effect is really nice.
Sweet and a little tangy at the same time with lovely smell of cardamon and just a tiny hint of thyme.

Are you planning to keep some summer? Tell me how!

Caramelized tomatoes

by Karolina, 10th September 2012

I love tomatoes!
For their sweetness, amazing colour and versatility. I'm great fan of it from caprese to gazpacho.

So it was just natural that I had to try this:

Caramelized tomatoes!!!

Yes, I thought it was a bit of a crazy idea at the beginning. But longer I thought of it more logical (after all it's fruit) and more tempting it was. 

The original recipe and idea comes from Ronelle from My French Kitchen. She makes lovely tomatoes lollipops.

And really it couldn't be easier - simply make caramel and dip your tomatoes :)

Melt 100g of sugar with couple of spoons of water. Do not stir! Just move your pan so the sugar melts evenly. Once caramel is nice and golden (be careful not to burn it!) carefully dip your tomatoes and turn around to cover all of it. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Important - you have to work quickly , otherwise the caramel will harden (if it happens gently reheat the caramel).
Caramel will create lovely, crunchy texture on top of your tomatoes.

My tomatoes were part of the dinner appetizer. I presented it together with basil olive oil, goat cheese covered in almonds & good baguette.

I loved it. Really! Sweetness, different textures, quirky look. For me perfect!

What do you think?