Lahmacun with goat cheese

...or my creative take on the classic Lahmacun recipe I wrote about last month :) yummy.

The dough is made in the same way as for the previous recipe.

For the topping you'll need: (serves 2)
250g lamb mince

1 medium onion

4 garlic cloves

pepper cayenne

fresh sage leaves

100g goat cheese

salt & pepper

 

1. Start off by preparing the dough (you'll find the instructions here)

2.Then, prepare the topping: very finely chop the garlic cloves, sage and onions and mix with the mince. Season with salt & pepper, adding some pepper cayenne for an extra spice.

3. Once the dough has risen, separate it into two smaller portions and roll out very thinly. 

4. Add the meat mixture on top of the rolled out dough transfer into piping hot oven preheated to 240 degrees. The best results will be achieved if using an oven stone. Baking time might vary a little depending on whether an oven stone or a tray is used, but should take around 10 minutes. It will be ready once the dough starts turning golden brown. 

5. Around 4 minutes before the Lahmacuns are ready, add the goat cheese on top, so that it melts right on time.

 

 

Bon appétit!

 

Two cheese casserole

A casserole is a perfect dish for the working people - it can be easily reheated, so if you prepare one ahead of time, it will be waiting to comfort you after a busy day at work. I took one of my mum's classics and spiced it up with some of the European's finest PGI products (Protected Geographical Indication).

You'll need:

500g waxy, low-starch potatoes

1 big cooked sausage (I used saucisses de Montébeliard)

75g of Danish blue cheese

150g of mature vintage cheddar

1 medium onion

sweet paprika

chili powder

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into thick slices. Pre-cook in salted water making sure they are not completely cooked.

2. In the meantime, chop the onion, cut the sausage and  proceed to fry them together.

4. Assemble the elements of the casserole in a casserole dish. start with a layer of potatoes at the bottom, season them with sweet and spicy paprika, add half of the sausage/onion mix and add some crumbled blue cheese. Repeat the process again. Leave some potatoes for the final layer. Cover the top layer of potatoes with cheddar cheese.

5. Put the casserole in the oven pre-heated to 200 degrees for around 15 minutes. The oil from sausage/onion frying should suffice to make sure the dish does not dry up, but if you're worried you can add some more before putting the lid on the casserole

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Bon appétit!

Spinach and cod mini tartellettes

I have recently moved countries again, so I thought it would be appropriate to begin this new phase in my life with a recipe which is somehow connected to the country I now live in - Belgium. While the country is famous for its chocolates, fries, waffles, mussels and beer, I decided to start with something less conspicuous - a tartellette. At this point you may ask what's the difference between a tart(ellette) and a quiche, but I must admit that I find the distinction a little bit confusing: both pastries can be savoury or sweet, served warm or cold. The distinction appears to be based on the proportion of the custard filling, which suggests that there are no hard line distinction here after all. Today's recipe is based simply on cream filling, so it might fall outside either category technically speaking.

You'll need: (for 3 tartellettes)

ready made puff pastry

100g cod fillet (or other white fish)

one medium onion (finely chopped)

50g fresh spinach baby leaves

around 100ml fat cream

nutmeg (best freshly grated)

salt & pepper

a little bit of oil for frying

1. Cut the fish into small cubes and fry on a warm pan with oil, adding a little bit of salt and pepper as seasoning.

2. Remove the fish from the pan and fry the onion on the same pan. Once the onion is nearly ready, add spinach leaves and cover the pan with a lid for around 2 minutes. Once the leaves have softened, stir the contents of the pan a little bit and transfer onto a plate.

3. Allow the filling to cool down, soaking any liquid from the spinach.

4. In the meantime, cut out circles from puff pastry to fit in the ramekins. They should be around 1cm higher than the edge of the ramekins. Once fitted into the ramekins, make some holes in the pastry and put into an oven pre-heated to around 175 degrees for 3 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven, fill with cod and spinach and cover with cream. Sprinkle with some nutmeg, or better still mix the cream with nutmeg beforehand.

6. Put back into the oven for around 10 minutes, or until the pastry starts to turn golden brown, et voila!

Bon appétit!