Tomato with Goat's Cheese Crumble

I love this season. The huge rains or walking over the sizzling autumn leaves on a sunny day. And you find plenty of vegetables on the market! I would say it is the best time of the year! The tastiest aubergines, apples, pears, plums, grapes and tomatoes! Loads of tomatoes and they are so aromatic! Right now it is time to enjoy them as often as you can. Because soon it is over. And the pumpkins remind you irreversibly that autumn has arrived. However today we had such a wonderful sunny day! So, I just grabbed my photo equipment and spent a few hours outside, enjoying the probably last strokes of the summer sun. For lunch I prepared a simple, yet very flavourful crumble: tomatoes topped with goat's milk cheese crumble scented with the unique fragrance of fresh basil.

Ingredients:

2 big ripe tomatoes
20 g pine nuts
40 g goat's milk cream cheese
10 g cane sugar
40 g flour
3 tablespoons oat flakes
1 teaspoon olive oil
basil
salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Brush two small baking forms with olive oil. For the crumbel mix together the goat's milk cream cheese, cane sugar, flour and oat flakes. Season with salt and pepper. Cut tomatoes and place them into the oven proof form and sprinkle the crumble on top. Bake for about 20 minutes and serve with fresh basil.

Tomato-Rhubarb Soup

There are plenty of vegetables and fruits out there that would make the perfect combination, but they are just not in season in the same time. For example white asparagus is amazing with a blood orange hollandaise. Sometimes a fresh cucumber would just be the perfect ingredient that a dish needs, but no season yet, so it is not available from a local producer, at least not free range. I believe that products that are common in your area you should only buy when it is in season, it is worth to wait for local strawberries, asparagus and so on. Your reward is going to be an explosion of flavours. Of course not everything is automatically bad that comes from abroad. But it is good if you check if that veggie or fruit is in season in that particular country that time of the year. So you know that it has seen some sun and it is not from tunnel or whatever. Of course it is not that easy to resist, but I believe that it is really stupid and negligent to sell strawberries in February or watermelon already in April! Altough, I really care very much for the products that I use in my kitchen and I try to get everything from local producers, once in a while I can't resist. A juicy mango, artichokes or avocado happen to get into my shopping basket. But after all one shouldn't be too strict, because then we all can stop eating chocolate, drink coffee or even use pepper. These gorgeous tomatoes are from Sicliy and called Marmadino. They are in season from the middle of February until May. I simply love Sicily and everything that comes from there, so it was impossible to say no to these. They have a truly amazing flavour, just wow. No wonder that they were gone pretty fast among some buttered bread, so I used some tomato juice for the soup.

Ingredients:
600 ml tomato juice
200 g rhubarb
2 tablespoons rape seed oil
1 onion
10 g fresh ginger
1 clove garlic
50 g celeriac
4-5 tablespoon brown sugar
50 ml port wine
1 bay leaf
1-2 cloves
1 star anise
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 bunch of fresh basil
salt, pepper


Peel and dice the onion, garlic, ginger, celeriac and sautee in hot oil for a few minutes. Add sliced rhubarb and sugar and let it caramelise a little, then add port wine and reduce. Then add the tomato juice and the spices packed in a muslin. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, then remove the spices, puree and season. Then add the bunch of basil and leave it on the hot plate for 5 minutes, then remove. If the soup is too thick add some vegetable stock and some sugar if needed. Some frehsly grated orange zest give a nice kick to the soup.

Spaghetti with Beef & Anchovy Meatballs

A fellow Hungarian foodie, Gabojsza has prepared some anchovy meatballs lately. I liked the idea a lot, and wanted to cook it somewhen as a quick dinner. Here I must confess, that I have never had spaghetti with meatballs before. The reason is simply: I hated tomato sauce, so no meatballs or anything else. Now this has changed already long ago, but I always ended up with a bolognese instead of meatballs. I had some leftover anchovies so the opportunity was just perfect to make it. I have changed the recipe which inspired me and added capers and oregano to the mince. Star anise, clove and coriander seeds make the tomato sauce exciting.

Ingredients:
for the meatballs:
500 g beef mince
50 g breadcrumbs
1 twig fresh oregano or 1/4 teaspoon dried
1 onion
1 teaspoon olive oil
8 anchovy fillets
zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons capers
salt, pepper
for the tomato sauce:
500 g passata
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion
1 carrot
2 celery stalks
1 big garlic clove
100 ml white wine
1 star anise
2 cloves
1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
handful of black olives
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
1 twig thyme
1 bay leaf
bunch of fresh basil
salt, pepper

To make the meatballs, first chop onion and sautee in oilve oil, then add oregano. Remove from the heat and transfer into a bowl, add mince, chopped anchovy fillet, capers and lemon zest. Mix it well together and season with a little salt and pepper. Form about walnut size balls and fry them in a really hot pan. For the sauce grate onion, carrot, celery stalk and sautee in olive oil. Then add garlic, spices (use a bag or something so that you can remove it easy when ready), thyme and bay leaf. Pour white wine over it and as soon as it has absorbed add meatballs, passata and black olives. Cook for about 15-20 minutes. Then season with salt, pepper and sherry vinegar. Add basil and let it stand for 5-10 minutes, then remove basil and spices.

Minestrone and Oregano-Dried Tomato Bread

Today, I was in some kind of rustic mood, if I may say that, so the timing couldn't have been better to cook a big pot of minestrone. The other reason for the soup is that I have collected a couple of parmesan rind, that actually is the heart of every minestrone. Without it is just not the same, and nothing can replace that savoury cheese. Minetrone is a soup that you can enjoy in every season, but to me winter is the best time of the year for a bowl of heart warming soup. This season I always add dried beans and curly kale or savoy cabbage to the vegetable mixture. Just feel free to use any vegetable you have at home and are in season. I think dried beans are essential, but if it should be rice or pasta, is really up to you. Freshly baked bread is just perfect with it, however those who follow my blog know, that I am not very good in bread baking. However today it must be my lucky day, because I managed to bake a soft bread with a crispy crust. Finally, I made it!

Ingredients:
for the soup:
50-70 g dried beans
1000-1500 ml vegetable or chicken stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion
3-4 carrots
1 piece of celeriac
2 parsley root
1 leek
1 garlic clove
2-3 potatoes
1 can plum tomatoes
5-6 leaves curly kale
1 piece of parmesan rind
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
40-50 g pasta
salt, pepper

Drain dried beans the evening before and cook it the next day until soft. Peel and dice the vegetables and sautee in olive oil for a few minutes. Add about a 1/4 teaspoon salt and dried oregano, the parmesan rind and the garlic clove. Pour stock over it, add canned tomatoes and cook over low heat for 40-50 minutes. Then stir in cooked beans and pasta and cook until the pasta is done. Season with salt and pepper.

for the bread:
250 g strong flour
7 g salt
25 ml olive oil
10 g yeast
230 ml water
30 g sun dried tomatoes
2 twigs fresh oregano
1 teaspoon durum wheat

Sift flour into a bowl, sprinkle salt somewhere on the side and make a mold in the middle of the flour. Crumble yeast into the mold and pour lukewarm water over it and start to work the ingredients together. Then add olive oil and knead a smooth dough. Let it rise for an hour. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Cut dried tomatoes in small cubes and mix it with the fresh oregano leaves and knead it into the dough. Form a long bread, brush with water and sprinkle the top with durum wheat. Pour about 250 ml water into the hot oven and bake the bread for about 30 minutes.

Tomato Cheesecake with Basil-Pine Nut Crumble

Well, I guess it is time to say goodbye to this year's tomato season. Last weekend I bought a few pounds from a local farmer and I preared a portion of roasted tomato sauce that went right into the freezer. That will help to survive those cold winter days! The other plan was to make a savoury tomato pie with some goat cheese for lunch, but instead I've ended up baking this cheesecake for dessert. The bright green of the pastry comes from pureed spinach, that I needed to refill my chlorophyll reserves, and as I did not want to throw away the puree, I decided to knead it into the pastry. No worries, you do not taste the spinach, so go for it!

Ingredients: 
250 g flour
125 g butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons pureed spinach
300 g tomato
2 tablespoon sugar
250 g cream cheese or quark
50 g sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon flour

The pastry is enough to make two 15x20 cm cakes (freeze the rest!), the filling is enough for one cake.

To make the pastry knead together flour, butter, salt, sugar egg and spinach puree, then chill until needed. For the filling bring chopped tomatoes to the boil with sugar and cook until there is almost no liquid left. Puree, mash it through a strainer and set aside. For the filling cream together the quark or cream cheese and the tomato puree, stir in vanilla extract, sugar (add more if desired), eggs and flour. Roll out half of the dough and cover the baking form, then pour the cream cheese mixture in it and bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven on 180°C. For the crumble mix together about a tablespoons pine nuts, 3-4 tablespoons flour, a tablespoon butter and sugar and chopped basil as desired. Crumble it onto a baking sheet and bake until golden brown. Simply crumble it on top of the chilled cake when serving.

White Tomato Risotto

Meanwhile it's been raining for two days and it is really cold outside, so it was time to cook something soul-warming. Though these gorgeous and fragant tomatoes come from a greenhouse, but they were grown local by my greengrocer and as I am such a tomato freak I could not get home without a big bowl of tomatoes. We still have to wait quite a while for the first local free land tomatoes, but these are almost just as delicious like those. First I planned to make the risotto with goat cream cheese, but then I just could not resist the smell of the parmesan. I cooked a portion of fresh white tomato consommé and so I had a beautifully fragant and intense tomato stock ready for the risotto.

Ingredients:
250 g risotto rice (e.g. carnaroli)1 shallot
1 teaspoon olive oil
100 ml white wine
500 ml white tomato stock
50 g freshly grated parmesan
50 g butter
oven dried tomatoes
basil
roasted pine nuts
salt, pepper


Heat olive oil, add chopped shallot and rice. Mix until rice is well covered with oil. In a separate large saucepan bring the bouillon to simmer, and keep it hot. Add wine, increase heat to medium, and stir constantly. When the wine has been absorbed, add a little of the hot tomato stock. Add salt and pepper. Once the stock is absorbed, add a little more; repeat this process, stirring constantly, until the rice is cooked through. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until the butter and parmesan melt, stir in oven dried tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper. Let it stand covered for a few minutes. Stir in fresh basil and sprinkle with roasted pine nuts right before serving.

Turbot with White Bean Puree, Dried Tomato Sabayon and Dried Tomato - Basil Crumbs

Some days ago, somewhen came across my blog searching for tomato sabayon, and that inspired me while preparing yesterday's lunch. First I had the idea to used the rest of the tomato consommé, but then I saw the bowl of soaked dried tomatoes, that I left on the kitchen cupboard. I thought, why shouldn't I use that liquid for the sabayon? It was already clear, that I am going to serve a white bean puree among the gorgeous fillets of the turbot, that I filleted myself. It was the very first time, that I filleted a flatfish.

For the puree I cooked the white beans with rosemary, onion and celery talks, and then peeled them. Then I sauteed some chopped shallot in butter, added a rosemary twig, a tiny clove garlic and some cream and cooked it for a few minutes, then pureed the peeled beans with the flavoured cream. I thought something crunchy is missing, so I chopped with the help of a mixer some bread, some soaked dried tomatoes and fried it in olive oil, then mixed it with fresh basil leaves right before serving. And the sabayon? Well, that is totally easy to prepare and it has such an intense flavour!

Ingredients:
100 ml dried tomato liquid
100 ml white wine
1 shallot
2-3 twigs of basil
1 egg yolk
salt, pepper

Soak about a handful of dried tomatoes (unsalted!) and let it stand over night, then sieve. Bring the liquid with the wine, chopped shallot, some dried tomatoes and basil to the boil and reduce by half. Sieve and beat it together with the egg yolk over a water bath until foamy and creamy, season and serve.

Ravioli stuffed with ragù alla bolognese

Already a couple of recipes have been posted here for ragù alla bolognese, however this time I did not bake a lasagne, but prepared some ravioli. The recipe for the ragu is also different, now it is one by Giorgio Locatelli. I think ragù alla bolognese is the only dish where I can not decide which version I like most. I guess, the favourite is always the one, that is on the plate that very moment. And there are so many different versions, that I still want to try!


Traditionally, only tomato puree is added and they do not use ground meat but a nice piece of beef chuck that is cooked until it falls apart. During my first trials in the kitchen, I used to prepare the bolognese sauce using turkey, because I was convinced that I do not like beef. Nowdays, I even enjoy a medium rare fried steak!

Ingredients:
250 g flour
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
pinch of salt
250 g ground beef
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small carrot
1 small onion
1/2 celery stalk
1 twig rosemary
2-3 leaves of sage
1 clove garlic
170 ml dry red wine
1 teaspoon tomato puree
250 ml passata
250 ml water
salt, pepper


Make a hole in the middle of the flour, add eggs, egg yolk and whisk it in with a help of a fork. When the dough is getting viscous knead it with your hands until smooth, add a little water if needed. Chop vegetables and sautee in olive oil together with the whole garlic and the herbs. Add ground meat, season and fry it until golden brown. Pour wine over it and reduce, then stir in tomato puree and fry for a few minutes. Now add passata and water and cook it for 1 hour or 1 1/2 hours. Season with salt and pepper and let it cool. With a help of a pasta machine roll out pasta dough and place a teaspoon of the filling on it and make ravioli with a help of a form or anything you've got. Cook ravioli in simmering salty water for 3-5 minutes.

Fillets of rabbit with sherry-tomato sauce

As promised yesterday, I am here now with the first savoury meal of the new year. The Christmas menu should have contained 8 courses, but it got reduced to 6. The reason is simple: nobody could take one more bite after the main course, although the portions were really small. One of the courses supposed to be rabbit, but it had to stay in the freezer until now. The meat was marinated in fresh ginger, coriander seeds, lemon zest, thyme, allspice and cinnamon. The fillet was served among polenta and tomato sauce with sherry. In order to add something crunchy I made some deep fried sliced almonds flavoured with cayenne pepper.


Ingredients:
4 fillets of rabbit
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 allspice berries
1 piece of cinnamon
1 cm fresh ginger
2 twigs thyme
zest of a lemon
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion
1 clove garlic
70 ml sherry
200 ml chicken stock
250 g canned, chopped tomatoes
1 bay leaf
a splash of sherry vinegar
1 twig thyme
salt, pepper


Crush spices in a mortar, then add olive oil and marinate the fillets of the rabbit, and set aside for at least an hour. Season and fry it from both sides, then put it to the oven on 80°C for 5-7 minutes, depending on its sizes. For the sauce sautee chopped onion, garlic and bay leaf, allspice in the same frying pan where you fried the rabbit. Add sherry and reduce, then add canned tomaotes, stock and cook for about 20 minutes. Sieve and cook until it has reached the desired consistency. Season with sherry vinegar, thyme leaves, salt and pepper.

Goat Cheese and Tomato Tart

Slowly, I can see the light! Soon I am finished with all the cakes and stuff, except one apple tart, that I am gonna bake tomorrow early morning. The reason is that it is a puff pastry based tart and this is the best eaten fresh, right? Yesterday, I made the pastry, this time I used Michel Roux's recipe for the classic puff pastry and I am absolutely thrilled about it! It is amazing!

I was more than curious how it turned out and to find it out I baked these goat cheese and tomato tarts with dried tomato crumble for lunch. To take a break from baking and stirring creams, I decided to share the recipe before I go back to the kitchen.


Ingredients:
puff pastry
goat cheese
acacia honey
tomatoes
dried tomatoes
rosemary
100 g flour
50 g butter
1/2 egg yolk


Preheat the oven to 180°C. Roll out puff pastry and cut out circles. Now prick the middle of the circles with a fork 5 times. Place a slice of goat cheese in the middle, sprinkle some honey on top and put a tomato slice on it. For the crumble cut dried tomatoes and rosemary and together with the flour, butter and egg yolk and a some salt (if the dried tomatoes are not salty) prepare the crumble and sprinkle it on top of the tomato. Bake for 10-15 minutes.