Pumpkin Tart with Fresh Goat Cheese

Yesterday, I have started the "Empty the Freezer" project again. This time the goal is to have enough space for the stocks that I am going to use during the holiday season. Though I haven't reached my goal the last time, but at least I have won a bit more empty space. This year I have a better chance, because there are not so much that I have to use before I start with the preparations for Christmas. Of course the most important things like the Hungarian túró and sour cherries will be saved, at least most of it. I wonder what I am going to find in the boxes, that I have forgotten already since a long time. I started the emptying process again with homemade puff pastry and some fresh goat cheese. I have also found some leftover crumble so a tart seemed to be a good idea to bake. There are still a couple of pumpkins in my pantry, so I decided to use one of them.

The crumble did a good job on highlighting the taste of the pumpkin, it might seem strange, but I really loved this combination together with the fresh goat cheese and the pumpkin seeds.

The preparation is pretty easy, just roll out the pastry and prick with a fork. Put thin slices of pumpkin on top and cover with a mixture of egg-cream-milk and parmesan cheese, seasoned with salt and freshly grated nutmeg. Sprinkle it with crumble, pumpkin seeds and fresh goat cheese then bake and serve lukewarm.

Coconut Mousse

At the begining of the month I have posted a dessert containing coconut mousse, however I still owe you the recipe. Yesterday, it was snowing for the first time while I was preparing it again. I have also spent quite a long time with creating chocolate decorations while I was wondering about the Christmas menu. About the menu I still do not have a single idea, but making the chocolate decorations was a lot of fun and I can't wait to get another bunch of foil to experiment some more. But now, let's see the recipe for the mousse.



Ingredients:
2 egg yolks
25 g sugar
125 ml coconut milk
2 g gelatine
125 g heavy cream


Beat egg yolks with sugar until pale, while bringing the coconut milk to the boil. As soon as it starts to boil pour it over the beaten egg yolks and put it back to the stove. Cook until thickens, then stir in gelatine and let it cool. As soon as it is cold enough stir in beaten cream and let it stand in the fridge for a few hours.

What about a cup of coffee?

There is nothing that I love more than the smell of fresh coffee, though I have to confess I drink coffee maybe once in a month if at all. On the other hand I would never say no to a perfectly brewed espresso in a cozy coffeehouse.


Today morning I felt like having a cup of coffee, but instead of drinking it, I decided to hide it in a cake with some dark chocolate. It is also a great dessert if you have unexpected guests.


Ingredients:
2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
1 tablespoon hot water
50 g dark chocolate
70 g butter
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
40 g sugar
30 g flour


Butter 4 coffee cups and preheat the oven to 150°C. Dissolve coffee powder in hot water and melt chocolate and butter over steam together with the coffee. Meanwhile beat eggs and the yolk with the sugar until fluffy and beat in the chocolate mixture. Stir in flour and pour the batter into the buttered cups. Bake for 13-15 minutes and serve warm. The middle of the cake should still be moist.

Chestnut Soup

The chesnut is probably native in the Caucasus region, in the mountain area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The romans did not only use the fruit of the chestnut tree, but also made kitchen utensils out of chestnut wood and they also planted chestnut trees across Europe while on their various campaigns.


I have spent the whole morning peeling cooked chestnuts, because I planned to prepare a soup for lunch. The most important ingredient is patience, but when the chestnuts are peeled the rest is done within a couple of minutes. Of course you can use frozen, canned or dried chestnuts as well, but I would not recommand to do so. I believe that nothing can replace the taste of fresh chestnuts.

Ingredients:
200 g chestnuts, cooked and peeled
100 g pumpkin
1 small onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
600 ml vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 orange
mace
salt, pepper

Precook chestnut and peel. Sautee onion in olive oil, add chesnuts and sliced pumpkin and sautee for a few minutes together with mace. Pour stock over it and cook for 20-25 minutes, after puree. Season with salt, pepper, fresh orange juice and zest. Serve with orange blossom coated chestnuts, fresh sage and cream if desired.

Risotto with Goat Cream Cheese and Beetroot

It is such a grey and rainy day today, though I do love rain, but I felt like bringing some colour into the lunch. Actually, I planned to prepare something with fish, but that seemed to be too cold in a way, so I decided to cook a risotto. The fridge is always really empty at the end of the week, but I have found some beets (red, yellow and rosa ones) and a pack of goat cream cheese. It was not my intention to cook a deep red risotto, so I only added one beetroot to the simmering stock and did not use beet juice or powder. The result is kind of an orangy red dish, that has definitely brought a bit of sunshine and warmth to the plate.


Ingredients:
3 beetroots
2 tablespoons olive oil
250 g risotto rice
200 ml white wine
500 ml vegetable or chicken stock
50 g goat cream cheese
30 g butter
1 rosemary twig
juice of 1/2 orange
butter and sugar for caramelising
salt, pepper


Peel beetroots and cut in small cubes, then cook in salty water for 5 minutes, set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat and sweat the shallot until it has becomes translucent. Bring broth to the boil together with a beetroot or the skin of the peeled beets. Add the rice and cook, stirring, until the grains have become translucent; about 4 minutes. Add wine, increase heat to medium, and stir constantly. When the wine has been absorbed, add a little of the hot bouillon and the rosemary twig. Once the stock is absorbed, add a little more; repeat this process, stirring constantly, until the rice is cooked through. Remove from heat, stir in butter and cream cheese, stir in caramelised beet, season. Cover and let stand for about 5 minutes before serving.

Cabbage Soup with Cider

This week I have been busy baking cakes, therefore I hardly had time to cook something new or to experiment. Now, I am finally back to normal so here is a warm cabbage soup with cider. The cabbage was waiting for weeks to be used, meanwhile the outer leaves were already getting yellow, so I had no more time to waste. Well, this soup won't win anything with its colour, but it has a beautiful piquant taste.


Ingredients:
300 g white cabbage
1 medium potato
1 onion
1 tablespoon butter
300 ml cider
300 ml chicken or vegetable stock
50 ml cream
ground caraway
salt, pepper


Melt butter and sautee onion, add sliced cabbage and potato and sautee for a few more minutes. Add salt, pepper and ground caraway, then pour cider and stock on it and cook for 15-20 minutes. Puree, add cream and some more cider just before serving. Serve it with caramelised apples and fried bacon or raw ham.

Mustard Saffron Sauce

Since quite a long time a pack of Venere or Venus rice has been waiting on the pantry shelf to be cooked. This black rice originates from China, where it was cultivated already in in 2800 B.C. but it was only available for the emperors until the 1800s. It is a very healthy type of rice, it contains even more anthocyanins than brown rice. However its cooking time is long, it takes about 40 minutes. So finally it was time for me to cook it, also because I was anyway very curious about its taste. I prepared it on last Friday, that also means that it was served among fish with fennel and mustard saffron sauce.

Ingredients:
15 g butter
15 g flour
500 ml chicken, veal or vegetable stock
200 ml cream
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
pinch of saffron
salt, pepper


Melt butter and prepare a roux with the flour, then pour cold stock on the roux and cook for about 30 minutes over low heat. Season and set 250 ml aside for the sauce. Stir in mustard and cream and cook for 5 minutes. Add saffron and cook for another 5 minutes. Season and serve.