Broccoli Quiche

I've been dreaming of a cheesy quiche with buttery crust for a while already. So I was pretty happy when I finally decided to make one for myself. Yes, just for myself. Since I live alone, I have a privilege to eat the entire quiche. Guess what? By the end of the day there was just one small peace left. Yep, it was that good. How can something be bad with broccoli? And cheese? Oh, and I cut broccoli into large chunks and I think it made the quiche look quite beautiful. This recipe is really easy so you won't spend much time preparing this. Enjoy!

Broccoli Quiche

Dough:
125g spelt flour (or all-purpose)

Salt

75g butter, cold

1 tbsp cold water

Filling:

400g broccoli, chopped into chunks

1 small onion, finely chopped

150g cheese, grated

3 eggs, lightly beaten

240ml Milk

Salt

Pepper

1) Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Lightly grease and dust with flour a 18cm round baking dish. Set aside.

2) To make the crust, mix together flour and salt. Cut in the butter (to save my time, I sometimes use grater). Add 1 tablespoon of water and, using your hands, knead the dough just until it comes into a ball. Wrap in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.

3) Take out of the fridge and roll into a circle. Press into the prepared pan (use your fingertips). Make a few holes with a fork in the dough and place in refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

4) To make the filling, mix together milk, eggs, salt and pepper. In a small saucepan, lightly fry the onions until they soften a little bit. 

5) Take the dough out of the fridge. Sprinkle some cheese on it, then the onions, and half of the broccoli. Sprinkle more cheese, top with broccoli, and finally, sprinkle the remaining cheese (I like to reserve a lot of cheese for the top). Pour the milk mixture on top. Do not mix. 

6) Bake for 35-40 minutes or until set and golden brown on top. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe by collecting memories

Pain au Chocolat

This is the easiest version of croissant dough I've ever made. What I really like about this is that you use room temperature butter which is really easy to spread and fold. It's not the same as working with cold butter which I find very time-consuming. I actually was a little worried about the outcome, but the result surprised me! The dough was very flaky. I think the amount of butter is also reduced a little bit in this recipe. So these weren't as buttery as traditional croissant/pain au chocolat, but I definitely can't complain. Next time I think I would do a few additional folds to create even more layers! Anyway, if you do not want to make croissants three days, wait until the dough rests in the fridge overnight and so on, this recipe is exactly what you need.

Pain au Chocolat

2 tsp (7g)  instant yeast
100g granulated sugar
250 ml warm milk
500g all-purpose flour*
½ tsp salt

150g unsalted butter (room temperature)
100g dark chocolate

1) Add yeast, sugar and warm milk in a large bowl and leave to stand for 10 minutes. Add half of the flour, salt and mix to combine. Add the rest of the flour (I had a lot of extra flour which I didn't need to use. Stop adding flour as soon as you get a soft but not sticky dough). 

2) Transfer the dough to the floured counter and knead for about 10 minutes until elastic. Lightly oil the dough and place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until doubled in size, from 1 to 2 hours.

3) Divide butter into 3 equal parts. Punch the dough down and shape into a rectangle (0.5cm/1/4 inch) thick, the longer side facing you. Spread 1/3 of the butter onto two right thirds of the rectangle, fold the left third over the buttered middle third, and then the remaining uncovered third over the other two folds. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

4) Repeat the process two more times, for the total of three folds. Shape the dough into a rectangle and cut strips (5cm/2 inch wide and 10cm/4 inch long). 

5) Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.


6) Place a chocolate piece on the end of the strip and fold into a roll. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and flatten a little bit. (I would recommend brushing the tops with egg wash at this step, this would give a shiny top. I missed this step. If you do not use egg wash, you can dust the baked rolls with some powdered sugar instead).

7) Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden on top. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe adapted from here.

Farro & Carrot Risotto

This is one of those dishes which, despite being ridiculously simple, are amazingly good. I've been experimenting with Farro for a while already, and every time I come up with delicious combinations which are both healthy and yummy. This is actually my favourite kind of food, you can eat tons of it every day and it's still good for you. And as you know already, it contains very simple and cheap ingredients. But there's one important thing - use a really good natural vegetable stock. Try to find the one which tastes really good because it's really important in this dish. So if you haven't tried using Farro, I highly recommend to do it right now! This recipe seems like a perfect start, isn't it?

P.S. For this recipe, use pearled Farro. Whole-grain Farro requires longer cooking time - about 60 minutes.

Farro & Carrot Risotto 

2 tbsp oil

2 medium onions, chopped

1 large carrot (80g), shredded

4 cloves garlic, minced

500ml vegetable stock (with salt)

100g farro

1) In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Add onion and cook over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes and then add garlic and carrot. Stir to combine, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes until onions turn translucent and lightly caramelized and the carrots soften a little bit. Stir occasionally.

2) Add farro and cook for a minute. Now start adding vegetable stock into it, one cup at a time. Stir occasionally. Repeat the process of adding stock as soon as the liquid gets absorbed. You might not need to use up all the stock - stop adding it as soon as the farro is cooked through. Cook for about 20 minutes until farro is soft and all the liquid is absorbed.

You could serve this with a little bit of Parmesan cheese on top.

Serves 1-2.

Recipe by collecting memories

Banana Cake with Cocoa Buttercream Frosting

I've probably already said this many times before, but banana & chocolate combo is one of my favourite. I don't really like eating raw bananas with chocolate spread on a toast, for example. But when the bananas are mashed, baked, cooked they pair so perfectly with chocolate. For example, my favourite Chocolate Oatmeal, or imagine, banana oatmeal with milk chocolate sauce! I definitely have to try this. Or for now, just look at this Banana Cake with Cocoa frosting. I don't really have anything to say about it, it's just amazing. My favourite part is frosting: I've used it in many recipes and I still haven't found a better cocoa frosting recipe. It's sweet and not bitter at all (I don't like pairing bittersweet chocolate with bananas). It's more like a milk chocolate frosting. But there's one important thing - BEAT it until you really get tired. That's the key to get a fluffy frosting. And for the cake, use really ripe bananas. What is more, I find this cake even better when it stands in the fridge. Actually I highly recommend refrigerating it overnight, it was much better when cold! Only the frosting hardens a little, but that's fine. 

Banana Cake with Cocoa Buttercream Frosting

Cake
113g/1/2 cup butter, softened

100g light brown sugar
100g white sugar

3 very ripe, mashed bananas (~1 cup)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

80ml/1/3 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk or milk

190g/1 1/2 cups flour 

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

Frosting

15g cocoa

125g powdered sugar

Vanilla extract

Salt

1 tbsp milk

90g butter, room temperature

Cake:

1) Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease a square 8x8 inch/20x20 cm baking dish with oil and lightly dust with flour, shaking off excess. 

2) In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugars, bananas, eggs and vanilla on high until very well combined. Add yogurt and mix until combined.

3) Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Mix just until combined.

4) Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for at least 10 minutes before removing from it. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely, then frost. 

Frosting:

1) Beat butter until soft. Add cocoa, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and milk. Beat on high speed for at least 5 minutes or until the frosting is very light and fluffy. Frost immediately.

Cake recipe adapted from here.

Flourless Oatmeal Cookies

This cookie recipe is one of the easiest I've ever made. You only need a couple of bowls and no more than 5 minutes to mix them up. They're quite reminiscent of lace cookies. If you flatten them a little before baking, you are going to get thin, lacy cookies. I didn't flatten them because I wanted to get a slightly thick and chewy center. Either way, they come out delicious and perfectly chewy. And the best part - they're flourless! That means they're a little bit healthier, too. 

Flourless Oatmeal Cookies

56g/1/4 cup butter
135g/1 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
150g/1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten

1) Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.

2) Melt the butter and set aside. In a bowl, combine the oats, sugar and salt.

3) In another bowl, whisk together melted and slightly cooled butter and egg. Stir this egg mixture into the oat mixture. Chill the dough about 30 minutes in refrigerator.

4) When the dough has chilled so you can form the balls, take it out of the fridge and form little balls. If you want them to be more like lace cookies, flatten a bit. Place on a baking sheet about 5 cm/2 inches apart.

5) Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before removing from baking tray.

Recipe by collecting memories