Onion lovers, I have a perfect recipe for you. A mild flavor quiche filled with creamy Feta cheese and sweet onions, and drizzled with tangy balsamic vinegar reduction. Sounds good, right? It's also very light but filling enough.
I'm always so surprised that so many people don't like onions. I don't imagine any savory dish without them. Seriously, they're my favorite veggie. And this quiche, believe me, is FULL of onions. It's really good by its own, but balsamic reduction makes it irresistible.
Onion Feta Quiche with Balsamic Reduction
Pastry:
125g (1 cup) flour
28g (1/4 stick) butter, cold
1 egg
1 tbsp ice water
Filling:
2 tbsp oil
4 onions (450g), thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
180ml (3/4 cup) milk
100g feta cheese, divided
1 tsp dried herbs
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Balsamic reduction:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1) Make the crust: In a bowl, add flour and cut in the butter. Mix with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Beat in the egg. Now add 1 tablespoon of cold water and knead. The dough must be soft, elastic but not sticky. You may add more/less water. Roll out the dough and press into the bottom of a greased 18cm baking dish. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
2) In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Add onions and garlic and cook until softened and lightly caramelized. Remove from heat and let cool. Mix in salt, dried herbs and black pepper.
3) In a bowl, combine together milk and eggs. Set aside.
4) Crumble half of the Feta cheese on top of the dough. Spread onion mixture on top of the cheese and top with remaining crumbled Feta. Pour egg/milk mixture. Do not mix. Bake in a 180C (350F) preheated oven for 35-40 minutes.
5) While it is baking, you can make the balsamic reduction. Add balsamic vinegar and sugar to a small saucepan and bring to boil. Once it starts bubbling, reduce the heat to the lowest and cook, uncovered, until it's reduced by half.
Serve warm drizzled with balsamic vinegar. I actually loved it the next day. I didn't even reheat it and enjoyed it cold.
Recipe by collecting memories
Fall is almost here and it's time to start cooking with my favourite veggie - pumpkin! Why favourite? Because pumpkin is great with everything. Really, I couldn't think of anything that would taste wrong with pumpkin. You can make anything from pie to ice cream or from bread to stew.
And yes, summer wasn't very productive for me. I've only posted.. hmm how many times.. once? Yes, once. Shame on me. But now I definitely have much more ideas and recipes to try and write about. And here's one of them! This galette wasn't planned, I just had some leftover feta cheese in my fridge which was about to expire so I had to make something with it. I didn't expect anything special, but this galette came out surprisingly good! No, it was freakin' amazing! The dough is simple, a little bit flaky with crunchy edges but still soft and a little bit chewy. And that amazing pumpkin and caramelized onion filling topped with salty crumbled feta and drizzled with slightly sweet reduced balsamic... Yum! This is definitely a keeper!
Caramelized Onion Pumpkin Galette with Feta Cheese & Balsamic Sauce
Pastry:
185g flour
15ml /1 tbsp oil
pinch salt
1 small egg
60ml/1/4 cup water
Filling:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions (265g), sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
250g grated pumpkin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
50g feta cheese
Reduced Balsamic Sauce:
1/2c balsamic vinegar
1-2 tsp sugar
1) Mix flour, salt and olive oil with a fork. Add egg and mix to combine. Add water and mix until the mixture forms into a ball. Dust your hands with flour and knead for a few minutes, just until it holds together. The dough shouldn't be sticky. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and place in the fridge while you make the filling. (Usually I'm too lazy to oil the bowl so I just throw it in the fridge and leave it).
2) Preheat oven to 200C (400F).
3) In a small saucepan, place balsamic vinegar and sugar and bring to boil. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to low and let simmer until the vinegar is reduced in half.
4) Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan. Add onions and cook, covered, for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat. When they start browning, stir once, cover and leave to cook a little bit more. You can reduce the heat and/or add more oil if they brown too quickly. Once the onions are nicely brown, soft and fragrant, add garlic, pumpkin, salt, parsley, oregano and thyme. Stir, cover and cook over medium heat until the pumpkin softens, from 5 to 10 minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed. Turn off the heat and leave uncovered.
5) Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out into a 2-3mm thick circle. Transfer it to the baking tray (dusted with flour!). Spread the filling onto the dough, leaving about 5cm space on the edges. Sprinkle with feta cheese and fold the edges over the filling. (You could brush the edges of the pastry with egg wash but, again, I was too lazy to do that and I don't think it's necessary).
6) Bake for 15-20 minutes. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and drizzle with balsamic sauce. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
Recipe by collecting memories
This is my version of the famous Greek salad. It's quite basic - the only unusual ingredient is balsamic vinegar. You could omit this if you want but I think it goes well with everything. I also added some dried basil and oregano, but if you have fresh basil - I highly recommend using it instead.
Greek Salad
Juice of 1 lemon
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
salt & pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
1 head (450g) your favourite lettuce (I used Iceberg), chopped
4 plum tomatoes, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
1 can (110g drained) black pitted olives, sliced
100-150g feta cheese, crumbled
1) Throw everything in a bowl and mix to combine. Serve immediately.
Recipe by collecting memories
Pasta dishes have always been my favourite ones. It's because pasta is extremely versatile and you can think of thousands of yummy dishes to make with it. One of my latest experiments was this creamy pasta salad. What is good about it, is that despite being amazingly delicious, it is also healthy. The dressing is made with greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise.
P.S. it is even better the next day after being refrigerated overnight. Enjoy!
Creamy Pasta Salad with Greek Yogurt Feta Dressing
200g ditalini pasta, cooked and drained
1 can sweet corn
1 large tomato, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red onion, sliced
55g (handful) of black olives, halved
1/2 head lettuce (Iceberg), chopped
75g mixed baby leaves, chopped
salt & pepper
Greek Yogurt Feta Dressing
100g Feta cheese
300g/ (a little more than 1 cup) greek yogurt
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried dill
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1) In a large bowl, combine together all the ingredients for the salad. Set aside.
2) For the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to make a smooth paste. Alternatively, you can simply put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix everything by hand.
3) Pour the dressing onto the salad and mix until evenly distributed. Keep in refrigerator.
Recipe by collecting memories
