I was preparing to post this recipe, then I saw the invitation about "Onion day" on Paz's blog. Thank you for letting me know Paz! Zorra from Kochtopf was inviting all foodbloggers to participate the day with onion recipes. Since I am an onion fan, will gladly participate in this event, thank you Zorra. Actually this is my first contribution to a blog event.
The recipe is from an old american cooking magazine. You will end up having a very soft and wonderfully smelling bread which can be served warm or at room temperature. I followed the instructions and divide the dough exactly in half. But the upper part kept rising and became a very thick top. I recommend you to divide the dough leaving a smaller part for the top. - 2.5 cups all purpose flour
- 1 sachet (9 grs) instant yeast
- 1 cup of warm water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 medium onions (can be used only 2)
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 100-150 grs pitted green olives
- 1 teaspoon dried, crushed sage leaves
- 1 egg yolk for glazing the top
Blend 1 cup of flour and yeast in your mixing bowl by hand, add olive oil, salt and water. Beat with mixer for 3 minutes. After the yeast melts completely, add the second cup of flour and continue mixing with a wooden spoon. Turn the dough on a floured surface. Start kneading the dough using the last 1/2 cup flour for 8-10 minutes. According to the type of flour, you may need to add a little more as I did. Transfer the well-kneaded and elastic dough to the mixing bowl again and let it rise in a warm place, covered loosely.
While the dough is rising, slice the onions thinly and put on medium heat with the olive oil. I used 4 according to the recipe, but you may reduce the amount to half. Add pureed garlic, sautee without browning the onion. It should be translucent, without any juices remaining in the pan, not fried. Add roughly chopped olives and sage, after turning off the heat. If using fresh sage, slice 2-3 sprigs very thinly.
The recipe recommends 24cm pie plate but in order to have a thinner bread, you may use a wider pan. Place the dough on a floured surface and divide. Grease the pan, roll the base part at 1cm thickness and 2-3 cm wider than the pan and transfer. Roll the upper part just as the diameter of the pan and cut 2 cm wide strips. Give the rustic look by alternately knitting the strips as shown above. Flip the excess part on the edges of the strips and seal. You may decorate the bread by pinching the edges.
After leaving your bread to rise for another 45 minutes, heat the oven to 175C degrees. Brush the top with egg yolk and bake the bread on the lower rack of the oven for 30-35 minutes. Serve warm.
This recipe is a hit in my kitchen lately. As the temperature falls, we are searching for different delights to accompany our coffee. The earthy taste of molasses is one of my favourites as you already know. Here it is combined succesfully with the sharp smell and taste of ground cloves. It is bolder than cinnamon, but much deeper and remains longer on your taste buds. I found the recipe in one of my old magazines and actually blamed myself for neglecting it so long. Go, give it a try and you will not regret it:-)
I made it once in a bundt pan and the last time in a muffin pan. Grease the pan well, you can also use paper cups for muffin pan, though I did not have a problem to remove the cakes.
- 1 cup+3/4 cup flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 3 tbsp (approx. 90 gr) butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/2 cup milk
- 60 grs bitter chocolate
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp molasses
For the glaze, finely chop the chocolate and put in a saucepan with the butter. Melt on very low heat. When the chocolate completely melts, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the molasses. The original recipe recommends adding almost one cup of powdered sugar at this stage but I did not use it. It is completely unnecessary to add more calories. Drizzle the glaze over the warm cake and let it harden. You can keep the cake 3-4 days, covered, at room temperature.... if it lasts that long:-) Enjoy with your favourite coffee or tea!
Börek is the word we use for (mostly) savoury pies in Turkish. It just did not sound right to call this as a "pie" , because it is not. The way it is prepared and baked is exactly like the savoury version which has courgettes, eggs and cheese as a filling. This one, however, is the most favourite baked dessert in our family. There is not a written recipe for it though.
Basically you need 5-6 sheets of phyllo, around 4 cups of thickly shredded (fresh) sweet pumpkin, around 1 cup coarsely ground walnuts, sugar according to your taste and cinnamon. A couple of tablespoons rice flour or semolina will work as thickening agent in our filling. Pumpkin tends to release its juices in the oven but 2-3 tablespoons of rice flour will help to absorb them. Just mix the ingredients and chill until use.
Grease a baking tray with a rim and heat your oven to 200 C degrees. Brush each phyllo with oil and place the prepared filling on the long side, along the edge. Roll the sheet and place in the tray. Repeat with remaining phyllo sheets. You can prepare this börek and keep covered at room temperature for half a day, not more. Bake until the coulour reaches golden. Serve warm or at room temperature. Better to keep leftovers in the fridge and reheat when necessary.
This recipe is known to be made throughout the Thrace and Balkans. It suits any kind of meal of the day. Also with tea or coffee... enjoy!
I just love the harvest season. Plenty of grapes and olives are the characteristics of autumn here, as well as the whole mediterranean. I got used to watch piles of grapes becoming next year's wine but it is the first time I ever tasted grape jam.
Actually it sounded so unusual, I was sure they would be completely melted after all that boiling process. Much to my surprise, grapes were deliciously golden and their smell was so inviting. The colour is the key though, after some point in the boiling process, the jam tend to darken very quickly; better keep an eye on it. It is better to test it often, after the colour becomes like a light caramel. You can keep a small plate in the fridge and put some drops of jam on it to help cooling quickly, or you can put some drops in ice-cold water in a glass. If drops hardens quickly, it is done. Remember that the jam continues to harden during the cooling process.
No need to mention that you will need a seedless variety.
- 1 kg seedless grapes
- 1/2 kg sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 sachet vanilla
Wash the grapes and pull out the stems, leave to drain. Put sugar and water in a pan, and let sugar melt throughly. Add grapes and leave to boil on medium heat. You can stir the jam a couple of times and pick any foam over the surface if it creates any. Mine was easy in that aspect, almost no foam at all. It takes around 40 minutes to reach the desired consistency, but never leave it on its own for a long time. Watch the colour closely and when you decide that it boiled enough, add lemon juice. Stir once again and turn off the heat. Sprinkle vanilla over the jam and stir for one last time. Let the jam cool in the pan and transfer to a dry glass jar. Enjoy!
Molasses
Grape jam was not the only produce of the season, I took the chance to prepare molasses for the first time in my life. If my mother in-law would not have given me the hint, it was not likely to use any bit of grapes from the piles which were filling the fridge. All the neighbours in my husband's village was bringing grapes, black like pearls and we were just making juice from them. Though I was used to watch my grandfather boiling molasses from our own mulberry trees in my early years, the necessity of using the special sand to "cut" the grape juice was the difficulty to keep me away from trying it by myself. It is then, my mother in-law mentioned about using the "ash" for the same purpose. Well, it did not take long to sift the wood ash from the fireplace, but it took sometime to wash and clean around 10 kilos of grapes:-) Since I did not have any intention of dancing barefoot on the grapes, I used the kitchen processor to strain the grapes and ended up around 7 kilos of juice.
I boiled them on medium heat, in two different pots just to leave enough space for the inevitable rising. After cleaning the foam over the surface, I add around 2 tablespoon of ashes per 3 kgs of juice. This part needs attention because it starts foaming wildly and tries to boil over. Mix the juice quickly and take the pan off the heat for a couple of minutes if necessary. The ash causes much more foam to gather on the surface, which needs a final cleaning with a small strainer. Then I left the liquid to boil until it reduces around 3-4 cm down the rim of the pan. Then take it off the heat and let cool. What you see above on the right, is the juice during cooling. After it cools down, it needs to be strained very carefully. A paper kitchen towel laid in a colander works best. Pour the juice slowly into the colander and change the paper towel when necessary. Wash the pans very well and dry.
The second and the final boiling takes longer. After reducing the juices I mixed them in another deep pot and brought to a boil again. It took around 3 hours on medium heat (it is important not to use high heat, in order to prevent excess browning and the loss of taste) and smelled wonderful. As you did for the grape jam, you can test the consistency often after 2.5 hours of boiling. It does not need stirring and does not stick to the pan. The photograph below shows the last stage, just before I turned off the heat. It will be reduced to almost one-third of the juice you started with. Let it cool in the pan and transfer to clean jars.
It is one of the most healthy condiments of the world, give it a chance; on strained yoghurt with walnuts or mixed up with tahini, or drizzled over your favourite cake or ice cream. Enjoy!
