Red Chard, Cheddar & Lemon Quiche

Last night my friends arranged a wonderful cocktail party at their place. All the guests were dressed up in their best outfits, there was a wide range of drinks, and what’s the best, a wide range of lovely cocktail bites. I still don’t know how many days my friend has used in preparing all that, but I assume MANY.

The best things I got to taste there was a cracker with apricot and miso jam, and a chocolate tart with pistachio halva and sesame salt. I really have to try these out myself too!

In a manner of fact, I had promised to help in cooking something for the party. What happened was that I got a mild food poisoning from something I ate on Friday, so I was not feeling very good yesterday. Bravely I still started to prepare the red chard mini quiches I had promised, but what eventually happened was that they got stuck in my cupcake pan and broke. Almost all of them. So that was it. Luckily I had still half of the dough as well as the filling left, so I decided just to make a traditional quiche and bring it to the party.

Cut in small bits it was almost as nice as the individual mini quiches would have been!

Red Chard, Cheddar and Lemon Quiche

Basic pie crust:

125g butter (salted)

3dl all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons ice cold water

For the filling:

bunch of red chard, washed and stems cut off

1 tablespoon olive oil

small bunch of rocket, washed

200ml heavy whipping cream

200g creme fraiche

3 large eggs

100g yellow cheddar, grated

50g parmesan cheese, grated

1 teaspoon lemon peel, finely grated

salt and black pepper to taste

Prepare the crust. Using your fingertips, work together butter and flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Quickly mix in the ice cold water, form into a ball and refrigerate while you make the filling.

Roughly chop chard and rocket. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and sautée chard for 30 seconds. Set aside.

Mix together cream and creme fraiche. Whisk in the eggs, cheeses, lemon peel and rocket.

Preheat the oven to 200C°. Cover the base of a springform pan with baking paper and grease the sides with butter.

Take the dough from the fridge. On a floured surface, roll it out into a round slightly bigger than the diameter of your pan.

Place the rolled dough in the pan so that it covers the bottom and about 1/3 up the sides. Pour the filling on the crust, top with sauteed chard and bake about 30 minutes or until golden.

Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Tart

Hi all, and sorry for being silent for daaaayyyssss. I’ve been not only working a lot, but also been sick (like still) and spending the last couple of days in bed. That is so annoying, especially when you’d have so many things to do. Now I at least have the strength to write, before today my brain has just felt like a potato mash.

A while ago I prepared zucchini and tomato galettes, remember? They were a hit on my birthday party, but I never got to taste them myself, as they disappeared in minutes. They got a lot of compliments, especially for being so cheesy and the crust being very delicious. So as I needed to get to know how they tasted exactly, I prepared them again the other day. Now, as the original recipe of the galette crust is not mine, I am allowed to praise it into heavens by saying it is absolutely amazing. In a matter of fact, we have a similar way to prepare a pie crust in Finland, but instead of sour cream we use curd, a very sour milk product, rich in protein. Actually I am curious, if this curd is used worldwide? I didn’t find it in Brazil, but for example in Germany it’s widely used.

Back to galettes: This time I halved the amounts for the dough and filled the tarts with caramelized onions and goat cheese. I had had a roll of goat cheese in our fridge for long, and as it was soon due the date I had to come up with something to use it in. The amounts here make either one big or two small galettes. I made two smaller ones.

This was totally delicious, but be aware of the calories…again!

Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Tart

For the dough:

3dl all-purpose flour, chilled in refrigerator for 30 minutes

110g salted butter, cubed and chilled again

0,7dl sour cream

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

70ml ice cold water

For the filling:

2-3 large red onions

2 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon cane sugar

2 tablespoons dark balsamic vinegar

250g smooth ricotta

200g soft goat cheese

25g parmesan cheese, grated

0,5 teaspoon salt

black pepper

1 egg yolk + 1 tablespoon water, for brushing

fresh thyme, to garnish

Prepare the dough. Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Sprinkle bits of butter over dough and by using your hand work it until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with the biggest pieces of butter the size of tiny peas.

In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add this to the butter-flour mixture. With your fingertips or a wooden spoon, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Prepare the filling. Peel, cut in half and thinly slice the red onions. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions in the skillet and stir so that everything is covered with oil. Let the onions caramelize for 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently. Don’t let it burn.

After the onions have become soft, add the chopped garlic, sugar and balsamic vinegar. Let simmer for 5 minutes more. Set aside.

Mix together ricotta, 3/4 of the soft goat cheese (leave the 1/4 for crumbling on top of the ready tart), grated parmesan, salt and black pepper into smooth mixture.

Preheat oven to 200 C.

Prepare the galettes.  On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into two rounds (or one if you want to make just one bigger tart). Transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper. 

Spread half of the ricotta filling on each round, then top with half of the caramelized onions, leaving a 4 cm border. Fold the borders over the filling, pleating the edge to make them fit. The center will be open. Brush crust with egg yolk glaze.

Bake the galettes until golden brown,  the smaller ones for 20 minutes and a big one for about 35-40 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with fresh thyme and crumbled goat cheese, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate.

Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.

Birthday with Four Cheese Galettes with Zucchini & Tomatoes

Happy Birthday to me!!! Today is the day, my 30th birthday, the reason of a smallish crisis that I’ve been struggling with for the past days. I mean, on the other hand it’s great to be 30! Most of my closest friends have already crossed that line. S also turned 30 earlier this year. It’s great! But on the other hand, should I have achieved certain things by now? I haven’t. I don’t have my own house/apartment, I don’t have kids, I haven’t graduated from the university, I don’t have a steady job… I have my life, and my freedom, and sometimes I love it and sometimes I wish things were slightly different. But I haven’t got the things that 10 years ago I thought I would have by the time I’m 30 years old.

Last night I almost cried when going to sleep, and I don’t even know why. Maybe because just when the day changed at midnight S dropped an expensive plate I’ve had for years and it broke in half, lol. Maybe because I didn’t know how I would feel tomorrow (today). Maybe because I was hoping the big day would be something very special, and I couldn’t handle the thought that anyway, it was going to be just an ordinary day. I was going to be just one day older. And that’s it. Life doesn’t stop, but continues.

This is not a blog for a self-search, but these things just now seemed important to let out. I also have some foodish stuff for you! Last night I used for baking to my small birthday party I’m gonna hold today. The bigger one will take place on early June, as most of my best friends live in a different city with me at the moment. I’m moving back to Helsinki by then, so that’s also a good reason to party. So, last night I started with my birthday cake, which I hope will be totally fab! I also baked some savory stuff, of which these galettes were maybe the nicest new thing for me!

The wonderful crust recipe is from Smitten Kitchen (I had a taste of the dough, but didn’t get to eat the ready galette yet!). I doubled the amounts to make two galettes, one with zucchini, one with tomatoes. The original recipe inspired me to use zucchini, but otherwise I modified the filling to my own taste. Also the filling is for two galettes. Here it goes.

EDIT: Now after the party I can tell the galettes were absolutely amazing. They collected a lot of compliments and even one marriage proposal (from a friend, though), haha!

Four Cheese Galettes with Zucchini and Tomatoes (makes 2)

For the pastry:

6dl all-purpose flour, chilled in refrigerator for 30 minutes

half a teaspoon salt

225g butter, cubed and chilled again

1,25dl sour cream

4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1,25dl ice cold water

For the filling:

1 big zucchini, sliced crosswise

salt

2 large tomatoes, sliced

handful of sweet cherry tomatoes, sliced

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 big or 2 small cloves garlic, finely chopped

250g smooth ricotta

50g parmesan cheese, finely grated

200g feta cheese, finely crumbled

100g mozzarella di Bufala, shredded

a few springs fresh thyme & fresh basil leaves

salt & black pepper to taste

1 egg yolk + 2 tablespoons water, for brushing

Prepare the dough. Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Sprinkle bits of butter over dough and by using your hand work it until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with the biggest pieces of butter the size of tiny peas.

In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add this to the butter-flour mixture. With your fingertips or a wooden spoon, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Prepare the filling. Spread the zucchini out over several layers of paper towels. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and let drain for 30 minutes; gently blot the tops of the zucchini dry with paper towels before using.

In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil and the garlic together; set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, Parmesan, feta cheese, and 2 teaspoon of the garlicky olive oil together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the galettes. Preheat oven to 200 C.

On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into two 30-35 cm rounds. Transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Spread half of the shredded mozzarella on both galette dough rounds. Then spread half of the ricotta-feta mixture evenly over both of the galette doughs, leaving a 4 cm border.

Shingle the zucchini attractively on top of the other galette, in concentric circles, starting at the outside edge. Spread the tomatoes on the other one. Drizzle the remaining two tablespoons of the garlic and olive oil mixture evenly over the veggies. Fold the borders over the filling, pleating the edge to make them fit. The center will be open. Brush crust with egg yolk glaze.

Bake the galettes until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with fresh herbs (I used basil and thyme), let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate.

Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.