Pirogue pastry with Moroccan filling

I have to say it is a must that you like Moroccan food to really enjoy this dish. Our 15th dish is made from leftovers of the Basic Bolognese we made on Monday spiced up with traditional Moroccan spices and ingredients (cumin, cinnamon and chickpeas) wrapped in puff pastry. I like those spices separately but mixed together it just doesn't make my taste buds dance. My husband and I have decided to stay away from that kind of food in the future as we have not yet tried anything from the Moroccan cuisine we actually enjoyed. However I will not rob you of reading Carina's experiences with this dish on her blog - HERE and share the recipe with those of you who are fans of Moroccan food. 

For four people you'll need:

1 can of chickpeas

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon cumin

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 batch of basic bolognese

2 tablespoons harissa (you can leave out the harissa or substitute with chilli powder)

100 grams fresh baby spinach leaves

4 sheets of ready-to-use puff pastry

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds

Salt flakes

Accompaniment:  salad, natural yoghurt and lemon wedges

Pre-heat the oven to 200C (about 400F). Let the water drain from the chickpeas and heat up the oil in a large sauté pan. Toast the chickpeas in the pan with cinnamon and cumin for about 2 minutes.

Add the basic bolognese and bring it to a boil. Add the harissa and spinach and let it cook for about 2 minutes. Let the mixture cool down again.Season with salt and more harissa.

Divide the puff pastry sheets in two and roll them out. It gives more room for the filling. Put about 2 tablespoons of the filling in the middle of each pastry sheet fold it together around the filling and press the edges with a fork to make sure the filling stays inside. Put the pastry pirogues onto a baking sheet brush them with the egg yolks and sprinkle with whole cumin seeds and salt flakes.

Bake the pirogues in the oven for about 20 minutes until they are golden and crisp. Leave them on a grid to cool off for about 5 minutes and serve with salad, yoghurt and lemon wedges.

Bon appetit...

Potato pizza with bacon and spinach

Monday and yet another week of the food experiment has begun... Time flies by when you're enjoying yourself and I really am. I love cooking more than ever, even though it is hard to set your mind to it after a long day at work. I love that we get to try so many different recipes - there are still loads to choose from and it just keeps getting better. 

Today the menu consisted of Potato Pizza with bacon and spinach (originally it was fresh herbs but I forgot to chop some and left them out) with a side of Tomato Salad... YUM-O! what a way to start a new week - and there was enough to feed a small army, but then again I'm famous for making large amounts of food (I get that from my mother) so that's not a new thing. We were stuffed and we have enough for lunch tomorrow... I hope it tastes as good cold as it does when it's hot...

Now this time Carina has been so kind as to translate the recipe and thanks Carina! I'm just reposting what she wrote:

For four people you'll need:

Dough:

10 grams of yeast

4 dl lukewarm water

2 teaspoons of salt

2 tablespoons of rapeseed oil

approx. 600 grams of all-purpose flour, pizza flour or durum flour (I used half all purpose flour and half durum)

1 ¼ or 1½ dl mayonnaise

2-3 cloves of garlic

Topping:

6-8 big potatoes (I just used 300 grams of new danish potatoes)

2 apples

50 grams of spinach (I added spinach on half of my pizzas)

150 grams of grated cheese

200 grams of sliced bacon

salt and pepper

Mixed fresh herbs like oregano, basil, thyme, chives or chervil

Accompaniment:

1 big bowl of mixed salad or traditional tomato salad.

Dissolve yeast into water and add salt and oil. Put flour in gradually until you have a smooth dough. Set the dough to risefor 1½ hour in a warm place. Take the dough out of the bowl and split it into 4 portions. Roll each dough portion into four thin pizzas.

Mix mayonnaise together with the pressed or grated garlic and spread it on the pizza crusts. 

Slice the potatoes and apples into as thin pieces (use a mandolin iron, if you have one) as you can and spread the slices over the 4 pizza crusts. Sprinkle the spinach and cheese on. Finally add the bacon slices on top and season it with salt and pepper. Bake the pizzas at 250C for approx. 15 minutes (remember to check them, so they don’t turn black)

Sprinkle with fresh herbs just before serving and serve a big bowl of salad.

Bon appetit...

Read about Carina's experience with this recipe - HERE

Wrap Around

This was our second dish in the cooking project and I'm tempted to call it food of the God's - well the author of the cookbook has done a mighty fine job combining one delicious ingredient after another... Yum-O! My husband was fond of this dish as well and suggested that the other dressing we usually put on our tortillas also could be good in this wrap - I think we might try that some day as well. 

We got home pretty late, I had forgotten that the chicken had to marinade for 3 hours but we didn't want to eat that late, so I just let it marinade for an hour or so and the result was really good! The soy sauce in the marinade helps to make the chicken tender and it also helps keeping it moist - I don't think it's even possible to dry out this chicken as it is cooked in the leftover marinade. Very delicious!

Well this time Carina was the quick one and posted the recipe before I had even eaten, so I'm just reposting what she has posted.

Wrap Around  

Wrap Around - spinach

For four people you'll need:

Marinade:

4 chicken breasts

1dl Soya sauce

1dl liquid honey

Curry dressing:

1dl yoghurt natural

1dl mayonnaise (I used Miracle Whip Balance 10%)

½ clove of garlic

2 teaspoons of curry powder

salt

Filling:

1 cucumber

2 apples

50g of baby spinach (I put lettuce in my husband's wraps as he isn't very fond of spinach)

6-8 tortillas

Sesame sprinkle:

100grams of black sesame seeds

100grams of white sesame seeds

salt

Put the chicken breasts in a plastic bag. Stir together soya sauce and honey, and pour it into the plastic bag. Leave it to marinade for at least 3 hours in the fridge (1 hour will do as well). Stir together yoghurt, mayonnaise and finely chopped garlic in a bowl. Season it with curry and salt, then put it in the fridge till you need it.

Preheat the oven to 185C ( about 365F). Put the marinaded chicken breasts into an oven-proof dish and cook them for about 15-20 minutes. Because I only marinaded the chicken for about an hour I turned up the oven to 200C (400F) and let the it cook for about 20 minutes.Take out the chicken breasts and cut it into slices.

Cut the cucumber into long sticks. Remove the core from the apples and cut them into small thin “boats”.

Warm the white sesame seeds on a hot frying pan and mix the black sesame seeds with salt flakes in a bowl. Then add the white sesame seeds.

Warm the tortillas in the oven for about 1 minute. Spread out the curry dressing thinly on the tortilla. Put chicken, apple, cucumber, spinach onto the tortilla and sprinkle some sesame seeds over and wrap it. Bon appetit...  

Take a look at my friends results with this dish HERE

Potato dish with ham and rosemary

And so our cookbook challenge begins with this fine dish:

Potato dish with ham and rosemary

Well I just picked it, cause it looked easy to make after a long day at work and it was. It took about an hour all together and I don't think that's very long considering that the cooking time is 30 minutes. Personally I loved the way the rosemary, garlic and spinach tasted all mixed together and I think you have to like this combo to like this dish. My husband wasn't very fond of it and I admit it has a very unusual taste, but my taste buds were having a party with every bite. It was mushy underneath all the cheese but that's the only low point.

Now to the recipe, for four people you'll need:

800 grams of potatoes
1 large onion
30 grams of melted butter
salt and pepper
200g fresh spinach (that's what I used and it worked out fine)
1½ teaspoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 cloves of garlic
125-150 grams of your preferred cheese
8 slices of Italian or Spanish salted air-dried ham

Grate the potatoes or cut them into super thin slices and put them in a bowl of cold water right away. Drain them and lay the potatoes out on a piece of cloth and pat them dry. Butter a small baking dish. Finely chop the onion and spread it out evenly with the potatoes in the bottom of the baking dish. Drizzle over the remaining of the butter and hit it with some salt and pepper.

Lay the spinach on top of the potatoes and onions . Sprinkle it with finely chopped rosemary and garlic. If you have leftover celery it would tast good finely chopped in this dish too.

Sprinkle over the cheese and put the baking dish in a cold oven. Turn it on at 200C (400F) and leave it to bake for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven 15 minutes before it is done and let it cook until it's golden on top. Lay out the pieces of ham on top of the dish before serving. Bon appetit...

Take a look at my friends results with this dish HERE