Harvest cooking: layered apple cake

My friend gave me lots of apple (thank you, Carol!) so I baked a layered apple cake. Everyone loved it and asked for the recipe so here it is.

Layered apple cake

Ingredients:

 

Dry ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup farina cereal or semolina

1 cup sugar

1 table spoon baking powder

1/2 tea spoon cinnamon

a dash of salt

7 tart medium apples or 13-14 small ones / about 6 cups when shredded. If your apples are sweet you may want to reduce the amount of sugar.

1/4 tea spoon nutmeg

1 stick cold butter (has to be refrigerated until needed)

rectangular baking pan

cooking spray

wax paper or parchment paper

How to make an apple layered cake:

1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, divide the mix into 3 parts.

2. Prepare your apples: remove core, seeds and peel. Shred them with vegetable shredder, mix with a nutmeg and divide to 2 parts.

 

3. Preheat your oven to 350"F degree. Prepare your baking pan: spray it a cooking spray, line with a sheet of either wax or parchment paper and spray the paper.

4. Arrange the layers in your baking pan: spread 1st part of dry ingredients, then add apples on top. Repeat one more time, then add the remaining dry ingredients as a last layer. We got 3 dry ingredients layers and 2 apple ones.

 

4. Take your butter out of refrigerator, quickly shred it on the same vegetable shredder and arrange on top of last layer.

5. Bake at 350'F for about 45 minutes until the cake will turn golden brown. Remove from the oven, cool it down, slice and serve. It will pair well with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Roasted red pepper pasta

I first heard about this recipe while I was walking on a treadmill at our gym while watching an episode of Pioneer Women (oh, the irony of diet and exercise!). It seemed very easy to make so when I got home I pulled out the ingredients and made it for dinner. It was delicious. So, definitely a keeper for me. Try it and you will like it, too.

 You can find a recipe here. 

I made my version similar except I used a different brand roasted peppers, a different type of noodles, lighter cream (half and half), thai basil and water instead of chicken broth to make it lighter. Delicious and quick!

 

Pappardelle egg pasta

 Tassos Fire Roasted Florinas Peppers 

 

Thai basil

How to make a chocolate covered strawberries

Summer is almost here and so is sun, fun and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. My friend Tania* thinks there is nothing better then start your day with a light desert :) she loves strawberries and always makes small batches of this almost guilt-free desert when berries are in season.

Chocolate cover strawberries are quick to make, delicious and look fabulous. All you need to make it is some fresh strawberries with stems, white and milk chocolate and of course, some cooking inspiration.  

As with all berries, this is quickly perishable desert so prepare it on the day of serving.

Here is how to make it:

1. Rinse your berries and dry them thoroughly on a paper towel.

 

2. Use chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate. Melt your white and milk chocolate separate, in a double boiler, stirring until it is melted completely. If you'd like, add about 1/2 to 1 tea spoon of neutral tasting cooking oil to make chocolate more flexible. Do not cover your chocolate to avoid a liquid condensation and dripping into your pan.

3. Remove the chocolates from the heat. Hold your prepared berries by the stem and dip them in either white or milk chocolate. Place on prepared baking sheet lined with a parchment or wax paper. Use the contrast color chocolate and a fork or culinary bag to drizzle over your berries.

 

4. Place strawberries in a refrigerator for about 30 minutes to an hour until the chocolate is set. Your fabulous chocolate covered strawberries are ready to serve!

*Tania is one of the owners of the cozy guest house by the Black Sea. If you'd like to have a summer vacation right next to the one of the best Crimean beaches, Belyaus, please  contact her through her Instagram (@belayus_homesweethome) She will be happy to hear from you!

 

Lemon Curd Bars recipe

I found this recipe on Allrecipies.com. I was looking for ways to use the enormous amount of lemon curd I made this year and this recipe was exactly what I needed. The bars are delicious, easy to make and you can wrap and freeze them for future use.

I made small changes in their recipe so please see below. If you want to use the original recipe, please simply go here

Here is what you need to make Lemon Curd Bars:

1 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

 20 oz lemon curd (purchased or you can make it yourself, the recipe is here)

3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

How to make Lemon Curd Bars:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Step 1. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until creamy. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Pat 3/4 of mixture into bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

2. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Spread curd over baked layer. Add coconut and walnuts to remaining crumb mixture (step 1); stir to mix. Sprinkle over curd.

3. Bake additional 25 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Cut into squares.

So this recipe is definitely a keeper for me.

Enjoy!

Summer eggplant salad recipe

I love the taste of this easy to make eggplant salad. It goes well with a BBQ or fresh baked bread. Delicious! 

You will need:

1 eggplant

1 large carrot, shredded

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

3 garlic clove, minced

bunch of fresh parsley, chopped

olive oil for frying

salt, pepper, white vinegar to taste

Prepare the eggplant: wash it, cut in half and then cut to wedges. Place in a colander, add some salt and mix. Leave for 30 minutes, then wash under running water and squeeze out the water from the wedges.

At the same time, place the shredded carrots in a large bowl and add minced garlic. Fry the chopped onion with the small amount of olive oil. When the onion will turn golden in color, add it to a carrot-garlic mix and stir all together.

Fry the eggplant wedges until soft and golden brown and put in a bowl. Add the rest of vegetables and parsley, mix and add salt, pepper and vinegar to taste. Enjoy!

Cooking with herbs: lemon rosemary shortbread cookies

Our rosemary bush became so huge this summer so I decided it's time to trim it. I've got so much of the aromatic branches that I decided to dry some and use some fresh. I made some rosemary oil and wanted to bake some cookies. I found the original recipe on allrecipe.com and slightly changed it to my taste and the cookies turned out great. I brought them to a dinner party and they were a hit.

So here is what you need to make lemon rosemary shortbread cookies:

3 sticks unsalted butter (113g each), at room temperature

2/3 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

natural turbinado sugar crystals for decoration (optional)

Blend together the butter and 2/3 cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour, salt, rosemary and lemon zest until well mixed. The dough will be soft so cover it and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375'F. Dust the rolling pin and rolling surface with some flour and gently roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out your cookies with a cookie cutter and place them 1" apart on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the tops, if you would like or bake them as is.

Bake for approximately 9 to 10 minutes or until golden at the edges. Carefully transfer them to a wire rack with a spatula to cool. 

Delicious!

Candied lemon Meyer's peel

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had lots of lemons this winter and was looking for an easy way to store them for future use. So I froze the juice and used the peel to make a candied lemon peel. All you need is sugar, water and of course, a lemon peel ( I am using a lemon Meyer one and just love how thin and fragrant the skin is).

 Here is how I made it:

 

1. Clean your lemons with warm water and wipe them dry. Cut in half horizontally and juice them, using citrus juicer. Strain the juice through fine mesh colander and pour into prepared ice cube trays. Save the peel.

 

2. Cut the half lemon peel into quarters. With a flexible knife, remove the inner white lining and discard it. Cut the lemon peel into long skinny strips. Pack it in the prepared measuring cup (I am using 2-cup measuring cup as a measure) .

3. Heat 4 cups of water until it boils. Add 2 cups packed lemon peel, reduce the heat and cook about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the peel with a slotted spoon and set aside.

4. Add 4 cups of sugar to the water, increase the heat and cook until the sugar dissolve, constantly stirring. Add the peel, boil about 1-2 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook for about 40 minutes, stirring from time to time.

5. Remove the peel out of the syrup with a slotted spoon and transfer it on to prepared cookies trays lined with a parchment paper.

6. Let it air dry for a couple of days. I am tossing mine from time to time to make sure it will dry well. If it feels dry enough, it's time to store it.

I am using a glass jar with a vacuum seal and storing my candied peel in the refrigerator. The leftover syrup can be used also so I just sealed it in jars and put it the refrigerator.

What's for dinner?

The National cuisine week has ended and I am so excited to try some new recipes.

Last night I decided to try one of them, the mushrooms and potato one. Originally it was published on Tanya's blog and she used wild mushrooms for her dish. I did not have Chanterelles so I used the regular button mushrooms you can buy at any grocery store.

 The result was delicious! My family was fed, happy with their dinner and it was nice to add a new touch to the way we are cooking.

 I will definitely try more of the published recipes!