Onion and bacon pie

Between all of these travel and gardening posts, I haven't forgotten that I'm pretending to write a food blog. So I thought posting a recipe every once in a while would be a great idea? This is nothing revolutionary or even fancy, but it is delicious, easy and quick. Perfect for a potluck, BBQ table or nibble on the side as well as for a lunch or dinner on it's own or with a fresh salad. The ingredients are all staple basics (yes, of course bacon is considered a basic food item which should always be around, if not in the fridge, at least a few leftover slices in the freezer).

I might have posted something similar in the past, I can't remember. I was inspired by this post on  I Heart Baking, but it only had a link to a recipe, not the recipe itself. And the link led to a site that was behind a paywall, so I decided I can make up my own recipe thank you very much.

Onion and bacon pie (serves 6-8):
2 tbsp olive oil
4 thick slices of smoked bacon
4-5 large onions
2/3 cup double cream
2/3 cup milk
3 eggs
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp whole-grain mustard
1 tsp garlic paste
black pepper
75 g cheddar, finely grated
1 shortcrust pastry (I made the most amazing shortcrust pastry the other day, recipe will follow)

The howto:
Chop the bacon, and cook until done over medium heat in one tbsp olive oil. Remove bacon from the pan. Finely slice the onions. Cook over medium heat in one tbsp olive oil until soft. I like to leave in all that wonderful bacon fat in the pan when cooking the onions for extra flavour. If you are patient enough, caramelise the onions slowly. Remove onions from the pan when cooked.

Preheat oven to 225 degrees C. In a large bowl, mix the cream, milk, eggs and spices. Add about half of the cheese, the bacon and the onions and mix. Line a pie tin with the shortcrust pastry (I use a silicon pie mould, so I don't butter it, but if you use another type of tin, it might be worth buttering it to ensure you will be able to remove the pie when done). Pour the filling into the pie mould and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until the pie is golden and bubbling and not too wobbly in the middle.

The verdict:
Onions. And bacon. Do I need to say more? This type of pie usually disappears so quickly from the fridge that if I didn't have the pictures to prove it, I wouldn't have believed it existed in the first place.

Caramelised onion and goat cheese pizza

I can't believe we are already a week into June! Where has this spring gone? At least the weather is very summery today, the sun is shining and it's nice and warm outside despite the forecasted rain. What an anomaly! I am planning to finally wash all the linen and towels that have accumulated as I can finally get them dried properly outside. Laundry always smells so good when it dries outside. And I finally got around to wash a big bunch of towels I bought a while ago but haven't been able to use as I have been to lazy to wash them. Oh the troubles we have in our lives...

I was doing my normal Saturday morning thing, trying to figure out what to cook for the weekend. I haven't looked at my Pinterest boards for a while, I keep on pinning but never actually go back to look for inspiration on my boards. This time I decided to go through my Cheat Meals board to get inspired. I have pinned this caramelised onion and goat cheese pizza from Minimalist Baker ages ago and decided it was time to recreate it. It's simple and I love caramelised onions and goat's cheese. And I always make the same pizzas, so I thought it would be nice to try something different. The culinary consultant chose to go with his usual salami and cheese instead. His loss! And you have to try the balsamic reduction, it takes the pizza to another level!

Caramelised onion pizza (serves 1-2):
Pizza dough or flatbread (for my favourite pizza dough see here)
2 onions, caramelised and seasoned with salt and pepper (for instructions see here)
85 g soft goat cheese
a splash of milk
3/4 cup (185 ml) balsamic vinegar
basil or rocket for topping

The howto:
Prepare the pizza dough and caramelise the onions. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Roll the pizza dough a pizza of your choice, brush with olive oil and pre-cook for about 5 minutes. Add a splash of milk to the goat cheese to make it spreadable. Spread the goat cheese on the pizza and top with onions. Cook for another 5-10 minutes until the crust is golden and crunchy. While the pizza is cooking, prepare the balsamic reduction. Put the balsamic into a small saucepan and cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat without letting it boil. The balsamic will become syrup-y and reduce in volume by about half. After removing the pizza from the oven, top with balsamic and basil or rocket.

The verdict:
This was a delicious pizza and a great change from my regular tomato based pizzas. The combination of goat cheese and caramelised onions is heavenly. And the balsamic reduction. Why haven't I know about it before this day?? It's sticky and strangely sweet and tangy and perfect to complement the goat cheese and onions. And it would be perfect for salads too!  

Veggie lasagna

This week I decided to be a vegetarian. Not for any other reason that just because. I came across this post about being vegetarian for a month on A Cup of Jo, one of the blogs I'm following. I think the Culinary Consultant would rebel if I tried to introduce a month of vegetarianism in this house, but I decided he can put up with it for a week. 

I don't have an ethical problem with eating meat. I believe we need quite a bit of protein in our diet to cut out carbs, and meat is great for that. That should of course include a variety of white meat, fish and some read meat as well. Of course buying meat from animals who have lived a happy life and whose lives have been ended in the most humane way possible is always preferable over meat from intensely farmed animals. But it's also a balancing act with the financial constraints. Not a question I want to go into too much detail as I know I don't always practice what I preach or at least what I would prefer.

So this week, just to challenge myself to make new recipes, I went veggie. I tend to make the same old things over and over, and it was time to get new flavours into my food. And eating more veggies can never be bad for you. So I started with this delicious vegetarian lasagne which was an amalgamation of some recipes I've seen online and my own imagination. It does involve a bit of work with preparing sauced and veggies, but it's definitely worth the effort! Also, I would love to know how all the "real" food bloggers always manage to cut up their lasagne into these perfectly symmetrical square pieces which looks so great on the plate. Mine just ends up in a big sloppy pile no matter what I try to do. Oh well, it tastes great nonetheless.

Veggie lasagna (serves 6-8):
Tomato sauce:
about 20 tomatoes (or 2 jars of tinned tomatoes)
2 cloves of garlic
one sprig of rosemary
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 dried chilli (or more, depending on preference)
1 bay leaf
a pinch of sugar
salt and black pepper

Bechamel sauce from 1 litre of milk, see here for instructions

For the filling:
4 sweet peppers
4 onions (1 used 1 red and 3 yellow onions)
2 cups curly kale
garlic shoots (you know the greens that grow when you plant garlic cloves in the ground. If you don't have garlics growing in your garden, substitute with chives)
lasagna sheets
150 g mature cheddar

The howto:
Start by preparing the tomato sauce and Bechamel. The instructions can be found here. For the tomato sauce, if using fresh tomatoes, blanch and peel. If using frozen tomatoes (like I did), let them semi-thaw, at which stage it's easy to take out the hard green bit and peel off the skin. Put all the ingredients in a large saucepan and cook until desired consistency (i.e. not too runny), with my frozen tomatoes this took about 40 minutes of cooking without a lid.

While the sauces are cooking, chop the sweet peppers into large chunks, lightly coat in olive oil and roast in a 225 degree oven for about 35-40 minutes. Slice the onions and cook in a bit of olive oil in a frying pan until starting to soften. Grate the cheese.

Start by spreading a bit of Bechamel in the bottom of a oven proof dish, and top with lasagne sheets. Add a layer of Bechamel, half of the tomato sauce, half of the onions, peppers and kale. Add some chopped garlic shoots and some cheese. Add another layer of lasagne sheets and build an identical layer to the first one. Top with a final layer of pasta and pour the rest of the Bechamel on top and sprinkle grated cheese on top. Cook in a 200 degree oven for an hour until golden and bubbly.

The verdict:
I am so happy this lasagne turned out to be full of flavours and really delicious. The Culinary Consultant thought it wasn't too bad given the circumstance (i.e. the lack of dead animal). I have no qualms about making this again, to me it was at least as good as a regular lasagne, possibly even better. If you are going to make home made lasagne, it's without a doubt worth making your own Bechamel and tomato sauce, it just brings that extra flavour to it and is worth every extra minute you spend on cooking. Seriously, you have to try this. I suspected it would be a decent meal, but it was just amazing, the favours were so good. I rarely get completely overwhelmed by my own creations, but this was seriously good. 

Oven baked onion rings

I have been contemplating my life quite a lot lately. After new year, first it was the decision to live more in the moment, to worry less and to enjoy the good things. I have really tried to live up to my word for 2014, 'cherish'. It's just little things, I try to be very aware of the moments when I'm really happy. Like the great feeling I have when I drive home from the gym in the evening, or when I snuggle up to the Culinary Consultant when we are watching something scary on TV and I have to move over from my sofa to his just to feel safe. If anyone told me a year ago I will be blogging about cuddling up with a guy on a sofa I would have told them they need to have their head examined. But that's the beauty of life, you never know what will happen or how the things you experience will change you as a person.

I was thinking about the choices I have made in my life, and how they have led me to where I am right now. Was there one specific point that committed me onto the path that got me here? I don't really think so, I think we make up our future all the time, with all the small actions and decisions we take in life. But the truth is, I wouldn't be where I am today unless I had decided to move to Cambridge. And I would never have moved here unless my supervisor hadn't invited me to come. And I wouldn't have worked with my supervisor if I hadn't applied for that summer job so many years ago. And there are so many other situations where I could have selected differently. I could have joined a different gym. I could have said no when asked out for dinner the first time. I could have told the Culinary Consultant he was crazy even thinking of buying a house together before our first anniversary as a couple. But nonetheless, here we are. In this beautiful house. I don't know whether I will be here in a year's time. Anything can happen. But there is no point in worrying about what is to come. One thing I do know for a fact, in a year's time I won't be in the same job I'm now. And that is a big relief. Actually, in just over a week, I won't be in this job anymore. And that is a thought I cherish. February 24th will come soon. And then there will be new changes and challenges again. I have to admit, I wouldn't mind a bit of smooth sailing for the next few years. No new jobs, but rather being happy in the one I got. No moving house, please. In general, no big changes. Just a bit of cooking, crafting and gardening. And taking time to smell the flowers. I'm not one for big adventures right now. That's not to say I won't wish for big adventures at some point in my life. But for now, I want to enjoy the things I wanted for so long and now have. 

Despite my wish for nothing new and shocking, one part of my life where I don't mind trying new things is in the kitchen. And when I saw these baked onion rings on Sally's baking addiction, I knew I had to try them. They sounded and looked great. And who wouldn't love a good onion ring? Note that you should start the prep a day ahead, so these are not quick, spur of the moment onion rings.

Onion ring production pipeline

Baked onion rings (serves about 4):
1 giant onion (or two large regular onions)
1 pint of buttermilk (or in my case home-made buttermilk)
4 egg whites
85 g (2/3 cup) whole wheat flour
125 g (3/4 cup) ground cornmeal
60 g (1 cup) breadcrumbs (original recipe says Panko, but I didn't have any and neither does Tesco apparently)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
nonstick spray (I used olive oil spray)


The howto:
The day before your big onion ring day, cut the onion into rings and place them in a large shallow dish. Pour the buttermilk (or home-made buttermilk, which you can make by adding 2 tbsp of vinegar to your pint of milk and let stand for a few minutes. It will start to look curdled and slightly disgusting but that's ok, that's what it's supposed to look like) onto the onions and let stand in the fridge over night (or at least 4 hours according to the original recipe, but mine were soaking for about 18 hours). Apparently soaking your onions in buttermilk will make them soft and tender. I should probably have tested this using a double blinded placebo controlled trial, but for now I will believe that soaking really makes a difference.

The next day, start by pre-heating the oven to 220 degrees C. Then prepare the coating. Mix flour, cornmeal, breadcrumbs and the spices. In a bowl, lightly mix the egg whites. Take a onion ring from the buttermilk, coat in egg white and mix in the coating until covered. Place on a oven sheet covered with parchment paper. Before placing in the oven, spray the onion rings with the olive oil spray lightly. Cook for 10-15 minutes, remove from oven, flip the onion rings, spray with olive oil spray and cook for another 10-15 minutes, or until your desired level of crispness. 

Before baking.

The verdict:
These onion rings certainly are healthier than your average onion ring. They are good, but I would not dare to say anywhere close as good as the real thing. But they have their own charm, the coating certainly is crisp, and you can taste the flavour of the onion much better than in regular onion rings where most of the onion flavour is completely masked by the taste of oil. They were great served with pulled pork burgers. But they are quite a lot of work, coating all the rings and I ended up with four or five oven sheets full of rings. Good thing I have two ovens! Next time I make them, I won't use the world's largest onion, so that I can fit more of the rings onto the baking sheet, that should make things easier.

Bacon and cream cheese puffsies

So it's the last leg of the move. Well, the last leg of the first move that is. Almost everything is bundled up in boxes, bags or (very glamourously) bin bags. It's always the final stuff that is the hardest. Random things that you know you will need right up until the move, and then some other random bits and pieces which didn't fit into any box and are now just floating around. I have images flashing through my brain of binning it all, but can't go through with it. Even if it's a jug of olive oil which is almost finished, I can't throw it away if it's still useful. So it's time to make yet another box labeled "Completely random stuff" and throw in the loofah, a few jars of spices, a t-shirt and some jewellery in a box along with a bottle of rum, a fascinator and those left over key chains you know you know you will never use but just can't make yourself get rid of either. The funny thing is, I have already packed at least three "Completely random" boxes. And when I unpack them, I will just think "What the hell was I thinking". 

I can hardly fit into my apartment with all the boxes and bundles all around. I have divided the apartment into two parts, the clean part and the stuffed part. The clean part is a small corner that I have vacuumed, mopped, dusted and am now using to pile the cleaned stuff I won't be taking with me (my apartment is furnished). About a week to go before I leave for good, and I just descaled my kettle and cleaned all bread crumbs from the toaster. They are now waiting in the clean pile for the kitchen to get throughly cleaned so that they can go back to where they belong. Then there is the cluttered part. Which is filled floor to ceiling with boxes and weird bags and other bundles of stuff waiting to be moved. I just wish I could get rid of it all so I could get the rest of the apartment all cleaned out. Patience is definitely not my thing. So much still to clean, even if I've tried to do as many bits and pieces as I can along the way. 

I'm also trying to get rid of a few last bits and pieces of food. There is also an embarrassingly large number of boxes and bags filled with food I didn't manage to use pre-move. I think we will be able to live for at least a month, if not more, without grocery shopping with all the stuff me and the Culinary Consultant have stockpiled. And I have hardly bought any groceries at all this month! A few pints of milk, some fresh veg, but that's pretty much it. I have been a bit bad and bought some bread as well, and some evenings I have just eaten bread instead of working my way through my stashes. But at least the beans are gone! Huzzah!!

I had some left over puff pastry in the freezer, so I bought a pack of cream cheese and used up some left over onions and the last of what has turned out to be a huge bacon stash in my freezer. These small cheesy puffs are quick and easy to prepare, you could eat them as a side or as an appetizer or finger food snack. Or as I probably will, as a late night snack when I'm sick of tossing and turning in my bed without being able to go to sleep. 

Garlic, herb, bacon and onion puffsies* (makes about 12):
1 tbsp oil
4 rashers of bacon
1 yellow onion
puff pastry (about a 30x20 cm sheet) I had some pastry that came in two ready rolled sheets, and used one of them here
200 g (150g would be enough) cream cheese (I used Philadelphia garlic and herb)
(1 egg for egg wash)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil, and cook chopped onion until translucent and starting to soften a bit. Add finely chopped bacon, and cook until bacon is cooked through. Spread the cream cheese onto the pastry, leaving about an inch along the longer side of the rectangle free of cheese. Add onion and bacon mixture on top. You could season with some black pepper at this point if you like. Roll into a tight roll, and cut into 12 pieces. I find it easier to pinch using dental floss instead of a knife to keep the filling from oozing out. Brush with egg wash if you want a really golden finish (as usual I couldn't be bothered to do that). Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until golden and puffy. 
*yes, puffsies is a word because I say it is.

The verdict:
It's puff pastry, cheese and bacon. What's not to love. Apart from the effect it has on my waist. Well, the part that used to be a waist and now is a shapeless ball. I will use my standard response, I'm stressed because of the move, and I have to be at home packing and cleaning (i.e. sitting on the sofa thinking about all the things that need to be done) instead of going to the gym. This is why I need my routines. I can't  live without my beloved routines, it all gets effed up. So, now I will dig into my cheese and bacon puffsies and stare at the mess that is my life. Just another week to go. In this mess. Then there will be a new mess. But I'm just trying to fool myself into thinking this is the only mess I need to get out of and things are getting better after that. Self deception is the best form of deception. 

Card of the day:
This is one from the archives, as I haven't had space or time for crafting for a while. This was a birthday card for a friend. I used the Hero Arts handbag background stamp and coloured it with Tim Holtz Distress markers. I matted the bags onto two different papers from the Dovecraft Back to Basics III set. The sentiment is a Tim Holtz Stampers anonymous stamp which I stamped in Walnut Stain Distress ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I used ink blending foam to apply Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick Distress ink around the edges of the sentiment. I added a pink ribbon, and attached the sentiment using foam adhesive.

Healthy "onion rings"

The other day I stumbled upon a blog called The Peaceful Mom, and more specifically a series of blog posts on how a family of five lives on less than $28,000 a year. I found that an absolutely fascinating read. I constantly struggle with my finances, but in the back of my mind, I know a lot of it is because I'm just not organised enough. And I indulge in crazy impulse buys, like last month when I decided I wanted to start doing paper crafts, and instead of buying things little by little, I spent all the money I was going to save that month on inks, stamps and cardstock. Especially with my work contract coming to an end very soon, and not too many jobs around to apply for, I should be saving all the money I can to prepare for possibly being unemployed for a while. 

The blog I found made really interesting reading. I think the lady who writes the blog is really brave to be so honest about her family's financial situation, something which is pretty much tabu to talk about. Also, she is very careful about not being judgemental, she just says these are the choices that work for her family, and everyone should try to figure out what is important for them and to work towards those goals. The blog highlights the need to plan your finances, and also prepare for those bills you know are coming. Also, I loved the idea that was raised in one of the posts: do you really need everything you think you need? I have lived without a TV for a few years now, and every time I tell someone I don't have a TV (usually to explain why I haven't watched this or that TV show), I just get a look like I'm crazy. I'm not saying anyone else should necessarily get rid of their TV, but I can honestly say I don't miss it one bit. I watch DVDs, sometimes I watch something on iPlayer, but mostly I go to the gym, do crafts, and read (or write) blogs. For me, the internet is something I couldn't live without, I would be bored in no time, but I never want to get a TV again. Well, my point was, if you are trying to save money, hop over and have a look at the blog.

Talking about saving money, this is a super frugar recipe. Who wouldn't love some nice hot onion rings, drenched in all that heart friendly fat... Well, Best Friend wouldn't, as for some inexplicable reason she can't stand onions. But other than that, she is a lovely person! It has just been a source of unending wonder and amazement to me how someone doesn't like onions. But fair enough, that just leaves more onions for the rest of us onion lovers. 

This is not really a recipe, it's just a really great way to cook onions. And despite being much more healthy than those battered and deep fried onion rings you so crave every once in a while, these are at least as tasty (actually, I think they are superior to the battered ones, but I'm a bit biased I think).The key is to cut them relatively thin so that they really crisp up real good, and then enjoy them piping hot, right out of the oven. You can use either yellow or red onions, the red ones caramelise a bit more as they have a higher sugar content, so they are my favourites. These make a great side to roasted chicken, a nice juicy steak or served with other roasted veg and topped with a bit of goats cheese.

Oven baked crisped onion (serves 1):
1 huge onion (or two medium ones)
1 tbsp oil (I used smoke flavoured extra virgin rapeseed, but olive or even coconut would work great)
salt and pepper to taste

The howto:
Pay close attention and read through the instructions at least a few times before starting, because this is really complicated. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Slice onion into 1/2 cm thick slices and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Make sure the onions don't overlap, because you want then to be all nice and crisp, and they won't be crisp if they overlap. Drizzle with oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Bake in 200 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until nice and crisp around the edges. Serve immediately!

The verdict:
I like to bake my onions until they are browned and super crispy. This does lead to a bit of a problem though, as the smoke detector in my house is ridiculously sensitive, and as soon as I open the oven door, I know I will have to run down the stairs and turn off the fire alarm. But it's worth it every time, as this is one of my favourite sides to serve with practically any meal. Or just to eat on it's own. I know, I'm sick, but I have been known to eat a whole batch of these straight from the baking sheet, without even putting them onto a plate. I actually had to show great restraint to be able to get a photo for the blog as it meant I actually had to transfer them onto a plate, and wait until I took the photo. Which is why there isn't too much artistic touch in this photo (either...). I just wanted to tuck into my lovely onions!