Cranberry and Camembert Quiche

We had a work Christmas lunch last week and everyone was asked to bring something. Initially I planned to bake a cake or a sweet treat but I thought I'd surprise everyone with a savoury treat. Plus I had quite a lot of leftover ingredients from my recent Christmas party so I decided on a cranberry and camembert quiche. I made 2 quiches - 1 vegetarian (cranberry, camembert and rosemary) and a non-vegetarian (cranberry, camembery, bacon and thyme). Most people preferred the vegetarian quiche including self confessed carnivores. I have to admit that my general motto is that everything tastes better with bacon but not on this occasion! Personally I preferred the vegetarian option as well although the cranberries were a little tart for me. Nevertheless everyone enjoyed the quiches and they didn't last long! They are really quick and easy to make and would for a stunning plate at the Christmas table. 

I'm sending this to the Fresh Cranberry Recipe Link Up 2014 hosted by Jen from Blue Kitchen Bakes. 

It's also perfect for the No Waste Food Challenge hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary as I made use of leftover ingredients.  I had initially planned to bake a Christmas wreath bread with baked camembert in the centre for my party but didn't get round to it. The cranberries were for a sauce and garnish and I had cream leftover from myo other recipes.

 vegetarian version

 place fresh cranberries on pastry that has been blind baked. Scatter the chopped camembert cheese 

 add the cream mixture and some fresh herbs

 fresh from the oven

 I love the colour of the fresh cranberries 

 the non-vegeratian version with bacon and thyme

 add chopped cooked bacon to the quiche 

 You can clearly see the bacon pieces

For the pastry - makes 1 quiche
280g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
140g cold butter, cut into pieces
8 tablespoons cold water

For the vegetarian filling

150g fresh cranberries

1/2 box of camembert cheese,cut into cubes

2 eggs

300mls cream

fresh rosemary 

salt and pepper

For the non vegetarian filling 

150g fresh cranberries 

1/2 box of camembert cheese, cut into cubes

2 eggs

300mls cream

7 strips of streaky bacon, cooked and chopped into small pieces

fresh thyme

ground pepper 

• To make the pastry using a food processor - place the flour and butter and blitz until it resembles breadcrumbs. Slowly add the water one tablespoon at a time until a dough forms. 
• Alternatively, rub the butter and flour together until it resembles breadcrumbs. Slowly add water one tablespoon at a time until a dough forms. 
• Roll into a ball, wrap with clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking. 
• Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and line your tart tin. 
• Use a small ball of pastry scrap to press the pastry into the corners of the tin. 
• Chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 200C.
• Line the tart case with kitchen foil or baking paper and fill with baking beans. 
• Blind bake for 20 minutes, then remove the beans and foil/paper and continue baking for 5 - 10 minutes until the pastry is light brown.
• For the vegetarian filling, place the cranberries and cheese on top of the pastry.
• Whisk 2 eggs into 300mls of cream and add a little seasoning.
• Pour this mixture over the pastry and add some sprigs of fresh rosemary.
• Bake for approximately 45-50 minutes or until golden brown and the quiche is set.
• For the non-vegetarian filling, cook the bacon under the grill or in an oven. Cut into small pieces.
• Place the cranberry and cheese on top of the pastry followed by the cooked bacon and fresh thyme.
• Whisk 2 eggs and 300mls of cream and add some pepper (I didn't add any salt as the bacon is quite salty).
• Pour this mixture on top of the quiche and bake for approximately 45- 50 minutes or until golden brown and the quiche is set. 

 

Olive Oil Cake with Rosemary and Chocolate

This month's We Should Cocoa Challenge which is guest hosted by Linzi from Lancashire Food chose the theme 'new ingredient' ie a new ingredient paired with chocolate that you've not tried before. I've baked a lot with chocolate and have tried many combinations so my thoughts turned to herbs. I know rosemary and chocolate is a fairly common combination but it's not one I've tried previously so I was excited to try it out plus it would fit the challenge and quite a few other blog challenges too! 

A quick google search brought me to this delicious looking cake which I knew I had to try. It's a very unassuming cake. Not much to look at but it sure packs a punch in terms of flavour. Everyone who ate the cake said it was absolutely delicious. The rosemary flavour is strong but not overpowering. The little bits of chocolate complements the rosemary rather than opposing it. The cake itself tastes "healthy" especially with the wholemeal and spelt flour. Definitely a very successful recipe and one that I will be making again without a doubt. 

As mentioned, I'm entering this to We Should Cocoa hosted by Linzi from Lancashire Food who chose the theme 'New Ingredient'. We Should Cocoa is the brainchild of Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog. 

As it contains rosemary, I'm also entering it to Cooking With Herbs hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage.

I think this cake also fits the theme for this month's Four Seasons Food hosted by Louisa from Eat Your Veg and Anneli from Delicieux. The theme this month is Virtuous Food and eating this cake definitely makes you feel virtuous even though it's cake! 

As this cake is made from scratch, I'm sending it to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior.

The One Ingredient Challenge hosted by Nazima from Franglais Kitchen and Laura from How to Cook Good Food has the theme of "Healthy Recipes" As far as cake goes, I think this is fairly healthy as it contains no butter and other healthier ingredients.

You know how much I love a multi blog challenge recipe so I'm going to send this to Tea Time Treats guest hosted by Jane from The HedgeCombers and run by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is eggs, eggs, eggs! This recipe contains 3 eggs and it's a perfect tea time treat.

 caster sugar, spelt flour, olive oil, wholemeal flour, milk, rosemary, eggs, dark chocolate 

 flour mixture on left, rosemary milk mixture on the right and chopped dark chocolate 

 ready to go in the ove

 It's a plain looking cake but it's really tasty 

 You can see the lovely crumb texture and the bits of hidden chocolate 

Recipe adapted slightly from local belle

120g spelt flour
230g wholemeal flour
170g caster sugar
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
2.5 tablespoons chopped rosemary
140g dark chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup milk
1 cup olive oil
3 eggs

• Preheat the oven to 170C
• Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and add in the olive oil, milk and rosemary. 
• Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.
• Stir in the chopped chocolate.
• Pour the batter into a round cake tin or a loaf tin and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely. 

Browned butter, orange, rosemary and polenta madeleines

One day I decided I wanted to make madeleines. I didn't want to make plain ones so I started looking online for recipes and when I came across this recipe from Baker by Nature, I knew I had to make it.... immediately! I was intrigued by the use of browned butter and the addition of rosemary. I don't often bake with herbs but when I do, they always turn out beautifully and this was no exception.

These madeleines are gorgeous. They have a crunchy texture from the polenta and I love the subtle taste of rosemary which pairs well with orange. The browned butter adds a slight nutty flavour to it. I now feel inspired to experiment with other flavours.

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes which is hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and co-hosted by myself on alternate months. The letter this month is O for Orange.

I'm also sending this to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the idea is to make everything from scratch.

And to Cooking with Herbs hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage.

 adding chopped rosemary and orange zest 

 browned butter 

 ready to go in the oven 

 delicious!

Recipe adapted slightly from Baker by Nature 

Makes 30 madeleines

185g flour

90g butter

30g polenta

4 eggs

165g sugar

zest of 1 orange

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary 

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Start by making the browned butter - place butter in a small pan and melt gently over low heat until brown which will take approximately 8 - 10 minutes. Be careful not to burn your butter. 
• Place eggs in an electric mixer and beat on high speed until almost doubled in volume.
• Add sugar and continue mixing.
• Add vanilla extract, honey, orange zest and rosemary and mix well.
• Next gently fold in the flour and polenta with a spatula/wooden spoon.
• Finally add the browned butter and mix until just incorporated -do not over mix. 
• Spoon into madeleine moulds until 3/4 full and bake for 7 - 9 minutes or until golden brown and the madeleines are shrinking from the side.
• Remove from the tin and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Rosemary Nutmeg Custard Tarts and a review

I was sent a copy of Pie by Dean Brettschneider to review. I jumped at the chance as I rarely make pies or pastries so I thought it would be a good chance to try something different. I chose to make rosemary and nutmeg custard tarts partly because I was inspired by this year's Great British Bake Off where one of the technical challenges was to bake custard tarts. I was also intrigued by the flavour combination.

My first batch didn't work as I decided to make mini tarts and there was barely any space for the custard filling. I ended up with burnt custard and uncooked pastry. I started again and as I didn't have any tart tins, I used a muffin tin hence the rustic look.

The pastry was really quick and easy to make and tasted light and buttery. The filling was full of flavour and you can definitely taste the rosemary and nutmeg. All in all, a great recipe and one that I will definitely use again but with proper tart tins next time.

The book is a lovely hardback with 219 pages in total. The font size is reasonable and it's very easy to read. The lay out is generally with the recipe on one side and accompanying photo on the other side. There is a short introduction to each recipe, ingredients on the left and method on the right. When required, there is helpful pictorials illustrating certain techniques.

The book is divided into 10 chapters: I've included a selection of recipes from each section that caught my eye (this is not an exhaustive list)

Introduction 
The history of the humble pie
Ingredients
Equipment
Meat Pies - classic bacons and egg pie, chicken and pork pies with rocket pesto and pear mostarda, chicken, cranberry and camembert pies (perfect for Christmas!)
Seafood Pies - snapper, scallop and chervil pies, spicy monkfish pies
Vegetarian Pies - tomato and thyme tarte tatin, swiss chard, squash and ricotta pithiviers
Not-quite-a-pie - smoked fish empanadas, strawberry, raspberry and rhubarb shortcake
Sweet Pies - prune, pine nut and pumpkin tart, dark chocolate banoffee slab, Lemon, olive oil and blueberry tart, key lime pie
Basic recipes
Acknowledgements

My verdict - It's a beautifully presented book which is easy to read and has lots of good handy tips. The author suggests keeping the book at your bed-side for night time reading and I would agree. It really does teach you all you need to know about making pastries and I think the variety of recipes is excellent. There's definitely something for everyone in there. I especially like the fact that there is a picture for each recipe so you know what yours should look like. I have to say my tarts look nothing like the picture in the book but they were very tasty!

 ready to make the pastry 

 heat milk with rosemary

 

Recipe extracted from Pies by Dean Brettschneider, published by Jacqui Small www.jacquismallpub.com

- re produced with permission

Nutmeg and Rosemary Custard Tarts

Pastry

1 quantity of basic short pastry or basic sweet pastry. 

I chose basic short pastry : 

160g plain flour 

120g butter

good pinch of salt

50ml cold water 

Nutmeg and rosemary custard tart

600ml full fat milk

1 large sprig rosemary (I used 2) 

6 egg yolks

75g caster sugar

1 whole nutmeg

To serve

Icing sugar for dusting (optional) 

8 tips of rosemary (optional) 

Basic short pastry  

• Place flour, butter and salt in a large mixing bowl.
• Using your fingertips, gently rub ingredients together until they resemble rough breadcrumbs. 
• Do not over-mix otherwise butter will begin to melt from the heat of your hands.
• Add water and mix until a dough is formed 
• Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight. 
• Gently re-work pastry before using, taking care to ensure if remain cold and firm. 

• Make pastry ahead and rest it as required.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry until slightly larger than the tart tins being used, ensuring pastry is 3-4mm thick.
• Line the tart tins, ensuring that the pastry is well tucked into the contours and the edges are trimmed.
• Put these on a baking tray and chill for 30 minutes.
• To make custard, put milk and rosemary sprig into a saucepan and heat until lukewarm.
• Put egg yolks and sugar into a bowl and beat until pale and creamy. 
• Pour warmed milk onto the yolks and stir well - do not whisk or you will get bubbles.
• Strain into a jug and pour carefully into tart cases.
• Grate fresh nutmeg liberally over surface of each tart. 
• Bake in a preheated 200C oven for 10 minutes, then lower heat to 170C and bake until filling is just set and pastry is just starting to turn a golden colour, about another 10 minutes.
• Don't over-bake as the custard should be a bit wobbly when the tartlets come out of the oven. 
• The egg custard will continue to cook as it cools. 
• When tartlets are cooled, remove from tins and let cool completely on a rack.
• Lightly dust with icing sugar around the pastry edges, if desired, and place a small tip of rosemary on top of eaach.
• Serve at room temperature. 

Disclaimer: I received a free review copy from the publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Rosemary and walnut biscuits

This is a really simple recipe with great results. When I was brainstorming ideas for AlphaBakes 'R', I thought of raspberries, rhubarb and rosemary. I've already baked something with the first 2 ingredients so I started looking for recipes with rosemary. I had previously bookmarked a rosemary and parmesan biscuit but came across this on BBC Good Food and decided to give it a go. I'm so glad I did as it turned out beautifully. The rosemary was really fragrant although a lot of people could not guess what it was initially. The taste is subtle but definitely present and complemented the walnuts. This is a lovely, buttery shortbread with the distinct aroma and flavour of rosemary and crunch of walnuts. 

As mentioned, I am entering this to AlphaBakes which I am hosting this month. This challenge is co-hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter for June 2013 is 'R' for rosemary. 

I very rarely get a chance to join in Herbs on Saturday hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage as I don't often bake with herbs so I'm really excited to participate this month. 

 rosemary & walnuts 

 cookie dough

knead in the chopped nuts 

 shape into a log and refrigerate

 slice and bake 

 delicious! 

Recipe from BBC Good Food 

325g plain flour
200g salted butter
125g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
60g walnuts, chopped

• Put the flour and butter in a food processor and whizz until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. 
• Add the sugar, egg yolks and rosemary and whizz to a dough. 
• Tip onto a lightly floured work surface and knead in the walnuts. 
• Shape into a log about 5cm across. 
• Wrap in plastic and chill for an hour.
• Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160/gas 4. 
• Slice the dough into biscuits and arrange on a buttered baking sheet. 
• Bake for 20 minutes then cool.