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Is there a way to make treacle tart soft and not chewy, which is how mine turn out. Would covering during baking help, or would I have to add eggs and/or cream, which I'd prefer not to do but will if it's the only way.

A bread of Cyprus/Greece/Turkish origin. Dough: Make 1-4 days ahead - 25g sugar - 4g instant dried yeast - 100g yogurt or buttermilk - 140g water - apx. 15g olive oil - 9g salt - 450g AP fluor - Mix all but the flour. - Mix in the flour. - Knead, rest and repeat until a smooth strong dough forms. - Cover and rest for a night and up to 4. Fillings: - 230g of a mixture of coarsely chopped salty cheeses - Feta, halloumi, kashkaval, sirene. You can also throw in mozzarella. - 1-2 scallions, chopped (optional) - A handful of chopped mint (optional) - A handful of chopped herbs: oregano, thyme, marjoram, etc. - Apx 8 garlic cloves, halved (optional) - A small handful of olives, coarsely chopped (optional. I used Tassos, but most types will work) - Filling 1: 100g roasted peppers, coarsely chopped (or instead, use double the next filling) - Filling 2: 1 large onion and one leek, chopped and sauteed soft (or instead, use another 100g roasted peppers) Also: - a 22cm spring form pan - 1/2 tsp of silan (or honey) mixed with 2 tsp water and a pinch of salt - 25g toasted sesame - 1-1.5 tsp nigella seeds (optional) Method: - Mix nigella and sesame. - Grease the pan well and sprinkle some sesame and nigella. --- - Flatten (with your hands) the dough on a lightly dusted surface. - Cover and let rest 15 minutes. --- - Roll the dough into a rectangle, dusting as needed. - Scatter the peppers on one half. Scatter the onion and leek on the other. - Scatter the cheeses and herbs evenly. - Cut into 7 stripes, so that each contains either peppers or onion-leek (it's fine if some get mixed). - Roll each stripe into a spiral. --- - Brush/dip a spiral in the silan (or honey) mixture. Scatter/dip in the sesame. - Place in the pan, and repeat. You should have one in the middle, surrounded by the rest. - Cover with remaining silan and sesame. --- - Bake in a preheated oven at 200dc, for ~40-50 minutes until browned. - Release from the pan. Let cool for ~20 minutes (or more). - To serve, bake again for ~10-15 minutes until hot and crisp (or more if needed, e.g. if it was cooled for longer).

Spicy Mango Relish Ingredients 150g soft brown sugar 150 ml white wine vinegar 1 star anise 1/2 a red onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 thumb of ginger, chopped 1 or 2 red chillies, chopped 3-4 mangoes, chopped 1 tsp black mustard seeds salt and pepper Dissolve sugar in vinegar and add everything. Simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring regularly. Cool and keep in fridge. It keeps for months. Eat with chicken, cheese, curries, scotch eggs - pretty much anything.

Stromboli 8 servings I usually make one of these every weekend. It's great to have on hand for snacking and it never needs to get boring because you can change the filling to anything you want or anything that you have on hand. Dough Approximately 1 cup warm water 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon salt Filling 1/2 cup pizza sauce 1/2 pound sliced Italian cold cuts or pepperoni 1 to 1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese Topping 1 egg beaten In bowl of stand mixer whisk together flour, salt, sugar and yeast . Add the warm water and with dough hook mix on medium speed just until dough comes together. Add only enough water to have a soft but not sticky dough. If the dough is too soft the filling will break through as it bakes. Turn the mixer down to kneading speed and knead for 5 minutes. Let rest, in the bowl, for 10 minutes and then knead again for five minutes longer. Shape into a ball on the counter and cover with a bowl. (Do not place in an oiled bowl) Let rise for 45 minutes. Turn dough out onto lightly floured cutting board or counter and roll out into a large rectangle. Approximately 14 in by 11 in. Spread pizza sauce lightly and evenly over dough until about 2" away from edges. Top with sliced cold cuts or pepperoni and then sprinkle with cheese. Brush the edges of each of the short ends and fold over the filling. Brush one long side with beaten egg and starting on the opposite side roll up cinnamon roll style being careful to seal bottom edge. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with greased parchment paper or foil with the sealed edge at the bottom. Cut small slits at even intervals on the top being careful to cut almost to the bottom but not through. Cover with a thin moist towel and let rise for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350o. Brush with beaten egg. Bake in oven for 20 to 25 minutes until golden. Serve hot with extra pizza sauce if desired Note: the amounts on the filling ingredients are optional. I usually have two layers of thin sliced meat. I then cover it with shredded cheese. My favorites are mozzarella and Parmesan but I also use asiago, gorgonzola, and provolone if I have them on hand. For the pizza sauce, I spread it very thinly on the dough and then drizzle a little on top of the cheese. Sometimes I sprinkle Italian seasoning over the cheese. It helps to press everything down before you start to roll it up.

For a 25cm (10") round pan. 300g AP flour 145g water 5g salt 6g vinegar 2 tsp (8g) oil Apx 20-30g butter or apx 25g olive oil (or more as needed) - mixed with apx 20g water Knead the dough until smooth. Let it rest for an hour or so (covered). Prepare a 25cm (10") round pan and grease it. Divide the dough into two. Roll each piece as thin as possible. If it is sticky, brush it with some fat. It's ok if it's thicker on the edges. Place a sheet over the pan, and push it towards the edges. Cut the edges of, leaving enough overhang to cover the pie back up (i.e. it should go over 12-13 cm in every direction). Brush with fat, including the overhang. Repeat with the second sheet. With the cut-off dough, form two balls and roll again into two sheets, as thin as possible. Place one sheet in the pan. Put in the filling. Place the second small sheet on top. Brush with fat. Fold over the overhang to close up the pie. Brush with remaining fat, or more if needed. - Bake at 200dC for 10 minutes. Cut the pie into slices or squares. Once fully baked, the dough is hard to cut. Bake for 30 minutes until deep golden. You can now leave the pie until ready to serve, you can also freeze it or chill overnight. For serving bake another 20-30 minutes, until deep golden-brown and crisp.

Not very much like a regular cheesecake in texture - this one is more custardy and creamy. It's the easiest cheesecake I ever made. Amount for a 6" wide cake pan. For an 8" pan, double the ingredients. 300g cream cheese 110g sugar 2 large eggs 150g full fat cream (I think it could also work with sour cream or mascarpone if you'd like a tart cheesecake) 2 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 tsp salt some grated nutmeg apx 1/3 tsp fine orange zest 30g flour Most recipes suggest that you line the cake with a parchment paper, so that it covers the sides as well and ends above the pan, this allowes for easy removal of the cake. I opted to use a spring-form pan, brushed with butter, but this requires that your pan is stick and leak proof! Heat oven to 220C, no water bath needed. In a wide bowl, beat sugar and cream cheese. Add eggs and mix well. Mix in the cream, vanilla, salt, nutmeg and orange zest. Sift in the flower while gently folding, until evenly distributed. Pour into the pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, the cake needs to rise and become very dark (some say black, but I find it to be too much). Avoid over baking, so that the center stays custardy. If you'd like, you can under bake so that it turns out creamy. Remove from the oven and let chill completely before removing from the pan.. Refrigerate to cool. It's best serve slightly below room temperature, so l suggest you let it warm up if refrigerated overnight. Serve with brandy!

I live in a garlic deprived household because one of my housemates is deathly allergic to all garlic and onions. Sometimes I just want some garlic to munch on and raw garlic is just too much. So I set out to make a garlic snack and this is what I came up with. It is sweet with a little bit of sour, soft without being mushy and very, very garlicky. I can see the remaining syrup as a dip for potstickers or a great inclusion in a stir fry sauce. Candied Garlic 2 heads of garlic, peeled 1 cup water 1/2 cup sugar 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce 1 tablespoon Chinese black rice vinegar 15 G ginger, sliced thinly 1 star anise Peel the garlic and place in the freezer overnight. Remove the next day and thaw completely. Combine the ingredients for the syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil stirring until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the Heat and simmer very slowly for 30 minutes. Add the thawed garlic and continue to simmer for 15 minutes. Let the garlic cool in the syrup and it is ready to eat. Note: I suppose that this could be made with regular rice vinegar but the black vinegar gives it in rich, smoky flavor. I suppose that if I just had the rice vinegar that I would add a drop of smoke flavoring. This is the vinegar that I used.

Makes 12 muffins that can be served either savory or sweet. See also cornmeal biscuits recipe. 175g cornmeal 20g butter 135g AP flour 2.5 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 2 tsp salt 200ml sour cream 35g sugar 1 large egg 90ml whole fat milk apx 250g corn kernels - fresh is best, I sometimes used kernels from grilled corn. Frozen and even canned corn also works great. Optional addition: - Up to 1/2 tsp black pepper (I never skip the pepper) - Chopped chilies of any kind - Chopped scallions - Chopped cheddar cheese - Chopped feta (reduce salt from the muffins) - I guess chopped bacon will be really good - Brush a muffin tin tray with butter, or if you have one, use a silicon muffin tray. - Preheat an oven to 220dC. - Mix flours, baking powder, soda, salt. - Melt the butter, I suggest doing so in a large bowl or pot to which the remaining ingredients can be later added. - Mix in the sour cream, egg, sugar, milk, corn kernels and any other optional addition. - Mix dry ingredients into wet ones just until uniform. Avoid over mixing. - Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. - Bake for 15 minutes until set and golden. - Let cool for at least 5 minutes and release from tray. - For serving: bake again, preferably with convection fan, until deep gold and crisp. Apx 5-10 minutes. - Can be served savory with sour cream, cheese or butter; or sweet with butter or sour cream and honey. - Leftovers / planned-overs can be frozen, preferably after the first bake.

Wet mix: 100g soft butter 280g sugar 2 eggs 250ml cream, full fat 200ml sour cream 60ml milk or coffee or a mixture of the two 1/4 tsp salt Dry mix: 75g good quality cocoa powder 170g flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda Prep: Mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder. In a large bowl, whip butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs and whip until smooth. Add in the two creams, milk or coffee, salt. Mix well. Sieve in the flour mixture while gently folding. Pour into a pan, 22-24 cm in diameter. Bake in a preheated oven at 170dC for apx 45-60 minutes. The cake is ready when a skewer leaves with a few moist crumbs. Do not over bake! This cake is very good served warm with ice cream, at room temp, or cold where it becomes fudgey. You can top it with a ganache or whatever you fancy.

My family loves lasagna but I get tired of making it and sometimes I just don't have any lasagna noodles in the pantry. I make a killer pastitsio and I tried spaghetti pie. But to be truthful, we'd rather just have the spaghetti. So when I came across this recipe the other day, I thought it would be worth trying and it was good. Good enough to share. Beef Vermicelli Cake serves: 4 to 6 3 1/4 oz salted butter 1 onion, chopped 1 lb 2 oz ground beef 28 fl oz bottled pasta sauce 2 tablespoons tomato paste 9 oz vermicelli 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 1/4 cups milk 1 1/4 cups grated cheddar cheese Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly grease a 9 inch round deep spring-form cake pan. Melt a tablespoon of the butter in a large deep frying pan and cook the onion over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or until soft. Add the beef, breaking up any lumps with the back of a spoon, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until browned. Stir in the pasta sauce and tomato paste, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Season well. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of rapidly boiling salted water until al dente. Drain well. Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, or until pale and foaming. Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the milk. Return to the heat and stir constantly until the sauce boils and thickens. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Spread half the pasta over the base of the pan , then cover with half the meat sauce. Cover with the remaining pasta, pressing down with the palm of your hand. Spoon on the remaining meat sauce and then pour on the white sauce. Sprinkle the cheese on the top and cook for 20 minutes. Leave to stand for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Cut into wedges to serve. Quick Pasta Sauce (double the recipe) 8 oz ground beef 1/2 small onion, diced 1 garlic clove, minced 14 oz canned diced tomatoes 1/2 teaspoon ground oregano 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1 1/2 tablespoons dry vermouth or red wine Salt and pepper to taste Combine ground beef, onion, and garlic in a skillet and saute until no longer pink. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer on low heat until most of the moisture has evaporated. At this point, season with salt and pepper to taste. Since my family loves cheddar cheese I made it just as is and it was a big hit, however I think that I will try it the next time with mozzarella and Parmesan. If you don't have a springform pan, I don't see any reason at all that this can't be made in a casserole dish and served like lasagna.

Ingredients 4 Strawberry 1 Whole Kiwi 4 tsp Sugar 1 Cup of MilK 3 Mint leaves (Optional) Equipment Blender Measuring Cup Instruction Peel the Kiwi skins of exposing the green part Combine the strawberry, kiwi, sugar and milk in the measuring cup Blend it together in the blender Ontop put 3 Mint leaves as garnishing Enjoy

Manager's note: This and the subsequent posts were split from https://forums.egullet.org/topic/162768-making-savory-tarts-with-vegetables/. I am wondering why you think that I might confuse these preparations with desserts.

I've been making these for a decade, my preferred alternative to french fries. They're sliced potatoes layered either with an infused cream or flavorful stock. You can cook them in a flat dish and then fry them, but I've always liked the way the layers look when I bake it in a deep bread pan. I posted a photo last week and people seemed to like it, so I made a video of it (link at the bottom). Either way, here's the cream/milk version of the recipe -- and if this has a proper name, let me know. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muBHw8SZXwI Fried Gratinated Potatoes / Fried Scalloped Potatoes Milk/Cream version Garlic, 1 or 2 cloves (optional) Herbs: Bay leaf, Thyme, Rosemary, one or all to taste Cream and/or milk, enough to make 2 cups Potatoes, enough to fill whatever sized dish you are using Cheese, optional. Parmesan and Gruyere are good choices Salt, to taste 1. Prepare the garlic and herbs. 2. Add the milk/cream to a sauce pot with the garlic and whatever herbs you will be using. 3. Heat the milk/cream on a low heat to bring to the simmer. Cover and turn off the heat. Leave until it is room temperature then remove the garlic and herb. 4. Peel and slice enough potatoes to fit whatever pan you will. be cooking them in. (You do not need to use all of the sauce. You can keep any leftover in the refrigerator for another version later.) 5. Dip the potato slices in the milk/cream mixture and layer the potato slices in the pan, then add a layer of the sauce and cheese (if using). You can also brush butter or fat onto the each potato layer to deepen the flavor. 6. Cover and bake in a 350F or 180C oven for 1 hour or until the potatoes are done. 7. While the dish is still hot, put a sheet of wax paper over it and set upon it something heavy to weigh it down. Doing this will remove all gaps to make clean layers. This step is optional -- unless you are frying. 8. When the dish reaches room temperature, you can invert and serve or slice and fry. 9. In a pan add whatever fat you will be using and fry slices of the gratin until golden brown. Alternatively, you can broil slices with a lot less oil, be sure to base the slice to avoid burning. Here's the video if you'd like to see.

When my mother recently passed away, because we are a scattered family, one of my younger brothers had the great idea of setting up a private Facebook page for the immediate family to talk in – mainly about funeral arrangements but also just in general. One topic, which I inadvertently started, was about her cooking. It’s fair to say, and she would agree, that cooking was not her forte. She was able to feed us but it was never exciting. That’s me being respectful. So we were joking amongst ourselves about that when the subject of her two most ‘original’ recipes came up and we each tried to remember exactly what was in them. Here, to the best of our ability, is what we agreed on. Pasta Mish-Mash Ingredients: Pasta. This had to be Marshall’s macaroni, a Scottish speciality and the only pasta I ever ate until I was about 18 years-old, apart from tinned spaghetti, usually in the form of spaghetti hoops. Bacon. This would normally be unsmoked Ayrshire back bacon. Not American bacon! Onions. White onions. We didn’t know they came in other colours. Tomatoes. Scottish tomatoes are surprisingly good. Salt. Common iodised table salt. You know. Natural salt. None of your fancy sea flavoured salt nonsense! Pepper. Black pre-ground and stale. Method: Boil pasta according to pack instructions. Or a bit longer if you get distracted. Drain. Cut bacon into pieces. Chop onion approximately finely. Chop tomatoes into eighths. Fry bacon and vegetables. When ready add drained pasta and mix. Apply seasoning if you remember. Even if you remember, under season. Serve. Polish Salad During WWII, around 17,000 Polish soldiers were stationed in Scotland, first temporarily in the border areas but later in east Scotland where my mother lived. (Her elder sister married one of them). Family lore has it (from my mother) that she learned this recipe from one or more of those soldiers. I’m fairly certain that there was little if anything Polish about it, but suppose its possible it was those soldiers’ attempt to recreate something from home without really knowing the recipe and having to use whatever they could find in the way of ingredients. If anyone here is Polish, of Polish descent or just knows more about Polish food than I do knows of any Polish dish that this could even vaguely resemble, I’d love to know. It was memorably distinctive - bright purple. I'm sure it glowed in the dark. Ingredients: Tomatoes Onions Apples Hard boiled eggs Pickled beetroot (store bought and pickled in malt vinegar) Heinz Tomato Ketchup Brown Sauce, preferably HP Sauce. Method: Chop all the ingredients except the ketchup and brown sauce into small pieces and mix together. Mix ketchup and brown sauce in a 50:50 ratio, and fold into the other ingredients. If too dry, add a little of the beetroot pickling liquid. Serve Father's 'recipe' coming up next.

This was a staple in university because I had no time to cook and no stomach for junk food. I would put everything in the rice cooker and have something warm to eat ready all day long. Here is a video so that you can easily understand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9UCXQcRQdU One recipe done in a slightly different order gives you two of Japan's easiest rice dishes, this one is called TAKIKOMI the other is MAZE GOHAN 3 cups Rice Shiitake Mushrooms (4 or 5) Seasonal Mushrooms (1/2 - 1 cup) 1 Carrot 1/2 cup sliced Burdock Root (Gobo -- any seasonal vegetable) 1 pack Konkyaku (has no flavor, adds texture, can omit) 2 fried tofu (abura age) (adds texture and protein, can omit) 200 grams Chicken (preferably leg meat) 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce 2 tablespoons Mirin (or 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 tablespoons sake)2 tablespoons Sake (this is said to negate any odor) Salt to taste 3 cups Dashi (note: the amount of vegetables and chicken is not precisely measured but ratio of rice to dashi is always 1 cup rice to 1 cup dashi. And, myself, I'm a bit carb-phobic, so I only use one cup rice.) 1. Wash the rice and set aside. Doing this will partly hydrate the rice which is said to improve the texture and flavor. 
2. Slice the vegetables and set aside. 
(note: some people put the sliced burdock in water to remove bitterness and/or prevent oxidation) 3. Boil the konyaku and 'fried tofu' separately. Drain, slice, and set aside.
 4. Slice the chicken, with skin, into bite sized pieces and add the soy sauce, mirin, and sake. 
 5. Prepare your dashi. 6. Now that all of your ingredients are ready, combine them either in a rice cooker or a deep sauce pan. 
 7. The rice MUST go into the pan first. Make sure it is evenly spread along the bottom.
 8. Place the rest of the ingredients into the pot in any order but do not mix.
 9. Add the dashi. 
 10. Set into your rice cooker. (Japanese rice cookers will have a special setting labeled 炊き込み.)
 11. If you are using a stovetop, without stirring the pot, bring it to a boil then cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 13 minutes, then turn off the heat. Do not open the pot. Let it steam for an additional 15 minutes. 
12. Stir the takikomi rice and serve. 


Hi all!! I work at an amazing little New Zealand Style ice cream shop in the beautiful Denver Colorado. I was hoping to get a little help on the subject of adding fruit into ice cream after extracting it and ensuring that, when the ice cream is frozen, the fruity bits don't turn into rock hard shards. I am planning on doing a cherry chocolate ice cream and I was going to soak some dried cherries that we're no longer using for something else. I was planning on using some brandy and a ton of sugar, but I was really hoping someone had a tried and true method they could send my way so that I KNOW that the fruit will be luscious as it's frozen. If you have a certain sugar ratio. I know there is the brix test, but to be honest it's been many years since pastry school and I am very rusty. Would love to hear from some of my fellow sugar-heads. Thank you! Amy

Honey Butter Japanese Sweet Potato I always serve this dish with Tonkatsu. It is not too sweet and the flavors blend perfectly with the Tonkatsu sauce that is served with the pork. 1 sweet potato 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons honey 2 teaspoons soy sauce 2 tablespoons water 1 teaspoon black sesame seeds Wrap the sweet potato in cling wrap and microwave for 3 to 4 minutes.* Cut into 1 1/2 inch thick strips. Melt butter in a skillet and cook the sweet potato over medium heat. When the potatoes are soft, add the honey, water and soy sauce to the pan. Mix well together and stir just until the liquid starts to turn to a syrup. Top it off with sesame seeds. * Note: Instead of putting this in the microwave, I cut the potato into wedges and cook it in the instant pot for 2 minutes. This can be done a day ahead of when you need it.

For non-Louisianans, this dish has nothing to do with actual barbecue. 16 jumbo shrimp (12 per pound, about 1 1/2 pounds), with heads and shells. 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons) 2 teaspoons ground black pepper 2 teaspoons cracked black pepper 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning (Tony’s or other) 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cubed French bread as accompaniment In a large skillet combine shrimp, Worcestershire, lemon juice, black peppers, Creole seasoning, and garlic and cook over moderately high heat until shrimp turn pink, about 1 minute on each side. Reduce heat to moderate and stir in butter, a few cubes at a time, stirring constantly and adding more only when butter is melted. Remove skillet from heat. Place shrimp in a bowl and pour sauce over top. Serve with French bread for dipping. Yield: 4 appetizers or 2 entrees Head on shrimp are preferred, as there is so much flavor from the heads. However, de-headed, as pictured, is also good!

Creamy pasta with a spicy pungent flavor. Best served with a bold red wine or a dark ale. Serves four. Mustard must be added to taste, I find the acidity to be the limiting factor, rather than its pungency, but if your mustard is very strong, you may need to use less and add a touch of vinegar. 400 g dried fettuccine or other wide pasta, or better, an equivalent amount of fresh egg pasta 250-300 champignon or other mushrooms, sliced thinly 3 tsp butter 1 medium onion, diced 4 garlic cloves, minced A small amount of chili 400g spinach leaves, stems removed, cut into ribbons Apx 1/4 cup half and half, or a bit less full fat cream 4-8 tsp Dijon mustard (add to taste), you can include some grainy mustard if you have it at hand Optional: 1 tsp nutritional yeast or a touch of MSG, if you like using it Optional: 1/2 to 1.5 tsp honey or dark brown sugar Salt to taste A generous grating of nutmeg Plenty of black pepper Cook mushrooms with some of the butter over high heat until lightly browned. Set aside. Add more of the butter and fry the onion until golden. Add remaining butter, garlic and chili. Fry briefly until aromatic. Cook the pasta very al dente. Drain well. Add it along with the mushroom, spinach and cream. Heat over low flame, until the spinach is wilting. Add mustard to taste, optional nutritional yeast or msg, optional honey or sugar, salt. All to taste. Add vinegar only if needed, add nutmeg. Plate and grind pepper on top.

Hi, I'm looking for a recipe that uses already cooked and shredded ham hock meat, mainly because I need to know the quantity of the ham needed. The only recipes I can find call for the whole hock to start with.

Apx 160 g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight (or one can) 800g sunchokes, washed well and diced (2cm wide) 400g carrots (3 large), peeled and diced (1cm wide) 2 large onions, diced 600g pumpkin, diced (3 cm wide) Apx 3 tbsp worth of fresh rosemary 4 bay leaves 4 tsp nutritional yeast or a little MSG 1 tbsp butter 2 tsp cumin seeds 1.5 tsp coriander seeds 2 tsp fenugreek seeds 3 large garlic cloves, minced chili to taste Apx 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves 2 tsp paprika 1 tsp turmeric salt to taste 200g spinach 2-3 tbsp lemon juice handful of chopped parsley black pepper Cook the chickpeas until tender in salted water. Keep the cooking water. Microwave the carrot cubes on high heat for two minutes. Coat carrots and sunchokes in oil and roast at high heat until browned, but still retains some bite. - Meanwhile, fry onion until browned. Add pumpkin, rosemary, bay leaves, nutritional yeast, chickpea liquid and water to cover. Cook until pumpkin softens (I use a pressure cooker, in which this takes 5 minutes). Add chickpeas, sunchokes, carrots, water to cover and salt to taste. Cook until softens to your liking, but not too much. - Meanwhile, fry cumin and coriander in butter until aromatic. Add fenugreek, garlic, chili and thyme. Fry until aromatic. Grind with some salt, add turmeric and paprika. Add to soup. - Add spinach, parsley, lemon and pepper. Adjust to taste.

500g short hollow pasta - I use Gomiti (elbows) but you can use penne or any similar shape. 200-250 g sour cream 300-350 fromage blanc or another mildly tart "farmer 's cheese" such as tvorog or quark 6 medium eggs (or 5 large ones) 8-10 spring onions, thinly sliced apx 6 tbsp chopped parsley 2 garlic loves, minced Optional: 2 tsp nutritional yeast (or a bit of MSG) salt to taste (1.5 tsp) 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper Bread crumbs topping: apx 15-25g butter 9 tbsp breadcrumbs (divided 7 + 2) a large pinch of salt Mix everything but the pasta and bread crumbs topping in a large bowl. Boil pasta in salted water slightly short of al-dante. Briefly wash the pasta to stop further cooking and drain well. Mix in with the batter. Melt the butter and mix with 7 tbsp bread crumbs and a bit of salt. Grease a baking pan or mold - I much prefer a silicone mold, but you can also use a springform pan. Cover the bottom of the pan with the buttery breadcrumbs. Top with the remaining 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs. Gently pour the pasta mixture on top. Bake at 190dC for apx 35 minutes, until set. You may need to cover the pan if it seems to be drying. Cool for a few minutes before flipping over a sheet pan. You may have loose breadcrumbs, put them back on top. When ready to serve, put under a medium-strong broiler until crisp and browned. pictured before broiling.

Mts’vane lobio satsivi - green beans in walnut sauce. Satsivi sauce is used in many dishes, but most notably with chicken. This version is not the most traditional version of green beans in such sauce, but rather it is based on one I had in a restaurant in Tbilisi. Best served with soft, warm and crisp-crusted bread. 400g-450g green beans 1-2 tsp butter 1-2 tsp chopped rosemary (you can use other herbs, some of which may not require frying and can be added directly to the blender) 2-3 garlic cloves, minced Dry or fresh chili to taste 50g-60g lightly toasted walnuts 40ml-50ml milk (or cream if you prefer it a bit richer) optional: a tablespoon of grated Parmesan or another strong dry cheese salt to taste - 3-4 eggs salt to taste (1/3-1/2 tsp) - apx 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar black pepper A handful of diced brined cheese - choose one which is not too salty and creamy (rather than dry) - I use Sirene but a very mild Feta will work Blanch the green beans in well salted water, chilling them in cold water to prevent overcooking. Let them drain well. - In a pan large enough to hold the beans, briefly cook the garlic, chili and rosemary in butter - until aomatic. Add the milk along with 1/3-1/2 of the walnuts. Heat gently just until warm and allow the walnuts a few minutes to soften. Add Parmesan and blend until smooth. - Place the green beans and sauce back in the pan and gently heat. Add salt to taste. - Meanwhile, beat the eggs with salt and pepper as if for making an omelette. You can add a tablespoon of cream or milk, as well as any herbs you like. Heat a pan with butter and scramble the eggs into distinct bite-sized pieces, being careful not to overcook it (unless you prefer hard-cooked scrambled eggs). Mix the scrambled eggs into the green beans. - Add vinegar and pepper. Adjust seasoning. Make sure that it is sufficiently hot to serve. Scatter the cubed cheese and walnuts.

Makes 9 - Can be doubled. Can be made a short time ahead and reheated and crisped for serving. Can also be frozen. For variation, replace the spices and chilies with 1 tbsp chopped rosemary, and the cheddar with kashkaval / provolone / etc. See also cornmeal muffins recipe. - 200ml sour cream, apx 20% fat - 60g good Cheddar cheese, grated - 2 jalapenos (or other chilies), deseeded and chopped. You can also char them first like when making salsa - 1 small spring onion, sliced finely ~~ - 50g cornmeal - 140g white flour, pastry flour if available - 1 tsp toasted coriander seeds, ground - 1/2 tsp toasted cumin, ground - Pepper - Optional: large pinch MSG - 2 tsp sugar - 1 tsp salt - 3 tsp baking powder - 1/4 tsp baking soda - Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. - Mix remaining ingredients in a second bowl. - Dust your working surface. - Heat oven to 230 degrees C. - Fold wet mixture into dry one into the dry one, pressing and folding bottom up just until it forms a few crumbly dough chunks with some dry flour at the bottom. - Remove the mixture onto the dusted working surface. - Dust from above. - Press together to form a rough rectangle shape. - Fold the dough in half on top of itself. - Dust and press to flatten into a rough square shape, apx 3 cm (a bit more than an inch) tall. - Cut into 9 pieces (3 by 3 grid). Use a bench scraper or a large knife. - Place spaced on a baking try with parchment paper. - Bake for 13-16 minutes until lightly browned and baked through. - Remove from the try and cool on a baking try. - You can serve it immediately, but I much prefer to let it chill for 10 minutes and then bake 5 minutes more until brown and crisp.

apx 250g mushrooms - button, portobello, shiitake, etc - cut into 1cm think slices apx 200g of vegetable or protein of your choice - I like fried tofu (tofu agadshi style) or stir fired green beans (the latter works well with the optional wakame) 3 tbsp rice wine (e.g. shaoxing wine. optional, I guess regular white wine will also work) apx 1 tbsp ginger cut into needles dry or fresh chili, to taste 1.5 tbsp mushroom sauce (sometimes labelled vegetarian oyster flavored sauce. Regular oyster sauce can also be used in a pinch) (can be substituted with a large dried shiitake, re-hydrated and minced + 1 tsp sugar) 2 tbsp soy sauce 1 flat tsp dark brown sugar (or any sugar) 2-3 tsp rice vinegar a bit of MSG if you like using it some water as needed salt to taste black pepper Thinly sliced spring onion or a couple tbsp of dry wakame seaweed, re-hydrated Cooked Japanese/Chinese rice for serving If adding a vegetable/protein that requires stir frying, cook it first and set aside. Stir fry the mushrooms over high heat until browned, but still juicy (if using rehydrated dried shiitake instead of mushroom sauce, add them as well). Add the cooked vegetable/protein. Add the rice wine and cook until it no longer smells alcoholic. Add chili, ginger, soy sauce, mushroom sauce, sugar, vinegar, MSG. Remove form the heat. Add some water if needed, along with salt to taste, black pepper and spring onions/wakame. Serve with rice.