• Spring version

Dough:

200g flour

5g fresh yeast

100ml buttermilk

salt

Filling:

2 orach bunches

salt

butter

1 green garlic

+1 small egg

Variant: Add ewe cheese on top of the filling if you wish.

• Fall version

Dough:

240g flour

5g fresh yeast

160g sour cream

salt

Filling:

300g orach

salt

butter

1 pestled garlic clove

+2 tbsp of milk

Baking pan: 20x20 cm

Orach was the ingredient of this year for me! I fell in love! I felt lucky to be able to bake this orach pie in spring and fall!

The recipes are almost similar. To make the dough, mix the yeast with the buttermilk or the sour cream, adding the required amount of flour. You’ll get a non-sticky dough, slightly hard. Let it rise for 1 hour. 

Then (a kind man named Marcel helped me), wash the orach leaves. Be careful, that pink liquid stains (I used red orach). Let the orach leaves simmer in butter; add the salt, the green garlic or the garlic clove, depending on the season.

Roll out half of the dough in a buttered and floured baking pan. Add the filling and the ewe cheese if you wish. Then, add the other half of the rolled-out dough and stick the two pieces together.

Brush the egg or milk on top of the pie, then bake it in the preheated oven at 180°C for 20 minutes. 

I’ve wanted to post this recipe since New Year’s Eve. It was inspired by a delicious carrot and ginger soup served in Kenya. Marcel prepared it, to give me something vegetarian to eat at the passing between the years.

He used:

150g butternut squash

salt

10g ginger

a clove of garlic

100ml water

Is it easy to make? Very easy! Clean the butternut squash, cut it into slices, and let it sit in the oven for one hour in a baking pan lined with baking parchment at 180-200⁰C.

Then, while they’re still hot, blend them with the salt, ginger, garlic, and water. Serve it after 1-2 minutes.

Mmm... This is how I entered 2024. J

P.S. If you let the butternut squash cool, pour hot water into the blender.

 

And I didn’t use all the classic ingredients; I adapted them—

30g basil

2 garlic cloves

20g walnuts

3 tbsp of olive oil

2g sea salt

a drop of lemon juice

Blend them. Then, store the pesto in a small jar in the fridge.

It’s not only great with pasta, but with some fresh or crunchy slices of bread, too! 

P.S. For this year’s pesto jar (I am trying to make one each year), I used

45g basil

2 garlic cloves

30g pine nuts (I still had some bought in Tunisia)

4 tbsp of olive oil

3g salt.

It turned out very creamy, with a rich, fresh flavour.

Makes 35-40

I used to bake these snacks pretty often (Marcel was a big fan). Then, I stopped. On New Year’s Eve, I baked them again. Several weeks later, I baked them again.

They’re lovely!

We will use this recipe for the dough. Consequently, you’ll need—

250g flour (+100g flour depending on the type of flour used)

10g fresh yeast or 5g dry yeast

250 ml water

some sugar

some salt

+1 l water & 2 tbsp of baking soda

+15g butter & salt

We will make the dough based on the above recipe. After it rises, cut the dough into 4 equal pieces. Shape each piece of dough into a cylinder. Cut each cylinder into 8-10 pieces, 2-3 cm in width.

Meanwhile, pour the water into a deep pan, on low heat, and let the sodium bicarbonate dissolve. When the water starts boiling, take the small pieces of dough (3-4 at a time) and put them into the water. Turn them on the opposite side after they rise (for no more than 30 seconds on each side).

Then, place them in a large baking pan, lined with baking parchment. Continue with the remaining pieces of dough. When you’re done, sprinkle some salt on the small pieces of dough and leave them in the preheated oven, at 250⁰C, for 10-12 minutes.

While they’re baking, melt the butter. After removing the baking pan from the oven, butter each snack using a pastry brush.

Let them cool and... start eating them. You won’t be able to stop anyway!

10 muffins

130g flour

2-3 g salt

1/2 sachet of baking powder

1 egg

120g yoghurt

40ml milk

1 mild pepper

3-4 olives

50g corn

35g ewe cheese

10g matured cheese

There are times when I crave something salty and yummy... ready in no time.

So, I’ve been baking veggie muffins for 2 years.

If you wish to try them, here’s how they’re made—

Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the egg, yoghurt, and milk. In the end, add the chopped (if needed) vegetables and the grated cheese. You can ’play’ with the ingredients at this point: you choose the flavours (even the vegetables!); I chose ewe cheese and matured cheese with truffles. I loved the combination.

Pour the batter into 10 muffin moulds (I used silicone moulds), covering three-thirds of a mould, and then bake them: 20 minutes in the preheated oven, at 180°C.

 Bon appétit!