My mother loved to bake. She particularly loved to bake pies.
I remember her glancing at the clock on a Sunday morning, seeing that she had a spare 15 minutes and saying – great, I have enough time to bake a pie!
She did not, however, like to teach.
I never learned how to make pie crust, aka shortcrust pastry.… Continue reading.....
This is what one has for dinner when the intention is to have grilled chicken breasts and a salad but the temperature plunges, the wind comes up and it starts pouring rain.
The furnace / boiler had been turned off and both the fireplace and wood stove cleaned, so we had no heat.
It was only logical to turn the … Continue reading.....
While everything and anything can be made with bacon in the U.S., it’s not a household staple here.
I can buy allumettes (matchsticks) or lardons (just translates as bacon, but it’s in pieces slightly bigger than the matchsticks) either natural or smoked. All of these are fried and added to salads, quiches or other dishes as flavoring. They come in … Continue reading.....
Normally I try to restrain myself and am able to avoid the ‘if some is good, more must be better’ mindset that seems to be the standard where eating and cooking are concerned.
I failed with this quiche.
Perhaps I was just so happy to be in the kitchen with something other than butternut squash or pumpkin.
Maybe it was … Continue reading.....
I have made a few phyllo pies in the past but one could say that I did them ‘free form’…. not really paying attention to any traditions.
This time I decided to do it the proper way.
Probably the phyllo pie that is the most famous to the most people is Spanakopita, or Greek Spinach Pie, so that is where … Continue reading.....
I have mentioned in the past that buying pastry of all sorts is very cheap and easy here. It’s never frozen and there is a lot of variety
I use puff pastry often for little tarts and pizzas, and phyllo dough for samosas, nems and spring rolls. You can see them all under Tarts, Spring Rolls, etc.
The problem with … Continue reading.....
I made this a few weeks ago, when I still had a few tomatoes left from my garden.
I will admit that I do, very occasionally, buy tomatoes in the winter. Even the relatively hard ones will add a bit of flavor when cooked in a dish like this.
As usual, this has a potato crust.
Someday I might actually … Continue reading.....
One could call this the last gasp of the potager….
There were a few green tomatoes left, I pulled the basil out but kept a basket full of leaves to use and the last Delicata squash was smaller than usual.
They all seemed good candidates for an end-of-summer quiche.
Or would that be a beginning-of-autumn quiche?
Whatever the name – … Continue reading.....
