It must have been around this time last year that the idea of this blog started sprouting somewhere in my tired, sleep-deprived, new mom brain. Back at that time, I was looking for something to keep my mind occupied when it was not crumbling under the weight of dirty diapers; something that I can put the tiniest shreds of energy left in, so that at the end of a long day I would feel as if I’d actually done something that day; that no, breastfeeding and baby-carrying are not the only functions I perform in my life.  I don’t exactly remember the specifics of how I reasoned that starting a blog with a cranky two month old permanently attached to me was a good idea; frankly though, I don’t really care. Amnesia is often a welcome friend when you’re past the newborn stage.

But what I do remember is that before I “officially” (what, you didn’t get the party invite?) started this blog, I did spend a considerable amount of time tossing and turning at night trying to decide on one thing: should I blog in English or Macedonian? English is by far the language I am most comfortable writing in; all of my higher level education and about 90% of my professional experience has been in English. Macedonian is my mother tongue but I’ll reluctantly admit to this: I am still having trouble finding my proper writing voice in Macedonian (everything I write in Macedonian sounds to me as if someone else wrote it) or perhaps I never developed one. I guess I could have taken the challenge to blog in Macedonian but I also thought about all those unfortunate future readers who happen to not know Macedonian and would (for whatever reason) want to read my ramblings…On the off chance that there would be at least a couple of them, I wasn’t going to risk it.

[Well, was that last paragraph persuasive enough to convince you that I simply made that decision to make it easier NOT ON ME, but on the hordes of readers that will fall in love with my blog? Really? Huh.]

In retrospect, I’m glad I chose English over Macedonian (fellow Macedonians, please forgive!). Although it’s a fact that I a) don’t write anything groundbreaking here, b) don’t exactly develop some extraordinary dishes and c) am back to work where I spend a sizable portion of my time reading, writing and editing all kinds of texts, this blog has become both a creative outlet and a communication vehicle for me. Through it,  I think I have developed a kind of connection (albeit mostly virtual) with some pretty amazing people which may not have been the case had I blogged in Macedonian (the reverse also stands obviously…oh my logic today is just amazing, I better stop).

I do, however, occasionally (on my smug days) feel as if I’m not exactly doing a favor to the local blogging scene which, although generally active, is lacking in food blogs. And also, I sometimes look at blogs written in Macedonian and, for the millionth time, fall in love with our Cyrillic alphabet all over again. So in that respect, I sometimes do have second thoughts about whether choosing English was the right decision (before you start panicking, let me just put your mind at ease – I’m not going to start blogging in Macedonian any time soon:)).

When I do happen to run into a food blog into Macedonian (which is not often) I jump for joy a little bit. One of the most prolific Macedonian food bloggers is Tea of Chasovi po Gotvenje (Cooking Lessons) who (seems to me) is posting recipes on her blog around the clock. I’ve never met her in real life and we’ve only exchanged a few words online although I’ve been stalking her blog forever. Beyond basic recipes and cooking techniques, you can find many original recipes on her site, provided you speak the language of course. During our Orthodox Lent ( which is selectively observed by some in our region – sometimes for health and other times for religious reasons – your truly…never:)), I spotted a recipe for a vegan leek pie (yes, me and leek pie…again!) which I just had to try. It’s not the cheesy egg-y version that smells like my grandma but it sounded doable (thank you frozen phyllo!) and looked delicious.

Which is exactly what it turned out to be. May I please present to you, this humble but irresistible pie with its heady aroma of leeks, the slight crunch of carrots and the chewy texture of mushrooms, all enveloped in glorious phyllo dough and soaked in club soda. Lean, but beautiful. You’ve been introduced.

LEAN LEEK PIE
very slightly adapted from Casovi po Gotvenje
serves 4 as a main dish with a salad

ingredients:

• 8 frozen phyllo dough sheets (thawed but kept under damp towel as it dries quickly…also make sure your hands are dry when handling)
• 3 large leeks (white and light green parts), chopped
• 2 large carrots, grated
• 150gr / 5oz marinated champignon mushrooms
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup club soda
• extra club soda (you’ll need at least another 1/2 – 1 cup)
• salt and pepper
• sesame and/or flax seeds

instructions:

1. First of all you’ll need to lightly boil the leeks and carrots in some water for about 10minutes, until they soften. Drain.
2. In a large bowl, mix the leeks and carrots with the mushrooms. Add salt and pepper (I also used dill) to taste.
3. In a small bowl, mix the 1/4 cup oil with the 1/4 cup club soda. Set aside.
4. Unfold 1 of the phyllo dough sheets on a flat surface. Sprinkle with the oil/soda mixture. Place another unfolded phyllo sheet on top; sprinkle that one with the oil/soda mix as well.
5. Next, spread out 1/4 of the leek/carrot/mushroom filling on the phyllo sheets (I made a filling line in the middle of the phyllo sheet but I think distributing the filling all over the sheet would be better). Now roll the sheets tightly. (mine are not so tight).
6. Place the filled and rolled sheets in a round baking pan. Set aside.
7. Repeat steps 4-6 for the remaining 6 sheets (so basically doing the same thing 4 times). Add each rolled ‘tube’ in the baking pan, progressively making a snail-like spiral.
8. Once you’ve used all sheets and filling and your pie is in the pan, use a sharp knife to cut the whole thing in quarters. Don’t worry if it looks like you’re pie’s all over the place.
9. At this stage, you’ll need to drench the pie in club soda; basically pour club soda on top of it all until its almost completely covered with soda.  I think I needed a little less than a cup but watch your pie.
10. Now leave the pie aside to soak up the soda until it’s fully absorbed and the pie looks like a soggy mess (it will take about 20-3omin). Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 200C/400F.
11. When the soda is all absorbed, sprinkle sesame seeds (and/or flax seeds) over the surface. Place in the preheated oven and lower the temperature to 180C/350C. Bake until golden (really don’t know how long mine took but watch the pie and it will speak to you).

PS: I just read back this post’s draft to myself and decided that it is such a disjointed mess that I perhaps should have stuck to Macedonian after all, if nothing else then for the sake of limited exposure. Oh well…If you’re still here, thank you for bearing with me. Really.

If I told you that I have somewhere around 20 lasagna (or lasagne? which one?) recipes bookmarked, would you believe me? If there’s one thing all of them have in common, it’s some unusual twist; an ingredient you don’t typically find in such a dish (like hazelnuts or pumpkin for example). Here’s the thing: I’ve never made proper, Garfield-style lasagne. I know it’s not exactly rocket science but I’m always put off by worries about what type of lasagna sheets to use and my dislike for tomato based sauces and for handling minced meat (just when you thought I couldn’t get much weirder, right?)

One evening last month, our next door neighbors (a bustling full-of-life family with 3 kids of varying ages, managed by 2 successful entrepreneur parents) knocked on our door with a huge pan of half-baked lasagne. Due to some clerical error their electricity was cut off in the middle of baking and they asked if they can finish baking in our oven (it is moments like this when I think ‘gosh, I really should clean the oven more often!‘). As their youngest daughter entertained Ognen and we grownups had a cup of coffee, the aroma of the lasagne bubbling in our (not so clean) oven was intoxicating, even to me.  When it was finally baked and before they headed back to their place to eat a family dinner by candlelight (I guess you have to take romance where you can get it when you have a house full of kids), they left two sizable slices for us to try. As we sat in silence and gobbled them up, I guess what was going through Ivica’s mind was something along the lines of “who the hell did I marry? couscous, sweet potato burritos and salads with pears? there’s families eating lasagne out there…”

But, believe it or not, even though it may not seem so (proof 1, 2 and 3) I do occasionally decide to entertain his food cravings although I never fail to somehow put my twist on his favorite dishes. This tortilla lasagne is a good example.

Our kitchen is rarely tortilla-less. When I feel less than inspired, they come in handy for making impromptu wraps with whatever. Feta is also a resident in our fridge (what surprise for a cheese fanatic, huh?) and spinach…well, if you ask me, any baked cheesy pasta dish absolutely must involve something green in it, so there really was no doubt about spinach’s lead role in this dinner production. And before I went off on a tangent and made this dangerously closer to some spinach and cheese pie, I stopped and reconsidered (basically I thought of Ivica’s misty eyes as he ate the neighbors’ lasagne) and decided to use some bolognese sauce to kick this up and make it taste more like the ‘original.’

This come together pretty quickly and tasted great. Even though I’m not sure Garfield would exactly approve of it, we both liked it – probably for different reasons but who cares, right?

SPINACH FETA TORTILLA LASAGNE
mostly inspired by this recipe at the Vegetarian Times – hah, I actually managed to devegetarianize it!
serves 4-6

ingredients:

• 9 8-inch corn (or flour) tortillas
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 500gr/1lb spinach, chopped
• 1 large purple onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• about 400ml/13 fl oz bolognese sauce (homemade or store bought)
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• about 150gr / 5oz feta cheese, crumbled
• 2 large handfuls of grated gouda (or Romano or cheddar or mozzarella or whatever you want)
• 100gr / 3.5oz cream cheese
• 180gr / 5.5 oz  sour cream

instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F.
2. Heat the oil in large pot over high heat, then add the onion and spinach and cook for about 10 minutes, until beginning to wilt. Add the garlic and cook over low heat for about 3-5 more minutes until tender. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Spread the tomato sauce over the bottom of an 20cm/8″ pan. Stack 3 tortillas on top of the sauce (mine fit exactly in the pan but if yours is bigger, make sure you cover the whole bottom, by overlapping them).
4. In a small bowl, combine the sour cream and cream cheese. Spread half of this mix on top of the tortilla layer in the pan. Top this with 1/3 of the bolognese sauce, then 1/2 of the spinach,  then 1/2 of the feta cheese.
5. Layer 3 more tortillas on top and again: 1/3 of the bolognese, the rest of the spinach, the rest of the feta cheese.
6. Layer the last 3 tortillas on top. Spread the remaining 1/3 of the bolognese sauce over them.
7. Cover the pan with foil and bake for about 45 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle the grated gouda on top and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes, until cheese is bubbly.
8. Let cool for about 5 minutes and cut into wedges.

We spent this Sunday at our friends’ house on the outskirts of the city. Under the scorching sun and amidst the heaps of barbequed meats, the reggae music in the background, the flowing beer and rakija, and the laughter and conversation of some 20 adults and 3 toddlers (and 1 dog), I couldn’t help but somewhat envy the childless ones among us. Free to hold a beer in one hand and a fork in the other, to sit down undisturbed for longer than 3 minutes, not squinting to see if there’s some dangerous object located right in your child’s trajectory, no worries if he has slept, eaten, bumped his head, turned the sprinklers on himself and is now wailing for you to change him… I had time to think about this while I was desperately trying to put Ognen to sleep as his crankiness level hit the dangerous zone, while the others were eating, drinking and laughing.

And then…as he was finally giving in and started closing his little eyes, I thought back to the morning in our kitchen. My little sous chef, perched on his high chair, inspecting the muffin liners, munching on the grated cheese, timidly touching the wrinkles on the roasted peppers, playing with olives…and, a little bit later, peeking through the oven glass to look at these muffins as they grew, almost the way kids grow when you’re not paying attention.

These are the first muffins that I’ve let Ognen eat with no restrictions. In tiny toddler world that means that he ate a whole muffin and followed each bite with a resounding ‘mmmmmm…’ I always give him at least a taste of whatever we are having but with the sweet muffins I can be a little restrictive when it comes to quantity. Alas, my baby’s a cheese addict and as his main cheese dealer I just couldn’t limit his impulse to first bury his face in the muffin and then proceed to completely dismembering it and picking little bites of it and shoving them in his mouth. He was especially happy every time he ran into a tiny sliver of olive, widening his eyes and smiling as he chewed away. I’m Ognen-crazy, I know:)

The boy has a good taste though- these muffins were one of the best we’ve ever tried and easily the best savory one I’ve baked. When I first read the recipe I had a feeling (as I often did before with savory muffins) that they’d be bland and that 3/4 cup of cheese and just half a teaspoon of salt were not enough. So I almost doubled the cheese and used a smoked one for more taste, roasted my own peppers (I’ve told you before that buying roast peppers is a bit of sin around here, right? ) and added a handful of olives and a couple of sliced green onions.

To me and Ivica, these tasted a bit like a good vegetarian pizza. Maybe it’s because we’ve been trying to cut back on various junk food (mostly successfully) in the last month or so, or maybe they are truly, perfectly delicious. How did you like them?

CHILLI, SMOKED CHEESE AND ROAST PEPPER MUFFINS
Per Anu: recipe from Bakingdom which actually mentions it from Darla but there is no link to that. The ingredients below are my adaptations, for the original, head to BakerStreet.tv
makes 12 muffins

ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups shredded smoked Gouda cheese (originally the recipe asked for cheddar)
• 3 large roasted red peppers, diced
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 6 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced thinly
• 2 green onions, sliced thinly
• 1 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp chile powder (I used mild)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 egg, beaten

instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F / 190 C. Line a muffin pan with paper liners
2. In a small bowl, combine the cheese, red peppers, parsley, olives and green onions. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, chilli powder, and salt.
4. Gently mix in the buttermilk, oil and egg into the flour mix until just combined. Add the cheese/pepper mix into this until evenly distributed.
5. Divide the batter evenly between 12 muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden. Allow to cool before serving.

—-

* ABOUT #MUFFINMONDAY: Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.

The year was 2004, almost 2005. On that mild winter’s night of December 30th, my two best friends and I were hunched over books in the living room of my apartment in Thessaloniki. The girls had traveled from Skopje to visit me; we were in our early twenties, some of the city’s best bars were within walking distance of my home, New Year Eve parties were being planned all over the place and yet there we were, turning book pages and scribbling notes.  We were having a blast. No, really, we were.

One of my two friends – Meri – had a hint of worry in her eye. It was probably because she had a feeling that Vesna (my other friend) and I would wake her up early the next morning and drag her to the farmers market and to innumerable stores scratching items off our mile-long ingredient shopping list. Yes, the books we were hunched over on the night in question were an assortment of cookbooks and the notes were were making were the most disjointed effort of creating a meal plan in the history of meal planning.

For me, this need to cook instead of party was (if I want to auto-psychoanalyze) an urge to get some sense of control back in my life –   at the time I had the most ridiculously stressful job I’ve ever had (to date, at least) that left me with no time or energy to even try to fake some sort of social life. With the girls in town (and me having 2 days off, which was a novelty in and of itself), I craved quality time spent with familiar faces, home-cooked food and also a feeling of accomplishment to contrast the complete chaos I faced at work.

The meal we were planning was just for us; us three girls and Ivica. We were going to have this meal on New Year’s Eve, the same night we almost religiously spent clubbing year after year until then. I felt great. There were recipes flying back and forth, pages were being earmarked, Vesna (a fellow food nerd) was writing and rewriting shopping lists…it was madness. And the madness culminated (as Meri had correctly feared) when on the morning of December 31st, we woke up early and marched on a food shopping mission that lasted for at least few hours. I vaguely remember that there were ingredients we couldn’t find – I think coconut cream was one of them – but somewhere around noon we returned home lugging so many bags that it must have looked as if we were planning to host a dinner party for some 20 people. And that said dinner party would last..oh I don’t know, about a week or so.

We spent the whole day in the kitchen. There were cucumbers and ham being diced (for what is called “French salad” around here; it’s one of Vesna’s specialties), walnuts were being chopped, the electric mixer was whipped out, the water for the pasta was coming to a boil, things were being chilled in the fridge and the freezer… In the afternoon we got started on cocktails, which is a story of its own because it involves a few (raw egg related) disasters and a few successes.  It’s been about 7 years since then and I can tell you more or less what we ate that night. I’m sure I’d get a few things wrong though (blame it on the cocktails!) but the one thing that really stands out in my mind is this cheesecake. This was our ambitious project of the day(s); this was the dish that had to be started the night before and the dish that made me scratch off a number of items from my (then even longer) list of things I had yet to try in the kitchen: making a cheesecake, making a savory cheesecake, baking a crust of some sort, working with gelatin…and all the while I was biting my lip as I was substituting ingredients we couldn’t find with others we could, worried about the results.

I remember I was stunned when I realized that this cheesecake turned out so good at the first try. I almost couldn’t believe that, yes, the crust was holding up, the filling was not wobbly like it used to be when we first put the cheesecake in the fridge and that it tasted…shockingly divine.

Since then, this feta cheesecake occasionally reappears in our kitchen. Its appearance usually coincides with holiday seasons or times when we feel like a treat. It is one of the rare things I find the strength to patiently wait for it to chill, because it always brings a smile to my face and takes me back to that December day spent in good company, in the kitchen.

Feta Cheesecake
adapted from Delia Smith’s Savory Feta Cheesecake, Delia’s Vegetarian Collection
serves 6-8

ingredients:

for the base:

•  3 oz /75 g breadcrumbs*
•  1½ oz /40 g  Parmesan, really finely grated* (or Pecorino Romano)
•  1 oz / 25 g butter, melted
• black pepper

for the filling:

•  8 oz / 225 g feta cheese
•  8 oz / 225 g drained cottage cheese (Delia asks for medium fat curd cheese; I think you can also sub with quark cheese)
•  6 oz / 175 g cream cheese (the original recipe asks for fromage frais so you can use that, or low fat cream cheese or do as I do and use full fat cream cheese:))
•  4 tbsp fresh dill (recipe asks for chives)
•  3-5 green onions, finely sliced (I use 5 but you know my obsession with them)
•  2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
•  2 tsp gelatine powder
•  2 egg whites
•  freshly milled black pepper

instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C.
2. FOR THE BASE: In a bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with the cheese, the butter and some black pepper. Press the mixture into the base of a 8 inch / 20 cm round cake tin, very lightly oiled. The tin’s sides should be at least about 2in / 5cm deep. Press the base mixture firmly with a spatula. Place it in the hot oven (high shelf) for about  15-20min (mine takes about 5min longer) until it is crisp and golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
3. FOR THE FILLING: Break up the feta cheese and place it in a food processor. Add the cottage cheese and the cream cheese and blend until smooth (I sometimes do this by hand if I feel like exercising). Transfer to a bowl and add the dill, onions and some black pepper.
4. Here’s where I always have to look back at the recipe: in a small pan, combine the lemon juice and 2 fl oz / 55ml water and add the gelatine powder. Now stir this until the powder dissolves and set aside.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until you see some soft peaks. It is now that you need to heat up the lemon/water/gelatine mixture until it starts boiling. When it does, add it to the cheese mixture and very quickly stir it with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined.
6. Then immediately add the egg whites and stir until combined.
7. Pour the mixture onto  the base (which should have cooled off by now). Cover the tin with some clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill. For best results, really do give it an overnight stay in there.

* make sure you use really good quality breadcrumbs AND cheese for the base as the taste of the whole cheesecake will depend on it. A few times I’ve tried getting away with less-than-excellent breadcrumbs and/or cheese and it really does make a difference.

Look, I’ve been sitting here for the good part of the last hour formulating my strategy on how to title this post. Until I just gave up and said “to hell with it, I’ll just put all those delicious words out there and be done with it.” You see, I have been haunted by visions of unusual croque monsieur sandwiches for a while now (apple and sage?  Morney sauce croissant croques?  a black one with mozzarella?). The simplicity of the basic grilled ham and cheese is like the perfect canvas for adding personal quirky touches.

Parallel to the croque obsession in the back of my mind, I have been the victim of another food related torment. Ever since I got the foodie package from Aimee and created a mini shrine to the jar of maple butter she sent me, I had been thinking of ways to work it into a dish. My first (and obvious) thought was some kind of dessert, but after tasting it secretly one evening (maple BUTTER, where have you been all my life???), I seriously had to force myself to not finish the whole jar with a spoon right then and there behind the closed kitchen door, but rather use it in something where it truly shines; and also something one sits down to eat at least semi gracefully. Oh how I failed at that.

Granted, these waffle sandwiches were not eaten with a spoon but they only touched a plate for the purpose of me snapping a few hurried (and horrid, if I may add) photos, leaving a trace of maple butter fingerprints on the camera (Ivica winces in horror). No, these sandwiches never left the kitchen. They never stood a chance  of living long enough to be properly plated and eaten at (or near) a table…and you know what, it’s their fault! Little teases with their gooey cheese, sweet maple butter and salty pork neck, all tucked into waffle nooks! What were they thinking?

For me, Pandora’s box contains nothing but dangerously tasty treats all born at the intersection of sweet and savory. And I think I may have opened that box recently, not much to Ivica’s delight (Ognen is ok with it, thank you kiddo!). But this one even passed the Ivica test although he is only responsible for the tragic disappearance of one of the 4 poor short-lived fellows. Well done croque Sirs!  The memory of you shall live on.

MAPLE BUTTER AND CREAM CHEESE WAFFLE CROQUE MONSIEUR
makes 4 waffle sandwiches

ingredients:   

• 8 waffles (homemade would be great but I used store bought)
• 8 tbsp maple butter
• 8 tbsp cream cheese
• 8 slices of Emmentaler cheese (or similar)
• 8 thin slices of smoked pork neck (I think you can safely use ham or anything else you feel like)
• butter, for brushing the waffles

instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F/200C (this is if you choose to broil these in the oven; see step 5)
2. Spread 2 tbsp of maple butter on each one of 4 waffles. Spread 2 tbsp of cream cheese on each one of the other 4 waffles.
3. Layer 2 slices of cheese and 2 slices of pork neck on top of each of the cream cheese waffles (I did cheese-meat – cheese – meat for some color contrast).
4. Top each of these cream cheese waffles with one maple butter waffle.
5. You can now continue cooking these the way you usually do a grilled cheese but what I chose to do here was to spread button on both top and bottom waffles’ outsides and stick them in the hot oven on a baking sheet for about 6 minutes, then flip them over on the other side and bake for 2-3 more minutes. Quicker than grilling them in the pan (especially if you’re not making just 1 or 2) and less messy, I think.

One of the hardest things I have had to go through in recent years was my inability to try all of the (mostly unpasteurized) cheeses I had access to during our babymoon trip to France & Switzerland last year. It was one of the few moments during my pregnancy when I truly felt like raising my hands up in the air and just screaming out “not faaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiir! why meeeee!!!??? and who is this Listeria lady???” But instead, there I was, sitting on the edge of my chair, hands tucked firmly under my thighs to prevent any ‘accidental’ reaching towards the overflowing ginormous cheese plate that our hosts in the gorgeous Alsatian Colmar had set on the table. And beyond the embarrassing drooling that the Munster and Camembert were causing me, all I could do was gasp in horror as I watched Ivica’s hand hover over the Bleu d’Auvergne, the Roquefort and the Bleuchâtel, as it went for the more uniformly colored Comte and Emmental.

[Disclaimer: I cannot properly pronounce half of the cheeses I just mentioned. I'm so much better at eating them.]

Yes, I am one of those weird people that could always see beyond the somewhat creepy look of blue cheeses. When I say ‘always’, I mean even back when I was about 10 or so, an age when the majority of my peers would have reacted to the sight of a blue cheese with a resounding ‘Eeeewww!’ (or maybe that’s exactly why I learned to love them? I think we’ve determined I’m pretty awesome that way, right?). I guess the  blueness of some cheeses does that to people. Ivica’s reluctance to it (he has no particular disagreements with the taste-wise, its only the visual chemistry between him and, say, Roquefort, that is just not there) is probably the biggest reason why these moldy friends can’t be found in our fridge too often.

Luckily, I come from a long line of lovers-of-all-cheeses. My great grandfather ran a cheese workshop a little less than a century ago in our house in the mountains. My mother has elevated cheese shopping to a whole new level and is known to come back home lugging enough imported Grana Padano and Pecorino to both adequately throw an abundant cheese party and also cause my father to have a fit just thinking about the bill. And even though I have moved out over a decade ago, my mom is still my dedicated cheese provider. She’d call to let me know she’s stopping by for a quick coffee and a cuddle with Ognen, but really, there’ll always be a block of cheese (or three)  being dropped off as well. Occasionally, there will be something that will both make me smile and frown at the same time; like this Bleuchâtel. Smile because yay, there’s that mold! and frown because how the hell will I work this into a dish that both Ivica and I can enjoy?

Few weeks ago (actually more than a  few, that’s how behind I am in posting stuff here) I just decided to put the blue cheese in plain sight instead of trying to hide it in dressings and sauces. And since I was doing it, I went all out and made the kind of salad which never bodes well with Ivica – you know, the kind that is savory, sweet and pungent all at the same time. Enter the pear, the candied pecans (Aimee, thanks for sending 2 packs:)!) some raw spinach and a few other treats and the result was this deliciously complex salad that had my name all over it. Just mine.

I’ve decided I’ll never make a sweet/savory convert out of Ivica. Or a moldy cheese lover. And I am ok with it. As long as I at least occasionally remember to indulge myself and take the blue route to Cheeseland. Join me?

BLEUCHATEL, PEAR AND CANDIED PECAN SALAD
recipe adapted from this Roquefort Pear Salad on AllRecipes.com
makes about 6 servings, or stuffs the sole blue cheese lover in the household

ingredients:   

• about 300gr/10oz raw spinach leaves, washed thoroughly, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
• 2 pears, peeled and chopped (I left the pieces quite large)
• about 150gr/5 oz Bleuchâtel cheese, crumbled (you can use other blue cheeses such as Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Stilton…I think the Bleuchâtel – actually Swiss in origin – is the creamiest blue cheese I’ve ever tried…)
• 1 avocado, diced
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tbsp lemon juice (or red wine vinegar if you prefer it)
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt, black pepper
  for the candied pecans:
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup pecans

instructions:

1. To make the candied pecans: In a skillet over medium low heat, stir the 1/4 cup sugar and the pecans. Keep on stirring until the sugar melts and caramelizes the pecans. Transfer the candied pecans to a piece of parchment paper. Cool and then roughly chop/break into pieces.
2. To make the dressing: combine the oil, lemon juice (or vinegar), the tsp of sugar, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix until blended.
3. In a large salad bowl, mix (or carefully layer, whatever your salad assembly style) the spinach, pears, Bleuchâtel, avocado and green onions. Pour the dressing over the salad, then sprinkle with the candied pecans and serve.

Beyond a rather longish list of meats and animal parts I’ve never been much of a fan of, there is exactly one fruit and one vegetable I still fail to stomach. Ta-da, I present to you the melon and the brussel sprout, my only enemies in the fruit and vegetable world. Try as hard as I do, there is something about their taste, smell and texture that never grew on me the way other (often less popular) fruits and veggies did. But this, so to speak, less than perfect relationship with melons and brussel sprouts has been with me forever and I can’t trace its roots, at least not the way I can remember falling in love with certain foods I have acquired a taste for rather late in life, either due to increased exposure or to the maturing of taste buds.

Beyond taste though, I’ve always been fascinated by the occasional ridiculousness of humans’ reasoning about food preferences. Pure taste-aversion aside (yes, that introductory paragraph served the purpose of illustrating my rationality and the fact that I am in no way one of those crazy folks that make stupid food related conclusions), if you dig deeper, there’s a whole set of random and often funny justifications of why we love or hate a particular food. My father- the exemplary omnivore-for instance, hates lentils because they look like mud to him when cooked. Ivica, a lover of pastas in general, does not like couscous even though its composition is the same as, say, spaghetti…because the shape reminds him of other (healthier) grains I try to impose on him. Like bulgur. And one of my favorite lines of thought, ever: one of the 2 sons of a dear friend of mine from Greece is on a steady diet consisting of only pizza (who can blame the kid for this one?) and…(wait for it)…chickpeas. Chickpeas because…they look like tiny balls. Duh.

So in this short post, I present to you the tasty bulgur & chickpea salad (flecked with roasted red peppers), risking that some of you may object to it because, oh I don’t know, the bulgur looks like broken rice, or the green of the bowl clashes with the red peppers? But you’re not that kind of person, right?

BULGUR AND CHICKPEA SALAD WITH ROASTED RED PEPPERS
recipe heavily adapted (I can say butchered up) from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen, via Smitten Kitchen
serves 4 (for dinner)

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups bulgur
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less, to taste)
• salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (I actually cook my own chickpeas, and used about 450gr/16oz of cooked chickpeas)
• 1 cup drained jarred roasted red peppers, diced
• 1 onion, finely chopped (red onion would be better here)
• 1/4 cup minced parsley leaves

instructions:

1. First of all, in a large bowl, soak the bulgur in the boiling water for about 20 minutes, until the water has been absorbed.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk the lemon juice, honey, cumin, cayenne, and salt, than slowly add the oil until the dressing is smooth.
3. In a salad bowl, combine the bulgur with the chickpeas, peppers, onion and parsley and stir to combine. Drizzle the dressing and toss to combine.

Do you have a food hangup that is NOT related to taste? Something that has to do with the looks of it? Do share. The rational genius that I am, I’m still trying to decipher if I have one.

For the most of my years in college, my coffee addiction was as strong as the (no less than 4 – and sometimes up to 6 or 7- cups of) coffee I was having every day. The habit was not exactly unrelated to 2 separate things: 1) the fact that I had already met Ivica, the king of caffeine addicts and 2) that I was living in Greece, the land where everyone seems to have a cup of frappe permanently glued to their palm. And I’m not talking some anemic, weak, drip coffee here; big mugs of instant coffee all the way, spiced up with no less than 3 teaspoons of sugar and generous splashes of milk to cut through the numbingly strong taste.

About 5 or 6 years ago, I decided to cut down on caffeine; replacing most of my daily coffees with herbal teas, hot toddies and the occasional hot cocoa. In the beginning this was a rocky road, full of yawns and caffeine withdrawal headaches (which are no joke, I tell you). In time, though, I cut down to a single cup of morning coffee, and last year, when I was pregnant with Ognen, I eliminated that as well. Yes, my name is Elena, and I am was a recovering coffeeholic.

Fast forward to the end of my maternity leave and the return to the office where a desk (even of the crazy messy kind that mine always invariably is) looks empty and sad without a giant mug of coffee. This, and the fact that I’ve been running on reserve power for what seems like ages now, made me step back into the brown darkness once again. But please, don’t worry about me, I’m a big girl and can stop any time I want…:)

In light of my rebound, I had to join the Muffin Monday gang this week, to celebrate coffee and the way it jump-starts our Mondays…Tuesdays, Wednesdays and all kinds of days. And makes you alert so that no one (and I mean no one) manages to pull the dangling strap of your camera hard enough for you to drop it.

I knew this muffin would be on the sweet side (just look at the sugar content) and yet didn’t manage to resist the urge to add a bit more sweetness to it; stealing from my toddler’s stash of (what I consider) inappropriately high-sugar treats, I managed to sneak in a bit of cocoa instant drink powder. This is is a seriously tasty muffin and yet, I can think of one way to make it even tastier…have a cup of hot coffee handy? Dunking is the word.

COFFEE BREAK MUFFINS
recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home To Yours
makes 12 muffins

ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp instant espresso powder
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup strong coffee, cooled
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons cocoa instant drink powder (optional – my last minute addition)

instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F and line a muffin tray with with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, espresso powder, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; then add the brown sugar and mix everything .
3. In another bowl, mix the cooled coffee, butter, egg and vanilla until well combined.
4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently and quickly stir to incorporate.
5. Divide the mixture evenly among the muffin cups.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on rack for 5 minutes and then remove.
7. Dunk into coffee…nom nom nom…

PS: No babies had any coffee whatsoever. Can’t vouch for the cats though…

—-

* ABOUT #MUFFINMONDAY: Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.

You know, I really do a little happy dance at the sight of any recipe that has green onions in its name. I say ‘in its name’ because while there’s tons of recipes out there that list the modest green onion as an ingredient, there really aren’t that many kitchen concoctions where this tasty little thing takes the lead. And I’ve been sitting on this recipe for what feels like ages and feeling it pointing a long dainty green finger at me from my long list of bookmarked recipes to try, mocking me with ‘You call your blog 3greenonions and yet you haven’t made ME yet? Are you for real?‘ Wait, what? Recipes don’t talk to you?

And because the attitude of my bookmarked recipes rubs on me easily, I have a challenge for you: give me ANY salad recipe – grain, bean, green, heck, even fruit salad – and I’ll argue you till the end of time and back that the addition of just 3 green onions to it would make it at least 3 times better. Any takers?

Incidentally, what do you call your green onions? Are they green to you, or are they spring onions or scallions? How can something that has so many different names not be in and of itself a pretty special vegetable? In Macedonian, they are called ‘young onions’…to be exact, they are actually called ‘tiny young onions’. But beyond that cuteness, what totally knocks me out is the way they always curiously stick out of plastic bags of people walking home from the farmer’s market in the spring sunlight, nestled against big lettuces, getting to know each other before they are forever married in the salad bowl a bit later in the presence of the pink radish bridesmaid and the serious Uncle Hard Boiled Egg (a salad known as Mimoza over here).

These green onion pancakes were easier to make than I thought and a bit greasier than I had expected,  but that’s all my fault. As is usually the case with foods I manage to cook after Ognen goes to bed (which is not often), these never lived to see the light of day…which means that once again my photos are of the hurried, hungry, flash-infested, unappetizing kind. Oh well, better luck next time.

GREEN ONION PANCAKES
recipe adapted from Delicious Days, originally from Easy Chinese Recipes
makes 8 pancakes

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 3 green onions (recipe suggested only green parts but I used whole) – sliced thinly
• 2 tbsp oil (I used olive oil)
• some more flour for dusting
• oil for frying (again, I used olive oil here)

instructions:

1. Drop the flour into a big bowl and add the salt to it, combining well.
2. Slowly add the boiling water to the flour. Knead until its smooth and no longer sticky – this took me about 7 minutes. If it’s a bit on the dry side, add another tablespoon of water. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let it rest for half an hour or so.
3. When the time is up, add the green onions to the dough.
4. On a flat and floured surface divide the dough into 8 equal-sized pieces than roll each one into a ball using your hands.
5. Roll each ball into a thin disc using a rolling pin dusted with flour. Brush each disc with the oil and then roll each one into a cylinder and then coil each one up into a snail shape.
6. Again with the flour-dusted rolling in, roll each snail into a flat disc once again.  Repeat for all 8 snails.
7. Add about 1/4 inch (6 mm) of oil into a skillet over medium high heat. Shallow fry each side of each pancake to a light golden brown, about 1 minute (i took longer and mine were more than golden at spots). Flip the pancake and fry the other side.
8. Repeat for all remaining pancakes. Serve immediately.

The verdict: while we gobbled up these tasty pastries in no time (and then maybe regretted the greasy midnight binge?) I think I prefer my green onions fresh. There’s nothing like biting into a crunchy green onion, is there?

Without wanting to make our little man a food snob, he’s had the good luck to try (and regularly enjoy) some pretty uncommon (at least regionally) foods. Beyond the exotic grains like quinoa and amaranth, his menu often features things like avocado and mango. I guess that’s one of the perks that come with having a parent that prepares almost all his meals and insists on him trying various fresh fruits and veggies. In all fairness though, I’ve recently fed him a couple of store bought baby food jars and (again, not wanting to sound like a militant ‘homemade-babyfood-only’ monster mom) continue to be amazed at both the ingredient lists on them and the resulting way, say, bananas stay yellow when jarred and kept on the shelf for well upwards of 12 months.  Let me get off my high horse now.

One of the veggies that has captured Ognen’s little heart (and belly) is the sweet potato. Sweet potatoes only started showing up in local markets about a year ago, finally locally grown for the first time. They’re not exactly a cheap ingredient, but as far as baby food is considered, a little goes a long way. Us grownups though, we’re in different opinion camps when it comes to the sweet potato.

I love it. I love the fact that it tastes quite a bit like pumpkin and other winter squashes without the hassle of dealing with tough skins and seeds. I like the way it adds color to a dish and I also like  the fact it can be cooked in gazillion ways. As far as Ivica is concerned though, it’s definitely not one of his favorites. A sweet tasting vegetable, in and of itself, he is fine with; but when it gets paired with ‘regular’ vegetables and ‘classically savory’ ingredients…eh, he’s not impressed. I know, our marriage is a challenge:) Seriously, I can’t wait for the day when Ognen will explain to his daddy why combinations such as pumpkin and sour cream or apple and broccoli are the bomb. We’ll call that project ‘deBalkanizing the tastebuds’.

In the meantime, much like I try sneaking in any less-than-favorite foods with Ogi’s yogurt, I take the same approach with Ivica’s sweet potatoes. I’ve bookmarked about 300 recipes where this orange fleshed delight is featured as a star but on the night in question I decided to give the sweet potato a supporting role, hoping for a better reception. And what better movie to cast it in than one where the lead is played by spicy beans?

The recipe for these burritos appropriately has the adjective ‘addictive’ in its title; they really are. Sweet and spicy, substantial without being too rich; they are just right. Of course, I did get a comment that they’d be good even without the sweet potatoes. Well, it was expected.

SWEET POTATO AND BLACK BEAN BURRITOS
recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com
makes 6 burritos

ingredients:

• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 cups drained and lightly mashed cooked black/red/kidney beans
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp chili powder/paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp mustard
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
• 6 (10 inch) tortillas, warmed (I micr0wave for a minute or so on low)
• about 100gr/3.5oz shredded Cheddar cheese (or similar)

instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F / 175C.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet, add the onion and garlic and saute until soft. Add the lightly mashed beans and then gradually stir in the water. Saute everything until heated through. Set aside and stir in the chilli powder, cumin, mustard and soy sauce)
3. Divide the bean mixture and the mashed sweet potatoes evenly between the 6 warm tortillas. Top with the grated cheese and fold them as you would a burrito. Place on a baking sheet.
4. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

By the way, I know the photos are not exactly appetizing. What can I say though…late evening, no professional flash, hunger pangs, lack of patience and willingness to style…you get it, right? And hopefully, forgive me?:)