I really enjoy standing in teh kitchen and experimenting about, but the one wee problem is, that I am not a big fan of measurements which makes it complicated to share most recipes.
But here is one of my alltime favourites, that is easy to make and does not require any measurements at all, for you are the one to decide how much of what ingredient you would wish to add.
I will share a few more of the "shareable" recipes with you, but I hope you understand, that most dishes are extremely complicated if not impossible to explain when you have no fixed directions and go by "how the dough looks and feels" :)
Of couse you can use whatever vegetables (or even meats) or spices you prefer but here i will share with you what I've made today.
(Also please excuse if some pictures are a wee bit out of focus or the colours seem off, I had to take pictures with my phone as usually and it is always a bit of a guessing game how alright the pictures turn out thehe!)
Ingredients:
~ puff pastry
~ small pumpkin (not sure about the English word but we call the particular pumpkin I like the most "Hokkaido" but you can really use any type)
~ mushrooms of choice (I used chantrelle and cep from the nearby forest)
~ some zucchini
~ sweet potato
~ mustard (I use any hot mustard, not to keen on the sweet types)
~ greek cheese
~ one garlic clove
~ a few dark olives
~ some olive oil
~ spices: salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, cayenne and ground cumin
How to prepare your dish:
Start out by cutting your vegetables into bite sized bits. The only exception is the garlic, which you want to cut as tiny as possible (no one wants to find a huge chunk of garlic in theri food, trust me). Also cut your olives and break your greek cheese into crumbles of your own prefered size.
Now you want to pre-boil/steam your vegetables (if you use meats, make sure to already fry it properly). Technically it is possible to skip this step but I am a wee bit finicky with certain foods and prefer this dish when everything is nice and soft.
Whilst I am steaming the harder vegetables, I am just quickly frying my mushrooms in a pan. Makre sure to not go to crazy on the oil, otherwise your mushrooms will be soaked with it afterwards. Also keep in mind the boiling/steaming time of your remaining vegetables: the hardest (in this case sweet potatoes) go in first and the softest (the zucchini) last. I steam them for approximately 15 - 20 minutes - if you are going for the boiling option, just wait until everything starts to become soft enough to be almost serveable.
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Once you are done wit the quick frying and you still have to wait until your boiling time is over, you can already start by preparing your puff pastry: Take an oven safe baking form and gently grease it with either oil or butter. Then gently lay it our with your puff pastry and put a thin layer of mustard all over.
In an empty bowl, mix all your vegetables (also the garlic), the greek cheese and spices together (I recommend to spice after your own liking - but beware of the salt, as greek cheese is naturally salty!) Add 1 - 3 tablespoons of olive oil depending on your size of dish. Preheat your oven to about 220°C
Now you can fill your baking form with the vegetable mix that should by now contain every of your ingredients.
You can either cut off the flaps of pie that were too big for your container, or you feel artsy like me and made wee decorations out of it.
Finally your dish is ready to enter the dragon's lair. I'd recommend putting the carrying baking tray onto the second lowest option, but if you have an tiny oven without trays in different heights, that is fine too!
I leave my "pastry" in the oven for about 20 minutes, but in this case, because I made quite a lot and used an actual cake form, I expanded the baking time to 40minutes. Just watch for your puff pastry - it is supposed to be light to golden brown not black as night :)
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I hope you guys enjoyed this tiny recipe, it is one of my favourites and I love switching ingredients and spices around . If you have not been blessed with allergies, I recommend putting some parmesan on top about 10mins before it is done and serve it with a crème fraîche dip!
A wonderful sunday evening to you all.*~
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