Recipes Archives - Page 3 of 10

Fall Harvest Cheese Plate

October 1, 2020

How to make a fall harvest cheese plate using seasonal ingredients that you can find at the local food market or local farms.

We don’t often put up a fancy cheese plate. At least not with that much detail, but with fall already here I feel like it’s time to invite some friends over and serve them a nice harvest cheese plate with some wine.

Fall harvest is perfect for that, because of all the sweet fruits that pair so nicely with the cheeses and meats (which you can, of course, omit if you’re making a veggetarian cheese plate).

Often times you’ll fins dried fuits on a cheeseplate, but I honestly think that with so many fresh fruits around this time of the year, you can just skip that!

So how do you prepare a fall harvest cheese plate?

All you need to make a stunning cheese plate is a few good kinds of cheese, some delicious meats, and a few extra nibbles, like nuts, seeds, preserves, spreads… the sky is the limit.

The trick in making a beautiful cheese plate is to lay everything out nicely. For the fall theme I like to include a wooden plate for that natural cozy feel.

I start with cheeses, spread them around the plate, so they are not all bundled in a pile. Then I add cured meat. Or in this case, I wrapped prosciutto around the grissini. Then add some small bowls with different little treats like preserves (such as artichokes, gherkins, olives…), nuts, seeds, spreads, and so on. You can add bread, grissini, crackers, or something else for the crunch and for spreading any kind of spreads.

At the end choose some autumn fruits like grapes, figs, pears or apples for the sweetness and freshness.

For extra fancy schmansy feel sprinkle some fresh herbs around the plate.

Add a bottle of wine or grape juice and you’re good to go!

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Fall Harvest Cheese Plate

Course Appetizer, brunch

Keyword cheese board, cheese plate

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 wedge soft cheese (Brie or Camembert)
1 wedge cheddar cheese
1 wedge aged goat cheese
1 wedge gorgonzola or blue cheese
1 dried sausage
prosciutto
grapes
figs
pear slices
pomegranate wedges
preserved artichokes
crackers
grissini
almonds or other nuts

Instructions

Lay out your cheeses and meats on your plate.
Fill tiny bowls with remaining ingredients (except fruits) and spread them around the plate.
Add fresh fruits all around the plate.
Add fresh herbs.

Recipe in Slovene available here.

Simple Rustic Plum Pie

September 14, 2020

This delicious plum pie is made with fresh plums, a flaky pie pastry, and optional some spices for the cozy cooler days.

Okay, so I’m this crazy pie lady and I know it. I just love them so much, and late Summer/Autumn is for sure my favorite pie season. All because I get to make a ton of plum pies. Probably much more than I should, if there even is such a thing.

Plum pie is my absolute favorite. It has that perfect amount of sweetness, acidity, and creaminess. So it’s surprising to me that I’ve never posted a baked plum pie here, yet. I have a no-bake recipe and an apple pie with plum jam (YUM!) but no cozy baked pie. Until now!

So here it is!

I’ve tried a new kind of pastry that includes some baking powder and I love it. It’s a bit different from the pastry I normally use. The baking powder makes it a bit softer and just a bit cake-like. It’s amazing straight from the oven (because warm pie is YUMMY) but it gets even better the second day. So if can manage to keep your hands off for a few hours, then you’re in for a treat. I know it’s hard, but trust me, you’ll thank me later.

The filling is really simple, no fancy stuff, just simple plums, and a tiny bit of sugar. But if you have very tasty and sweet plums, you don’t even need that! Just plum with nothing on is amazing. I love simple pies!

So if you are ready to ride into Autumn with this delicious plum pie, here’s the recipe.

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Rustic Plum Pie

Course Dessert

Keyword pie crust, pie pastry, plum pie

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Resting time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 50 minutes

Servings 1 10 inch (25 cm) pie

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (240g)
½ cup fine sugar (110g) You can use any kind (white, cane, coconut…) but make sure it's fine, not too coarse
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt
1 stick of butter (115g) cubed and chilled
1 tsp vanila extract or vanilla seeds
4-6 TBSP cold milk or water (alternatively you can add two egg yolks and reduce the liquid)
500-600 g plums
some sugar for dusting

Instructions

Add flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to a food processor and mix shortly to combine all ingredients.
Add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand.
Add the liquid (water, milk, and/or egg yolks) one tablespoon at a time and vanilla extract (or seeds). Pulse until the pastry comes together.
Wrap the pastry in a plastic foil and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, cut plums in half (or into quarters for larger plums).
After 30 minutes divide the dough into 1/3 and 2/3. Use the bigger piece to roll out the bottom of the pie. I only cover the bottom, but you can cover the sides as well, only the crust will be a bit thinner.
Place plums on top so they cover the entire surface.
Use the remaining 1/3 of the pastry to decorate the top.
Sprinkle with a tablespoon or two of sugar.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (355°F) for 55-60 minutes.

Summer Berry Pavlova

July 7, 2020

The best Summer berry pavlova is when fresh summer berries meet a crisp and chewy meringue and some fresh whipped cream.

We’re super excited here because of all the Summer berries. We only grow strawberries, blueberries, and red currants at home, but our family, friends, and neighbors have others as well, so we go pick them up almost on a daily basis. This year is a very good year for all kinds of berries. There are so so many of them everywhere and I’m not complaining 🙂

So last week I had this huge amount of all the colorful berries so I made pavlova. Because there’s no dessert that screams summer like a pavlova. Don’t you agree?

Although I really love a chocolate pavlova, Summer screams for a more refreshing version like this berry pavlova. Just a little bit of cream, fresh summer berries, and quick homemade berry syrup. I mean, aren’t berries and cream the best flavors of Summer?

This recipe makes more syrup than is necessary, because it’ very hard to make syrup from a very small amount of berries. But you can store it in the fridge and use on ice creams, fruit salads, coctails or simly make a refreshing drink by diluting it in some cold water 🙂

So is this berry pavlova hard to make?

The good thing about Pavlova is that it’s actually pretty easy to make, once you know a few basics:

Know your oven. I was baking it in my mom’s oven (since my oven is dying and the temps are all over the place). I almost never bake in her oven so I’m not used to it and the first pavlova came out too baked on the outside (brown). Nothing wrong with that actually, it still tastes good, but I wanted a nice snow-white pavlova (we ate the brown one too, of course)
Humidity. Very humid weather can mess with your pavlova. If your pavlova fails, this could be the reason.
Timing. Timing really depends on how thick your pavlova is and also the temperature you’re baking at. Since you shouldn’t open the oven while baking, you should do some research on timing or follow the recipe 🙂
Really beat in the sugar. The sugar needs to completely dissolve otherwise the eggwhites will turn liquid and you’ll end up with a weeping pavlova.

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Summer Berry Pavlova

Course Dessert

Keyword berry pavlova, meringues, pavlova, summer pavlova

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Resting time 5 hours

Total Time 6 hours 40 minutes

Servings 8 slices

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Meringue

3 large egg whites (100g)
3/4 cup caster sugar (150g)
1 tsp corn starch
1 tsp lemon juice
pinch of salt

Berry Syrup

2 cups strawberries cubed (250g)
½ cup sugar (100g)
2 TBSP lemon juice or white vinegar

Other ingredients

1 cup whipping cream (250ml), use coconut cream for a non-dairy version
2 cups fresh Summer berries

Instructions

Meringue

Preheat the oven to 130°C. If you're using a fan oven, shut off the fan. Draw a 18cm circle on a baking paper and place it on a baking tray.
Beat eggwhites and a pinch of salt until stiff but not dry. Then add caster sugar a tablespoon at a time. At the end add the lemon juice or vinegar and cornstarch. Beat gently until thick and glossy. You can make a test if the meringue is done: place a bit of the meringue between two fingers and see if you can feel the sugar. If you can still feel some sugar, then you need to beat them a little longer until you can't feel the sugar no more.
Spread the meringue evenly into a circle, making the edge a little higher that the center. Alternatively, you can pipe the meringue onto the paper for a different look.
Move into the oven and reduce the temperature to 100°C. Bake for about 90 minutes. It should look crisp on top and feel dry, but when you press it you should feel soft in the centre.
Turn the oven off, open the door slightly and leave in the oven to cool overnight.

Berry Syrup

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and cook for 15-20 minutes until the syrup starts to thinken. Leave to cool completely, befor pouring it over pavlova. The syrup will thicken more as it cools down.

Assembling the cake

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment add the heavy whipping cream and whip until soft or stiff peaks form (depending on your taste).
Top the cooled meringue with cream right before serving. Top with berries and pour over a little berry syrup.
If you're not eating the entire pavlova at once, it's better to pour syrup on cut pieces separately, otherwise the pavlova will get soggy. If you store an assebled pavlova, take into consideration that it will get softer.
Store a non-assembled pavlove covered on the counter (not air-tight) for 1-2 days before assembilng.

Refreshing Cucumber and Peach Salad

June 23, 2020

This refreshing Cucumber and peach salad is the perfect intro to Summer! With some prosciutto, feta cheese, and spicy basil dressing it’s a winner!

Yay! It’s officially Summer and that’s my favorite season for salads (and cocktails).

Eating fresh veggies and fruits topped with a bunch of goodies and a delicious dressing is my Summer jam. If it’s your too, keep reading!

The other day I had some cucumbers left from a photoshoot and then my husband brought some very ripe nectarines and I got the idea of putting those together since I love fruits in salads. So I tried this salad and it was so good. Okay, I called it a peach salad and that’s because I actually love peaches just a tad more than nectarines, but the fruits in the photos are nectarines. You can use both, of course 🙂

Peaches, cucumbers, prosciutto, feta cheese, fresh basil, and spicy basil dressing. I call this a perfect Summer salad. Fresh crunchy cucumbers go so well with soft and sweet peach and I loved it so much I even made a recipe video for the very first time! I’ll be sharing it soon…

I was hoping June would be a little better this in terms of weather, but I was so wrong. Yesterday was the first day of June when we could actually be in shorts the entire day. But otherwise, we had so much rain and wind it almost felt like Autumn. Not very Summery at all. So weird!

Anyway, I’m pretty sure this cucumber and peach salad will scare the bad weather away. And I also can’t wait for fresh tomatoes to grow in our garden, so I can make my spicy goat cheese pesto pizza.

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Refreshing Cucumber And Peach Salad

Course Salad

Keyword cucumber salad, peach salad,

Prep Time 10 minutes

Servings 2 servings (as a side)

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

1 cucumber
1 peach
1/4 cup feta cheese crumbled
2-3 slices prosciutto
1 bunch of basil
1/3 cup oilve oil
juice of 1 lime
½ tsp chili flakes
pinch of salt

Instructions

Spicy Basil Dressing

Set a few basil leaves aside and chop the rest.
To make the dressing mx olive oil, lime juice, salt, chili flakes and chopped basil

Cucumber And Peach Salad

Cut cucumbers and peaches into ½cm (1/4 inch) slices. Place them into a salad bowl.
Add crumbled feta cheese, prosciutto torn into smaller slices and the basil leaves that you set aside.
Drizzle with the dressing.

Cherry Pistachio Pound Cake

June 16, 2020

Soft and fluffy pistachio pound cake with a sweet cherry glaze. Just what you need for the afternoon tea!

Hello sweet cherries!

While I still mourn our cherry tree that we had to cut last year, I got some very delicious ones from the farmers market and even though we ate almost the entire bunch in a day, I managed to save some to make a delicious pistachio pound cake with a cherry glaze and some fresh cherries on top.

Since most pound cakes I’ve made so far were buttery and a bit denser, I decided to try a fluffier and more delicate one. I switched a part of the butter for oil which creates a different texture since the oil doesn’t firm as it cools, while the butter provides a nice milky taste.

I don’t have pistachios on hand, can I use something else?

In this recipe, I’ve used ground pistachios, since I’m a huge fan of pistachios in sweets. You can replace them with some other nuts like almonds or hazelnuts with no problem.

I prefer grinding nuts myself, since the only storebought I can find, usually contain some larger particles and are not really very fine. These work great too, but I prefer no particles for this cake in particular. But if you can’t find a well ground nuts or you don’t have a grinder at home, that’s fine too 🙂

How to make cherry glaze?

The cherry glaze is very simple to make. Like any icing glaze, you need icing sugar and a tiny amount of liquid. With glaze, you really need just a teeny-tiny amount, less than you’d think.

For this recipe you need 2/3 cup icing sugar and only about 2 TBSP cherry juice.

You can make the juice two ways:

with a blender: Just pop deseeded cherries in and mix until you get a very fine purée and then run it through a mesh strainer to remove the particles.
with a juicer: pop cherries with seeds in the juicer and let it work its magic.

I have to sneak in the third option: You can use a store bought juice as well, but I prefer the taste of freshly squeezed juice 🙂

More cherry recipes:

Vegan Almond Cherry Ice Cream Sandwiches

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket With Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Cherry, Brie & Bacon Grilled Quesadilla

I hope you enjoy this cherry pistachio pound cake just as much as I (and my neighbours) did 🙂

5 from 1 vote

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Cherry Pistachio Pound Cake

Course Dessert

Keyword cherry glaze, pistachio cake, pistachio pound cake, pound cake

Servings 1 4-cup pound cake tin

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Pistachio Pound Cake

1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup ground pistachios
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
seeds of 1 vanila pod
1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk room temperature

Cherry Glaze

2/3 cup icing sugar
2 TBSP cherry juice (instructions for making homemade cherry juice in notes)

Instructions

Pistachio Pound Cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a 4-cup loaf pan with baking paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix together softened butter and sugar for one minute then add oil and mix for a few minutes until fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time and mix until combined before adding the next.
In a separate bowl mix together the rest of the flour, ground pistachios, baking powder and vanilla seeds.
Add flour and milk to the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.
Pour the batter into a prepared baking tin and bake for 45-55 minutes. Check after 30-35 minutes and if you see the top browning too quickly, cover with alluminum foil or the rest of the bake.
The cake is ready when the toothepick comes out clean.
Let cool completely befor adding the glaze.

Cherry Glaze

Mix icing sugar and half of the cherry juice and mix well. Add more juice ½ TBSP at a time to reach a desired consistency.
For instructions on making homemade cherry juice check notes.

Notes

How to make cherry juice:

with a blender: Just pop deseeded cherries in and mix until you get a very fine purée and then run it through a mesh strainer to remove the particles.
with a juicer: pop cherries with seeds in the juicer and let it work its magic.

Cheesy Asparagus Omelet

May 22, 2020

Perfect savory breakfast – soft and creamy asparagus omelet with parmesan cheese and some fresh chives. What could be better?

When it comes to Spring we can’t go past asparagus. So fresh and sweet! OMG, yum! Do you agree?

Lately, I’ve also made eggs a lot. Since my son overcame his egg allergy we’ve been preparing them in any shape and form. Although I must admit, he’s not too keen on eggs. He’ll eat them, but not very enthusiastically 🙂

One of the reasons why I love a good omelet is that it’s very easy to prepare, but most of all because the eggs are so creamy that they just melt in your mouth. And since it’s asparagus season, I added some together with parmesan cheese and chives to create a perfect breakfast.

These last weeks we’ve been able to live a little bit more normal since everything is opening and we can actually meet friends. Looks like for now the situation is under control here (and I hope it stays this way!). Just having a conversation with friends that I haven’t seen for months makes my life so much better. I hope it’s getting better where you live and I hope you enjoy this cheesy asparagus omelet and these beautiful Spring days. Hopefully with people you love!

Stay safe wherever you are!

If you’re searching for other asparagus recipes, I’ve created a very delicious Vegan Pea and asparagus quiche together with Tereza from Tereza’s Choice last year.

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Cheesy Asparagus Omelet

Course Breakfast

Cuisine French

Keyword asparagus, omelet, omelette

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 1 serving

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

1 TBSP water
2 tsp butter
⅛ tsp salt
pinch of black pepper
15 g parmesan cheese grated
50 g asparagus cleaned, woody parts removed and dried
1 TBSP chives chopped

Instructions

Heat 1 tsp of butter in a frying pan and add asparagus. Fry for 10 minutes, turning every few minutes.
Set aside while you prepare the omelet.
Crack two eggs in a bowl and add water. Whisk with a fork until egg white and yolk are well combined.
Heat 1 tsp of butter in a frying pan over medium heat and add the egg mixture. After 10-15 seconds start bringing outside edges toward the center with a heat resistant spatula. This will make the runny parts come in contact with the pan and cook. After you went around the entire pan leave the omelet to cook until the top is no longer raw (but can still be a little soft – like a soft boiled egg). This adds to the creaminess.
Sprinkle half of the grated parmesan, chives, and three fried asparagus over the top of the omelet and use a spatula to fold half of the omelet over the other half.
Transfer the omelet to a plate and sprinkle with the rest of the parmesan cheese and chives. If you have any extra asparagus, serve them with the omelet.

Virgin Blackberry Rosewater Smash

May 7, 2020

The best refreshing drink, featuring blackberries, lime, and rosewater, is called virgin blackberry rosewater smash.

I know Spring is in its full blow but I’m already dreaming about refreshing Summer drink.

So I’m getting ready for Summer with one of the best Summer staple fruits – blackberries.

When they are in season, I freeze them, so I can use them for baking or for drinks throughout the year. If you have access to some delicious frozen blackberries or they happen to be in season, you need to make this mocktail. It’s made with smashed blackberries, some sugar, rosewater, and lime juice and topped with either water or sparkling water – whatever you prefer.

Of course, if you’re making a party and you wanna add some booze, that’s totally fine. A splash of gin or vodka would also make a great drink.

But these days, mocktails are my jam! Especially drinks with flowers. Luckily I still have some elderflower cordial from last year, although elderflowers are starting to bloom again so soon I’ll be making a fresh one 🙂

So this blackberry rosewater smash is a really easy drink to make.

After making some simple rose water syrup, just mix it with some smashed blackberries, lime juice, and water or sparkling water and you’ve got yourself the most delicious refreshing treat!

How to make simple syrup?

It’s actually very easy. All you need to do is combine the same amounts of water and sugar and cook until the sugar just dissolves. You don’t need to cook past that, it’s done. After the syrup has cooled down, add the rose water. I like to add it after the syrup has cooled so all the essential oils (and flavors!!) stay intact.

What if you don’t have rose water?

So you have no rose water, I get it it’s not something everyone has in their kitchen. That’s not a problem at all. I like rosewater because it adds such a nice flowery flavor.

So if you happen to have some elderflower or lilac syrup, you can use those too!

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Virgin Blackberry Rosewater Smash

Course Drinks

Keyword blackberry smash, elderflower mocktail, rosewater, summer drink, virgin cocktail

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 4 serving

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Rose water simple syrup (can be replaced by 1/2 cup lilac or elderflower syrup)

⅓ cup unrefined cane sugar
⅓ cup water
4 tsp rosewater

Other ingredients

2 cups blackberries fresh or thawed frozen
2 tsp lime juice
1½ cups water or sparkling water

Instructions

In a small saucepan combine water and sugar. Cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
Let cool to room temperature, then add rose water and stir well.
Divide blackberries, lime juice, and rose water simple syrup into four glasses and use a muddler to pureé the blackberries.
Add some ice to the glass and pour over water or sparkling water.
Serve immediately.

Homemade Wild Garlic Pasta Dough

March 26, 2020

This homemade wild garlic pasta dough recipe is easy to follow and tastes incredible. With a gentle herbal flavor and the most amazing color, it’s going to freshen up these early Spring days!

It’s that time of the year again. Yeah, it’s wild garlic time!

Despite what’s happening in the world right now, I can still go to the nearby forest and pick some wild garlic and for that, I’m so so grateful. If you’ve seen my wild garlic sandwiches or wild garlic risotto recipes, you know I’m obsessed with wild garlic. I can’t get enough.

So this year I’ve tried making wild garlic pasta. Although I love pasta that actually has herb particles inside, I wanted to make pasta that has a very uniform color, while still having that delicious wild garlic flavor.

And it turned out amazing. Mildly herbal and so incredibly tender.

Since the wild garlic flavor is very mild and delicate I suggest a very mild sauce. We made rosemary butter and added some parmesan cheese and some chopped fresh wild garlic and that’s it. It makes a perfect light Spring lunch.

What if I can’t find wild garlic?

I hope you have access to forest and wild garlic these days. If not, this recipe would also work with spinach or some other baby greens.

The most important thing is to keep the flour to water ratio and you’ll be fine 😀

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Wild Garlic Pasta Dough

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian, Mediterranean

Keyword homemade pasta, pasta, wild garlic, wild garlic pasta

Prep Time 30 minutes

Resting time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 4 people

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

250 g all-purpose flour
150 g wild garlic
pinch of salt

Instructions

Cook wild garlic in boiling water for around 30 seconds until it gets soft. Drain the wild garlic, but keep some of the liquid.
Use a food processor to mix wild garlic finely. If necessary add some leftover water from cooking one tablespoon at a time.
Use a strainer to squeeze out the liquid from the wild garlic paste. You should be left with 120g of strained liquid. If you don't have enough you can add some leftover water from cooking wild garlic.
Mix flour, salt and strained green liquid and mix with a fork. When it starts coming together start kneading. At first, the dough will feel very dry, but after about 10 minutes of kneading it will become softer.
When the dough is soft wrap it in plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes.
After resting it is ready to shape. You can use it for any kind of pasta.

If you're making noodles…

Cut the dough in half or quarters.
Use your hands or a rolling pin to just slightly flatten the dough, then use a pasta machine on the widest setting (usually marked as '1') to roll it out.
Fold the dough into thirds lengthwise and run it through the machine two more times, doing the folding each time. Then continue rolling the pasta gradually through narrower settings, until you've come to the desired thickness. I like my pasta to be rolled to thickness number '5'.
Use the same machine to cut the pasta into noodles. Alternatively, you can lightly flour the pasta, roll it and cut into strips with a knife.
Once you have your pasta cut, lightly flour it and make noodle nests. Leave them to dry for 30 minutes or longer if you want to dry them completely.

Juicy & Smoky Plant-Based Cheeseburger

March 5, 2020

This Juicy & Smoky Plant-Based Cheeseburger recipe is all about smoky flavors and freshness. These vegan burgers include the most delicious vegan mushroom bacon and quick homemade pickled radishes.

Here we go with another burger recipe!

I love my beef burgers but today I have a special plant-based recipe for you.

When Nataša from The Amaze burgers wrote to me and asked if I wanna try their pea-protein burger patties I felt really excited to try them out. And I was excited to make an entirely plant-based burger.

My first thought was it needs to have a smoky taste and something that resembles bacon. So after a bit of testing, I decided on making my own mushroom bacon. And it tastes delicious. Why haven’t I tried this before? I’m pretty sure this is going to be my favorite topping form now on.

And to add some tang, I made quick-pickled radishes. Super easy and so so delicious. It adds some nice freshness and crunch to the burger.

As far as the patty goes I used the Amaze patty but you can use any patty you like such as bean or chickpea patty.

So what’s in this delicious plant-based cheeseburger?

Nothing but the best 😀 And it’s all about color, smoky flavor and freshness. Just like I love my burgers. So here’s what’s in these burgers:

a delicious soft burger bun,
some baby spinach or arugula,
plant-based burger patty,
vegan cheese,
vegan mushroom bacon,
homemade pickled radishes,
and smoky BBQ sauce.

Okay, I know you’re probably hungry by now, so let’s just head to the recipe.

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Juicy & Smoky Plant-Based Cheeseburger

Course Main Course

Keyword mushroom bacon, plant-based burger, vegan burger

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Cooling time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 4 burgers

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Mushroom Bacon

250 g mushrooms (button mushrooms, shitake…)
2 ½ TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP soy sauce
½ TBSP maple syrup
½ TBSP smoky BBQ sauce
½ TBSP smoked paprika (or additional BBQ sauce)

Quick home-pickled radishes

100 g radishes
½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup water
3 TBSP unrefined cane sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Other ingredients

4 burger buns
4 plant-based burger patties
8 vegan cheese slices
½ cup smoky BBQ sauce
a bunch of fresh baby spinach

Instructions

Mushroom Bacon

Preheat the oven to 170°C and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
To prepare the marinade, place all mushroom bacon ingredients except mushrooms in a small bowl and mix until well combined.
Clean mushrooms with a brush and remove stems. Cut mushroom tops into thin slices, about 3-4 mm.
Place mushroom slices in the marinade and gently toss to cover all mushrooms from both sides.
Transfer mushroom slices to the lined baking sheet making sure there's not too much excess marinade on the mushrooms.
Roast in the preheated oven for ten minutes then flip the mushrooms and bake for another 10-15 minutes. The mushrooms should be a bit crunchy on the edges and they will firm more after they cool. If you see mushrooms burning, lower the heat and bake for a longer time.

Quick home-pickled radishes

Wash radishes and remove the greens.
Place all ingredients in a small saucepan, stir well and bring to a boil. Cook for 2-3 more minutes over medium heat, then let cool to room temperature.

Making the burgers

Cook your vegan burger patty as per instructions, adding two slices of vegan cheese two minutes before finishing, covering the skillet to help melt the cheese if necessary.
To assemble the burgers, cut burger buns in half. Spread a tablespoon of BBQ sauce on each half of the buns.
Place some spinach leaves on the bottom bun. Place burger patty with melted cheese on top. Add mushroom bacon, pickled radishes, and some more spinach. Top with the other half of the bun and serve immediately.

Mediterranean Style Mussels In Wine Sauce

February 26, 2020

This Mediterranean style mussels recipe is the easiest and super delicious! With just a few simple ingredients you get maximum flavors. Wine, garlic, and parsley make the most delicious sauce.

I’ve been scared of cooking mussels for a very very long time. In fact, I’ve just recently discovered how easy they are to make.

So how did I even get started?

We took our son out to eat some seafood and we ordered mussels after years of not eating them. He loved them so so much and we did as well. After that, I felt inspired and wanted to try them out. There’s one recipe that excites me the most and it’s this recipe. I’ve tested a few over a few months and wrote my own, like I make it.

The recipe is really a very popular way of cooking mussels in this part of the Mediterranean, where I’m from. This is just a variation and there’s also one with tomatoes, but I don’t think I’ve ever tried that one. Note to myself: make the tomato version!

Okay, so this Mediterranean style mussels recipe is literally the simplest dish you’ll ever make. And also one of the most delicious ones. Just imagine the flavors of the sea mixing with some good wine, garlic, and parsley. Doesn’t it already sound so delicious?

It only takes you a few minutes to prep and a few minutes to cook. The only thing that requires a bit more work is cleaning them, but it’s actually really easy.

So how do you clean the mussels?

First, make sure you buy fresh mussels. They should smell like the sea. I tried googling how long the mussels really last but the answers are so different. Since I don’t live next to the sea, I can’t get them straight from the water. This would be amazing and if you have that chance, I recommend buying them the same day they were harvested.

For the unfortunate ones: I tend to buy them if they are a day old and no more. Then I prepare them the same day or in the worst-case scenario the next day.

When it comes to cleaning the mussels, first you need to throw away dead or damaged mussels. Toss the mussels with a broken shell. If the shell is open tap it lightly against the counter and if the mussel starts to close after a few seconds, then it’s alive and you can keep it, if not, toss it. If the mussel is closed and the shell is not damaged it’s good to go.

After you’ve tossed away the bad ones, pour some water in a bowl and add a bit of salt. Place mussels in the salted water and wait for 30 minutes so they can release all the dirt which has accumulated inside the shells.

And that’s it. It’s very easy and so worth the extra few minutes of cleaning them.

This mussels recipe is the easiest and super delicious! With just a few simple ingredients you get maximum flavors. Wine, garlic, and parsley make the most delicious sauce.

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Mediterranean Style Mussels In Wine Sauce

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mediterranean

Keyword mussels, steamed mussels, wine sauce

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Resting time 30 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

1 kg fresh mussels
2 TBSP olive oil
5-6 garlic cloves finelly chopped
2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley
1 cup white wine
3 TBSP breadcrumbs

Instructions

Cleaning the mussels

Before cleaning the mussels be sure to only keep the ones that are alive. If the mussel is closed and the shell is intact, keep it. If the shell is open tap the mussel lightly against the counter and wait a few seconds. If it starts closing, this means the mussel is alive. If nothing happens toss it.
Scrub the mussels to remove any debris or mud. Remove the "beard" of a mussel, which is the thick cluster of hair on one side of the mussel.
Place mussels in cold lightly salted water for thirty minutes. In this time they will release the grit and dirt from inside the shell.
After thirty minutes remove the mussels from the water and give them a quick rinse.

Cooking the mussels

In a large pot, fry chopped garlic in olive oil for about a minute stirring constantly.
Add wine, chopped parsley and breadcrumbs to the pot and wait until it boils. Add cleaned mussels. Cover and lower the heat. Let steam for 10 minutes. Only eat the mussels that have opened. Toss the closed ones.
Serve warm with some bread or pasta.

Vegan No-Bake Pomegranate Coconut Pie

February 9, 2020

A simple and easy Valentine’s day dessert – a rich pomegranate coconut pie that doesn’t require any baking.

Hello February!

In a blink of an eye, we’ve arrived in the second month of the year. Omg, time flies!

This month we have a bunch of celebrations in Slovenia. First, we have a national holiday, when we celebrate the life and work of our biggest poet. It’s this Saturday, so we’ll be heading to the city for the celebration.

Then there’s Valentine’s day. It’s not really a traditional Slovenian holiday, but it’s quite popular anyway 😀 We have our own ‘Valentine’s day’ in March.

And at the end of the month, there’s the carnival. I can’t wait for it and I also can’t wait to try making sourdough doughnuts. Oh yeah, I’ve made my first (non-failed) sourdough starter last week and baked one bread already. It didn’t turn out perfect but it was delicious anyway.

So yeah, my mission is to bake more things with sourdough. And hopefully also share some recipes here as well.

Enough of me blabbing about holidays 😀

Let’s talk about this amazing recipe for this lovely pomegranate coconut pie. I made it with Valentine’s day in mind. You know the reds, whites, and pink. They remind me of Valentine’s day. And it’s a dessert. Can there really be Valentine’s day without a dessert?

Uhm, no!

Let’s talk about failure first. I had this idea about taking some beautiful photos of a white pie on a blue backdrop. Then suddenly my recipe changes and the pie no longer was only white. It also had red aka pomegranate. So when I took the photos of this pie I was unhappy with the results. It was so blah. I can’t even explain.

So I took it on another backdrop – this beige one. And I loved those so much.

But this wasn’t the only failure with this pie. At first, I wanted to make the coconut layer with coconut milk and cashews and I hated the texture and the taste. Too much cashew taste and not enough coconut. So I decided to add some white chocolate and use coconut paste instead of milk, just to make it even thicker than the creamy white stuff that forms when you’ve placed a can of coconut milk in the fridge.

And OMG this cream turned out better than I imagined!

I need to try making a cake with this cream. I’m pretty sure it would be just as amazing as this pomegranate coconut pie.

So how do you make this pomegranate coconut pie?

It’s fairly easy and straightforward.

First, you make the pie base with rolled oats, coconut flakes and ground almonds (or almond meal), coconut oil and dates. I just love the coconut and almond combination!

Then you make a pomegranate jelly using only pomegranate juice (bought or freshly squeezed) and agar-agar. You can use gelatine if you’re not vegan.

In the end, you make a coconut paste using creamed coconut and mix it with melted chocolate. Done! As simple as that.

The only thing you need to be aware of is that you’ll need to wait between each layer for it to set. So first you make the base and let it harden in the fridge. Then you make the jelly and wait again for it to set. In the end, make the coconut filling and wait again.

So not a lot of work, but a bit more waiting! You can watch your favorite series in the meantime or read a book 😀

Okay, let’s just make the pie!

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Vegan No-Bake Pomegranate Coconut Pie

Course Dessert

Keyword coconut pie, pie, pomegranate coconut pie, pomegranate pie

Prep Time 30 minutes

Resting time 3 hours

Total Time 3 hours 30 minutes

Servings 10 inch pie

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Pie base

1½ cup rolled oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup ground almonds or almond meal
9 Medjool dates soaked in warm water for 15 minutes
5 TBSP coconut oil
¼ tsp salt

Pomegranate jelly

1¼ cup pomegranate juice
1 tsp agar-agar

Coconut filling

150 g creamed coconut coconut oil removed
200 g vegan white chocolate
½ cup + 2 TBSP water

Instructions

Pie base

In a food processor blend all pie base ingredients into a sand-like texture that's slightly sticky
Press into a 10-inch pie pan and set in the fridge to chill.

Pomegranate jelly

Once the pie base is set, mix pomegranate juice and agar-agar in a saucepan and mix well.
Place over a medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Simmer for a minute or two then remove from the stove.
Leave a few minutes to cool just a little bit then pour into the set pie base and leave to set to room temperature.

Coconut filling

Once the pomegranate jelly is set make the coconut filling.
First, crumble creamed coconut into a food processor and add water. Blend until smooth.
Meld white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.
Once the chocolate is melted remove from the stove. Add coconut cream one tablespoon at a time, mixing well after each tablespoon.
Pour the cream on top of the pie and place it into the fridge to set.

Serving

Take from the fridge 30 minutes before serving.

Fruity Winter Salad with Mustard Dressing

January 24, 2020

When it comes to winter salad recipes, nothing beats arugula and kale salad with avocado, apples, feta, hazelnuts and some delicious mustard dressing.

The temperatures are finally getting more wintery over here, but there’s no sight of snow whatsoever!

Either way, a hearty winter salad with some fruits, cheese, and nuts is making me feel like Winter is as it should be.

It’s the beginning of a new year and it’s the time when a lot of us (including me) look more closely at what we eat. The thing is, in my personal experience if we give ourselves a tough challenge of eating lots of veggies we tend to fail soon if we’re not used to it.

I think it’s because we go to boring veggie foods. And I don’t mean veggies are boring, but they may seem this way if we don’t lift them up with some delicious add-ons.

And that’s what I love this salad!

It has some amazing leafy greens, but what it gives it heart and soul (and a chance that we’re not going to fail the healthy eating habit!) is the fruitiness of apples and pomegranate, creaminess of avocado and almond mustard dressing, flavor kick from feta cheese and some crunch from hazelnuts and also pomegranate.

It’s really such a simple Winter dish (or side dish), but I honestly couldn’t stop eating it when I first made this.

I used kale and arugula as the leafy green part, but if you grow or have excess to any other leafy greens I’m sure they will work just as well. As for the apple part, you could also use pears or some red oranges. Or all of them.

I’ll be a little shorter today. My poor sick son is asleep so I’m just trying to write this post and recipe as quickly as I can before he wakes.

Anyway, have a lovely weekend friends!

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Fruity Winter Salad with Mustard Dressing

Course Salad, Side Dish

Keyword winter salad

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

2 cups arugula
1 cup kale sliced
1 avocado
1 apple
1/2 cup pomegranate arils
1/2 cup feta cheese crumbled
1/4 cup hazelnuts chopped

Hazelnut Mustard Dressing

juice of ½ Meyer lemon
4 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp honey
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 TBSP almond butter
salt to taste
black pepper to taste

Instructions

Hazelnut Mustard Dressing

Whisk all ingredients until you get a uniform dressing.

Salad

Remove pits from the apple and avocado. Remove avocado skin. Cut apple and avocado into thin slices.
In a large bowl mix arugula and kale slices and dress them with the dressing.
Add apple and avocado slices on top and sprinkle with crushed feta cheese, pomegranate arils, and crushed hazelnuts.
Serve immediately.

Easy 15-minute Cheat Ramen

January 17, 2020

This easy ramen soup only takes 15 minutes to make and is super healthy with a beautiful deep miso flavor. With some added fresh vegetables this is a delicious and healthy meal.

Hello and Happy New Year!

I’m very late wishing you this, but I’m here now and I’ve got an amazing recipe for a very simple ramen soup bowl that you can make in 15 minutes flat. It’s been the dish that we’ve cooked a lot the past month. We’re all fans of Japanese food here and a big bowl of soup with Japanese feel is our jam these days!

Before I get to the recipe, I’ll bore you a bit more with a big decision that we’ve made for the new year, but actually we want to stick with it for the long run. During the holidays I’ve had a long talk with my hubby about what’s making us nervous about being in the house. We felt like being indoors creates so much stress and it’s not only because being outside is just so much more fun. We’ve realized that it’s actually because of STUFF. To be more exact – too much stuff. So we made our mission to seriously declutter our house during the next few months and then keep the habits of decluttering regularly.

Ugh, it’s going to be a hard job, because we’ve accumulated so much stuff (and we’re not hoarders!). go through all my storage at least two times a year, but after watching some youtube decluttering videos I see that I just wasn’t strict enough.

Even though it’s a stressful and long procedure, I’m looking forward to having less clutter in my life.

Okay, I’ve talked about my New Year’s decisions long enough. Let’s talk about this DELICIOUS ramen recipe.

Traditionally ramen has different variations and it takes a long time, but I’ve shortened this for the occasions when you either don’t have all the ingredients or just simply don’t have the extra few hours to make it.

I used premade broth or broth cube for this recipe. Clearly, if you’ve got time you can make your own and that’s awesome, but if you’re short on time the other two options are still completely fine.

So what does a ramen soup consist of?

Ramen is a noodle soup that was brought to Japan from China.

There are a few different variations, but they all have a few components:

BROTH: Traditionally they are usually made with chicken or pork, but these days we can find lots of other variations.
FLAVORS: Those are flavors that are added to the broth to add some extra feel to the soup. Those can be anything like soy sauce, miso, salt, curry…
NOODLES: Traditionally noodles for ramen are made specifically for being served in a soup so they don’t drink in the soup and get soft and mushy. In my own personal opinion, I feel like I eat the soup pretty quickly, so I haven’t noticed the soaking of noodles.
TOPPINGS: So many options here. You can add meats, veggies, mushrooms, kelp, eggs… Whatever you feel like that day or just have in the fridge.

Since it’s winter I’ve topped my ramen with veggies that I can find right now. But depending on what the season is when you’re reading this, you can use some other seasonal ingredients. There’s no right or wrong here 🙂

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Easy 15-minute Cheat Ramen

Course Main Course

Cuisine Japanese

Keyword ramen, vegan ramen, vegetarian ramen

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Servings 2 servings

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Broth

4 cups vegetable broth (or 4 cups water + 2 stock cubes)
2 TBSP miso paste
2 cloves garlic peeled
1 TBSP low sodium soy sauce
1 thumb size ginger peeled
1 TBSP sesame seed oil

Toppings

4 shitake or champignon mushrooms
1/2 carrot
1/2 small leek only the white part
1 spring onion greens

Other

two servings of ramen noodles
sesame seeds for sprinkling

Instructions

Broth

Finely chop garlic and ginger.
Heat a skillet over high heat. Add sesame seed oil and quickly fry garlic and ginger for about 30 seconds to a minute.
Add miso paste and soy sauce and mix well.
Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Toppings

Cut carrots and leeks into julienne strips.
Slice the mushrooms and spring onion greens thinly.
Optional: If you prefer you can quickly roast mushrooms over high heat for about a minute or two. Or you can eat them raw.

Noodles

Cook as per instructions right before serving.

Assembling

Place noodles into two bowls.
Pour over the broth.
Add the toppings: mushrooms, carrots, leek, spring onions.
Sprinkle with some sesame seeds.

Festive Ombré Blackberry Champagne

December 26, 2019

How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It’s perfect for festive celebrations and New Year’s Eve parties!

Christmas is over (omg, so fast!). Are you getting ready for the New Year’s Eve celebration already?

With a small kid, we’re gonna keep it low key, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have any festive drinks. What about you? Let me know in the comments… What do you love to drink on New Year’s Eve?

I’ve got a new cocktail recipe for you. Ugh, it’s been such a long time!

In the mood of this year ending and anticipation of what’s new to come, I have a recipe that’s very fancy and festive and easy to make. A delicious ombré blackberry champagne. I promise you’re gonna make an impression even though it’s so easy to make.

All you have to do is make a simple blackberry syrup with some fresh or frozen blackberries, rosemary, water, and sugar. All you have to do beforehand is cook it down to a syrupy consistency and cool down. Then you’re ready to serve at the last moment with some champagne.

How to make the ombre effect?

The trick is to make the syrup really thick and syrupy. Like any syrup. The weight of the syrup will make it sink to the bottom of the glass.

The other trick is in pouring the drink. First, you pour the champagne. Then you take a tablespoon, tilt the glass 45 degrees and slowly pour in the syrup so it slides on the sides and reaches the bottom.

How to decorate this festive blackberry champagne?

I used some flavored sugar that I made as Christmas gifts to decorate the rim. You can use regular sugar or demerara sugar if you like the gold color. You can use some water or melted butter to hold the sugar on the rim.

I also used a rosemary stem to hold some blackberries which I placed in the freezer and used to serve at the last moment. I love the condensation effect that happens when you take it out of the freezer 😀

All you need to do then is to enjoy.

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Course Drinks

Keyword celebration, champagne, cocktail, new year’s eve

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

1 ½ cup blackberries fresh or frozen
½ cup sugar
¼ cup water
4 rosemary springs
8 blackberries for decoration
1 bottle of Champagne chilled

Instructions

Prepare the decoration. Remove the leaves from the bottom half of the rosemary springs. Save the leaves for the syrup. Place two blackberries on each rosemary spring. and freeze.
Place blackberries, sugar, water, and rosemary leaves in a saucepan. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until you get a syrupy consistency.
Drain through a sieve to remove the pits and cool the syrup.
Pour chilled champagne into champagne glasses, then tilt each glass 45 degrees and pour 2 TBSP syrup on the sides of the glass, so it slides to the bottom. Decorate with blackberries on rosemary springs.

Spiced Almond Butter Chocolate Babka

December 19, 2019

This delicious almond butter chocolate babka is made of rich sweet dough and creamy filling. It’s so cozy and homey. A perfect Christmas treat that everyone will love.

With just a few days left until Christmas, we’re still deciding who’s going to host this year’s Christmas dinner. It’s usually us or my parents, but we haven’t decided yet this year. In any case, I’m making my favorite holiday dessert.

When it comes to Christmas desserts I’m all about sweet bread. My favorites include Italian panettone, walnut chocolate star bread, our traditional walnut roll called ‘potica’ and this year I found a new one – almond butter chocolate babka. Do you see a pattern here? Sweet dough, nuts, and chocolate.

And I’m sharing the recipe with you today.

This almond butter chocolate bread is a product of another amazing collab with my friend Tereza from Tereza’s Choice. We had so much fun during our day together creating this babka and taking photos. Although I erased all of the images in the middle of the shoot, I managed to get them all back with the help of my brother. Cheers to him! I think I need to bake him a babka just to say thanks 😀

Back to the recipe!

We used the same dough recipe as in my walnut chocolate star bread recipe. I honestly think this is the best egg-free sweet dough I have ever made.

For the filling, we used Tereza’s almond butter with cinnamon and vanilla. Yes, she has her own line of products and I love them. But don’t worry, you can use regular almond butter and add spices yourself in case you don’t have access to her spiced almond butter. It’s all in the recipe.

The filling is actually pretty simple. Melted chocolate (mix of semi-sweet and milk), almond butter and spices. That’s all. And I can honestly say, using nut butters as a filling for sweet breads is one of the best things there is.

We made a version with chopped almonds on top and dried cranberries inside and a plain one without the almonds and cranberries and they both turned out super delicious!

5 from 1 vote

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Spiced Almond Butter Chocolate Babka

Course Dessert

Keyword babka, Christmas bread, sweet bread

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Rising time 1 hour 40 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes

Author Anja Burgar & Tereza Poljanič

Ingredients

Sweet Dough

2 ½ cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup + 2 TBSP milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp vanilla seeds or vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cardamom
2 TBSP unsalted butter melted

Almond Butter Chocolate filling

50 g milk chocolate
50 g semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup almond butter
1 tsp vanilla seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
OPTIONAL: dried cranberries (soaked in water for 15 minutes and drained)

Other

chopped almonds for topping
1 TBSP milk or butter or 1 egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water (for egg wash)

Instructions

Sweet Dough

In a small bowl mix 2 TBSP sugar, half of the milk and yeast. Cover and wait for it to activate and start foaming.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the flour, vanilla seeds (or extract), ground cardamom and sugar at low speed to combine all the ingredients. Add the rest of the milk and melted butter and mix until the dough comes together. Lastly, add activated yeast. Continue mixing until a soft smooth dough forms. You can do this by hand, as well. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes or until double the size.

Almond Butter Chocolate filling

Melt both milk and semi-sweet chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water.
Add almond butter, vanilla, and cinnamon and mix well.

Making Babka

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
Roll out the dough to about 20x50cm (4x10inch) or 2-3 mm thick.
Spread over the filling. Sprinkle cranberries on top if you wish. Roll along the ling edge and cut in half to get two rolls of the same length.
Cut each roll in half lengthwise and swirl one half over the other (see photos above).
Place the two babkas into two bread tins lined with baking paper and lightly brush with milk (or butter or egg wash). Bake in the preheated oven until deeply golden and puffy, about 20 to 25 minutes.