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Cottage tart with pink grapes

A couple of weeks ago Rita Palita challenged me creat a recipe with cottage cheese.
I immediately bought it but in the meanwhile I went to Portugal I couldn’t make it on time.
As better late than never and the cottage chees was still waiting for me in the refrigerator I’ve decided today to create my recipe and contribute to such an original idea!

The fox and the grapes

A fox, almost with hunger dying,
Some grapes on a trellis spying,
To all appearance ripe, clad in
Their tempting russet skin,
Most gladly would have eat them;
But since he could not get them,
So far above his reach the vine—
“They’re sour,” he said; “such grapes as these,
The dogs may eat them if they please!”
Did he not better than to whine?

La Fontaine fable based on Aesop: Phaedrus, 4. 3.

Cottage tart with pink grapes

Makes 4:

Crust:
100 g sweet plain biscuits
20 g oatmeal
25 g butter, melted

Grind the biscuits and the oatmeal.
Combine with butter.
Press this mixture into the bottom of 12 cms pie pans.
Refrigerate.

Filling:
400 g cottage cheese
100 g sugar
40 g cake flour
zest of 1 lemon
Vanilla
4 egg whites

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.
Mash the cheese.
Combine the cheese with the flour and lemon zest.
Whisk the egg whites until firm peaks form and add sugar.
Gently fold the meringue into the previous mixture.
Pour the mixture into the pie pans.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Let it cool down before unmould.

Grape Jelly:

200 g seedless red grapes, halved
100 ml water
100 g sugar
some drops of lemon juice

Bring the grapes to boil with the water until tender. Sieve.
Add the sugar to the sieved grape pulp.
In a saucepan bring to low heat until it thickens, stirring regularly.
Skim off foam while boiling.

Decorate with grapes and brush the top with jelly.

October 16, 2008 | Filed under pies, tarts, tartelettes | 5 Comments 

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

I’m not a big fan of baked apples but today I’ll make an exception…

Baked apples with mascarpone, Port wine, honey and hazelnuts

4 Egremont Russet apples
1 tbsp Port wine
200 g mascarpone
20 g honey
50 g chopped hazelnuts
Cinnamon and star anise

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.
Mix together wine, mascarpone, cinnamon and star anise.
Peel the apple and cut in thick slices.
In a baking dish put the apple slices with the mascarpone mixture between them.
Top with the remaining mixture and honey.
Sprinkle with the hazelnuts.
Bake for 30-40 minutes.

October 15, 2008 | Filed under fruit desserts and jams | 5 Comments 

Cracking up laughing

After two broken knives and an injured rolling pin I couldn’t find any solutions… Why does the coconut refuses breaking itself apart?!…
I’ve almost felt sorry for my kitchen tiles and with a big laughter I threw it violently against the floor… it was fatal… the coconut cracked up laughing… :)

Coconut lemon cake

2 dl milk
60 g coconut, grated
100 g butter
5 eggs
200 g sugar
Zest of one lemon and 50 ml lemon juice
200 g cake flour

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.
Grease a cake pan (24 cms diameter).
Bring the milk to boil adding the coconut and the diced butter.
Set aside.
Whisk the egg yolks with 100g of sugar and the lemon zest until creamy.
Ad the milk and mix well.
Gently fold in the flour.
Whisk the egg whites until firm peaks form, add the lemon juice and the remaining sugar. Keep whisking to thicken the mixture.
Gently fold in the egg whites into the dough.
Bake for 50 minutes.
Brush the cake with lemon jelly.
I’ve sprinkled the top with freshly grated coconut.

* if you use small pans (12 cms diameter) it bakes in only 15 minutes.

October 13, 2008 | Filed under cakes, muffins and madeleines | 13 Comments 

Delight

Milk bread

Makes 20:
500 g all-purpose flour
1 egg
10 g salt
50 g sugar
20 g fresh yeast
200 ml warm milk
125 g butter, softened

In the mixer, combine all the ingredients (except butter) together with the dough hook attachment and the yeast dissolved in the milk.
Mix for 10 minutes at medium speed.
Slowly fold in the butter.
Place the dough into a bowl covered with a cloth or wrap film, in a tempered place (24ºC) for 1 hour or until it doubles its size.
Fold gently.
Place egg-sized dough balls into a greased baking sheet leaving 2 cms between them.
Brush with egg yolk dissolved in water.
Let it rest again, in a tempered place, for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC.
Brush agains with the egg mixture, sprinkle with sugar and make a cross shaped cut on top of each bread.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Let them cool down over a rack.

October 12, 2008 | Filed under bread | 11 Comments 

I’m back

In the middle of so many trips I frequently feel like an expat… I don’t know for sure where my home is… if it is the one I left behind or the one where I arrive now after 10 runny days with family…

Nostalgia makes my heart unsteady, emotions mix together with time and I feel that I have a time bomb inside me ever ready to explode.

Time is never enough for all the moments I have on my mind and becomes even tightier when I let myself be fooled by the present.

Anyway I bring with me a magazine (Visão Estilo+Design) on my luggage to drool over my blog name at a click’s distance!

I badly can’t wait to organize my space again and start working hard!
Tomorrow’s another day!

October 11, 2008 | Filed under journal | 4 Comments 

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