Apple pie with crispy filo pastry

Home made pies - what can be better?! It reminds me of those weekends in my childhood, when mother baked and the charming smell made me wake up... It is an opportunity to spread pleasant flavor around and enjoy the moment we are in.

Of course, I usually advise to prepare everything on your own. Then you know what you combine in the recipe and you are sure that artificial flavors and ingredients are avoided. But when you are in a rush and have only twenty minutes, you can always choose this magic and easy recipe with Filo pastry.

Filo (from Greek "leaf") is typical type of dough usually used to make baklava. This is product number 1 (after dried dates, of course), that I usually buy in Turkish shops here:) To tell the truth it can be used for sweet pastry, as well as for salty pies or little snacks. 

Ingredients:

filo pastry - about 10 sheets
2 big apples
3 tbsp raisins
Christmas spices (or mix of ground cinnamon, anis, cloves etc.)
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp almond leaves

When working with filo, make sure the surface is clean and dry. The pastry should be kept in the fridge in vacuum package, and if taken out  - should be covered by wet towel and not kept reachable to fresh air. It gets dry very fast and might crack before you prepare the pie :) But no stress. It is not a big deal. You will definitely handle it.

Before putting everything together wash the apples and cut them thin. Pour some lemon juice that will save them from getting darker. Soak raisins in hot water for 15 minutes and drain them well. Take about 6 sheets of dough and put them on the baking paper. Make first layer from apples in the center. Put the raisins and spices on the apples. Make one more layer from apples and spice them.

Melt some butter and oil the ends of the filo sheets and using your hands form some folds around the apple layers as shown below.

The rest of the sheets take together and butter the upper sheet and only ends of the other sheets as possible. Form the top of the pie and put it on the apples. Put almond leaves all over the pie for extra nutty note.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180C.

Here you go. Perfect, easy and tasty pie! And the biggest benefit - quickly:)

Super easy mini cheesecakes

It happens from time to time with all of us: a strong wish to eat something sweet and not a single candy nearby... I have always a solution for that. Either a fantastic chocolate souffle or this time - tiny mini tasty cheesecakes. Little portion of heaven taste. Takes minimum of your time and brings maximum of protein and benefits.

Ingredients:

500 g low fat cottage cheese

2 tbsp raisins

1 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

2 ripe bananas

vanilla extract or 1 tbsp of vanilla sugar (if you like it sweeter;)

The recipe takes 2 easy steps:
Mix ----> Bake

Just preheat your oven  to 180°C. Mix the cheese, mashed bananas, cinnamon, vanilla sugar or extract. Beat in 2 eggs, raisins (previously soaked for 15 minutes in hot water and well drained) and mix thoroughly. Pour into muffin forms. I use silicone and find them especially perfect for this recipe as there is no need to fat them before and the little cakes are easily taken out of the forms.

Last step - bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 150 °C and bake another 25 minutes.
Let the cakes cool down and then only take them out from the forms. Otherwise you will probably ruin the whole form of the cakes. But the taste does not disappear... if you are in a rush for something sweet :)

Easter bread - original Ukrainian recipe

When you say here is Germany that you celebrate Easter differently and a week later (as it is this year) people do not stop asking questions. Therefore I would like to present today our traditional Easter food. For all who have questions and just those curious ones. This is the bread you will definitely see on the table of each Ukrainian family these days. Until it disappears, as it usually happens.

Ingredients:

500-600 g white flour
 4 eggs
1 cup sugar
125 g butter
250 ml milk
35 g fresh yeast
30 g raisins
30 g candied orange zest
sprinkle of salt
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
200 g sugar powder
1 tbsp lemon juice
decorations

For the dough heat milk until 36°C. Into a deep bowl with warm milk add 35 g of fresh yeast. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and portion by portion 2 cups of flour. Mix well and set aside in warm place for 30 minutes. Meanwhile melt butter. In a bowl using electric mixer mix 1/2 cup of sugar, salt and 4 yolks. 2 egg whites put into fridge (they will be used in the end for white glaze) and other two mix until not very thick foam. Into yolk-sugar mixture add vanilla sugar.

After 30 minutes of waiting time until yeast mixture is ready to be added into dough, pour yolk-sugar mixture into it and fold with silicon spoon carefully not to ruin the bubble structure. Portion by portion add 2 cups of flour and fluffy egg whites. Pour melted butter and add rest of flour. Mix well. Knead the dough in a bowl for about 5-10 minutes until it is elastic and not sticky anymore. Sprinkle with flour and set aside covered for an hour.



The process of preparing good dough is very careful, time-consuming and calm. They say, the more Easter breads you taste during these holy days, the more wishes of yours will come true. It is a big tradition and a good sign when a woman bakes Easter bread. So a lot of women try to add something special in the recipe and make their Easter bread better than others'.

In an hour the dough is ready to be kneaded for the last time. Oil the surface a little bit so that the dough does not stick to your hands or surface. Knead for about 10 minutes. Add raisins and orange zest. Form a ball and put it into the oiled form so that 1/3 of the form is left free as the bread will rise. 30 minutes should pass until the bread is finally put into oven. It should be baked at 180°C for about 40 minutes. To check the readiness put a wooden thin stick inside the bread and make sure it is dry.

While the bread is in the oven we can make glaze. We beat cold egg whites with a sprinkle of salt adding sugar powder until the mixture gets thick.

When the bread is ready, it should be taken out of the form and set aside to cool down for about 15 minutes. After that the glaze can be spread over it. For decorations use your fantasy. However, traditionally it is decorated with two letters: XB - short abbreviation from "Christ is risen" in Ukrainian. I used little sugar hearts and some almond leaves.

Now you can feel yourself a little bit Ukrainian. Some colored eggs and spring sun...
All in all: Happy Easter!

Vitamin Boost Smoothie

Spring, sun, warmth... Welcome to the season, when looking out of the window makes you smile. This is the season when we were not lazy to wake up even at 8 a.m. on Sunday to go to Fischmarkt. Because there is a huge advantage of living in Hamburg. Cheap fruit and vegetables, fish and wide range of other staff. Just limited for couple of hours every Sunday. And that is the reason to open the season :) It's smoothie time.




After winter our bodies are exhausted. Lack of vitamins has impact on all the systems. The best way to start smoothly new season - smoothie.

Of course, you can be creative enough during the smoothie-making-process. Choose whatever you like, add exotic ingredients and enjoy. For this particular "Vitamin Boost" smoothie you will need:

1 ripe mango
1 apple
2 mandarins
carambola to serve

Step 1: Easier couldn't be: wash the fruits, peel them and blend them all in a kitchen machine.

Step 2: Drink, enrich your body with vitamins and energy. And enjoy :)

Rabbit under creamy wine sauce with rosemary

Easter time!

As far as you may know, the main symbol of this time of the year in Germany is rabbit. Might sound very mean, but today's recipe is actually rabbit.

This recipe is very special. It is a part of menu in the restaurant on Eiffel Tour and I was very curious to try and do it on my own. In my own restaurant - called "Kitchen" :)

Ingredients:

500 g rabbit leg
150 g dry white wine
6 cherry tomatoes
2 middle-sized carrots
1 garlic clove
50 g flour
50 g butter
150 g dry white wine
500 ml milk
white pepper, nutmeg
1 tsp dried rosemary (or 2-3 fresh rosemary sprigs)
30 ml oil for frying
salt
pepper

Rabbit meat is very healthy and highly recommended for children. There are some secrets to keep the softness and tenderness, yet make it very flavorful. The best part for this recipe is rabbit leg, but if you have middle part, you may also try to cook it this way.

Firstly, wash rabbit legs under cold water and dry them with paper towel. Salt and pepper it a bit. In a deeper pan heat some oil. If you have rosemary sprigs, put them into the oil and let the aromas enrich the oils flavor. If you were not lucky to find one, keep dried rosemary for later. Cut garlic clove into two parts and put into oil for same purpose.

As soon as you feel magic aromas spreading around you, take both - garlic and rosemary - out from the pan. Put the meat inside and fry it from all sides until golden crisp. Meanwhile boil some water and blanch tomatoes. We need to peel them and use only pure tomato meat. The process is very simple. Put them into hot water for about 2-3 minutes. Then suddenly put them into ice cold water and the peel off will be more than successful.

Wash carrots and grate them. Add grated carrots. Add dried rosemary at this point. Pour white wine into the pan. Reduce the heat and at low heat stir the meat for about 25 minutes. Every 5-7 minutes turn the meat so that the sauce and flavors reach all sides.

Tomatoes' turn :) Put them into the pan and stir another 5-7 minutes. Set aside. At this step I observed the following picture in my pan (see below).

To serve the dish properly one more part is missing - the sauce. Bechamel variation makes perfect combination to the rabbit meat. Its creamy texture and wine note only emphasize the taste.




For a sauce in a saucepan melt some butter. Add flour and mix thoroughly. As the color of the flour turns 'goldenish', pour milk portion by portion. At low heat mix until the sauce gets sicker. Add salt, white pepper, nutmeg. Pour wine. Here it is - the sauce is ready to go :)

Serve a rabbit leg on carrot pillow with cherry tomatoes under the creamy wine sauce.

Special occasion? Now you're ready for any occasion.

Just good mood or romantic dinner with your beloved? Goes well in combination.

Bon Appétit!