little potato bags

After all the wonderful Christmas dining and overstuffing I celebrate to come back to the simple things of life. Like a little bagful of oven roasted potatoes. Together with some lemon and parsley dressed sardines and a nicely  smelling Chaumes they make for a delicious dinner.

Little Potato Bags

Fill  each square-cut piece of parchment paper with 4 small sized, clean scrubbed potatoes. Sprinkle generously with fresh parsley, thyme and oregano, add a piece of butter, a tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper.
Tie them up.
Bake the little bags in the oven for 40 minutes at 160°C.

Combines perfectly with a glass of red wine!

kale crisps

I found this recipe here and it reminded me strongly of some pieces of kale I lately had topped my  pizza with. Even though I had blanched the kale before, the leaves turned brown with tendency to black, burnt , paperlike, ashy... and  only very few of them  got really nice and crispy. Definitely not an award-winning pizza topping.

BUT IF YOU

"preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Line the baking tray with  parchment paper.
 Remove the leaves from thick stems and tear into bite sized pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale.
 Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the edges are brown        
 but not burnt"

YOU WILL GET some really delicious kale crisps!

The moment you put the first piece in your mouth it feels super crispy, salty, much lighter and thinner than a potato crisp, yumm..... then it becomes chewy (must be the healthy fibres), and if eventually you have eaten more than two or three of them, you may want to skip dinner. Promised!

kale crisps

1 bunch kale 

1 tbs olive oil

1 ts salt

the easiest Tarte Tatin (sort of) ever

Are you already bored with my apple recipes?  No?

This short little recipe is a must if you love the combination of caramel and fruit and if you've not too much time to spend on baking. It's inspired by  the genuine Tarte Tatin, by a recipe I stumbled upon in La Cazuela Vegana and by David Lebovitz's Upside Down Cake.

You simply need:

3 tbs butter
100g sugar
4-6 apples
juice of 1/2 lemon

frozen puff pastry

1.layer
Melt the butter in a cake pan, add the sugar and cook while stirring until the sugar is melted and begins to bubble. Remove from heat and let cool.

2. layer
Peel and slice the apples, sprinkle with lemon juice and arrange them spiralwise on the 1. layer.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

3.layer:
Top the apples with a layer of puff pastry (rolled out in the shape of the cake form).
Before you put it into the oven, poke a few holes into the pastry as an outlet for the steam.

Bake it for about 20 minutes until the puff pastry turns golden. Remove from oven, let cool for 10 minutes, then place a cake plate on top and flip the cake out on to the plate.

As David Lebovitz suggests, have also a try with plums, abricots, pears, or nectarines. Or  replace the puff pastry by the original pate brisée or by cake batter. Bon appétit!