Thursday, June 21, 2012

Crunchy Zucchini Isles

Having a beautiful vegetable garden, my mother gathers tremendous zucchinis. So when the season arrives, the whole family is well provided with the summer squash. One of the many recipes in which my mamma uses them are her famous zucchini sandwiches. With just zucchini, ham and cheese they are a version of the common ham and cheese sandwich, popular known in Spain as "mixto". For these sandwiches what you need to do is to replace the bread with zucchini slices. To keep the layers together you have to coat them in egg and fry them. An oily business, I tell you.

Here in Germany, where I live, the family provider for zucchinis is my mother-in-law. So when, after visiting the family last time, we came home with a couple of nice specimens, I remembered the famous sandwiches from my mother. However, as I'm a little bit lazy and hate frying, I tried something new: crunchy zucchini isles, with a result that speaks for itself!

IMG_6213

Ingredients
1 zucchini, if possible a large one
2-3 slices of ham
3-4 slices of Emmental cheese
Feta cheese
2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp. breadcrumbs
olive oil
salt

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 250 °C (approx. 475 °F or very hot). Prepare an oven tray with aluminum foil. Wash the zucchini and cut into 1 cm slices which we put on the tray previously sprinkled with some olive oil. Add some salt to the top of the slices. Now put a slice of ham, a slice or two of Emmental cheese and a cube of feta cheese on top of them all. In a bowl, mix the grated Parmesan with the breadcrumbs and sprinkle the zucchini isles with this mixture.
Put in the preheated oven and let for about 10 minutes or until golden brown
Et voilà!

Markierte Fotos43

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Friday, June 1, 2012

Sweet Potato Casserole à la Sookie

I have an unmentionable confession to make: I love, I mean really love, all kind of vampire and supernatural beings stories. Now is out there! What can I say? Nobody is perfect! This addiction makes me consume uncontrollably not only movies, shows, seasons, sagas, remakes, you name it, but also, and if applicable, all the books they are based on.

So when I read my friend's A. post about True Blood and about its source material the Southern Vampire Series I knew I will have to devour all of them. But here is the thing: after having read in a row the first eleven books of the series and having just started book number twelve, you start getting close to your hard limits (and frankly, I think the author is getting to hers), and the reading becomes dense. So much so that the only thing that catches your interest (and the one of your already sleepy mind at that point) is a dish the heroine cooks between telepathic conversation, supernatural fights and a roll in the hay with a vampire.

Even from a bad read you can get something good though.

Sweet Potato Casserole - Logo

Ingredients
1 kg sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into medium cubes
95 g packed brown sugar (I used cassonade)
50 g butter, softened (which you forget on the counter top!)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pecans and miniature marshmallows for the topping

Preparation
Preheat oven to 180 °C.
Place the sweet potatoes in a Dutch oven, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes or until very tender. Drain; cool slightly.
Place potatoes in a large bowl. Add sugar and the other ingredients (this is when you forget the butter!). Mash sweet potato mixture with a potato masher. Scrape potato mixture into an even layer in a baking dish coated with some butter. Sprinkle pecans and top with marshmallows. Bake at 180 °C for 25 minutes or until golden.

I used the book's recipe description and this recipe of a traditional sweet potato casserole for the measures.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Does someone else have an unmentionable confession to make too?