Category Archives: a bit of salt

Main dishes

Caramel au beurre salé

Salted butter caramel

This time I’ll share with you a very simple recipe that contains only three main ingredients: sugar, cream, and salted butter. French people use this caramel in many different ways: as “macaron” filling, adding caramel flavour to cakes, cookies or any other pastry. It is very typical in Britanny, where they often eat it with crêpes (pancakes) as a dessert.

By changing the quantity of cream, you can make it more or less liquid. You can also add some nuts, chocolate, dried fruits to give it a more original taste. For fillings, you need to use half sugar and  half cream + butter to give it a more solid consistency.

Salted butter caramel can be a perfect gift as well, for example to your loved ones during Christmas time – I have received several orders already ;)

salted butter caramel

salted butter caramel

 Yield: 500ml of caramel, enough to serve with pancakes for 5

Ingredients: 

  • 200g sugar
  • 250ml cream
  • 50g salted butter (or 80g if you want a stronger taste)
  • a pinch sea salt (ideally “fleur de sel”)

Step by step: 

  •  Prepare all ingredients: cream, sugar, salted butter & sea salt.
cream, suger, sea salt

cream, sugar, sea salt

  • Pour sugar in a saucepan and let it melt – mixing in the solid sugar grains from time to time with the melted sugar. Make sure that the sugar does not burn, keep the heat low. Meanwhile, pre-heat the cream in another sauce pan.
let melt sugar & warm up cream

let melt sugar & warm up cream

  • When the sugar is melted and dark brown, add the pre-heated cream little by little, all the while whisking it quickly with the help of a spoon.
add cream

add cream

  • Once the cream is well incorporated, add the salted butter and a pinch of salt.
add butter

add butter

  • Serve in small jars or a bowl, depending on when you plan to eat it.

Enjoy!

Pelmeņi

Latvian dumplings

Pelmeņi are dumplings consisting of a filling wrapped in a thin dough. They didn’t originate from Latvia – they are very popular in Russia as well as other Eastern European countries. If you know Asian food, you might associate them with gyoza – just the ingredients are different. The usual filling in Latvia consist of minced meat. I’ve filled my pelmeņi with smoked meat and mushrooms. I think that the best ones are home-made, because you can choose your own filling and adapt them according to your taste. So, be courageous and make your own ;)

pelmeni

pelmeni

Yield: ca. 30-35 pelmeņi (3-4 portions)

Ingredients: 

Dough

  • 2,5 cups of flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup of milk
  • a little bit of salt

Filling

  • 200g of smoked meat
  • 200g of mushrooms
  • salt, pepper

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Fig & goat cheese salad

Sweet summer salad

I’ve discovered fresh figs while living in Paris -before that, I had never tried them fresh, only dried. The fig is believed to come from Western Asia and to have been distributed later throughout the Mediterranean area. It is a rather sweet fruit with a tough peel and a jelly-like flesh. I like eating fresh figs alone, but the best combination I’ve discovered is a fig & goat cheese salad – a sweet & salty combination and a perfect starter for a summer dinner.

fig & goat cheese salad

fig & goat cheese salad

Yield: 4 persons

Ingredients:

  • 150g rocket leaves
  • 10-15 fresh dark figs
  • 100g goat cheese – any kind
  • walnuts – optional
  • olive oil
  • balsamico vinegar
  • 2 tea spoons of honey
  • salt, pepper

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Vegetable – ham quiche

Adding some vegetables to the traditional Quiche Lorraine

I suppose that you have heard already about the traditional Quiche Lorraine – bacon, swiss cheese and onions mingle in perfect harmony with eggs and cream. I adore vegetables, thus I’ve created my own, vegetable-heavy variation of this quiche. I usually add some carrots and zucchini. I also like to make the quiche quite thick, so that it remains more juicy and flavorful; thus my quiche has a bit more eggs than a traditional quiche has. It’s perfect for dinner and with these quantities serves for four to five. Also, leftovers are delicious the next day, either cold or re-heated!

Vegetable - ham quiche

Vegetable – ham quiche

Yield: 4-5 portions

Ingredients: 

  • 7 eggs
  • 150g smoked ham
  • 250g shortcrust pastry
  • 250g milk
  • 100g cheese: swiss cheese or any kind of other cheese. I sometimes use “Boursin-style” cheese or even fresh goat cheese.
  • 1 big onion
  • 1 medium size zucchini
  • 2-3 carrots
  • salt, pepper, nutmeg

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