Κοτόπουλο με Σάλτσα Εσπεριδοειδών #vimagourmetfoodblogawards #madewithAB

Μπήκε και ο Νοέμβριος. Αρχίσαν τα κρύα, οι βροχές και... τα κρυώματα! Πέρυσι την έβγαλα καθαρή. Ούτε ένα κρύωμα, ούτε μια ίωση. Αλλά φέτος φαίνεται δεν θα έχω την ίδια τύχη. Ήδη μετράω ένα και αισθάνομαι ότι έρχεται και δεύτερο. 

Το καλύτερο γιατρικό νομίζω ότι το ξέρετε όλοι. Βιταμίνη C και ζεστή κοτόσουπα! Αλλά με τέτοιο ήλιο εκεί έξω δεν μου πάει καρδιά να φτιάξω σούπα. Όχι ακόμα. Το πνεύμα μου αντιστέκεται σθεναρά στον ερχομό του χειμώνα αν και το σώμα εμφανώς ασθενεί. 

Από την κοτόσουπα λοιπόν κράτησα μόνο το κοτόπουλο και το ρύζι, πρόσθεσα φρέσκο χυμό πορτοκαλιού, μυρωδικά, κρεμμύδι και μουστάρδα και έφτιαξα ένα ηλιόλουστο, θρεπτικό φαγάκι.

Vegan & Gluten Free Chocolate Brownie Cups with Vegan Chocolate Frosting - Σοκολατένια Brownie Cups Χωρίς Γλουτένη και Αυγά με Vegan Frosting Σοκολάτας #vgfoodblogawards #madewithAB #vimagourmet

(For English scroll down or click here)

Τι τίτλος σιδηρόδρομος είναι αυτός? Δεν με νοιάζει αν είναι τελείως αντίθετος με τους κανόνες του savoir faire του σωστού και αποδοτικού SEO - Search Engine Optimisation ή αλλιώς όλα αυτά που τραβάμε για να εμφανίζονται τα post ψηλά στα αποτελέσματα αναζήτησης στη Google - αλλά δεν μπορούσα να το κρατάω άλλο μέσα μου! Μετά από αρκετά πειράματα κατάφερα να φτιάξω το πιο υγιεινό brownie που έχω φάει ποτέ. 

Και αρχίζουμε να μετράμε...

Δεν έχει γλουτένη.

Δεν έχει λακτόζη

Δεν έχει αβγά

Δεν έχει λευκή ζάχαρη

Clafoutis με Κεράσια Χωρίς Γλουτένη - Gluten & Dairy Free Cherry Clafoutis

(For English click here or scroll down)

Ποιος είναι ο πιο εύκολος και γρήγορος τρόπος να φτιάξεις ένα ελαφρύ γλυκό με φρούτα εποχής άμα δεν έχεις μίξερ? Να φτιάξεις ένα παχύρευστο κουρκούτι με αλεύρι, αυγά και γάλα, να το ρίξεις πάνω στα φρούτα και να το ψήσεις.

Αυτό σε γενικές γραμμές είναι το Clafoutis - προφέρεται κλα-φου-τί - και είναι πραγματικά τόσο εύκολο όσο ακούγεται.

Panna Cotta με Γάλα Καρύδας, Βανίλια και Μέλι - Coconut Milk Panna cotta with Vanilla and Honey

(For English scroll down)

Ένα όμορφο πρωί πΔ (προ Δημοψηφίσματος, γιατί αυτή η αν μη τι άλλο αμφιλεγόμενης ορθότητας, συνταγματικότητας και στο κάτω-κάτω λογικότητας, πράξη έχει σημαδέψει τη ζωή μας όσο λίγα πράγματα τα τελευταία χρόνια και θα συνεχίσει να αποτελεί σημείο αναφοράς για πολλά ακόμα και για τις δύο πλευρές) μου χτύπησε την πόρτα ο ταχυδρόμος, η οποία ήταν γυναίκα οπότε για να είναι και politically correct επρέπε να γράψω η ταχυδρόμος  αλλά ποιός το αλλάζει τώρα... και μου παρέδωσε ένα κουτάκι, το οποίο η αλήθεια είναι είχα ξεχάσει ότι θα ερχόταν... 

Celery Root Soup with Curried Apples ~ Σουπα Σελινοριζας με Μηλο και Καρυ

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

Celery root, is definitely not a charmer. It is bulky, sometimes hairy, with strange root tentacles coming out of its many nooks and crannies. Makes you wonder how on earth you're going to peel it and if is, actually, worth your effort.

Chickpea Spinach Stew - Ρεβιθάδα με Σπανάκι

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

My love for chickpeas is very well documented on this blog. Just take a look in my recipe list and you will find recipes featuring chickpeas in many forms and shapes, like the deliciously creamy Hummus or the spicy Chickpea Curry and off course my favourite Socca made from chickpea flour!

Persimmon & Goji Berry Smoothie - Smoothie με Λωτό και Goji Berry

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

This post is participating in Williams-Sonoma’s Smoothie Week. The theme is “Not Your Typical Smoothie.”
Persimmons are funny little fruits. They are red or deep orange on the outside and look like tomatoes or even tiny pumpkins.

Double Ginger Molasses Gingerbread Cake / Κέικ με Τζίντζερ και Μελάσα

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

A few weeks ago I received a package. The package itself was as plain as packages go but the contents brought a huge smile to my face! Silicon baking moulds from the good people at Silikomart! 

Raspberry & Vanilla Jam / Μαρμελάδα Βατόμουρο με Βανίλια

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

I've been away for a long time again. Inspiration left me to fend on my own and I blew it. Thoughts could not transform into words and images could not be tamed through the lense. It felt lonely and tasted bitter. Creative hibernation in the middle of summer. Everything ceased  and I waited. 

Elderflower Cordial - Σιρόπι από Άνθη Κουφοξυλιάς

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

This post is going to be short and sweet. Sweet like the syrup I made from the white flowers of an elderberry tree.

Elderflowers are very special to me. They remind me of spring in London and are in a way responsible for getting me hooked on following food blogs and ultimately starting my own.

Feta Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato Breakfast Bundt #BundtBakers - Αλμυρό Κέικ με Φέτα και Λιαστές Ντομάτες

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

In an ideal world I would wake up to the smell of bacon frying every morning. Yes! Bacon and eggs and maybe a couple of sausages. And since we are at it add a few pieces of spinach pie with feta cheese and I'm good. Yes in an ideal world that would be my breakfast.

Spinach Rice {Spanakorizo} - Σπανακόρυζο

(Συνταγή στη Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

When life gives you spinach make...Spanakorizo!

I blame today's recipe on a half-hearted and ultimately failed attempt to do a 3-day juice cleanse. Blame is a harsh word because I enjoyed this simple and very healthy dish very much.. But let me explain... Early Monday morning, that damned day when all diets that are doomed to fail start, found me at the farmer's market buying bucketfuls of spinach, apples, celery, carrots, beets, all in hope that I will be able to complete said 3-day juice cleanse. I juiced and blended for 2 hours but by the time lunchtime came I had already given up. The apples and the carrots could wait but the spinach could not. Something had to be done to lessen my quilt and to utilise that bucketful of the beautiful organic spinach I had in my fridge.

Gluten Free Coconut Macaroons - Μπισκότα Καρύδας

Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά προς το τέλος της σελίδας

Coconut Macaroons! Why, oh why, did I wait so long before I baked them? 

I am inexcusable! 

They are now officially my favourite cookies. It was a very close race, with the Chocolate with White Chocolate Chips Cookies coming a very close and proud second but in end coconut took down chocolate with a bang.

I hope you haven't forgotten that I set myself the challenge to bake and photograph all 125 cookies in Roben Ryberg's The Ultimate Gluten-Free Cookie Book.

Vegan and Gluten Free Apple and Raisin Muffins - Μαφινς με Μηλο και Σταφιδες Χωρις Γλουτενη

And just like that, Easter is over and there are 4 more months until we move to Athens. I thought that I would never say it, but I feel happy we are going back after 8 years away from home. And even though Athens is not where my actual home is - born and bred in Grevena - I am now determined to make it. 

Athens is vast. 4.5 million people vast. Most of the time it feels like a jungle and I am saying this having lived in London for a good 8 years. You need time to adjust and a sanctuary to recuperate and fight off the craziness of the streets. Mine is going to be close to the sea. I've decided. There's only one small problem...I haven't found it yet.  We didn't have much time to look for an apartment - too much eating and drinking and meeting with friends and relatives got in the way of arranging viewings with estate agents - but I've made up my mind. Yes, this time we are going South. Close to the sea. 

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies II

It's time for another gluten free cookie recipe from The Ultimate Gluten Free Cookie Book. 

If you've been following along, you know that I'm in the middle of a series of posts, baking and photographing my way through all 125 gluten free cookie recipes from Robyn Ryberg's "The Ultimate Gluten-Free Cookie Book".

You can find the recipes for all the cookies I've baked so far here and why not, subscribe via email to receive regular updates and don't miss a recipe.

Quiche Maraîchère #FrenchFridayswithDorie

Quiche and I go way back. It was the first "gourmet" recipe I ever cooked for a boy. A rich, eggy Quiche Lorraine with a green salad on the side and a bottle of white wine was the romantic dinner I had planed for us. The quiche turned out great; its smell divine; but the boyfriend never turned up to eat it! He stood me and my quiche up and I blamed the quiche for that. Don't ask me why. There is no way to even begin to decipher the machinations of my 18 year old mind. I just know that I tossed it in the garbage bin, took the wine and left town. OK I am being somewhat dramatic here but I did leave town to go to our beach house and nurse my broken heart well and I did throw the quiche away without even tasting it!  

Fortunately this catastrophic first encounter was not enough to make me hate quiche. That would have been a blasphemy for a foodie like me because it is an incredibly flavourful savoury pastry. Incredibly flavourful and incredibly rich with a savoury custard made from eggs and cheese poured over ham, seafood or vegetables enclosed in a crispy shell of shortcrust pastry. In an ideal world I could eat quiche everyday. 

Now after so many years, quiche has became synonymous with pick-nicks at the park and dinner parties with good friends. And it is not so difficult to make, as my 18-year-old self wanted me to believe. The only part that needs some attention is the preparation of the shortcrust pastry or Pâte Brisée. And that is only for the first couple of times, because once you get the hang of mixing flour and butter with your fingers and kneading it gently to become a soft dough there is nothing really to stop you from making quiche everyday, except maybe your cholesterol. Yes, the sad, sad truth is that a true quiche carries MANY calories between its crispy bottom and its creamy filling. There are at least 3 eggs and loads of heavy cream and even more cheese (Gruyère or Comté) so, um.. yeah.. it is not an everyday indulgence. Unless of course you are French and come with a built-in mechanism that stops you eating when you have reached the minimum daily allowance of calories - in this case after the second forkful. 

 

So yes, this week's recipe for our French Fridays with Dorie cooking group is a quiche. But the Quiche Maraîchère (p.158), is not a typical quiche. It is a vegetable quiche or to be more precise a quiche overflowing with vegetables. It has leeks, celery and red peppers but it doesn't have so much custard. I could say that it is a "lighter" version of the original. 

I made my version of Dorie's quiche even lighter, using almond milk instead of heavy cream and skipping the cheese completely (I just grated a small piece of  Kasseri on the baked quiches to make them look nicer for the photo). 

Instead of making Pâte Brisée for the tart shell, I used some left-over flan pastry or pâte à foncer I had in the freezer. It was enough to make one 20cm tart and 3 baby tarts. Pâte à foncer is less delicate than pâte brisée but has a crisper texture. 

I filled the baby quiches with a few teaspoons of the quiche filling, after I had it fried in a pan like a mini omelette.

I have to admit that I was a little sceptical about the presence of the celery in the vegetable filling. Leeks and peppers are both very acceptable quiche ingredients but I have categorised celery as a soup vegetable. I know it is completely arbitrary and makes no sense because celery goes pretty much with everything but well there you have it. 

I was wrong, off course,  because celery worked amazing with the other two to give an extra savouriness to the quiches. 

The recipe was a huge success. Even in its "lighter" version it was full of flavour and lovely textures. You can find Dorie's original recipe for Quiche Maraîchère at Bookpage and to check how my fellow Doristas liked this recipe click here.

~~~~~~~~~

Quiche Maraîchère 

Adapted from "Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan
Serves 6 

Ingredients for the flan pastry - pâte à foncer -  (makes about 2, 20cm tart shells)
250 gr flour
125 gr butter, at room temperature, slightly softened and cut into small pieces
1 egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
40 ml cold water
Ingredients for the quiche filling
1 tablespoons olive oil
2 celery stalks, cut into small pieces
1 leek, thinly sliced, only the white and light green parts
1/2 red pepper, or 1 if it is small, cored, seeded and finely diced
2/3 cup almond milk
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
50 gr cheese, grated

Instructions
Preheat oven to 190C/370F.

Lightly grease a 20 cm tart pan (fluted or straight).

Put the flour on the work surface. Make it look like a mountain and then make a well in the centre. Put the  butter, egg, sugar and salt in the well and start creaming them with your fingertips.

Little by little pull the flour into the well and work the dough until it becomes grainy in texture. Add the cold water, little by little, until the dough starts to hold together.

Knead the dough gently until it becomes smooth. Roll the pastry into a ball and wrap it with cling film. Put it in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes or until you are ready to use it.

When you are ready to use it, roll it with a lightly floured rolling pin (I used the plastic rolling pin I use to roll out fondant from Wilton), on a lightly floured surface, to a 3 mm thickness. Make sure that you turn it over frequently. You might have to re-flour the surface.

Transfer the dough to the tart pan and ease it in. Trim off any excess pastry with a knife or by rolling the pin over the tin. Prick the pastry with a fork in several places. Chill the dough in the fridge before baking it for at least 1 hour.

Line the tart pan with baking paper and fill it with ceramic baking beans to weight the pasty down so that it doesn't rise.

Bake blind for 20 minutes. Remove the beans and the paper and return the tart to the oven to bake for another 5 minutes. Allow the tart shell to cool before you fill it.

Heat the oil in a medium pan. Add the vegetables and cook stirring for about 10 minutes until they are tender. Season and put them into a bowl to cool.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F and put the half baked tart shell on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Spread the cooked vegetables into the tart shell.

Whisk the egg and egg yolk with the milk, season them and pour them carefully over the vegetables. Be careful not to put too much custard. Let it stand for a few minutes and then see if you can add a little more.

Slide the filled tart onto the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes until it is baked and set.

Transfer the quiche to a rack and let it cool before you serve it.

Cook's Notes:

• The pâte à foncer pasttry can be kept, wrapped with cling film, in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

• If you want to make the baby quiches use small tart moulds (around 4 - 6 cm). Butter them very well and line them with dough. Prick them with a fork. Chill them for at least 1 hour. Carefully line them with parchment paper and fill them with rice before you bake them. Bake them for 15 minutes, remove the paper and rice and bake them again for 5 - 10 minutes until they are golden and fully baked. 
• To fill the baby quiches: Cook the quiche filling in a frying pan. Let it cool and then fill the baby tart shells with one or two teaspoons of the filling and grate some cheese over them.

• If you don't have ceramic baking beans you can use different types of pulses (dried white beans, rise).

• If you use beans or rice you will not be able to cook them after but you can use them for baking for a long time.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

We've had lovely weather here in Zagreb for the past couple weeks. Sunny, warm days with a fresh spring breeze blowing gently and filling the air with white and pink petals from the flowering fruit trees and magnolias. It is beautiful.

It is going to be our 6th (!!) and final Spring here. Next year I will be writing to you from Athens where Spring is equally mesmerising. I can't wait to smell the seducing scent of the flowering lemon and pergamot trees that line the streets of the city and go for long lunches and even longer  coffee  tea and chatting sessions with my friends by the sea.

Unfortunately, I am not a huge fan of coffee. I love its smell, in fact I grew up next to a coffee grinder's and I can spend hours sniffing over cups of fresh brewed coffee, debating and analysing the intensity of the roast. But the moment the brown potion hits my stomach I get dizzy, cold sweat overcomes me and I just want to curl up in a hole and never ever drink coffee again. The only thing that can bring my old stomach some peace is a cup of milk and maybe, no definitely, cookies.

That's exactly what I was thinking before I set up to photograph these Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, recipe No.5 in Roben Ryberg's "Ultimate Gluten-Free Cookie Book", a book full of great gluten free cookies which I've been baking and photographing since the beginning of the year. 

I baked these a few weeks ago. I am a big-time chocoholic and any cookie with chocolate is arbitrarily given priority and has to be tried first.

I remember that day. It was a Saturday morning, grey and rainy. George was in, working on some Embassy stuff but I enlisted him to help me photograph the cookies. I promised him that he could eat as many as he wanted if he was willing to stand and hold the piece of Styrofoam I use as a reflector.

It feels so strange writing about Styrofoams and reflectors! When I started this blog, I knew nothing about photographing food, what a reflector was and why you need one. Now, two years later and after many, many, many hours of reading books - Helene Dujardin's "Plate to Pixel" has been my undisputed food photography and styling bible - and countless online articles and blog posts, I can say that I have only scratched the surface. There are still so many techniques to learn and implement...

But I am digressing.

Let's talk about the cookies. Lovely chocolate chip cookies made with, as most of the recipes in "The Ultimate Gluten-Free Cookie Book", brown rice flour. If you have never baked with brown rice flour you should! It is made from whole grain brown rice, is rich in protein and vitamin B and has a mild nutty flavour.

Even though Roben advices to avoid any substitution of ingredients, I could not help myself and I used coconut oil instead of plain vegetable oil (I am now working on making the recipes sugar/fructose free, so stay tuned!). I think the coconut oil works great with this recipe, and brown rice flour in general. It adds sweetness and an elegant coconut flavour to the cookies.

~~~~~~~~~~

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe adapted from "The Ultimate Gluten-Free Cookie Book" by Roben Ryberg
Makes about 25 cookies

Ingredients
1/3 cup (65gr) coconut oil
1/2 cup (100gr) brown sugar
1 cup (125gr) brown rice flour
1/3 cup (40gr) cornstarch
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon Xanthan gum
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (160gr) semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.

Lightly grease a cookie tray.

Combine the coconut oil and the sugar in a medium bowl and beat well. Add the brown rice flour and the cornstarch and beat very well for at least 5 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients and beat again. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again. Gently, stir in the chocolate chips. The dough will be soft.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of the dough (it is quite sticky don't worry) onto your prepared tray. Wet your fingertips and press the cookies to 0.5cm/0.25inch thickness. I found that the thinner I made the cookies the crispier they became.


Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. Let them cool on a wire rack before serving them.

~~~~~~~~~~

To see all the recipes from the "The Ultimate Gluten-Free Cookie Book" I've baked so far, click here!

Sausage - Stuffed Chicken #FrechFridayswithDorie

Is there anything better than a juicy, tasty, roasted chicken for Sunday lunch? 

Yes! There is!

A juicy, tasty, STUFFED chicken! And some potatoes au gratin for a side!

This my friends is not any old stuffed chicken. I made it using Dorie Greenspan's Sausage-Stuffed Cornish Hens, our French Fridays with Dorie recipe for this week. Unfortunately, I could not find Cornish Hens so I stuffed a chicken with the most amazing white sausage and herb stuffing. 

But let's talk about the bird first. I had never heard of Cornish Hens before reading this recipe. And then after I read it, I thought that they must be some ultra small and fancy game birds, like quail or pheasant, that roam the English countryside. In any case something that I would never be able to find in the humble Zagreb butcher shops. As it turns out Cornish Hens are not that fancy, wild nor elusive, and are not from Cornwall - at least not entirely!  They are just a breed of chicken. A cross between the Cornish and the Rock Hens. 

Nothing fancy here but they are, indeed, smaller, have more white meat and cook faster than your everyday chicken. 

And as I had expected I was not able to find them or anything like them in the market here. But I did not despair. I chose a nice free-range chicken from my chicken lady at the market, stuffed it and put it in the oven. 

I tweaked Dorie's recipe quite a bit, again, to serve our dietary preferences - see gluten and lactose free. So no butter and instead of normal bread I used a few leftover pieces from the Gluten Free Spring Herb Buns I made earlier this week. And that's when I got the idea to add a lot more fresh herbs and spring onions to the stuffing. 

Herbs in the bread and herbs in the stuffing. Genius! 

The stuffing came out just amazing. Moist, rich in flavour and so very fragrant! From now on this is going to be my go-to recipe for every time I need to stuff a chicken!

As for the Potato Gratin, it is yet another favourite from Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals. Seriously tasty and so easy and quick to make! 

Have I told you how much I love this cook book? I have? Well I am going to say again... 

I just love it and I have already made all the recipes in it. Most of them are gluten free, so no extra effort is needed from my part to adapt them and are so quick to prepare. But the most important trait of these recipes and Jamie Oliver's cooking at the moment, is that they are so extremely flavourful without the need to add a lot of fat or processed food ingredients. Just use lots of fresh herbs and spices and the result will be extraordinarily powerful. 

Like these potato gratin. Made in under 15 minutes and flavoured with fresh sage, chives an onions. 

To see how my fellow Doristas liked this recipe, or to join our little online cooking group, please click here.

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Sausage Stuffed Whole Roasted Chicken

Adapted from "Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

1 onion, chopped

400gr white sausages, casings removed and chopped finely in a food processor

1/2 stale gluten free fresh herb bun or any 2 slices of other gluten free bread

1 large egg

1 cup mixed fresh herbs (dill, mint, spring onions, parsley, basil), chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine like a Viogner

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F/200C degrees.

Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a big oven going skillet or pan over medium heat. Sauté the onion for about 2 minutes. Add the sausage and cook for 5 minutes, breaking up any lumbs that might form. Remove from the heat and let it cool.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg and herbs. Season and add the bread. Mix everything very well and add the sausage from the skillet.

Wash and pat the chicken dry with some paper towels. Salt and pepper the insides of the chicken and spoon in the stuffing. Don't over-stuff the chicken. If you have any left over stuffing, sauté in a pan over medium heat for 5 - 10 minutes until the sausage is fully cooked.

Rub the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Put in the ovenproof skillet, add a cup of water, cover with foil and put it the oven.

Roast the chicken for at least 50 minutes, checking it regularly and basting it with its juices. The chicken is ready when the juices run clear if you prick the thigh at the thicket part.

When the chicken is ready, move it to a serving dish. Put the skillet over high heat and when the juices start to bubble pour in the wine. Let is boil away until the liquid is reduced by half. Pull the pan from the heat and strain the juices. Serve the chicken with the sauce.

Potato Gratin

Recipe from "Jamie's 15-Minute Meals" by Jamie Oliver

Serves 4

Ingredients

800gr (1.7 pounds) potatoes, peeled

3 onions, peeled

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 chicken stock cube

1/2 a bunch of fresh sage

1 tablespoon chopped chives

100ml soja cream

30gr Grana Padano cheese, grated

Instructions

Slice the potatoes in the food processor, using the fine slicer tool, or with a mandolin. Put them in a medium pan with boiling water and cover them with the lid. Boil for about 10 minutes, until they cook but still hold their shape.

Slice the onion in the food processor, using the fine slicer tool. Put the in a pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, crumble in the stock and season with salt and pepper. Tear in the sage leaves and sauté until they become translucent, adding some water if needed.

When the onions are ready, tip them into a large roasting pan. Drain the potatoes well and arrange them in a flat layer over the onions. Check and adjust the seasoning. Pour in the soja cream and sprinkle the cheese over.

Put the tray under a hot grill for a few minutes until the top starts to brown.

Gluten Free Spring Herb Buns

It is official. We will be moving back to Athens in a few months. 

The decision was announced to us yesterday and even though we were by all means expecting it, it still made my heart and stomach stir. 

I should have gotten used to it by now. The packing, the moving, the leaving. It is, after all, exactly what I signed up for and was very much looking forward. A life of constant change and variety; travelling; never experiencing a dull moment....The life of a diplomat's wife... I sound somewhat melodramatic and I am sure this could make a great title for a novel, but my life is nothing like this. Except only in my very active imagination. Sure we get to live in various countries, and over the years we have had many interesting experiences and met so many amazing people. There is always, though, a price to pay in the end. Leaving everything and everyone behind and heading on to the new post. It was not a major problem for me a few years ago but disturbingly enough the moments I crave stability and even some boredom are starting to increase. Maybe that is why, when a friend asked me how I felt about leaving Zagreb it took me several minutes to get my answer straight. 

Because, if nothing else, Zagreb is a very solid city to live. It is small and - truth be told - a little provincial compared to other EU capitals. The winter especially can be quite a challenge as everyone seems to disappear from the streets after the sun goes down. Still, it is safe and very green and is inviting - temping you really - to grow roots and settle down. And I have to admit I might have been tempted  to do just that, and for a moment, this utterly unfeasible thought took form and lived briefly in my mind. 

But now I am back to reality.... Packing.... Leaving... 

Not just yet though. We still have a few months here and Spring is coming soon - more sun, more people, hopefully, more good memories to take back to Athens with me.

I am going to leave you for today with a recipe for light Spring Herb Buns. 

If you know me, or follow the blog, you know that I am not a huge fan of bread. I only eat bread if there is a sizeable layer of cheese, ham and mayonnaise sandwiched between two tiny slices of white bread. 

Nevertheless, George loves bread and this is a recipe I made for him late last Spring inspired by all the fresh herbs I found in the market. It is early to say that Spring has arrived and I am sure that some of you still have snow in your back yards, but the sun has been shining all weekend here and my daffodils bloomed this morning, so I cannot keep myself from thinking that the Winter greyness is going to end soon. 

As with most of the baking recipes you will find of this blog, these Spring Herb Buns are gluten free. They are packed with fresh herbs: parsley, dill, mint, oregano and spring onions. When I took them out of the oven I was so tempted to break one in half, smear it with cream cheese and just devour it there and then! And you know what? I did just that! Sometimes even I can forget that I don't like bread, especially when it is so crispy and smells like a fresh herb garden!

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Gluten Free Spring Herb Buns

Makes two loaves or 10 buns

Ingredients

1 kg (2 pounds) gluten free flour 

7gr dry yeast 

2 teaspoons salt

300ml (1 cup) buttermilk, warm (optional - you can use warm water instead)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1 1/2 cup chopped parsley, dill, mint, spring onions

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.

In a large bowl or in the bowl of your mixer put the flour, yeast and salt and stir them until they combine. 

Pour in the warmed buttermilk (or warm water). 

Knead softly until everything is combined and a smooth and soft dough forms. You can use you the dough hook of your mixer to mix the dough but be careful not to overdo it. The dough has to be soft. If you decide to do it by hand you can dip your hands in water while kneading so that it remains soft. 

When the dough is formed add the olive oil, chopped herb, sesame seeds and oregano. Knead until all is uniformly combined. 

Cover with a towel to rest for 15 minutes. 

Oil a baking sheet (or 2 bread pans) and divide the dough in 10 buns. Put them on the baking sheet and with a warm damp towel. Keep them somewhere warm for 45 minutes. I leave them in my kitchen because it the warmest room of the house. They will double in size. 

Bake them for about 50 minutes. If you want you can put a small ovenproof dish filled with water in your oven before you put the bread inside. The vapours of the boiling water will make the your bread crispier. 

Let them cool on racks.