#3 ONION CHUTNEY

I've been meaning to post this for a while but I just didn't get around taking pictures of it. if you've been following my blog you can probably guess where the inspiration for this came from. I had this amazing crêpe in Cardiff (if you haven't read the post yet, you should) with goat's cheese and loads of other good stuff. among them was onion chutney. 

and I just loved it.

I think chutneys are brilliant anyway. but I've never had an onion one before but it was just beautiful so of course I had to try and make it myself.

and it actually turned out really nice and it wasn't that difficult either. 

I know the picture looks all autumn-y and onions and apples always remind us of that time of the year aswell. and I'm sure you could use this chutney in a lovely dish for a cold autumn evening. 

but I'll show you a recipe that will keep the summer feeling alive for a little longer.

so keep checking for that.

Onion (Apple) Chutney

(for 3 small jars)

3 onions

3 yellow apples

3 TS balsamic vinegar

1 TS honey

1 packet of vanilla sugar

1 cinnamon stick

2 bayleafs

1 tbsp oil

peel and dice the onions and the apples. 

Heat up the oil in a pan (you’ll need something with a lid) 

and add the onions and apples 

along with the bayleafs and the cinnamon stick. 

Stir fry for about a minute then lower the temperature 

and put the lid on.

Leave for about 20-30 minutes.

Stir in the honey, balsamic vinegar 

and vanilla sugar and leave to simmer 

for approx. another 30 minutes.

After that you can leave the pieces 

of onion and apple like that or purée the mixture.

Spoon the hot/warm mixture into the hot/warm sterilised jars, 

turn upside down and leave to rest until they’re cooled down.

You can store the jars in the fridge or in a dark place. 

Don’t keep it for too long.

Magdalena.

P.S. I'll post a recipe for how you can use the chutney soon. so keep coming back.

#2 PIZZA PIZZA

Today was another lovely day. well other than these roadworks waking me up at seven for the past few days. I miss the seagulls in Cardiff.

I had a friend over tonight so I wanted to make something for her. and what's better and easier for a warm summer evening than some rustic mini-pizzas?

the thing with pizzas is that we're so used to buying them either at the restaurant or frozen that we don't even really think about making them ourselves. because why make something yourself when you got others making it for you?

well because it's just so much more fun to put on whatever you like! you don't have to take off the silly tomatoes or ask for extra olives. you can just be creative and do whatever you like.

and you know what? making pizza dough is not as difficult as you may think it is. so just give it a try.

I always use Jamie Oliver's recipe because it's simple and brilliant and it's got that special thing a pizza dough needs.

the sauce is not the most difficult thing, I like to pimp it a little bit so I use chopped tomatoes and add herbs and stuff, but if you don't want to do that you can simply by a pasta sauce and use that.

if you haven't got a whole day you can time it all perfectly and make the sauce while the dough is resting so you don't have to waste any time sitting around or making cake like I did. 

after making the sauce and leaving the dough to rest all you need to do is roll it flat and make the pizza the exact size you want. put your sauce on and the exact ingredients you want and put it in the oven (for about 10-15 minutes if the crust is thin) and you'll have the perfect pizza for you. yum!

Jamie Oliver's Pizza Dough
you'll want to use about 1/4 of what he uses.
I used about half and I have enough dough for tomorrow.

Simple Summer Pizza Sauce
1 can of chopped or pureed tomatoes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1-2 tbsp olive oil
tsp honey
rosemary, basil, thyme
salt

simply pour the tomato sauce in a pan and heat it up.
add the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and the honey.
leave to simmer for about 5-10 minutes.

chop the herbs and add to the sauce along with the salt.
leave to simmer for about 2 more minutes.
if you've got pureed tomatoes then your sauce is ready now.
if you have pieces in there then you can puree it a little bit.
depending on how you want it on your pizza.
I like it with a few pieces, gives it some tomato-y taste.

you'll need about 2 tbsp for a mini-pizza.
probably 5 for a normal-size one.

mozzarella, cherry tomatoes,
fresh basil

"Pizza Mama"
mozzarella, cherry tomatoes,
ricotta, salami (add after baking),
fresh basil, oregano

mozzarella, courgette,
ricotta, fresh basil

Magdalena.

#1 PEACH SUMMER CAKE

Yesterday was another summer day in Austria. I had to go outside to get some things in town and on my way I popped to the market and got some lovely peaches.

It was just one of those days when I feel like I want to try new things and spend the whole day in the kitchen with all the amazing food and the smell of it.
so when I got back home I went straight to the kitchen to make some summer-y dessert. 
I wanted to make a little summer cake with the peaches I'd bought, a simple dough with some cream cheese filling or something.
Well I ended up making something else, but even better. 
When I wanted to start making the dough I found out that we didn't have any butter. I never think about buying butter when I want to bake because I just always assume that we have some at home, but this time we didn't. but it turns out this was a good thing.
I was just too lazy and too comfortable in the kitchen to go out again just to buy butter, so I had a look on the internet if there's a way I could make a cake without butter.

now there's this magic ingredient everyone in Austria knows but I found that most people in other countries don't. it's called Topfen or Quark (more of a german word to be honest) and it's a little bit like cream cheese but less creamy and with a lot less fat.
so it's just perfect!

well the internet told me to use that instead of butter, but double the amount, so not 100 g of butter but 200 g of topfen. 

so I did that and just made a simple dough and some peaches, put that in the oven and it turned out to be one amazing summer cake.

using something like topfen instead of butter is a great way of making a cake fresh and lighter. and it's definitely great if you want to eat less fat but still enjoy baking and eating. just use that instead of butter and less sugar (which I did too) and you've got a perfect little cake for every summer day.

Peach Summer Cake
200 g Topfen/greek yogurt or 100 g Butter
150 g sugar
300 g flour
1 packet of baking powder
2 large eggs
lemon zest
vanilla sugar
1 peach


prepare a dough by beating together the topfen/butter
with the sugar and the egg yolks.
mix together the flour and the baking powder and
carefully mix it into the sugar mixture.
beat the eggwhites (make sure the whisker is clean!)
and carefully fold it into the dough.

grease the cake tin with a little bit of butter and
cover it with some sugar until coated.
arrange the peach slices (with or without skin)
on the bottom of the cake tin and pour in the dough

bake for about 40-50 minutes at around 180°C
until gold.
let it cool down for about an hour, put it on a plate
so the peaches are on top and carefully take
off the cake tin.

Magdalena.

P.S. if you liked this recipe. follow me on twitter @lullabyforpies for recipe updates!

SWEET AND SOUR

I've been craving sweet and sour chicken for a while, and today I just decided to give it a go. I always used to think that stuff like that is something that only really tastes right when you get it in a chinese place, but it's actually really easy to make, and a lot healthier when you do it yourself.

I love this TV show over in the UK called the Hairy Dieters, those two guys who love food try to make their favourite meals into healthy but still delicious meals.
and in the last episode I saw they made this amazing take-away including my sweet and sour chicken, so that's where I got my recipe from.
you should check it out, these guys are amazing!

you can click on the link above for their original recipe. it's super easy and yummy and you can get the ingredients basically everywhere.


Magdalena.


P.S. I'm on twitter now so you can follow me to find out about new posts and what else is going on here. follow me @lullabyforpies

the Hairy Dieter's Sweet and Sour Chicken

Magdalena.

MATCHDAY BBQ

Finally, the saturday I'd been waiting for for so long, a saturday with Manchester United and SK Sturm playing. 

And as a bonus, the weather was amazing and I had a BBQ at my dad's.

BBQ's are one of the best things about summer and warm weather. I don't even like it when it's that hot, partly because it was just always 10° colder in the UK probably. 

but a BBQ just makes it a lot better, even though it makes it warmer aswell.

our BBQ's are always a little greek, especially because my dad really loves the country. but they just know how to make a BBQ even more fun. and it's easy too.

we made Souvlaki (which are basically greek kebabs) and courgette (from my dads garden).

as sides we had Greek Salad and Tzatziki (yoghurt with a lot of garlic and cucumber).

Souvlaki
pork, garlic, olive oil, oregano, salt

grilled courgette
olive oil, garlic, salt

Greek Salad
Feta cheese, green pepper, tomato, onion, cucumber
olive oil, vinegar, salt

and something for the football fans...

That was one crazy game for united. I was so nervous until Van Persie scored the equaliser, but what a relief when he did! his first goal in his second game for united and his first at Old Trafford. 

after Kagawa scored the 2-1 I felt a lot better already and with Rafael scoring not long after that it just started to feel really comfortable and we should have kept that up for the second half. but that didn't work out that well and after Fulham scored the 3-2 they just started trying a lot harder and some things went wrong.

but a 3-2 win is still a win after all, we know we could have done better and we know we will do better. 3 points are 3 points after all, and that team we saw out there was definitely a good one. we shouldn't start thinking about goal difference already. 

let's just hope Rooney will be ok soon. but maybe Mr. Bolt will play instead of him? we'll see about that.

and to make the saturday even better, SK Sturm decided to do us a favour and win a game. they won 3-2 aswell, with one of Admiras goals being an OG. coincidence? 

yeah probably.

but if they win every game they play on the same day as united, there might aswell be a chance. we'll never give up anyway will we.


Magdalena.

SUNDAY BREAKFAST

It's finally cooled down a little bit here in Austria. I know most people here are going to complain about it again. because now the summer is over (for a few days anyway). but these people are the same people who have been complaining about it being too hot so I won't take them seriously.

I am glad it's not that hot anymore. and I'm not going to complain about rain or clouds because I'm used to them anyway. and to be honest you can't really do much when it's so hot outside.

plus the weather now is a good excuse to stay in and have a lazy lazy sunday and a wonderful sunday breakfast. which for me was a ciabatta with tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil from the balcony and a soft-boiled-egg. yum!

one thing I really miss on a sunday here is Sunday Brunch. probably the best show to watch while you're having breakfast, and the best excuse to stay in bed until 12.

but I guess I'll just have to wait to watch it again.

Magdalena.

SCHNITZEL

Yesterday was my first full day back in Austria and it felt a little weird being back here after such a long time in the UK. but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day so I decided to make the best of it.
me and my mum went out for breakfast at Tribeka, one of our favourite breakfast coffee places ever, plus it's only a five minute walk away.
I had a marzipan croissant and a black vanilla iced tea which was delicious! I'm really glad they started doing iced teas now, perfect for a summer day like yesterday.

after breakfast we went to the market where we got some raspberries and some pork escalope for the schnitzel we were going to make for dinner.

I have to say that even though I love some austrian food every once in a while and I really like Schnitzel, I never really make it myself because most of the time it's just a lot better in a restaurant. but yesterday me and my mum decided to give it a try again, and I have to say it turned out really nice.
with the Schnitzel we had some Green Bean Salad (although the beans were more yellow) with onions and pumpkin seed oil. 
pumpkin seed oil is a Styrian speciality so unless you're styrian yourself or have been here before, you probably won't know it, which is a shame because it just makes every salad special. I think I might actually do a post about it at some point, for all of you who are wondering what all the fuss is about, but for now all you need to know is that it's dark green, comes from pumpkins and is probably the thing we are most proud of here in this region.

let's have a look at the meal.

Green (Yellow) Bean Salad
with Styrian Pumpkin Seed Oil

Original Austrian Schnitzel

It was a really nice meal and for stuff like that I'm glad to be back in Austria. But I will definitely take some Pumpkin Seed Oil with me next time I go to the UK! I just can't live without it!

I will definitely post some more stuff about austrian food and also about Pumpkin Seed Oil. 

We'll be having a BBQ tomorrow so there might be something about that up soon. 

Still summer here in Austria!

Magdalena.


P.S. thanks to Geraint for editing my photos. check out his Website, because he doesn't only take pictures of the food I make!
www.geraintphotography.co.uk

CARDIFF CRÊPES

hello everyone,

I got back to Austria yesterday, but first of all I want to talk about my last day in Cardiff because it was amazing. we went into town and to the High Street Arcade where this wonderful french crêperie "La Crêperie De Sophie" has opened not long ago. we've already had some of their crêpes a while ago when they were selling them at the riverside market by the Millenium Stadium and they were brilliant! so of course we had to check out this place.

and it was even better than expected! they do sweet and savory crêpes and a huge variety of both. so at first it took us a while to decide what we were going to have. 

here's what we had.

"Sweet Billy"
goat's cheese, chopped walnuts,
onion chutney, green leaves,
balsamic dressing

This was most definitely the best savory crêpe I've ever had and proves that not only the french can make wonderful food, the welsh most certainly can too.

"La Croquante"
sliced banana, crunchy peanut butter,
nutella

La Croquante is amazing. for everyone who has never tried peanut butter and nutella together like me before I had this, it is most definitely worth a try. the the sweetness of the nutella and the kind of salty-ness of the peanut butter works so well together. and well, peanut butter and banana just belong together anyway. so this is like the perfect desert crêpe if you like all those things and are willing to try them together. 
I have to say I was glad I had someone to share this with because I definitely wouldn't have been able to eat all this deliciousness all by myself.


So if you fancy some crêpes this is definitely the perfect place to go, if you don't live near Cardiff you can always try to make them yourself. but if you get the chance I would recommend trying these wonderful welsh french crêpes.
and check out their website www.lacreperiedesophie.com

I think I'll have something austrian for you next time, it's cooking day today!


Magdalena

SAD TUESDAY

hey everyone,

well last night didn't really turn out the way we would have wanted it, but hey, it was only the first game and I guess we could think that's a bad start of the season. but it's only the start and there are so many more games to come and so many moments we will remember.

the other sad thing about today is that today is my last day in Cardiff, I've been here for a while now and I know I'm really going to miss it until I'm here next time.
I'll make the most of my last day here and try to look forward to Austria.

when I'm back I promise I'll post something about the food I had while I was here, as soon as I get the pictures taken by Geraint.


Magdalena

RED MONDAY

good morning everyone,

isn't it brilliant to wake up on a monday morning knowing that the premier league weekend isn't over yet, in fact it's only really starting today.

the first Manchester United game of this season which already looks like it's going to be a very interesting one. 

with Robin Van Persie exchanging his red Arsenal shirt for a much redder Manchester United shirt this season, as always, already started off as a competition without having kicked off properly.

and since Van Persie is now a Red Devil with the number 20 on his back, we can't keep ourselves from asking when he will score his first goal for United. People are even talking about a hat-trick in tonight's game against Everton.

I am definitely glad he is a part of Manchester United now, even though I have to say it will be weird to see him wearing anything else but an Arsenal shirt. 

definitely can't wait until this game kicks off tonight. I hope some of you are going to watch it too.

COME ON UNITED!

Magdalena

BACK ON THE PITCH

for everyone who came on here for the food, this  might be disappointing and I'm sorry.
but I feel the need to post about recent events and the most recent ones are most certainly football. 

the new premier league season has started yesterday and like every United fan I can't wait for it to be monday so our season can finally kick off.
on the other hand there have been some results that have most definitely brought a smile to our faces. especially the scousers losing 3-0. brilliant!

so now let's hope that this 1-1 on the other side of Manchester stays that way or turns out to be a good first premier league day for southampton!


Magdalena.