For me, Sundays should be the lazy days, when we spend hours covered in blanket and reading books or watching our favourite movies, surrounded by food. Maybe not for the whole day... but I don't mind that at all! If only that was possible more often than it truly is. With all the duties, things to do and take care of, we don't really get a chance to stop for a moment and relax, doing simply nothing. So when we do get that chance, I always make sure it's used to the fullest. And my recipe for such time is always filled with good, simple food, litres of tea and no hurry. Last Sunday was like this for me, I could relax a little bit and slow down. After waking up, still wearing my pyjamas I heated up the owen, took out some bread I baked the day before and gathered other things I could find in my kitchen. And so we ended up with tomato and avocado toasts for breakfast. Great begining of a day!

Ingredients: 

7-8 slices of gluten free bread

1 big avocado

10 cherry tomatoes

a handful of olives (I used the ones stuffed with pepper)

3 tablespoons of grated mature cheddar (lactose free)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon of oregano

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. And line the baking form with baking paper.

2. Take the bread slices and brush some olive oil on top of each slice, then sprinkle oregano on each piece.

3. Wash the avocado, remove its skin and stone, and slice into thin pieces. Spread the pieces around all bread slices.

4. Slice the olives in half and spread around the bread as well.

5. Finally distribute the cheese on top of each sandwich.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, then put on the freshly slices cherry tomatoes on each toast and sprinkle with some salt.

Enjoy while still warm!

Pasta with tomatoes and fresh basil (Gluten free + Lactose free)

During summer, everything I cook and bake tends to be quick and easy. When it is warm outside, I don't need to figure out meals that should warm us up and keep us cozy while we're covered with a thick blanket (although I truly prefer it!). During summer everything can be delicately warm and light.

This pasta is a perfect example of my favourite summer dinner. It tastes amazingly good, consists of few ingredients and is very, very light. Plus I need to mention the smell of it... fresh basil leaves are so good! I can't believe that back it time I didn't like basil...

I added some feta cubes which are not lactose free, but I couldn't resist it (I can easily eat dairy products). My boyfriend got his lactose free/feta free version and still was very happy about the taste.

Ingredients (serves 2-3 people):

200-300 g of Gluten Free Pasta

2 cups of cherry tomatoes cut in half, or smaller (leave a couple of them to put fresh on top of the plate)

70 g of Black Forest ham / prosciutto (gluten+lactose free)

a handful of fresh basil leaves

1/2 red onion

1 small chilli pepper

approximately 1/2 cup of olive oil

1/4 teaspoon of dried garlic

1 teaspoon of oregano

salt & pepper (according to your liking)

Optionally: feta cheese cut into cubes (don't put them if you prefer the lactose free option)

Preparation:

1. Wash the onion, tomatoes, basil leaves and chilli pepper. Peel the onion and cut the half of it into small pieces, then cut the tomatoes in halves and the chilli pepper into tiny pieces.

2. Heat up the frying pan, add some olive oil and start frying the onion, after 2-3 mins add tomatoes (leave some aside, to use them fresh afterwards), chilli pepper and all spices and fry together for 5 minutes. 

3. Chop most of the basil leaves (leaving a few for later) and add them to the frying pan, fry together with the onion and tomatoes. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil and stir it in. Fry for approximately 10 minutes.

4. In the meantime, boil the pasta with a dash of salt. 

5. Once the pasta is cooked, stir the remaining olive oil to it, add the fresh basil leaves and then pour the tomatoes and onion sauce. 

6. Use the hot frying pan for frying the Black forest ham (first cut it into small strips), fry it for no more than 3 mins and add to the pasta pot. 

7. Serve with fresh basil leaves on top and a couple of feta cubes. 

 

Pear and almond cake (gluten free + lactose free)

I made a cake. Again. I really wish I could finally show you some photos of breakfast/lunch/dinner proposals, but I end up baking more and more cakes! The thing is, whenever I make dinner or prepare something warm, it disappears so quickly that I cannot take any photos. Cause it's simply... gone. I know it sounds ridiculous, but that's the reality. And I really am trying to work on it! I just got a package from my boyfriend's mom with (i.a.) so many amazing oils (hazelnut oil is simply incredible!!) that now I have to use them and show some results here. Especially that I really do prefer savoury to sweets! It doesn't look like this so far, I know. But there will be changes (hopefully!).

Anyway, the recipe of today is the the pear and almond cake I found on My Darling Lemon Thyme (slightly adapted). I love everything that has almonds in it, so I was more than sure that the cake must be good. It was a lovely day, so I dragged my boyfriend out of the house (come on, it's sunny!) and we started the pear-hunting. For the last two weeks the shelves that usually hold loads of vegetables and fruit very empty (terrible times!), so it was quite a challenge to find some pears. After stopping by to more stores that I can count, we finally found what we needed and we headed home. And so I started to peel the pears, gather all ingredients and to heat up the oven. I simply love this moment. When all the ingredients are out on the kitchen table, the oven is slowly heating up and I can just enjoy the kitchen magic. Wow, it sounds so terrible! Too bad, I really feel amazing, when I cook and bake. Especially when an hour or two later I can see pure joy in my boyfriend's eyes, when he's looking at his plate filled with food. Getting back to the cake! It turned out really tasty and aromatic, and the combination of pears and almonds is so good!

Ingredients (for a 24 cm baking form):

4 eggs

140 g of sugar

300 g of almond flour

3 pears

45 g of rice flour

80 ml olive oil / rice oil

lemon zest (from 1 lemon)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger

a pinch of salt

powdered sugar for dusting

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease the baking form and cover it with a baking paper.

2. Peel the pears and cut them into small thin pieces. Leave out half of 1 pear and slice it into bigger (but still thin) pieces to put them on the top of the cake.

3. Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract together with a mixer, until thick and pale (for around 5 minutes).

3. Still beating, add lemon zest and oil. Then continue adding almond flour, rice flour, baking powder and the spices and keep mixing until the batter gets smooth.

4. Using a spoon, gently fold in the pear pieces into the batter.

5. Pour the batter into the baking form and distribute the bigger pear pieces on the top of the cake.

6. Bake the cake for around 55-60 mins (check with a skewer if the cake is dry). Afterwards take it out from the oven and let it cool for a while.

Hint for myself: prepare a caramel sauce next time you bake this cake! (The cake is amazing on its own, it's just a quick thought that it might be even better with a caramel sauce...)

Lemon Tart (Gluten free + Lactose free)

Surprisingly summer has come to Denmark for one or two days this week. Finally the rain was gone, the wind turned warm and the sun was shining for more than 5 minutes. While living in Poland, I remember being so tired of warm and sun during summer time. Now when I am here in Denmark I really cherish the moments when the temperature rises and the sun is shining. After all they do not happen very often. I should really get used to this already! Anyway. There is no summer mood without a summer cake, so the moment I realised how warm and sunny it was, I was on my way to the kitchen with a new recipe in mind. Thanks to Lisia Kawiarenka I had the recipe for a lovely lemon tart. It turned out extremely good! It is officially the best cake I have ever made. I made some adjustments to have the cake not only gluten but also lactose free and I am very happy with the result.
By the way, I found these amazing weights at my grandmother's basement and I just fell in love with them. When I am visiting again, I definitely need to dig deeper in all the old and vintage things that are hidden in my grandparent's basement..

Ingredients:

Pastry (for a 24 cm baking form)

60 g of corn flour

40 g of potato starch (any starch would work)

30 g of buckwheat flour

30 g of amaranth flour

¾ teaspoon of guar gum

a pinch of salt

115 g of lactose free butter

3-5 tablespoons of cold water

Filling

¾ cup of sugar

lemon zest (from 2 lemons)

1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar

¼ cup of potato starch (any starch would work)

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

1 ¼ cup of lactose free yogurt

½ cup of lactose free cream 36%

¼ cup of fresh lemon juice (from 1 big lemon)

a pinch of salt

Preparation:

1. Mix all ingredients for the pastry in a bowl and knead until nice and smooth. Once it is ready, put it in the fridge for 30 mins to 1 hour.

2. Take out the pastry and put it on the baking form. Everytime I do the cake, the pastry is rather sticky so I don't even try to roll it out into the form. I simply take small pieces of the pastry and consequently cover the whole form with it, by hand.

3. Puncture the pastry with a fork and put in the freezer for around 30 mins. Putting it in the fridge won't hurt either, if you have no space in the freezer (which is almost always in my case!)

4. Set the oven to 200 degrees, cover the pastry with baking paper and put for example lentils or beans to have some weight over the cake, and bake for 20-25 mins. Then remove the baking paper with lentils/beans and bake for another 5 mins.

5. Remove from the oven and let it cool for a moment, while you prepare the filling. Also, decrease the oven temperature to 165 degrees.

6. Mix sugar with lemon zest and vanilla sugar in a bowl. Add flour and salt.

7. Slowly add one egg (and additional egg yolks) after another mixing gently (low speed on the mixer) until it gets smooth.

8. Still mixing, add yogurt, cream and lemon juice and mix together to get a nice smooth mixture. It will be very liquid, but that's just how it should be, so no worries!

9. Pour the filling in the form with the pastry and put in the oven for 40-50 mins. If kept longer, the filling starts to crack a little, but it's still delicious so it's not a big issue.

10. Let the tart cool for a while before serving.