Red Pepper, Feta and Oat Frittata Cake – A Power Breakfast!

Tags

baking, cake, eggs, feta, frittata, low fat, oats, red pepper, vegetables, vegetarian

The other day I was looking through an old stack of magazine cutouts and pages printed from the internet, all containing recipes of course. I have a few of these stacks, waiting to be “sorted out”. They’ve been waiting a while and, let’s be honest, they will continue to do so for a good long time. There are always more pressing matters to attend to, like watching Law & Order.

This recipe jumped out at me. It has 5 main ingredients and can be thrown together in minutes, literally. That coming from me is something, as I can never complete a recipe within the time mentioned. Written in Greek, the page had no reference to a site, meaning it was from my pre-blogging days when recipes were saved just to cook and eat, not to share online! A quick search remedied that and I found that it’s actually from one of the biggest food related sites in Greece called “Nistiko Arkoudi” which means Hungry Bear.

Its title on the site is Oat Cake, but that just confuses things in English (oatcakes being an entirely different thing), and it’s not really a cake as it doesn’t contain flour of any kind! What it is, is a frittata baked in a loaf pan. So it looks like a loaf cake. Anyway, all that is besides the point. This frittata/cake/loaf is very tasty, and very healthy. It is especially good eaten for breakfast or as a snack, as it has loads of protein (eggs and dairy) and good carbs that release energy slowly throughout the day (oats). With the addition of a veggie (red peppers) you couldn’t make it more balanced if you tried! It will keep you full for ages.

I added a bit of freshly cracked black pepper and a pinch of oregano to the mix, as I thought these flavours would suit it, leaving out the salt as I expected the feta to make it salty enough. Next time however I will add half a teaspoon to give it a boost. This of course largely depends on the type and brand of feta used. I might also experiment with other herbs as well, like rosemary for instance. Come to think of it, sumac might be interesting; I’ve heard it goes really well with eggs. One thing is for sure, I will definitely be making this frittata cake again, whatever the combo. Stored in the fridge it will last for at least 5 days, but it’s nicer served warm (I warmed it up on my toaster rack, worked a treat).

Red Pepper, Feta and Oat Frittata Cake

Ingredients

2 Tbs olive oil
1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
4 eggs
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 cup oats, rolled or quick cooking (I used quick cooking so they would blend better)
Freshly cracked black pepper to taste
A pinch of dried oregano

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan). Grease a loaf pan (mine was 23.6×10.3cm – approx. 9”x4”) and sprinkle with a bit of flour. Move the pan around so the flour coats the bottom and sides, then empty it of any excess by tapping the bottom. This is an important step as egg tends to stick to pans.
2. Heat the oil in a small frying pan on medium and add chopped pepper. Gently cook till softened. I added some water when some pieces started to blacken. You could probably soften the pepper in a bowl in the microwave with a tablespoon or two of water.
3. While your peppers are cooking, lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl.
4. Add the feta, oats, seasoning and herbs, and then the peppers (without the liquid from the pan – I used that in a salad). Mix till incorporated and pour into the prepared baking pan.
5. Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes till a toothpick comes out clean and the frittata cake is starting to turn golden on top.

More eggy goodness in other frittata recipes
Beet Greens and Red Pepper Frittata, by me!
Baby Peas and Cheese Frittata, by Family Fresh Cooking
Kale and Goat Cheese Fritatta Cups, by The Kitchn
The Secret to a Perfect Frittata and Chickpea & Rosemary Frittata, by Stonesoup

Beetroot Brownies for Jamie’s Food Revolution Day Picnic

Tags

baking, beetroot, brownies, cake, chocolate, dessert, picnic

Hello there! It’s been a while… again. But I have a good excuse! We’ve moved house. Yup, we now live in an area outside the city on the coast – a 5 minute walk from the beach to be exact. For Athenians this is considered “a village”! Oh but it’s so lovely. See? The move was an experience. I’ve moved house several times in my life, 9 to be exact – not counting my years at University in England and not counting the time when I was little and we started moving to a flat up the street only to find the fridge didn’t fit through the kitchen doorway. My mum just took everything back to the old flat that same day! I must say, this time was very easy. We hired professionals to do all the work; packing, dismantling, transporting, the works. The hardest part for us was trying to stay out of their way. Check out their fantastically clever wardrobe box! After all 9,000 boxes were brought to the new house however, that’s when the tricky part for us started. Two weeks later and I’ve managed to get rid of all but four of them. Unfortunately, one of these contains my tupperware; it doesn’t fit in the kitchen, and I can’t live without it. So I have several trips to IKEA planned in a quest to find the right storage contraption. Any excuse to go get a hotdog!

A few days after the move, I got a message from a Greek food blogger friend (Wonderfoodland) inviting me to a picnic she and two other bloggers (Funky Cook and Sabor by Conna) were organizing for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day. FRD is an initiative to help raise awareness about eating healthy meals made from scratch. I had to choose from a list of fresh ingredients and make something to take with me. Luckily beetroot was on the list, so I got to try something I’ve been meaning to for a while now. Beetroot brownies! I used a recipe I found on Milk & Honey, which is very easy and requires a minimum of cooking utensils (crucial for me at the time). The only thing I did differently to the original recipe was leave it to bake for longer, as I wanted a more “cakey” brownie rather than a very fudgy one (easier to eat while sitting on a blanket in a park!). What a great day it was! It was so cool to meet fellow bloggers who are based here in Greece, I really hope to see more of them in the future. As with all foodies, they are a supportive and welcoming bunch, always ready with a good word!

Photos by Wonderfoodland

Ingredients

250g unsalted butter
250g dark chocolate
250g cooked beetroot (I use the vacuum packed type – make sure it’s not preserved in vinegar!)
3 eggs
250g white sugar
1/8 tsp salt
150g self-raising flour

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (or 160C on fan mode). Grease a baking tin and line it with grease proof paper, making sure the paper overlaps the long sides (creating a handle to pull out the brownies when cooked). My tin is 18×24.5cm (7×9.5”).
2. Place the butter and chocolate in a bowl and melt in the microwave (in 30 second blasts, mixing after each blast). Alternatively, melt in a small saucepan over low heat, keeping a constant eye on it so it doesn’t burn. Let cool slightly.
3. Cut the beetroot into pieces and whiz in a food processor until smooth. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl beat the eggs and sugar till well combined and lighter in colour.
5. Add the chocolate mixture to the eggs slowly, while mixing constantly. Be careful if your chocolate is still very hot, you don’t want to cook the eggs!
6. Sift the flour and salt over the bowl and fold it in carefully.
7. When almost no flour is visible, fold in the beetroot until just incorporated. Don’t overmix. The batter will be quite runny.
8. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes if you want fudgy brownies, or about 50 minutes for cakey brownies. After 50 minutes my toothpick came out dry from some spots, slightly moist from others.
9. Let the brownies cool in the tin for 10 minutes or so, then lift out using the paper “handles” and place on a wire rack. Mine were gorgeously moist (not gooey), even with the extra baking time.

Instead of other beetroot recipes, I am listing a few of the blogs that participated in the picnic. There were several more but I didn’t get a chance to chat with them. Take a moment to visit these guys; they are doing a fantastic job!
Wonderfoodland (picnic organiser) – posts in both English and Greek (her savoury tart with feta, tomatoes, onion and olives is pictured above – recipe not online yet)
Sabor by Conna (picnic organiser) – posts in both English and Greek
Funky Cook (picnic organiser) – posts in Greek
Elena’s Cooking (picnic attendee) – posts in English (Pasta Salad with Zucchini pictured above)
Donkey & The Carrot (picnic attendee) – posts in both English and Greek (Cherry Pie pictured above)
Food Daily (picnic attendee) – posts in Greek

For more photos of yummy picnic food, or in case you really want to “Like” it, head over to the Food Revolution Day Athens page!

Upside Down Plum Cake – A Tasty Surprise

Tags

baking, cake, plum, upside down

I had a natter about this recipe over on my Greek pages yesterday. The gist of the story is that after a friend of mine noshed through about a quarter of this cake in one sitting, I concluded it was a winner. The day I made it I had several very ripe plums in the fridge begging to be consumed a.s.a.p., but although I was in the mood for baking I didn’t have much time. So I scrolled down my (long) list of bookmarked favourites and saw this recipe from Real Simple. It was just right, not too many ingredients, not too much faffing around (well, a bit of faffing with chopping and in some cases peeling plums); it looked like a good option.

I used the sweet round plums rather that the Damson variety (the smaller, egg shaped ones), but any type would work I think. Some of them were really soft and a bit gooey, they were so overripe. Not at all deterred I just cut those in half, scooped out the soft flesh and threw some of the skins away in case they got too chewy. For this reason I used a few more plums than the recipe says, so I could completely cover the base of the pan. Also for this reason my pictures look nothing like the magazine’s!

The result was lovely. A beautifully light cake, with a tasty layer of tangy sweetness on top. You can easily eat through half this cake without feeling caked-out. Perfect to enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee. Try it!

Antique silver Russian spoon from the early 20th century. With many thanks to The Collector.

Upside Down Plum Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup (110g) + 1 Tbs butter (+ a bit more for greasing pan)
5-7 ripe but firm plums (it’s a good idea to have a couple extra on hand)
1/4 cup + 2/3 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Butter an 8 or 9 inch cake pan and line it with grease proof paper. If you’re using a springform pan cut the paper into a slightly larger circle so it goes up the sides a little. There will be juices and syrup at the bottom of the pan which might leak. Trust me.
2. Stone the plums and cut each one into 8 wedges. If you have some mushy ones just pinch the skin (it should fall off) and put the gooey bits to one side.
3. Melt the one tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat, add the plum pieces and 1/4 cup sugar, and cook till the sugar melts and the juices turn to syrup, stirring and tossing frequently. This should take about 3-4 minutes, maybe longer. Add the mushy bits towards the end, so they can soak up some of the sweetness from the syrup.
4. Put the plum pieces into the cake pan, shaping them into concentric circles (a new word for me that – hey, I did know the Greek one). Pour the juice from the pan over the top.
5. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Use a whisk to mix them up (this is a great way to avoid sifting, which is a pain). Set aside.
6. In a medium sized bowl, beat the 1/2 cup butter with the 2/3 cup sugar until light and fluffy, at least 3-5 minutes. Beat in the egg, buttermilk and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and keep beating (on low!) but only until it’s mixed in, don’t overbeat it. There shouldn’t be any floury bits.
7. Pour the batter over the plums. Now, it may seem like there’s very little batter, or that it’s too thick. It certainly did to me. It’s at this point that I thought it was going to be a disaster. Luckily I didn’t chuck it all in the bin; I just gently spread the batter out with a spatula so that it reached the sides of the pan. Be careful you don’t disturb the plums underneath.
8. Bake until a cake tester, aka toothpick, comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes. If it starts browning early, cover it with a piece of tin foil (mine did).
9. Leave the cake to cool in the pan for about an hour. Cover the pan with a large plate and flip over so that the cake falls on the plate with the plum side up. Gently peel off the grease proof paper and admire your work!
10. Quickly make a cuppa and sample a piece. Just so you know whether you’re going to share it.

Other interesting cakes with fruit (and one veg!)
Peach Cobbler Upside Down Cake, by Apron Strings Blog
Crackly Banana Bread, by Smitten Kitchen
The Perfect Apple Cake, a Community Pick on Food52
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, by Susan Branch
Sweet Zucchini Bread, by On Top Of Spaghetti (that’s me!)

Picnic On The Beach, Part 1 – Sweet Zucchini Bread

Tags

cake, courgettes, sweet bread, zucchini

Antique butter knife on kind loan by The Collector

Last week my cousin came over from the UK to visit with her two gorgeous boys, aged 4 and 6. The day they arrived was also my name day, which is a big celebration in Greece, even bigger than a birthday since everyone knows when it is! To celebrate, I decided to whisk them off to the beach for a picnic straight from the airport. My mum and one of my auntie’s came along and one of my best friends brought her own little ones and some of their friends. We made quite a group, and as you can imagine (if you know me) the food preparation began well in advance. I planned a menu and embarked on a baking extravaganza followed by a sandwich making marathon! Sweet muffins, savory egg muffins, cookies, sweet bread, granola bars, and triangle sandwiches with the crusts cut off as a special treat! Mum supplied the fruit and together with my friend’s additions we had a huge spread. I’m sharing my favourites in a series of posts.

First off, and since I promised this one in my last post, one of the most gorgeous cakes I’ve ever made. Actually it’s not cake but it’s gorgeous nonetheless. Sweet Zucchini Bread. Amazing. I made this for the first time in an effort to use up some leftover zucchini flesh after I stuffed 2 beautiful round ones and cooked them in the slow cooker (see previous post). After a quick search I came up with this recipe which was easy and used ingredients I had on hand. I couldn’t believe how tasty and moist and perfect it turned out – healthy too! So I decided to make it again for the picnic. And by the way, it keeps beautifully for at least a week! (Confession: I actually ate the last piece ten days later and it was still yummy)

Sweet Zucchini Bread (based on a recipe by Paula Dean on Food Network)
Yields one loaf

You’ll need:
1 ½ cups + 2 Tbs all purpose flour (plus some extra for sprinkling the pan)
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 ½ cups sugar (mixture of white and dark brown – or you can use all white if preferable)
½ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
3 Tbs (scant) water (40 ml)
1 cup grated zucchini (leave skin on to create lovely green specks in the bread)
½ tsp lemon juice
½ cup mix of dried cranberries and flax & sunflower seeds (original recipe calls for walnuts or pecans)

What you do:

1. Preheat your oven to 180C (350F).
2. Grease a loaf tin or pan. Next time I make this I will sprinkle some flour in the pan, move it about so the flour coats the base and sides, and then tap out the excess. The reason is that the second time I made it I had a hard time getting it out of the tin, so I think this might help. If you prefer to follow Paula’s instructions, just grease it.
3. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon, sugar).
4. Whisk all the wet ingredients together in another bowl (oil, eggs, water, zucke, lemon juice).
5. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry.
6. Fold in the cranberries and seeds and mix to incorporate (don’t over mix).
7. Bake for 50 minutes to an hour (until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean).

It doesn’t get much easier than that!
Stay tuned for Part 2!