Tomato Cheese Cake

Large pieces perfect for Brunch

This recipe is great for brunches, lunches or as an appetizer! Lovely for brunch as the slices were cut to include the whole tomatoes.  As an appetizer, using sun dried tomatoes would allow you to cut the slices thinner.  This recipe made me think of the birthday party in Paris for my brother in law, where the dishes brought by others for the party were all bought, with Quiche being the main dish. This dish would have made the cut! 

Garden Fresh Tomatoes with fresh Basil

I love the Facebook food videos that are posted, but you need to write them down or save them as you'll never find them again. 

A couple of weeks ago a neat idea was posted that used fresh mozzarella balls and fresh Cocktail Tomatoes.  Cocktail Tomatoes are about the size of ping pong balls and can be sold on a stem.  This dish looked very pretty and since I had these two ingredients from our Italian Store, I decided to make this. The recipe is a basically a quiche recipe that is baked in a loaf pan.

Fresh Bocconcini were added to the bottom

I did make a pastry shell for the loaf pan but you can skip this step as Quiche does not need a shell. 

I added the fresh Mozzarella balls to the shell before pouring in the Quiche mixture. 

I used 4 eggs, but could have used 2 more as although these eggs are labelled large they really are medium size.  The whole carton of half and half milk about 1 cup was used as I hate having left over cream.  I also grated some okra cheese into the mixture and added grated pepper and fresh grated nutmeg. 

A string of cocktail tomatoes were added before baking. 

From my herb garden, I added basil leaves to the top before baking. 

The loaf did take over 60 minutes to cook at a 350 degree oven.  The house smelled divine with the fresh nutmeg baking in the cheese. 

Summer Brunch Eats 

 I think the quiche was even tastier the next day, heated for Sunday Brunch

Baked Camembert with marinaded oranges and pomegranate

Before Christmas, I came across a picture on Instagram that Baked Camembert with Marinaded Oranges and Pomegranate 

Not sure in what the oranges where marinaded in it, but since I had Pomegranate Molasses, I decided to use this. 

Pomegranate Molasses is a syrup made from the juice of Pomegranate.

Delicious, tangy with great flavor.  Awesome on pork Ribs!

The dish was assembled in a small cast iron skillet, covered with foil and baked! And forgotten about!

Now this did look a lot better on Instagram, as it was not baked as long! It was still delicious! 

Cheese bread

One of the appetizers, I made over the Christmas holiday  I saw come through as a video  on Facebook using Raclette and Camembert cheese and a loaf of bread. 

Cut out three squares in the bread and then cut the pieces of scooped out bread into strips.

Mix olive oil, minced garlic and chopped parsley in a small bowl

Toss bread strips in this oil mixture

Each pocket has a different garnish.

1 Onion chopped and caramelized 

Fresh rosemary chopped

4 to 6 strips Bacon, cook and crumb when cool

Sautéed mushroom would have been nice too

Slice the cheese in half and use one of the above garnishes

Brush olive oil on the loaf, wrap in tin foil and bake at 325 for about 20 to 30 minutes. 

Surround the loaf with pickles and vegetable along with the bread strips to scoop out the cheese.

Would I do this again? Probably not as it did take a lot of cheese and not as impressive looking, although it did disappear quickly. The thickness of this bread was too thick, so thinner bread would probably work better.  Using other cheeses, like cheddar and mozzarella would make this appetizer less costly.   

French Onion soup au Gratin with Meatballs

This recipe came through one of the food sites on FaceBook on National Meatball and then I couldn't find it. Basically it is baked meatballs in French Onion Soup.. The meatballs were suppose to be stuffed with cheese cube and caramelized onions.. But the slices of onions were too large so I just used a cube of cheese, which if I was to do this again would use cooked chopped mushrooms and onions. I remember doing stuffed cheese burgers when they were the rage, but only once, this time, I can't say I could see the cheese! 

My hubby is always assigned to do the meatballs and patties as he always very precise and the meatballs are uniform as are the patties.

I use one package of beef and pork which made about 50 meatballs, 40 of which I froze for later use. 

To the meat mixture, add one egg, dried mustard and Worcestershire sauce, mix and form into small meatballs. 

Caramelize 1-2 onions using water or wine. I use a Canadian Chef ( Michael Smith) method of steaming the onions until soft and golden.  The use of a lid and liquid helps the onion cook slowly and caramelize to a golden color.  Add the onions to a broth, I never use prepared broth, use homemade broth if you have or just add more water.  Check out MIchael Smith's video for the soup.

To assemble,  layer the onions in the broth into a cast iron skillet, then the uncooked mushroom, I added whole mushrooms which my hubby took out and sliced! Then the uncooked meatballs. 

Bake at 325 to 350 for about 20-25 minutes, then add the grated mozzarella cheese and bake until meatballs are cooked and the mozzarella bubbly!  Add parsley, which I didn't have but fresh grated parmesan was added!

I used mini skillet cast iron pans for individual serving, but will be making this dish in a larger skillet as an appetizer for a group.  Enjoy with French Bread. 

Christmas Tree Scone Appetizer

Our Annual Neighbourhood Christmas Party was last night and our side of the street was assigned to bring a savoury Appetizer.  Since my husband makes awesome scones, he made bite size scones and we arranged the scones in the shape of a Christmas Tree to bake.

The scones even though I did push them together did not stick together.  Perhaps moistening the edges may help.

The tree was covered with a cream cheese icing

Cream Cheese Icing:
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/2 c Sour Cream
dill weed
1 garlic clove, minced

Top the tree with 3 cups of chopped vegetables of your choice.

I grated one carrot, chopped broccoli and 1/4 c onion, thinly sliced red peppers for the garland, chopped tiny broccoli florets for ornaments and shaped a star out of the bell pepper

This appetizer was very festive, made a grand entrance to the party and disappeared quickly!

Crusty Zucchini Rice Pie, a vintage recipe

One of my favourite past times is going through old newspaper clippings of recipes.  I think this must be an inherited trait as I have a an old Science scribbler that my Mom used to save clipped recipes from the newspaper.  

My cousin who is a food blogger, also features recipes in her blog that she has saved over the years. 

In organizing the most recent recipes, I did find a handwritten, well more like hen scratching as you certainly could not look up the recipe if you didn't copy it down correctly, so you had to be quick in writing the recipe.  I did try to find this recipe on line and was not successful!  The picture I posted on Gastropost, which is part of Canadian newspapers featuring photos from Instagram based on mission weekly challenges, remarked on the name. 

Having about a 1/4 of the giant zucchini left from my brother organic farm, I decided to make this as an appetizers for my son's birthday! 



Crusty Zucchini Pie


2 1/2c cooked rice
4 small zucchini 
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp dill
Zest 1/2 lemon
fresh grated pepper
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese or Romana cheese
I added 1 tsp fresh grated ginger
and also grated carrots, garlic and onion

Method:
Mix everything together
Heat a skillet, add 2 T oil
Add mixture to pan, pat down, flip over, after 15 mintues, place under Broiler

I decided that I would do these as an appetizer and not bake in a pie plate.  The only problem I did have was that they did stick to the gratin dish which had been sprayed.

Now maybe if I had read the above method, I would not have had the mixture stick to the gratin dish when I baked it.

However, they are lovely as appetizers and I would still bake them but on parchment.

These tester were delicious and I looked forward to making then for my son's birthday.
I should have baked them before taking them with me as the container did drop and the liquid ran out. They were still good but not as good as they had been the night before.  The flavor of these babies was well received by the guests!


Here is my recipe that I would have copied in the eighties based on the paper used. 

Yes, the Zucchini Rice Pie would be crispy if it was cooked in a hot skillet! Much like the traditional Swiss Potato Dish called Rosti.  

Harvest Pizza,

Pizza ready for the BBQ

Having fresh dough in the refrigerator, comes in very handy.    For an appetizer at my son's place, I made a pizza using Bartlett pears , Gorgonzola cheese and Prosciutto Parma.

Slice one onion thinly and sauté in 1-2 T of Olive oil until soft.  Add a bit of water to steam the onion.   Be patience in this steps, as the long you take to caramelized the onions, the happier you'll be.  

Using a seasoned cast iron pan, add a thin layer of dough.
Spread out the caramelized onions
Add slices of Pears in a decorative fashion.
Using kitchen scissors, cut strips of prosciutto and place between pear slices.  You can crumble cooked bacon in place of prosciutto.  
Crumble a little bit of Gorgonzola and mozzarella on the pizza
Crushed walnuts go well with  the cheese and the pears 
The layering can start with the cheese and end with Caramelized onions, but I like adding the onions first.

Bake in a hot oven until golden and the cheese melted.. 400 to 415 degrees for around 15 minutes or on your BBQ. 

For some sweetness, I drizzle some Pomegranate Molasses on the top

One of the comments as the guests dug in was that it was "almost restaurant quality."  Hmmm!

For my Granddaughter, a mummified hotdog! 

I think I need some work on this mummifying stuff!

Just delicious wrapped in dough!

Just for you Aline!

My son had slow roasted a pork roast which was delicious with the pizza.  

Camembert, Figs and Candied Walnuts open faced Brioche sandwiches

This was my daughter's favourite that I served for her High Tea bridal shower.

Maybe it was the camembert slices. It could have been the candied pecans that I baked using molasses and some chill flakes.  Or it could have been the Brioche, my Babka bread that I make for Easter that reminded her of her grandmother and the lovely breads she baked!   

One could use the same recipe that I used for the watermelon bread or the pinwheels. Here is my aunt's recipe that uses 10 cups of flour, one could reduce the recipe or make all of it and freeze half the dough for other uses later.

Slices of Bread were toasted and assembled with a slice of camembert cheese, dried figs topped with candied pecans.  

I had planned to pick up fresh figs at a new Italian market that opened up very close to my neighborhood, but I think the dried figs worked well with the cheese and the candies pecans.

Foie Gras on Dried Apricot Appetizers

This appetizer for the High Tea Bridal shower was suggested by my husband. We had tasted this in Paris at a reception.  Foie gras was served with dried apricots along with Champagne.  

A perfect combination that my daughter loved!

Since I couldn't find foie gras, I used duck and pork Pate instead.  I had thought I would marinade the dried apricot as I thought the paring would be nicer.  I tried the pate with the dried apricots and canned apricots, my husband and I preferred the dried apricot better as it did not take away from the taste of the pate. 

I had originally thought of assembling a marinaded apricot with pate on caramelized onions. 

I do not have a picture of the appetizer itself, the appetizer is on a Birk's Vintage cake stand between the Ladybugs  and the Beet appetizers

Pickled Beet, Goat's cheese and fresh Mint appetizers

This appetizer quickly disappeared at the bridal shower.  Maybe it was the color or just the amazing taste of pickled Beets with Feta Cheese and garden fresh curly Mint! 

The appetizers was very quick to assemble and looked spectacular plated on a white dish.

Although I had robust pickled beets that I had canned last fall, I decided to go with store bought sliced pickled beets for convenience as my canned beets were whole! 


The beet slices do need to be dried so that they are not messy on your plate. Crumble feta cheese on the beet slices, then garnish with a fresh Mint leave!  Drizzle Balsamic vinegar on the Beet bites.

Broccoli Bites

 In planning the St Patrick's menu, I decide to use the Broccoli I had in my refrigerator to make what I called Broccoli bites using broccoli, onion, flour, egg and parmesan cheese.  

Since my Granddaughter does not eat vegetables, I decided to make them into small balls.  However, she developed pink eye and the celebration meal was cancelled.   I had placed the broccoli balls on parchment for baking, so I froze them.  

Last night, I pulled them out for supper.  I baked them at 400 until golden brown, about 30 to 40 mins  as they were frozen. 

2 stocks of broccoli, grated
1 egg
1/2 white onion finely chopped
1/2 c Parmesan Cheese (one could use other shredded cheese)
1/4 cup flour, add more if needed to form a ball

Roll balls in panko or bread crumbs, then dusted them with smoky paprika. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden at 375 degrees.

 I watched my granddaughter dipping the bites in a Ranch dressing and eating the appetizer without a complaint!   I think a cheesy dip would be awesome!