blue cheese pear tart

up for a new experimental taste?

the fourme d'ambert (blue cheese) pear tart is a great start!

believe me, it's a super tasty dish. suitable for parties - 

great recipe to impress your friends!

ingredients (serves 4-7)

- pastry sufficient for one tart (buy rolls or make it yourself - recipe to follow!)
- 2 pears
- 200g of fourme d'ambert cheese


directions

1. preheat oven to 180C
2. peel and cut the pears into 1cm thick strips - any shape will do!
3. cut the forum d'ambert cheese into small blocks (1cm cubes)
4. place the pastry into a pie mould, and poke the surface with a fork. release your stress here!
5. place the pears and cheese into the mould - random or placed strategically, whatever you fancy!
6. bake for 30 minutes or so - until surface is golden brown and the cheese has been absorbed by the pears

goes really well with red wine and also white!
enjoy the sweet and savory taste!!

marcia

pumpkin soup (butternut squash soup)

Another winter recipe from Irena :)

If you are in Europe - use a butternut squash!
It is much sweeter than the pumpkin.

If you are in Japan or Asia, use this kind of pumpkin. It is not too watery and it's very sweet :D

ingredients: (serves four)


- 1 pumpkin (or butternut squash)
- 1 medium onion
- a few cloves of garlic (as much as you like!)
- 1 carrot
- a little bit of ginger
- butter
- water
- milk (or soy milk)
- salt, pepper
- cinnamon
- soup stock cube
- olive oil
- cream (if you like)
- coriander or parsley


directions:


1.  Preheat the oven to 200C
2. Remove seeds and peel the pumpkin and cut it into small squares
3. Place the pumpkin in the dish, put a little bit of olive oil, and sprinkle a little salt, and cook for about 30-40 minutes.
4. When the pumpkin is ready, cook chopped onion, garlic and ginger with some butter in a pot.
5. Add some pumpkin and water, carrots, a little cinnamon and soup stock.
6. When carrots get soft, remove the pot from heat, and mix everything in a blender, until it gets smooth (no need to pass the soup through a sieve! :)
7. Return the soup to the pot, add some milk (or soy milk) and heat it up a little more. Taste and add some salt and pepper if needed.
8. When serving, decorate with a little cream and chopped fresh coriander or parsley.


If you add less water, it becomes like a paste - and you can put it on bread :)
Adding more water or milk makes it look more like a soup.


Please do not skip the step of using the OVEN!!
It makes the pumpkin / butternut squash many times yummier and sweeter!


Enjoy!! :D


Irena