Tarte Flambée (Flammkuche) - Alsatian pizza with smoky bacon and cheese

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Tarte Flambée (Flammkuche) is Alsatian take on pizzza. Wonderfully easy and bacony treat!

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After another delightful day with my gorgeous Gothenburger I grabbed his hand, looked deep into his eyes and (in an apparent attempt at Femme Fatale) whispered in my most soulfully deep voice the following question: "you know what I love?"

He looked back at me, flashing that smile of his that makes me all weak at the knees and answered, in an every bit as seductive voice: "pizza."

Romantic moment. So totally over. 

Though I suppose it won't come as a surprise to anyone who's ever read this blog: I really, truly, madly love pizza (hey - I've even featured a breakfast pizza on the blog!)

But seeing how I still have some issues with cheese (rather essential part of the pizza, non?), I'm particularly fond of different local pizza varieties around the world that don't feature it, such as Turkish lahmacun and pide and Arabic sfiha which is one of my favourite recipes in my new book.

There are some serious treats to be found in Europe, too: Alsace is not just one my favourite wine regions in the world - it's also home to Tarte Flambée which either might or might not have cheese in it. No wonder I'm so into it - the most popular version is laced with bacon. 

And bacon, as we all know, equals love. Oh, it does - ask anyone. 

The lack of cheese won't mean dry, though (as my Italian potato and rosemary pizza shows) - this is something that a generous dollop of crème fraîche takes care of.

Tarte Flambée is something that one doesn't often come across in Finland, but the one they make at Wistub Alsace in Tampere is so good it just might warrant a day trip all on its own. 

And in case you need more inspiration for Tampere, Finland's answer to Gothenburg, just check the blog over here and here.

Depending on the region Tarte Flambée is also known as Flammkuche. Initially it was a rustic fare that the German-speaking farmers would make at home and it only started appearing on restaurant menus during 1960's pizza boom. 

This version is called Gratinée. Other popular versions include Forestière (with mushrooms) and Münster (topped with its namesake cheese), but there's also a sweet dessert version featuring cinnamon, thinly sliced apples and usually a sprinkling of Calvados.

makes 2 large ones or 4 smaller ones 

Tarte Flambée Gratinée - Alsatian pizza with smoky bacon and cheese 

the base:

2,5 tsp dry yeast
1,5 tsp sugar
1,5 dl warm water
1,5 tbsp oil
4 dl flour (00- grade if possible)
1/2 tsp salt

toppings:

150 g tub of crème fraîche
a couple of handfuls of grated cheese (Gruyère is a classic choice)
140 g (smoky) bacon
1 small onion, thinly sliced

To serve: finely chopped chives (optional), freshly ground black pepper

Combine dry yeast, water and sugar and leave aside, covered for 5 minutes while the yeast activates. 

Then add oil, flour (and along with the last dl of flour) salt. Knead into a smooth dough. Cover with cling film and leave to double in size in a warm place for an hour. 

Pre-heat the oven to 250ºc  at this point (in a fan assisted oven 230 should do). If you have a pizza stone, leave in in the oven. If not, then do the same with the tray.

Cut the bacon into strips of desired size and cook in a pan over medium heat until they start to get crunchy. Remove from the pan (using a slotted spoon) and transer aside. 

Divide the dough into 2 or 4 balls. Roll each out into a thin disc. You shouldn't need any more flour at this point, so it's easiest to do this on a parchment, which in turn makes it easy to flip it over onto hot tray. 

Pre-bake the base for about 4 minutes, Smear the base with crème fraîche and sprinkle the grated cheese on top of it. Top with bacon and thinly sliced onion rings and continue cooking until cheese has melted.

Garnish with chives (if using) and black pepper. Serve. 

For more pizza recipes on the blog, just click on the following:

-  breakfast pizza with smoked salmon, spinach, eggs and fool-proof Hollandaise
-  Italian potato and rosemary pizza
- Lebanese lamb pizza
- pide - Turkish pizza

- pizza with Prosciutto, pear and Brie

- pizza with duck confit

- pumpkin and chorizo pizza

Has Tarte Flambée/ Flammkuche stolen your hearts already?

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SHARING IS CARING!

Ajo Blanco- white gazpacho (gluten-free, vegan, kosher)

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White gazpacho is actually the original one. Wonderfully refreshing - perfect for hot summer's days!

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In addition to gazpacho and salmorejo there's yet another chilled soup in Spain: the Malagan regional specialty ajo blanco, also known as the white gazpacho. 

The chilled soups are so wonderfully refreshing and perfect for the late summer as Andalusia is swept over by the hot wind we get from Africa that make the temperature soar to over 40 c. 

Air is so dry and hot and the wind blows with such intensity even at night it's like walking in a hairdryer. 

Having your own pool is therefore not a luxury - it is a human rights issue!

The ingredients for ajo blanco are rather simple: bread, water, garlic and almonds. 

Some recipes, such as mine, also use grapes which make the soup even more refreshing and give it more flavour and acidity than cucumber, which is another often used ingredient. 

Green apple would really give this extra something, but owing to its consistency, you'd then have to add more liquid. 

Traditionally this too is made with that local sherry vinegar, but I prefer white wine vinegar. Cider vinegar would be another good one. 

This white version is actually the original gazpacho - the better known red one didn't see the daylight until the Conquistadors brought tomato in Spain. 

According to some theories this is  the stuff of "already the ancient Romans..." - legends, going back to the Roman way of dunking bread in oil. 

Some theories state this has its roots in the Moorish times and in the bread-based soups  Arab kitchen. 

Who can tell - but one thing I can tell is that I actually prefer this over its red cousin. 

serves 4

Ajo Blanco -white gazpacho

200 g almonds, soaked overnight (don't discard the water!)

3 cloves of garlic

100 g white bread, crust removed (gluten-free if needed)

1 dl olive oil

1/2 dl white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegarn or sherry vinegar)

225 g green, seedless grapes

5 dl water from aoaking the almonds

1/2 tsp salt

To serve: olive oil, toasted almond flakes, grape slices, chopped chives

Drain the almonds. Reserve the liquid and use it to dilute the soup.

Measure the ingredients in a blender and whizz until smooth. 

For a velvety smooth consistency, pass the soup through a sieve. 

Check the taste and add more salt and/or vinegar if needed. Chill for a couple of hours and serve.

PS. If you like this, you might want to check out blog's other gazpacho recipes:

- gazpacho

- watermelon gazpacho

- cucumber gazpacho

Are you already familiar with ajo blanco; white gazpacho? Or do you have another favourite?

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Creamy and dreamy soup with caramelized onions and chestnut spread (kosher, vegan, gluten-free)

Creamy soup with caramelized onions and chestnut spread only requires a few ingredients but the result is so dreamy!

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Aftter feasting on Sweden it was time for home-coming and bitter return to the reality where I'm expected to cook my own food. Motivation was close to zero, but so (after all the culinary conquests) so was the balance of my bank account. 

The situation wasn't made any better by the fact that by the time my broken heart finally allowed me to keep any food down, I had happily outsourced the catering and kept wolting what ever I needed to stay alive, directly to my bed.

The darker side of life as a food blogger, vol. 143

When I finally managed to convince myself to at least try and pick myself up, it felt as if I'd never even held a ladle  - let alone a camera. Oh, how quickly the mighty fall indeed.

Luckily sometimes cheap and easy mean delicious, too, as this creamy soup with caramelized onion and chestnut spread prove. 3 ingredients I found in the fridge and... well, that's it, really. 

What really made it sing, though, was a tube of crème de marrons (chestnut spread) that I brough back from my trip. It lends the soup gentle sweetness and richness, but in case you don't have one on hand, no problem. In that case I'd probably add a bit of brown sugar (a spoonful of unsweetened peanut butter might do the trick, too!)

It's impossible to find an ingredient as cheap as onion - a kilo will set you back less than €1. But toss it into a pot to caramelize for an hour and whoah - you've got yourself such fantastic, sweet and savoury depth of flavours you couldn't ask for more. 

While cheap and cheerful, there is certain je ne sais quo in this  - you could easily serve it as a starter at a little finer function, too. 

Serves 3-4

Creamy soup with caramelized onions and chestnut spread:

roughly 1,1 kg onion (after peeling and trimming you're left with 1 kg)

2 tbsp butter (or oil) 

1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme (or 1,5 tbsp dried)

7,5 dl vegetable stock

1 tube (78 g) chestnut spread (crème de marrons)

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp black pepper

2 dl couble cream, loosely whipped (or a vegan substitute such as soy cream)

to serve:

roasted onion flakes, thyme (or for a gluten-free alternative: roasted, gently salted seeds)

Peel the onions, trim off the stems and slice finely.

Heat butter (or oil)in a large pot or pan and add the onions. Leave to caramelize over medium heat for about an hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so and checking, whether there's still enough liquid (and that the heat's not too high).

If it starts to seem like they're about to burn, lower the heat and/or add a small splash of stock.

One they're soft and caramelized to beautiful mahogany colour, add thyme and balsamico and stir, scraping off all the bits in the bottomof the pan, too. 

Blizz the onions together with vegetable stock and (if using) the chestnut spread. Check the taste and season as needed. 

Fold in the cream, sprinkle the crunchy onion flakes on top and serve.

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Jansson's temptation - Swedish potato and anchovy bake (gluten-free, kosher)

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Jansson's temptation is a Swedish comfort food classic and one of their most beloved Christmas staples. It is as easy as it is delicious - this is not the time to scrimp on butter and cream!

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My, my, the blog has celebrated the humble potato lately! First I shared my secrets to the perfect mashed potatos and then I started rolling out souvenirs from my trip to Bulgaria in the form of patatnik, potato and mint omelette.

Now I'm introducing you guys to a Swedish classic that could not be better suited for this time of the year: Jansson's temptation. Though the dish, named after a Swedish opera singer and a bona fide bon vivant,  has become a crucial part of the Swedish Christmas feast, its roots are actually in a completely different kind of merrymaking. 

Pella Janzon, you see,was known not just for his bass bariton, also for the parties he threw after the performances; feasts that consisted of beer, schnapps and anhovy gratin. Later it has become a popular late night/ early morning snack.

The tangy saltiness of the anchovies, richness of the cream, comforting nature of the potato and the sweetness of the onions is a combination I've loved since childhood - well, after my parents finally managed to convince me (ever the cheese phobe) that the dish contains absolutely no cheese, anyway. I'm sure that didn't take much longer than a decade...

The dish is easy and only requires a handful of ingredients. But, all the more reason to bear in mind the following tips:

- Take your time sautéeing the onions so they're properly soft as that's when their sweetness really comes out to play
- Use double cream. Don't even think about casting looks at those light cream atrocities or substituting it with fish stock. No. You can diet tomorrow. 
- Do not discard the liquid from the anchovies - mix it with cream and use it in cooking.

And then off to the most important thing:

- when we Scandinavians use the wor anchovy, we're not actually talking about anchovies (why we do that, then, is anyone's guess). 

Therefore I would not attempt to make this with the actual anchovies. Fish which in Scandinavia is sold as anchovy (or Jansson's fillets) is actually sprat, marinated in a very particular, salty, sweet and tangy mixture. You should be able to get your hands on them in Swedish/ Nordic shops. As an emergency plan you could also use marinated matjes herring (matjes sill) which you can pick up at any IKEA.

The puritanists would probably stone me for using chives, but I like the greenness and freshness they lend the dish. But, feel free to omit it.

Serves 6 - 8

Jansson's temptation - a Swedish potato and anchovy bake:

2 large onions (or 3 small ones)
8-19 large potatos (total weight 1 1/4 kg)
2 tins (á 125 g) marinated sprats/ Jansson's filéer
4-5 dl heavy cream
1 tsp black pepper
a bunch of chives

For frying: butter

Start with the onion. Peel and finely slice them and sauté, in a  couple oftablespoons of butter over low heat in a pan. In the meanwhile prep the remaining ingredients. 

Peel the potato, cut into slices and then into thin strips. Drain the sprats (reserving the liquid) and cut lengthwise in half. Finely shop the chives. Combine cream with the sprat marinade (1/2 dl), whisk until smooth and season with salt and pepper.

Grease the oven proof dish you're using with butter. Lay half of the potatos into the dish, followed by a  layer of onions, 4 tablespoons of chives, sprats and top with the remaining half of the potatos. 

Pour the cream mixture over the bake and sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of butter on top in small knobs.

Bake at 220 (in a convection oven 200 will do) in the lower part of the oven for about an hour. In case the bake starts getting too much colour for your liking, cover it with a piece of foil.

Scatter the remaining chives on top and serve!

Any of you guys familiar with this Jansson's temptation yet? Are you puritanists when it comes to Christmas traditions or have any foreign dishes made it onto your Christmas tables?

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Patatnik - Bulgarian potato and mint omelette

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Patatnik, Bulgarian potato omelette gets its interesting flavour from... mint!

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If the scenery of the Bulgarian Rhodope mountains surprised with their Swiss look, so, too, does the most classic dish of the region: patatnik. This potato omelette is very much like its Swiss cousin rösti, though it's even closer to one of the most beloved Spanish tapas: tortilla Española!

Each mehana, a local beer house serving traditional food, has their own recipe for this staple. Some might contain other veggies, too (especially peppers), many include Bulgarian feta cheese - their pride and joy -  in theirs. One thing that they all have in common, though, is the use of mint; a peculiar herb that is surprisingly widely used over here.

Potato was only brought to Europe in the 16th century by the Spanish concquistadors and it didn't find its way to Rhodope region until mid 19th century. In many European countries the new arrival was met with suspicion and for a long time it wasn't even deemed fit for human consumption. Rhodopeans didn't exactly welcome potato with open arms, either: the village elders condemned it as "the Devil's apple". 

Slowly this humble veggie managed to prove its resilience in the harsh conditions and won over even this stubborn nation. And then everybody lived happily ever after!

Patatnik - Bulgarian potato and mint omelette:

10 largeish potatos (total weight about 1,4 g)

2 largeish onions (or 3 small ones)
4 eggs

4 tbsp fresh mint (or 2 tbsp dried)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

for frying: butter

also: butter, bread crumbs (optional, gluten-free if needed)

Pre-heat oven to 220°c (in fan oven 200°c will do).

Peel and grate the potatos over a tea towel. Bring the corners together to form a bundle and squeeze out the excess liquid from the potatos. 

Peel and finely slice the onion. Sauté them in a pan in a knob of butter over medium heat until soft and translucent (this is optional though - if you want a short cut, you can add the onions to the potatos raw as well).

Beat the eggs lightly and season with salt and pepper.  Fold potatos and onions into the mix along wth finely chopped mint. 

Grease the pan you're using with a little butter and dust with bread crumbs or line the dish with a baking sheet. Pour in the omelette mixture and press until even and smooth. 

Top with a couple of knobs of butter and, should you want the top extra crunchy, a little bread crumbs.

Bake for 45 minutes. In case the patatnik starts to get too much colour, cover it with a piece of foil or a lid.

Cut into pieces and serve.

Serve it as is or for instance with another favourite discovery I made in Bulgaria: Elena ham! This dry-cured leg of local pork comes from the Northern part of the country and is very much like Jamón Serrano.

Any of you been to Bulgaria? Which dishes made an impression on you?

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Sweet rice pudding arancini (gluten-free)

These sweet rice pudding arancini recycle any leftover rice pudding into such a dreamily light treat that you should be in the kitchen making rice pudding as we speak!

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While not much of a connoisseur of the psyche of any member of the porridge family, I dare to say rice pudding is something there's never any left over, right? Perhaps it's the fact it takes quite a bit longer than, say, oatmeal? Or the creamily rich, comforting texture that just makes people reach for seconds? 

Next time you're making it, go on, double the amount straight away as following day you'll have everything it takes to make these dreamy sweet rice pudding arancini which take the rice pudding to a whole new level.

For a sweeter take on the traditional rice pudding use my recipe for Spanish arroz con leche. Another option is to add sugar (or another preferred sweetener), vanilla and finely grated lemon zest into the leftover pudding. Orange zest and/or cardamom would work a treat, too. Next time I might go even further and hide a white chocolate ganache heart into these babies...!

For  a dairy-free treat, cook the pudding using coconut milk. For a gluten-free diet substitute all purpose flour with coconut flour and breadcrumbs with gluten-free ones. Make sure to use fridge-cold rice pudding - for this purpose you want the pudding to be the stiffer kind. You can prepare these in advance, just make sure to store the breaded arancini in the fridge until ready to fry.

Oh, and another way to make the most of leftover rice pudding? This Aland pancake!

Makes 12

Sweet rice pudding arancini:

appr. 3 dl cold rice pudding

2 dl all purpose flour

2 eggs, whisked

2 dl bread crumbs

For frying: oil

To serve: cinnamon sugar

Using a tablespoon, scoop out little nuggets of rice pudding and roll into balls. Place on a sheet and transfer to fridge to wait while you prep the breading stage.

Measure flour into one bowl, whisk the eggs in another and pour the bread crumbs in a third one. 

Roll the arancini in the flour, then in the eggs and then in the bread crumbs. Make sure to be thorough with each phase, as properly sealing the surface with the coating prevents the filling from leaking out. 

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pot (180°c). Fry the arancini in batches until golden brown. Using a slotted spoon, lifte out of the oil, drain on kitchen towels and (should you want to), toss in a mixture of cinamon and sugar.

Serve. Enjoy. And reach for seconds...!

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