Apple cake

Сладкиш с ябълки2 1024x680 Apple cake

Apple cake
Based on my grandmother’s recipe with a letter to my grandfather

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup neutral oil
½ cup melted butter
2/3 cup lukewarm milk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 kg of apples
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Sugar to taste
Lemon zest (optional)

 Сладкиш с ябълки 22 1024x682 Apple cake

Preparation:

Start by preparing the stuffing. To do this, peel and finely grate the apples. Sweeten to taste and flavor with cinnamon. Press them a bit in a strainer to remove excess juice.

Cream the eggs and sugar in a deep bowl. Gradually pour in the melted butter, oil and milk. Finally, add the flour and baking powder. Get a sticky and relatively thick pastry.

Pour half the mixture into a rectangular baking dish, well buttered. Spread over the grated apple stuffing. Cover with the remaining batter and smooth with a spatula.

Bake the apple cake in the oven at 180°C for about 40 minutes. Check with a toothpick if the heart of the cake is dry and cooked. Let cool completely before cutting and serving. Sprinkle with icing sugar for better presentation.

 Сладкиш с ябълки 32 1024x681 Apple cake

Letter to my grandfather

Dear grandpa,

Another year has flown away without you. I still miss you as strongly as if it were yesterday that you packed your suitcase and gently went away into the night. I’m writing to ask how you’re doing up the clouds. I imagine you’ve assembled a whole team of craftsmen and builders and you’re raising palace after palace, temple after temple in the kingdom of heaven. And you are, undoubtedly, always available to land a hand to granny in the kitchen who is making delicious food for everyone.

I’m also writing to thank you for having you, for being such a beautiful, smiling soul, such a unique and kind grandfather! I probably never told you over the years, but I noticed all your little cares, every smile, every tender word. I appreciated them and thanked you silently. And I loved you more every day. But I didn’t really tell you.

I remember, for example, how you always gave me the heart of the watermelon, the whole of it just for me! You always served me the most tender piece of meat, while you were eating the greasy, chewy chunks. You handed me the ripest and sweetest fruit while you were saving the slightly rotten and wrinkled ones. And it was towards me that you pushed the biggest bowl of rice pudding, even though you loved that dessert just as much. I remember this and thank you!

I also remember the summer I was 9 (my cousin Vladimir was 10), we were on vacation in your hometown. You took us both hiking in the hills beyond the fields. We played, ran, rolled, climbed, had picnics — all things that leave memories etched in our minds. Afterward, we made our way back, walking barefoot in the river that wound its way to our house. Except I couldn’t walk on the stones lining the riverbed and writhed in an effort to avoid or better choose them. So you took me in your arms and carried me until we reached our path between the vegetable gardens and got out of the river. I remember that too and thank you!

Diado i baba1 1024x673 Apple cake

I remember that it was you who took me to school the first day, my first day at school (the first grade at the age of 7 marks this solemn day in Bulgaria). It was also you who came to pick me up from my French classes and choir rehearsals several times a week. And it was you who shivered for over an hour waiting for me to finish my ice-skating lessons every Thursday and Saturday. I never saw you sullen or bored. Your eyes spoke of nothing but tenderness and joy. I remember that too and thank you!

I remember it was who prepared my breakfast every morning before school. You would get up very early to heat up milk and toast slices of bread. You would also make me a sandwich for later at school. Always with the freshest bread, with a good spread of butter and sausage or cheese. How I loved your sandwiches! You would also leave me 25 cents at the edge of the table in the hallway to buy myself something during the long break at about 10.20 a.m. It was enough for so many things! Either a small bun topped with sugar from the pastry pavilion at the market place, or a pretzel from the old bakery, or a kind of toast with minced meat from the fast-food on the main street, or a small paper bag of French fries or small fried fish from the van next to the school, or a cheese toast from the little snack bar at school, or freshly roasted peanuts from the stand near the tram stop. And lots of other things, like trinkets from the bookstore, like an eraser, a pencil or a small notebook. However, when Christmas approached, I saved these 25 cents and when my wealth counted about 10 leva, we went out together so that I could buy a small gift for each member of our family. You pretended not to see me doing it by reading your newspaper or the stand signboards. You see, I remember that too and thank you!

I remember you were always the one doing the dishes. Back then, you and Grandma didn’t even have a hot water tank, and you heated water in the teapot. Except you rinsed the dishes with cold water. I never heard you complain about that! And you were always the one carrying the fuel cans for the stoves up from the tank in the cellar, going up four floors with maybe 40 liters of fuel in your hands! Then you lit the stoves, and the house was warm and cozy again. I remember that too, and I thank you!

I remember sometimes asking you to tell me a story. Except you didn’t know any and always told me the same one. It revolved around a pig, a forest, acorns, and a wolf. You never tired of bringing it out for me and starting your story over again. I remember that too, and I thank you!

I once asked you if we could grow a vegetable garden when we were on vacation in your village. You spent several whole days clearing a patch of land. Pruning, cutting, sawing, plowing, sifting, and turning over the soil just to have a nice patch of garden. You even repaired the fence and made a wooden gate. And then we were planting carrots, potatoes, beans, peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes, as well as herbs. You had to lean on a crutch back then, for a tram accident damaged your leg on your way home from work. But that didn’t stop you from sowing, planting, and weeding on your knees in our vegetable garden. I helped you a lot, but you did most of the work. I remember that too and thank you!

I can still see you sitting in the kitchen making preserves for the winter. Cutting, aligning in jars, pre-cooking, and seasoning tons of vegetables every fall, sterilizing tomato sauces (plain or cooked in lyutenitsa), green and yellow beans, various pickles, roasted and peeled red peppers, eggplant-pepper sauces (called kyopolou in our country), and peas. You also made compotes by filling large jars with fruit, water, and sugar. This way, we had our “5 fruits and vegetables a day” all winter long, as, out of season, we couldn’t find fresh ones at the time. I admired your patience in grating dozens of kilos of apples, pumpkins, and quinces to then sterilize them in jars for future pies and cakes in winter. You grated by hand, without complaining. Calm and smiling, busy in the kitchen. Grandma was the chef, and you were all her assistants at the same time. You also didn’t mind freezing outside while you grilled large bags of red peppers to make sauces or sterilize them plain for omelets and ratatouilles in winter. I helped you when my lessons and homework allowed, but as always, the main work came from you. I remember that too and thank you!

I also remember one summer when I wanted to make white cheese. We were still in the village. You didn’t rebuff this new passion; on the contrary, you simply took a bigger can to get milk from the farm. You went there almost every day anyway. And you were my hero, as you already needed two crutches to walk, and the farm was maybe 2 km away from our house. With your bag slung over your shoulder, I could hear your crutches moving away on the cobblestone road. I thought you were so handsome. I sometimes went with you, but you preferred to go early in the morning. Then you made me a small wooden mold for the cheese (feta type) with holes in the bottom. This allowed the cheese to drain better and take the shape of a brick. Finally, you taught me how to make it. Our cheese was so delicious! I remember that too and thank you!

And do you remember, grandpa, how the bookshelf bar door creaked? Grandma didn’t store liquor there, but tablecloths, napkins, and boxes of chocolates. When you got a sweet tooth, you would signal me to join you attack the bar. I would follow you and wait for my chocolate share. Of course, Grandma would soon shout from the next room: “I can hear you!” The creaking of the bar door would betray us. I remember that too and thank you!

You see, grandpa, I could write a whole novel about it! We had so many great moments, and you did so much for me! I haven’t forgotten anything, and for every little twinkling, I loved you more infinitely every day.

I’ve made you one of your favorite cakes. Grandma made it for us quite often back then. You liked to have a piece of it for your 4 p.m. snack with a cup of hot chocolate. You would serve yourself a large piece of cake, followed by another smaller piece, and another, just to better align the cake in the dish. I sometimes kept you company in the cake carving that Grandma quickly discovered in the end and nibbled us that we wouldn’t be hungry for supper.

Let me serve you a big piece of cake, grandpa, and hug you tightly!

P.S. And do know, grandpa, that I named my beautiful yourger one after you, Toma?

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Chirpan style meatballs

Кюфтета по чирпански 23 682x1024 Chirpan style meatballs

Chirpan1 style meatballs
Traditional Bulgarian recipe

Ingredients for the meatballs:

350-500 g minced meat (100% beef for me)
½ onion
1 egg
2 slices of sandwich bread
1 tsp dried savory
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parsley
A little flour to roll the meatballs

Ingredients for the dish:

2-3 canned tomatoes and 2-3 tbsp of their sauce
800-900 g potatoes (as many as the pot can hold)
2 medium carrots
1 slice of celeriac
½ onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp dried savory
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parsley
Oil and butter
Potato starch or potato flakes2 to thicken the sauce (if needed)

 Кюфтета по чирпански 33 682x1024 Chirpan style meatballs

Preparation:

Start by preparing the meatballs. In a deep bowl, mix the minced meat, chopped onion and parsley, egg, soaked and drained bread and spices. Mix and knead the minced meat thoroughly and shape into round balls of equal size. Then roll them in flour and let them rest.

In the meantime, prepare the rest of the vegetables. Cut the carrots into slices, the onion and garlic into small chunks and the celery into cubes. Peel the tomatoes and cut them into pieces. Boil about a liter of water.

Pour 1 drizzle of oil into a deep 3-liter saucepan. Cook the onion and garlic until transparent. Add the paprika, stir it in vigorously and once its smell switches from raw to cooked (max 10 seconds), cut the cooking process with a little boiling water. Then add the tomatoes and their sauce and more boiling water (enough to dip in the meatballs). Then, pop in all the vegetables and spices. The water should cover the vegetables. Let the dish simmer gently until the potatoes are well cooked through (65 minutes with me, another variety of potatoes should reduce the cooking time).

 Кюфтета по чирпански3 682x1024 Chirpan style meatballs

At the end of cooking, season the dish with fresh parsley and a little butter.

If the sauce remains too liquid, thicken it by sprinkling potato flakes over, spoon by spoon, while stirring. If you are using cornstarch, dilute 1 tbsp of cornstarch in 50-60 ml of water and pour into the sauce while stirring constantly. Continue cooking for a further 5 minutes.

Serve the dish hot, sprinkled with a little fresh parsley.

______

 1. Chirpan is a city in Bulgaria
2. Flakes for instant mashed potatoes

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Chickpea Curry Stew

Къри яхния с нахут2 682x1024 Chickpea Curry Stew

Chickpea Curry Stew

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, 400g
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp curry
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp fenugreek powder
1 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/3 tsp ginger powder
1 large carrot
1 handful dried porcini mushrooms (or 250 g fresh mushrooms)
Boiling water
Butter and oil to taste
Salt and pepper
Potato flakes for mashed potatoes or cornstarch (to thicken the sauce)

 Къри яхния с нахут 22 682x1024 Chickpea Curry Stew

Preparation:

Rinse and chop the vegetables. Then pour a good drizzle of oil into a medium-sized saucepan (2 to 2.5 liters). Stir-fry the onion and garlic and add the curry, cumin, fenugreek and ginger, pre-mixed. Brown them for about ten seconds and cut the process with boiling water.

Then add the other dry spices, salt and pepper (to taste), carrot, chickpeas (drained) and dried mushrooms (if you are using fresh ones, you can cook them at the beginning with the onion, before the spices). Cover the vegetables with boiling water by 2 to 3 cm. Let simmer for 25 minutes.

If the broth has reduced considerably, add more hot water. Especially if you like to have more sauce. Adjust the seasoning of the curry stew with fresh parsley and butter. Then thicken the sauce with 2-3 tablespoons of potato flakes (just sprinkle them on) or 1 tablespoon of cornstarch (previously diluted with cold water). Stir well and simmer for another 5 minutes to thicken the sauce and cook the flakes or cornstarch.

Serve with your favorite variety of boiled rice. We like to top each plate with a poached egg and grated cheese (comté or gouda).

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Bulgarian Bean Soup

Боб чорба2 1024x685 Bulgarian Bean Soup

Bulgarian Bean Soup

 Ingredients:

1 bowl of dried white beans
1-2 dried red peppers (mild) or ½ fresh red bell pepper
1 handful of dried tomatoes or 1 small tomato
1 teaspoon of dried celery, savory, flat mint and onion (from each spice)
1 carrot
1 onion
Cooking oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Place the dried beans in a casserole, cover with tap water and let rest overnight. The next day, bring them to a boil and cook until tender, changing the first water shortly after boiling.

Stir fry the chopped onion until transparent in a drizzle of oil. Add it to the pan with the beans. Then add all the spices, the carrot (cut into slices), the peppers and the tomatoes, dried or fresh, previously chopped.

Continue cooking until the carrots are well cooked through and the broth turns creamy (about 30 minutes).

Serve the bean soup hot with a good fresh bread.

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Twisted bread

Вита питка1 681x1024 Twisted bread

Twisted bread
According to my grandmother’s recipe

Ingredients:

1 kg plain flour
1 sachet of fresh yeast
3 eggs
2 tablespoons oil
1 level tablespoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
100 ml milk
80 g soft butter
250 g feta cheese

Вита питка 31 680x1024 Twisted bread

Preparation:

Sift two-thirds of the flour into a deep bowl and make a well in the middle. Dilute the yeast with the sugar, a spoonful of flour and the lukewarm milk. Let rise in a warm place. Then pour into the flour well. Also dip in the eggs (1 yolk can be kept to golden the top of the bread, I didn’t do it), oil, salt and about 1 ½ cups of warm water. Mix everything together and knead until you get a soft dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place.

Вита питка 21 Twisted bread

When the dough has almost tripled in size, divide it into 3 equal sized balls. Roll each out to 3-4 mm thick. Brush generally the surface of all 3 of them with soft butter and sprinkle with crumbled feta. Then lay the dough sheets over another and roll them up together. Then begin to twist the two ends in opposite directions, transmitting this movement towards the middle. The roll gradually becomes thinner and longer. When it makes it as thick as a baguette, roll it into a snail.

Transfer the twisted bread to a round baking dish, lined with parchment paper. Oil the top, cover and let stand another 1 hour in a warm place.

Вита питка 42 1024x681 Twisted bread

Bake the twisted bread at 180°C for about 50 to 60 minutes. If necessary, cover with aluminum foil during cooking. Out of the oven, butter the top again. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

How the steps look like:

20250109 113412 copy1 576x1024 Twisted breadВита питка 33 576x1024 Twisted breadВита питка 2 copy1 576x1024 Twisted breadA bread of a bit more than 1 kg of flour, weighed 2070 g!

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Algerian cakes Mkhabez

Mkhabez algerien 22 682x1024 Algerian cakes Mkhabez

Algerian cakes Mkhabez
Based on my French friend Audrey’s recipe

Ingredients for 20-24 cakes:

300 g of almond powder
150 g of icing sugar
1 sachet of vanilla sugar
Grated lemon zest
1 egg
1 egg yolk

For the icing:

2 egg whites
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of oil
2 tablespoons of milk
2 tablespoons of orange blossom water
Icing sugar, more than 500 g
Sugar figurines for decoration (my children made marzipan roses)

 Mkhabez algerien2 682x1024 Algerian cakes Mkhabez

Preparation:

In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients from the 1st group above (including the lemon zest). Make a dough by adding the egg and, if necessary, the egg yolk. Almonds contain fat and the more we knead, the more fat is released which helps to obtain a compact mass.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on baking paper aiming for a thickness of 1.5 cm (I have made it thinner, around 1 cm). Using a cookie cutter, cut out biscuits with a diameter of about 5-6 cm. Place the biscuits on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake at 160°C until lightly golden. Let cool on rack.

Meanwhile, prepare the icing. Mix all the liquid ingredients from the second group. Whisk by hand. Gradually add the sifted icing sugar and mix well after each portion. The icing is of the required texture, when lifting a little with a spatula, the dripping down quantity is interrupted.

Dip the cooled cakes one by one in the icing, top side down (without covering the bottom) and place them on a rack to drain. Decorate the cakes to taste (they are usually decorated with sugar paste flowers) and let the icing dry.

Store the Mkhabez in a cookie jar. If eaten immediately after preparation, they are crunchy, and when they come out of the jar, they are soft.

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Puff pastry appetizer

Парти хапки с бутер тесто 2 rz2 682x1024 Puff pastry appetizer

Puff pastry appetizer

Ingredients:

Puff pastry or shortcrust pastry, pure butter
Smoked sausages (sodium nitrate free, if possible)
Emmental cheese or portions of Laughing Cow (Vache qui rit)

Парти хапки с бутер тесто rz2 1024x682 Puff pastry appetizer

Preparation:

Spread the puff pastry on the work surface keeping its parchment paper. Divide the dough into 3 parallel strips approximately 10 centimeters wide. Place 2 sausages along a pastry strip or pieces of cheese (block shaped).

Then, roll up each strip making a sort of long sausage. Cut into bites of 15 to 20 mm. Transfer each roll to a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Place the bites vertically.

Bake the appetizer bites in the oven at 200°C until they are nicely golden. About 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the oven. Serve hot.

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Pasta cake

Макарони на фурна2 1024x682 Pasta cake

Pasta cake
A Bulgarian recipe called Oven baked macaroni

Ingredients:

500 ml of milk
4 eggs
3-4 tablespoons of sugar
140 g of pasta (fusilli, shells, penne, etc.)
30-40 g butter
Vanilla

Макарони на фурна 22 1024x682 Pasta cake

Preparation:

Cook the pasta in salted water and a sip of oil, according to the time instructions on the package. Once well cooked through, shower the pasta with cold water (to stop the cooking process) and drain well.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and milk. Flavor with vanilla.

Pour the pasta into an oiled baking dish. Top with the egg mixture. Sprinkle cubes of butter on all over the pasta.

Bake the pasta cake at 180°C until golden brown or around 40 to 50 minutes.

Serve the pasta cake at room temperature or cold. It is possible and even quite delicious to bottom to baking dish with caramel before pouring over the eggs and pasta. But the original Bulgarian recipe didn’t have such layer.

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Ladies’ caprice cake

Дамски каприз 2 rz2 682x1024 Ladies caprice cake

Ladies’ caprice cake
Based on my grandmother’s recipe

Ingredients:

5 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
125 g butter
1 dose of vanilla
250 g of plain yogurt
1 sachet of baking powder
2 cups of flour

 5 egg whites
6-8 tablespoons of sugar
1 dose of vanilla
½ cup jam or marmalade
50 g of walnuts

Preparation:

Cream the egg yolks and sugar using an electric mixer. Then stir in the butter, vanilla and yogurt. While whisking, gradually add the flour and baking powder (both sifted).

Pour the mixture into a large baking dish and smooth out (my mold measured 32 by 20 cm).

Bake at 180°C until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick, inserted in the middle, comes out dry (30 to 40 minites).

Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks with a pinch of salt. Gradually add the sugar, without interrupting the mixer. Flavor with vanilla (my grandmother didn’t put any).

While the cake is still warm, spread the jam of your choice on top (I had green fig jam), sprinkle evenly with chopped walnuts and cover with a thick, even layer of beaten egg whites. Make waves with the back of a tablespoon.

Return the Ladies’s caprice cake in the oven and continue baking until the top of the egg whites is golden brown (10-15 minutes).

Let cool completely before serving.

Дамски каприз rz2 682x1024 Ladies caprice cake

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Wine kebab

Винен кебаб2 681x1024 Wine kebab

Wine kebab

 Ingredients:

600 g of meat (pork, beef, chicken)
2 onions
¼ tea mug of oil
1 tablespoon of flour
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon of tomato paste or 1 tomato
150 ml of red wine
1-2 bay leaves
Black pepper, salt and parsley

 Preparation:

Chop the meat into bite-sized pieces, mince the onion. Heat the oil in a saucepan and simmer the meat and onion. When the meat turns white and the onion becomes transparent, add the sweet paprika, stir vigorously and without delay add the tomato paste (diluted in a little water) and the flour.

Cover everything with boiling water, stir well to dilute the flour and avoid lumps. Then pour in the red wine and season with salt, black pepper and bay leaf and let simmer over low heat. When the dish is ready (chicken meat takes about 30 minutes, pork and beef – 40-50 minutes), sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.

Serve with a scoop of boiled rice or on a canape of mashed potatoes.

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