Rye chocolate chip financiers

Financiers are one of my downfalls: petite, delicate, but full of flavor, they are a great way of using leftover egg whites. I have been trying to make them using olive oil instead of butter, but the texture was a bit off, so more tests are necessary.

The recipe I bring you today is from ages ago (when I could still eat butter) and it is delicious: the rye flour makes the financiers a little bit heavier on texture, yet flavorsome, and the flavor of the rye flour goes really well with chocolate.

Rye chocolate chip financiers
own recipe

85g almond meal
¾ xícara (105g) icing sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons (30g) all purpose flour, sifted
3 tablespoons (30g) fine rye flour, sifted
pinch of salt
5 large egg whites
85g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (85g) dark chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond meal, icing sugar, all purpose flour, rye flour and salt. Whisk in the egg whites. Whisk in the butter and vanilla until smooth, then fold in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Butter ten 100ml-capacity molds or mini muffin pans.
Divide the batter among the prepared pans and smooth the top. Divide the berries among the pans, placing them on top of the batter and pushing them slightly into the batter. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden and risen – a skewer in the center should come out clean.
Cool in the pans over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold and transfer to the rack, cooling completely.

Financiers are tastier on the day they are made, however they can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days

Makes 10

Red onion tarte tatin with rye pastry

I was never a pie/tart maker (one look at the blog index can confirm that), but I do love pies and tarts: I just don’t have much time for them, I guess. Two things that have helped me with this matter is making the pastry in one day and assembling and baking the pie on the other, or keeping an extra batch of pastry in the freezer – nothing like having the pastry ready when you find beautiful veggies or fruits in the market: lunch, dinner or dessert are halfway there.

This pastry is delicious and flaky, very similar to the corn flour pastry I posted a while ago. The onions not only make the tarte tatin beautiful but also very flavorsome: the time in the stove top and then in the oven transform their acrid flavor into something sweet and mellow.

Red onion tarte tatin with rye pastry
own recipe

Pastry:
¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
3 tablespoons (30g) fine rye flour
¼ teaspoon table salt
¼ cup unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
3 tablespoons sour cream, chilled*
1 tablespoon iced water

Filling:
2 red onions (approximately 250g/9oz in total)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ teaspoon olive oil
5 fresh thyme sprigs
½ teaspoon demerara sugar
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons dry red wine
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Start by making the pastry: in a food processor, pulse all purpose flour, rye flour and salt until well combined. Add the butter and pulse a few times until mixture resemble coarse breadcrumbs. Mix sour cream and water in a small bowl, then with the motor running, gradually add the mixture and process just until a dough forms. Form dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

20 minutes before the end of the resting time of the pastry, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F and start prepping the onions: peel them and cut them in half lengthwise. Then slice the onions in to 1cm (roughly ½in) half-moons – if the slices are too thin they will melt in the oven. Set aside.
Heat a 22cm (9in) frying pan over medium heat – for this recipe you need a frying pan that can go into the oven. Add the butter and the olive oil, followed by the thyme sprigs – this way they will be on the top of the tart once you invert it. Remove the frying pan from the heat for one moment and arrange the onion slices on top of the thyme, placing the slices close together, for they will wilt slightly when cooked - cover the entire frying pan with the onion slices. Put the pan back on the heat and cook for 10 minutes, shaking the pan slightly instead of stirring the onions, to avoid them sticking to the bottom, but keeping them in place. Sprinkle with the sugar, drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and the wine, season with salt and pepper and cook for another minute. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Place the dough onto large piece of baking paper, cover with another piece of paper and roll into a rough 24cm (9in) circle – work fast in order to keep the pastry chilled. Peel off the paper from the top, then roll the pastry into the rolling pin, very gently, then unroll it on top of the onions (be careful since the pan will still be hot). Tuck the pastry in, make a small hole in the center of the pastry so the hot air can escape, then bake the tart for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the heat and very gently loosen the pastry from the edges of the pan. Top the pan with a plate and carefully unmold the tart – don’t worry if any onion bits get stuck in the pan, just loosen them up with a spatula and arrange them back on top of the tart. Serve with a green salad.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serves 4 with a green salad on the side

Brown butter rye choc chip cookies - another great recipe with rye flour

My confessed love for the fine rye flour has been resulting in several great recipes in the past months, and it makes me really happy that my dear and lovely reader Ellen from the U.S., together with several other readers of my Brazilian blog have been enjoying one of them: the soft rye bread I posted a while ago.

It is my favorite recipe made with rye – and it does taste exceptionally good paired with the sardine rillette, it is like they were made for each other. However, the bread has been closely followed by the cookies I bring you today: the combination of the nutty rye flavor with brown butter and dark chocolate is one the most delicious out there – trust me. ;)

Brown butter rye choc chip cookies
own recipe

½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, diced
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (160g) all purpose flour
½ cup (70g) fine rye flour – the one I mentioned on this post
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon table salt
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
¾ cup (131g) light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped or in chips – I used one with 70% cocoa solids

Start by making the brown butter: place the butter in a small saucepan (avoid using dark nonstick since that way you will not be able to see the color of the butter clearly). Cook over medium heat until butter is golden and smells nutty, swirling the saucepan around a few times – butter can burn very quickly, to keep an eye on it. Remove from the heat and transfer to a heatproof bowl to cool completely.

Now, the cookies: preheat the oven to 150°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, rye flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Place brown butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until creamy and light in color – scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally throughout the recipe making. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients and mix only until a dough forms – do not overmix. Stir in the chocolate pieces. If day is too hot, refrigerate dough for 30 minutes before baking.

Drop 2 leveled tablespoons of dough per cookie onto the prepared pans, 5cm (2in) apart. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, or until they’re golden-brown around the edges. Cool in the pans over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then slide the papers with the cookies onto the rack and cool completely.
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Makes about 23

Blackberry rye financiers and going crazy with ingredients

I know many people hate to go to the grocery store, but I must confess that to me that is a lot of fun (you can go ahead and call me crazy, no hard feelings). :)

My husband finds it funny that I can get really, really excited about a beautiful fruit or certain new products – a couple of weeks ago I saw a jar of lemon marmalade on the shelf and screamed at him “LOOK AT THIS!!” from the other side of the aisle – it is a good thing he knows me well and does not mind being stared at by strangers. :)

Another discreet moment *ahem* happened months ago, when I saw these teeny tiny blackberries in the supermarket – they looked so adorable I had to bring them home. My idea was to eat them with yogurt for breakfast, however they were really sour, even for me. So half of them became a crumble and the other half were added to these financiers, in which I replaced the all purpose flour for fine rye flour (the flour I mentioned here). It was such a beautiful combo of flavors I was very happy with the result – not to mention how cute the financiers look. <3

Blackberry rye financiers
own recipe

¾ cup (75g) almond meal
2 ½ tablespoons (25g) fine rye flour (the same kind I describe here)
½ cup (70g) icing sugar, sifted
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
3 egg whites (84g)
1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons Amaretto
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (90g) small blackberries

In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond meal, rye flour, icing sugar, cinnamon and salt. Whisk in the egg whites. Whisk in the butter, Amaretto and vanilla until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Butter eight 100ml-capacity molds or mini muffin pans.
Divide the batter among the prepared pans and smooth the top. Divide the berries among the pans, placing them on top of the batter and pushing them slightly into the batter. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden and risen – a skewer in the center should come out clean.
Cool in the pans over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold and transfer to the rack, cooling completely.

Makes 8

Soft rye bread with sardine rillette and more childhood memories

Many, many months ago, while I still had plans to write a book, I was reading about rillettes and found them very interesting – as I read recipes for pork rillettes, I instantly thought of my mother and her love for this kind of meat, which I link to her German heritage.

As I thought of how much she would love that kind of rustic pâté, I also remembered the sardine salad (which we call “patê” in Portuguese) she used to make for sandwiches when I was a kid – canned sardines were cheap (still are) and those sandwiches are part of my childhood memories (mom would always cut the crusts off mine). :)

Mixing everything in my head I thought of making the rillettes with sardines instead of the pork and a quick search online showed me some variations made with salmon, so I was on the right track. I ended up making this sardine rillette several times for both my husband and I went crazy for it.

After the third time, if I am not mistaken, I felt that the delicious mixture deserved a good homemade bread to go with it, and the strong flavor of rye seemed really right for it – Joao agreed, but asked me for a soft bread that we could have for breakfast on the following day as well. I made this rye bread, tender from the addition of milk but still flavorsome. The problem is that we ended up eating the whole thing with the rillette and there was nothing left for breakfast. :)

Soft rye bread
own creation

Bread:
150ml whole milk, lukewarm
200ml water, lukewarm
2 teaspoons dried yeast
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
½ tablespoon honey
2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
1 ¼ cups (175g) rye flour
1 ½ teaspoons table salt

For brushing the bread:
1 tablespoon whole milk, room temperature

Start with the bread: in the bowl of an electric mixer, place milk, water, sugar and yeast and mix with a fork. Set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the honey, flours and salt and mix using the hook attachment for about 8 minutes or until dough is elastic and smooth – if mixing by hand, 12-14 minutes should be enough. Form dough into a ball, transfer to a large lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in a draft-free area for 1 ½ hours or until doubled in volume.

Lightly brush a 6-cup loaf pan with oil or butter.
Punch the dough to remove the excess air. On a lightly floured surface, using a rolling pin, roll the dough nto a large rectangle, about 20x30cm (8x12in). Starting with one of the long sides, carefully pick up the dough and roll, forming a cylinder. Pinch the seams and place the dough into the prepared pan, seam side down. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside in a draft-free area again for 40-45 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C.

Brush the top of the bread with milk and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden and baked through – bread should sound hollow when tapped with your fingers. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold onto the rack to cool. Cool completely.

Serves 6-8

Sardine rillette
own creation

1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use
½ tablespoon unsalted butter
½ onion, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely sliced – use a mandolin
1 garlic clove, minced
3 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only
pinch of smoked paprika
salt and freshly ground black pepper
350g canned sardines, drained and flaked – I used sardines packed in olive oil for better flavor
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons sour cream*
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

Place ½ tablespoon of the olive oil and the butter in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until butter is melted. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 3-4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the thyme leaves and paprika, season with salt and pepper and cook, covered, on low heat for 2 minutes. Add the wine, turn the heat up and cook until wine evaporates. Remove from the heat, stir in the sardine and cool completely.
When mixture is cool, stir in the sour cream, the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the parsley. Check seasoning.

The rillette can be kept tightly covered in the fridge overnight, however it is best served at room temperature.

*homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serves 2-3

Orange, rye and nutmeg slice and bake cookies

Today’s post is about how much I love the Internet and it is probably the 15th time I tell you that. :)

I had been testing recipes with rye flour, but was not very happy with the results: when I made breads, for example, it was fine, but for cookies, muffins and cakes the flour was too thick and the baked goods were not as light as I wanted them to be. So I decided to put the rye recipes aside for a while.

Months later, while browsing one of my favorite Instagram profiles, I learned about a food store that sells spelt flour (which is hard to come by here in Brazil) and there I found a different type of rye flour, called “fine rye flour” – I bought it and retested all the recipes I had made before, and the results were wonderful!

One of those recipes is for these slice and bake cookies, deliciously fragrant from the orange and nutmeg: the rye flour lands them a nutty flavor and a beautiful color.

Orange, rye and nutmeg slice and bake cookies
slightly adapted from Deb’s recipe

1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
½ cup (70g) fine rye flour*
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
2/3 cup (93g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
finely grated zest of 2 oranges
200g (7oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large egg yolks, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, rye flour, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, place sugar and orange zest and mix them together until sugar is fragrant. Add the butter and mix until light and creamy – scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally throughout the making of the recipe.
Beat in yolks, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, mix in the dry ingredients and mix only until a dough forms – don’t overmix.

Divide the dough into two equal parts. Place each on a piece of parchment paper; shape dough into logs. Fold parchment over dough; using a ruler, roll and press into a 3.5 cm (1.4in) log – like Martha does here. Wrap in parchment. Chill in the fridge until very firm, about 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Unwrap one log at a time (keep the other in the fridge). Cut into 5mm (¼in) thick rounds; space 2.5cm (1in) apart onto prepared sheets. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, 12-14 minutes. Cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then carefully slide the paper with the cookies onto a wire rack and cool completely.

* for the cookies to be light in texture, make sure the rye flour you use is finely ground

Makes about 50

Apple and rye cake and there is no accounting for taste

To me part of growing up was understanding that there is no accounting for taste: I used to be too emphatic about the things I like – and sometimes still am – but I try not to be too pushy. Until a certain age I used to think that “OMG, the things I like are the best things” – not anymore. At least I try not to be like that (please note that I am not saying I am successful at that). :)

I think I told you ages ago how much I was enjoying Ra Ra Riot and I recently found out there was a new album by the band on Spotify (not sure when it was released, since lately I have been struggling with balancing work + personal projects, not much time left to constantly be updated on certain subjects). So I ended up googling a bit about it and read a text by a guy that hated the album and complained at how much the band sounded like a band from the 80s and also that they seemed possessed by Journey on Call Me Out – I smiled and thought: “well, that is one of the reasons I like the band and Call Me Out is my favorite song of the album”. There is no accounting for taste, indeed. :D

Maybe many of you won’t like the cake I bring today because it is dense, very moist and the rye flour gives it a nutty aftertaste – it you ask me that is exactly why I loved the cake so much. A matter of taste, or just what I felt like at the moment I ate it. If you want a light, fluffy cake, please check my recipe index for inspiration – but if you are in the mood for moist and dense, please go to the grocery store and buy a couple of apples. :)

Apple and rye cake
slightly adapted from Lucy Cufflin

1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter
¾ cup (150g) demerara sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk, room temperature
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and coarsely grated
1 large egg
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup (70g) all purpose flour
½ cup (70g) rye flour
½ cup (50g) almond meal
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 ½ tablespoons rolled oats, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 5-cup loaf pan, line it with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Put the butter, sugar and milk into a saucepan and warm until the sugar has dissolved and the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and cool. In another bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, rye flour, almond meal, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the ingredients from the saucepan, the grated apples, egg, vanilla and mix until smooth.

Transfer to the prepared pan and sprinkle the top of the batter with the oats.
Bake for about 40 minutes until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 25 minutes, then carefully remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Carefully peel off the paper and serve.

Serves 8

Rye ratatouille tart

My craving for vegetables is still full on and I’m always looking for interesting ways of cooking them, especially because my husband has become a veggie convert – I love it that he’s realized that he doesn’t need all the meat he though he needed and that eating more vegetables is good for him (let’s forget that it took him forty-six years to finally get to that conclusion – better late than never, right?) ;)

I love tarts, both sweet and savory, so when I saw this ratatouille tart on a Brazilian TV show I fell in love with it: so colorful, so beautiful! I decided to make it but switched the pastry (pâte brisée) for the wonderful rye pastry I love so much – it worked like a charm! The flavorsome pastry paired beautifully with the roasted vegetables.

This tart is delicious and looks really beautiful – I’m all for food that tastes and looks good.

Rye ratatouille tart
adapted from this lovely book and from Rita Lobo

Pastry:
½ recipe rye pastry

Filling:
1 small eggplant
1 small zucchini
¾ cup cherry tomatoes
1 leek, white part only
1 small yellow pepper
1 onion
4 garlic cloves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 sprigs rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme

Slice the eggplant in 1cm slices (if too wide, cut the slices in half). Transfer to a bowl of lightly salted water. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
Slice the zucchini in 1cm slices (if too wide, cut the sliced in half), cut the cherry tomatoes in half lengthwise, slice the leek in 1cm slices as well and cut the bell pepper in squares. Peel the onion and cut into eights, then slice the garlic cloves in half lengthwise.

Drain the eggplant, pat dry with paper towels and place the pieces on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and roast for 15 minutes. Place the other vegetables on the baking sheet with the eggplant, drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat, then roast for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 180°C/350°F.

Place the dough onto large piece of baking paper and roll into a rough 25cm (10in) circle. Transfer to a cool baking sheet. Arrange the roasted vegetables on the center of the pastry and top with the fresh herbs. Fold one edge in towards the center of the filling and continue folding all the way round, bringing the edge of the pastry towards and over the filling.

Brush the tart with the egg wash (only the pastry). Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. The tart is delicious both warm and at room temperature.

Serves 4

Rye and stout bread and food waste

I was watching Save with Jamie the other day and besides the delicious recipes (I drooled over his beautiful panzanella and have been dreaming about the beef rendang with homemade chapatis, yum! ) I find it really great that he shows (with numbers) the insane amount of food that goes to waste for absolutely no reason – the show takes place in England, but I know that here in Brazil things are not any different.

I had to take responsibility for my home at a very early age and since I did all the shopping and cooking I had to be smart: there were four of us and nothing could go to waste. Luckily for me my brother was the only picky eater among us: my father and sister ate pretty much anything I cooked, and because they were fearless eaters I could experiment and try new things whenever I wanted to.

Leftover rice and pasta were quickly transformed into fritters, leftover tomato salad was placed in the fridge to be added to tomato sauce some other time, leftover greens were folded into beaten eggs for a delicious omelet – that’s how I managed the kitchen back then, and that made me learn a lot about food, long before blogs, cookbooks and TV shows. That is why I love how Jamie shows people how to transform ingredients into something else entirely – his tips are great.

When I made Nigella’s stout cake a while ago there was some leftover beer and since I wasn’t going to drink it I had to do something useful with it, and this bread was the result: I avoided wasting expensive beer and we had delicious open sandwiches for lunch, made with freshly baked bread – if that’s not a wonderful thing I don’t know what is. :)

Rye and stout bread
slightly adapted from the always gorgeous Gourmet Traveller

150g rye flour
1 teaspoon dried yeast
100ml stout beer
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon table salt, divided use
1 cup (240ml) lukewarm water
350g all purpose flour

Combine rye flour, yeast, beer, molasses, ½ teaspoon of the salt and water in an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Set aside in a warm place until foaming (5-8 minutes), add all purpose flour and remaining salt and knead until smooth (5 minutes). Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until doubled in size (1 ½ - 2 hours).

Line a large baking sheet with foil. Knock back dough and knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth, dusting with flour if necessary. Divide in half, then roll each half into a smooth ball. Dust top with a bit of flour, transfer to the prepared sheet, cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place until doubled in size (1 hour).
In the meantime, preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Bake until loaves are deep golden and sound hollow when tapped (30-40 minutes). Transfer to a wire rack, cool slightly, then serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 2 small loaves

Beetroot, red onion and feta tart with rye pastry

Cooking is a continuous learning process and one thing I’ve learned over the years is that the freezer can be a powerful ally in the kitchen: not only for already made dishes and ice cream, but for stashing and preserving ingredients like stock, vegetables, nuts – you name it.

With some rye pastry in my freezer – I made the entire recipe, divided in half and froze each individually, first well wrapped in plastic, then in foil – I decided to bake a tart for lunch and then started thinking about the filling. I almost made the leek and cheese tart once again – it tasted so good! – but then I saw Dale Pinnock’s beetroot and goats cheese tart and fell in love with it.

My mom loved beets and I ate them quite regularly as a kid, but always boiled or raw. As an adult, once I roasted beets for the first time there was no turning back – I’ve never boiled beets again and don’t intend to: when roasted, their flavor becomes stronger and the texture is less watery. Just delicious.

This is my twist on the recipe, using roasted beets instead of boiled ones and homemade rye pastry instead of puff pastry: it tasted great and I thought it looked beautiful, too, don’t you? ;)

Beetroot, red onion and feta tart with rye pastry
adapted from two great sources: The Medicinal Chef: Eat Your Way to Better Health and Love, Bake, Nourish: Healthier cakes and desserts full of fruit and flavor

½ recipe rye pastry

Filling:
5 small beetroots
olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
½ tablespoons honey
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
100g feta cheese
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1 egg, lightly beaten with a fork, for brushing

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Place the beetroots in a large piece of foil, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Close the foil, transfer to a baking sheet and roast for about 40 minutes or until the beets are soft when pierced with a knife. Cool enough to handle, then peel off the beets (the ones I used were organic, so I did not bother with a bit of skin left on them). Cool completely, then cut into slices.
Heat a little olive oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the red onion and cook for 4–5 minutes, or until softened. Season with salt and pepper, add the honey and thyme and continue to cook until the onion takes on a caramelized appearance. Cool.

When ready to make the tart, place the dough onto large piece of baking paper and roll into a rough 25cm (10in) circle. Transfer to a baking sheet.
Arrange the red onion on the center of the pastry, top with the beets and crumble over the feta. Sprinkle with the pine nuts, then fold one edge in towards the center of the filling and continue folding all the way round, bringing the edge of the pastry towards and over the filling. Place the sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

Brush the tart with the egg wash (only the pastry). Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Top with fresh thyme leaves to serve. The tart is delicious both warm and at room temperature.

Serves 2

Chocolate rye cake

I’m not a chocolate cake person as some of you already know, but I’m aware that most people love them, especially the ones I share my baked goods with so from time to time I catch myself searching for a good chocolate cake recipe.

I found a beautiful loaf on Good Food magazine and it looked chocolaty, delicious and, above all, moist – this is one of my pet peeves with chocolate cakes: some of them turn out too dry – so I gave it a go. The recipe called for almond meal, an ingredient I love using in cakes because of how much it improves their texture, and I added a bit of rye flour to see if it was any good paired with chocolate.

Rye flour is as great with chocolate as it is with citrus, plums, berries, leeks and cheese – beetroot and onions, too, but more about that soon. :)

The cake turned out tender and flavorsome, and moist as I expected it to be – a good, simple chocolate loaf. The original recipe called for drizzling melted chocolate – both dark and white – over the cake, but I did not think that was necessary: in this case, less is definitely more.

Chocolate rye cake
slightly adapted from Good Food magazine

175g unsalted butter, softened
175g granulated sugar
3 eggs
70g all purpose flour
70g rye flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
85g almond meal (finely ground almonds)
100ml whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
70g dark chocolate, in chips or chunks, slightly dusted with flour – I used one with 53% cocoa solids

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20x10cm (6-cup capacity) loaf pan, line it with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, flours, baking powder, almond meal, salt, milk, vanilla and cocoa until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips, then scrape into the tin. Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden, risen and a skewer poked in the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 30 minutes, then carefully lift using the paper and transfer to the rack to cool completely before peeling off the paper.

Serves 8-10

One fantastic rye pastry, two tarts: leek and cheese galette and plum and blackberry galette

One of the things I find most magical and fascinating about cooking is that even if you’ve been doing it for a long time – in my case, nearly 25 years – there always something new to try, or a new way to try something you already love: food is dynamic.

After making those delicious jam bars with rye flour, I began searching for other ways to incorporate the beloved ingredient in my baking and saw these beautiful apricot galettes in one of my favorite books (and one of the most beautiful I own, too). I like Amber Rose’s approach to food and everything I had made from her cookbook had turned out great until then, so I was really looking forward to trying her rye pastry.

It was a revelation.

As I ate pieces of the galettes, first the savory, then the sweet, I was mesmerized: how could that be so delicious?

Making the pastry was easy using a food processor, and as I rolled and folded it I kept thinking that the result would be a very flaky pastry, which is something I love – it indeed turned out flaky, and so tasty. Divine, actually.

When I placed the two little packages of pastry in the fridge for their final rest, I saw the leeks I’d bought for soup and had a sudden urge: instead of making two plum tarts, why not make one sweet and one savory? Dinner and dessert with one pastry recipe = perfection. :)

I cooked the leeks with some white wine (me and my love for booze) and paired it with cheese for the savory galette – it turned out amazing. The plum tart was really good, too. The rye pastry, besides being flavorsome and flaky, was great paired with both savory and sweet fillings. The recipe is a keeper and I hope you give it a go – I cannot wait to make it again with different fillings: tomatoes, goat’s cheese and thyme is a combo I would love to try with this pastry, and I bet that apples and pears would be lovely with it, too.

Rye pastry (enough to make both tarts)
slightly adapted from the beautiful and delicious beyond words Love, Bake, Nourish: Healthier cakes and desserts full of fruit and flavor

120g rye flour
120g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon table salt
175g unsalted butter, cold and in small cubes
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
7-8 tablespoons ice-cold water
1 egg, lightly beaten with a fork, for brushing

Plum and blackberry filling
adapted from the same cookbook

4 plums, each cut in eighths
½ tablespoon honey
pinch ground cinnamon
8 frozen blackberries
demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Leek and cheese filling
own creation

1 large leek, white part only, sliced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ tablespoons white wine
60g gruyere, grated
1 tablespoon finely grated pecorino or parmesan, for sprinkling

Start by making the pastry: place the flours, salt and sugar in a food processor and blitz to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the vinegar and half the water and pulse until a dough starts to form – add more water if necessary, but do it gradually. Form a ball with the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Unwrap the dough, place on a lightly floured surface, and roll into an oblong shape about 20x28cm (8x11in) - don't worry if the dough is still a little crumbly; it will come together with the rolling.
Fold the dough into thirds (as if you were folding a letter), roll out to its original oblong shape, and then fold into thirds again. Repeat the process, then divide the dough in half, wrap each in plastic wrap and return to the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.

When ready to make the tarts, place each piece of dough onto large piece of baking paper and roll into a rough 25cm (10in) circle. Transfer each to a baking sheet.

Fruit tart: put the plums in a bowl with the honey and the cinnamon and toss to combine. Arrange the fruit on the center of the dough, top with the blackberries and drizzle with the juices left in the bowl (if there’s too much, use only half to avoid a soggy crust). Carefully fold one edge in towards the center of the fruit and continue folding all the way round, bringing the edge of the pastry towards and over the filling. Place the sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

Savory tart: heat the butter and oil in a large nonstick frying pan. Add the leeks and cook until fragrant and beginning to turn golden, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper, add the wine and cook until it evaporates, 2-3 minutes. Cool.
Arrange the gruyere on the center of the dough, top with the cooled leeks, then fold one edge in towards the center of the filling and continue folding all the way round, bringing the edge of the pastry towards and over the filling. Place the sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

Brush the tarts with the egg wash (only the pastry). For the sweet one, sprinkle with demerara sugar. For the savory one, sprinkle with the pecorino.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Both tarts are delicious both warm and at room temperature.

Serves 4 (each)

Jam and rye crumble bars - falling in love with rye flour

There was some beer left from Nigella’s spectacular cake, and I started looking for a good recipe to use it in. I froze part of the beer for another day and part of it was transformed into a rye bread. Very flavorful, it was gladly devoured in open sandwich form – I mixed Brazil and Scandinavia and made the open sandwiches with hearts of palm and cheese. They were extremely simple but oh, so delicious.

I liked the bread so much I couldn’t wait to use the rye flour again, and it was such a revelation to me to use it in baked goods other than bread – I’d seen the recipes before, but hadn’t tried them myself. In these bars, for instance, it adds a very interesting depth of flavor, not to mention it paired beautifully with the jam flavors I chose – I mixed apricot jam and marmalade because I did not have 1 cup of either to use in the recipe, and it ended up being a very nice thing. Because I was using marmalade, I added orange zest to the topping, and you can’t imagine how great my kitchen smelled while the bars were in the oven.

I still have some rye flour left and several ideas in my head from the recipes I’ve seen, like using it in cakes and tarts. Such a wonderful addition to my repertoire – and it all started with a simple (yet delicious) loaf of bread.

Jam and rye crumble bars
slightly adapted from the glorious Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours

Shortbread base:
55g rye flour
105g all-purpose flour
40g light brown sugar
pinch of salt
75g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Crumble topping:
70g rolled oats
2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
40g rye flour
25g all-purpose flour
1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon table salt
finely grated zest of 1 orange
55g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup jam – I used ½ cup apricot and ½ cup marmalade

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Lightly butter a 20cm (8in) square pan, line it with foil leaving an overhang in two opposite sides and butter the foil as well.

Crust: in a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar and salt. Add the melted butter and vanilla and stir until thoroughly combined. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan. Put the pan in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Crumble topping: add the oats, brown sugar, rye flour, all purpose flour, granulated sugar, salt and orange zest to the bowl of a food processor and process until the oats are partially ground, about 5 seconds. Pour the mixture into a bowl. Add the melted butter and stir with your hands, squeezing the dough as you mix to create small crumbly bits. Set aside.
Bake the frozen shortbread until golden brown and firm when touched, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and increase the temperature to 180°C/350°F.
Spread the jam over the shortbread crust and top with the crumble. Bake the bars for about 35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely in the pan. Cut into squares to serve.
The bars can be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Makes 16