Sunday, May 20

Back to basics

I didn't actually know what a blog was until early December last year, when as a big lover of Christmas, and especially Christmas food, I found myself hunting for interesting recipes, and in particular recipes for Swedish saffron buns, on the internet.

It was during this search that I stumbled across Anne's Food, and this particular post. The photograph accompanying the recipe was so salivating and the recipe itself, which combines two of my favourite flavours: saffron and marzipan, really intrigued me. I spent days trawling through Anne's previous entries; cooking and baking along the way, and slowly the idea of having my own blog was conceived.

And so the ramblings began. In the beginning my blog mainly concerned itself with food and the occasional musing over the origins of various traditions. It took a while for me to grasp the concept of visiting other peoples blogs, and so for ages the only blog I ever visited was Anne's Food. She never visited me and so I remained in the shadows for eons.

Now, food isn't exactly one of my hobbies. I like cooking and I love eating, but that's about it. So a blog dedicated to this subject didn't really stand a chance. And as I started visiting other blogs, I realised I much preferred to read, and write, about observations on the ordinary things in life.


But last week I came across this recipe, and it turned out so incredibly delicious (my partner and I were both sitting there looking at each other in disbelief: how could something so simple be so fabulously yummy?) that I felt inspired to share it with you.

Asparagus pissaladiere

Serves 4 (or two really hungry people)

50g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
750g red onions, peeled and sliced very thinly
Sprig of fresh rosemary
One bay leaf
1 tsp soft brown sugar
1 packet ready-rolled puff pastry
1 bundle of fresh asparagus
1 egg, beaten
About 100g of crumbled feta cheese

1. Melt butter and oil in a saucepan. Add onions and stir well to coat, then cover and cook gently for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the herbs and sugar, increase the heat and cook until the onions have caramelised. Leave to cool. Discard the rosemary and bay leaf.

3. Turn on the oven to 200c

4. Place puff pastry on a lightly greased baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, score a border approximately 2cm from the edge, be careful so you don’t cut all the way through.

5. Trim the asparagus and cut in half. Pile caramelised onions into the centre and spread to the inner edge of the border. Place the asparagus on top, season with freshly ground black pepper. Brush the border with the beaten egg and bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes until the pastry has risen and is golden brown. Be careful so the pastry doesn’t burn. Reduce the oven temperature to 150c and bake for a further 10-15 minutes. Add the crumbled feta for the last 5 minutes.

Serve with a fresh salad, drizzled with a little bit of olive oil and lemon juice.

Enjoy!

21 comments:

Unknown said...

I am coming to dinner at your place.

Vanessa said...

yes, salivating is the word...

Mrs. Spencer said...

sounds delicious. i will have to try it!

deedee said...

I love another version of pissaladier and am going to try your recipe, thanks for sharing. I just need to get some red onions...

daisies said...

oh yummers ~ will have to try this one night this week ... hmmmm, i know i have a bunch of asparagus in my fridge ...

:) thanks for sharing!!

Unknown said...

I am so glad that you started blogging!
Thank you for sharing this recipe.

Katie said...

Thanks for sharing the recipe! It sound delish!

Susannah Conway said...

gosh, that looks absolutely delicious - i may be making that this weekend :-) so good to find you!

Sharon said...

Come back to us!!!

Deirdre said...

This sounds delicious. I like to grill asparagus and then drizzle it with a balsamic reduction and sprinkle feta cheese across the top. It's a very good thing to do with asparagus. Not that just about any way of preparation isn't good. :)

Caro said...

Oh yummy. I love your pic at the top right. I still can't believe you're around my age. If only I looked so good...

Unknown said...

whatever happened to the lovely waspgoddess, I wonder?

has she quit the blog world without telling anyone?

hope she is well. x

Vanessa said...

yes, i'm wondering where she's gone too!
i was away for a while and came over to try to frantically catch up only to find that there have been no updates for a while here either :(
hope all is well in waspy world, goddess :)
Vx

Lacithecat said...

My dear ... let us know you are ok. I never heard back from the email I sent you regarding last bank holiday.

So, I am getting worried.

PennyBlue said...

SOUNDS GREAT!! Thanks for sharing WG and Happy Tuesday!

Unknown said...

That looks scrumptious. :)

Now I've read the comments from all your worried blog friends, and I'll add my good wishes as well. I had a strong intuition to visit today, and I haven't in awhile...

Mrs. Spencer said...

wg - hoping dearly that you are ok and just taking a break from blogging and checking your e-mail.

lots of us out here are thinking of you. let us know you're doing ok.

xoxo

Tammy Brierly said...

Looks really great! Thanks

Maryam in Marrakesh said...

That sounds really, really yum but no asparagus here in Marrakesh:-(

La Cubana Gringa said...

Hmmm. No blog posts. No response to concerned email.

I'm not normally a worrier, but I'm sure my mother's genes are in me somewhere...and if that's the case, you should expect a lot of guilty-trippy-like behavior on my part when you do resurface. ;)

In all seriousness, I hope you're ok. Just send out smoke signals or something. Anything!

xoxo

Vanessa said...

Worried now. But hoping your just winding down somewhere, switching off for a while.
Love to you,
Vx