Toast Hawaii

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I'm sorry I haven't written in a while but I've been too busy feeling sorry for myself and getting ready for my trip to the States (I'll have lots to write about for the next three weeks), oh, and the whole cooking thing hasn't really been happening...

Verena took pity on me the other day and we made Toast Hawaii.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, this is like the best invention since sliced bread, for those of you who know what I'm talking about, don't you dare laugh at me - I'm trying to cook with one hand...and turning on the grill just about works...getting the baking tray in and out of the oven is already interesting...
And since we are giving you such a hardcore recipe today we thought we should take a step back and and give you proper step by step instructions with our best 1970s style photo skillz :)

 © Verena Kersken

First of all you need pineapples (and two hands to open the stupid can)
While you're prancing around the kitchen turn on the grill in your oven (or if you have one of those retro toaster ovens, can you please invite me over for dinner?)

© Verena Kersken

Then pour the  juice from the pineapple into a glass so someone like me can drink it while someone like Verena looks at them with a look that ranges from amusement to disgust and doesn't leave anything out between.

© Verena Kersken

Oh yeah, and you also need some bread.
Then you need some ham. Verena is of the opinion that you should use cheap ham because...actually I've forgotten why we had to use cheap ham...I'm gonna skip that photo...pretend we used nice ham and buy nice ham...I had nightmares of what cheap ham looks like up close...
But if you cover the cheap ham in lots of stuff you can pretend it's not there :)

© Verena Kersken

And it's even better when you cover it in cheese and grill it for a few minutes

© Verena Kersken

And now the most important bit:

© Verena Kersken

Done!
One smiley cyclops toast hawaii :)

© Verena Kersken

I'm not sure how the whole cooking thing is going to continue, you might be getting a few more photo-centered posts in the near future but I promise as soon as my hand is better I will be getting back to baking and cooking!
You just wait, we'll be stuffing strawberries in no time ;)

Ham and Stuff Quiche

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© Verena Kersken

Before I tell you about today's recipe, yes, I am slightly obsessed with my new flan dish. So we are expanding on the shortcrust pastry, filling and custard (sweet or savoury) theme a bit.
Louise and I wanted to make a quiche and while I had a general idea of what I wanted to go for I decided to do some procrastination and do some more research :)
I came across this recipe for what they call Quiche Lorraine by the Hairy Bikers (though, I know this is a bit petty, in my opinion adding Gryere to your quiche moves it distinctly away from the Lorraine region and more into the realms of a Quiche Vosgienne - is that me being too picky? What do you think?).
Anyhow, while I wasn't sold by the name, I fell in love with their pastry. They add parmesan and thyme to a classic shortcrust pastry and it turns out as amazingly amazing as it sounds. Think cheese crackers as a base for your quiche.

Ham and Stuff Quiche
150g Flour
50g Parmesan Cheese, grated finely
1 tbsp Thyme Leaves for pastry +1 for the filling
90g Salted Butter
5 tbsp Cold Water (you might need slightly more or less)
2 Eggs
100g Ham (if you can only get it in the supermarket cry a bit and then get a wafer-thin cut one that looks like it might actually  have come from an animal at some point)
1/2 Onion
100ml Cream
150ml Milk (I know, I'm a wimp)
100g Cheese, coarsely grated (I used mature cheddar but go for whatever you like)
Salt, Pepper & Nutmeg

Mix the flour, parmesan, and thyme, then rub in the butter. Use the water to make a stiff dough. Let the dough rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes (though half an hour is probably better).
While you wait for the dough, dice the onion and cut the ham into slices.
Preheat your oven to 190 ˚C.
Grease a flan dish (mine is a 24cm one by the way), then roll out the pastry and line the flan dish with the pastry. Now blind bake the pastry for about 10 minutes. Baking beans are great for this but it will work just as well if you don't have any (might not be as pretty so if you are trying his/her parents invest in some ;) ).
While the pastry is blind baking whisk the eggs, cream and milk together, season with the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Then add the onion, ham and cheese and stir everything together.
Once the pastry has finished blind baking, pour the filling in and stick it back into the oven. Bake until the filling has set - 20 minutes should do the job.
Enjoy with lots and lots of green salad.
All right, I am a bit sick of this whole typing-with-one-hand business so I'll stop for today :)
I hope you have a lovely rest of the day!