Sweet potato tartlets

Tonight was the first night in ages I tried to cook something new and a bit different. I have been very busy up to last week. I have only started to think about new recipes over the last few days. In the same way, I started reordering organic veg baskets two weeks ago now that I have time to adapt to the "needs" of the basket. This week, there was only one sweet potato in the veg basket and I had been wondering what to do with it when I remembered that I had bought puff pastry and it was sitting in the fridge. The thing about puff pastry is that, until a couple of months ago, it was very difficult to find real butter puff pastry in Ireland. And now, I keep buying some whether I need it or not, hoping that if I keep buying some, the shop will keep stocking it!
So, that's how the idea of making sweet potato tartlets came to me. And they are really lovely!

Sweet potato tartlets

Ingredients:
- puff pastry (made with butter, not margarine)
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 egg beaten
- 3 tsp of crème fraîche
- some goat's cheese
- thyme
- a small bunch of basil
- 1 garlic clove
- olive oil
- some red onion marmalade (optional)




1. Preheat the oven at 180ºC. Then, roast the sweet potato for 30-40 minutes in the oven with the skin on. Once roasted, cool. 
2. Cut your puff pastry into large slices. Brush the slices with the beaten egg. Then, spread one teaspoon of crème fraîche on each slice. 
3. Peel the sweet potato, slice into 3mm thick slices, layer them on each slice.
4. Season and sprinkle the thyme and bits of goat's cheese on each slice.
5. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the pastry is cooked. 
6. While the slices are baking, put the basil, garlic and some seasoning into a bowl. Use a mixer and blitz everything together. Then, add about 10 tbsp of olive oil slowly while blitzing everything.
7. When the tartlets are ready, add some of the basil oil on top and some red onion marmalade.


Bon appétit! 

New poll

Hey guys,
Here is a new poll to give me inspiration for the next post!

To dessert or not to dessert? Double chocolate muffins with praline

I haven't blogged in a few months. I have been very busy at work and I haven't had to write more articles for work until... you guessed it, today!
So here I went again today; I dusted, hoovered, mopped, scrubbed the house from top to bottom and vice-versa. Then I decided to cook something to motivate me to finish writing that article. I chose Double chocolate muffins with praline. Something very moreish to make me feel guilty so I would be redempted by doing my work. At first, the chocolatey - and I mean really chocolatey - muffins made me sleepy but hey, in the end, the treats did work a treat! I did finish the article! And there are even some muffins left!
They are very easy and fast to make, which, depending on the way you look at it can be either good or bad! Good: hassle free baking; bad: well, I think I am going to make these more often now!
So, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Mix 1:
100 gr dark chocolate, in chunks
100 gr white chocolate, in chunks
75 gr praline, in chunks (if you can't find praline, use some hazelnut milk chocolate)
250 gr plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp good cocoa powder

Mix 2:
85 gr unsalted butter, melted
75 gr muscovado sugar
1-2 tsp honey (depending on how sweet you like things!)
2 beaten eggs
280 ml of soured cream (although I didn't have any so I used buttermilk)

Method
1. Preheat the oven at 200ºC.
2. Prepare Mix 1.
3. Prepare Mix 2.
4. Combine Mix 1 and 2 together but don't overdo it. This is very important overwise the muffins won't rise. So mix them enough that the ingredients are combined but that is it.
5. Pour the mix into muffin cases. Bake in the oven for 20 min and then, let them rest in the cases for 15 min after that.
Et voilà! They are as good hot as they are when they are cold! I should now...