Stuffed Onions

I was always a little more sensitive when it comes to onions then most. But lately it's getting ridiculous. By now I even react to scallions. It's a real shame because I love onions in my dishes.
I try to use my food processor as often as possible. It doesn't eliminate the problem but it makes it better.

While preparing the onions I had to wash out my eyes at least 8 times. Afterwards my face was bright red. And I really mean my whole face and not just around my eyes. I'm in no hurry to repeat that experience.

I like the stuffing. It's a really good combination. But you shouldn't eat more than one stuffed onion. All in all the dish contains a lot of onion. If you eat to much your throat will hurt afterwards.

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Stuffed Onions

5 spanish onions (large, mild onions)
2 red bell peppers
200 g green olives, stuffed with pepper paste
250 g feta
4 tsp oregano
olive oil
pepper
salt

1. Carefully trim the root end of the onions. Cut of the cap of the onions and skin them afterwards.
2. Hollow out the onions, be careful not to break or damage them.
3. Bring salt water to a boil in a big sauce pan.
4. Cook the onions in it for about 15 minutes. They should be soft, but not falling apart.
5. Take the onions out and let them drip off. Put them aside for later.
6. Roughly cube the onion innards.
7. Wash and dry the bell peppers. Hollow them out and cut them into fine cubes.
8. Put the olives in a colander and let them drip off. Cut them roughly into cubes.
9. Heat the oil in a skillet. Fry the cut onions and peppers for 5-7 minutes.
10. Add the olives to the rest in the last minute or two.
11. Crumble the feta or alternatively cut it into fine cubes.
12. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/360°F.
13. Mix everything together.
14. Season with salt, pepper and oregano.
15. Stuff the onions with the mixture.
16. Grease a casserole dish with some olive oil.
17. Spread the left over mixture in the dish. Place the stuffed onions on top.
18. Bake the onions for about 45-50 minutes.

Bon appétit!!

Crock Pot Baked Ziti

A while back I stumbled over Crock Pots on Pinterest. In Germany they are not as common as they seem to be in America.
I really wanted to try it out. As it happens a few months later I received a Mulitcooker as a gift. Of course it's not the same (it's better) as a Crock Pot. But it has temperature regulation. The hardest part was to find the actual temperature for HIGH and LOW.

So this is my first attempt. All in all I am satisfied. It's a ridiculously simple recipe and needs no time at all. Especially if you use already grated parmesan and mozzarella.
I always prefer to grate the parmesan myself, it just tastes better. But it's a possibility. That way the preparation time amounts to 5 minutes.

In the original recipe it only says pasta sauce. But there are so many varieties. I couldn't decide which to take. So I took three different ones, Arrabiata, Tomato-Basil and Tomato-Bolognese. One for each layer. The Arrabiata made it a littel hot. So I'm glad I didn't use just that, I'm not a big fan of hot food.
I think next time, if there's going to be a next time, I only use the Bolognese. I liked that best.

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Crock Pot Baked Ziti 

500 g Penne Rigate or Ziti, wholewheat
450 g ricotta
2 egg whites
1/2 cup + 1/4 cup parmesan
1/2 cup + 1/2 cup mozzarella, light
ca. 1200 ml pasta sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1. Coat the Crock Pot with cooking spray.
2. Put the pasta in a colander and rinse them. Put them aside for later.
3. Grate the parmesan.
4. Cut the mozzarella roughly into small cubes.
5. Separate the egg whites from the yolk.
6. Put the ricotta, 1/2 cup mozzarella, 1/2 cup parmesan, the egg whites, salt and pepper in a bowl and with a fork mix everything together.
7. Evenly spread half of the pasta at the bottom of the pot.
8. Carefully pour 500 ml of the pasta sauce over the noodles.
9. Spread half of the ricotta mixture over the sauce. Use a fork to put small quantities on the sauce and carefully spread them.
10. Repeat the pasta, sauce and ricotta layers.
11. Pour the rest of the pasta sauce on top.
12. Cook the pasta for 5-6 hours on low.
13. At the end sprinkle roughly 1/4 cup parmesan and 1/2 cup mozzarella on top and leave it for 10 more minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Bon appétit!!

Tomato-Zucchini-Casserole

One of my older recipes. I wanted to make it again for some time now.

Zucchini is one of my favorite vegetables. There are so many recipes and so many ways to use them.
I put in more of them than of the tomatoes. Because tomatoes always taste a little sour when you cook them in an oven.

The preparation is really simple and quickly done. It's suited quite well as a side dish to meat.
But you should really only use light products. Otherwise it's just to heavy. 

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Tomato-Zucchini-Casserole

2 onion
2-3 garlic cloves
2 zucchini
4 tomatoes
400-500 g gnocchi, refrigerated
200 g crème fraîche, light
300 ml whipping cream, light
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
thyme
Parmesan

1. Wash the zucchinis and tomatoes.
2. Cut the zucchinis into 5 mm thick slices. Put them into a bowl and douse them with the oil. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Skin the onions and garlic cloves.
4. Mince the garlic cloves and dice the onions. Alternatly you can dice the onions in a food processor.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C/430°F.
6. Spread the onions and garlic on the bottom of a big casserole dish. Scatter the gnocchi evenly over it.
7. Cut the tomatoes into 5 mm thick slices. Don't cut them all at once, wait till you start layering. That way there will be no left over slices.
8. Layer the zucchini and tomates alternatly like roofing shingles. Layer them either in rows or in circles inwards.
9. Mix the crème fraîche with the whipping cream. Season it heavily with salt and pepper.
10. Pour the mixture over the casserole.
11. Bake the casserole for 40 minutes.
12. Grate the parmesan.
13. Scatter the parmesan over the casserole, 5 minutes before it is finished.

Bon appétit!!