Lemon Crème Brûlée Tart and Malta's Mdina Glass

My mother completely falls for design, be it in the form of furniture, porcelain, cutlery or architecture, she and the rest of my family are quite obsessed with pleasing the eye. In her house you find far more than one set of plates, she has them in bulk, in all forms, materials and colours used for different occasions and needs. She can talk about miniature porcelain birds and vase collections with such passion that even I (only sometimes) believe I might need an elegant sparrow on my table. We have a lot in common, but here we're different, I'm a bit more of a minimalist and prefer my home clear and - compared to hers - empty; but our minds meet when it comes to handcrafted products. The art of dedicating a lifetime to a material and shaping it with respect to the highest standards of quality is more than just fascinating, it's admirable.

When my mother came to visit us in Malta this summer we obviously had to hop into the little Mdina Glass shop in the country's former capital. The glassware manufacturer offers different design series, as bright and colourful as the land they are made in, we loved it! We also spotted a collection that was new to me, textured glass in vibrant shades of green, blue, yellow and red. It was love at first sight when I saw the turquoise coloured bowls and glasses. So I made a decision, I wanted to go back to visit the company's manufacturing halls. Last week, I had the chance to meet Mark at the Ta' Qali Crafts village close to the city of Mdina and I had an insight into the beautiful art of making glassware.

Founded in 1968, Mdina Glass is a relatively young family run business. Although the actual craft seems like quite a male domain - there were only men at the 1400°C (2550°F ) oven - production and product development is in the hands of one of the daughters. It's a story of success built on respect for the artisans who create the fragile products with their hands and mouth. Mdina Glass calls it the freedom of expression that can be found in every single piece - handmade and unique.

Inspired by such vibrancy, the hot oven's fire and - of course - Malta, the land of the best lemons, I felt like a lemon crème brûlée tart. A smooth but slightly sour filling refined with cardamom and made with lots of citrus juice and zest, eggs and cream sits on a buttery shortcrust. Caramelized lemon slices made it look pretty before my blowtorch turned the sugar sprinkled on top into a thin, blistered crust. Heavenly!

To save time, I didn't prepare a crème brûlée that has to cool for hours, I mixed heavy cream with crème fraîche and eggs and baked the filling right on top of the pastry instead.

Lemon Crème Brûlée Tart

It’s easiest to bake the tart in a loose-bottom tart pan. You will need a blowtorch for the topping.

For a 23cm / 9″ tart pan you need

For the short crust base

• plain flour 200g / 1 1/2 cups

• granulated sugar 65g / 1/3 cup

• a pinch of salt

• butter, cold, 110g / 4 ounces

• organic egg yolks 2

For the filling

• organic eggs 2

• organic egg yolks 2

• heavy cream 100ml / 1/3 cup and 2 tablespoons

• crème fraîche or sour cream 3 tablespoons

• granulated sugar 100g / 1/2 cup

• a pinch of salt

• a pinch of cardamom

• freshly squeezed lemon juice 3 tablespoons

• lemon zest 2 1/2 tablespoons

For the topping

• small organic lemon, very thinly sliced

• granulated sugar 4 tablespoons plus a few spoonfuls for the burnt topping

• water 4 tablespoons

For the pastry, combine the flour with the sugar and salt. Cut the butter with a knife into the flour until there are just little pieces of butter left. Continue with your fingers and rub the butter into the flour until combined. Add the egg yolks and continue mixing with the hooks of your mixer until you have a crumbly mixture. Form a thick disc, wrap in cling film and put in the freezer for 12 minutes.

Set the oven to 200°C / 390°F (top/ bottom heat).

Roll the dough out between cling film and line the tart pan with the flat pastry. Prick with a fork and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until golden and crisp. Take the pan out of the oven and set aside.

Turn the oven down to 180°C / 355°F and prepare the filling.

In a large bowl, mix the eggs, egg yolks, heavy cream, crème fraîche, sugar, salt and cardamom with an electric mixer until fluffy. Stir in the lemon juice and zest and continue mixing until well combined. Place the tart pan with the pre-baked pastry back into the oven and pour the lemon filling on top. Bake for about 25 minutes or until just set.

Prepare the caramelized lemon sliced while the tart is in the oven. In a wide pan, bring the sliced lemon, sugar and water to the boil and cook until soft and golden brown. This can take 6-10 minutes depending on the thickness of the lemon and the temperature, mind that it doesn't burn. Pull the pan off the heat and arrange the caramelized fruit on top of the tart. Sprinkle with 1-3 tablespoons of sugar (depending on the desired sweetness) and brown the top gently with a blowtorch.

Roast Potato, Onion and Pear Wedges with Grapes and Rosemary

The smell of autumn is finally back in the city! The strong aroma of moist soil lies heavily in the air as I pass another one of Berlin's countless parks. The leaves are still green and dense, but I can see the little gold and brown patches poking through here and there. The soft hint of a chill blowing through our open bedroom window early in the morning leaves no doubt - summer has come to an end.

At dinner time, it's already so dark that we decided to move back to our long wooden table on the other side of our flat. As long as it's warm and bright outside we love to eat at our small kitchen table, with windows thrown open to see the clear blue sky turn pitch black but now that September is welcoming the new season I gladly indulge in the heartier treats of the year served on rustic wood.

We enjoyed a pickled knuckle of pork (the famous German Eisbein) the other day, cooked in broth with a bottle of fruity Federweisser (young German wine) to go with it. It was a cozy feast that put us into the right mood for dishes such as beer roast, Alsatian Zwiebelkuchen (onion and bacon pie) and sweet cinnamon plum dumplings. You only need the right food to enjoy each season to the fullest. Inspired by my Moscato grape chicken legs, I came up with a dish of oven roasted potato, onion and pear wedges coated in lemon maple syrup oil, topped with juicy grapes and rosemary. Although I pre-cooked the potatoes, they still needed almost an hour in the oven to turn into golden bites; but I did't mind, the smell of the roasting herb and fruit was beautiful, almost as good as the taste of our sweet and juicy dinner.

Roasted Potatoes, Onions and Pear with Grapes and Rosemary

For 2-3 for lunch or 4 as a side dish

• medium, waxy potatoes, scrubbed, cut into 6 wedges each, 750g / 26 1/2 ounces

• medium onions, cut into 10 wedges each, 2

• large, firm pear, cored and cut into 8 wedges, 1

• green grapes, on the vine, 350g / 12 ounces

• fresh rosemary, a small handful

• olive oil 3 tablespoons

• white wine 1 tablespoon

• freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 tablespoon

• maple syrup 1 tablespoon

• black peppercorns, crushed in a mortar

• flaky sea salt

Cook the potato wedges for 8 minutes in salted, boiling water. Drain and rinse them with cold water and let them dry on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes (a few hours would be even better).

Set the oven to 220°C / 430°F (top / bottom heat).

Spread the potatoes, onions, pear, grapes and rosemary (leave out a few needles) in a baking dish. Whisk the olive oil, wine, lemon juice, maple syrup and pepper and pour over the potatoes and fruits, mix with your fingers until they are evenly coated. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and cook in the oven for about 55 minutes or until golden brown. Garnish with fresh rosemary needles and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cinnamony Plum, Buckwheat and Hazelnut Cake

What a week! My boyfriend played at a festival in Malta, in Valletta's Royal Theatre (Pjazza Teatru Rjal), and as I'm his biggest fan I obviously had to go with him. It was supposed to be a little break from my busy schedule but life had a different plan. Our luggage got lost on its way to the Mediterranean, including most of his instruments. So, I didn't get to spend my days at the beach - as I had planned - but on the phone instead, calling airlines and airports to find our stuff. Two days later it arrived - just in time! We picked it up (I have never been so happy to see a suitcase) and drove straight to the beautiful venue at the entrance of Malta's capital. The show was fantastic and we were all happy but the drama didn't end there. On Sunday, my youngest Maltese sister Julia moved to Scotland and the whole family escorted her to the airport to wave goodbye, to laugh and cry. Her mother Jenny, Granny Edith, all the siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins were there. Exhausted but happy to see the young girl safely on her way to the North, we ended up in Floriana, at a large table at one of the gabbanas. Our simple bistro-restaurant was set right at the harbour where all the big cruise ships depart, it was a gorgeous clear night. The moon was bright red and I soon found a huge Maltese pizza in front of me and enough red wine to save me from insanity.

The following few days were filled with exciting visits and news that I will soon share with you. I visited Alex and Benjamin in their old palazzo in Żebbuġ for a new meet in your kitchen feature (coming soon!), we cooked together and enjoyed a scrumptious lunch with great people. They also introduced me to Marina, the inspiring woman runs a little café at the breathtaking Villa Bologna. I went to see her magical place the next day and fell in love. We sat in the park, drank her fantastic ice tea and I was treated to the most delicious apricot clafoutis and two kinds of ice cream: cardamom marmalade and yellow plum. This woman knows how to make her guests feel home! We clicked immediately and have quite a few ideas together for the future ... And here's another gem I dug deeper into this time - Mdina Glass. I visited the traditional glass manufacturing hall and looked right into the 1400°C (2550°F) hot oven where the glass is made - again, more to come soon.

And here's the last exciting news: my brother's first baby was born - and I'm an aunt again! Welcome little girl!

Now, I'm exhausted and ready for a cozy Sunday on the sofa with a large piece of my plum, buckwheat and hazelnut cake. It's an honest cake, nutty and cinnamony, not too sweet and gluten-free, with juicy late summer plums - sweet sofa heaven. Enjoy your weekend!

Cinnamony Plum, Buckwheat and Hazelnut Cake

For a 26cm / 10″ springform pan

• ground hazelnuts 225g / 8 ounces

• buckwheat flour 225g / 8 ounces

• cinnamon 2 teaspoons

• baking powder 4 1/2 teaspoons

• organic eggs, separated, 6

• a pinch of salt

• butter, at room temperature, 250g / 9 ounces

• granulated sugar 200g / 1 cup

• plums, pitted, 800g / 1 3/4 pounds

For the topping

• granulated sugar 2 tablespoons

• cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon

Set the oven to 180°C / 350°F (fan-assisted oven).

Combine the hazelnuts, buckwheat, cinnamon and baking powder.

Beat the egg whites and salt until stiff.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time and continue mixing for a few minutes until the mixture is thick and creamy. Gently fold the dry mixture and the egg whites with a wooden spoon into the butter and sugar mixture, alternating 1/3 at a time, combine well in between. Scrape the dough into a loose bottom springform pan, even it out and arrange the plums in circles on top, push them into the dough. Sprinkle half the cinnamon sugar over the cake and bake for about 50-55 minutes or until golden brown on top. Check with a skewer, it should come out clean. Sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar and let it cool for a few minutes before you take it out of the spring form pan. Enjoy pure or with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Green Bean and Sausage Sandwich with Pear Mustard and Thyme

A bag full of green beans and a handful of overly ripe pears called for an urgent recipe. In the end, it became a sandwich, almost everything works in a sandwich, but if you prefer, you could easily leave out the bun and go for a proper lunch or dinner.

Crisp green beans, sautéed until just al dente, pair deliciously well with hearty herb sausage and honey-sweet pears. I cook the fruit in the sausages' concentrated frying juices until golden and soft, but still in shape. A part of them goes on top of the beans snuggled in next to the meat but the rest is turned into a spicy and aromatic fruit mustard - it's so good, you can also use it for steak, roasts and burgers. I'm absolutely hooked on it! The ratio has to be balanced, lots of pear stand up confidently against a teaspoon of fine Dijon mustard. It's more of a mustardy sauce than a thick dip, fruity and rich. And don't expect a beauty, it comes in a rather pale beige but the taste totally makes up for it.

Green Bean and Sausage Sandwich with Pear Mustard and Thyme

Serves 2 (as sandwiches, or without the buns, as a warm one pan dish)

• buns, cut in half, 2

• green beans, the ends snipped off, 160g / 5 1/2 ounces (use 300g / 10 1/2 ounces beans if you serve them without the bun)

• olive oil

• fine sea salt

• ground pepper

• herbed sausages 2

• pears, rinsed (not peeled), cored, cut into slim wedges, 2

• Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon

For the topping

• fresh thyme leaves 1-2 teaspoons

• black peppercorns, crushed in a mortar

In a large pot, blanche the beans for a few minutes in salted water until al dente, drain and rinse quickly with cold water. Transfer back to the pot, stir in a splash of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Heat a splash of olive oil in a heavy pan and cook the sausages on medium heat for about 10 minutes until golden brown. Take the meat out of the pan and set aside, add the pear wedges (leave 2 wedges out on a plate) and sauté for about 1 minute on each side until golden brown, set the pan aside. Transfer about 100g / 3 1/2 ounces of the cooked pear into a blender, add the mustard and purée until smooth. Season with salt, pepper and mustard to taste and set aside. If you want to serve it as a warm pan dish stop here, add the sausages and beans to the pan and serve with the pear mustard sauce and thyme.

For the sandwich, cut the remaining uncooked pear wedges into slim slices. Brush the soft inside of the buns with the juices from the pan and lay the beans and uncooked, sliced pear on top. Divide the sausage and cooked pear wedges between the buns and sprinkle with crushed pepper and thyme. Finish it off with luscious dollops of the pear mustard, close the bun and enjoy.

Black Forest Pancakes with Cinnamony Cherries, Chocolate and Cream

Are you too lazy to make a sumptuously layered black forest cake but in the mood for spongy chocolate, whipped cream, cherry compote and a shot of Kirsch schnaps? That's how I felt! I thought about muffins for a second but I had just made them with figs (delish!) last week so they were out of the question, but pancakes seemed like the right choice.

I felt inspired by a basket full of sweet cherries - the last of the season - and I desperately wanted to make use of them. Very ripe, very soft and dark, my fruits from Turkey were practically at the perfect point to become a juicy compote refined with cinnamon and Kirsch, the famous southern German cherry schnaps. A black forest cake needs a luscious layer of thick, whipped cream, beaten until it stands in firm peaks, just slightly sweetened to give enough space to the chocolate - the next and last addition to make this sweet classic complete. Unsweetened cocoa powder turned my pancake recipe into subtle bittersweetness, fluffy as usual but with chocolaty depth. They burn quicker than their fair relatives so you better watch them well while they are puffing up in the hot pan. When they were done, just before they turned dark, I stacked them on a plate and topped them voluptuously with the rich cream and syrupy fruits. You could also sandwich them like the traditional black forest cake if you prefer, but this makes the project a little more stressful. You'll have to work quick and let both the pancakes and cherries cool before you stack them. Or forget about the presentation and serve it all warm on plates, generously sprinkled with grated bittersweet chocolate. Sometimes, easy is the best.

Black Forest Pancakes

Makes about 15 pancakes

For the fruit compote

• sweet, dark cherries (fresh or preserved), pitted, 350g / 12 1/2 ounces (about 280g / 10 ounces without the kernels)

• granulated sugar 2 tablespoons

• ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon

• Kirsch (cherry schnaps) 1 tablespoon

• water 3 tablespoons

• cornstarch 1 teaspoon

For the pancakes

• plain flour 170g / 1 1/3 cups

• unsweetened cocoa powder, sieved, 30g / 6 tablespoons

• granulated sugar 6 tablespoons

• baking powder 2 leveled teaspoons

• organic eggs, separated, 4

• a pinch of salt

• milk 240ml / 1 cup

• butter, for cooking the pancakes

For the topping

• heavy cream, whipped and sweetened to taste, 180ml / 3/4 cup

• bittersweet chocolate, grated, 25g / 3-4 tablespoons

In a saucepan, bring the ingredients for the cherry compote to the boil, stir, close with a lid and cook on medium heat for 5-7 minutes or until the fruits start to soften. Take the pan off the heat, adjust to taste and pour the compote into a bowl. Let it cool a bit.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, sugar and baking powder. In a second bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until stiff and set aside. Whisk the egg yolks and milk into the dry mixture and mix until well combined. Gently fold in the stiff egg whites.

Heat about 1/2 teaspoon of butter in a heavy pan and pour in a ladle of the batter for each pancake. They need about 1-2 minutes on medium heat on each side. Flip them before they turn dark, they should be golden brown. Cook them in batches of 2-3, always add 1/2 teaspoon of butter before you start the next round. Stack the cooked pancakes on a plate, serve with whipped cream, cherry compote and grated chocolate, either sandwiched or separately arranged on plates.

About helping and sharing - and a Provençal Artichoke Quiche

Everybody's life can be a feast and a tragedy at times, it can be calm and peaceful in one second and rocky and rough in the next. In these moments, all of us need a helping hand or someone who listens. I believe, I know, that there's no one out there who wasn't ever in need of help. It starts when we're born, when our mothers are there for us, giving without asking for anything in return. That's love. And all along the way, we meet so many people who are there for us and reach out when in need. Shouldn't we all be willing to do so? Why is it so hard for some to show compassion and be there for the ones in need of help? Why can't we - as those who are much better off and on more stable ground - be there for the ones who are hurt, exiled and persecuted? I believe we should treat others as we would want to be treated. If we refuse to help why should we expect help when we are in a difficult situation?

My grandmother decided to leave East Germany when the wall - die Mauer - was being built, she had to flee with 6 children. They went to West Germany with literally nothing, they left their farm and land behind to escape a regime that she and her husband didn't want their children to grow up in. They were refugees in what was once their own country. But they weren't alone, many people helped them to build up their future, many shared the little they had and my family managed to get back on their feet. 40 years later, East Germany was in need of help, the people of the West gave a share of what they had, out of solidarity, to rebuild a part of the country that had suffered for decades. The people in the East received help. That's compassion. Today, hundred thousands of people are willing to risk their lives and leave their homes to seek help in Europe and other wealthy parts of the world, to escape political systems that are also no longer safe to live in. Wouldn't we all do the same? Didn't we do the same throughout the history of human kind?

Paul from the Einfach-Lecker-Essen blog started the Blogger für Flüchtlinge (Bloggers for Refugees) initiative with a few of his friends to call for support and collect donations for refugee camps, first only in Berlin, and now all over Germany. The movement is growing quickly and more and more stand up every day to give a helping hand to the ones in need. Please spread the word if you write a blog (#BloggerFuerFluechtlinge), you can support the initiative with a donation here.

Today's recipe is a dish that is practically made to be shared - a fragrant golden quiche. A quiche is like a friend, it always makes me feel good and at home wherever I am, it's down to earth comfort food. Add some preserved artichoke hearts, tomatoes, olives, thyme and aromatic Gruyère cheese to the filling and you have a late summer Provençal picnic tart. And when we sit there in peace, enjoying the food together with the ones we love, a scene that's so normal for most of us, we shouldn't forget that this is what everybody aspires to. Nothing more and nothing less.

Provençal Artichoke Quiche

For a 30cm / 12″ tart pan or baking dish you need

For the short crust base

• plain flour 260g / 2 cups

• salt 1 teaspoon

• butter, cold 130g / 4 1/2 ounces

• organic egg 1

For the filling

• organic eggs 4

• heavy cream 125ml / 1/2 cup

• sour cream 175g / 3/4 cup

• fresh thyme leaves 3 tablespoons plus a few sprigs for the topping

• salt 1 teaspoon

• ground pepper

• nutmeg, freshly grated, a generous amount

• large preserved artichoke hearts, cut in half (lengthwise), 3

• black olives (preferably Kalamata) 10

• cherry tomatoes, cut in half, 10

• Gruyère cheese (or any other aromatic hard cheese), grated, 2-3 tablespoons

For the pastry, combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter with a knife into the flour until there are just little pieces of butter left. Continue with your fingers and rub the butter into the flour until combined. Add the egg and continue mixing with the hooks of your mixer until you have a crumbly mixture. Form a disc, wrap in cling film and put in the freezer for 12 minutes.

Set the oven to 200°C / 390°F (top/ bottom heat).

Roll out the dough between cling film and line the baking dish with the flat pastry. Prick it with a fork and blind-bake in the hot oven for 15 minutes or until golden.

Take the baking dish out of the oven and set the temperature down to 180°C / 355°F.

Whisk  the eggs with the heavy cream, sour cream, thyme, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Arrange the artichoke hearts, olives and tomatoes on top of the pre-baked pastry base, pour in the egg-cream mixture and sprinkle with cheese. Bake the quiche in the oven for about 55 minutes or until golden brown, the top should be firm. Let it cool for a few minutes and garnish with the thyme sprigs. Serve cold or warm.

Fig, Ricotta and Olive Oil Muffins

I've been dreaming of these muffins since I went to Malta almost 2 months ago. The idea of figs, soft, ripe and sweet as honey, crowning the top of a pale muffin got stuck in my head. Still in the Mediterranean, I must have bugged almost every farmer on the island (just a slight exaggeration) to find the fruits for my creation, but nature had other plans. It simply wasn't their season yet, I was too early. Luckily we're off to our island next week for a few days, so we can catch up on them and pick them straight from the trees.

At least this was my plan until the beautiful blog Design*Sponge asked me for a recipe for their In The Kitchen With series. While I was still chatting with lovely Kristina to get an idea of what they'd like me to come up with, I had a vision - a luscious baguette sandwich inspired by a picnic in the south of France. I could see whipped chèvre, dark grapes, bacon, honey, thyme - and figs. So here was the second recipe in urgent need of this fruit. I went on a hunt and finally spotted them at my trusted organic market, fresh from Israel, dark as the night, soft skinned and ripe! I bought a huge bunch, enough to lock myself in the kitchen for a whole day, to cook and bake with my delicious finds.

The sandwich came first and it turned out as messy and luscious as I had imagined, you can find the recipe and interview here. My muffins were my second project, equally satisfying - I had quite a successful day in the kitchen. To use my strawberry muffin recipe, with olive oil and ricotta, was part of the plan. I only added a little more sugar to the dough as the fruits lay on top, in the original recipe I stirred in the berries so they sweeten it with their natural juices. It's still not a very cakey muffin, it's more of a warm breakfast treat, to spread some butter on top and melt into the honey glazed figs. Somehow they almost taste like scones - or rather like a luxurious version of it.

Fig, Ricotta and Olive Oil Muffins 

Makes 12 muffins

• plain flour 320g / 2 1/2 cups

• granulated sugar 130g / 2/3 cups

• baking powder 3 leveled teaspoons

• baking soda 1/2 teaspoon

• salt 1/4 teaspoon

• organic eggs 2

• ricotta 250g / 9 ounces

• olive oil 100ml / 1/3 cup and 2 tablespoons

• freshly squeezed orange juice 30ml / 2 tablespoons

• ripe figs (soft skinned), rinsed (not peeled) and cut in half, 6

• liquid honey 3 tablespoons, for the topping

Set your oven to 190°C / 375°F (fan-assisted oven) and put paper baking cups into the 12 molds of the muffin tray.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a second bowl, mix the eggs, ricotta, olive oil and orange juice until light and fluffy and pour into the bowl with the dry mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until you have a lumpy dough (with a bit of flour left here and there). Keep in mind, the more you mix it the more it will lose its light texture.

Fill the muffin tray with the dough and push the figs lightly into the batter (I prefer them cut side up). Drizzle a little honey (about 1/4 teaspoon) over each fruit and bake for about 18 minutes or until golden. Sprinkle the muffins with a little more sugar or honey (optionally) and let them cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before you take them out of the tray. Serve warm with butter.

Orange and Fennel Couscous with Orange Blossom Water and Mint

I decided to make couscous and cooked enough to feed a family of six - it shows that I don't work with this grain very often. The package looked tiny but the result was humongous! It didn't do the pleasure any harm though, the recipe was delish, we just had enough couscous for days.

Inspired by a phone call with my mother and our obligatory recipe exchanges, I mixed the earthy North African dish with crunchy fennel sliced like carpaccio and juicy orange fillets. To focus on the citrus a little more, I roasted orange peel in olive oil in the oven to create a fragrant oil and some crunchy citrus bites. An open bottle of orange blossom water in my fridge convinced me to go for an orange trilogy - a good choice. Each of them added their individual depth, texture and aroma: the juices of the fruit paired beautifully with the crisp peel and the flowery scented water. Fresh mint leaves on top to finish it off and three happy people at the table ate far more couscous than we ever have before.

Orange and Fennel Couscous with Orange Blossom Water and Mint

Serves 4

• olive oil

• long strips of orange peel 6

• oranges, cut into fillets, 2

• freshly squeezed orange juice 3 tablespoons (collected while cutting the fillets)

• fennel bulb, very thinly sliced (like carpaccio), the green chopped, 1 (about 250g / 9 ounces)

• couscous 300g / 10 1/2 ounces

• quality orange blossom water (preferably organic), to taste

• salt and pepper

• fresh mint leaves, a small handful

Set the oven to 220°C / 430°F (top / bottom heat).

Pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a shallow baking dish, add the peel and cook in the oven for about 6 minutes until golden brown and crunchy, mind that the peel doesn't turn too dark. Take out of the oven and set aside.

To cut the orange into fillets, first peel off the outer skin with a knife and then cut off the white pith. Hold the orange in one hand and cut with the knife along the skin between the fruit's fillets to end up with skin-free fillets. Collect the juices.

For the couscous, put the grains in a large pot. In a kettle, bring double the amount of water to the boil (or adjust to the instructions on the package), pour the boiling water over the grains in the pot and close with a lid, let it sit for 5 minutes. It's not necessary to cook the couscous on heat.

Transfer the cooked couscous to a large, deep bowl and gently stir in the fennel, orange oil, orange fillets and about 3 tablespoons of the collected juices (to taste). Season with orange blossom water (about 1-3 teaspoons, depending on the brand), salt and pepper to taste. Add a little more olive oil if necessary and sprinkle with the roasted orange peel (broken into pieces), fresh mint and the chopped fennel green. Serve warm or as a cold salad.

Lavender Lemon Shortbread

If I had to choose my favourite late summer shortbread for tea time in August I'd have to say it would be lavender lemon. My choice is deeply inspired by the fragrant fields of the Provence covered in mesmerizing purple flowers and the ripe yellow lemons in my Maltese mother's garden. Lavender and citrus fruit both grow lusciously under the Mediterranean's scorching sun, they soak it up and develop aromas of intense depth. I can't think of a more vibrant combination - Malta and the South of France combined in a Scottish treat.

Recently I read about petticoat tails, shortbread in the shape of a large circle cut into segments, the edge decorated in waves by pinching it with fingers or a knife. The name refers to the petticoats popular in the 16th century, the cut of the fabric used to make the skirts had the same shape as the shortbread. I also found out that the pinched edges symbolize the sun. Considering that today's recipe is my late summer variation on this Scottish classic, I decided to go for this shape. I only got a bit worried about the neatly shaped edge, I've never done this before nor seen anyone doing it, so I cheated a little. I used my little French tart pan and ended up with rather small, round rays.

The past few days have been quite excessive on the culinary side. Although we had just waved goodbye to each other when we left Malta, my Maltese sister Emma is here in Berlin to visit us for a few days, a great chance to use her as a guinea pig for some of my cookbooks recipes (she approved!) - and to have an excuse to bake and eat more cake than we should. It's time to celebrate our reunion after all. Our sweet treats of shortbread for tea and peach cake for dinner ended in a proper cake feast as we visited Laura from Tausensuend at Berlin's Bite Club. Salted Caramel Ricotta, spicy chili chocolate and the most amazing sticky sourdough cinnamon snails - life is good when you forget about restrictions!

Lavender Lemon Shortbread

Mind that you prepare the lavender sugar a few days (or even weeks) in advance, you use 10 parts sugar and 1 part organic lavender flowers (L. augustifolia, Hidcote). 

Makes a 23cm / 9" shortbread

• plain flour 260g / 2 cups

• lavender sugar, sieved (leave about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon flowers in the sugar), 80g / 3oz, plus more to sprinkle

• zest of 1 large lemon (about 3-4 teaspoons)

• a pinch of salt

• butter (cold) 160g / 5 1/2oz

Set the oven to 170°C / 340°F (fan-assisted).

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar (with a few flowers), zest and salt. Cut the butter with a knife into the flour until there are just little pieces of butter left. Continue with your fingers and rub the butter into the flour until combined. Transfer the crumbly mixture into a 23cm / 9" loose bottom tart pan or directly onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Push the dough down evenly into the pan or give it a round shape of the same size and pinch the edge with your thumb. Score the surface with a knife to divide it into 6 segments, cut about half way though the dough. Sprinkle with a little lavender sugar but no flowers, they would burn in the oven. Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden. Take the shortbread out of the oven, sprinkle with lavender flowers (and fresh lemon zest if you like) and let it cool for about 15 minutes before you take it out of the pan.

My 501st post: Spicy Cumin Guacamole and Bacon Sandwich

500 posts (and even more recipes) on eat in my kitchen and I missed it! Sunday's cinnamon peach cake was the big jubilee recipe and it would have been more than festive enough to raise a glass of champagne, but anyways, this chance is missed and over. So, today I celebrate the 501st post with a spicy guacamole bacon sandwich, refined with citrusy coriander and hot chili peppers. The meat's smokey saltiness wonderfully breaks the velvety smoothness of the Mexican dip and makes it hearty and rich. I wanted to write about this creation much earlier but after July's hot tempered discussion about a green pea guacamole recipe caused by Melissa Clark's article in the New York Times, I lost interest and faith in further guacamole variations.

But this is in the past now, like all the 500 recipes that found their way from my humble kitchen in Berlin (and Malta) to so many people and other kitchens all over the world. How all of this could happen still amazes me. I just write about what happens on my cooker or in my oven and then it reaches whoever feels inspired by the title, the pictures or the story behind each post. In the past, before eat in my kitchen, I used to just cook or bake my recipes, sometimes just once but most of the time they became staples, dishes that always come back to my table. Obviously, the taste and look would vary slightly as no recipe is always the same. But now I can come here, like everybody else, and see the whole collection of meals that passed through our kitchen. This is really beautiful - and inspiring for myself as I tend to forget about recipes.

At the moment, I need all my time to write for my cookbook which is a totally different experience on another level. The web is digital, it changes constantly with a pace that can be intimidating at times but a printed book is unchangeable. I'll be able to feel it in my hands when I thumb through the pages, to lay it on my kitchen table, and I like this feeling, it's real. It's as real as all the wonderful messages I've been receiving from you from the start, messages about all the recipes that inspired you or simply teased your appetite.

Thank you! xx

A note on the side: In my opinion, guacamole can easily take variations as any other dish - as long as it pleases the personal taste of the creator. This is part of our worldwide kitchen culture, it's makes it richer every day, it evolves, changes and always finds its way back to its roots. It's a gift that shows that a culture is alive, not a threat.

Spicy Cumin Guacamole and Bacon Sandwich

Makes 3 sandwiches

• dark, rustic buns, cut in half, 3

• breakfast bacon 6-9 slices

• fresh red chili pepper, seeded and sliced, 1/4

For the guacamole

• large ripe avocado 1 (or 2 small ones), the flesh scraped out

• sour cream 2-3 heaping tablespoons

• freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 tablespoon

• fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped, 3 heaping tablespoons plus a few leaves for the topping

• ground cumin, a pinch

• fine sea salt

• ground pepper

In a bowl, chop the avocado with a knife until chunky, stir in the sour cream, lemon juices, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper. Mix well, season to taste and set aside.

In a heavy pan, cook the bacon until crisp, transfer to kitchen paper to remove excess fat.

Spread the guacamole voluptuously on the bottom side of the buns, sprinkle with chili pepper and lay the bacon on top. Finish it off with a few coriander leaves, close the bun and enjoy!

Cinnamon Peach Breakfast Cake with a Crunchy Sugar Crust

We left the island heat to be welcomed by tropical temperatures in the city. After four amazing weeks in Malta we're back in Berlin, and apart from the fact that there isn't the sea in sight, it doesn't actually feel so different. It's hot here, so much so that I decided to take it easy this weekend and leave my work aside and stay in my kitchen most of the time. My culinary life in the Mediterranean focused on seafood and countless wonderful nights in restaurants with friends and family, so now that I'm back, I feel like experimenting again. On the first night I felt too tired to lift a finger or a knife, but the next day I made my beloved fennel orange salad (just without the octopus) and a beetroot carpaccio that was so good that I definitely have to share it with you soon. Yesterday, I revisited my olive oil ice cream with sea salt, I had almost forgotten about it but thanks to Gillie from Yahoo Food, I remembered my luscious frozen treat. She asked me to join their Ice Cream Week on their Instagram next week which I really look forward to. I'm sure it will be full of great inspiration to help cooling off in the next few days!

It's been over a year since I turned a generous splash of olive oil into ice cream and I wanted to make sure that the recipe is still as good as I remembered it. There's no doubt about why I was so ecstatic about it, it tasted amazing and felt like velvet. After the cooling sweet a cake was next on my list, a simple breakfast cake with lots of juicy peaches and a crunchy cinnamon sugar crust. The fruits sunk deep into the spongy dough and spread their juices with the first bite. But the sweet crusty topping was the secret star, I sprinkled the cake so generously with cinnamony sugar before I put it in the oven that I was a little worried if I went overboard. But it was so, so good, so I felt no regrets!

This cake is a variation of my Apple Breakfast Cake.

Cinnamon Peach Cake with Sugar Crust

For a 20cm / 8″ loose bottom springform pan you need

• granulated sugar 100g / 3 1/2 ounces plus 2 tablespoons for the topping

• ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon, for the topping

• plain flour 130g / 4 1/2 ounces

• cornstarch 30g / 1 ounce

• baking powder 1 heaping teaspoon

• a pinch of salt

• butter (at room temperature) 160g / 5 1/2 ounces plus a little butter for the springform pan

• organic eggs 3

• large peaches, quartered, pitted and sliced, 2

Set the oven to 180°C / 355°F (fan-assisted oven) and butter the springform pan.

Combine 2 tablespoons of sugar and the cinnamon for the topping in a small bowl and set aside.

Combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time and continue mixing for a few minutes until the mixture is thick and creamy. Mix in the dry mixture until well combined. Fill the dough into the buttered form and arrange the sliced quarters of the peaches in circles on top. Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar and bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden on top. Check with a skewer, it should come out clean. Let the cake cool for a few minutes before you take it out of the springform pan.

Watermelon Caprese with Mozzarella di Bufala, Basil and Mint

The past few days on the island called for light and easy treats from the kitchen - it's been hot in Malta and quite a challenge for a northern girl like me. I witnessed 50°C (122°F) measured in the sun and, although I prefer warmth over cold, it's been beyond enjoyable. The sea is my daily escape, whenever I get the chance to jump into the cool waters, it feels like my brain cells finally start working again. There's a reason why life's pace is slower in the Mediterranean, the body just can't cope any other way. Luckily, we're off to Berlin today and we'll have 3 weeks to cool off a little before we get back to Malta's burning sun.

On the culinary side, I tried to defy the extreme weather conditions with lots of water, juicy peaches and melons. I noticed a growing watermelon trend in the web in the past few weeks that I had wanted to avoid. It felt like a flood of melon popsicle, melon soup and melon salad recipes - no need to bother you with another one on eat in my kitchen. But then, I thought of this delicious combination of chilled watermelon, creamy mozzarella di bufala, olive oil, sea salt, basil, mint and a little black pepper and I thought it wouldn't be fair not to share this easy pleasure. If you find yourself in the Mediterranean, or anywhere else in the world where the temperatures seem unbearable and where sweet and juicy watermelons are accessible, prepare a plate of melon caprese, slow down and relax!

Watermelon Caprese with Mozzarella di Bufala, Basil and Mint

Serves 3-4

• chilled, ripe watermelon, sliced into thin triangles, 1/8-1/4

• mozzarella di bufala, torn into bite sized pieces, 125g / 4 1/2oz

• olive oil

• fresh basil leaves about 16

• fresh mint leaves about 8

• flaky sea salt

• black peppercorns, crushed in a mortar

Arrange the melon and mozzarella on a large plate, drizzle with a splash of olive oil and sprinkle with basil, mint, salt and pepper.

Mqaret - Traditional Maltese Date Pastries

Traditional sweet treats and old fashioned baking crafts give a great insight into an unknown culture. You just have to visit a bakery or confectionery when you get to a new country and you'll immediately have an idea of its mentality. The presentation, the ingredients used by the chef patisseur, the way it's decorated, all these details reveal a lot about a place and its people.

Malta has plenty of culinary culture and so many sweet secrets that I'm still learning about new delicacies every time I visit the islands. It's close to Italy, so you'll find Mediterranean classics like cannoli (Kannoli in Maltese), the frilly cassata siciliana and syrupy ricotta pies. Various rulers of the small archipelago left their traces in the kitchen, the British brought fruit pies and trifles and the Arabic influence is shown in the generous use of citrus fruits and the import of sticky sweet nougat, Qubbajt in Maltese. One of my personal favourites are the wonderfully simple Ottijiet, crunchy eight-shaped sesame cookies made with cloves, vanilla and aniseed. They are perfect for tea time, just as much as Edith's Essijiet with Vermouth. You can easily guess their shape from the name. Another highlight is Malta's aromatic bread pudding that Joanna Bonnici made for me when we met for our meet in your kitchen feature.

The list of these beautifully honest sweets is endless, it's my kind of baking, with lots of spices and citrus, the recipes are not too complicated and quite easy to prepare. Every time I exchange my Berlin kitchen for my Maltese mother Jenny's culinary space, I try to include at least one sweet Maltese dish in my baking activities that leads me to new grounds. Mqaret have been on my mind for quite a while. The little pastries look a bit like giant ravioli, they are diamond shaped, translated to maqrut (singular form) in Maltese. The sweets are generously filled with dates and infused with aniseed, they are a scrumptious remnant of the Arabic takeover starting in 870 AD. They taste so good that they stayed on the island even after the invaders had left. Today, you find them in every village sold at street markets, but unfortunately, often of rather weak quality. My favourite places to enjoy them are Scoglitti and Nenu's bakery in Valletta, or you bake your own at home.

Mqaret are either deep-fried (which I prefer) or baked in the oven, and although I'm not a big fan of cooking in hot oil, in this case, it creates a flakier texture. The traditional recipe uses a short crust pastry made with a little more water than I would normally use, if it's too crumbly you won't be able to fold the dough over the fruit filling. Mqaret are best when they are hot and generously filled, this is at least my humble opinion and it caused long discussions in the family. I used lemon zest but originally it's made with orange and tangerine instead, as the fruits are not in season at the moment I went for their yellow relative which added a flowery fruitiness to the dates. I must admit that I was a bit scared of this project but in the end it turned out to be much easier than expected!

Mqaret - Traditional Maltese Date Pastries

Deep frying in hot oil should never be attempted with children close by, be very careful while cooking the pastries in the oil!

Makes about 14 Mqaret

• vegetable oil, for frying, about 1l / 4 1/4 cups

• granulated sugar, to sprinkle the cooked mqaret

For the pastry

• plain flour 230g / 8oz / 1 3/4 cups

• a pinch of salt

• butter cold 60g / 2oz

• water cold 3-5 tablespoons

• freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 tablespoon

• anisette spirit 1 tablespoon

Combine the flour and salt. Cut the butter with a knife into the flour until there are just little pieces of butter left. Continue with your fingers and rub the butter into the flour until combined. Add 3 tablespoons of water, the juice and spirit and continue mixing with your hands until you have a crumbly mixture, you should be able to form a ball. If it's too dry, mix in 1-2 tablespoons of a water. Form a ball, wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

For the filling

• dried dates, pitted and finely chopped, 250g / 9oz

• water, about 4 tablespoons

• lemon zest 1 teaspoon (organic fruit) (or 1/2 teaspoon of orange zest and 1 teaspoon of tangerine zest)

• a pinch of ground cloves

• a pinch of cinnamon

• granulated sugar 1 tablespoon

• anisette spirit 1 1/2 tablespoons

In a saucepan, bring the dates and water to the boil. Mash the dates with a spoon and leave on low heat for 1 minute. The mixture will be thick and sticky. Take off the heat, add the remaining ingredients and mix well with a spoon, set aside.

For the mqaret

In a large pot, heat the oil.

Divide the dough in 2 parts and roll out each of them between cling film into a 40 x 10cm (16 x 4") rectangle. Spread half the date filling on one half of 1 rectangle (along the longer side) and brush the rim (the long side) with water. Fold the dough over the filling (along the long side) and close the rim well, push it together with your fingers. The short ends stay open. Repeat with the second pastry rectangle, you should end up with 2 long pastry sandwiches filled with dates. Cut each of them with a sharp knife into 6-7 diamond shaped pastries, the cut sides stay open, leaving the date filling exposed.

Use the handle of a wooden spoon to check if the oil is hot enough, bubbles will rise when the temperature is right. Fry the mqaret in the hot oil until golden brown, mind that they don't get too dark. Take them out with a slotted ladle and transfer to kitchen paper to remove excess oil. Sprinkle with sugar and serve immediately. They go very well with vanilla ice cream!

Maltese Ricotta Pie with Lemon Syrup and Pistachios

My friend Essa baked a wonderful cake a few years ago that I never managed to get out of my head. It was a Maltese cheesecake made with ricotta and eggs on top of a thin short crust base topped with sticky lemon syrup and chopped pistachios. It was so good, I dreamt of it! We enjoyed it in her Mediterranean garden, the rustic limestone walls covered in fragrant blue plumbago and white stephanotis flowers - the tantalizing smell of the south and a sweet pie on my plate.

Years have past, Essa forgot about the recipe and I, sadly, couldn't find the copy that I had made - until a few days ago. I gave it a go in my Maltese mother's house, in Jenny's kitchen, the same day I made the happy discovery and it came out as amazing as I remembered it. The filling refined with lemon zest is creamy but fluffy, not as dense as a New York cheesecake. The sticky and sour syrup on top and the generous amount of crunchy nuts turn this cake into something so delicious that I soon regretted the size of the pie tin I chose. We ate it all within less than an hour!

Maltese Ricotta Cake with sticky Lemon Syrup and Pistachios

For a 20cm / 8" pie form you need

• short crust dough 250g / 9 ounces (you can use 1/3 of the pastry from my fruit tart recipe, click here)

• ricotta 380g / 13 1/2 ounces

• lemon zest 1 heaping teaspoon

• organic eggs 3

• granulated sugar 100g / 1/2 cup

• butter, melted, 40g / 2 heaping tablespoons

• semolina (fine) 1 heaping tablespoon

• pistachios (unsalted), chopped, 40g / 1 1/2 ounces, for the topping

For the lemon syrup

• freshly squeezed lemon juice 75ml / 1/3 cup

• granulated sugar 50g / 1/4 cup

• honey 1 heaping tablespoon

Prepare the dough, form a thick disc, wrap in cling film and put in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Set the oven to 200°C / 390°F (top/ bottom heat).

Roll out the dough between cling film and line your pie form with the flat pastry. Prick with a fork and bake it in the hot oven for 12 minutes. Take it out when it's golden and set aside. Turn the oven down to 190°C / 375°F.

In a large bowl, whisk the ricotta, zest, eggs and sugar. Add the melted butter and semolina and whisk until well combined. Pour the cheese filling on top of the pre-baked pastry and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until just set (I use a gas oven in Malta so the baking time can be different in an electric oven).

For the syrup, bring the lemon juice, sugar and honey in a sauce pan to the boil and cook for about 4-5 minutes on high heat until thick and golden. Whisk once in a while and mind that it bubbles up while cooking, it shouldn't burn!

Drizzle the syrup over the ricotta cake and sprinkle generously with pistachios.

Oregano Potato Salad, Grilled Prawns and Malta's Hidden Gems

Being back on my island feels unbelievably good! The past 10 days have been filled with lonely beaches, fishermen's villages, camping on a lonely island, new restaurant and ice cream shop discoveries, espresso breaks at traditional cafés and my obligatory (almost) daily visits to one of the countless pastizzerias. I'm in heaven - like every summer!

Whenever we go to Malta, I have a long list of things I definitely want to do while we're here. Our friends and family have the same idea, which means I have to plan well. The first 2 weeks tend to be packed with all the places I've been desperately wanting to visit in the past few months. My first day on the island is all about grocery shopping and a visit to my favourite vegetable man. Every Tuesday and Friday, the farmer Leli parks his mobile truck shop in Msida to offer his fresh produce under pink oleander trees. This man has the most charming eyes and the juiciest melons, peaches and tomatoes right from his fields. I stock up on Maltese sausages and Ġbejna (local sheep cheese) and sneak into one of the old village bakeries to buy far more bread than a family of 5 can possibly eat. But there's always the option to make a Panzanella (Tuscan bread salad) or a Maltese Bread Pudding with the leftovers, so there's no reason to feel bad. This year I finally went to Qormi, a town famous for its traditional bread baking skills. I literally followed my nose and spotted a tiny place in a side street which makes fantastic large loaves of sourdough bread, Ftiras (rings of breads) and soft aniseed buns. The two bakers Duminku and Glenn took time out to show me around and to my surprise, also shared the bakery's traditional Maltese bread recipe with me! So I'm planning on trying this recipe in my Maltese mama's kitchen and, hopefully, sharing the successful results with you soon. I asked Duminku for a recipe for 1 loaf which might have been a bit silly, 12 loaves was the minimum we could compromise on.

We spent another unforgettable afternoon at Ghar Lapsi in the south. After a long swim and snorkeling in the most mesmerizing crystal blue, we sat with an aperitif at Rita's, the rather old-fashioned Lapsi View Bar & Restaurant. My Aperol Spritz was the size of a fish bowl and the view of lonely Filfla island at sunset was so stunning that we decided to stay for dinner. It was a wise choice, the spider crab ravioli were to die for. Ice cream was next! My Maltese sister Emma insisted that we had to try Mario's creations at Ta' Skutu in Qrendi, a small family run business started in 1900, cooling their creations with ice blocks imported from Sicily. Besides the classic flavours, he also offers seasonal specialities, like beer or potato ice cream. I was truly struck by the sweets and the pretty, old interior (and the deer on the wall). But getting to know his chatty niece holding a white rabbit in her arm turned the visit into an almost Alice in Wonderland-like experience - the whole scene felt beautifully surreal. We finished the night at Mariano's farm (my farming and modeling brother in law) with an introduction to keeping sheep and a traditional Kusksu (Maltese bean soup) with homemade Ġbejna - freshly made from sheep milk which had been milked only 5 hours before.

A night of wild camping on Malta's small sister island Comino allowed us to enjoy a late evening and early morning swim at Blue Lagoon. This place is paradise as long as you don't join the day tourists turning the lagoon into a sardine tin during the day. It's a summer hotspot, the white beaches and turquoise water make you feel like you're in the middle of the Caribbean. We stayed in our tent at Santa Marija Bay and had the Blue Lagoon almost to ourselves after everybody had left.

My obligatory Sunday morning visit to the Marsaxlokk fish market inspired today's recipe: the most simple potato salad made with only 5 ingredients (potatoes, olive oil, Gozo sea salt, crushed pepper and fresh oregano) crowned by delicious prawns right from the BBQ.

This is sweet summer life!

Oregano Potato Salad, Grilled Prawns

For lunch for 2 you need

• large prawns (wild, not farmed) 4-6

• large waxy potatoes rinsed, scrubbed and cooked, 2-3

• olive oil

• flaky sea salt

• black peppercorns, crushed in a mortar

• fresh oregano leaves, 2-4 tablespoons

• lemon 1/2

Grill the prawns on a BBQ or sear in a pan in a little oil on high heat.

Cut the potatoes into thick slices and divide them between 2 plates. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano. Serve with the prawns and fresh lemon juice.

Cherry Chocolate Tart with whipped Cardamom Cream

There are a few combinations in the world of summer foods that are so perfect that I can only sit back and smile. Strawberries with Champagne is one of them or Mozzarella di Bufala with fruity tomatoes. Cherries with bittersweet chocolate is another one of my favourites, it's a heavenly pleasure to taste the sweet juices of this firm fruit merged with the dark depth of cocoa. Cherries are at the peak of their season at the moment and a sumptuous tarte au chocolate has been on the top of my baking list for months, so why not combine the two!

The different flavours and textures in a sweet composition have to be as well balanced as in a savoury dish. In the case of my tart, I wanted the crumbly pastry to stand up strong next to the chocolate which can easily be too overpowering. So I went for a thin layer of the dark filling, roughly the same height as the short crust base. This ratio allows both of them to show off their qualities - buttery crunchy and velvety smooth. Although I'm not a big fan of creamy additions to cakes - be it whipped or ice cream - here, I chose to top the tart which a voluptuous dollop of sweet sour cream mixed with cardamom. The light sourness added a fresh contrast to the heavy darkness and made the rich composition complete. We ended up with the prettiest and most satisfying treat on our coffee table - I couldn't have asked for more.

Cherry Chocolate Tart with whipped Cardamom Cream

It's easiest to bake the tart in a loose-bottom tart pan.

For a 23cm / 9″ tart pan you need

• sweet cherries 12, for the topping

For the short crust base

• plain flour 170g / 6oz / 1 1/3 cups

• granulated sugar 50g / 1 3/4oz / 1/4 cup

• a pinch of salt

• butter, cold, 90g / 3 1/4oz

• organic egg yolk 1

• water, cold, 1 tablespoon

Combine the flour with the sugar and salt. Cut the butter with a knife into the flour until there are just little pieces of butter left. Continue with your fingers and rub the butter into the flour until combined. Add the egg yolk and water and continue mixing with the hooks of your mixer until you have a crumbly mixture. Form a thick disc, wrap in cling film and put in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Set the oven to 180°C / 355°F (top/ bottom heat).

Roll out the dough between cling film and line your tart pan with the flat pastry. Prick with a fork and bake in the oven for 11 minutes or until golden and crisp. Prepare the chocolate filling while the pastry is in the oven. 

For the chocolate filling

• heavy cream 80ml / 1/3 cup

• milk 40ml / 3 tablespoons

• best quality bittersweet chocolate, broken into chunks, 150g / 5oz, plus 1 tablespoon (grated) for the topping

• butter 15g / 1 tablespoon

• a pinch of salt

• granulated sugar 1 tablespoon

• organic egg, beaten, 1

Set the oven to 170°C / 340°F (top/ bottom heat) once the short crust base is baked.

In a sauce pan, bring the cream and milk to the boil. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the chocolate, butter, salt and sugar (leave the pan off the heat). Once it's melted, pour into a bowl and whisk in the egg, the mixture should be well combined. Pour the chocolate filling on top of the pre-baked pastry and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until set. Take the tart pan out of the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes before you sprinkle it with the grated chocolate. Decorate with the cherries and prepare the whipped sour cream. 

For the whipped cardamom sour cream

• sour cream (or crème fraîche) 150g / 5oz

• granulated sugar 1 teaspoon

• ground cardamom 1/2 teaspoon, to taste

Whisk the sour cream, sugar and cardamom and adjust to taste.

My perfect Summer Sandwich with Balsamic Tomatoes & Whipped Basil Chèvre

My perfect summer sandwich is an easy snack - pure simplicity in a bun: Some fruity cherry tomatoes with a mild and creamy cheese and plenty of herbs. Italian Mozzarella di Bufala, or the softer burrata, would have been the classic choice but chèvre whipped with chopped basil turns the composition into a fresh and slightly sour pleasure.

What about the tomatoes - you could leave them raw and chop them up or grill them on the BBQ if you happen to have some hot coals at hand. I wasn't, so I seared the whole fruits in a pan on high temperature for just a few minutes and deglazed them with a shot of syrupy balsamic vinegar. They immediately turned into squishy balls of summer sweetness and made the sandwich a juicy and messy treat.

Balsamic Tomato and Basil Chèvre Summer Sandwich

For 2 sandwiches you need

• white buns, cut in half, 2

• fresh, soft chèvre (mild), mashed with a fork, 120g / 4 1/2oz

• heavy cream 4 tablespoons

• mild olive oil 1 tablespoon, plus a little splash for the tomatoes

• fresh basil leaves, chopped, 2 1/2 tablespoons (10g), plus 6 leaves for the topping

• ground pepper

• cherry tomatoes 10

• balsamic vinegar 2 teaspoons

• black peppercorns, crushed in a mortar

In a bowl, whisk the chèvre, cream, olive oil and chopped basil and season with ground pepper to taste.

In a heavy pan, heat a splash of olive oil and sear the tomatoes (whole, not cut) on medium-high / high heat for about 3 minutes or until soft and partly dark, stir constantly. Deglaze with the balsamic vinegar, stir and take the pan off the heat.

Spread the basil chèvre generously on the bottom sides of the buns, lay the tomatoes on top and sprinkle with crushed pepper and fresh basil. Close the bun and enjoy!

Lemon Rosemary Potato Roesti

Sometimes, even the hottest day in summer calls for a hearty potato pan dish, like the Swiss roesti (or Röschti). This rustic dish is made of raw, grated potatoes fried in a heavy pan like a crisp pancake, or latkes, but without any eggs or flour. It's a very quick and easy meal, you just have to be brave when you turn it around (I use a large lid which simplifies this task noticeably). A roesti focuses on the pure taste of potatoes with a little help from salt and pepper. I allowed myself the addition of lemon zest and fresh rosemary to turn it into a more fragrant, summery dish.

I'm in Malta at the moment and this year I decided to cook a few recipes in advance to share on eat in my kitchen. I wanted to give myself some time to get used to my Mediterranean lifestyle and my Maltese mama's kitchen instead of sharing my recipes from here right from day 1 - like I did 12 months ago. It's been a very exciting year, with my cookbook being published next year, I've been cooking, baking and shooting tons of photos in the past couple months. So I decided to use the time in Malta to slow down my pace a little and to write the recipes and stories for my book. I'm very happy to be working from our family's old house in Msida. I hear the birds sing early in the morning as soon as I open the large glass doors to the garden, the smell of jasmine and stephanotis caressing my nose with their mesmerizing sweetness. The silence of the early day allows me to focus on my work before the hustle and bustle, chatting and laughter begins in the house. In a few days, I will start to write about my recipes cooked here in the south, from my beloved little island. Until then, I will enjoy the sun, the sea and all the wonderful people I've missed so badly for so long.

Lemon Rosemary Potato Roesti

For a 22cm / 9" cast iron pan (for 2 people) you need

• waxy potatoes (raw), peeled and cut into match sticks, 400g / 14oz

• lemon zest 2 heaping teaspoons plus 1/4 teaspoon for the topping

• fresh rosemary, finely chopped, 2 heaping teaspoons, plus a few sprigs for the topping

• fine sea salt 1/2 teaspoon

• ground pepper

• vegetable oil

• black peppercorns, crushed in a mortar, for the topping

• flaky sea salt, for the topping

In a bowl, mix the potatoes, zest, rosemary, salt and pepper with your fingers until well combined.

Heat 5 tablespoons of oil in a 22cm / 9" cast iron pan on high, add the potatoes to the pan, quickly spread them evenly and push them down with the back side of a tablespoon or a spatula. Turn down the heat immediately to medium / medium-high and cook for about 5 minutes, mind that the potatoes don't burn. Loosen the roesti from the sides of the pan with a spatula and lift it a little to check if the bottom side is done, it should be golden and light brown. If you prefer, loosen the roesti with the spatula from the bottom of the pan before you flip it over. Cover the pan with a large lid, and turn the pan carefully but quickly (it might be easier with the help of a second person). You should end up with the roesti on the lid. Put the pan back on the heat, add 1 tablespoon of oil and let the roesti slide off the lid into the pan. Cook for 5 minutes, add another minute on top on high heat if necessary. Serve right form the pan sprinkled with lemon zest, rosemary, crushed pepper and flaky sea salt or turn it onto a lid before you let it slide onto a plate.

meet in your kitchen | Laura's Apricot, Caramel & Buffalo Ricotta Cake

Laura is a modern city hippie, with a big heart for people and sweets. The mother of four lives in the centre of Berlin with her family and created a peaceful oasis in this vibrant city. Her kitchen faces a little veranda and if you walk down a few steps you're right in her fruitful garden. Pots are lined up densely, filled with the most beautiful flowers and vegetables, rucola, peas, herbs and potatoes - it's a green paradise, as calming and gorgeous as the lady of the house.

When I visited Laura's kitchen to chat and bake together, it felt like a Bohemian farm house scene set in summery Provence. The light that falls through the small window in the thick wall is a bit dimmed and adds a Mediterranean flair to the family's home-made kitchen. It's a very personal room and you can feel that this is the creative space of a woman who completely falls for her passion to bake. Her oven and fridge impressed me with their huge dimensions, the walls and shelves are filled with baking tools, pans and ingredients. Laura doesn't need to show off with overly designed furniture, its her personality, her honest kindness and charming smile that makes you want to sit at her kitchen table all day, to watch her work on her amazing cake creations and listen to her family stories.

Growing up in Germany with her parents from Chile and Bolivia this woman is gifted with a rich multicultural background and a great sense for quality. Laura calls her mother and father two hippies, early pioneers of the organic, sustainable and self-sufficient food movement. They introduced her to this now rising trend. Growing your own vegetables in the middle of the city, using old pots, jars and bags to plant the seeds for your own produce became popular all over the world.In Laura's yard, it's a very unspectacular reality, if you want to know what you have on your plates it's best to farm it in your own ground.

This fascination for food in general, but for baking with the best ingredients in particular, led to a business which is one of Berlin's best kept sweet secrets. Laura started Tausensuend a few years ago to offer her individual and luscious cake creations which are honestly out of this world. She follows her interest in raw vegan cakes (her 'healthy cake line') but she also makes the most decadent layered cakes with creams, meringues, fruits and caramel, spectacularly topped with huge flowers. This is eye candy in its literal sense.

Apricots, Salted Caramel and Buffalo Ricotta Cake with Flambéed Meringue

Set the oven to 190°C / 375°F (top / bottom heat). Grease an 18cm / 7" cake pan (tall) and line it with baking paper. You will need a tall cake ring of the same size to assemble the cake and a candy thermometer and blowtorch for the flambéed meringue frosting.

For the sponge cake

• organic eggs, separated, 6

• a pinch of salt

• superfine sugar 240g / 8 1/2oz

• vanilla pods, scraped, 2

• plain flour (wheat or white spelt), sieved, 240g / 8 1/2oz

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt on high speed for about 5 minutes until very stiff. Add the sugar and continue mixing for 5 minutes until stiff and glossy. Quickly mix in the vanilla. Whisk the egg yolks with a fork and gently fold them into the stiff egg whites. Once it's combined, gently fold in the sieved flour. Scrape the dough into the lined cake pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check after 35 minutes, if the top of the cake turns too dark, cover it with baking paper. When it's done, take the cake out of the pan and let it cool completely.

For the salted caramel

• heavy cream 200g / 7oz

• superfine sugar 300g / 10 1/2oz

• butter (at room temperature), 240g / 8 1/2oz

• fine sea salt or rock salt 1 heaping teaspoon

In a sauce pan, warm the cream on low heat (don't bring it to the boil), set the pan aside.

In a large pan, melt the sugar on high heat, watch the pan as the sugar burns quickly. Whisk once in a while and try not to let the sugar forms large lumps. As soon as the colour changes to a light amber, reduce the heat, keep stirring until all the sugar has melted. Add the butter in batches and keep stirring. Carefully pour in the warm cream at the end, mind that it bubbles up and creates steam. Stir in the salt once the caramel is well combined, pour into a jar and set aside.

For the apricot purée

• very ripe apricots, pitted, 10-12

• a squeeze of lemon juice

• lemon zest 1 teaspoon

Purée the fruits, lemon juice and zest in a blender until smooth and set aside.

For the buffalo ricotta cream

• fresh buffalo (or sheep) ricotta 250g / 9oz

• heavy cream 75ml / 1/3 cup

• granulated sugar 75g / 2 1/2oz

• vanilla pod, scraped, 1

• a pinch of tonka bean (scraped)

Whisk the ingredients until creamy and set aside.

To assemble the cake

Cut the cake into 5 layers and lay 1 slice into the cake ring. Spread thinly with the apricot purée and sprinkle generously with salted caramel. Spread the bottom side of a new cake layer with the ricotta cream and lay on top of the cake in the ring. Continue layering the cake in the same order (cake-apricot-ricotta) until all the layers are used up, finish it off with a cake layer.

Put the assembled cake in the fridge and let it cool for at least 2 hours (overnight would be even better), the cake should soak up all the liquid of the filling.

For the meringue and decoration

For the flambeed meringue

• very fresh organic egg whites 6

• superfine sugar 300g / 10 1/2oz

• a pinch of salt

• vanilla pod, scraped, 1

For the decoration

• fresh winter or bladder cherries (Physalis) 8

• large edible flowers 3

Place a large metal bowl in a large pot with boiling water. Add the egg whites and sugar to the bowl and whisk lightly. Leave the egg whites on the heat until the mixture reaches 60°C / 140°F, check with a candy thermometer. There's no need to whisk while heating the eggs. Take the bowl off the heat once the right temperature is reached, add a generous pinch of salt and beat with an electric mixer until thick and glossy. When it forms stiff peaks, stir in the vanilla.

Carefully take the cake out of the ring and cover it generously with the stiff egg whites. Flambé with a blowtorch until golden and decorate with fresh winter cherries and flowers.

Tausendsuend is one of Berlin's best kept secrets for the most luscious cake creations, when did you start using your fantastic baking skills professionally? What was the impulse that got your business started?

Oh thanks a lot, Meike! Working and playing around and experimenting with food, textures, colours and flavours has always been one of my greatest passions, even when I was a child. But baking, I would say, is my greatest love, and also the thing I always had the strongest connection to, due to the baking skills of my fantastic grandmother. It’s probably the mix of the smelling and tasting of the fresh ingredients and this sculptural way of putting a cake together, making the colours match, arranging the flowers, all the decorating, that interests me. A friend of mine, an artist from Los Angeles, once said, she has a strong feeling that we have the same approach to our work, and that is probably true! I worked as a cook for a couple of years, and then got asked if I wanted to take care of the sweets department in that place because I was somehow famous for my cheesecakes at that time. So I did that and it was a crazy success! Really cool! That was the point, when I started to focus on baking. I started Tausendsuend when I moved to Berlin in 2008, but it was really a long process of defining my own style and making the right connections. Also, I gave birth to 2 children within that time I must admit.

You pay a lot of attention to the quality and origin of each ingredient you use, for your healthy raw cakes as much as for your more traditional layered cream and meringue cakes. Is there a different approach in the creative process for these two kinds of cakes, how do you develop the recipes – healthy and conventional?

I personally love the raw cakes. It’s just great to develop something that satisfies this craving for sweetness and is so good and healthy and nourishing for your body and soul at the same time. I have 4 children and it is the greatest bliss to feed them a raw avocado and lime cake in the morning and make them really happy with it! This is also something that I suggest to parents of children who don’t eat any fruits or vegetables. I’m really lucky not to be one of them, I’m blessed with children who eat almost everything, from seaweed to artichokes to raw avocado lime cake.The 'traditional' cakes are in fact more of a piece of art to me. Of course, I have the same high standards in everything I create, I want all my ingredients to be top quality and I’m pretty sure that these high standards are crucial to the final product. I want my cakes not only to look perfect, but most importantly to taste perfect. And of course, my children get their 5 layered, buttercream covered birthday cakes thickly coated in tons of sprinkles as well. I really don’t think there is something particularly bad about eating sugar, how could I … (laughing)

You were born in Hamburg and grew up in Germany but your father is originally from Chile and your mother from Bolivia. How do your South American and German roots influence your cooking and baking? What did you learn from these different cultures?

My grandmother, originally from Hamburg, lived in Bolivia for over 30 years. I loved her stories about shopping at the farmers markets in La Paz, the enthusiasm you could hear in the way she described the Indian women in their traditional garb. She told me a lot about the Bolivian habits, how the Indians made the Chicha, a traditional schnaps (spirit) that is made by chewing white sweetcorn and spitting it into a bucket to let it ferment. Or the kilo bags of dried Bolivian chili peppers of which she used to make the extremely spicy traditional Aji Sauce. And the Yerbamate of course, a herbal tea that you drink out of hollowed dried pumpkins with a pewter straw. This you do in Chile as well.My father has always been the one who cooked most of the time for us as a family. He made a million empanadas for every occasion, school treats, dinners with friends and so on, one of the national dishes in Chile and Argentina, traditionally filled with beef, onions, raisins, black olives and boiled eggs, that everybody loved, and still does. My children go crazy about them. I think my favourite dish as a child was Pastel de Choclo, a casserole dish made of minced beef and mashed sweetcorn with a sugar crust, so good!! My father is an incredible cook, definitely the person I feel the strongest similarities with in the way I create food. A freestyler and always super curious about discovering new flavours and combinations. I’m very lucky that I have always been surrounded by people who had a very strong interest in food.

Your parents were early pioneers in the organic, sustainable and self-sufficient food movement that is so popular today. How did this affect your relationship with food and your definition of quality of life in general?

My mother was always the one who had the more ecological, political attitude towards how to consume and produce food. She went to shop in small organic grocery shops that were really rare at that time and she had a strong focus on whole foods. She used a lot of millet, quinoa and amaranth in her cooking, things that, at that time, were totally unknown to most people. This curiosity and trying out new and unknown things is something that influenced me extremely. In general my parents were very political and taught us to call things into question. That had a strong influence on all fields of activity in my living and working.

Who is your biggest inspiration in the kitchen?

I find a lot of people inspiring, for very different things. My father is still one of my biggest inspirations, because he is such an artist in juggling with flavours, but there are also a couple of books that I bought in the last years that I find very inspiring, Tartine Bakery for example makes great classic stuff! And the Canadian raw food cookbook author Emily von Euw is so great as well, what an artist!

Which are your favourite Chilean, Peruvian and German dishes?

Oh, that is so difficult to say as I love eating so much and it’s really hard for me to say what dish I like more than the other. As I'm from Hamburg, I have a strong connection to seafood and I still enjoy to go to the Fischmarkt (fish market in Hamburg) on a Sunday morning so much, to grab a sandwich overloaded with the freshest shrimps and rémoulade or some matjes (herring) with tons of fresh onion! I would say I prefer the simple, yet flavourful over the super sophisticated kitchen. My sister, who moved back to Chile after finishing school which is now almost 20 years ago, makes the most incredible ceviche which totally became my favourite Chilean dish. The Bolivians make small super spicy pasties filled with chicken called salteñas that are pretty amazing! But to be honest, there are really only very, very few things that I do not eat.

Where do you find inspiration for new creations?

Absolutely in nature. Strolling through organic farmers markets, smelling fresh fruits. I just visited a friend who moved from Berlin to the Uckermark (an area in the countryside), being in nature, in the countryside fills me with energy and inspires me a lot.

Why do you like to decorate your cakes with giant flowers which became your signature style?

I have a strong love for flowers which I most probably got from my grandmother. She used to live in the suburbs of Hamburg which almost felt like being in the countryside. There was a small farm within walking distance from where she lived and she taught me all the names of the flowers, wild berries and herbs, of all the small insects and butterflies. She also had edible flowers on her terrace and told me how to use them. My first job as a teenager was at a flower shop. If I had not focused on working with food I’d most probably be a florist today.

Do your kids join you in the kitchen? How do you introduce the younger ones to the world of food, how do you spark their interest?

Absolutely. I let my kids join me in the kitchen whenever they want. We do the shopping together, I let them select the vegetables, I let them help me with the cleaning and cutting and they always get a bit of dough when I bake. The older ones (my kids are 4, 6, 10 and 11) even start to cook on their own now with our help. To let the kids take part in the process of buying and creating food and to let them develop their own likes and dislikes and their own taste is the greatest and most successful way to raise their interest in food and eating.

What was the first dish you cooked on your own, what is your first cooking memory?

My very first steps in cooking were with my grandmother. She always took me to the farm, which was close to where she lived. The old farmers couple loved me and let me slip into every little corner. I was allowed to pick berries, to take the eggs out of the henhouse, they even allowed me to be present when the little yeanlings were born. My grandmother made little crocheted shopping bags for my sister and me where we put in all the treasures that we got at the farm. I must have been around 3 when my grandmother first suggested to make scrambled eggs out of my freshly collected eggs. I remember it being a mix of heartache and excitement to break the little eggs into this cute little pan that my grandmother bought for us. I still have that pan.

What are your favourite places to buy and enjoy food in Berlin

I still like the small organic farmers market at Kollwitzplatz on Thursdays right around the corner from where I live. Some say, this market became too touristy within the last years, but still, it provides a great variety of organic locally produced goods. There, I also buy the edible flowers for my cakes from two lovely old ladies who have their own flower garden in Marzahn. Only a few hundred steps from my house I have a fantastic small delicacy store (Le Flâneur) that sells the best cheese I’ve ever tried and a small assortment of really good Champagne (yes, I love Champagne!).Every couple months I ride my bike to the Dong Xuan Center in Lichtenberg, an Asian food market, where you can buy every single Asian ingredient you could ever dream of. I travelled through Asia for a while and this place really reminds me so much of it. It’s a bit like plunging into another small world. You also get an incredibly good pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) there. Frischeparadies is a safe address for fresh, high quality and rather rare products. Even if they don’t have an ingredient in stock, you can always ask, their staff is very helpful and friendly, and they will do their best to try and get what you’ve been searching for. I recently searched for the very rare and hard to get fresh Scandinavian cloudberry, Lindenberg was the only place that could help me to get the fresh berries. And then there is this fantastic organic butcher in Berlin Wilmersdorf (Bachhuber). That place…wow!

You shared your Apricot Salted Butter Caramel Meringue Cake on eat in my kitchen, what do you like about this combination?

Well, it was freestyle mostly. When I did the shopping the day before we met I just could not resist the floral smell of the fresh apricots. Apricots are also just such a winner with salted caramel, don’t you think? And the flambéed meringue is always my ace in the hole, when I really want to impress somebody!

If you could choose one person to cook a meal for you, who and what would it be?

I would love to meet the biodynamic Champagne producer David Léclapart and his daughter Sylvie Gerard Maizieres. She runs a small boutique museum dedicated to Champagne where she organizes Jazz concerts and cooking courses as well, called Pré-en-bulles.

You're going to have ten friends over for a spontaneous dinner, what will be on the table?

I would definitely ask my dear friend Malin from The Bread Exchange for bread. Since we know each other, I bake her cakes for special occasions and she bakes her outstanding sourdough bread for my dinners in return. I would get a variety of good cheeses and butter, fresh artichokes with a light vinaigrette, make a cold or hot soup (I love soup) and a big bowl of fresh salad. And yes, of course, there would be a cake. That’s what everybody expects when being invited to my house.

What was your childhood's culinary favourite and what is it now?

My grandmother's caramelized apple pancakes were a total hit, unbeatable! Right now I would say everything that is produced freshly and with a whole lotta love. At the Bite Club(Berlin street food event) I recently had a pancake made of cabbage, okonomiyaki, wow! That was so good! I love spicy food, I love Asian food, I love fresh veggies, I love a good organic sausage, I love seafood ... the list goes on and on! Oh and I could live off ice-cream for a very long time, my favourite parlour is Rosa Canina.

Do you prefer to cook on your own or together with others?

I love to have people around me, but to be honest, I tend to be a bit bossy in the kitchen, so it’s more the question if others want to cook together with me.

Which meals do you prefer, improvised or planned?

Improvised, definitely!

Which meal would you never cook again?

I can not think of any, actually. Well, I’m not fighting to make empanadas, that is a shit load of work, the dough is made of boiling saltwater, screaming hot fat and flour which you have to stir together with a wooden spoon and then knead it while it’s still really hot. My father is a lot better at it anyways …

Thank you Laura!

Herb Focaccia with Zucchini, Aubergine and Parmesan

This is one of my most beloved summer scenes: juicy focaccia topped with fragrant herbs on the table next to an aromatic selection of cheese and a chilled bottle of rosé wine waiting to be opened. Sometimes it impresses me how easy it can be to create a little holiday even in my own home. Although I have to admit that warm temperatures and a clear blue evening sky definitely help to put my mind in the right mood, scrumptious food is even more efficient.

I used my reliable focaccia recipe to make the soft Italian bread, it's so oily that my fingers feel deliciously smooth and sticky after each bite. Last year I fell in love with a topping of dark grapes and rosemary, in 2015 I'm falling for an almost pizza-like creation. I picked a selection of rosemary, thyme and sage right from the front row of my window sill garden, chopped them finely and spread the green crumbles over the puffy, risen yeast dough. Thin slices of zucchini and aubergine came next to form a pretty grid pattern and add their summery fruitiness. To finish it off, I sprinkled my golden focaccia with fresh oregano and Parmesan. It's such a teaser, when I opened the door to take out the baking sheet, the warm smell of yeast, herbs and cheese caressed my nose. At this point, I definitely felt like I was somewhere in the south of Italy.

Herb Focaccia with Zucchini, Aubergine and Parmesan

For a 25 x 32cm / 10 x 12 1/2″ focaccia you need

• plain flour 500g / 17 1/2oz

• dry yeast 1 sachet (7g / 1/4 ounce)

• salt 1 teaspoon

• sugar 1 heaping teaspoon

• water, lukewarm, 260ml / 1 cup and 2 tablespoons

• olive oil 120ml / 1/2 cup (half for the dough and half for the topping)

• fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage), finely chopped, 2 generous tablespoons

• small zucchini, very thinly sliced (best with a vegetable/ mandoline slicer), 1

• medium aubergine, very thinly sliced, 1/2

• flaky sea salt, for the topping

• Parmesan, grated, 3 heaping tablespoons

• fresh oregano, the leaves of a small handful of sprigs (about 2 heaping tablespoons)

In  a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the water and half the olive oil (60ml / 1/4 cup) and mix with the hooks of an electric mixer for a few minutes until smooth and well combined. Continue kneading with your hands for a few minutes until you have an elastic dough ball. Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with a tea towel. Let the dough rise in a 35°C / 95°F warm oven (top / bottom heat, no fan) for 45-60 minutes.

Take the dough out, punch it down and knead for 1 minute. Spread the dough on an oiled baking sheet with your hands until it measures roughly 25 x 32cm / 10 x 12 1/2″. Cover with a tea towel and let it rise for 20 minutes in a warm place.

Set the oven to 220°C / 430°F (top / bottom heat).

Punch about 6 x 7 holes into the surface of the dough, you can use the round bottom of a wooden spoon or your finger. Pour half of the remaining olive oil (30ml / 1/8 cup) over the dough and into the holes. Use the remaining 30ml / 1/8 cup of oil to thinly coat the sliced vegetables on both sides with your hand. Sprinkle the focaccia with the chopped herbs and lay the oiled vegetables in a cross pattern on top (start with the zucchini and continue with the aubergine). Season with sea salt and bake for 20 minutes or until golden and light brown on top. When it's done, sprinkle with Parmesan and oregano and leave in the hot oven for 1 minute.

Enjoy warm or cold at a summery table full of fruits, cheese and wine!