A trusted companion, my beloved Quiche

This recipe has been with me for a very long time. I think I cooked it for the first time nearly twenty years ago. And since then it has made lots of people very happy (including myself). My time trusted companion is a quiche with a wonderful crisp and buttery short crust base and a simple but perfect filling of leek, tomatoes and thyme. What I also like about it is that the egg and cream filling isn't as high and heavy as in many other versions of this famous French dish. There is still something light about mine.

In past years I tried out different fillings with spinach or broccoli but I still prefer the combination of leek and tomatoes. The taste is just perfect. I once covered the base with slices of pear and crumbled Stilton for a party, very nice too, and perfect finger food.

Quiche

Usually I double the amount and make two quiches, one to eat warm straight away, the other to eat cold the next day. I can't say which I prefer as the different flavours come through very strongly when the quiche has cooled down.

For one quiche you need a 27cm / 10.5" baking dish or tart pan. I use spelt flour type 630 (but you can use any other plain flour) and organic eggs.

For the short crust base

• flour 250g / 8.5 ounces

• butter, cold 125g / 4.5 ounces

• egg, organic 1

• salt 1 teaspoon

Combine the flour with the salt and cut the butter with a knife into the flour until there are just little pieces of butter left. Continue with your fingers and work the butter into the flour until combined (there shouldn't be any lumps of butter left). Add the egg and continue mixing with the hook of your mixer until you have a crumbly mixture. Form a disc, wrap in cling film and put in the freezer for 10 minutes.

For the filling

• medium leek, thinly sliced, 1

• tomato, cut into cubes, 1

• thyme, leaves of a few sprigs

• eggs, organic, 3

• heavy cream 125ml

• crème fraiche or sour cream 125ml

• salt 1 heaping teaspoon

• pepper

• nutmeg, best freshly grated, a generous amount

Set your oven to 210°C / 410°F.

Mix  the eggs with the heavy cream, crème fraiche, salt, pepper, nutmeg and thyme.

Roll out the dough between cling film and line your baking dish with the flat pastry. Prick it with a fork and blind-bake in the hot oven for 10 minutes.  Take your baking dish out of the oven and set the temperature down to 175°C / 350°F.

Spread the leek slices and tomato cubes over your pre-baked pastry base and pour the egg / cream mixture over. Put the quiche carefully on a baking sheet in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until golden. Let it cool for about 10 minutes before you eat.

Bon appétit!

Bitter Radicchio and Spicy Mustard Butter Pasta

Pasta dishes are one of my favorite dinners as they are very easy to prepare but they always give me the feeling that I have created something special. It's always a little feast. My friend Judith told me about this wonderful combination of spaghetti, radicchio, dijon mustard butter and chicken liver (for those who don't fancy liver this recipe also works very well without). I fell in love with the combination of spicy mustard butter and bitter radicchio which makes a very nice, velvety sauce for the pasta. Together with a glass of red wine this puts me in a cozy, relaxed mood, a perfect December evening dinner.

Once in a while I feel a strong appetite for liver so I bought some organic chicken liver today. When I was a child, my mother used to fry liver together with onion rings and thick apple slices and I loved it. I have a real weak spot for traditional comfort food. The recipe today will be lighter but still comfortable. I choose Linguine made by Delverde for our dinner, the most delicious pasta made with water from the Verde river in the Abruzzi region in Italy. Another family recommendation. Linguine fits very well when you want to mix your pasta with vegetables or meat and not only with a sauce as they have more bite than spaghetti.

Linguine with Radicchio, Mustard Butter and Chicken Liver

For a generous dinner for 2 people you need

• pasta for 2, around 200g / 7 ounces

• radicchio, quartered and cut into 1cm slices, 300g / 10.5 ounces

• butter 30g / 1 ounce plus for frying

• smooth Dijon mustard 4-6 teaspoons

• organic chicken liver, rinsed, dried and cleaned of their thicker skins, 150g / 5 ounces

• brandy or red wine for deglazing

• oil for frying

• flour for dusting the liver

• pasta water

• salt and pepper

It doesn't take long to prepare this meal but you will have to coordinate everything within 10 minutes. It is easiest to prepare as much as possible in advance before you start cooking.

Cook the pasta and take out a cup of the pasta water after it has been cooking for a few minutes as we need some of this liquid for the sauce.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan on low heat and mix in the mustard, it might curdle a bit, don't worry. Add a good splash of the pasta water to get a more liquid sauce. Taste to see if the mustard comes through strong enough, you can make it quite tasty as it will get mixed with lots of pasta.

At the same time heat up some butter with a dash of oil in a frying pan. Mix a few tablespoons of flour with salt and pepper on a plate to turn the liver in. Fry the liver for a few minutes on medium heat but watch them as they don't need long and dry out quickly. Deglaze with a tiny dash of brandy or wine, it should cook down straight away. Take the liver out and keep warm under a plate.

Pour some oil in the used but dry pan (wipe it with kitchen roll if necessary) and fry the sliced radicchio for a few minutes, turn and watch, it won't need long either. Mix the cooked pasta in the pan together with the radiocchio and your mustard butter sauce. Season with salt and pepper and arrange on plates with the liver on top. Have a sip of your wine and relax!

A hearty Potato and Parsnip Gratin

I feel really excited when I see food bubbling in the oven. I can sit in front of the glass oven door and watch it become golden, rising up and down and filling the kitchen with the kind of smell that you just achieve with oven dishes. Especially with a gratin! For tonight we will have a very hearty gratin with potatoes, parsnip, onions and bacon and enhanced with nutmeg, cloves and brandy. This creates an addictive combination of hearty and sweet through the parsnip and brandy. We always plan to make bigger portions to have some leftovers for the next day but with gratin we never manage. Today is the same - it is all gone already.

Potato and Parsnip Gratin

For 3 as a main, or 4 as a side dish, you need

• large potatoes, peeled or rinsed and sliced, 4-5

• large parsnips, peeled or rinsed and sliced, 4

• small onion, cut into thin rings, 1

• bacon, cut into small cubes, 40g / 1.5 ounces

• butter 30g / 1 ounce

• heavy cream 75ml

• milk 200ml

• water

• garlic, crushed, 1 clove

• nutmeg, preferably freshly grated

• brandy for deglazing

• sea salt and pepper

Set the oven to 220°C / 430°F. Our oven has a Rotitherm roasting setting which works perfectly for gratin, it combines the grill setting with fan circulation, but the top / bottom oven setting works as well.

Heat the butter in a large pan, fry the bacon and onions on medium heat until golden and add the garlic. Add the potato and parsnip slices to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes. Deglaze with brandy and pour the cream and milk on top, add a little water until everything is covered. Now add the spices and season with salt and pepper. Let it simmer until the potatoes and parsnip are almost done. Arrange the potato and parsnip slices in a baking dish or roasting tin and pour the bacon/ milk/ cream mixture over the vegetables. Bake for 8-10 minutes in the oven until golden brown.

Winter Lentils with Chestnuts and Star-anis

My mother loves lentils – and so do I – and she also loves to share her new lentil creations with me like her all time favorite lentils with chard (a variation which I will post another time). So for many, many years she has sent me her recipes by fax, written on a type writer, as she doesn't like emails and computers. I have a folder full of faxes from her with wonderful recipes and always signed with a sweet motherly note.

Today's lentil creation is something new, I need a soul warmer, with typical winter spices. I bought some French chestnuts and brought out the star-anis and cloves inspired by my last baking sessions. I will use very aromatic lentils from Swabia in the South of Germany sent to me - of course - by my mother. They are cultivated by an organic producer group called Alb-Leisa which recovered this treasure from oblivion. These re-cultivated lentil types had disappeared abruptly in the 1950s due to costs and extensive work. Luckily the Alb-Leisa work is well appreciated, their production has expanded and we can now buy aromatic lentils with old-fashioned names like "Späth's Alblinse I and II".

Lentils with Chestnuts and Star-anis

Here comes the soul-warming recipe, enough for 4 people. I use small lentils which don't need pre-soaking.

• lentils 300g / 10.5 ounces

• small leek, cut in thin slices, 1

• carrots, sliced in half and chopped, 3

• small onion, chopped, 1

• garlic clove, cut in half, 1

• olive oil

• broth or water 1l

• thyme, a bunch

• star-anis 1 (single, not a whole star)

• bay leaves 2

• cloves 2

• allspice, whole not ground, 2

• chestnuts, a hand full

• salt and pepper

I prepared the chestnuts earlier as they don't need to be warm. Preheat the oven to 200°C / 390°F and place an ovenproof   bowl filled with water on the bottom of the oven. Cut a cross on the curved side of the chestnuts and put them in the oven on a baking sheet 10 minutes or until they get dark and their crosses start curling up. Take them out of the oven and cover them with a wet tea towel immediately. This makes it much easier to peel them. Take them out of their outer hard and soft, inner skin while they are still warm. Mind your fingers as they can still be hot.

Warm olive oil in a pan and fry the leek, onion, carrots and garlic on medium heat. Add the lentils and pour the broth on top. Add the thyme and the spices (star-anis, bay leaves, cloves, allspice) but don't season with salt yet or the lentils won't cook and stay hard. Some people put the spices in a disposable tea filter which makes it easier to get them out later. I don't mind them, I prefer to add them unwrapped. Cover with a lid and let it simmer. The cooking time depends on the lentil type. Mine need 20 minutes. After 10 minutes check if there is still enough liquid. When the lentils are soft, season with salt and pepper. Take out the thyme, bay leaves and the spices you can find.

Serve the lentils in deep bowls with broken chestnuts on top and enjoy this soul warming treat.