Slovenian frika

I started the day by making traditional Slovenian food, which is a first for me, as I’m not too familiar with that cuisine. Frika is a Slovenian cheese and potato hash and I adapted my version from this recipe by Ana Roš. I didn’t have the correct cheese to add, so I just used mature Cheddar. Obviously the pork fat was substituted by salty butter and vegetable oil. My frika ended up being very rustic looking (it’s really difficult to turn it in the pan), but it was a really nice Sunday breakfast.

Your VegHog

 

Tattie scones for breakfast

Happy weekend everyone! I'm so happy that today has started sunny and energetic after a long, busy and somewhat annoying week at work. I've been too busy to post anything, but let's hope that I can catch up a bit during the weekend.

First thing this morning I went for a walk in the local park. It was nice and quiet there early in the morning, apart from a few joggers and dog walkers, and I felt so good afterwards for having exercised a bit. Here are a couple of photos from my walk as well. It's starting to be properly spring over here, even though couple of days this week were fairly chilly. I'm heading to town soon to the health food shop, but before that I wanted to share my breakfast with you.

I didn't have the healthiest breakfast today, as I had already planned yesterday to make some tattie scones. I've shared a tattie scone recipe a few times before (at least here and here). They are Scottish potato cakes fried in butter, quite naughty, but oh so tasty. Now I made them with a 50/50 spelt and rye flour mix to make them even more wholesome. I left the skins on the potatoes for a more rustic finish. It saves a lot of time, if you cook the potatoes the previous night, and this time I was well prepared. I made a fairly large batch, so have some left for tomorrow, perfect!

Enjoy your weekend!

Your VegHog

Potato and leek bake

Potatoes, leeks and cheese, what else do you need in this season? Probably nothing, at least I'm pretty happy with these ingredients. I decided to make a potato and leek bake, but a slightly different kind than normally. I mashed the potatoes and mixed them with cheese and leeks cooked in cider. It was such a good combination!

We are probably going to switch the Christmas lights on in our flat tonight, so I'm now off to tidy the balcony up. Then I'll prepare some snacks for the evening and there will of course also be mulled wine. What plans do you have for the weekend?

Potato and leek bake

Ingredients

1 kg potatoes (I used the Apache variation)

1 onion

1 cloveless garlic

25 g butter

2 leeks

100 ml dry cider

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

1 tsp vegetable stock powder

200 g Gruyere cheese

Method

Cook the potatoes and mash them.

Chop the onion and garlic finely and start cooking them in butter.

Slice the leeks and add them to the onion.

Let cook for a while until and then add the cider.

Cook until the leeks are soft and season with salt, pepper and vegetable stock powder.

Grate the cheese.

Mix the leeks with the potato mash and then add the grated cheese into them.

Stir into an even mixture and place in a oven dish.

Bake at 180 C for about 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Twice baked potatoes with leeks, cheese and cider

That's right my friends, the baked potato season is upon us and I often catch myself craving a baked potato with a cheesy filling. These twice baked potatoes with leeks flavoured with cider and oak smoked Cheddar are just a dream in the autumn. Have a look at how I made mine.

Ingredients

3 large baking potatoes

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp olive oil

3 leeks

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp butter

100 ml dry cider

1 tsp vegetable stock powder

Salt

Ground black pepper

100 g oak smoked Cheddar

100 g mature Cheddar

Method

Wash the potatoes and coat them with olive oil and sea salt, then bake at 180C for about one hour or until soft.

Cut the leeks into rings and chop the garlic finely. Cook them in butter for a few minutes. Then add the dry cider and let simmer until the leeks are soft. Season with vegetable stock powder (or cube), salt and black pepper. Add the cheese to the mix.

Once the potatoes are done, cut them in halves and scoop out the insides by leaving the skins. Mix the potato insides with the leeks and cheese and stuff into the potato skins.

Return to the oven for about 10 minutes until the tops get a bit of colour.

Serve with a side salad or like I did here with some tomatoes and baby kale.

Enjoy your weekend!

The VegHog