An upside down onion pie

Yet another recipe from Nigella's How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking. It is cold and windy in Edinburgh these days, and I needed something heartwarming and comforting to eat last night. Being a proud recent owner of a tarte tatin dish, I thought to use my new kitchenware for something savoury. I remembered Nigella's recipe for "Supper Onion Pie" that I had bookmarked a while ago, and that's what I cooked. I followed the recipe pretty much to the letter, except that I used some Dutch cheese instead of Cheddar, brought by a kind visitor from Amsterdam a few weeks ago. And whereas Nigella sprinkles the same cheese on the onions as well, I used a lovely Irish blue cheese Cachel Blue instead, as I thought - rightly - that a strong-flavoured cheese would work very well with the sweet onions.

Another definite keeper that would be really lovely as a light vegetarian supper.

Upside down red onion pie
(Pahupidi sibulapirukas)
Very slightly adapted from How To Be A Domestic Goddess
Serves 6



For the onion layer:
4-5 medium red onions
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 heaped Tbsp butter
0.5 tsp dried thyme
salt
pepper
50 grams of blue cheese

For the cheesy scone dough:
250 grams plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
100 grams grated cheese
100 ml milk
50 grams melted butter
1 tsp English mustard
1 large egg, beaten

Peel the onions, cut into half and then each half into 4-5 segments, depending on the size. Heat oil and butter in a non-stick or thick-bottomed saucepan and sweat the onions for 20-30 minutes on a low heat, stirring regularly to prevent sticking, until the onions are soft and slightly golden on edges.

Season with salt, pepper and thyme, and layer at the bottom of a deep pie dish. I buttered the dish slightly before adding the onions, then sprinkled with some Blue Cachel cheese.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and grated cheese in a bowl. In another bowl mix the melted butter, milk, mustard and egg. Mix the contents of the two bowls with a wooden spoon. Dip the mixture onto a cutting board, form into a fat disc the size of the pie dish and transfer onto the onions.

Bake at 180-200˚C for about 30 minutes, until the scone dough is golden and baked. Let it cool for 5 minutes, then cover with a serving dish and carefully flip over.

Serve hot or warm with HP Sauce or brown sauce (as recommended by Nigella herself) or with a dollop of sour cream (as I did).

Note for next time: maybe try with small shallots, left whole?

UPDATE: T. Carter over at Lifechanges ... Delayed got inspired and made a red onion upside down pie as well.

Verivorst & hapukapsas: Estonian Christmas staples black pudding & sauerkraut

You ALWAYS have sauerkraut (hapukapsas) and black pudding (verivorstid) at an Estonian Christmas table. I've written about sauerkraut before, here's a picture of a pan full of 2 different types of black pudding or blood sausages before roasting.

And here's a picture of my first Christmas meal in 2005, at my auntie Vaike's place - a week before Christmas actually:)

Sauerkraut, black and white pudding (same thing, one with and the other without blood), potatoes and a really delicious chunk of roasted wild boar (hunted my my cousin's husband). Yummmmy..

Blue cheese and walnut biscuits

I found a recipe for these blue cheese and walnut biscuits in December issue of Pereköök, a monthly recipe booklet of Estonian family journal Pere ja Kodu. They were really simple to make and delicious, and went very well with glög/mulled wine:) These are a lovely addition to my cheesy feet biscuits.

Blue cheese and walnut biscuits
(Sinihallitusjuustu-pähkliküpsised)



150 grams butter
300 ml plain flour
0.5 tsp salt
100-150 grams blue cheese
50 grams chopped walnuts

Chop butter, flour and salt into crumbs, add chopped blue cheese and mix into a dough (if the dough feels to greasy, add a bit more flour).
Add the nuts, knead a bit and form into 2 rolls (3 cm diameter). Wrap into a clingfilm and put into a fridge for at least an hour.
Cut each roll into 5 mm discs and put these onto a baking tray. Bake at 175˚C for 12-15 minutes, until they are light golden (do NOT let them go brown, as cheese goes bitter).

These biscuits keep for a week in an airtight container (in theory. We finished them straight away).

UPDATE:
London-based Manne of Tummyrumble tried these cookies, too