Olive Oil, Rosemary and Lemon Thyme Crackers

A cracker that’s flavoured delicately with olive oil, rosemary and lemon thyme.

Inspiration to bake comes from so many different places, at least it does for me. Case in point: I was on the streetcar returning home from my weekly status meeting with the marketing company when I pulled out my phone to check up on what’s going on in the world of Facebook. The very first story I see is a recipe for crackers from one of our favourite Food Network Canada’s celebrity chefs, Laura Calder (French food at home). You already know how I love to bake my own crackers so this post hit all the right buttons and I knew right away I wanted to make it. The recipe uses fennel seeds and JT is not a huge fan of fennel, so I improvised and replaced the fennel seeds with chopped rosemary. What can I say? They are light, crispy, delicate crackers that (wait for it) taste as if they were deep fried but they are NOT! The recipe came together so easily (I used my food processor to make the pastry-like dough) and they baked up rather quickly. I made mine long triangles but you can really do any old shape; I rather liked that they weren’t uniform and quite rustic. I changed the name of the crackers because mine had a distinct Olive Oil flavour. Definitely making these again.

(Please click here to see Laura’s original recipe)
Makes about 24 crackers, but it depends on what size you cut them.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (125 g) flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• A good grinding of mixed pepper corns
• 2 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 tbsp EVOO
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) non-fat yoghurt
• 1 tsp fresh lemon thyme leaves
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
2. Using the metal blades in your food processor, add all the ingredients and pulse until entirely combined and the dough resembles small pea-like chunks. Don’t over mix because we don’t want the butter to melt.
3. Turn out onto a piece of lightly floured parchment and roll out to about 1 mm (1/8″) thick. You will need to flour both sides as this dough is rather sticky.
4. Cut into shapes using a pizza wheel and a kitchen ruler. (I cut triangles that were around 13cm x 5cm  (5″ x 2″)
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they begin to get a golden tone. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
6. Store in an air tight container.
7. Serve with your favourite dip or cheese.

They are strong enough to hold dip.

I used a lovely peppery Olive Oil (the one that our neighbour Tom’s father bottles from Greece).

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Scalloped Potatoes with Celeriac

We had JTs family for Easter brunch again this year and I wanted to change it up a bit and serve some different sides. I recently started following John over at Kitchen Riffs and he posted a fantastic update to the traditional scalloped potato dish…he added celery root! Can you believe it? This change was very appealing to me because although scalloped potatoes are not considered healthy, this version is slightly healthier than the traditional version. While potatoes have almost 1 calorie per gram, and a glycemic load of 29, celery root has 0.4 calories per gram with a glycemic load of 6! While it may not make this a healthy dish, it does help mitigate some of the other not-quite-so-healthy ingredients in this dish.

Our Easter Table

I was also inspired to add some thyme to this dish as I was preparing the béchamel sauce and it was fantastic; the thyme really played into the celeriac flavours beautifully. The celeriac also made this dish a lot less starchy than one made exclusively with potatoes. I’m definitely keeping this version for future family dinners.

A warm, bubbly cheese crusted scalloped potato and celeriac

The original recipe came from my trusty Five Roses Cookbook which is now falling apart at the seams, but that’s OK, it looks well-loved!

The thyme flavour with the celeriac is a pleasant surprise.

Scalloped Potatoes with Cereriac

Serves 10-12 small servings

Ingredients:

• 3 medium sized potatoes (Yukon Gold work very well), peeled and sliced very thinly
• 1 small celeriac (celery root), peeled and sliced very thinly
• 1/2 Vialia onion, sliced very thinly
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 cups skim milk
• 1/4 cup AP flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme, plus one sprig for garnish
• 1/2 cup grated yellow cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Prepare an oven-proof baking dish with non-stick cooking spray (I like to use one pretty enough to serve from and that way I’m not messing around plating the dish). Preheat the oven to 190°C (350°F).
2. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over low heat, increase the heat a little and add the flour, mixing well to combine. Cook this mixture for a few minutes making sure not to burn it. Slowly add the milk into the cooked flour and whisk to combine and remove all lumps. Add the chopped thyme and salt and whisk well; cook the béchamel until thick (should still be pourable).
3. Beginning with the potatoes, layer a single layer on the bottom of the prepared baking dish and cover the bottom fully. Next layer the onions over the potatoes and then the celery root. Cover these three layers with the thyme béchamel sauce. Repeat the layering process with the béchamel sauce until you have used up all of the vegetables, leaving a small amount of béchamel to pour over the very top of the layers.
4. Place the baking dish onto a cookie sheet (you’ll thank me later) and sprinkle the cheddar over the béchamel. Bake uncovered for 1 hour 30 minutes or until a cake tester flows into the potato, celery root easily. Serve hot.

 Notes:

• Béchamel thickens as it bakes so don’t worry if you feel your béchamel is runny, it will be fine made with the proportions in this recipe.
• This dish may be made in advance, cooled and refrigerated. Reheat with additional cheese (broiling may be necessary).
• When you reheat, make sure the béchamel bubbles up.

A traditional dish with a new angle!

This is using Potato and Celeriac.

Potato and Celeriac, yielded about 12 portions for the dish I used.

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