Adventures in Flavorland

Oven-baked salmon with herb crust and caramelised baby carrots

2012-02-29T13:03:00.000+01:00

A delicate tasting, easy to make, but impressive dinner. We made this for my folks when we had them over for the holidays. If you can't find baby carrots in the supermarket, just chop into smaller bits regular-sized ones. The contrast between the salty and delicately herbal salmon flesh and the sweet-and-sour crunchiness of the glazed carrots makes a perfect taste pair. You should try it when you get the chance - nothing too fancy on the ingredient list, perfect for a relaxed evening cooking session. :)

Last year: Spaghetti and tuna balls, Orange and poppy seed muffins, Black olive dip (Tapenade), Concentrated orange caramel, Diet muffins with cranberries, spices and dark chocolate, Risotto with caramelized onions, artichokes and bacon, Pina colada cupcakes and Brussel sprouts side dish with nutmeg and chives.

Ingredients (serves 4):

4 salmon fillets (125 g each)
1 handful fresh parsley (20 g)
1 handful fresh basil (20 g)
2-3 tablespoons pesto
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
500 g baby carrots
4-5 tablespoons maple syrup (can be replaced with honey)
4-5 tablespoons red balsamic vinegar

Wash and drain the fillets. Mix the olive oil, dried thyme, salt and pepper in a paste and rub the fish on both sides with it:

Fry the pieces for 1-2 minutes on each side.

Place them in a heatproof dish and spread the pesto on the side that is up. Top with the minced parsley and basil:

Put the dish in the oven to bake at 200-220 degrees C for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, put the carrots in a medium frying pan over moderate heat and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste:

Let them cook (without any oil) for about 5-7 minutes. Afterwards add the maple syrup and the vinegar:

Let them cook, stirring often, until the sauce reduces into a glaze (another 7-8 minutes). Take the fish out of the oven:

Put a piece of salmon (with the herb crust up, careful not to break it when you transfer) on each plate, and complete it with 1/4 of the carrots. Serve warm. Dig in! :)

Cinnamon and brown sugar palmiers

2012-02-27T14:06:00.000+01:00

Crispy, warm-tasting, the perfect companion to milk. The feel of home-made butter and cinnamon treats on a cold winter night. :)

These are one of those things where the puff pastry you use really makes a major difference, so choose carefully. It should be butter-made, with no additives and the more expensive kind.

Last year: Chocolate and stout cupcakes, Tikka masala chicken cous cous, Czech poppy seed cakes (kolache).

Ingredients:

375 g butter-made puff pastry
30 g butter
50 g brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Gather the ingredients.

Melt the butter:

Unwrap the pastry and brush it with melted butter all over.

Sprinkle it with sugar and cinnamon as evenly as possible:

Start rolling it together from both ends, like a parchment:

When it's completely rolled, wrap it up in paper or cling and put it in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. After it cools and hardens a bit, take it out and slice it into thin pieces (that will become the palmiers). Put them on a baking tray lined with baking paper:

Put in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Take out and dig in! :)

Lemon pickles (Moroccan preserved lemons)

2012-02-26T02:23:00.000+01:00

The pickles lemons are a basic ingredients in lots of Moroccan dishes, especially in their flavorful tagines. They need to be prepared at least 6 weeks before using them, but keep well for up to a year. You may encounter lots of recipes using them around here, so I thought I'd better show you how it's done :).
Recipe source: Crazy mother cooker.

Last year: Broccoli and ham torte, Cardamom Lassi, Broccoli and pancetta orrecchiete and Noodle salad with black sesame.

Ingredients (for a large jar that can hold 6-8 lemons tightly packed):

6-8 lemons
juice from 5-6 lemons
about 100-150 g salt
some water
a glug of olive oil

First, let's talk about the salt. Usually, when making traditional salt brine pickles (like my father does wonderfully), iodized salt is a no-no. It makes them go too soft and gooey. But in this case, where only the lemon peel will be used (and in a finely chopped form), the consistency doesn't really matter. Thus, in this case it doesn't matter if the salt you use is iodized or not, but when making other salty pickles keep in mind to use plain salt.
Next, be careful to have a very clean jar and if you have the patience sterilize it by putting it in the hot oven for 20-30 minutes.
And with that being said, let's get to work :)
Wash the prettiest 6-8 lemons from your bundle very, very well. (They might be waxed to keep better on the shelves). Cut them in quarters almost all the way, but not quite completely and fill them with a generous helping of salt:

As you finish doing this to each, stuff them in the jar, as tightly as you can. When the jar is full, pour the juice from the other lemons in it:

Heat some water up until the evaporating point and add a handful or two of salt to it. Mix well, then pour it in the jar until it's almost filled (and the lemons are all covered). Also pour a little olive oil to seal the bad bacteria out of the pickling going on underneath :). Cover tightly and put the jar in a cool and dark place. In 6 weeks it will be done. Enjoy :)

Home-made raclette bowls with wild mushrooms, lemon and capers

2012-02-24T21:46:00.000+01:00

Raclette is a very special cheese of French and Swiss tradition. It's usually melted in large ovens and poured over onions and pickles on each serving plate. For a more classic take on the home-made version you should check out our older post here. This time, we felt like pairing it with wild mushrooms and some tangy lemons :). If you're a fan of melted cheesy goodness, the raclette is something you can't miss.
Warning: don't be put off by the specific smell ;)

Last year: Banana bread with nuts, Tirolese spinach-cheese dumplings, Spinach and cheese crostini, The perfect fluffy fried bananas and Chinese fried rice with egg.

Ingredients (serves 2):

350 g raclette
juice from 1/4 lemon
50-70 g pickles (cornichons in our case)
50 g wild mushrooms
1/4 red onion
1 tablespoon capers

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Chop up the onion and place it on the bottom of two heat-proof bowls:

Do the same with the pickles:

Start placing pieces of raclette on top. Alternate with a little lemon juice and layers of wild mushrooms:

Add some capers on top too and place in the oven:

Let them bake for 20 minutes. Take out and dig in! :)

Bell pepper sticks with refried bean dip

2012-02-23T18:55:00.001+01:00

Refried beans (refritos meaning very fried in Spanish) are a classic Mexican dip we've used before in our adventures (like the corn cakes with avocado salsa or the huevos rancheros etc). And we like them so much (not to mention they're a fast and healthy way to catch up with some of your nutritional weekly requirements) we decided to serve them simple, accompanied only by raw veggie sticks for dipping (in this case, three-colored bell peppers, but you could also use carrot or cucumber sticks etc). Double the health points and the fun! :)

Last year: Pissaladieres (French caramelized onion tarts), Pickled mustard, Marliesentorte (German chocolate cake), Potato puree with caramelized shallots and Pork muscle in spice crust.

Ingredients (serves 2 as main, more as starter):

1/2 a green, a red and a yellow bell pepper
2 cans of red beans (kidney beans) (400 g total dry weight)
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
150 g grated emmentaler cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
a good sprinkle of Tabasco sauce to taste

Place the beans, drained almost completely (keep 2-3 tablespoons of their water) in a medium pan oven low heat.

Season with salt and pepper and let them fry. Meanwhile, wash and chop the bell peppers into sticks:

When the beans are warmed, start smashing them with a large fork or some other stirring tool directly into the pan, as they cook. At some point they will become to dry and you'll need to add the olive oil:

When every bean was smashed and everything starts to come together in an even paste, add the grated (or chopped into pieces) emmentaler:

Stir for a couple of minutes for the heat to work its magic on the cheese, then transfer to serving bowls and decorate with the dipping sticks:

It's ready, dig in! (Preferably serve warm).

Beefsteaks in apple juice

2012-02-22T11:54:00.000+01:00

Marinating meat (especially pork, lamb and beef) in apple juice is a lovely way to achieve a tenderized steak with a delicious caramelized glaze. Not to mention it is a very easy way to spruce up the flavor without working to make a complicated sauce. Here we served the steaks with our Rosemary marinated potatoes, just in case you're interested to recreate the side dish as well :). Enjoy.

Last year: Singapore noodles with chicken, Mexican-style scrambled eggs, Bacon wrapped baby corns and Spicy chocolate truffles.

Ingredients (serves 4):

4 beef steaks (125-200 g each)
250 ml apple juice (freshly squeezed preferably; the variety with pulp if it's store-bought)
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon thyme
olive oil for frying

Put the meat in a deep dish and cover with the apple juice. Also sprinkle with the salt, pepper and thyme:

Let the whole thing marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours (or overnight). When you're ready to make it, pour some olive oil in a medium frying pan and put the meat with half of the marinade in it. Cover and let it cook for 5-8 minutes, then turn the steaks:

Let them cook for some 7-8 minutes more, covered as well. When the meat looks fried on both sides, pour the rest of the marinade on it and let it cook uncovered until the sauce reduces completely and the meat is done in the center as well. Arrange on plates and serve (with the rosemary potatoes if you like) :). Dig in! :)

Sprinkle butter cookies (Italian) and baby arrival

2012-02-19T14:51:00.001+01:00

After a long wait, our baby arrived (well, more than a week ago, but we were too caught up with everything to make time to post) :). Her name is Mira. We're posting a recipe of cookies with sugar confetti to celebrate the little princess. Powerpuff girl style :)

Buttery sugar cookies, with a hint of lemon and a coating of colorful sugar sprinkles that are a staple in Italian bakeries. We had these around for the winter holidays and they sure were a delicious treat :).
Recipe adapted from Saveur.

Last year: White Turkish rice pudding (with rosewater and almonds), Florentine pie (with spinach and egg), Bramboraki (Czech potato pancakes) and Chicken with cream and mushrooms.

Ingredients:

170 g butter
170 g sugar
190 g flour
1 and 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt
zest of one lemon
1 egg white
multi-colored sugar sprinkles (about 50-60 g)

First, mix the flour, baking powder and salt and let aside. Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of your food processor:

Mix very well until pale and fluffy, add the vanilla, egg and lemon zest:

Mix some more until well blended. Add the dry ingredients and mix until an even batter is formed.

Line a tray with baking paper and get about 1 spoonful of batter and place it on the sheet. Continue, leaving some distance between the future cookies:

Press the balls of dough into disks. Put the tray in the fridge and chill for 30 minutes. When you're ready to bake them, preheat oven to 190 degrees C and prepare the rest. Lightly beat the egg white in a cup and put the colorful sugar sprinkles on a plate.

Take one cookie disk at a time, brush it with egg-white (only on the frontal side) and press it into the sprinkles with the moist side. Place it back on the tray and continue with the rest.

Put them into the preheated oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Take out, allow to cool and repeat with the rest of the dough (if, like us, you can't bake multiple trays at once). We repeated 2 times (3 trays total).

Place cookies in an airtight container (like our tin cookie box in the main picture) and they'll keep wonderfully for days. Or eat them all at once. At any pace, dig in! :)

Dagaiku imo (Japanese honey and sesame sweet potatoes)

2012-01-30T21:12:00.000+01:00

Our baby still isn't here but she should arrive any day now. We're both enthusiastic and anxious and a bit tired (me) and as soon as it happens we may take a little break from cooking but not from posting (we have goodies documented in advance and some guest-posts from some of our friends are also scheduled to arrive). Keep a happy thought for us during these days and meanwhile maybe try this lovely Japanese dessert. Enjoy :)

"Dagaiku imo" literally means "university potatoes", because they're a staple student food around Japanese campuses. The really special thing about them is the sesame flavor from the oil and the seeds sprinkled on top, and the crunchy layer of caramelized honey that coats each piece, creating a crispy exterior and a creamy interior. We loved them and we're sure you will too if you try them.
Recipe source: Mark.

Last year: Winter wheat berries soup and Endive and bacon pasta.

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 large sweet potatoes (400 g)
50 ml peanut oil (the thing is you should cover them in frying oil, but you can use only a little sesame oil for flavor so the base should be a flavorless oil like sunflower - I prefered to use peanut oil given that it has the same price range as sunflower oil, comes in large quantities but definitely has a subtle peanut flavor that complements the sesame one very well)
10 ml sesame oil
50 g honey
50 sesame seeds

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into bite-sized cubes. Pour the peanut oil in a wok and then the sesame oil on top. Allow the oil to get heated up, then put the potatoes in it and mix well to coat them all:

Fry them until they're softened up and fried all the way through (5-8 minutes, stirring once in a while).

Get them out of the oil and into a large bowl fast enough for them to remain hot, then drizzle the honey on top and mix fast to coat them and to allow the heat to caramelize the honey before it wears off:

Sprinkle the sesame seeds generously on top and you're done. Dig in! :)

Creamy potato and artichoke salad (very light)

2012-01-28T10:46:00.000+01:00

If you're a fan of potato salads, this is a creamy dressed one (and I mean with a real creamy and delicious, full mouth-feel) which is also incredibly light. With a Mediterranean taste from the artichokes and the raw red onion and olives, you'll surely like it. I'm quite proud of this creation.
First made it for greeting my folks when they came over for Christmas (I needed something I could make in advance because I also wanted to be able to pick them up in person from the airport and not just send Bogdan to get them :). ) A nice meal for having guests over or for your day-to-day dinner. Enjoy.

Last year: Bacon and eggs breakfast with a fresh touch and Vegetable stock.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 kg potatoes
150 g simple yogurt
1-2 tablespoons home-made mustard (sweet)
1 small red onion
1/2 teaspoon turmeric (curcuma) powder
175 g artichoke hearts from the jar
15-20 pitted black olives
1 teaspoon condimento balsamico bianco (white balsamic vinegar)
salt and pepper to taste (optional, we didn't add any, the dressing was enough)

Boil the potatoes whole for about 40 minutes. Then peel them and chop them up into thick slices. Also chop up the drained artichokes and mix them with the potatoes in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix the mustard, yogurt, turmeric and balsamic vinegar.

Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well:

Transfer the salad to a serving dish:

Top it with black olives and red onion slices. It's done :). Dig in!

Linguine alla putanesca (Italian)

2012-01-25T09:02:00.001+01:00

This is such a classical pasta dish you probably already know it. But just in case you don't, let's talk about its history a little. The name means.. well, basically "whore's pasta" :)). Apparently the Italian ladies of the night had some restrictions on going to the marketplace in broad daylight, so pasta made with not-so-fresh ingredients (from the can) was a easier (and cheaper) way to feed their clients. The name could also come from the salty and robust taste of the dish, say some culinary historians. Anyway, they're pretty delicious and very laziness-friendly. You can just throw it together with whatever stuff you have lying around in the pantry when you don't feel like going out of the house to shop.
Here we made the classical take on it, with the only mention that we used herring instead of anchovies (we don't really like them). Enjoy your naughty pasta :)

Last year: Red pepper and pesto pasta with smoked salmon and Fig salad with feta, rucola and cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients (serves 2):

250 g linguine
1 small can of herring in tomato sauce (200 g whole, 120 g fish content)
1 tablespoon olive oil
100 ml tomato sauce from the can
a handful of champignons from the can
a handful of black olives from the can
2-3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon capers
red pepper flakes to taste (about 1 teaspoon)
dried basil and thyme to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon each)
salt and pepper to taste (careful, there's enough salt in the other ingredients already)

Boil the linguine according to package instructions:

Chop up the mushrooms, olives and open the fish can.

When the pasta is boiled, drain it and add the tomato sauce to it. Let it heat a bit more, mixing well.

After a couple of minutes turn off the heat and add all the rest of the stuff on top of it. Mix well to coat everything and it's done.

Tandoori chicken skewers with field salad and lemon raita (Indian-style)

2012-01-21T08:20:00.001+01:00

This is our favorite kind of dinner for weeknights. Lean chicken meat marinated in a tandoori sauce, then seared on a hot grill, served with crispy warm flat-bread and field salad with cherry tomatoes. And a lovely lemon raita (Indian dipping sauce for spicy foods) to go with it all :).
P.S: We're also enlisting this recipe in January's Sweet Romania challenge (2012), which focused on the keywords "detox" and "citrus". We found this to be the perfect example of a main course that embodied them both :).

Last year: Ricotta and cinnamon pancakes with raspberry sauce and pomegranate and Bavarian-style white radish salad with lemon vinaigrette.

Ingredients (serves 2):

300 g chicken breast
2 tablespoons tandoori curry paste (tamarind and ginger based)
2 tablespoons yogurt (optional)
2 pitas / naan bread / tortillas for serving
a handful of field salad
4 cherry tomatoes

For the raita:

250 ml greek yogurt
salt and pepper to taste
juice from half a lemon
leaves from a thyme sprig
1/4 bunch of fresh parsley

Cut the meat into cubes and add the tandoori paste on top of it. You can also mix the paste with 2 tablespoons of yogurt to dilute it if it's too strong for you. We didn't.

Mix very well to coat the meat and let it marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. (More would be ideal). When you're ready to make them, heat the grill (we used a cast-iron grill pan), put the meat on wooden skewers (2 for each serving) and start grilling it:

Be careful to turn the skewers every 3-4 minutes on a fresh side, to ensure the meat gets cooked all over. Meanwhile put the tortillas on the serving plates and start preparing the raita:

Chop the leaves finely and add them to the yogurt. Also squeeze the lemon. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well and it's done.
Prepare the field salad by tearing the leaves with your fingers (metal tools take away some of the flavor) and cutting the cherry tomatoes into halves or quarters. Arrange the grilled skewers on each plate on top of the flat-bread and also add a generous handful of field salad with cherry tomatoes. Serve with the bowl of raita in the middle for everyone to dunk a bit of bread or meat in it :). It's ready, dig in! :)

Ramekin mini-cheesecakes with honey and lime (wintery)

2012-01-21T08:14:00.001+01:00

If you feel like having a slice of cheesecake in no time, here's how you can make mini-cheesecakes in your ramekins (we usually just make two when we feel like a quick sugar fix).
For this version here, we felt like recreating a classic childhood winter taste, of hot tea with honey and lemon in it, served next to a piece of cheese pie. If you like honey and lemon in your tea, you'll love the combination here. Oh, and unlike classic cheesecakes, we recommend these to be served warm (for the above-mentioned nostalgia reasons), although chilled they're just as good.
P.S: We're sending this to January 2012's Sweet Romania challenge, which had "detox" and "citrus" as keywords. We can think of no better way to have some light dessert (with lemony taste) during detoxing :).

Last year: Easy Spanish tapas and Greek Zucchini fritters (Kolokitho Keftedes) with Tzatziki sauce.
Ingredients (makes 2):

4-5 plain biscuits
1 large tablespoon butter
175 g cream cheese
3-4 tablespoons honey
a drop of vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons lime jam (we used jelly lime marmalade, British sort)

Mix the crumbled biscuits with the melted (or just softened butter) and put the resulting crumbles on the base of two ramekins.

Mix the cream cheese with the honey and vanilla very well, them spoon the resulting composition on top of the biscuit layer (leveling it):

Put in the oven at 200 degrees C for about 15 minutes. Take out, and top with the lime jam:

It's done, dig in! :)

Onion-tamarind soup with herb butter baguette

2012-01-19T10:23:00.000+01:00

We like onion soup in its classic French version, but the addition of onions to any kind of broth makes us happy as well, especially in the cold season. Here we took a more oriental approach to the onion soup and paired it with an oven-baked baguette stuffed with a herb butter spread. It sure is warming to dunk a crispy freshly out-of-the-oven baguette in a light and airy soup :).
And don't worry about unpleasant smells (if you haven't had onion soup before), the cooking takes it all away and leaves behind only a delicious flavorful sweetness. Not to mention you're probably not going to catch any cold for a while. Enjoy. :)

Last year: Tortilla de patatas (Spanish omelet) with parsley and fennel and Red wine pears and Camembert.
Ingredients (serves 3-4):

4-6 onions of mixed colors(1 red, 2 yellow, 1 white in our case)
1 garlic clove
2 tablespoons ghee (or normal butter)
2 tablespoons tamarind paste
1 tablespoon herbal liquor
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1,5 liters soup stock
1 teaspoon flour / starch (optional, if you want to thicken it; we didn't use any)

For the baguette:

1 fresh baguette
3 tablespoons of butter
1/2 bunch of fresh parsley
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste

Start by chopping the onions (not very finely, slicing them is enough):

Add them all to the soup pot with the ghee or butter and place on medium heat:

Let them cook slowly, stirring once in a while, until they're softened and slightly golden (but nowhere near brown). Then, add the sliced garlic clove, the vinegar and the herbal liquor:

Stir and cook some more for 4-5 minutes. Then add the tamarind paste:

Stir well, fry for 1-2 minutes more, then add the soup stock. Let it simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the baguette. Slice it (but not all the way). Blend the butter, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper with a mixer (or by hand but it will take longer) until very evenly combined. Insert a little herb butter with the edge of a knife into each slice of the baguette:

Bake it in the oven at 200-220 degrees for 8-10 minutes. The baguette and the soup should be ready at about the same time. Pour the soup into bowls, place the baguette, separated into slices or pieces nearby and dig in :)

Dukkah-coated turkey wraps

2012-01-17T00:21:00.001+01:00

If you were wondering what else could you make using the delicious dukkah blend, here's an idea. We like coating chicken or turkey strips with it and baking them till they're crispy, then using them in a warm crunchy wrap alongside fresh salad and a creamy dressing (like guacamole, mayonnaise or even hummus if you want to keep the Middle-Eastern themed flavors).
The nicest thing about this is that it's very fast to make, easy to pack up and thus ideal to be prepared as a office snack. Just make it the evening before and take it with you in a box, it keeps so well you'll enjoy it as if freshly made :)

Last year: Sweet pumpkin roast and Simple wellness salad with potatoes, apple, feta and egg.
Ingredients (makes 2):

200-250 g turkey breast
1 egg
25 g flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
some dukkah (about 50 g) (recipe here)
2 tortillas or pita bread
a couple of tablespoons of guacamole or mayo or hummus (if you want to keep it Middle-Eastern)
fresh salad leaves (about 50 g)
5-6 cherry tomatoes

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C. Cut the turkey breast into strips. Beat the egg and season it with salt and pepper. Spread the flour on a plate and mix it with the garlic powder. Spread the dukkah on another plate.

Line a baking tray with baking sheet. Dredge the turkey strips through the flour, then the egg and then the dukkah. Place them on the baking sheet:

Let them bake for 25 minutes until golden and crispy. Make sure they're not still raw inside before you remove from the oven (shouldn't be, but make sure, maybe you've cut them too thick or something). Meanwhile, heat the tortillas or pitas or flat-breads and spread some sauce on them (we used mayo):

Top with the salad leaves and chopped cherry tomatoes. When the turkey strips are ready, add them too (one or two per wrap, depending on the tortilla size):

First fold one end of the wrap towards the center, then roll them into a cone. Make it stay wrapped by using some alu-folie on the folded end (or waxed paper and a lace or something similar). Your wraps are ready. Dig in now or store in the fridge and take them to work. Either way, enjoy ! :)

Dukkah (Middle Eastern nut and spice blend) (Egypt)

2012-01-15T19:53:00.005+01:00

The dukkah (or duqqa) is a spice mix used in the Middle East, especially in Egypt, as a side-dish or starter. Paper cones filled with this coarse ground mixture are sold as a popular street food, and the buyer dips his pita bread in the vendor's bowl of olive oil and then in the dukkah. This is just the way we recommend you to serve it too (and so did we):

But the dukkah can be used for various other cooking feats: as a topping for pasta and cream soups, as a coating for meat or vegetables before roasting them etc. After you make it, store it in a airtight jar and use it within a month or two. Get creative :)

Last year: Simple chicken stock and Risotto with chicken strips and bell pepper.
Ingredients:

100 g raw hazelnuts
25 g pine seeds
5 tablespoons sesame seeds (3 toasted, 2 raw)
1 tablespoon mixed pepper kernels
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/3 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon allspice seeds
1 and 1/2 teaspoon salt (best kind you have)

Get a frying pan with a heavy bottom and heat it. Put all the hazelnuts in it and keep them there on medium heat. Let them toast until the skins start to come off and they're fragnant (10-15 minutes). Stir once in a while to keep them from burning.

When they seem done, also add the 3 tablespoons of sesame seeds, pine seeds, peppercorns, cumin and fennel seeds and pretty much every spice you're using that is not ground (or a dried herb). Toast them too for 5 minutes, then grind everything together in your blender. It's done, get some bread and olive oil and dig in! :)

Tuna and clementine cream pate

2012-01-13T18:41:00.000+01:00

If you like tuna spreads this is how you can have it home-made, healthier and yummier. Usually given a tang by adding lemon juice, we gave it a more tropical-tang using clementines :). Also infused with Mediterranean herbs and flavors, it made for a very satisfying starter (and whole meal actually).
Inspired from here (but adapted it with the clementine twist).

Last year: My mom's Romanian Bird's Milk.

Ingredients:

2 tuna cans in water (300 g drained, total)
1 Philadelphia cream cheese (light version) box
2 clementines
1 teaspoon of each: thyme, basil, rosemary
2 tablespoons capers
1 small onion (shallot)
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mince the shallot and fry it in the olive oil:

Put the tuna and capers in the food processor:

Add half of the cream cheese and fried onion:

Mix well, then add the rest of the cream cheese, the clementines (peeled and seeded if necessary), herbs, salt and pepper (decide how much after tasting):

Mix again until all is an even paste. Transfer in a serving bowl and have it next to warm crusty bread. Dig in! :)

Tapenade (olive paste) bread rolls

2012-01-11T03:47:00.001+01:00

These little snail-shaped fluffy-crunchy bread rolls filled with a delicious olive paste are one of our go-to snacks using the magic dough we seem to be making so often (from the breakfast braided bread). The tapenade paste is basically made from black olives mashed together and optionally spiced with herbs or other additions. It is often made and considered a delicacy in Provence. We usually use it as a dip for tortilla chips, as a spread for pies or pizzas, and now also as a delicious filling in bread rolls.

Last year: Tabbouleh (Middle Eastern parsley-bulgur salad) and Simple wellness salad (with endives, feta, clementines and pumpkin seeds).

Ingredients (for a batch):

half the dough made for the breakfast braided bread (use half for the bread and the other half for these, like we did, or if you just want to make these, make the dough and double the olive quantity below)
270 g black olives (2 cans)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Put the drained olives in a food processor or blender:

Puree them until they form a paste (add the olive oil at some point to make it smoother). Roll the dough into a rectangle and spread the tapenade on it, almost to the edges:

Roll the dough around itself to form a log, then slice it into the rolls. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and place the rolls on it (no need to keep much distance, they won't grow too much during baking):

Put in the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes until golden. Take out and dig in! :)

Cranberry and walnut scones (Southern American-style)

2012-01-08T01:47:00.000+01:00

Slightly sweeter than the original British version, these scones (tea cookies) are suitable to serve on their own as well, without any addition of cream and jam, but not that sweet to make such an addition unwelcome :D
Packed full of warm fall and winter flavors (tangy fresh cranberries, crunchy walnuts, orange peel, golden saffron and cinnamon, they make a lovely snack, breakfast, treat and so on. Enjoy.
We had some extra fresh cranberries on hand and were out of desserts, so we wanted something easy to make and fast and this opportunity presented itself right on time (especially given the fact that lately, overfed with the whole cupcake drama, I've been quite passionate about the noble scones' history). :)
Recipe slightly adapted from here.

Last year: Zucchini and caraway salad with parsley and lemon cream salad.
Ingredients (makes 12 pieces):

170 g butter
375 g flour
110 g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
200 ml buttermilk
70 g chopped walnuts
100 g raw cranberries
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
pinch of yellow saffron

For the glaze:

1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon powder sugar
1/4 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Lightly chop the cranberries (we cut them in half) and crush the walnuts (not too finely if you want the scones to pack a good crunch):

Mix the flour, baking powder, saffron and butter into a crumbly pre-dough.

Add the sugar and orange zest and mix more. Add the buttermilk and work into a proper dough. Pour the fruit and nut pieces into it and mix well:

Line a baking tray with baking paper and mold 12 round scones out of the dough (you can use a large glass to cut them from the rolled-out dough or just use your hands like I did :) ):

Mix the glazing ingredients in a small recipient and brush the scones with it:

Put in the pre-heated oven and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. They won't overgrow so you don't need to leave too much space between them. Take out, allow to cool a it and dig in! :)

Eggplant croquettes (fritters) with spicy-sour yogurt sauce

2012-01-05T16:09:00.001+01:00

Although you may think that these are heavy (given that are fried in oil), trust me, they only seem so. The moist interior and the bread crumbs create such a texture that absorbs almost no oil at all and makes the final product soft and yummy inside with a crunchy crust on the outside. Try them when you're in the mood for a tasty yet light vegetarian main or a nice snack to nibble on while waiting for a heartier main. They also make for great party appetizers ;)
Recipe adapted from here.

Last year: Fast baby pasta with creamy Parmesan and pea sauce and Simple tomato sauce pasta (pasta con pomodoro).

Ingredients (serves 2 as main, 4-6 as starters):

600 g fresh eggplant
50 g grated Parmesan
2-3 tablespoons ground crackers or breadcrumbs
1 egg
2-3 garlic cloves
a handful of fresh parsley
olive oil
salt and pepper

For the sauce:

150 ml yogurt
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon ajvar (or harissa or red chili paste)
juice from half a lemon
1 tablespoon cilantro leaves (or basil or thyme)

Cut the eggplant(s) in two (lengthwise) and carve a squared-pattern into them with a sharp knife. Rub with olive oil, salt and pepper and put them on a baking sheet, interior-side up:

Bake for 35 minutes at max temperature:

Scoop out their softened flesh with a spoon and put it in a colander to drain:

Mix the parmesan, beaten egg, breadcrumbs and crushed garlic in a bowl. Add the eggplant:

Mix everything with a fork (the eggplant will get mashed into the process). Add more tablespoons of ground breadcrumbs until you obtain a paste that can be easily molded (we didn't need any extra, but you may happen to, depending on how well you drained the eggplant):

Form little balls out of it and fry them in a little more olive oil:

Turn them gently on all sides until they're crispy, then proceed to do the same with the remaining composition. For the sauce, mix everything together in a dipping bowl:

Serve warm or cold, with the sauce. Dig in ! :)

Pollo alla cacciatora (hunter's chicken stew) (Italian)

2012-01-03T22:43:00.001+01:00

This Italian chicken stew takes a while to make, but it's quite a relaxed cooking session and the way all the flavors come together in the end is amazing. It's very light, but tastes hearty and intense from all the veggies, olives, white wine, fresh mushrooms, capers and so on. We had it with a Italian-style polenta, which we recommend as the ideal side-dish for this.
Adapted mainly from here.

Happy New Year and good luck keeping up with all your new plans, resolutions and projects!

Last year: Moldavian fried carp with mamaliga (polenta) and mujdei (garlic sauce).

Ingredients (serves 2-4, depending on the appetite):

4 pieces of chicken thigh (500 g)
2 red bell peppers
1 large pearly white onion
300 g fresh champignon mushrooms
100 g pitted black olives
1 can of chopped tomatoes (400 g)
350 ml dry white wine
2-3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried cilantro
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon sugar
olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

For the polenta (serves 2):

500 ml vegetable soup

3/4 cup of polenta flour (corn maize) (150 g)
1 slice butter
50 g grated Parmesan

Prepare the vegetables. Cut the chicken thighs in two to make 4 pieces (if they're not cut already). Season the mean with salt and pepper and put it aside.

Heat a little olive oil and fry the chicken pieces on both sides until golden. It doesn't matter if it's still raw inside, it will go in the stew for a long time anyway. Put the fried chicken aside. Chop up the onion and garlic and fry them in a little oil directly in the medium pot you'll use for the stew.

Meanwhile clean and chop up the bell peppers and mushrooms. When the onion and garlic are softened and slightly golden (careful not to brown them!), add the chopped tomato can, the sugar, the wine and the chicken to the pot.

Next, add the mushrooms, peppers, sliced olives, capers and all the herbs:

Mix well:

Cover and let it cook on medium heat for one hour (stirring once in a while), or place in the oven for one hour. Uncover and let cook some more if you want less liquid (it's really a personal preference thing).
For the polenta, heat the soup and add the corn maize to it, stirring. After it came together in a polenta (about 10 minutes), add the butter and Parmesan cheese:

Mix very well and it's done. Serve them both warm together:

Enjoy! :)

Carrot and clementine cake with carrot-ginger marmalade, honey-cream cheese frosting and balsamic glaze

2011-12-31T01:07:00.000+01:00

This was a treat. But a light and healthy treat, full of fibers, very little fat and sugar and so on (it even uses wholewheat flour!). I'm very proud of my creation here. Let me detail it for you :D : the two sponges are carrot cake with clementine juice ans saffron, between them is a thin layer of our awesome carrot-ginger and caramel marmalade, a cream cheese-honey mixture; on top there's more of the honey cream cheese frosting, fresh clementines and a red balsamic glaze. Who could resist the temptation when even health objections are out of place in this case :) ?
Not too complicated to make. Enjoy :) And have a Happy New Year! :)

Last year: Aubergine and spicy chicken with mascarpone pasta

Ingredients:

For the sponges (2 X 26 cm, 180 C, 40-45 min):

600-650 g carrot
6 eggs (separated)
360 g sugar
300 g plain flour
200 g whole wheat flour
2 satchels baking powder (30 g)
zest of 2-3 clementines
pinch of salt
pinch of saffron
100 ml sunflower oil (or peanut oil)
100 ml clementine juice (or water)
a bit of butter for greasing the tin(s)

For the syrup:

juice from 2-3 clementines
2 tablespoons carrot-ginger marmelade

For the frosting:

700 g cream cheese (philladelphia)
5-6 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon powder sugar
2-3 tablespoons mascarpone cheese (or juice from 1 more clementine)

For decorating:

about 6-8 clementines
a bit of red balsamic glaze (store-bought or home-made by boiling red balsamic vinegar, a bit of sugar and starch until it thickens)

Clean the carrots.

Grate them (easier in a kitchen robot). Whisk the egg whites with 180 g sugar and a pinch of salt. In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks with the other 180 g sugar, the oil and the clementine juice:

Pour the egg-white mixture on top of the yolk mixture:

Add the grated carrots and the grated clementine zest:

Mix the flours with the saffron and the baking powder and add them too to the main bowl. Mix everything into a batter:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a 26 cm springform tin (or 2 if you have them) and pour half the batter into it (or divide it between the two tins):

Bake fro 40-45 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Repeat for the remaining dough using the form again (or if you had 2 forms, you're already done). Allow the two sponges to cool:

Squeeze more clementine juice. Spread a little marmalade on one side of each sponge (where you want to glue them together) and the fruit juice.

Let them infuse while you prepare the frosting. Mix all the ingredients for the frosting well and you're done. Spread a thick layer of frosting between the two sponges (using about half of all the frosting):

Top the cake with the remaining frosting and decorate with clementine segments on the outer ring. Put the balsamic glaze (if it's not store-bought) in a little bottle and pour a spiral of glaze on the frosting, starting from the center. Take a skewer and gently draw radial lines from the center towards the exterior. The cake is done:

It keeps well, but it won't be necessary because it will be gone very fast :). Dig in! :)

Simple bundt cake with raisins (Romanian guguluf)

2011-12-29T00:21:00.003+01:00

This is an easy and basic "chec" recipe (sweet bread very often made in Romanian homes). When it's done in a bundt pan, resulting in what Germans call a gugelhupf, the Romanians call it a guguluf :). We like having slices of it with warm milk for breakfast. It's not too sweet, not too dry and keeps well for 2-3 days, even uncovered and at room temperature. Have fun :)

Last year: Pasta alla carbonara and Ginger-lemon chicken breast with honey-spicy vegetable sautee.

Ingredients (for a small one):

200 g all-purpose flour
200 g sugar
100 ml sunflower or canola oil
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 satchel (7 g) baking powder
75 g white raisins
2 tablespoons white rum
a pinch of salt
some vanilla powder sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)

Soak the raisins in the rum a couple of hours before making the cake. Separate the eggs: place the yolks in a large bowl and beat the egg whites with the salt, sugar (gradually incorporated) and vanilla until stiff.

Mix the flour with the baking powder, oil and yolks, then add the beaten egg whites:

Mix everything well until even:

Use a little extra oil and flour to coat the bundt pan. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Pour the composition in the cake form and add the raisins, lightly mixing.

Put in the preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes (check if a skewer comes out clean before removing from the oven).

And it's done! Reverse on a serving plate and dig in! :)

Raw winter salad in preserved peaches (Romanian)

2011-12-26T02:00:00.002+01:00

Merry Christmas everyone! We thought this is a good time to give you a peek into something more traditional for us Romanians in wintertime. Enjoy your winter holidays in whatever tradition you're keeping them! :)

The raw winter roots salad is a delicious and easy staple in Romanian houses, traditionally made in a season when other fresh salad ingredients besides roots are hard to come by. It has become a go-to food for almost all households and a detail of many home-related nostalgia of Romanians everywhere. This is a less common, but still Romanian way to serve this salad: by filling peach halves from a peach compote with it. It may sound weird, but it's a delicious combination.

Last year: Smoked salmon on lemon-herb butter toast.

Ingredients:

carrots, parsley and celery roots in equal quantities
a red apple (for about 600-700 g of roots, use only half or a quarter of the apple if making less salad)
mayonnaise (about as much as each root)
a bit of salt and pepper to taste
peach halves from a peach compote for serving

Prepare the roots and apple:

Peel the roots, wash the apple and grate them in the food processor. Mix with the mayo in a bowl.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Prepare the peach halves (careful, they're really slippery :) ):

Fill the peaches with the salad and serve immediately. The remaining salad can be well stored in the fridge and is even better cold.

Dig in! :)

Simple tortellini soup

2011-12-22T13:05:00.001+01:00

Christmas is almost here so we'll take a break from posting for a while. This year, my parents are visiting us instead of the other way around, and for the first time I get to be the host and cook lots of delicious things for them, most of them quite different from our usual Holiday tradition. Of course the mentioned delicacies will find their way on the blog eventually (in the following weeks / months)... but until then, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and leave you in the company of a warm soup perfect for this time of the year. :)

This is a hearty-tasting (although light) and warming soup perfect as a cold weather comfort-food. We're fans of filled pasta in almost every form and this rich-tasting broth full of veggies (carrot, parsley root, fresh mushrooms etc) and herbs seems one of the best fitted frames for the tortellini.
Serve it with some grated Parmesan on top if you'd like, bu it's delicious enough without it too.

Last year: Simple blueberry-almond treat and Italian orecchiette with Parmesan cream, bell pepper and olives.

Ingredients (serves 2-4):

1 small onion (shallot)
1 tablespoon olive oil
100 ml tomato sauce (half a regular jar or can)
3 garlic cloves
250 g tortellini (fresh or frozen, with the filling of your choice)
150 g fresh mushrooms
1 liter vegetable broth
1 small carrot
1 small parsley root (can be replaced with parsnip)
1 tablespoon dried or fresh herbs (Italian style: thyme, basil, rosemary, oregano etc)
grated Parmesan for sprinkling on top when serving (optional)

Prepare your main ingredients:

Mince the shallot and garlic cloves and fry them in the olive oil on low heat. Use the pot in which you will also make the soup to make your life easier :)

Meanwhile, chop up the roots:

When the onion and garlic are fried, add the chopped roots, soup stock and tomato sauce to the pot and stir. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer while you go on:

Clean and chop up the mushrooms. Add them too, along with the herbs:

Mix again, then add the tortellini:

Let the soup boil for as much as the tortellini need (according to package instructions), then take off the heat, transfer to serving bowls and dig in :)

Breakfast braided bread with cheese and ham filling

2011-12-20T02:05:00.002+01:00

I like making the dough for this awesomely delicious bread quite often (at least once a week), then get creative with it. The braided breakfast bread is the thing we most often do with it, but not the only one. More examples will come soon. As you'll see, it's a very versatile bread which can be made in various shapes and various sweet or savory fillings and toppings (like our tapenade bread rolls).
In this version, the bread can be put in the oven when you wake up so you can enjoy it warm 30 minutes later. It's a fluffy-crunchy blast with the melted cheese and ham filling. For us, an ideal breakfast.
First adapted from here.

Last year: Avocado halves stuffed with salted cheese and tomatoes and Mexican nachos with mixed dips (salsa, guacamole, aioli and cheese fondue).

Ingredients:
For the dough:

300 ml milk
2 tablespoons sugar
25 g fresh yeast
600 g all-purpose flour
50 g butter
1 egg
1 sprinkle of salt

For the filling (double it if you want to use all the dough and make two breads; we just used half and the other half the next day):

100 g turkey breast ham

70 g Gouda cheese

Put the flour and salt in a large bowl. Mix the yeast with the slightly warm milk and the sugar and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. Beat the egg and pour it on top of the flour.

Add the yeast milk and the melted butter and work it into an elastic, non-sticky dough (it will be don ein about 5 minutes).

Cover bowl and let it rise at least 2 hours or overnight. We usually let it overnight so we can have the warm bread in the morning. Anyway, when you plan to make it, uncover bowl:

Take half the dough and roll it in a rectangle shape. Cut the left and right side of it into fringes, like this:

Top the middle side with turkey ham slices:

.. Then with cheese, then with some more ham:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Braid the bread by closing its ends and then sticking the fringes one on top of the other. Brush the bread gently with a little milk (optional):

Put in the preheated oven (careful when you transfer it to the baking sheet, it's very soft and fragile, support it with your arm) and bake for 30, maybe 35 minutes. Take out and it's done:

Slice up and dig in! :)

Vanillekipferln (Vanilla crescents) (Austrian)

2011-12-17T00:14:00.001+01:00

Around here (Germany and Austria) whenever the holiday season approaches, people go crazy with the plaetzchen (little Christmas cookies) mania. These little biscuit-like vanilla-scented half-moons, originally made in Vienna, are among the most popular and common such sweet bite-sized cookies.
Don't know how it is around where you might be from, but here and back home (in Romania), the Christmas spirit is already very active around the streets :). Our main gift (a baby girl) will arrive a few weeks later than Christmas though, but we're more enthusiastic as ever as the term approaches :D.
Enjoy your plaetzchen with warm milk and wait for Santa! Be good! :)

P.S: We're also featuring this recipe in the Sweet Romania December challenge. Tis' the season!

Last year: Spicy turkey fillet in tomato-coriander sauce and Buttery penne with smoked salmon.

Ingredients (makes a small batch):

1 egg
100 g butter, softened
60 g white sugar
1-2 tablespoons vanilla powder sugar
30 g ground almonds (they don't need to be blanched before grinding, like for macarons)
100 g all purpose flour
extra vanilla powder sugar for dusting

A small note before we begin: there are two ways of making these: with or without a special tray with crescent-molds (it can be found in larger supermarkets around the world even if the cookies are not traditional there. At least so we've seen). We have such a tray, but we've also made these last year, before buying it, so we'll present both ways here :). First, the faster method using the tray:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Mix the dry ingredients:

Melt the butter in a small pot. Use a pastry brush to butter the tray:

Mix the dry ingredients with the butter and lightly beaten egg:

Put the resulting batter into the tray's crescent molds (you can just push it with your fingers, it's very elastic).

Put in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes or until light golden. Then allow to cool and reverse the tray over a serving plate. Dust the cookies generously with vanilla powder-sugar.

If you're not using a tray (second method), increase the quantity of ground almonds to 100 g (to make the batter a bit harder) and just shape the kipferln with your fingers (make a short cilinder and bend its margins to form a crescent), like we used to do last year before finding this special tray. Baking time and heat should remain at 15 minutes and 180 degrees Celsius. Use baking paper so they don't stick to the baking sheet. That's it, good luck and Merry Christmas!

Bulgur pilaf with garlic

2011-12-15T05:05:00.000+01:00

This is very simple and almost not worth posting, but just in case someone wonders exactly how to make the go-to side-dishes that we use with the more complicated mains we present here, here's one :).
It tastes slightly crunchier than a normal rice pilaf, has more fibers and goes well with spicy and saucy or creamy mains. Ready in 20 minutes.
The last time we made this we had it along some delicious sweet and sour sticky wings :)

Last year: Lebkuchen (German gingerbread cookies) and Ragout with tarragon and white wine sauce (German).

Ingredients (for 2 servings):

150 g bulgur
500 ml vegetable soup
1-2 minced garlic cloves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 thin slice butter

Just boil the bulgur in the soup for 15 minutes or until tender (may take less than the said 15 minutes). Meanwhile mince the garlic and add it to the bulgur. When it's tender, turn off the heat, add the olive oil and the butter:

Mix well and it's done. Dig in! :)

Rustic pie with olives, wild mushrooms and red onion (vegan)

2011-12-14T00:05:00.000+01:00

I wanted to make a pie that looked rustic enough (without using a pie shape), something that could easily be baked in a traditional oven, using a vegan dough and vegan filling ingredients. Something about humbleness and austerity and the old ways when treats were indeed only for holidays pushed me to it and I'm quite charmed by the result. As for Bogdan, he said it was the best thing we ever ate that didn't have meat in it. Coming from him, it's a lot :)
P.S: The dough is really ideal as a crunchy pizza base as well, so if you're into vegan stuff don't hesitate to try it.

Last year: Moldavian (and Romanian) "Tochitura" (with polenta).
Ingredients (serves 2-4):

For the dough:

250 ml warm water
15 g fresh yeast
350 g flour (plus a little extra if necessary)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large tablespoon Herbes de Provence (or any other herb blend of your choice)

For the filling:

2 large red onions
270 g black olives
70-100 g wild mushrooms (from the can)
1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 tablespoons balsamic red vinegar
1 tablespoon white sugar

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let it rest for 10 minutes. Pour it over the flour. Start mixing:

Also add the olive oil, salt and herbs:

Work it into a smooth dough (it will still be stickier than non-vegan doughs, it's normal) and curl it into a ball. Brush it with some extra olive oil and let it rest:

After at least one hour, you can roll it into a rustic-shaped (something between a rectangle and a circle :P) dough sheet.

Let it be. Meanwhile, chop up the red onions and put them in a frying pan with the olive oil.

Let them fry on low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring once in a while. Make a paste out of the olives with a blender (in other words, prepare a basic tapenade) and spread it on the rolled dough:

Top up with the wild mushrooms:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. When the onions are softened, add the herbs, vinegar and sugar to the pan and stir very well for 3-4 minutes to caramelize them:

Pour the whole content of the pan on the pie and spread it. Fold the edges of the pie towards the inside:

Put it in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Take out, allow to cool, slice into quarters and dig in! :)

Classic Pavlova (New Zealand and Australia)

2011-12-11T00:18:00.000+01:00

Today is Miriam's birthday! :) Have a slice of cake on us!

The Pavlova is the national dessert of New Zealand (also very popular in Australia) and it was first created and made in honor of the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova, after one of her tours (1926) in the two countries. Considering it's so easy to make, it's very popular and frequently home-served in both New Zealand and Australia.
The base of the cake is a crunchy-outside and soft-inside meringue, topped with vanilla whipped cream and fresh fruit. Very airy and poetic :). Like a fluffy fairy fruit cloud.

Last year: Light and colorful field salad and Drink of the Gods (Gottergetrank)

Ingredients (makes a 26 cm diameter Pavlova):

6 egg whites
250 g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 and 1/2 tablespoon corn starch

For the topping:

300 ml heavy whipping cream

3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
fresh fruit (5 strawberries, 1 kiwi, 1/2 green apple, 100 g honey melon and 100 g blueberries)

Beat the egg-whites with a mixer. Slowly add the sugar, a couple tablespoons at a time. Also add the vanilla extract. When the meringue holds stiff peaks, also whisk in the starch and vinegar.

Preheat oven to 130 degrees C. Take a sheet of baking paper and draw a 26 cm circle on it with a pencil.

Place the baking paper on a tray. Transfer the meringue to the circle with a spoon.

Level it using the back of the spoon, then form a taller border all around it:

Place it in the oven and bake it for 60-75 minutes. Check if it's done before removing it from the oven. If it got browned, it's overdone, if liquid is leaking from it when you tilt the tray sideways it's underdone. But respecting the long time and the low temperature should work fine, we didn't encounter any issues.
While it's still hot, the meringue base should be left to cool in the oven, with the heat turned off and the oven door half-opened. While it cools, prepare the Chantilly cream.
Just beat the cream in a mixer fitted with the whisk, together with the vanilla and sugar until stiff.

When the cream is done, transfer it to the well in the center of the meringue shell:

Don't bother using any spritzing instruments to create a pretty model, you'll top it with fruit soon anyway. After you've transferred every bit of cream, start topping with the fresh fruit:

Serve immediately (the meringue will get soaked in the humidity of the cream and fruit if you wait too long, so if you plan to serve it later, better assemble it just before serving). Slice up and dig in! :)

Farfalle with cheddar cream, green apple and red onion

2011-12-10T02:25:00.000+01:00

This is a pasta dish we like to make when we're too lazy to cook anything else. The combination between the cheddar cream (a classic pasta topping), the red onion and the sour green apple pieces is something we've created together and we're quite proud of. It may sound a bit strange, but it goes together very, very well. Try it once and you'll want more :)
P.S: Laziness is also the reason the final pic is with the whole pot of pasta.. because we ate right from it :).

Last year: German mustard cream pork chops with Apple and leeks winter salad.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1/2 green apple
250-300 g pasta
100 ml liquid cream
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 red onion
4 aged cheddar slices (80 g)
1 and 1/2 tablespoons basil pesto

Boil the pasta according to package instructions. Chop up the apple and red onion halves.

Fry the onion slowly in the olive oil. When it's translucent add the cream and season with salt and pepper.

When the cream is heated through, add the apple and the cheddar, torn to pieces to speed up the melting.

Mix a little until everything comes together in a thick cream. When the pasta is boiled, drain almost all the water from it (except 2-3 tablespoons) and pour the sauce on top of it:

Mix well to coat everything and dig in! :)

Turkey fillet with chestnuts

2011-12-09T01:31:00.000+01:00

This was a hearty-tasting (although light) main dish screaming of fall through every flavor hint it contained :). We had some chestnuts on our hands that needed to accompany something and pairing them with roast turkey and a nice delicious sauce seemed the best idea. Definitely re-doable and worth sharing with you guys, so here it is. Enjoy.

Last year: French onion soup with oregano, toast and emmentaler.

Ingredients:

2 pieces of turkey fillet (ours were about 350 g together)
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock
200 g peeled chestnuts
1 small onion
1-2 thin slices of good-quality bacon
1-2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons olive oil
thyme and rosemary to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon each)
1 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika

Boil the chestnuts in the chicken stock, covered, until tender (may take 40-50 minutes). When they're almost done, start working on the rest.
Heat the olive oil in a small skillet and add the chopped onion and bacon to it on low heat.

Uncover and test the chestnuts:

After the onion and bacon pieces are golden (but not browned), push them a little aside and add the two turkey pieces. Also pour on top of them the chestnuts and all their stock:

Let the meat boil in the liquid infused with all the flavors. Turn it after 5-6 minutes and let it boil some more until it doesn't seem raw anymore. Now add the sliced garlic, vinegar and the rest of the spices and let the whole thing cook some more until the liquid reduces almost completely (only a little sauce needs to remain), about 10 minutes more.

Arrange on plates (a piece of turkey breast and half of the chestnut side dish) and serve warm, with rice or bread or mashed potatoes. Dig in! :)

Quesadillas with cheddar, bacon and cherry tomatoes (Mexican)

2011-12-07T02:04:00.001+01:00

If you ever had quesadillas in Mexican restaurants you know there's so simple but yet to die for. What could be yummier than a warm crispy tortilla glued together by melted cheese and, in this case, bacon? Serve it with a fresh topping (like tomatoes), fresh salad leaves and a good sauce (like garlic mayo or guacamole) and go straight to heaven.
This type of snack is basically delicious anyway you make it, but to make sure it's an authentic quesadilla it must be made from a tortilla half-way flipped over and filled, not by two tortillas stacked on top of the other and with the filling sandwiched between them, because that would be a "sincronizada", considered a completely different kind of dish in Mexico.
Back to the point: it's super easy to make (if you have wheat tortillas on hand, home-made or store-bought), ready in under 10 minutes, quite addictive and quite healthy. What are you waiting for :) ?

Last year: Cheese-stuffed mushrooms and cheese fusilli with herbs and aioli and Swedish-style salmon with vegetables and white sauce.

Ingredients (serves 2 as a starter, 1 as main):

2 wheat tortillas
4 cheddar slices (aged)
2-3 long slices of bacon
6-7 cherry tomatoes

To serve:

a handful of salad leaves

yogurt-garlic sauce or guacamole

First cut the bacon to bite-sized pieces and fry it in a pan (optional, only if you prefer it fried and you're not in a hurry). If you're using a bacon which you enjoy non-fried you can skip this step. Prepare the cheddar slices too.

Start heating a tortilla in a heavy-bottomed skillet. After a minute or so, add half of the cheddar, torn to pieces, spread evenly on one half of the tortilla:

Also add half of the bacon (on the same side as the cheese) and fold the tortilla over:

Keep heating it for 1-2 minutes more on each side until the cheese has completely melted and glued it together. Meanwhile slice the tomatoes. Transfer tortilla on a plate, top with the tomatoes and slice it in 4 wedges as seen in our main picture above. Serve with fresh salad leaves and a good dipping sauce. Dig in while they're warm! :)

Classic chocolate cream pie (American) + 1 year blog anniversary!

2011-12-03T14:48:00.000+01:00

Dear friends, on the 2nd of December (that is, yesterday) was our 1 year blogging anniversary. It's been a joyride and we're glad to have met all of you. We learned a lot about cooking and and about food photography :P and we're confident things will just get better and better. Here's to you guys and have a slice of creamy chocolaty goodness :)

Now to get to the pie itself:
This is a very common dessert in American households, the type of pie you would expect every USA grandma to make on a weekly basis. The chocolate cream pie is back in the trends in the last few years and the revival has brought lots of posh-ed up versions of it, but here we made it in its most classic form, the one which a lot of people living there grew up with.
It's supercreamy and delicious and not such a big deal to make as it would seem: basically a crumbled biscuit base topped with a generous layer of chocolate-flavored milk pudding. The slices are then served with some whipped cream and grated chocolate. Delicious. Enjoy :)

Last year: Complete-meal salad with basil and Simple-fried bananas with cinnamon and honey.

Ingredients (for a 26 cm pie dish):
For the base:

300 simple vanilla biscuits
1/2 cup sugar
85 g butter

For the chocolate cream:

1 liter whole-fat milk

6 egg yolks
225 g sugar
60 g starch
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 thick slice butter (3 tablespoons)
150 g milk chocolate
50 g dark chocolate

For serving:
200 ml whipped cream
about 50 g chocolate chips

First, preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Get the biscuits:

Smash them into crumbles (it's easiest if you put them in a bag, close it and smash them with a rolling pin - or use the blender). Add the sugar and melted butter:

Mix well, then press the whole thing on the bottom and sides of the pie dish. Put it in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes, middle rack. Take out and marvel at how it all came together in a pie-base :)

Turn off the oven, you won't need it anymore. Get started on the cream. Put the sugar, vanilla extract and yolks in a large bowl:

Mix everything very well with a hand whisk until creamy and even. Then, also add the salt and starch:

Mix well. Put the milk in a large pot and bring it to a boil. Afterwards reduce it to a simmering and add one cup at a time to the yolk cream, mixing very well. When the whole thing seems well mixed, return it to the pot and bring it to a simmer again:

Stir continuously. After 4-5 minutes or so when the starch did its part you'll notice it thickened. Turn off the heat, add all the chocolate and the slice of butter and mix well:

The chocolate cream is done. Pour it in the pie-dish:

After it cools a bit put it in the fridge for at least 4 hours (or overnight). Take out and it's done:

Slice it, arrange on plates and top each portion with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. If you serve a lot of people (so you can finish the pie all at once), you can decorate before you slice it, but it not it's better to avoid storing the spread whipped cream in the freezer, it's better when it's freshly spread. :)
The pie keeps well for 2-3 days in the freezer. But it probably won't last that long ;) Dig in!

Sticky sweet-and-sour chicken wings

2011-11-30T13:12:00.001+01:00

Mini chicken wings glazed with a sticky sweet and sour sauce. Full of marvelous flavors of balsamic vinegar, caramelized honey, lemon juice, lemongrass, garlic, thyme and sesame seed oil. Super easy to make (one dish, stove-top). You'll love them. Not to mention that the similar ones you can get almost ready made are full of fats and artificial flavors and yucky stuff. And not even close to the home-made ones regarding yummyness. Really, make them as soon as possible and they'll become your go-to dinner.
Inspired from Lavinia.

Ingredients (serves 2):

500 g chicken wings
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sessame seed oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons red balsamic vinegar
6-7 garlic cloves
juice and zest from one lemon
1-2 tablespoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried lemongrass
salt and pepper to taste

Clean the wings and cut them in half (if needed) to make them more bite-sized. Season them with salt and pepper on both sides and leave them aside as you prepare the rest. Squeeze the lemon and get the other ingredients close.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and put the wings in it. Fry them slightly for 3 minutes on each side.

After they've caught some color, add the vinegar, thyme and garlic to the pan and mix well.

Cover and let them cook for 10 minutes. After that the meat should no longer be raw in the middle. After you uncover them, let the whole thing cook until the liquid is reduced by half (2-3 minutes more). Keep turning them once in a while, but relax, they won't burn - the vinegar is an acid and it slows down the frying.
Next, add the remaining ingredients (mixing well to evenly distribute them) and let the whole thing cook, uncovered, in the resulting sauce:

They will gain more and more color as the whole thing caramelizes. Keep cooking it till the sauce thickens and reduces (6-7 more minutes):

After that, it's done. Transfer on a plate and dig in! :)
P.S: We served this with a nice side of garlicky bulgur pilaf. But it would also go with potatoes, bread etc.

Hummus (Middle Eastern)

2011-11-26T15:55:00.001+01:00

The famous Middle-Eastern chickpea dip in its easiest-to-make and classic form. From this basic recipe you can go on whichever path you choose: add some chopped tomatoes, avocado, other spices, use it as a spread or as an ingredient in lots of other dishes like tortilla wraps and shawormas etc.
We like it best spread inside a pita bread (as in served the way it's intended to be), but also as a dip for various raw or cooked veggies (like carrots, cucumbers, bell pepper wedges, potatoes etc).
We had it inside warm and perfectly puffed Lebanese pita breads :D.
It's a healthy and yummy snack for whenever the munchies strike and it's ready in 10 minutes. Enjoy.

Ingredients (makes a small-medium bowl):

2 cans of pre-boiled chickpeas (about 500 g)
about 150 ml of the can water (or the water in which the chickpeas boiled if you did it yourself)
juice from 1 and 1/2 lemons (more or less to taste)
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste, available in ethnic shops), optional
4-5 garlic cloves
about 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
8 tablespoons olive oil (more or less to taste)
red sumac or paprika powder to decorate

Prepare a blender or food processor and pour the drained chickpeas into its bowl (remember to not discard all the water while draining them).

Puree them on medium speed for a couple of minutes, gradually adding the reserved water, until it looks more or less like a paste (except the few bits that remained on the sides). Also add the tahini, salt and garlic cloves:

Puree some more, gradually adding the lemon juice and olive oil. It's no problem if you add it all at once, but it's better to do it gradually so you can taste and control the desired additions. That way you can decide exactly how flavored / sour / salty / runny you want it. The quantities given here, however, are the general accepted idea of a hummus :)
When you're done, pour it into a serving bowl and decorate with more olive oil and some sumach / sweet paprika or pine seeds. It's ready, dig in!
P.S: Store in the fridge, covered, for 2-3 days max.

Pita bread (perfectly puffed) tutorial (Middle-Eastern)

2011-11-24T01:27:00.001+01:00

Maybe I shouldn't say this in a tutorial, but this was our first try at pita bread. We were very anxious about it, as we know that there are people who try making it dozens of times before getting it right. They end up with delicious breads really, but delicious flat-breads. Definitely not pitas (which are meant to have an air pocket all inside them, to be filled with delicious stuff afterwards).
Well, after researching all the do's and don't's out there, we gave it a shot and there perfectly puffed babies sprung out of the oven. And we'll show you exactly how to make it :)
Mostly adapted from here.

Ingredients (makes 12 small pitas):

1 package yeast
125 ml warm water
375 g flour (plus about 100 g more for kneading and rolling)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 and 1/4 teaspoon salt
250 ml lukewarm water

Pour the yeast in the warm water. Add the sugar and mix. Allow to sit 10 minutes, until frothy. Prepare a working surface. Measure the flour and mix it with the salt (in a large bowl).

Make a well in the center of the flour and pour the yeast water in it. Also gradually pour the lukewarm water. Mix well:

Transfer on the floured working surface and knead it for about 15-20 minutes, adding more flour now and then:

It's done when it doesn't stick to your hands anymore. Prepare a large bowl by coating it with oil (we used olive oil). Place the dough in it, turning it gently to coat it with oil all over.

Let it rest for 3 hours or until doubled in size. After that, take it out on the working surface and give it the shape of a rope:

Preheat oven to maximum (in our case 250 degrees C). Also put the baking tray (lined with baking sheet) just above the bottom of the oven, so it gets preheated too. Cut the rope in quarters, and each quarter into 3. Shape the little bits into rounds and allow them to sit, preferably covered, while the oven heats.

When you're ready, start rolling each round into a flat circle, about 1/2 cm thick or even thinner.

Transfer into the oven and let it bake for 3 minutes, then turn on the other side for another 3 minutes. Pour about 20 ml water (a bottom of a glass) into the bottom of the oven (just below the baking tray) before each new batch of pitas (to create steam). Also, after you turn them on the other side, sprinkle a bit of water from the top of your fingertips on each pita. Oh, and try to work as fast as you can so you don't lose heat. That's it.

Look at how perfect even the first one puffed:

Good luck! :)

Amaretto chocolate milk pudding (German)

2011-11-21T07:59:00.000+01:00

This is super-fast and quite easy to make and surprisingly light for how flavorful it is. A staple German home-made treat, spiced with a tablespoon or two of Amaretto (almond) liquor and decorated with almond flakes :) You'll love it. Enjoy.

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

100 g sugar
25 ml water
500 ml milk (full-fat, preferably)
30 g starch
50 dark chocolate
2 tablespoons amaretto liquor
almond flakes to serve (about a handful)

First, put the sugar in a small pot over low heat:

Add a little water (about 2-3 tablespoons, just enough to dissolve the sugar in) and start stirring. It will become very bubbly and glaze-like:

When it changes its color to golden, the caramel is ready. This is when you should pour the milk (reserving a little bit of it for dissolving the starch in). If you let the sugar caramelize for too long before adding the milk, it may catch a slightly bitter undertone (not unpleasant, depending on personal taste). So pour the milk and continue to stir over low heat to dissolve the caramel:

When it's done, mix the starch with the little remaining milk and add it too. Let it come to a boil and stir some more for the whole thing to thicken. Then turn off the heat the add the chocolate, broken into pieces:

Mix well to melt it and blend it. Add the Amaretto. Then pour into little individual pots or ramekins and allow to cool. It can be served at room temperature or cooled in the fridge for a couple of hours (or overnight). Decorate with almond flakes just before serving and, optionally, more Amaretto ;)

Dig in! :)

Red lentil ragu with basil and ajvar

2011-11-19T01:10:00.001+01:00

When I'm in the mood for a saucy and simple main, the easiest choice is to go for a ragu. Originally intended to be served over Italian pasta (the famous bolognese sauce is a typical ragu example), it can also be accompanied by anything else carbs-based - from baked potatoes to cous-cous or rice. Here, we chose to have with fresh, warm, crusty Irish soda bread with seeds :D.
The other detail I wanted to tell you about before finally moving on to the recipe is the delicious Ajvar. I'm addicted to this Serbian goodie ever since I discovered a little East-European supermarket where I can find stuff to bring us closer to home in a spoonful. It's the closest we could find to our lovely Romanian zacusca which we took for granted so often back home :). Anyway - if you have a chance to try either Ajvar or zacusca (though we would naturally recommend the latter), do not hesitate. Just spread it over fresh bread and don't be surprised if you finish two jarfuls in one meal.
Returning to this ragu with red lentils, it's ready in about one hour, but without too much fuss - it's mainly because red lentils have a long boiling time. And the special Ajvar can be replaced with red pesto for its flavoring purposes, so don't walk away from the recipe if you can't get any. Enjoy.

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot
1 and a half medium carrots
1 parsley root
2 teaspoons Ajvar (or red pesto if you can't find any)
250 g red lentils
1-2 garlic cloves
400 g chopped tomatoes from the can
a handful of fresh basil
500 ml vegetable soup
salt and pepper to taste
other dried herbs to taste
some dried Parmesan for serving (optional)
pasta or rice to serve it on (optional; we served ours with warm pieces of Irish soda bread)

First, gather the fresh veggies and start cleaning and chopping them. Put a small-medium pot over heat and pour the olive oil in it.

As you chop them, toss them in the pot:

After you fry them slowly (on low heat) for 15 minutes until there're softened, add the garlic, chopped tomatoes and the soup. Stir and add the red lentils:

Mix and let the lentils boil for as long as needed (about 40 minutes, but you can taste to tell when they're done). You can add a bit more water if the whole thing gets too dry. Next, season with salt, pepper, herbs and ajvar :D

Mix well, remove from heat and stir in the fresh basil. Reserve a bit for decorating. Sprinkle the individual portions with grated Parmesan if you'd like. It's ready, dig in! :)

Irish soda bread (with mixed seeds)

2011-11-19T01:08:00.001+01:00

The Irish soda bread is famous for its fast preparing time (given that it's made with soda instead of yeast, thus canceling the rising time) and the fact that is uses yogurt as the moisture required to make the dough. It's crunchy, very crusty and delicious.
The use of various seeds was inspired from here. Also, I decided to make more portion-sized buns instead of a large round bread (which tradition called for). Enjoy.

Ingredients (for 6-7 buns):

250 g all purpose flour
250 g whole wheat flour
100 g oat flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
a handful of poppy seeds
a handful of flax seeds
a handful of sunflower kernels
a handful of sesame seeds
500 ml / 500 g simple yogurt or buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
Measure out the flours and oat flake quantities and pour them in the same bowl.

Add the seeds and the salt and soda:

Add the yogurt and work everything into a dough (it will be very fast, you'll see):

Line a tray with baking paper and mold out little breads out of the dough on it:

Bake for 45 minutes and it's done. Dig in! :)

Winter tabbouleh with roasted eggplant and feta

2011-11-15T00:58:00.001+01:00

If you want a classical version of tabbouleh, the way they make it in the Middle East, you should check out this post here. We love the parsley and mint based version, but this time felt like added the flavor of roasted eggplants and some overall heartier veggies to the bulgur salad. The result was divine, very warming (although served cold) and fulfilling but also light.
It's best served on top of a pita bread / flat-bread / wheat tortilla etc.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1 eggplant
4 tablespoons olive oil
70 g bulgur
2 garlic cloves
70 g cherry tomatoes
150 g red beans from the can (or chickpeas if you have on hand and you want to keep it more Eastern)
70 g feta cheese
juice from half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste
2 tortillas or flatbreads to serve

First, mince the garlic and mix it with some olive oil. Start cutting the eggplant into thin slices.

Heat a skillet and rub each eggplant slice with the garlicky oil on both sides (use your finger to put only a little oil on each). Place the eggplant slices in the pan (don't add extra oil, they'll just absorb it) and fry gently for a couple of minutes on each side until they're softened and tender. Meanwhile, also prepare the bulgur according to package instructions.

When the bulgur is done, put it in a salad bowl. Chop the tomatoes and add them too. As the eggplant slices roast, keep adding them to the bowl as well:

Also chop the feta cheese and add it. And the drained beans. After you're done roasting all the eggplant slices, add the remaining garlic and olive oil mix to the salad too. Season with the lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix well.

Arrange on plates and serve with an extra lemon wedge. It's ready, dig in! :)

White chocolate and blueberry cupcakes

2011-11-12T00:46:00.001+01:00

What's better then having to decide between fruity and chocolate-chip muffins? Muffins that have both, obviously. And what's even better? When said muffins get transmuted into cupcakes :). I personally love the combination between blueberries and white chocolate (and at a more abstract note, between white and violet), so this was perfect on many different levels. Enjoy.
Adapted from here.

Ingredients (makes 6):

75 g white chocolate, cut into small-medium chunks, plus extra 25 g for decorating
150 g flour
50 g sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
50 g butter
100 ml milk
75 g blueberries, plus 75 g more for decorating
150 ml whipped cream, for decorating

Melt the butter, mix with the milk and egg well. Add the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder and mix again:

When the batter is even, gently incorporate the blueberries and white chocolate chips (except the quantities reserved for decorating). Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Line a muffin tin with 6 papers and fill them:

Bake for 25 minutes. Take out, allow to cool:

After they're cooled, gently remove the cupcake papers. Use the remaining blueberries, white chocolate and the whipped cream to decorate to your heart's desire. Dig in! :)

Fettuccine Alfredo (Italian)

2011-11-11T03:41:00.000+01:00

The Fettuccine Alfredo is one of the two mother-recipes of Italian pasta cuisine, right next to the Carbonara pasta (you can see our take on those here). Not for the faint of heart regarding calories, the creamy Parmesan-butter sauce of this dish takes you straight to puddle-like heaven. Definitely one of the the simplest and tastiest noms out there.

Ingrdients (serves 2):

200 g fresh fettucine
1 thick slice of butter - 30-40 g
1/2 of a small shallot
pinch of salt and white pepper
100 g Parmesan
100 ml liquid cream

Chop up the onion and place it with the butter in a small pot:

After the onion is browned, add the cream, season with salt and pepper and let it cook for a couple of minutes.

Meanwhile, boil the pasta (2-3 minutes should be enough, considering it's fresh pasta, whether it be home-made or store-bought). When the pasta is cooked and drained, mix the Parmesan into the sauce, turn off the heat underneath it and mix the pasta directly in, stirring to coat everything in the epic creaminess:

Arrange on plates and top with extra melted butter and extra grated Parmesan, if you'd like. We did :D

Chicken liver parfait (with sage and red wine)

2011-11-09T00:35:00.000+01:00

The sage is a not-very-often-used herb that happens to go wonderfully with the taste of liver. Also, this home-made pate is actually a parfait given its soft consistency and the generous use of liquid cream and butter. The red wine used both in cooking the liver and in mixing the paste only enhances the flavor and gives it an addictive touch of a fermented and balsamic note. This parfait is best served with something sour, like pickles and a red balsamic glaze (in our case), or chutney if you have any on hand. The yellow-y parts in the picture are from the butter used to seal the pate shut (given that it has no additives, it can get oxidized pretty fast, so it's best to seal it for consuming later). Enjoy :)

Ingredients (serves 4):

400 g chicken liver
75 g butter
salt and pepper to taste
sage (fresh or dried, optional)
30-40 ml red wine
100 ml liquid cream
3-4 garlic cloves
extra butter for sealing - about 30 g (optional)

Melt the butter in a frying pan. Clean the liver pieces and add them.

Turn them on the other side once in a while to make sure they get cooked evenly. Towards the end of the frying, add about half the wine and the garlic, cut into pieces. Also add the sage, if using fresh (ours was dried). After the livers are done, pour the whole contents of the frying pan into a blender or food processor and puree. Add the rest of the wine, the cream, salt and pepper and the sage (if using) and puree some more. Pour the pate in a bowl (or individual little ramekins, like we did) :)

If you want to reverse the parfait on a plate (like in our main picture above) after cooling, then line the forms with a bit of sheet (like seen below at the bottom left ramekin):

Now the only thing left to do is to allow them to cool for at least 2 hours in the fridge. But to seal them away from changing their color (or even from harmful bacteria, if you don't plan to serve them the same day), it's best if you melt a little extra butter in a pan and pour it on top of each. Now refrigerate, wait, and dig in! :) Don't forget the crunchy bread and pickles (or chutney)!

My mom's pumpkin pie (with puff pastry)

2011-11-06T00:29:00.000+01:00

As long as I can remember, I was always mad about this pie, but my mom wouldn't make it very often because grating all that pumpkin was pretty exhausting (in the age before food processors and such). So she would make me a deal that if I wanted her to make it I could grate it myself (with the help of my friends who also wanted a piece or two as a reward :D ). Of course I agreed, but still, the pie did not happen as often as I wanted (even employing all that additional voluntary workforce was not that easy to organize). But in the last years, the use of high-tech kitchen gadgets have took all that away, mostly for the best, of course (except the nostalgia) :).
Of course, that didn't mean we can't have a pumpkin-pie-making party nowadays as well. So, I'm quite giddy about the fact that for this particular cooking feat, I had the manpower of not just one, but two strong men (as you'll be able to observe down below from the pics). The extra hand came this time from our friend Madalin :).
Now, I proudly present to you my version of mom's pumpkin pie, which I can now have anytime I like (and the mood strikes quite a lot, as you'll see for yourselves after tasting this). Enjoy. :)

Ingredients:

one medium-big hokkaido (or some other sweet pumpkin) - ours was 1,6 kg
200 g sugar
125 g butter
1/2 vial of lemony flavor
zest of one orange
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 sheets of puff pastry (2 X 275 g)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Get the pumpkin:

Cut it in half, discard the seeds and insides, and get your ~~slaves~~ friends to start peeling pieces of it. Meanwhile, set one sheet of puff pastry on the bottom of a baking tray:

Check on the ~~laborers~~ kind helpers:

When they're done, grate all the pumpkin pulp in your food processor and put it in a large bowl:

Mix it with the cinnamon, lemon essence, orange zest and the sugar. Melt the butter in a small pan and add it to the pumpkin mass and mix again well. Pour the whole thing in the baking tray.

Cover with the other sheet of puff pastry and put it in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Take out:

Cut into squares and dig in! Don't forget to reward everyone involved with at least a piece :)
Note: The main photo shows the filling a bit mushy (flowing out of the pastry) because the pie piece was still very hot (no, we're not the patient type). But when it cools a bit, it sets perfectly, so no worries. Enjoy!

Chickpea, avocado and pesto salad

2011-11-04T00:05:00.001+01:00

We wanted to include more chickpeas into our diets and at the same time got tired of the same old classic variations, but then I came up with this salad. Actually it's pretty consistent for a salad, it's more like a main course, resembling Indian mains a little but served cold and without all the spices. It's more like herbal-fresh tasting because of the pesto, lemon and fresh melissa leaves.
It could also work very well as a creamy side-dish so make what you want of it.
Bottom line: it was very good and it's going to be our go-to thing for lazy afternoons or detox phases from now on :)

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 large avocados, a bit softened
1 can of pre-boiled chickpeas (265 g)
juice from 1 lemon
4-5 tablespoons of red pesto
a bit of salt (optional)
a handful of fresh melissa (lemon balm)

Drain the chickpeas and put them in a large salad bowl. Peel the avocados and discard the kernels.

Chop the avocados into cubes and add them to the bowl. Also add the pesto and the lemon juice:

Wash the melissa leaves and break them on top of the salad using your fingers (it preserves the flavors better if you don't use metallic tools for chopping up fresh herbs):

Mix well and it's done. Serve with warm bread, if you can. We especially like topping up our warm bread with more red pesto in combination with this salad:

Dig in! :)

Baked Camembert with rum raisins (French)

2011-11-02T02:10:00.001+01:00

We always enjoyed Camembert and white mold soft cheeses in general, but only recently discovered that this is the way true Camembert should be served. That's also why the fancier cheeses come in hard paper / wooden packages, so you can bake them directly in it (after you remove the plastic, of course).
For those of you interested more on the subject, there's even a specialized Brie (or wheel-shaped moldy cheeses in general) baker which looks great here.
Add some rum-soaked raisins directly in the hot melted core and you have a winner :)

Ingredients (serves 2 as main, 4 as starter):

100 g of the best Camembert you can afford
50 g raisins
5 tablespoons rum (we used white rum, but dark will do too)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Open the cheese box, remove all the interior packaging to leave only the cheese in the round wooden box.

Put it in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the raisins and rum together in a small pot for 1 minute:

Remove from heat and let them soak up the rum until the cheese is ready. Take it out of the oven and cut a cross into it with a sharp slender knife:

You can flip the edges a bit over to fill it with the raisins. When you can't pump it with raisins anymore, just put the remaining ones on top. It's ready, dig in while it's hot and gooey and melted :)

Chocolate banana bread with white chocolate chips

2011-10-31T03:27:00.002+01:00

We've made banana bread before (blondie version, with walnuts), but this time felt like chocolate. Because what could be better than banana bread? That's right, chocolate banana bread. Right on. And to make matters even more sinful, we've studded said decadent goody with white chocolate chips. And a touch of cinnamon and vanilla. Perfect for when you just can't decide what flavor you should choose and just want them all (in a combination which goes together wonderfully, I might add). Enjoy.
P.S: We've had some issues with our camera (a pic or two went missing, and what we managed to recover got rearranged quite funky, so bear with us). And have some cake while you're at it :)

Ingredients (for a small loaf pan - 30 cm):

100 g white chocolate, cut into small-medium chunks
325 g sugar
125 ml peanut oil (or any other unflavored oil, or melted butter)
185 g flour
30 g cocoa
3 ripe bananas
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
50 ml milk

Mix the sugar and the oil in a food processor / bread or dough-making machine. Or by hand, however you prefer. Add the eggs:

Mix well, then add the bananas.

Mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon and vanilla and add them too. Mix well until even. Then add the milk:

When all is even, add the white chocolate chips. Mix on very low speed (or by hand).

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Pour the batter in a loaf tin (Preferably greased or lined with baking paper so you can get the cake out in one piece. In other words, don't do what we did and forget and just rush to pour it in a dry tin, no matter how heavenly it smells).

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake's center comes out clean.

Allow to cool, reverse (and get the cake out in one piece if you didn't rush to pour it like a couple of amateurs :D), slice and dig in. :)
Oh, and a tip: make sure you don't cut the white chocolate into too small chunks if you don't want to lose them in the batter. We smashed ours with a knife and the pieces were quite big (but as you can see from the first pic, they shrunk considerably during baking). :) Bon apetit!

Potato, cheese and mushroom gratin

2011-10-29T02:42:00.001+02:00

This is basically a version of the famous French Dauphinoise potatoes enriched with some rosemary musrooms and Emmentaler cheese. It takes a while to cook but it's a feast once it's done. Perfect for a relaxed afternoon when you're in the mood for an impressive vegetarian main.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 kg potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
350 g mushrooms
1 shallot (or a small regular onion)
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
a little butter for greasing the tray
200 ml milk
300 ml liquid cream
150 g grated emmentaler
1 tablespoon home-style mustard
2-3 garlic cloves
fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Boil the potatoes, peeled and whole. Clean the mushrooms, chop up the onion.

Heat olive oil in a pan and fry the onion. When it's softened, add the mushrooms and fry gently until they're still moist but their water has evaporated. Season with the rosemary and fry for 1 minute more, then remove from heat.

When the potatoes are boiled, slice them. Butter a large baking tray. Arrange the potatoes and mushrooms in it - the thinner the better, to ensure a larger surface will get roasted and golden and not too much sauce will remain underneath. Speaking of sauce, mix the milk, cream, mustard, crushed garlic cloves, minced parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl or large cup. Pour it over the tray with the potatoes and mushrooms:

Sprinkle all the grated cheese on top, in an even layer:

Put it in the oven and bake for at least 30-40 minutes until the desired consistency was reached (we like it with less liquid sauce and crustier cheese) :). Dig in!

Polish buttermilk drink (Kwasne Mleko Ze Szczypiorkiem)

2011-10-27T20:26:00.000+02:00

This is a rustic East-European way to enjoy a consistent yet refreshing snack during the day, provided you have real Buttermilk on hand (like we happened to have): serve it cold, seasoned with a little salt and pepper and fresh herbs.
Thanks to the Polish Saveur staff for the tip :)

Ingredients (for 1 glass):

200 ml buttermilk, cold
salt and pepper to taste
chives and parsley, freshly minced.

Mix everything and dig in!

Scottish cardamom griddle scones, with butter and honey

2011-10-24T19:20:00.000+02:00

We all know scones as the traditional English cookies served with tea (especially Devonshire tea, or cream tea as it's called). But the original scone was actually Scottish, and it was fried (on a griddle - or, in our case, a heavy-bottomed pan) rather than baked, and it also had the shaped we reproduced here: a large flat round cut into triangle squares. Don't worry about the frying part: it's dry-frying, without any fat whatsoever.
Considering that this is the British-Scottish (as in non-American) version of the famous tea cookies, they're only slightly sweetened, being meant to be served with clotted cream and jam on top. Or, in this case, the match we found (inspired from here) was even better: butter spread on top while they're hot and honey. You won't believe how well it all goes together, but trust us, you'll never want to have them any other way. And considering how fast they are to make you'll want to make them all the time :)

Ingredients (for a batch - serves 2, maybe 3 people for a tea):

200 g flour
1/2 - 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon baking powder
30 g butter (Irish butter :D )
2-3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
about 100 ml of milk
extra butter and honey for serving
a little sprinkle of salt

Put the flour, salt, baking powder and cardamom in a large bowl. Add the butter:

Mix well, until it all resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and mix again. Lightly beat the egg in a measuring cup, than add milk until you have 100 ml of egg and milk mix. Add it to the bowl and mix everything into an even dough.

Heat a heavy-bottomed frying pan. Divide the dough into three parts and shape each on into a flat circle (kind-of like way-bread). Cut each circle into squares and put them in the hot pan (don't add any grease, they won't stick):

After 2-3 minutes turn them over and let them cook on the other side as well:

Repeat with the other two circles as well. Serve warm, with lots of butter, honey and tea! :)

Tagliatelle with Gorgonzola and spinach sauce

2011-10-23T00:08:00.000+02:00

One of my major frustrations regarding the pregnancy-related culinary restrictions is the moldy cheeses. I could eat Brie everyday ever since I first discovered it, but must now restrain from anything like it because soft cheeses like that are made from non-pasteurized milk, which makes them not safe during pregnancy.
You can imagine my joy when I discovered this recipe from the lovely girls from Kiss the Cook (which I love by the way) incorporating moldy cheese in a heat-exposed sauce transforming all those nasty raw milk bacteria into something not only edible (as is safe) but also delicious.
My other source of major frustration is the ban on caviar and raw smoked salmon, but since there's no way around that one, let's NOT talk about it (murderous gaze).
Back to happy sunny stuff: here's the awesome recipe. Incredibly easy to make too. And a lovely way to domesticate the blue mold taste if you find it too strong in some cheeses when eaten raw (like I do sometimes). Enjoy :)

Ingredients (serves 2):

200 g of fresh tagliatelle
100 g Gorgonzola
100 g fresh or frozen spinach
100 ml liquid cream
2-3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Boil the pasta for 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.
First of all, peel and lightly smash the garlic, then put it in a little pot with the olive oil and let it roast a little. After a couple of minutes, you can take the garlic out of the oil to only leave the aroma behind, or you can do like us and let it stay there :). Next, add the spinach and let it cook until softened, 2-3 minutes. Add the cream and cook for 2 more minutes. Chop up the Gorgonzola and add it to the pot as well:

Stir and let the cheese melt in the sauce completely (2-3 minutes). It's done! Divide the pasta between plates and top with the sauce:

Mix well and dig in! :)

Simple strawberry, cream and rice crispies treat

2011-10-22T03:05:00.000+02:00

Ok, this isn't really much of a recipe but a nice idea for decorative way to serve your fruits and cream :). Still, if you prepare them before hand, it looks cute and impressive to any friends you might have down for tea and the texture combination with the rice chocolate-coated crispies give the classical strawberry-and-cream an interesting twist. You only need some pretty glasses and a few minutes to layer all the goodies :)

Ingredients (for 2):

a handful of fresh strawberries (or any other berries)
100 ml cream
4-5 tablespoons of honey
2 round rice crispies, chocolate-covered

Just start by layering everything with berries and honey on the bottom of the glass:

Continue with cream and broken pieces of crisp and repeat and so on:

Keep refrigerated if you plan to serve them later. But be warned that the crispies get kind of soaked and not that crispy if you keep them in cream for more than 20 minutes :). Enjoy!

Sweet potato and prosciutto starter

2011-10-20T00:29:00.000+02:00

This starter was very easy to make and tasted very classy due to all the flavor contrast - the carrot and pumpkin like sweetness of the sweet potatoes with the fleshy smokiness of the ham and richness of mayonnaise with a strong citrus tang. It's really no big deal to make them but they look and taste very different than what you usually have as a starter. Enjoy :)
Recipe source here.

Ingredients (for a batch of 16 pieces- serves a small party or just a couple of people):

2 large sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
juice from half a lemon
8 slices of prosciutto
pretty cocktail or appetizer sticks :)

Heat up the oven to 200 degrees. Get the sweet potatoes:

Peel them:

Cut them into thick slices and rub them with the olive oil. Spread them on a baking sheet and put in the oven:

Keep them for 20-30 minutes until they'e softened up. Transfer them on a plate and cut each prosciutto slice in half. Fold them and top each potato slice, like this:

Mix the mayo with the lemon juice and put a little bit on top of each stater. Push a cocktail pin through each and it's done, dig in! :)

Fritata with bell peppers and tirolese sausages

2011-10-17T18:08:00.002+02:00

A fritata is basically an omelet with lots of filling, somewhat thicker, that comes from the Spanish kitchens. When it also contains potato slices, it's called a tortilla (not the same with the Mexican flatbread) - remember our herbal tortilla de patatas with parsley and fennel?

But enough theory - this is a simple and yummy lunch :)

Ingredients (serves 2):

4 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
dried basil and marjoram
1 red, 1 green, 1 yellow bell pepper
100 g tirolese thin sausages
1/2 tablespoon olive oil for frying

Prepare and wash the freshies:

Chop them up into cubes and place them in a small frying pan where you previously spread the oil:

Next, prepare the sausages. We like the tirolese variety, but any thin and quality variation will fit:

Slice them into little pieces and add them to the pan:

Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl and season them with salt, pepper and herbs. Turn on the heat underneath the pan, mix the contents well and when you hear sizzling sounds pour the egg mixture on top:

Fry for 3-4 minutes on medium heat, then turn upside down (careful not to break the fritata). Slice it up pizza-style and serve warm. It's ready, dig in! :)

Spicy Guinness Mustard

2011-10-15T19:55:00.005+02:00

If you're a fan of dark stout beer (that also happens to be great for cooking) and of lovely Irish things in general, like us, you'll love this home-made mustard which you can use for lots and lots of happy cooking adventures to come (like our mustard soup or salad dressings and so on). It's full of wintery spices, the dark stout flavor and of course, freshly soaked and ground brown mustard seeds. Can be diluted 1:1 with yogurt for a milder taste, but its strength will mellow with time none-the-less.
Recipe source: Saveur.

Ingredients (for 2-and-a-half to 3 medium jars):

350 ml Guinness extra stout
300 g brown mustard seeds
235 ml red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt (ours was the pink Himalayan variety)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Pour the mustard seeds in a bowl (we put them directly in the blender's bowl):

Add the liquids and spices and stir a little to soak everything:

Cover and let them stay at room temperature for a day or two so the mustard seeds soften and the flavors blend in. Then just use the blender or a food processor to grind everything together into a paste (with occasional seeds for a lovely uneven feel). Transfer to jars and get creative.
Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months :)

Signing back in

2011-09-13T15:41:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

In case you were wondering about our long absence, know that everything is fine and we haven't given up on this blog or our adventures in the kitchen :).

Even more good news (at least for us): we are expecting a baby into our family at the end of January. Everything is going great, but the first 3-4 months of pregnancy have made cooking a bit.. difficult (due to the nausea and other less-than-pleasant symptoms and culinary restrictions). Anyhow, that is now behind us and you can expect to see up post more delightful delights soon.

We'll keep in touch with you guys (and we'll keep up the cooking) :).

Bis bald,
Miriam and Bogdan.

Spicy shrimp and wild rice soup (Chinese)

2011-06-09T19:50:00.001+02:00

This is one of our favorite soups. If you're not a seafood lover, this could be the ideal thing to start with to get more open to the seafood experience. Also a good start to get introduced to Chinese cuisine. It's not too spicy (depending on how much chili powder you feel like adding), and the watery part of it tastes like the ideal addition to the wild rice and the shrimps. Goes perfectly with a home-made bread. Enjoy :)
Recipe source here.

Ingredients (serves 4):

50 g butter
2 small white onions
25 g chives
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 liter vegetable stock
lemon slices for serving
150 g wild and red rice
salt and pepper to taste, optionally (if the stock isn't already seasoned enough)

Put the butter in a large pot and begin melting it on low-medium heat:

Meanwhile chop up the onions finely:

Also chop up the chives. Add both the onions and chives to the butter and let them fry a little:

After they're softened, add the crushed garlic and the chili powder. Leave for a couple of more minutes, then add the stock:

Bring the stock to a simmer, then add the rice and the shrimps:

Leave for 10 minutes. Serve warm, with a slice of lemon and extra chopped chives on each soup bowl. Dig in! :)

Straciatella cream pie (Italian)

2011-06-03T21:28:00.000+02:00

Straciatella is an Italian term meant to describe any white vanilla flavored cream full of dark chocolate bits every here and there, a term most of all applicable to a type of gelato (Italian icecream). But also more consistent (and not frozen) dessert creams bear the lovely name of Straciatella.
Here is an example of a pie filled with that delicious cream. Enjoy.

Ingredients (for a 26 cm pie):

250 g flour
150 g butter
100 g sour cream
3 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
200 g plain creamy yogurt
200 g mascarpone
50 g grated chocolate
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Put the flour, butter, sour cream, sugar and salt in a large bowl:

Mix it into a round ball of even dough with your hands:

Let it rest for an hour, covered. When you're ready to bake the pie, preheat the oven to 180 C and push the dough into a 26 cm pie dish:

After you poke dents into it with a fork, you should cover the shell with a baking sheet and fill it with dry beans or pie weights (we skipped this step and as a result the pie shell shrunk a little). Then bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Mix the rest of the ingredients to form the straciatella cream. Pour it into the pie shell:

Return the pie to the oven and bake for 30 minutes more. Then take out, allow to cool and dig in!

Stuffed baked avocados (with rice, cream and pine nuts) (Middle Eastern)

2011-06-02T22:00:00.002+02:00

We've had stuffed avocados before in some restaurants and we've come up with our version which we particularly enjoyed. But this is the first time we've ever heard of baked stuffed avocados and were intrigued. Apparently it's a Middle Eastern recipe and after we've made it we weren't disappointed. You should try it at least once. Enjoy :)
Adapted mostly from here.

Ingredients (serves 2):

4 avocados, big
3/4 cup of uncooked rice
25 g pine nuts
1/3 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sour cream
some hungarian paprika to taste

Preheat oven to 18 degrees C. Cut the avocados in half and start scooping most of their flesh out:

Leave a thin layer of flesh inside the avocado skins. Boil the rice according to package instructions. When it's boiled add the avocado flesh, pine nuts, salt and sour cream.

Mix well, then fill the avocado shells with this rice mixture. Put them in the preheated oven on a baking tray...

Bake for 5 minutes, then take out and dust with sweet paprika for a nice color and flavor contrast. Dig in! :)

Green pasta with Jamón serrano, Parmesan, mozzarella and olives

2011-05-31T14:14:00.002+02:00

The Jamón serrano is a special type of dry air cured ham that comes from the Spanish cuisine. We've talked about it before and what you need to remember is that it's a very lovely delicacy. Here we've had it in a bowl of green pasta with some mozzarella slices, fresh tarragon, olives and a generous layer of grated Parmesan. The combination was lovely. Enjoy :)

Ingredients (serves 2):

150 g green pasta
2-3 slices of Jamón serrano
a small handful of fresh tarragon
40-50 g grated Parmesan
1 mozarella piece
8-10 green olives
salt and pepper to taste
a few drops of olive oil

Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Cut the ham slices into smaller bits. Cut the mozzarella and the olives to slices.

When the pasta is done, drain it and put it into serving bowls, tossing it with a bit of salt and pepper and olive oil:

Mix with the rest of the sliced ingredients:

Sprinkle generously with Parmesan and dig in :)

Danish pastries with strawberry and cream cheese filling

2011-05-31T14:12:00.001+02:00

Who would mind getting up early to this glorious, sweet and creamy and crunchy breakfast? Not us :).And that's it, we'll keep this one short and just get to the recipe already :)

Ingredients (makes about 7-8 pastries):

2 275 g puff pastry sheets
500 g strawberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250 g mascarpone
180 g cream cheese (like Philadelphia)
100 g powder sugar
2 eggs (or 1 egg and one yolk)

First, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Put the cheeses, sugar and vanilla in one bowl. Add the egg yolk and put the other egg and, optionally, the remaining egg white to a separate bowl.

Mix the cheese filling very well until even. Lightly beat the egg. Cut the strawberries into chunks:

Cut wide strips from the puff pastry sheets. Cut fringes on the two sides of each, lengthwise. Spread some cheese filling on the middle of each, then top with strawberries. Cover with the fringes, from the two sides alternatively, just like in the picture below:

Brush the pastries with the egg-wash:

Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, until golden brown. If by any chance they seem still raw on the bottom (like it happened to us), just turn them upside down and bake for some 20 minutes more until they're golden brown on that side as well:

They're done, dig in.

Mushroom, pickled cucumber and cheese salad

2011-05-30T20:40:00.001+02:00

The taste combinations in this salad are some of our faves. Fresh champignon mushrooms, fresh various salad leaves, pickled cucumbers rounds, grated Gouda cheese and two type of croutons, seasoned with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon-grass. To keep it short, it was one of the best salads that one can make in such a short time and with so common ingredients. Enjoy.

Ingredients (serves 2):

50 g croutons (2 satchels, pick them of two different kinds)
75 g white champignons
100 g mixed salad leaves
50 g Gouda cheese
40-50 g pickled cucumbers
salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon-grass powder to taste

Put the leaves in a salad bowl and add the cheese, cut into little cubes:

Clean and peel the mushrooms and cut them into chunks. Add them too:

Also slice the cucumbers and add them:

Add the croutons (ours were paprika with pine nuts and white with sunflower seeds) and seasonings and that's it:

Toss well and dig in! :)

Teriyaki salmon fillets

2011-05-30T20:40:00.000+02:00

The Teriyaki sauce is one of the most popular products of the Japanese cuisine. It's especially good for marinating and glazing meats, and the combination with salmon seems to be a staple all around the globe. We decided to share this simple recipe with you, being sure you'll like it too. Serve this with the side of your choice :).

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 salmon fillets (250 g)
30-40 ml Teriyaki sauce (plus extra 10-15 ml for serving)
optional extra salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Put the raw salmon in a deep dish and pour the sauce over it. Let it marinate for at least 1-2 hours (in the fridge if the room temperature is too warm):

When you're ready to make it, just heat the olive oil in a frying pan (or put it in a baking dish if you want to bake it, we went for the faster version) and add the salmon and all of the sauce in which it marinated:

Fry it on medium heat on both sides until it's done (4-5 minutes on each). The sauce will be reduced to a wonderful glaze coating the fish. Pour a little extra sauce from the bottle directly on top of the salmon on the serving plate. We recommend skipping any extra spice to fully enjoy this wonderful Asian creation. Dig in! :)