Htapothi Makaronatha (Pasta with octopus) (Greek)

It's no longer any news that seafood holds a special place in Greek cuisine and the Greek chefs really know what to do with seafood to make it shine. This pasta with fresh octopus stewed in a tomato-based sauce is the perfect example of this seafood mastery. If you manage to get fresh octopus in your local market, this should be the go-to recipe for it.

Recipe sources: here and here.

Last year: nothing.

Two years ago: nothing.

Three years ago: nothing.

Four years ago: Smoked salmon and scallion omelette. 

Five years ago: Bob chorba (Bulgarian bean soup) (vegan).

Six years ago: Caviar on mashed potatoes (Russian).

Seven years ago: File Marajoara (Steak with melted cheese) (Brazilian).

Eight years ago: Baby making and no cooking :).

Moules marinieres (Mussels steamed with butter, garlic, shallots and wine) (French)

There are two really classic ways to cook and serve mussels: this Moules marinieres dish and the Moules frites one, both belonging, obviously, to the French tradition. 

Moules mariniers means "Mariner's mussels" and is a very fast and easy to prepare way to serve these tasty bits. Mussels may be a bit of a put off for a lot of people out there if they haven't had a chance o taste them really fresh and really well prepared, but trust me: if you don't like mussels and seafood in general, you just haven't yet encountered the right one(s). :)

First of all, to ensure a successful culinary experience, the mussels need to be as fresh as possible (with only a few days guarantee). And you need to cook them the day you bought them, even if they're guaranteed to last for a few more days according to their label. But worry not :) : the ingredients needed besides the mussels themselves are so ordinary that you can go ahead and grab them off the shelves without worrying you won't find the rest of the stuff in time.
Traditionally, this lovely dish is served with French fries or a crispy warm baguette to dunk in the delicious broth (sauce) remaining after the mussels are steamed through. We chose the baguette to make sure we get as much of the yummy liquid as possible. 
If you can find fresh mussels one day in the store or elsewhere don't hesitate and grab them, then return to this recipe and you'll be savoring a bowl of delicious wonders in no time that will change the way you think about seafood forever. :)

Last year: nothing.

Two years ago: nothing.

Three years ago: nothing.

Four years ago: Calabacitas con Elote (Zucchini with Corn) (Mexican).

Five years ago: Spicy artichoke and cheese pasta souffle.

Six years ago: Avocado and green leaf salad (vegan).

Seven years ago: Mushroom and broccoli filled omelet. 

Eight years ago: Baby making and no cooking :).

Bun Bo (Vietnamese rice noodle salad)

One of the best Vietnamese dishes to try, beyond the super-famous Pho soup. this salad exemplifies everything I love about Vietnamese cuisine. 
It's as spicy and enticing as all Asian cuisines tend to be, but unlike classic Chinese cuisine it tends to have many fresh ingredients added, along with more sour and herbal flavors. Japanese dishes also tend to have more fresh stuff in them, but they are purists when it comes to tastes so they prefer not to overcrowd the dishes with spices. 
Well, Vietnamese dishes have it all and they're the epitome of intense tastes: both sweet, sour, spicy, fried and fresh, noodle and liquid, herbal and spice. 

This delicious salad is the perfect thing to make when you happen to have some leftover nem rolls on hand. It features freshly cooked glazed shrimp, sliced nem rolls, rice noodles, fresh herbs and veggies, along with a tangy lime sauce and crunchy peanuts. You also have a bit of heat from a touch of red chili peppers, and the fish sauce also lends an extra explosion of umami that will leave you craving more.
Recipe source: David Lebovitz (mainly).

Last year: nothing.
Two years ago: nothing.
Three years ago: nothing.
Four years ago: Ants climbing a tree (Ma Yi Shang Shu) (Chinese).
Five years ago: Radish, smoked salmon and orange salad (raw).
Six years ago: Asparagus, mint and lemon risotto. 
Seven years ago: Elder-flower-rum cream tartelettes with raspberries.
Eight years ago: Salmon Smorrebrod (Danish), Upside-down banana cake with raisins and walnuts and Chinese-style pork sesame balls.

Clam and herb pizza

After seeing this idea here, suddenly a clam pizza with herbs seemed like an interesting dinner, especially if you're into seafood. I gave it a try (adapting the recipe a bit, like adding a touch of curry) and didn't regret it. Easy to put together and delicious to eat. Enjoy :)

Last year: Tamarillo and red wine rice pudding.
Two years ago: nothing
Three years ago: nothing
Four years ago: nothing
Five years ago: Lemon and condensed milk cream tart.
Six years ago: Authentic carbonara (Italian).
Seven years ago: Tuna and clementine creamy spread.
Eight years ago: "Lapte de pasăre" (Romanian "bird's milk" dessert, my mom's recipe)

Shrimp cocktail in avocado cups

Shrimp cocktail with a little extra touch (the classic cocktail sauce that's supposed to dress the shrimps is made with Greek yogurt instead of mayo and heated with a touch of harissa or any spicy sauce you have around) and a beautiful twist: served directly from avocado cups instead of plain glasses lined with lettuce leaves :)
I personally think anything served from avocados is droolingly good (see the Mediterranean stuffed avocados or the Middle Eastern baked stuffed avocados), so, naturally, I thought this was a very good idea. And the recipients and recipe testers who got to try it were also quite convinced it was a good idea. From the first bite :).

Last year: Cypriot tomato salad (Greek).
Two years ago: Coconut corn salad.
Three years ago: Goat cheese rounds in prosciutto.
Four years ago: Baby making and no cooking :).

Tempura shrimp with soy-and-vinegar glaze (Japanese)

Tempura isn't a type of food, but a way of preparing food in Japanese cuisine. It means battering various bits of food and frying them to a soft and pillowy perfection (completely different from the crunch of Western fried foods). Tempura can be made with both vegetables or meat (shrimp and chicken are the most common choices); for this, I used shrimp as well. Also, the soy and vinegar glaze is exactly the sauce you want to be drizzled over this.
You can see more about how to batter bits of food in tempura style, step by step, here.
Recipe adapted from here. 

Last year: Mâncare de urzici (Romanian nettle stew).
Two years ago: Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon (cocktail).
Three years ago: Blueberry and carrot smoothie (raw vegan).
Four years ago: Coffee-marinated chicken, Fennel and walnut ricotta-filled muffins, The Ratatouille from the movie Ratatouille and Tofu Parmigiana (Italian).

Shrimp pizza with cherry tomatoes and parsley

I'm a fan of most seafood and especially shrimps in almost any size or any method of preparation. And since everyone likes pizza (right? right?), then it was time to take my love of prawns further and put them onto a pizza base made of crispy wholemeal dough. To make the whole thing very fresh-tasting, I kept the heavy ingredients to a low (just grated mozzarella, but I chose a really good buffalo mozzarella so its full flavor could really be felt in the final dish), and added a lot of fresh ingredients (like cherry tomatoes, a squeeze of lemon and plenty of chopped parsley). The result was delicious, light and perfect by my book. Enjoy :)

Last year: Flourless chocolate cake with choco-whiskey sauce.
Two years ago: Poulet Vallée d'Auge (Chicken, apple and Calvados cream stew) (French).
Three years ago: Sprinkle butter cookies (Italian).
Four years ago: Chinese fried rice, Broccoli and ham torte and Cardamom lassi (Indian).

Crab starters with guacamole and black sesame

A lovely and elegant starter using a crostini with rosemary base, delicate crab meat on a soft and citrusy guacamole bed with a sprinkle of black sesame. 
Recipe adapted from a similar one in the Romanian issue of Good Food Magazine, December 2011.

Last year: Pumpernikel rounds with beef ham, mustard and cornichons.
Two years ago: Simple bundt cake with raisins (Romanian guguluf).
Three years ago: Pasta alla carbonara (Italian) and Ginger-lemon chicken breast with honey-spicy vegetable sautee.

Caviar on mashed potatoes (Russian)

A lovely combination you should really try whenever you want a change from serving caviar on the regular bread and butter. It's a traditional Russian recipe, and they should know a thing or two about the best ways to enjoy caviar. :)
Recipe source: Saveur.

Last year: File Marajoara (Steak with melted cheese) (Brazilian).
Two years ago: Baby making and no cooking :).

Moules frites (Belgian and French)

This is a national Belgian dish consisting of fresh mussels cooked in wine, butter, celery and leeks, accompanied by frites (French fries) and hand-made mayo. When I visited my friends Laura and Vlad in Belgium earlier this year (in June), almost every traditional restaurant displayed this dish on their menus outside the entrance :). I decided to make them at home and present them to you as the local specialty. 
I visited several cities in Belgium (Leuven, Brussels, Bruges), but where I loved it most was in Bruges. You can admire its famous market square and clock tower below:

By far the prettiest city, rightfully compared to a fairy-tale setting. I might be inclined towards it considering my older love for anything medieval (I will have a book - my phd, actually - be published on medieval festivals soon, yey!), but I still think the city is pretty enough to melt anyone.

If you happen to pass by Bruges, you must definitely try one of their boat rides. It takes you through the best parts of what the city has to show you and it's prettier than any boat ride you could imagine :). This is me (below), looking over a bridge towards the canals where the boats pass through (and some hour later we took a boat ride as well).

To see some scenery from Bruges, you could try watching In Bruges. It's a pretty funny movie :). To have a taste of Belgium try my mussels recipe, detailed below, after the jump.

Recipe source: Saveur. 

Last year: Turmeric-fried chicken with three chili marinade and tomato raita.

Two years ago: Baby making and no cooking :).

Butter and scotch shrimps with creamy lemon pasta

This is a dish for special occasions, like dinner for two :). This way of preparing shrimps (by drowning them in butter and scotch and frying them in a hot pan) makes them taste so good that I think this is a nice recipe to start with if you're just warming yourself up to seafood. In this recipe, you can't taste the sometimes unpleasant sea after-taste that shrimps and other sea fruits occasionally have. The side that goes with them is a creamy, herby and lemony pasta, the fancier the better. :)

Last year: Quiche Lorraine (French).
Two years ago: No cooking :).

Chili and lemon fried shrimps

First of all, apologies for the blurred picture (taken, I think, with a cell-phone in some unusual circumstances) :). 
This simple way to prepare shrimps in a parsley, lemon, garlic and chili sauce is to die for. This is our go-to when it comes to cooking shrimps fast and when we need a base to improvise with when creating a dish using seafood. Enjoy :)
Recipe adapted from here.

Last year: Sprinkle butter cookies (Italian).
Two years ago: Turkish white rice pudding (with rosewater and almonds), Florentine pie (with spinach and egg) and Bramboraki (Czech potato pancakes). 

Spaghetti nests with dill cream and caviar

Creamy spaghetti with a strong dill taste, curled up into little nests filled with red caviar. :)
The image speaks for itself so I shall delay no further. Enjoy.

Last year: no cooking except another kind of bun in the oven :)

Thai chicken and crab curry

This curry (stew) is a delicately flavored creamy dish consisting of meat and vegetable pieces slowly simmered and very flavored, usually served over rice. The version we cooked here wasn't too spicy, but you can kick it up by adding some fresh chili without straying whatsoever from the traditional dish (which comes very often in though-the-roof hot styles). Enjoy :)


Last year: Asparagus, sun-dried tomato, cheese and olive bread, Simple spaghetti with olives, pesto, basil and yellow tomatoes, Roasted pepper salad (Romanian) and Pork salad (with roasted peppers, olives and Parmesan).

Spicy shrimp and wild rice soup (Chinese)

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. 

Jamón serrano and shrimp tacos (Spanish - Mexican)

Jamón serrano is a very special type of dry cured raw ham (like the Italian Prosciutto crudo) made in Spain. Considered by many the epitome of pork, it is one of the most representative products of Spanish cuisine. And because Spanish and Mexican cuisine share roots and spices and lots of ingredients, we thought the ham would love nothing more than to adorn some tacos that would reunite the two cultures in one dish. The shrimps are also widely used in the Spanish cuisine, so they work just as well in these tacos. Enjoy.

Red wine baby shrimps with olive and tomato quinoa

A handful of baby shrimps fried in red wine, garlic and fresh herbs, served on a bed of healthy quinoa boiled in soup and mixed with green olives and fresh tomatoes. The general range of flavors was definitely Mediterranean and the feel was airy, salty and light. 
Quinoa is one of our latest food crushes. We love its rich history (the Aztecs used to consume large quantities of this grain), its fluffy texture and the fact that it's a healthier (and creamier) version of rice. It takes a bit to cook it properly but it's worth the extra waiting time.
Shrimps and alcohol used during cooking is a very common combination due to how well it works. But usually people use something stronger than wine, like whiskey or brandy. You'll see that the wine, especially red, works best in combination with the herbs and garlic. Overall, I can't imagine anything about this dish that you won't enjoy. :)

Surimi noodle salad with asparagus

A lovely way to use crab sticks (fingers) in a noodle salad. Full of healthy proteins and fiber and fatty acids. The combination of tastes is very warm and tangy, while remaining light. Enjoy.