Le Citronnier

Cookies: Chocolate Chip & Walnut, Oatmeal & Raisin, Matcha Shortbread

2011-12-05T01:17:00.000Z

Remember yesterday's post where I mentioned that I had cookie dough resting in the fridge overnight? 4 kinds of cookie dough, to be exact. They are all baked into nice crunchy, chewy little cookies (some not so little) now and put into little bags to be given away tomorrow (I hope none of the recipients will read before I give these). But first things first.

We're only a few weeks before Christmas and things that need to be done/shopped are accumulating. This morning I had to run some errands and do some light Christmas shopping so we took the opportunity to pass by Lantana before and have some breakfast before braving the insane crowd of Oxford Street.
I love going there and it's so handily located near all the shops but at the same time off the noise and insanity. The only thing that bothers me is that it's becoming increasingly popular and the waiting queues are becoming longer every time. Anywho we couldn't wait too long so compromised and said "yes" when the waiter asked us if we minded sitting outside. BIG MISTAKE. The food was delicious as always but I ended up frozen and not feeling my extremities.
Things eaten:

Corn Fritters (aka corn fritters, bacon, roasted tomatoes, rocket, chili tomato chutney, creme fraiche)

The Brat (aka sourdough bread, bacon, rocket, aioli and tomato chutney)

A few hours later I was home and ready to bake all the cookies I was chilling since last night.

I finished off the Coconut ones which I had started the night before and left them to cool while doing the others. The other three where:

Salted butter chocolate chip & walnut cookies: always a winner. I've tried many chocolate chip cookie recipes, some chewier, some crunchier, some sweeter, some nuttier, but this one is my favourite so far. It has the right texture (not too chewy but not to crispy either), the right amount of sugar, the right amount of butter so it will not overshadow the other flavours and lastly but most important of all: salted butter (just to make things even healthier, huh?).

Oatmeal & Raisin cookies: I love these dipped in coffee. A bit on the healthier side but still incredibly tasty.

Matcha Shortbread cookies: These were my favourites. Perhaps due to the fact that they have a nice green colour which is pretty unusual for a biscuit, or maybe because it was my first-time experiment and they turned out to be quite yummy. I'm sure you know it but just in case you don't, Matcha is green tea powder and can be found in Japanese shops (for those who live in London: try Japan Centre on Regent street, as per my friend Kiyeun's advice.)

Shall we pass on to the recipes?

Salted Butter Chocolate Chip & Walnut cookies (makes about 24 but you can halve the recipe and make a dozen)

Ingredients

110g dark or light brown sugar

100g granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

180g flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt or kosher salt

200g coarsely chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate or chocolate chips

1 cup toasted nuts, coarsely chopped. I like walnuts with my chocolate chip.

115g salted butter, at room temperature. I used the one with sea crystals

Method:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or by hand, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar just until smooth and creamy.

Beat in the egg and the vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Stir the flour mixture into the beaten butter until combined, then mix in the chopped chocolate (including any chocolate dust) and the chopped nuts.

Cover and chill the batter until firm. (It’s preferable to let it rest overnight.)

To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 160ºC. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Form the cookie dough into rounds about the size of a large unshelled walnut. Place the mounds evenly spaced apart on the baking sheets, and press down the tops to flatten them so they are no longer domed and the dough is even.

Bake the cookies for ten minutes, rotating the baking sheet midway during baking, until the cookies look about set, but are not browned.

Remove from the oven and quickly tap the top of each with a spatula, then return to the oven for two to five more minutes, until the tops of the cookies are light golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cookies cool.

Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies (makes about 24 but you can halve the recipe)

Ingredients

225 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150 g granulated sugar
200 g packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
245 g flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
175 g rolled oats
240 g raisins

Method:

-In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars until very light and fluffy.

-Meanwhile in a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon, making sure there are no lumps of baking soda. Stir in the oats and raisins.

-Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until thoroughly combined. On low speed, or by hand, gradually add the flour and oat mixture to the creamed butter, mixing until completely incorporated.

-Chill the batter a few hours or overnight, covered. (This step is optional, although recommended by the author of the recipe.)

-To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to160ºC. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

-Drop the dough in 50 g balls evenly spaced on the baking sheet and flatten the tops slightly with your hand.

-Midway during baking, rotate the baking sheet and tap the tops of the cookies down somewhat firmly with a spatula to flatten the domes.

-Bake the cookies for 20 to 22 minutes, until they just start to turn brown across the top, but do not overbake.

Remove from oven and cool completely.

Matcha Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

100 grams good-quality butter, softened (I use semi-salted butter; if you use unsalted, add 1/4 teaspoon sea salt)
50 grams confectioner's (or icing) sugar
1 egg yolk
90 grams flour
40 grams finely ground almonds(a.k.a. almond meal)
2 teaspoons matcha (green tea powder)
2 tablespoons sugar, preferably an unrefined cane sugar in coarse crystals, such as turbinado or demerara

Method:

In a medium mixing-bowl, cream together the butter and confectioner's sugar with a spatula. Add the egg yolk and mix it in thoroughly.

In another bowl, combine the flour, ground almonds, and matcha, and stir with a whisk to remove any lump.

Add to the first bowl and stir it in until the mixture comes together to form a ball; don't overwork the dough.

Roll it into a log with a circular or square section, about 4-cm in width. Wrap in cling film and place in the freezer to firm up for 40 minutes (or in the fridge for 2 hours).

Preheat the oven to 160° C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle the sugar on a plate and roll the log in it to coat on all sides, pressing it down a bit into the sugar if necessary. Using a sharp knife, cut the log into 1-cm slices and arrange on the prepared baking sheet; the cookies will spread just a touch.

Slip into the oven and bake for 12 minutes, or until the cookies just begin to turn golden at the edges. Let rest for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

The sugar-coated edges should be golden

Once I had all the cookies cool, I made the small bags

I hope they taste as fresh tomorrow as they did today. Cookie-quest completed!

How to Make Friands, Coconut cookies and Rhubarb & vanilla jam

2011-12-04T00:13:00.002Z

It's 22.49 and I have just sat down for the first time since 14.00 this afternoon when I first walked into the kitchen. This feels almost like a full-time job! And even though my back hurts badly I feel quite content with what I managed to do in just one day. Plan one for this weekend was to make Friands. Friands are small, light and almond-y cakes which are originally French, however, they're very popular in Australia and they are served in cafes (a coffee and a Friand after some surfing - that's the life!). They are becoming very popular here too due to the fact that the best London cafes are actually Antipodean. You will always see a rack with Friands (pear, blueberry, banana, you name it) on the counter of hipster cafes.

It's strange how I hadn't made them so far - probably I hadn't realised how easy they are to make.
The only downside is that you need a Friand tray but Muffin trays (or silicone cups) work too although the shape will turn out slightly different than what it's meant to. This is what I did.

In addition to baking those little guys, I cleared, tidied and organised my pantry and now I can actually find things that I look for and get stuff from the back of the shelf without clumsily spilling stuff like flour in the process.

pantry looking neat

BUT, most importantly, today I made four different cookie doughs. I will not expand on this in this post as the three of them are still being chilled in the fridge and will stay there overnight getting ready to be baked tomorrow. After baking them, I will put them in pretty bags and give them away as edible Christmas gifts. More on this very shortly!

I did bake one batch of Coconut cookies though and lastly, as if the above were not enough, I made a jar of Rhubarb and vanilla jam.

First the Friands:

The recipe is Australian - I wanted to use one from the country that actually brought them back in fashion and where they are being done best. The fruit can be anything you like. I used blueberries.

Friands

Ingredients for 6:

100 gr butter
4 large egg whites (minimun egg weight 59 gr each)
45 gr plain flour (not self-rising)
140 gr icing sugar, plus some extra for dusting
85 gr almond meal (or almond powder or very finely ground almonds)
about 40 gr blueberries

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees fan-forced.

Grease the friand tray or muffin tray/cases.

Melt the butter and let aside to cool until lukewarm.

In a bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy (about one minute, no need to overdo it, this is not meringue).

Stir the flour, icing sugar and almond meal into the bowl with the egg whites. Stir until just combined.

Add the melted butter to the bowl and stir until just combined.

Divide the mixture evenly among the friand / muffin holes of the tray (or silicon cases). Add a few (5-6) blueberries in a cluster in the centre of each friand.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the friands are a light golden colour and spring back when lightly pressed. You can always check also by inserting a toothpick into the centre of the cake: if it comes out without any raw-looking batter, then it's ready.

Remove friands and leave to cool in a rack. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

The friands just out of the oven

The biscuits in the background are crunchy coconut cookies and if you'd like to make them go ahead - they are incredibly easy. You can either toast the coconut under the grill first (about 5-10 minutes until it turns golden and watch out as it can darken very quickly) or skip the toasting which is what I did on this occasion.

Coconut Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup desiccated coconut
140 g plain white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
85 g butter, at room temperature
90 g dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Method:

Preheat the oven at 160 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar until smooth and fluffy (about 1 minute). Add the egg, vanilla and almond extracts and mix until just blended. On low speed, add the flour mix and mix until just incorporated. Stir in the coconut.

Scoop a spoonful of dough for each cookie, make it into a ball and place on the baking sheet. With the wet back of a spoon flatten the ball into round cookies. You can also use another method: Put the whole dough between two pieces of wax paper and roll it out with a rolling pin. Remove the top piece of wax paper and use a cookie cutter to make the cookies. Lift the cookies off the paper and transfer to the parchment lined baking sheet. If you are having trouble lifting the cookies, place the dough in the fridge for a while until it firms up.

Bake until the edges and bottoms are lightly browned, about 12 to 15 minutes. Leave to cool before lifting them from the baking sheet.

Also in the picture: Rhubarb and vanilla jam.
Now, the usual way to make jam is to use fruit and sugar on a 1 to 1 ratio. This is the traditionally sweet, victorian jam. If you prefer it to be fruitier, reduce the sugar according to your taste. I personally feel that with this ratio the fruitiness is overshadowed by the sweetness so after a few experiments I have found that my preferred ratio is 1 (fruit) to just under 3/4 (sugar).

Rhubarb and Vanilla Jam

Ingredients:

400 g rhubarb
250 g sugar
juice from one lemon
flesh from either one orange or two-three clementines.
One vanilla pod, split lengthwise.

Stir the first 4 ingredients in a pan under low heat. Scoop the seeds from the vanilla pod and stir in the pan both seeds and the pod.

Once the sugar is dissolved, raise to medium heat and bring to the boil. Once the jam has reached the rolling boiling point (the bubbles are big, staying longer and then bursting) remove from the heat and test. You can test if the jam is ready by scooping a spoonful on a cold plate (it's best to have it in the freezer before) and pushing the jam lightly with your finger. If it leaves a trail, it means it's set. If it's still liquid, boil a further few minutes and test again until it's set.

Remove the vanilla pod (at this point you can add some vanilla extract if you'd like) and pour the jam into sterilised jars.

Music playing in the background while I was making these:

Forrest Gump OST
Crazy Heart OST

many many times over and over

Mmm..tomorrow I'll have freshly-made jam to spread on my toast, not to mention friands for breakfast!

Good night everyone,
R.

Savoury Tarts

2011-09-17T23:58:00.000+01:00

Surprise surprise, this blog is not dead yet!
It's been a bit inactive, for sure, but now that autumn is crawling in I'll cook and post more frequently.
It's been a busy summer and now it's being a busy September and this weekend is intended to be dedicated to relaxing. So today I thought I'd do some baking and started by making a savoury tart with feta, cherry tomatoes and olives. I had made this same tart a couple of months ago, only that the main ingredients of the filling were Swiss Chard and Gruyere instead and for a first attempt it had turned out to be a success!

On another note, I'd like to share with you a couple of finds. First of all, for those who live in London and like eating out in restaurants (I imagine most), I came across this blog in which the author reviews London restaurants and gives minutely detailed accounts of his visits and dishes. I was quite excited I discovered this because the author is quite clearly a pro (just read his guide to steaks. awesome!) and even though one can have a different opinion on some topics, it's professionally written and gives a great insight. All in all, I'd say it's a great guide and you can see most of London's most buzzed about restaurants featured on his list.

The second thing that got me excited this week is something for those who work around the area of Trafalgar square/ Covent Garden (or those who like going there): A relatively new cafe with one of the best-tasting coffees in town and an amazing atmosphere. The place is decorated in shabby chic style, it has a big bar with mirrors behind it bistro-like, a big communal table at the end of the room, a glass dome above it from where the light comes in, lovely friendly hipster staff (without being pushy though) and jazz music playing in the background. I was so excited to stumble on it as there is hardly a sophisticated place around the area where everything is mainly on the touristic side of things. Oh, I forgot to say that it's located on St Martin's lane, next to the Coliseum theatre and it's called Notes. And that they also have a collection of jazz and classical music CDs available for sale, as well as DVDs. Doesn't all that sound great? And the place has been there for almost a year without me knowing it..
Anyway, as well as being a cafe (fantastic flat white served there) and having some lunch dishes and pastries, in the evening it becomes a wine bar with a variety of cheeses and charcuterie available for accompanying.

Now back to the recipe and first the ingredients:

For the shortcrust pastry:
175 gr plain four
90 gr butter
about 2 tbs cold water
tin of 23cm diameter

For the filling:
You can use your imagination and customise the filling to your liking or mood so feel free to improvise combining your favourite ingredients and flavours.

2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup whole milk
salt & pepper
1 medium onion, sliced thin
2-3 tbs olive oil
180 gr crumbled feta
oregano or thyme
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
a handful of sliced olives
or, replace the last 5 ingredients with:
1 bunch of Swiss Chard, washed and patted dry
180 gr of any cheese like Gruyere or goat's

First I made the pastry by tipping the flour into a bowl and rubbing the butter with my fingertips. I added water to bind it to a soft dough and wrapped it in cling film and left it in the fridge to chill for half an hour.
Then I rolled out the pastry with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface and lined the tin. I pricked the bottom of the pastry shell with a fork and then covered/lined the pastry shell with greaseproof paper and filled it with ceramic baking beans (otherwise the pastry will puff and will not remain flat).

Then I put the tin in the oven and baked it for 15-20 minutes at 220, removing the paper and beans for the last 10 minutes.

Then I started working on the filling, first by gently frying the onion in some olive oil until translucent.
Then, in a bowl, I combined the beaten eggs and milk, salt and pepper. I layered the onion on the bottom of the pastry base, then poured over it the egg/milk mixture and added the feta, cherry tomatoes and olives on top. I also sprinkled some oregano over. If you do this with Swiss Chard (or spinach or any other vegetable of this kind), you will need to saute it with the onions first.

This time I put some foil underneath my tin because my tin has a removable bottom and I've learnt my lesson well. This way, even if it drips, it has somewhere to go.

I baked it at 175-200 for about 30-40 minutes, until the tart started to get a golden colour and the custard was cooked.

And here is what I did while I waited for it to be baked. Although not as glamorous as having wine, I had had a glass or two every night the past 4 nights (consecutively...) so I thought I'd give my liver a rest.

Lastly, I'd like to show you something I'm proud of - proud because in the 3 weeks I've had it, it still hasn't shown any signs of dying - at all!! So it looks like I'm taking good care of it and I've been using it in cooking a lot. Now a fireplace may be an unlikely place for a pot of chilli peppers but I actually quite like it there. And speaking of chilli peppers, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers are coming to the UK in November as part of their tour and I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing them if I can. I've tried to buy tickets already via Ticketmaster but there seems to be some error as it won't let me. Perhaps sold out?I'll keep trying!

Baking on a rainy Sunday

2011-07-17T22:29:00.000+01:00

Hello all!
I hope you like the new design of the blog, I spent a few hours yesterday trying out different things and this is the result. I personally like it more now, but think that it might be slightly harder to read and definitely harder to see the pictures as they kind of get lost in the background. Don't worry though as I'm sure I'll re-design it again sometime soon but for now please do tell me your opinion!

The whole day of today was spent baking as we're organising a charity bake sale at work tomorrow and since I was the one who suggested it I needed to make an effort. Also, the weather this weekend was beyond miserable with heavy rain pouring down and dark skies but then again this is the ideal weather for staying in and baking! Part of the reason I'm being so positive though is that my much awaited summer holidays are approaching and I don't care if it's going to be raining, snowing or whatever else until then because in 3 weeks I'm off to bluer skies!

Back to the bake sale now, as tomorrow we're raising money to support Oxfam's appeal for East Africa and this is what I made to take with me tomorrow: Parmesan and rosemary biscuits, for those who fancy a savoury snack. Oatmeal cream pies, for an extra afternoon sugar rush. Goat's cheese and olive muffins, my personal favourite.

Making the parmesan & rosemary biscuits and the savoury muffins was very easy and quick but the oatmeal cream pies....that was tricky! I hadn't realised how difficult it is to spread the dough on the baking sheet without crumbling it (that alone took me more than an hour), how time-consuming baking the cookies in 3 batches is and then...making the swiss meringue! By the time I had everything pretty much assembled, the kitchen looked like a very big mess and I still had more to do.

I am sharing a couple of pics of my "products" and the tart I made yesterday for dinner.

Rosemary and Parmesan biscuits:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1 tsp baking powder

2 springs rosemary, chopped

3 1/2 tbs freshly grated parmesan

2 eggs

3 tbs unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 180 C. In the bowl of a mixer, combine the first six ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and the butter and add to the dry ingredients. Mix until combined.

Divide the dough into equal balls (whatever shape you like) and scoop on a baking sheet. Flatten with the back of a spoon or make them whatever shape you like. Place on the baking tray and bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden and dry.

Last bank holiday of May

2011-06-18T23:47:00.000+01:00

And since I recently mentioned that I have a new dining table that I made myself, I'd like to share with you a pic or two. The actual table doesn't show very well and it's covered in plates and food but that's what it's meant to be used for, right? I took these a couple of weeks ago when our good friends Evi and Andre visited for the weekend and we made a couple of things to have as dinner. The menu consisted of:

-Portuguese cheese (oh dear, I forgot the name again!), charcuterie, red hot cherry peppers filled with ricotta, Poilane bread
-Steamed asparagus and smoked salmon with parmesan shavings and honey vinaigrette
-Crevette risotto with saffron and vegetables
-Tomato tarte
-Tarte Tatin for dessert
-Vinho verde

We had a lovely time and the weekend pretty much evolved around food and on the Sunday I had booked us a table at Providores for brunch. I was looking really forward to it as I had never been there before but I ended up slightly disappointed: The food was very good, but nothing that we haven't had before at Lantana and other places of more reasonable prices. The atmosphere downstairs was cozy and casual (but too crowded on that particular day, but that's what happens with popular places I guess) but we were seated upstairs were it was more fancy-restaurant-like and it lacked the hype vibe. We all made a great discovery though: Turkish baked eggs in yoghurt!! Even I, having had a longtime love-hate relationship with eggs, could not believe I hadn't tried this before, or didn't even know it existed.

I didn't take a photo of Evi's Turkish eggs but here is a pic I found on the internet:

We also went to Ginger and White (it almost sounds like I'm advertising the place) and had a coffee before going for a walk in the Heath. Here are some pictures from that day:

Oven-roasted king scallops

2011-06-18T22:29:00.002+01:00

Today we woke up in a very energetic mode (despite the bad weather) and we jogged up to Hampstead village. It's so much more motivating than going to the gym and running on the treadmill, because you know that when you get there, there will be coffee waiting for you as a treat for your efforts. And so we had two flat whites at Ginger and White, waited for the rain to stop and walked back home again to make lunch (a very late one).

Here are some pictures I took (discreetly, I hope) at Ginger and White - one of my favourite coffee places:

Towards the end of the itinerary it started to rain again and we run through it, getting home soaked and tired. I didn't want to make something that would cancel our efforts and I was still thinking of a scallop dish I ate in Copenhagen while I was visiting for work last week. They were oven-roasted and had a pesto-like sauce but I decided to completely make something up - a sauce of my own creation:

I made a pesto-salsa verde hybrid by mixing garlic, pine nuts, basil, parsley, dill, lemon and olive oil.
Please don't ask me the measurements because I didn't actually measure, I just put all the ingredients together in the blender, in quantities that seemed fit to me. And so I blended them.

I cut about 10 vine tomatoes in half, put them cut side down in a baking tray and sprinkled with just a dash of olive oil. Then I roasted them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes.

Then I took a tablespoon or two of the green herb sauce and mixed it with some vine tomatoes (3-4) and blended these too (separately) to make a tomato sauce.

In the meantime, I took the tomatoes out of the oven and kept them aside. I seasoned the king scallops and put them in the oven for about 20 minutes. If you have a better/faster oven then mine, you might need less time.

After roasting the scallops I put them in a serving dish with some of the roasted tomatoes and sprinkled them with the green and the tomato sauce according to taste.

To accompany, I steamed some asparagus for 2 minutes, poured over them some vinaigrette and parmesan shavings. I make the vinaigrette by mixing olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a teaspoon of honey.

Et voila, a light but tasty lunch

Fried Tomato Balls and a new dining table

2011-05-18T23:48:00.000+01:00

I have been away for so long I don't even remember when the last time was that I sat down to post something.
I had a few reasons though as there have been things going on - 2 bookfairs, Easter holidays, the usual busy schedule and some DIY that I have been doing recently! Yes, I realised one day that this flat needed some re-decoration and re-vamping but didn't want to spend a lot of money either. Besides, I had been looking for the ideal dining table and chairs all over and could not find what I wanted - so I made it myself (thanks to many design blogs which showed me how to). I was very worried in the beginning that things would not work out and I would end up throwing away to the bin the pieces of furniture I had bought (yes, cheap, but still..) and that I was just wasting my time making our flat look like a studio / lab. But in the end everything turned out very nice and now we actually have a decent table that doesn't wobble to eat on!
So, returning to a more relevant to this blog subject, a few weeks ago I made tomato fritters, or fried tomato balls , call them as you like. I tend to not use the frying pan very much as it's not the healthiest way of cooking, but some times you just need something fried and nothing else will do. These tomato balls can be found on many of the Greek islands (and nowdays, the mainland too) and they are a great starter or mezze. The taste will depend a lot on the tomatoes, so they'd better be of a good quality, ripe and pretty. And you know what? they are suitable for vegetarians too!
Here is how I made them, following loosely Tesa Kiros' recipe:

300 gr ripe red tomatoes
70 gr red onion, chopped
3 tbsp chopped parsley
100 gr plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
olive oil, for frying

Slice the tomatoes into 6 wedges, then chop each wedge into 4 pieces.
Scrape off the board where you were chopping the tomatoes into a bowl but leave behind any excess juice. Add the onion, parsley and half the flour to the bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Leave for 10 minutes or so to soften
Now make a paste with the remaining flour, the baking powder and 80 ml (1/3 cup) of water.

Add this paste to the bowl and mix in well.
Heat a generous amount of olive oil in the frying pan until very hot. Scoop up a good tablespoon of the mixture and with another spoon, scrape this into the hot olive oil in irregular fritters. Fry a few at a time and turn them over when golden to fry the other side.

as the tomato fritters were being fried - a view from the kitchen window

frying the tomato balls in irregular fritters

Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a plate with kitchen paper. Serve them on a clean plate.

You might want to add mint when you make the batter, to give it a zingy flavour but parsley is definitely a winner!

Jasmine tea infused pears

2011-03-20T23:21:00.000Z

A couple of weeks ago I bought an Australian Woman's Weekly issue (my mother used to buy it too when I was a kid) featuring low fat recipes to give me some inspiration as I went through another "healthy eating" spell.
The section that I liked the most was the desserts one and who wouldn't love an almost guilt-free dessert?
Stewed fruit, sorbets and jellies are actually so refreshing after a meal I might even say I prefer them to chocolate or brownies (pies remain on the top of my list though).
These jasmine tea infused pears are almost fat free (the only sinful ingredient in the recipe is sugar, but it's only 75 grams!)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp jasmin tea leaves or 4 jasmine tea bags
75 g firmly packed brown sugar
1 litre boiling water
4 pears
2 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise

-Combine tea leaves (or tea bags), sugar and water in a large heatproof jug and stir until the sugar dissolves. Let it stand for 10 minutes. Strain and discard the leaves (or bags).
-Meanwhile peel, half and core the pears. Combine them with the tea mixture and spices (cinnamon sticks and star anise) in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and leave to simmer uncovered, until the pears are tender - about 25 minutes or so.
-Transfer the pears to serving bowls.
-Boil the syrup, uncovered, until reduced by half.
-Serve the pears with the syrup.

Calories: 161 per 400g serving
fat: 0.1g

We had the 2 of them for dessert after the lamb on polenta, on red sauce (see previous post) and I served the other two on top of french toast for breakfast the next morning.

ps: I had another great fruity dessert last Friday night at Mon Plaisir - oranges salad marinated in Sauternes dessert wine, with mint sorbet. Incredible awesomeness! (I have to find out how they made it)

Lamb chops with red sauce and polenta

2011-03-20T22:48:00.001Z

This weekend was one of those where we have our groceries delivered at home and among them were 8 NZ lamb chops. I was probably craving for lamb when I placed the order.
I combined two recipes I have found from Nigella's website and another food blog and ended up making grilled lamb chops on top of blue cheese polenta, on top of an onion and olive red sauce.

Here is a list of the ingredients I used:

8 lamb chops
2 red onions, sliced
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
400g can of diced tomatoes
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 handful of flat leaf parsley, sliced
50g black olives
200ml water
500ml vegetable stock
120g polenta
120g blue cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to season

-Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan over low heat then add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion starts to colour and become soft.
-Add the tomatoes, rosemary, parsley, olives and water and turn up the heat until the mixture starts to bubble and boil.
-Bring the stock to the boil in a separate saucepan then remove from the heat and gradually add the polenta, stirring as you add it. Stir through the blue cheese and cover with a lid to keep warm.
-Once the tomato mixture has started to boil, turn the heat back down to low and cover and simmer for a futher 5 minutes or until the sauce starts to thicken.
-Brush the lamb chops with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook either on a BBQ or under the grill for 10 minutes.
-Serve the chops on top of the tomato sauce and polenta.

Serves two, hungry people.

Sweet dream cookies

2011-03-20T22:31:00.000Z

Tomorrow we're having a fundraising charity cake sale at work and I offered to make something. To be precise, I offered to make two different things but it turns out that I am going to let people down as my "morning" walk took longer than I had calculated (in addition to the fact that it started very late in the morning) and I hardly had time left to make something basic. I feel a bit guilty, but...ok, I know a lot of people are going to bring lots of stuff anyway, right?
Anyway, I made the "sweet dream" cookies which our Innkeeper in a past trip made and left for us every day on our night stand. That's what she called them, "sweet dream" cookies. They are essentially chocolate chip cookies with ginger, walnuts and cinnamon but I think that by giving them this name (which the Innkeeper gave them) I might have more chances in selling them!

The ingredients are:

1 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups of firmly packed light brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour ( I couldn't find unbleached on this occasion, so made them with plain white)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pack semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup icing sugar

Cream butter.
Beat in brown sugar, egg and vanilla.
Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt.
Blend into butter mixture.
Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.
Refrigerate until firm.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Lightly grease baking sheets.
Break off small pieces of dough; roll between palms into 1 inch rounds.
Dredge rounds in powered sugar.
Arrange rounds on prepared sheets, spacing at least 2 inches apart.
Bake 10 minutes.

And that's it! Easy, huh?

Here's the final result:

Two are missing from the baking tray....

And a close-up:

Rosemary, sea salt and olive focaccia

2011-03-15T00:01:00.000Z

To make this recipe of fluffy focaccia you need to bear in mind that at least 4 hours are needed, so better plan ahead. I also advise that you read the recipe through first and then start.
I made this as the main bread that was going to accompany our Christmas Eve dinner and within minutes there was none left. The secret is to really leave the starter rise, and to have a good oven of course!

Ingredients:
330 gr strong white bread flour

1 tsp light brown sugar

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp coarse sea salt

100gr pitted kalamata olives

2 sprigs of rosemary

Starter

1 1/2 tsp active dried yeast

420ml bottled still spring water luke warm

330g strong white bread flour

1. To make the starter put the yeast and water in a large bowl and stir until the yeast dissolves. Add the flour and stir until there is a porridge-like consistency. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave somewhere warm (like a radiator) for about two hours or until it has doubled in size.

2. Mix the starter with the flour, sugar and olive oil. Knead for about six minutes, then add the salt and knead further until the salt is mixed through.

3. Brush a large bowl with oil, place the dough in it and brush the surface of the dough with more oil. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place for one hour or until the dough has again doubled in size.

4. Turn the dough on to a floured bench and stretch and flatten it into a rectangle. Take one of the short ends of the rectangle and fold it into the centre, take the other end and fold it over the first one to form three layers of dough.

5. Brush a heavy baking tray with oil. Lift the dough on to the tray and flatten it by pressing hard with your hands. Cover with cling film and leave to rise for another hour. During this time check on the dough a couple of times and press it down, spreading it to the edges of the tray.

6. Preheat the oven to 220C. Press the olives and rosemary into the top of the focaccia and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake in the oven for 10 mins and then reduce the heat to 190C and continue for 15-20 mins or until golden. When it is out of the oven and still hot brush with plenty of olive oil.

Coffee addiction

2011-03-07T02:13:00.000Z

Anyone who knows me might know by now that I have become a huge coffee junkie. The problem is, it's so hard to find good coffee in London unless you know some coffee guru..It's understandable, in a place where there is such a huge tea culture but it's hard for caffeine addicts who look for something better than average.
This is why Y. and I have been on a quest lately to discover the best coffee places in London and compare their signature drinks. I can so far say that these trips have been going exceptionally well and there are some amazing gems we have found (along with hundreds of other people I suspect) so I will be very soon posting about exploring all these coffee havens - and of course how we are trying to reach perfection in creating a stumpy at home (apologies to the neighbours for the espresso machine vibration and noise).

Greek cravings part 2 - a vegetarian's paradise

2011-03-07T01:51:00.001Z

Here is a family recipe for Spanakopita (Spinach and feta pie) which must always and only be made with the freshest ingredients. I especially love the smell coming out of the oven while it is being baked and it's great for vegetarians, as a starter dish or as a main really. I will not specify the amount needed for each ingredient for this one, as it's up to one's taste and it really doesn't matter - just add as much of the freshest herbs as you have, and you're in for something yummy:

Spanakopita:

Filo pastry (you can make your own, but I opted for ready made due to time restrictions)

Olive oil

Fresh spinach (at least one large bag)

Parsley (at least one large bag)

Dill (at least two small bags)

Leeks (2-3) or spring onions (4-5)

Feta cheese (around 500 gr), crumbled

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Roll out several layers of the filo pastry on a large baking tray and brush them with olive oil.

Add on top all the chopped wild greens / herbs and the crumbled feta cheese. Sprinkle with plenty of olive oil (always extra virgin).

Cover with another several layers of filo pastry, brushing them again with olive oil.

Tuck in the edges and put in the oven.

Bake for about 1 hour, or until the pastry is crisp and golden.

We accompanied with some feta cheese and pepper spread: Mix feta with one green chilly pepper and a tbsp of olive oil and beat with an electric mixer. When the mixture is creamy but still chunky, it's ready.
Don't overwork it, it just needs one minute as it shouldn't be too liquid. In any case, putting it in the fridge will firm it up.

Τυροκαυτερή

And the lovely book by Tessa Kiros..

Greek cravings

2011-03-07T01:05:00.000Z

I haven't posted anything in such a long time, I have no excuse for it, except for the "I have been busy" factor, but still, it's no excuse. I wish I could be a full-time blogger but for the time being I have a day job that is eating up all my time quite sadly so I need to catch up with posting! All this time I have been thinking of what I'd like to post, I have been taking pictures of everything I've made and I have been considering improving my photographic skills so that the pictures I post here make more justice to the yummy things and present them in a more stylish kind of way. I still haven't made any progress on this though so for the time being we're going to just settle for my regular photography and focus more on the taste.

Being away from home I get homesick quite a lot, every time for different reasons: My family and friends, the weather, expressing my opinions in my mother tongue (they make a lot more sense), the sea. And of course, food! There are times when I really crave for something homemade, and when I say homemade I don't just mean made at home, I mean made at home by mum or grandma, the way they have been making it for many years. Sometimes, it's just anything Greek, something that perhaps I would order if I went to my local taverna there. Anyway, I often try to reconstruct a "Greek kitchen" situation at home and prepare my favourite dishes and although I must say that I'm doing pretty well, they just never quite taste the same. Maybe it's the climate, the weather over here asks for heavier stuff, like stews or soups (funnily enough ever since moving here I have become an addict to bread, which is turning out to be a very bad thing for me) . Or the ingredients, although I try to buy the best (and I am most grateful for finding almost anything from all over the world, brought to me fresh) but it's just not the same as getting them from your allotment. Finally, the fact they these dishes were born in another country is not a coincidence. They were conceived and created there, so there is where they taste right.

Last week I had one of those days and I started flipping through Tessa Kiros' book "Food from Many Greek Kitchens". I highly recommend the book, especially for non Greeks, as it's a wonderful and colourful mixture of greek recipes with some anecdotes and local wisdom. I'm going to be honest and say that I was sceptical about buying it (or, in fact, buying any greek cookery book written by someone who hasn't actually lived in the country) as I always think "I'm sure I can do better that them" with Greek recipes. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that the recipes are very loyal to the original ones I know, very close to the roots and some of them, well, as if they were dictated by my granny!

Here are a couple of the things I made, I hope you will find some inspiration from them!

Mydopilafo - Mussel Rice (adapted from Tessa Kiros' recipe):

1,5 Kg mussels
6 tbsps olive oil
3 garlic cloves: 1 whole, 2 chopped
2-3 flat leaf parsley stalks with the leaves on
125 ml white wine
180 gr spring onions, chopped
4 tbsps dill, coarsely chopped
3 tbsps ouzo
2 tomatoes, grated on the large holes of a grater (so that the skin stays behind in your hand)
400 gr long grain rice

De-beard the mussels and scrub them under running water. Drain and discard any broken mussels, or those that stay open.

Heat 2 tbsps of the oil in a large pot (large enough to hold the mussels).

Add the whole garlic and after a couple of minutes, add the drained mussels, parsley and white wine.
Put over high heat and cook covered, until the mussels open.

When all the mussels have opened , remove from the heat and strain, keeping the liquid.
When cool enough, remove half of the mussels from their shells. Keep aside.

Heat the rest of the oil in a wide pot. Add the onion and saute on a low heat until soft and golden.
Stir in the chopped garlic cloves and half of the dill and after 1-2 minutes, add the ouzo ( I added more than specified above as I love its anisey flavour on seafood) and cook until it evaporates.

Then add the tomato.

Increase the heat to medium and simmer for a few minutes, then add the rice, turning it through to coat well.

Make the mussel broth up to 1 litre by adding to it hot water and add to the pot with the rice. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until a lot of the liquid has been absorbed. Add all the mussels, turn through and simmer for another 5 minutes, making sure that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.

Remove from the heat, add some more dill and fluff up the rice. Cover the pot with a clean tea-towel and then put the lid back on and leave for another 10 minutes to steam and finish cooking.

Tarte Tatin - La tarte des demoiselles Tatin

2011-01-23T22:52:00.000Z

My mum called me a few minutes ago asking me for the tarte Tatin recipe I made during Christmas. It was gone in 30 minutes and I must say that my sister, S. helped me make it. Not that it's difficult but she wanted to practice.

On that day I realised what a difference a good oven can make. Mine over here struggles and is not very powerful so my crusts and pastries don't come out as they're supposed to. Anyway, here goes:

Ingredients:

5-6 large apples, preferably Golden Delicious or Ginger Gold peeled and quartered
Juice of 1 lemon
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
6 tbs unsalted butter, divided

For the pâte brisée (shortcrust pastry):

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

To make the dough (pâte brisée:):

-Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl or food processor. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse crumbles.

Add ice water slowly, until the mixture holds together without being too wet or too sticky.

Make the dough into a ball and refrigerate for at least an hour.

-Toss the apple quarters in a bowl with the sugar and the lemon juice.

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter on a 28 cm skillet / pan over medium heat.

Add the remaining cup of sugar along with a few tablespoons of the apple-lemon juices.

Cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon, for about 15 minutes, or until the mixture is a smooth, bubbly, pale caramel color.
-Remove the pan from the heat and carefully add apple quarters, arranging them rounded-side-down in a decorative pattern. Arrange a second layer of apples on top wherever they fit, closely packed. This second layer need not be terribly neat. Top the apples with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, cut into dice.
-Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
-Cook the apples over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes, occasionally spooning the bubbling caramel liquid over them. Press them down gently with the back of a spoon — don’t worry if they shift a bit in the liquid; just move them back to where they were — and watch to make sure that no one area of the pan is bubbling more than another. Shift the pan as necessary so that the apples cook evenly. They are ready when the liquid in the pan has turned to a thick, amber ooze. The apples should still be slightly firm. Do not allow them to get entirely soft or the liquid to turn dark brown. Remove the pan from the heat.
-Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Knead and roll it making a circle as large as the skillet where the apples have been cooked (28 cm diameter). Carefully lay the pastry circle over the apples in the skillet, tucking the overlap down between the apples and the inside of the pan.
-Place the skillet on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the pastry is dry and golden brown. Remove the skillet from the oven, and let it to rest for a minute or two. Tilt the pan and look down inside the edge: if there is a lot of juice, pour most of it off into the sink. Place a serving platter upside-down over the skillet and, working quickly and carefully (it’s hot!), invert the tart onto the platter. Rearrange any apple slices that may have slipped or stuck to the skillet. Serve warm or at room temperature, preferably with cream.

Boeuf Bourguignon traditionnel

2011-01-16T22:49:00.001Z

This year I offered to make the main course for the New Year's Eve dinner so it had to be something meaty, something hearty, more or less traditional and something that would please everyone (tough task, especially if your grandparents are attending). So Boeuf Bourguignon it was. The traditional and long recipe. Long in both time and description but don't be put off because the biggest part of the time is for the marinade and the level of difficulty is not at all high. In any case, it's totally worth it but would recommend it if you're cooking for a feast (I'm personally not up to marinading and slow-cooking something for hours in order to eat it on my own).

Ingredients for 8:

-2 kg lean braising beef
-250 gr bacon
-1,5 lit red wine
-35 small onions
-4 carrots
-400 gr small mushrooms
-150 gr butter (real cow butter if possible and not margarine)
-1 large onion
-3 shallots
-1 spring of thyme
-2 bay leaves
-3 springs of flat-leaf parsley
-2 tbsp olive oil
-1 tbsp flour
-2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
-80 ml strong alcohol such as cognac
-1/2 lemon juice
-salt, pepper

Preparing the marinade:
-Peel and slice the onion and the shallots (ok, you can use just onions or just shallots)
-Peel and slice the carrots.
-Make a bouquet garni with the thyme, bay leaf and parsley
-Cut the meat in cubes and place in a large bowl
-Add 2 tbsp of olive oil and the red wine. Mix well.
-Add the strong alcohol, pepper, the bouquet garni, the diced shallots and onion and the carrots and mix well.
-After making sure that the meat is covered by the marinade, cover the bowl with cling film and leave for 18 hours in the fridge.

Main cooking:

-Remove the meat cubes from the marinade, drain and dry on kitchen paper. Do not discard the marinade! Keep it to use in the following steps.
-Melt 75 gr of the butter in a pan on a strong heat. Brown the meat cubes in the pan for 3-4 minutes each side. It's better to brown a small amount of meat each time and then repeat. This frying / browning is very important as it will make the meat to not disintegrate during the long hours of cooking.

-Keep the meat pieces in a drain rack and reserve the frying liquid.
-Sieve the marinade and reserve the liquid. Reserve the carrots, onions/shallots separately. Keep the bouquet garni aside but do not discard either!
-Heat another 25 gr of the butter in a casserole.
-Add the onion and the shallots and the carrots that you have reserved from the marinade and leave for 2 minutes.
-Add the meat pieces and sprinkle with 1 tbsp of flour.
-Mix well and turn over the meat cubes.

-Add the liquid where the meat was cooked / browned, the garlic cloves and the marinade liquid (so basically, the wine) so that the meat is covered. If you don't have enough wine/marinade liquid, add beef stock but most likely you will have enough.
-Bring to a boil and leave to simmer for 2-3 minutes.

-Add the bouquet garni, place (covered) in the oven on a slow heat and leave to cook for 2 hours. Open from time to time to skim off any scum

Preparing the accompanying vegetables ("la garniture"):

-Remove any grind from the bacon and dice
-Peel the 35 small onion
-Melt the rest of the butter (50 gr) in a small casserole over medium heat.
-Fry the bacon pieces for 5 minutes.
-Add the small onions and cook covered for 10 minutes or until golden but not brown.
-Remove the onions and the bacon and place the mushrooms (which you have previously sprinkled with the lemon juice to avoid them turning brown) now in the casserole. Leave for 5 minutes, mixing. Remove from the casserole.
-Mix together the bacon, small onions and mushrooms and add them to the casserole with the meat.
-Cook for 30 minutes and before removing from the heat, uncover for a couple of minutes so that the sauce is reduced in a good consistency.
-Serve!

There are 2 other recipes for Boeuf Bourguignon that I own, one from Julia Child and an alternative and they both skip the marinade but the taste the meat absorbs after 18 hours in red wine is just irresistible.

Phew, bon appetit mes amis!

Clementine Liqueur - so much better that Limoncello!

2011-01-16T21:59:00.000Z

First of all, I want to say that this recipe is Giota's, who is almost like a member of the family, and I want to thank her for the effort she took and the lovely pictures! I wish I could take such beautifully styled pictures myself when I cook.

Here is the list of ingredients you will need:

-10 clementines
-10 cloves
-700 ml cognac or any clear, strong alcoholic drink such as Tsipouro if you're Greek or Orujo if you're Spanish.
-1 1/2 cups sugar
-1 1/2 cups water

Choose 10 big firm but ripe clementines.

Wash them, drain them and pierce each with one clove.

Put in a large glass jar / container.
Add the cognac or any other strong, clear alcoholic drink you're using and seal. Leave in a cool, dry place for 20 days (it's worth the wait).

After the 20 days, boil the water with the sugar for 2-3 minutes, making a syrup. Allow it to cool.
Strain the alcohol from the clementines and add with the syrup which has now cooled.
Sieve the liqueur so that the liquid is clear and put in a glass bottle that seals well with a lid.
Leave for two weeks before serving and serve it chilled.
In some restaurants they traditionally serve it as an after dinner digestive but my friend and I had a bottle without having had any dinner - and we didn't even get drunk. Enjoy!

Raspberry Jam

2011-01-16T21:18:00.000Z

Over the Christmas holidays I learned and witnessed lots of recipes from family and friends. This time of the year is besides known for the feasts and over-eating which then leads you to start the new year with indigestion and vows that you'll eat only vegetables for the next month. I broke mine a week ago and that was actually a personal record. But of course I did enjoy the foods I ate, even the tips from my grandmother, mum and family friends. And the sweets, oh the sweets....
I now have a rich collection of recipes (with pictures and everything) that could cover a month's time posting one each day on the blog but I've got to take it easy. And I've been so busy with work and other "serious" stuff that I sort of neglected the blog but I'm now back with 3 recipes: Jam, Boeuf Bourguignon and Clementine Liqueur.
Here goes the jam:

For any of you whose native language is not English, you might wonder (as I did) what is the difference between jam, jelly, marmalade and conserve. The differences are the following:
Jam is fruit cooked with sugar over high heat until set. The simplest of them all, the classic one.
Conserves are pretty much like jams but contain large pieces of fruit or whole fruits. The fruits are steeped in sugar before cooking to firm them up and they are boiled more gently than jam.
Jellies are made from the strained juice of fruit, thus do not contain any fruit pieces - that's an easy one to remember.
Marmalade is made in the same way as jam but with citrus fruit, which, by the way, require a long preliminary cooking period first to soften the peel.

Instead of using only one kind of berry, you can mix as many berry varieties as you want. The first time, I mixed raspberries (mainly) and blackberries but this time I only used raspberries.
You will need 450 gr of fruit
450 gr (or less, depending how sweet you want it) granulated sugar. I use about 1/3 less so the jam has a fruitier taste and is not sickly sweet.
Juice of 2 lemons

-Put the fruit and the juice of the two lemons in a large pan and lightly crush it with the back of a wooden spoon.

-Add the sugar and heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

-Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. When the jam reaches a rolling boil, cook for 5-10 more minutes and test for a set. This is done by putting a plate or saucer in the fridge before you make the jam. When you think that your jam has reached a set, put 1 tsp of boiling jam on the chilled saucer, allow to cool and then push it from one side with your finger. If your finger leaves a trail on the plate and the jam wrinkles slightly, it is set. If it doesn't, return the pan on the heat and boil from one more minute, then test again and so on until it's set.

-Remove any scum from the surface with a skimmer or slotted spoon. Leave the jam to cool slightly so that a thin skin forms on the surface, then ladle into a warm, sterilized jar. Store in a cool, dry place and refrigerate after opening.

I even ate it on bread while it was still hot and runny!

Welsh Breakfast

2010-12-29T13:14:00.000Z

Just a very quick post to say how much I love kippers for breakfast.
I didn't think I would but spending a weekend at Tintern, South East Wales, in a lovely B&B, proved me wrong. I immediately liked the smoked kippers with scrambled eggs, mushrooms and hash browns for breakfast and they surely kept me going until the end of the day. I even made them myself at home the following weekend.

Salmon Andre-style

2010-12-28T15:01:00.000Z

Almost a month without a new post...that's due to the Christmas preparations, my sister visiting me and then the holidays. So I'm coming back with an every-day recipe, something that I make very often and thought I should share with you: It's salmon with a twist.

My friend Andre had prepared salmon for dinner when I visited him and Evi in Porto. Salmon was not my favourite fish even though I love fish and seafood in general. But this one was prepared with Andre's vinaigrette which makes the salmon taste less "fishy" and oily so I have been using this recipe ever since whenever I make salmon - which is pretty much once a week! So, credits to Andre for this!

Ingredients for two:

2 salmon fillets

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

oregano or any dried herbs (such as parsley, tarragon etc)

1 bag green beans, trimmed

2 tbsp sesame seeds

olive oil and vinegar

-Prepare the vinaigrette: Mix the 2 tbsp olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and oregano or herbs.

-Place the salmon fillets on a baking tray/dish and cover with the vinaigrette. Add the crushed garlic cloves and place in the oven for about 15 minutes (depends on the oven too) covered with aluminium foil so that it doesn't get too dry. Towards the end, uncover and leave for 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven.

-Place the sesame seeds under the grill for 5-10 minutes and toast them.

-In the meantime, bring 2 litres of water to a boil and add the green beans for just 3 minutes. They should not be raw, bust should still have a green vivid colour and be crunchy.

-To serve, place the salmon fillets on the serving plates, add some beans and sprinkle sesame seeds on top of the beans. Add olive oil and vinegar to the salmon according to your taste. Very healthy!

I am now trying to decide what to make for New Year's Eve when all my family will sit together for dinner and the most likely of choices is a Boeuf Bourguignon. I need to see which recipe to use though as I've only made a quick one in the past and this has to be the long and hard one - with 18 hours of marinade and 4 hours of cooking. I'm between the Julia Child recipe and a traditional French one (not that the Julia Child one isn't traditional) and it's very likely that I will do a mix of both.

Will post recipes of all the delicious food I've eaten during the holidays soon including my grandma's turkey and yummy stuffing!!

Have a great start into 2011!!

Pasta + Tomato sauce + Mozzarella Bake

2010-12-05T23:38:00.002Z

Obviously, this has been a carb-full weekend but it's a shame to open a bag of penne and not use it all. So the deal is that for the rest of the week, we're only going to have proteins. With half a bag of penne, which is what was left after making the three onion and feta cheese pasta yesterday, a home-made tomato sauce and plenty of mozzarella, I made this pasta bake which is also perfect to take with me to work (I'm trying to avoid eating at the canteen here). Again, pretty straight-forward and the only time you actually have to wait is when making the sauce, as you want to reduce it to a good consistency. My recipe is for about 4 portions but if you want to cook for more than 4, adjust the quantities (double etc) and the sauce cooking time.

Ingredients:

250 gr small pasta, such as penne
800 gr peeled canned plum tomatoes (or chopped tomatoes). I always use a combination of canned tomatoes plus some fresh tomatoes that I cream in the food processor.
5 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large onion, peeled and halved
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1-2 pinches red pepper flakes
salt, red wine vinegar
100-150 gr parmesan cheese, grated
3 balls fresh mozzarella
fresh basil leaves

Place the tomatoes with their juices into a saucepan and add the butter, onion halves, garlic, red pepper flakes and salt.

Cook over medium heat stirring, for about 20-30 minutes (30-45 if you're making double the sauce).

Remove from the heat and discard the onion halves. Put the sauce in a food processor and blend until as smooth as it can be.

Return in to the saucepan and simmer over low-medium heat for 20-30 more minutes (30-45 if you have doubled the quantities) or until the sauce has thickened to a good consistency (you don't want it to be too loose). Taste and adjust the salt, or add a splash of vinegar.

Preheat the over to 200 C.

Before the sauce is ready, cook the pasta in salted water, drain it and toss it with half of the tomato sauce and a handful of parmesan.

Put a layer of pasta in a baking pan ( mine is a small one, as per the picture below. If you have doubled the quantities, use a larger one) followed by some of the remaining tomato sauce, a handful of parmesan, some chunks of mozzarella, and a couple of torn-up basil leaves. Then repeat these layers until all the ingredients are gone, ending with a layer of cheese on top.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until warm and bubbling and golden on top.

Penne with 3 different onions and feta&parmesan cheese mixture

2010-12-05T16:03:00.000Z

I am a big fan of "Orangette" and a few other food blogs. And sometimes, like yesterday, I get inspiration from them as to what to make that is not boring but not too complicated either. I wish I could dedicate many many hours to cooking, but I don't have that much time at the moment. Wondering what to cook to accompany the chocolate puddings (these were a sure deal) I came across a pasta recipe from Orangette called "Rigatoni with five Lilies and Ricotta salata". It sounded fancy. When I got to read it though, I discovered it was a pasta with different kinds of onions and herbs, basically whatever you have from your garden. Very simple. My recipe is an adaptation of it, which, in turn, is an adaptation from a recipe taken from the Babbo Cookbook and the San Francisco Chronicle.
I decided to use a mixture of feta and some parmesan cheese for topping instead of Ricotta salata (the salty and hard version of Ricotta) and found it delicious but maybe that's just because this taste is so rooted in me. I also skipped the scallions as there weren't any at the supermarket and used the penne that I had in my pantry instead of the rigatoni pasta.

Ingredients:

3 tbs olive oil (always extra virgin, the best you can find)
1/2 kg sweet onions cut in half from the stem and then cut to slices
2 tbs unsalted butter
5 medium garlic cloves, minced
1/2 kg leeks, cut into rings and washed
1 big red onion, quartered and sliced
1/2 cup of water
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 kg penne
feta and parmesan cheese to top
1 bunch of finely chopped fresh parsley to top

1. In a large skillet, warm the olive oil over medium heat and add the sweet onions. Reduce the heat and cook over medium-low until softened and translucent. Then raise the heat to medium-high and cook until deeply golden and caramelised. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the onions to a bowl. Set aside.

2. In the same skillet, heat the butter over medium heat. When it has stopped foaming and is thoroughly melted, add the leeks, garlic and red onion and cook until really soft and golden. Add the water and cook until the liquid evaporates. Season to taste with salt and pepper, remove from the heat and stir in the caramelised onions.

3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook until tender but al dente.
Drain the pasta and add to the onion mixture, toss for 1 minute over medium heat and serve immediately, topped with plenty of feta and parmesan cheese and sprinklings of parsley.

Soufflé - or to "Puff Up"

2010-12-05T15:16:00.001Z

I have been wanting to make and eat chocolate soufflé
for some days now. So, I found a Gordon Ramsey recipe that seemed yummy and relatively easy to execute. Only that when I returned home after doing my grocery shopping, I realised I had forgotten the cornflour...damn. So I had to opt for a less fancy recipe, one that I kept as a back-up and that wasn't actually for chocolate souffles but for chocolate puddings.
I took it from the DK cookbook and it was very straight-forward and quick to make. Make sure to serve them immediately after baking them though and to have ice-cream or cream to accompany because I served them after a while and they had begun to shrink and also, together with the cornflour I had forgotten the ice-cream which is pretty basic in order to enjoy a chocolate pudding!

Ingredients for 4:
(You will need 4 pudding moulds)

45 gr butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
250 gr dark chocolate, chopped
115 gr caster sugar
4 eggs
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
45 gr plain flour
pinch of salt

1. Butter the bottom and sides of the moulds and preheat the oven to 200C. Gather all your ingredients.

2. Put the chocolate in a heat proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, without letting the bowl touch the water. Stir for 5 minutes or until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Set aside.

3. Beat the butter and the sugar (I do it with an electric mixer) until blended and smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla extract. Sift the flour and salt together and gently stir in the egg mixture, then stir in the chocolate. Divide the batter equally between the moulds - bear in mind that the mixture should not fill them to the tops, some space has to be allowed for it to rise.

4. Put the pudding mould on a baking tray and in the oven for 12-25 minutes, or until the sides are set but the centres are still soft when slightly pressed with your fingertips. Be careful not to over-bake them.

5. Put an individual plate on top of each mould and then invert both so that the pudding sits on the plate. Serve hot!

While making the puddings I had Gram Parsons playing in the background.