Chocolate , chocolate , chocolate

Chocolate , chocolate , chocolate .... i just can't get enough of it , you can do so many things with it ... for example cocolate mousse , drinks , chocolate tarts, chocolate truffles  , chocolate cream , chocolate sauce , and so much more  .... can you get enough of it ? ... i seriously think i can't . It's full of flavour and opportunities , it brightens people's lives . It is said that God gave angels wings and he gave us humans chocolate .
Chocolate is immortal , it's been used , it's been tasted , perfected throught so many years . The aztecs were the first to use chocolate , as a drink and it was believed that it was the perfect cure for the soul . Along with it's medicinal purposes , it cured our inner part , our soul .
 It is also believed that every person has it's own brand of chocolate , depending on his personality .... it can be chilli chocolate , mint chocolate , and many more . It just depends on how it reacts on each person .
 Now you're saying ... '' Oh come on stop talking crap about this wizardry with chocolate , it doesen't make sense ! '' ... But it does , have you ever eaten a chocolate and the next day another type and throughout each taste you felt different ? You probably felt more enthusiastic or i don' know maybe more grumpy ( which means that is certainly not your chocolate ) , but you had different types of reactions .
 Chocolate is like wine and coffee , it comes in all sorts of different brands and variety of cocoa beans
 There are four major types of cacao that are cultivated : Criollo , Forastero , Trinitario and Nacional . Each and everyone of these cacao beans are different , the taste , aroma , even in it's attributes . I find this to be interesting ,  i mean just think the smell , the taste , everything is so diverse and this is what i enjoy ... Diversity !

      This looks amazing right ? Yeah you can just sense the cocoa smell as you watch them , this is why i love cooking so much , it's so diverse and it seems endless , you can't get bored . Each day there is something new to discover and you gotta try it ,  just like the cacao beans life can be diverse and full of aroma . 
          Oh and by the way i think now you're wandering , '' What types of cacao beans am i experiencing  when i eat my chocolate .  From what i know i think it's Forastero since they have a higher production of cacao beans , but you can never tell , it's more of a mystery . 
          As we are all pretty much informed about the Mayans  , they were the first to use cacao beans as a ritual beverage , made from the ground cocoa beans mixed with water , black pepper , vanilla and spices . This beverage was shared in their marriage ceremonies and was one of the first links we know about chocolate and romance . 
         As for chocolate being an aphrodisiac , i tried to check for some information , and i found that they did not prove that chocolate is an aphrodisiac yet . 
     
         Personally i like to believe that chocolate is a symbol of love , forever immortal and full of flavour . 
        

Amazing taglieteli , with a bacon , sage , garlic and mushroom sauce

La cucina piccola fal la casa grande , which means in italian '' A small kitchen makes the house big '' .... and what does that mean ,..., it does not matter whether you got a huge kitchen full of gadgets or a small one with just a few utensils ... as long as you cook from the heart the result is the same , and the heart to a good house is the kitchen . All the action , the noises , the beautifull smells that sorround the house are coming from the kitchen .

 So since we already opened this post with an italian fraze , i already have in mind a good recipe. An amazing pasta recipe .... now you're thinking .. '' Oh not another spaghetti freak with a red cheap sauce from a can '' . Well if you're thinking that , then please stop here and let me finish . This pasta dish i'm about to show you will blow you away and make your friends think you're super cool . Italians are pasta loving freaks so of course they love eating their pasta fresh ... the heart of the italian cuisine is cooking with fresh ingredients and the pasta is their highlight .

So let's get started : this pasta dish is called '' Home-made tagliateli with a mushroom sauce , bacon and sage '' .

Here are the ingredients you need :          For the dough

                                                    - 3 eggs

                                                    - 300 g of flour ( 100 g of flour per egg ) 

                                                    - a pinch of salt

                                                   

   

                                                                   For the sauce

                                                    - salt

                                                    - 3 and a half tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

                                                    - 80 g of bacon

                                                    - 4 garlic cloves 

                                                    - 12 sage leaves

                                                    - 350 g of fresh mushrooms

                                                    - 500 ml of sour cream

                                                    - pepper

So first of all let's start  by making the dough . Break the eggs in a bowl , then add the flour  and the salt . Mix them using a fork untill it forms some sort of bread crums . After that pour them on a table and start to bring them togheter until it forms a dough ( if it's too sticky , add a bit more flour , if you want a richer look add more egg yolks , anyway it's still good) . Wrapp the dough and put it in the fridge for about 20 mins . In the meantime get a pot of water , season it with a bit of salt and place it on the gas to bring it to the boil . After 20 minutes have passed get your pasta dough out of the fridge and start rolling it out (you can use a pasta rolling machine or a rolling pin like me since i haven't got a pasta machine ) . Roll out your pasta untill it's about 1/16 inch thick. 

After rolling your pasta , it's time to start making the tagliateli . With the short end of one pasta sheet facing you, loosely fold up sheet , fold the sheet over 2 or 3 times from short ends towards the center . Then with a knife cut the folded sheet into ribbons, a scant 1/4 inch wide. Unroll strips and lightly dust with flour; spread on a lightly floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pasta sheets. 

If you do this in front of your mates they'll think you're super cool trust me :D 

It should look like this :          

    After we're done making the pasta , the next thing is making the sauce . So start of by cutting the bacon in small little cubes , then in a hot pan put 2 tablespoons of olive oil and place the bacon in the pan . Wait for the bacon to get golden and crispy .... after that place the bacon on a sheet of papper. Peel the garlic and the mushrooms and chopp them finely .Add 1 and a half tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a medium heated pan , then place the mushrooms inside the pan along with the garlic ( do not place all the mushrooms inside a small pan they need space in order to brown and become golden , if they do not have enough space they start to sweat and boil) . Wash your sage leaves , chopp them finely and put them in the pan with the mushrooms and garlic . Season with salt and pepper . After that pour in the sour cream and the bacon and bring to the boil . Put the pasta in the pot with the boiling water and let them cook for about 2 to 3 minutes . 

     After the pasta is done , place them in the pan with the sauce and coat them with the sauce for about 2 minutes . Season with more salt or pepper if needed . 

     Serve them on a platter while hot . 

     Now you're thinking why all the bother with fresh pasta and not buy some from the supermarket. Well first of all fresh pasta tastes way better , more richness to it , it's silky , it's absolutely amazing and the color and aspect is  beautifull ... this is how it looks like :

                       

   See how different the color is from the ones bought from the supermarket , it's an amazing rich colour   , and the taste is divine . You know italians use to say '' Anche l'occhio vuole la sua parte '' , which means '' The eyes want their part '' . It is said that you start eating your food with your eyes and only after  with your mouth . The flavour and the aspect must be balanced .... it's a must as a chef to please both not just one  :D .

        I am sure you guys will enjoy this recipe , and remember 60% of a good pasta dish makes the pasta and the rest of 40% is the sauce . So get crackin' on your pasta skills and try to perfect it . Have fun guys and remember the secret to any good food is FRESHNESS . No matter how simple a dish is , if it's fresh can't be bad :D .

      So dear readers i'm off to bed again , tommorow another busy day :D .... if you got any questions or in need of more details just subscribe me or e-mail me and i'll asnwer them . 

                                                                                                                     Buon Appetito ! :D

Easy chocolate mousse

I virtually wave to you all dear readers , and sorry for the 2 days abssence , i was so busy , that the only thing i've experimented these 2 days was work , home , bed and press repeat button . Besides i don't know if you missed me or not , but i really missed this blog ... i know it's been only 2 days but still i enjoy writing to those who read and find some of the posts interesting .
I've got a smashing surprise for you all , i know Valentine's Day passed but still you don't need a holiday to get to say and express your true feelings about your loved one . This recipe is quite ellegant , and attractive . It's a chocolate desert ... , i believe chocolate is quite romantic , don't you? :D ... Anyway this recipe is called chocolate mousse .
 What does chocolate mousse mean ? ... Well the term mousse comes from the french word '' muis '' which means foam . So basically it's chocolate foam , .. , Delicious :D !!! So Let's get crackin' !
    What you need is :
- 200 g of dark chocolate 70% cocoa ( the secret to a good mousse stands in the chocolate , the chocolate has to taste delicious and lovely so that the mousse will be delicious and lovely ... for this recepy i advise you not to be cheap and get the best dark chocolate you can get , that is if you want an amazing result )
- 200 ml of heavy cream
- 5 eggs
- salt
- cocoa powder
- 50 g of caster sugar
- 50 g of butter
- berries
     Now we got the ingredients , we got our fine dark , lovely chocolate ( remember 70% cocoa ) , let's get started ... first off , break the chocolate into small pieces and put them in a bowl with 50 g of butter , a pinch of salt ( i know it sounds weird but the salt gives the chocolate that extra kick and brings the flavours up , it's really amazing ) over a pot with simmering watter and let it melt while stirring from time to time  . Sepparate the eggs into egg yolks and egg whites . Beat the yolks with 50 g of caster sugar until the sugar dizolves and it becomes smooth and silky . Whisk the egg whites with a tiny pinch of salt until it forms soft peaks , you can hold the bowl upside down , if they don't drop that means it's done .Whisk the heavy cream in a bowl in the figure of eight untill it's like a cream not too thick , not liquidy .
   At this point the chocolate must have melted , and now you should take the bowl with the chocolate off the pot , and let it cool off for a moment.Pour the egg yolks with 1 spoon of cocoa powder and mix them really well , then add the heavy cream . At this point you stop mixing and you should get  a spatula and carefully fold it around , and do not worry about the color just keep folding ,  it will come togheter soon .
   Finnaly add the egg whites and again carefully fold it , don't whisk it or mix it , fold it gently , it requires patience , attention and love ... just like a woman (haha) , add the berries on top and some mint leaves and shaved chocolate or just shaved chocolate the topping is up to you .... , i love to serv it with something nutty or berries , but that depends on you how you would like to serve it .
 

    And that's basically it , your chocolate mousse is done and ready to impress , i'm telling you if you make this , for any loved person they'll surerly be amazed and will definitely have a delicious experience ... trust me  this is the kick for a romantic evening ....  Thanks for reading my blog guys and have fun impressing your loved one :D
   I'll be waiting some subscribes or e-mails if you got your own recepies and you would like me to try them out or any other questions ...  anyway have a lovely night all , it's time for me to hit the sack so untill next time  !
                                                                                                 

Passion ... tasty and elegant as a good wine

What does '' a good wine '' mean ? , How does it taste? , Where does it come from ? ...... The answer does not matter , what matters is it's purpose , which is to attract us with it's aroma , delicacy and ellegance above all else ... i favor a good red wine , yet i haven't tasted one that would make me say '' this is it '' , when you drink a wine , you have to do it slowly and savor the moment , the aroma , the smell of the lovely grapes that were grown with love and care so that you may enjoy one moment of beauty and passion. This is the same with food , you have to inflict passion and ellegance into it , everything you do must come from the heart , and if that happens you shall be repaid with flavours that dance in your mouth .
 I believe a good wine , must be taken with a good proper food so that the flavours blend togheter and ultimately change your heart . A grumpy man or a woman is always conquered with flavour , and that is why i would enjoy a life like this . Pursuing my dream into becoming a great chef , a master of blending the flavours .
 I think my dear readers that in order to understand this you must stop , and try to think for a moment , why eat the same thing i ate yesterday or the day before or last week . Why not try something new , something that my pallet says '' oh wow what's that ?'' . Now you may say i don't have time for that , but new and good food does not mean always 2 or 3 hours of preparation , sometimes it takes 5 to 10 minutes.
 A good wine is simple and ellegant and so is food . Try to overcomplicate it with tons of different flavours and you'll just confuse your pallet , and end up not knowing what you eat anymore . It's always good to try and feel every product's taste to indicate whether is it fresh or not , to indicate it's delicacy and beauty . Good food is known for it's simplicity . Now i'm not saying keep it 2 simple and boring , but do not take something that it's not over the edge because you'll not only end up with confusion , but also with a bad taste in your mouth .
  Treat food with love and care and you shall receive the same aswell.
  Today i am not giving any recepies since i heard a person the other day , why don't you stop thinking about recepies all the time and enjoy the beauty of combining and blending your own food . If you treat the ingredients with the outmost respect than nothing can go wrong , try something u never have done before ... stop following the same old recepies , twist them a bitt and see does it appeal your taste or others taste , mark them as your own , originality ... try new things !
   
  I used to live in another part of Romania , Arad i still go from time to time there to visit my family , now i live in Cluj Napoca a city that is 275 km or so far from Arad  . Back when i was in highschool , the ideea of moving into another city to go to school was tough , i was not used to leaving home , and my family , but my mom told me ... '' go boy and follow your dreams , cause if you stay you'll always have me taking care of your duties , you have to leave in order to understand the world '' . Back then i did not quite understand what she meant since i was not good at college let alone taking care of myself in another city . So i finnaly left and arrived to this different city , which was far bigger than the one i was used to in ... people everywhere , students , the town really busy , it was different from the little town i was used in .
 Back then i didn't know how to peel a potato ( haha ) . But because my mom was not there anymore i had to learn how to do it .My first french fries ever made were burnt yet to me they tasted good since i made them ( haha ) . But in time i learned how to perfect it ... a lot of things were new to me and making friends was one of them ...but i was introduced to good people and they gave me a boost in life , meaning they solved my '' how to ''  problem in life . And i thank them eveyday for this , because the path i took now was thanks to them , God and mom .
 Now i know what my mom ment by following your dreams , and for me wasn't college , but something else that was on the same path . Now i am working hard every day to persue my own personal dream , and this is to be an apprentice in Jamie Oliver's Restaurant 15 , be part of the people that strive every day to persue and warm people's hearts with the power of good food , and become one day a great chef so i can repay my mom for the time and money she spent on me so i can have a better future and find my way in this world.
  I know she would have liked me to finish a good college , and persue a master degree ... , but you know i think she won't mind me persuing a different path ..... Living the proud life of a Chef !

Cherry tomatoes , mozzarela , basil , garlic bruschetta

 The second recipe i'm about to show you is an easy peasy one since it doesen't require any frying , roasting , grilling or boilling just a nicely developed pallete and thats it . So what i'm about to show you is bruschetta with basil , mozzarela , and cherry tomatoes .
  What you require at this recipe is :

- 16 cherry tomatoes
- 2 mozzarela balls
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 handfull of basil
- 3 table spoons of  extra virgin olive oil                                  This serves up to 4 people
- french baguette
- salt
 In a bowl cut the cherry tomatoes in half  , finely chopp the garlic and place it in the bowl with the cherry tomatoes and chop the basil in bigger chuncks so you'' have a good bite from it . then drizzel with 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil , and salt to your taste . Mix them while popping some of the cherry tomatoes in order to release a bitt of the acidic juice so it will cook the dressing a bit . Mix them well using your fairy fingers and be gentle in the same time .
 Next ripp the mozzarela in smaller chuncks and put them aside.Slice 2 cm thick and grill the french baguette ( i always make my own baguette but you can buy one from the supermarket , i'll explain some other time on how to make a baguette other types of bread when i'll post the bread recepy ) . Place the mozzarela bits onto the grilled baguette and put the cherry tomatoes with the garlic , basil and olive oil dressing on top of the baguette and drizzel a bit of the dressing on top of each one .

         And thats about it , the cherry tomatoes are so lovely and juicy , the mozzarely is just elegant and silky in your mouth , the garlic gives it a kick and the basil takes the story to a whole different level .! :D
         So here you are 2 recepies as promised and i'll be back with more , if you'd like some deserts , or perhaps other types of recepies , or if you have in mind a recepy you'd like me to try , subscribe or e-mail me and i shall see what's this about and give a try at it . Also you can post your own ideeas just e-mail me and have a go .
   
       In the meantime guys i'll go hit the sack again , tommorow i shall have another busy day and at the moment i think i'm writing with my eyes closed .... .........yep i think i am :D . So untill next time all ... , have a wonderfull night !

  Oh , almost forgot here is how the bruschette should look like :

         

A nice , warm chicken soup with semolina dumplings

Another busy day , another night writing to you dear readers ... how are you all ?! ... well i hope better than me , can't complain but still can't be thrilled in my current position as a student , i mean don't get me wrong being a student at a university was and is a privelege but , i suck at it and i can't find my way between all those students that are capable of understand what we are thaught inside the university i feel like a lost mouse between too many traps and i can't find any cheese nearby . The term kitchen for a mouse like me would be '' Cheese    Heaven '' , because thats how i feel inside a kitchen , any kitchen wheter is it in Congo , in Japan or Romania or          
in my own home there is no difference , the butchery , the market , the coffee beans store , the chocolate society store ... each and every one of these are my candyshops ... of course i don't have the money to buy a lot of them because they are too expensive but i still enjoy watching them , smelling the most rafined coffee beans or the most tasty , good looking chocolate made from different types of cocoa ... it's endless !
     Ok so enough about describing my personal likeings , let's talk business .  As promised i will post 2 recepies and after that i'll hit the sack again since tommorow is another yet challenging day and i still need to make the lemon pie for some lemon hater friends ... haha  , i just wanna convert them to the lemony side and i think i'll be able to do it 100% since they haven't tasted a lemon pie like this before ( praise the mighty lemon curd ) !! .
   Anyway this recipe i'm about to show you is how to make a  proper home-made chicken soup within 30 minutes , and ... it's healthy , yummy and none of that plastic , garbage wannabe chicken soup that you buy from stores with dried noodles and powdered chicken essence (yucky ! ) . So anyway here are the ingredients you need to serve about 6 people :

- 1 chicken carcass
- 3 carrots
- 1 parsnip
- 1 handfull of parsley with the stocks
- 1 potato
- 1 onion
- 1 half of celeriac
- salt , fresh black pepper
and as for the dumplings you'll require :

- 3 eggs
- 10 to 11 tablespoons of semolina
- 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
- a pinch of salt

So here is how you do it : first off you start by placing the carcass in a pot then peel the carrots , wash them cut them in half and place them in the pot alongside the chicken carcass , after that peel the parsnip , again cut it in half and place it in the pot , next do the same with the potato , the celeriac and the onion ... u can keep the onion unpeeled it preserves more flavour but give it a good wash , you really don't want a messy onion ruin the value of a good soup ... and as for the parsley take the stocks off using a knife throw them in the pot with the chicken carcass and the rest of the ingredients and keep the leaves for later usage .
 Crush some black pepper seeds and place them in the pot with the carcass and some sea salt , then finnaly cover the carcass and the ingredients with cold water and place them on the gas. Bring in to the boil , leave it for 10 minutes and then 20 to 30 minutes on medium heat , in order to let the ingredients work so the flavour will be more intense . Be sure to get the fat that reaches the top with a spoon ... it usually moves to the sides of the pot when the water boils , so be sure to throw it away with a spoon so the soup won't become foggy and unclear .
  After you've done all that just pass the soup through a siv and chopp off the carrots any way you like it , i like them round shaped , to me it feels more rustic and home-made , but you can chop it either way you like it . Place the carrots in the soup and then put the soup on the gas again , let it simmer and in the mean time lets make the dumplings .
 Separate the eggs into egg yolks and egg whites . Mix the yolk with a tablespoon of extra virgin oliveoil , put a pinch of salt in the egg whites and beat them untill they become fluffy (you'll know they are whipped correctly when you hold the bowl over your head and the whites don't drop ) . Next mix in the egg whites with the egg yolks and gently fold them with a spatula so you won't break the air from the egg whites , put 10 tablespoons of semelina in with the egg whites and egg yolks and mix them untill it formesa creamy composition not liquidy and not hard but a bit creamy , then you know your dumplings will be nice and fluffy  . Note to the dumplings composition , you should know that if the composition is liquidy the dumplings will fall apart when hitting the hot soup and if the composition is a bit hard then the dumpling become really chewy and hard ... which ain't cool , so keep what i said just now in mind .
        Chop some parsley leave and place them on top and some fresh black pepper and you're done
Here is how it should look like :

                   

Hitting the sack

Hey guys , me writing again ... really tired just got home , i had such a busy day and i can barely keep my eyes open ... and on top of that i got an exam tommorow morning and i haven't learned a thing ... Yeah i know ( way to go Lori) , well when i got home today with the intention of getting a good night's sleep a coleague just told me ... : Hey dude , we got an exam tommorow , I was like really how nice ... after having a bad day this was the cherry on top to persue the recepy for a nice shitty day ( sorry about the S word , like i said i'm really tired and a bit pissed ) , anyway guys i know i had to come up with the amazingly , yummy chickensoup but it will have to wait since my brain is on surgery at the moment ... and keep track on my latest posts since i'll make up with 2 recepies , like i said i got an objective and that is becoming a Restaurant 15 apprentice , and the next step would be , becoming a great chef .
 So i'll leave you guys for now , i'll just go hit the sack for about 2 hours , then i'll start to read a bit of the exam material and i'll hope the teacher shows mercy and passes me , although that won't happen , but it does happen in my dreams ( haha ) . Anyway have a good night all , i'll be off dreaming about the love of my life , which is a large chocolate cake with my name on it so i can hug it and eat it and hug it ..... oh woops 2 much information !
       
                                                                                                                                                Buh Bye all !

Poached egg

Oh well , here i am again guys , writing to you all and yes again at a late hour sorry about that but i was busy all day , yeah cooking mostly ... BUT i still got a recipe i promised to do so i'm gonna go through it after i take a sip of this fine and chilling rosemary tea with half a lemon and honey ( Delicious ) , Anyway let's take our hens back to our eggs , ... i mean heads :D .
 I said i will give you all a recipe for the poached egg. Well now you're wondering what is this guy talking about ... poached egg? wtf is that? .... Well dear readers poaching an egg means to gently boil it without it's shell ... basically you can't call it boil cause the water is rather simmering not boiling . So how do we start : you need for this recepy  the following ingredients :
- 1 egg ( you could use a lot more i just made one to show how it looks like , but you can make as many as u want )
- 1 tablespoon of vinegair
- 500 ml of water but that depends of the pot you're using basically you need half a pot covered with water
- proschiutto or any kind of ham you like
- 2 toasts
- cheese cream ( you could make your own like i did , or you could buy it from the supermarket )
So let me tell you how it's done first off you put the pot with the water on to the gas and let the water of a medium heat and let it simmer ( meaning the start of a boil but not boiling , when the water starts to pop bubbles and makes a simmering sounds , basically the water tells you when it simmers ) , okay so simmering water and put a tablespoon of White vinegair ( 1 tablespoon per egg ) and those simmer togheter and prepare a bowl with cold , icy water , and another with warm watter not hot but warm . When you got all these things ready , it's time we act and do the poached egg .Crack the egg into a little bowl first but be carefull not to break the yolk , cause if you break it then its's done , u can't poach it anymore . So simmering water , get a whisk and start whisking the water basically creating a water vortex , whisking the water it gives it a momentum so when you've whisked it fastly place the egg quickly in the direction the water goes ) if u whisked the water to the right place the egg on the right and if you did on the left then on the left) . Let that spin and as you cand see how the egg white coveres the egg yolk , because of the acidity from the white vinegair the egg white rejects it thus covering the egg yolk and the resulted form is more like a mozzarela ball .When the egg rises to the top of the water it means it's done and cooked , at this moment be ready with a spatula , take the egg out and quickly place it in the icy water bowl to cool it down and stop it from overcooking . After you've done that take the egg and place it in the warm water to warm it a bit so when you eat it it won't be stone cold but warm , just place it in the warm water for 10 secs , but just 10 secs risking more u'll end up with an overcooked poached egg . After that place it on top of a toast and just use the other ingredients to ornate the way you like it . place some salt on it also to be seasoned ( note:.. poached eggs are way better and tasty with a hollandaise sauce , ill give you the recepy for that some other day ; hollandaise sauce , toast and poached eggs = eggs benedict) . And you're basically done here's how it should look like :

         And how do you tell wheter it's overcooked or not ? When you cut into it the egg yolk should pour and have a yellowy smooth and creamy texture , like this:

                I am telling you once you had an egg like this you'll do it a hundred times , it's so tasty and different from making an omlette or fried or scrambled it just tastes  amazingly Delicious :D ...
         Anyway there is another way of doing this , mainly the '' Julia Child Way'' which is making a hole in the egg shell with a needle then place it in the simmering water for 40 seconds then place it in the simmering water with white vinegair again after you cracked it and no whisking needed just that , but i prefer the whisking method , looks more cool and the egg gets this mozzarela ball shape , honestly it's my favorite technique.
            So guys here is your poached egg , you can have it on toasts , salads or in sups to enrich the flavour , for example a brocolli creamy soup . Have fun doing it and don't worry it's not that hard just be more corageous in trying new things , and i'm telling you it's worth it
           Anyway i'll be offf to sleep again , tommorow another busy day so i won't be posting till tommorow night again ... so subsribe me , e-mail me if u want me to do a recipe you would like or probably if you know more i will be expecting hints , so i'll be writing dear readers tommorow night and coming with another  Delicious , beautifull , amazingly , tasty , yummy , warmy chicken soup !
         If you would like me to do another recipe perhaps a desert , a salad or maybe pasta or i don't know just send me an e-mail , a message or subscribe with the recepy you want me to do , and i'll have a go on it .
Untill then all  , have fun with the poached egg and again i'll be waiting for some commentsssssssssssss , these ssss are about to turn into ZzzzZ , tired peace out all , and have a lovely eggy night :D !
                                               

Lemon curd Tartlets

Hello guys again , i mean the ones who read my blog if someones does haha , i am back home , and yeah i know i had to post a recipe for the poached egg well i was off all day and i just got home 40 minutes ago ... pretty much tired , BUT ! i still got a treat for you guys .
  Since i didn't post the recepy i wanted to and promised this day i will intrigue you with another recipe and i'll keep the poached egg recipe for tommorow . So when i arrived home  a friend of mine called , and she mentioned she was stopping by at my place to say hello since we haven't seen each other for nearly 2 weeks . Yeah i know sad but hey we all are busy and keeping contact in these busy days is really hard . Anyways she kept talking about some desert she had a few days ago and was made with some lemony cream but was so sour she had to drink tons of water after she had one bite haha .
 So i thaught i should make one of those lemony deserts , but the proper way we must not loose our lemony compatriots just because someone did not know how to dance the lemony dance ( meaning managing to get a good , light and not soury lemon cream) .
 Anyway this recipe i'm about to show is called lemon tartlets . Basically they are small tarts filled with a lemon cream but not just any lemon cream ... lemon curd .Thats right , so what is a lemon curd : well basically it's a yellow not to thick cream with a bit of acid in it but its not soury , it's more delicate and has the right texture so when it pops in your mouth it's full of flavor .
 So lets get on with the recipe .
 First off you'll need :
For the dough:
-250 g of flour
- 100 g of  powder sugar
- 125 g of butter
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 table spoon of lemon zest
- 2 table spoons of water or cold milk (your choice)
- 1 tea spoon of vanilla seeds ( optional )
For the filling (lemon curd):
- 2 eggs
- 1/20 fresh lemon juice ( it's really important to use the juice from fresh lemmons and not bottle ones )
- 100 g of sugar
- 1 table spoon of lemon zest
- 60 g of butter

So you start of by making the dough. Just mix all the components i mentioned on top for the dough making in a bowl and keep mixing them with your hands untill you get to a form that looks like bread crums . Whe you've done just get the crums togheter and try to form a round shape . Then place the round shape dough in a plastic rapper and put it in the fridge for about 20 min . After 20 minutes get the dough out , just sprinkle some flour on it and using a bottle or a rolling pin just roll the dough until it's about half a centimeter thick. then place it in some tart shapes like so: and cut it so it won't cover all the tart tray.

After this is done tuck the pastry in and just make it look good like so:

After you've done that put the tay with the pastry in the freezer for about 12 minutes and untill then lets start making the lemon curd.

First of begin by cracking 2 eggs in a heat proff bowl like so , and if you got a tiny little egg shell part like i got there just use the other half of the egg shell to get it out , if u try to get it out using your fingers u'll just waste a lot of time and u'll just get gooey and messy and that's a big No No !
       After that put the sugar and pour the lemon juice inside the bowl along with the 2 eggs :

       Whisk them up really good untill they form a golden pale color and it's a bit bubbly on the sides

        After that place the bowl on top of a pot with simmering water and be carefull the water does not touch the bowl just put 3 inches of water in the bowl and let it simmer not boil ( simmering means when the water is near boilling point has little bubbles on top but does not go wavy like when it boils)

          This process is called ''Bain-marie'' which means water bath , the term comes from french and it is used to gently heat ingredients , and melting ... anyway you put bowl on top of a pot with simmering water and start to whisk it untill the filling becomes a bit thick (about 10 to 12 minutes) , after that remove the bowl  from the pot and quickly put the butter and lemon zest in the bowl and mix the filling with a wooden spoon  keep mixing it slowly and gently , u gotta treat it like a woman slow and gently if you go barbaric she will leave you and perhaps chop off some parts you hold dear ( that would be so sad haha) , so anyways after the butter has melted this should have given it a proper texture and the lemon zest a lighter color to it . The filling should look like this :

           
         Not to thick , creamy and velvety texture . After you've done then you'll need to let it cool a bit . So get  a  piece of  plastic paper and cover the lemon curd so it won't make a crust .
         Then get you pastry out of the freezer and place it in a preheated oven to 190 degrees C. ( 380degrees F. ) and leave it there for 7 minutes untill the pastry gets a bit golden
        After 7 minutes take the pastry out of the oven and fill them up with the lemon curd and place them for another 10 t0 12 minutes in the oven . Cut a few tiny slices of lemon for decoration in the mean time. After the time has passed take the tartlets out of the oven and decorate them with the tiny slices of lemon . Let them cool a bitt and serve them on a plate :

        So here is how you make a good looking and tasy desert really , really quick and you can use the ingredients to make more tartlets ... i made four ( yeah i know one is missing sorry couldn't help myself and i ate one as soon as it got out from the oven haha ) , but you could make a lot more , and your friends will be like wow you did that ?   And you'll be like yeah , easy peasy !
      Yeah my friend said this was the best lemon tart she ever had but there was another problem this time . Not enough tarts haha , so next time you'll make this kind of desert make sure you made loads of them since they will be so tasty you just can't get enough of them :D .
       Oh and by the way if you do not have a tart tray , just use some coffee cups place them upside down and place the pastry on them forming little cups , put them in the oven for 7 minutes then get the tarts out of the cups gently , fill them with the lemon curd , put them on a normal tray and leave them again for 10 to 12 minutes  .
          Peace out guys i'll just hopp in my bed again , and get some sleep tommorow another day , and i still got loads of things to do ... so tommorow i shall post the poached egg recipe , So if anyone is out there and reads what i write send me an e-mail if interested or subscribe me , like me , do what ever you want with me ( haha) just let me know someone reads this . Good Night all and sweet lemony dreams !                                    

A bit of my own garden

Dear readers , second post for today ... yeah well i just ate a good steak , listening to some good country songs (Deana Carter-Strawberry Wine) and i got inspired into writing this second post . Not all of us are fammiliar with herbs and their usage into cooking  , we eat a lot of stuff but never wonder how it was grown , how it was produced so 2 weeks ago in order to understand food i had to grow food .
 So i went to the market and shopped for some seeds and good soil and also some pots to plant them in . I really was intrigued beucase it was really cheap and the things you buy in the supermarket ,such as fresh thyme or rosemary or any other herb, are really expensive . So i went home i didn't have any clue what to do with them honestly  i never grew anything in my life although i used to help my grandmother in the garden back when i was little but my parents moved to the city when they split up and well i forgot how it was to grow things .
  So here i was with these seeds holding them in my hand and well , placed the soil in the pots , covered it with a bit of water and placed the seeds then covered them with a bit of soil and watered again , also found a good place for them on a window bench (neccesary because they need light from the sun in order to develop) .
       I went to bed and the next day when i woke up surprise surprise .... i saw .... nothing ... haha i mean i was like what did i do wrong so i tried to give them more water and kept talking to them and asking them nicely to grow but they didn't.Here are the seeds and the soil :

   
 Here is the soil :

So back on track 1 week has passed and still nothing . I kept wattering them every day and after another week  of wattering , and giving them love and care look what happened :D :

   
 I was so excited , now i know how a woman feels when she gives birth to a child haha , well not entirely but still this was a good birth also . the one to the left is the rosemary and the other the chilli (i know they look the same but , maybe they need more time to grow before they develop really differently ) . My apartment colleagues  used to play a lot in switching the pots places to make me not know which is what although i made a mark on each one beneath the pot , i hope they didn't switch the seeds also haha . Anyway i'll keep you guys on track with my garden development and they grow really fast considering it's winter ... can't wait for spring to buy some new pots for my garlic , chives , spring onions .

 Oh and here is my thyme the little fella :
         So now i think i'll leave you guys , no more writing for today since i have to go to sleep in order to wake up early in the morning and i'll wait for a comment or a subscribe mail anything at all , just to know someone's out there and reads my posts and i'll upload a new recepy tommorow .
          I'll be off in Lala Land and try to get some sleep after i watch some Jamie Oliver shows and help a nice juicy orange to find it's way in my stomach ( haha) . So have a good night dear readers and see you tommorow with another recepy ... poached egg !
            And again if i can do it , you can aswell it's idiot proof can't go wrong just put the soil in a pot , place the seeds , cover them with soil , water it and wait while watering them every day ,,, easy peasy !

French omlette with chives and goat cheese

Hello guys , so if you read my description you know my objectives and a little bit about myself . This post is basically an introduction to what this blog's main ideea is about and that is sharing recepies .If you like my recepies try them out and subsscribe or message me on what's your opinion about it . So today i shall start with the basics and that is eggs . You can cook eggs in many different ways , it doesn't matter whether it's a fried egg , a poached egg , scrambled eggs , or an omelette ... what does matter is to cook the egg the proper way  and it is so easy  and by doing so it will make your life 10 times more delicious :D .

      The recipe i'm about to show you is a french omlette with chives and goat cheese .
      Here are the ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- goat cheese
- chives
- 1 tea spoon of olive oil
- a knob of butter
- salt , and pepper
   
      So here is the way you do it . You start off by whisking the eggs in a small bowl or a deep plate seasoned with a pinch of salt and a pinch of peper , and be sure you whisked them good , you basically can see when they go into a liquid form and they got a few bubbles up you know they are whisked correctly .
    Preheat the pan on a medium heat , get a few drops of olive oil in it (just a few , about 3 drops its enough) and a knob of butter , and coat the pan with the butter . After that quickly place your eggs in pan and move them with a fork so it will evenly cook and do not worry about the gaps just fill them with the rest of the eggs inside the pan .
   Now turn the heat on low and leave it 25 seconds to cook and in the mean time sprinkle some goat cheese on it and some freshly chopped chives (remember do not chop chives more than once because they get bruised and turn black) .
  Be sure to use a spatula and touch the sides of the omelette . If it slides a bit in the pan use the spatula again , place it under the omlette and ,you gotta be really fast and courageous to do this, tilt it sideways .
  Serve it on a plate with some ketchup or just on its own :D

Bon apettit :D
If an idiot like me can do it , you can aswell :D