A beautifull , simple dessert , fit for a good sunny day . I just discovered this dessert by some sort of an accident , sometimes it seems accidents cand be the start of something good , not all accidents are bad :D .
So i made lemon curd for some pie i wanted to make , but since i was impatient i peeled a banana since for me to eat but i accidentally spilled the bowl with the lemon curd all over the banana . At first i wanted to wash it away but then i thaught '' wait a sec , why not eat it like this , can't be bad '' ... and when i had my first bite , flavours started to pop out , like tiny explosions of fireworks in my mouth , it was so amazing ... God the taste was just perfect .
So i thaught why not make a desert with these two . So i started to shape it but something was missing i needed a bit of crunch to the desert since it felt too creamy , so i immediately thaught about biscuits ( banana and vanilla flavoured biscuits = amazing combo ) . I named this dessert '' Funky Banana '' since the dessert looks quite funky and the accident happened when i listened some funky music (haha) .
Anyway enough chit chat let's get started :
So you'll need :
-2 bananas
- lemon curd
- mint ( for decorating)
- vanilla flavoured biscuits
First of all peel the bananas and cut them sideways . Then add them in a cup or a deep glass , mash some biscuits and add them over the bananas and then a tablespoon of lemon curd (lemon curd recipe you can check it in my third post , the one with the lemon tartlets ) . Kepp repeating this process until you reach the top of the cup of glass and cover it with lemon curd , add some sliced bananas sideways , sprinkle some mashed biscuits around and add some mint for decorating purposes .
It's simple , cheap and fast . What more do you want ... and the taste is just amazing . Think vanilla , lemon , bananas all togheter ... Just Lovely !
Here are some photos of the dessert taken by a friend of mine with his fancy camera , Spatariu Andrei .
Have fun with this dessert guys , it's just lovely and fit for a Springy day .
When there is no hope for you yet , and you think at what you are good at ?... Think again ! Grab a pan and the secret ingredient behind the culinary world ... Passion ... mix those two and you'll end up with the perfect recipe for warming people's hearts and minds , and that's what food and cooking is all about !
marți, 27 martie 2012
Tagliatelle alla Carbonara
Welcome to my world , as in pasta world ... the place where you'll find the most delicious pasta recipes and experience each and every one of them through my guiding . At the end of this post one of my biggest achievments besides giving you a good recipe would be , turning you into a pasta freak as i am (:D) .
My teacher from the university i study in asked me once what am i cookin' , and i said pasta , and he seemed quite interested and asked what kind of pasta and i answered '' Tagliatelle alla Carbonara '' . He was like ''Omg that's my favorite '' and who can blame him it's a good dish . Lovely , smooth and quite fancy ... this dish used to be also the worker's dish in Italy . The workers used to receive carbonara as a meal ( quite fancy ) , but of course throughout the time carbonara was modiffied like pizza and it became an elegant and amazing meal , quite rare persons who would not accept a plate of Carbonara , since even the smell can attract you .
There are many ways to serve Carbonara , but the most common is with spaghetti or tagliatelle . I love both ways but my favorite one is with tagliatelle since it captures more of the sauce and bacon and it makes it more lovely , but that's me some prefer spaghetti ... but either way carbonara is amazing .
So guys let's start this amazing recipe and first of all you need the recepy for an amazing pasta dough .... of course you can use dry pasta but it's way more delicious and amazing using fresh pasta , but if you don't have time just use dry pasta from the supermarket .
Here are the ingredients for the dough :
- 2 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks
- salt
- 450 g of white flour
Here are the ingredients for the sauce :
- 200 g of bacon ( tell the butcher to slice it thinly for you )
- 65 g of parmezan
- 2 egg yolks
- 200 ml of creme
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- black pepper
First off let's start makin' the pasta dough . pour on a table the 450 g of flour and make a hole in the center it should look like a well . crak the eggs and the yolks in the center , add a pinch of salt and with a fork start whisking them as you add a bit of the flour from the sides of the well just be carefull not to break the well until the eggs and the yolks absorbed some of the flour so they strenghten a bit . After a while , break the well and keep needling the dough untill it absorbes enough of the flour so it won't be too sticky and not too hard . When it reaches a yellowy colour it's ready . Get a plastic papper , fold the dough and put it in the fridge for about 20 minutes .
After 20 minutes have passed get the dough out of the fridge , cut it in half and start streching it with a pasta machine or if you don't have a pasta machine use a rolling pin like or a bottle .Stretch the dough untill you can see through it a bit like so :
After you've reached this point , dust it with a bit of flour and fold it in half like so :
then keep folding it in half untill you've reached this shape :
then with a knife start cutting like so to the end :
After this shake the pasta a bit so they won't stick togheter , use a bit of flour if they feel a bit sticky
Do this with the other half of the dough . So this is your home made tagliatelle , they look amazing and it's quite fun making fresh pasta , i just love doing it , it's kinda relaxing :D
Next step is making the sauce . In a bowl sepparate egg yolks from the egg whites and add only the egg yolks . Then add 200 ml of cream ( Grana Cucina , you can find it in the supermarket ) , and 65 g of parmezan and mix them untill they form some sort of cream . Then get the 200 g of bacon and cut it julienne style , which means sideways ( google julienne ) . Add in a hot pan 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and the sliced bacon .keep styring them untill they get a golden colour. In the meantime get a pot with cold water , add a bit of salt to it and bring it to the boil. When it boils place the pasta in it and let them boil for about 3 minutes since it's fresh. If you're using dry pasta you need to let it boil more . When the bacon is ready add them to the mixture with the yolks , cream and parmezan .
Finally add the pasta to the mixture and fold them in . Serve them on a hot plate and grate a bit of parmezan on top , add a bit of olive oil and sprinkle some fresh black pepper , and you should be done :D .
Here's youre carbonara :
An amazing , delicious recipe fit for any person , any time , any day . I just love it .
So guys try this recipe and subscribe me or e-mail if you got any other questions . I'll just got attend to my lovely pasta while they're hot :D .
Bon Appetit fellas !
My teacher from the university i study in asked me once what am i cookin' , and i said pasta , and he seemed quite interested and asked what kind of pasta and i answered '' Tagliatelle alla Carbonara '' . He was like ''Omg that's my favorite '' and who can blame him it's a good dish . Lovely , smooth and quite fancy ... this dish used to be also the worker's dish in Italy . The workers used to receive carbonara as a meal ( quite fancy ) , but of course throughout the time carbonara was modiffied like pizza and it became an elegant and amazing meal , quite rare persons who would not accept a plate of Carbonara , since even the smell can attract you .
There are many ways to serve Carbonara , but the most common is with spaghetti or tagliatelle . I love both ways but my favorite one is with tagliatelle since it captures more of the sauce and bacon and it makes it more lovely , but that's me some prefer spaghetti ... but either way carbonara is amazing .
So guys let's start this amazing recipe and first of all you need the recepy for an amazing pasta dough .... of course you can use dry pasta but it's way more delicious and amazing using fresh pasta , but if you don't have time just use dry pasta from the supermarket .
Here are the ingredients for the dough :
- 2 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks
- salt
- 450 g of white flour
Here are the ingredients for the sauce :
- 200 g of bacon ( tell the butcher to slice it thinly for you )
- 65 g of parmezan
- 2 egg yolks
- 200 ml of creme
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- black pepper
First off let's start makin' the pasta dough . pour on a table the 450 g of flour and make a hole in the center it should look like a well . crak the eggs and the yolks in the center , add a pinch of salt and with a fork start whisking them as you add a bit of the flour from the sides of the well just be carefull not to break the well until the eggs and the yolks absorbed some of the flour so they strenghten a bit . After a while , break the well and keep needling the dough untill it absorbes enough of the flour so it won't be too sticky and not too hard . When it reaches a yellowy colour it's ready . Get a plastic papper , fold the dough and put it in the fridge for about 20 minutes .
After 20 minutes have passed get the dough out of the fridge , cut it in half and start streching it with a pasta machine or if you don't have a pasta machine use a rolling pin like or a bottle .Stretch the dough untill you can see through it a bit like so :
After you've reached this point , dust it with a bit of flour and fold it in half like so :
then keep folding it in half untill you've reached this shape :
then with a knife start cutting like so to the end :
After this shake the pasta a bit so they won't stick togheter , use a bit of flour if they feel a bit sticky
Do this with the other half of the dough . So this is your home made tagliatelle , they look amazing and it's quite fun making fresh pasta , i just love doing it , it's kinda relaxing :D
Next step is making the sauce . In a bowl sepparate egg yolks from the egg whites and add only the egg yolks . Then add 200 ml of cream ( Grana Cucina , you can find it in the supermarket ) , and 65 g of parmezan and mix them untill they form some sort of cream . Then get the 200 g of bacon and cut it julienne style , which means sideways ( google julienne ) . Add in a hot pan 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and the sliced bacon .keep styring them untill they get a golden colour. In the meantime get a pot with cold water , add a bit of salt to it and bring it to the boil. When it boils place the pasta in it and let them boil for about 3 minutes since it's fresh. If you're using dry pasta you need to let it boil more . When the bacon is ready add them to the mixture with the yolks , cream and parmezan .
Finally add the pasta to the mixture and fold them in . Serve them on a hot plate and grate a bit of parmezan on top , add a bit of olive oil and sprinkle some fresh black pepper , and you should be done :D .
Here's youre carbonara :
An amazing , delicious recipe fit for any person , any time , any day . I just love it .
So guys try this recipe and subscribe me or e-mail if you got any other questions . I'll just got attend to my lovely pasta while they're hot :D .
Bon Appetit fellas !
duminică, 25 martie 2012
Caraway soup with home made croutons
Caraway soup ( supa de chimen ) , a lovely soup ... quite known for it's medicinal usage but also for its bad taste , yet as a Chef you have the abillity to transform something nasty into something delicious and great . I am not a Chef yet since that position can only be achieved after a long period of time and through hard work .
Let's just say i know a thing or two about cooking and i know how to make a wonderfull caraway soup with home-made croutons .
It's no fancy recepy just keep it simple . This recipe i'm about to share with you guys is really easy and also fast and it's not only extremly good for your health but it tastes amazing and it's good to have this recipe at your side for any guests that my show up and you won't have time to prepare fancy stuff . Also as a student it's quite beneficial since it's a low buget soup and it's healthy and far tastier and those nasty soups in a can you buy them from the supermarket .
So what you need is :
- 3 tablespoons of caraway
- 1 big carrot or 2 small ones
- 1 onion
- half of celeriac
- 9 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- bread
- parsley
-salt
- pepper
- 2 egg yolks
- 200 ml creme fraiche]
So let's get started . First off you get a pan fill it with water but leave about 3 centimeters empty . Put 3 tablespoons of caraway inside the pan with the cold water and some sea salt and bring it up to the boil. In the meantime get your oven to 200 degrees C get a tray ready and fill it with 7 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil . Cut your bread into small cubes and place them in the tray with the olive oil and keep soaking them in the oil a bit . After that place the tray with the bread in the oven for 30 minutes , they should be ready when they have a golden brown color , if they are not ready after 30 minutes leave them more just do not forget about them keep them checked . Next chop the carrot into small cubes , chop the celeriac into small cubes also and the onion chop it finely .
Get a pot and put 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and add the onion , after 5 seconds add the carrot and the celeriac . Add a pinch of salt to the mixture and a pinch of pepper and saute them for a few minutes .
When the water with the caraway is ready ( which means it has a darkie brown color ) , place a siv and add it to the pot where the vegetable mixture is . Let it simmer gently , and in the meantime in a small bowl sepparate 2 eggs and use only the egg yolks and add 200 ml of creme fraiche ( you cand use sweet cream or sour cream instead ) and a bit of the liquid from the soup so the mixture won't get cheesy . Add this mixture to the pot with the vegetables and let it boil for 5 more minutes , also adjust the seasoning to the soup if it needs more salt and all ... this involves your personal tastes .
Did you forget about the croutons ? ... i hope not (:D) so get those croutons out if they're ready and place them in a bowl or whatever you like so they can chill a bit .
When the soup is ready get some croutons place them in the soup and chop some fresh parsley if you want , it gives the soup an earthy taste .
So this is it quite speedy and tasty , i love having this soup ... it's cheap , delicious and simple ... my kind of soup :D . So guys thats about it enjoy
By the way you vegetarians should get a kick out of this soup , quite tasy and no meat :D
Bon Appetit ! :D
Let's just say i know a thing or two about cooking and i know how to make a wonderfull caraway soup with home-made croutons .
It's no fancy recepy just keep it simple . This recipe i'm about to share with you guys is really easy and also fast and it's not only extremly good for your health but it tastes amazing and it's good to have this recipe at your side for any guests that my show up and you won't have time to prepare fancy stuff . Also as a student it's quite beneficial since it's a low buget soup and it's healthy and far tastier and those nasty soups in a can you buy them from the supermarket .
So what you need is :
- 3 tablespoons of caraway
- 1 big carrot or 2 small ones
- 1 onion
- half of celeriac
- 9 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- bread
- parsley
-salt
- pepper
- 2 egg yolks
- 200 ml creme fraiche]
So let's get started . First off you get a pan fill it with water but leave about 3 centimeters empty . Put 3 tablespoons of caraway inside the pan with the cold water and some sea salt and bring it up to the boil. In the meantime get your oven to 200 degrees C get a tray ready and fill it with 7 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil . Cut your bread into small cubes and place them in the tray with the olive oil and keep soaking them in the oil a bit . After that place the tray with the bread in the oven for 30 minutes , they should be ready when they have a golden brown color , if they are not ready after 30 minutes leave them more just do not forget about them keep them checked . Next chop the carrot into small cubes , chop the celeriac into small cubes also and the onion chop it finely .
Get a pot and put 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and add the onion , after 5 seconds add the carrot and the celeriac . Add a pinch of salt to the mixture and a pinch of pepper and saute them for a few minutes .
When the water with the caraway is ready ( which means it has a darkie brown color ) , place a siv and add it to the pot where the vegetable mixture is . Let it simmer gently , and in the meantime in a small bowl sepparate 2 eggs and use only the egg yolks and add 200 ml of creme fraiche ( you cand use sweet cream or sour cream instead ) and a bit of the liquid from the soup so the mixture won't get cheesy . Add this mixture to the pot with the vegetables and let it boil for 5 more minutes , also adjust the seasoning to the soup if it needs more salt and all ... this involves your personal tastes .
Did you forget about the croutons ? ... i hope not (:D) so get those croutons out if they're ready and place them in a bowl or whatever you like so they can chill a bit .
When the soup is ready get some croutons place them in the soup and chop some fresh parsley if you want , it gives the soup an earthy taste .
So this is it quite speedy and tasty , i love having this soup ... it's cheap , delicious and simple ... my kind of soup :D . So guys thats about it enjoy
By the way you vegetarians should get a kick out of this soup , quite tasy and no meat :D
Bon Appetit ! :D
miercuri, 21 martie 2012
A couple of notes
Dear bloggie , with each passing day i get closer and closer to the application date for the Jamie Oliver apprenticeship program . I mean i keep waiting for this , but sometimes i feel afraid ... i am not sure if i am supposed to feel like this , but surerly i want this more than ever , and that is becoming one of the apprentices . I never wanted anything so much in my entire life . My biggest fear isn't not being able to reach London , but the fact that i won't be given a chance to prove myself , to show what i can do . I mean i love food and cooking , i love the idea of becoming a great chef for the rest of my life . I know i should be more optimistic about this , but someone told me that , by being afraid we show our true care for that certain thing .The fact that you can win and lose , not knowing what your future holds is a bit scary , i just wish i could be in control of all of this , but i am not , since no person can be in control of his future . But what we can do is keep fighting for a better future and hope we achieve what we set in our minds to achieve . I was always thaught that hard work can get you in high places , but it's only half true . Hard work alone can't get you in high places , you need more than that , you need passion and the ability to dream your high place . I am not afraid of hard work , i'm more afraid of not be given the chance to get to work hard for my place , my dream .
On the second of april the applications for the program start , i'm not sure what will happen , whether i'll be selected or not for this program , but if i do get selected i'll make sure to give my best and failure is not an option . I believe it will be hard , but i'll have to go through all the hard stuff to achieve a better life not just for me but for my family aswell .
We as young people keep saying , '' Oh i have all the time in the world to grow up , i still enjoy being a kid right now '' ... but that's the thing we forget how time passes by , and the only thing you will never get back is time . The moment to grow up can be at any age , you don't need life experience to grow up ... that is forged throughout the years , growing up means more than life experience , it means seeing a purpose to your life , finding your way , having a dream and the will to fight for something . I believe i can say i found my way in this world but i still got a lot of work ahead , but i await that work with lots of excitment and thrill knowing that beyond that hard work fence there is a better life , brighter future and probably an answer to what passion truly is . You can't understand passion for what it is untill you see yourself over that fence and share it with your closest ones .
So i'm not sure if i will be chosen for the program , and i will always be fearfull of that untill the day i see the results , but one thing i know for sure is that i will never stop persuing my dream no matter what , and my dream is becoming a great chef .
As a note to all the readers here , if you truly want something , but that something is more of a dream and it seems something with almost 0% chances to be achieved don't be afraid to give it a go , what can you lose ? , i mean do not judge these things , sometimes it's better to listen to your heart because we're humans and that's what separates us from the animals , the fact that we can judge with two things : our mind and our heart , and when those two get in sync then be sure to not doubt yourself ... Don't fear hard work , fear you won't get the chance to work hard for your own high place , because only then you can enjoy the true fruits of your labour as i will be enjoying my chillis soon (haha) .
So my time typing is done for the moment since i feel quite hungry and my foodie personality tells me it's time we get funky and start cookin' , since all this talk about passion and future made me think of food (haha) ... and yeah i know i'm a freak , but a food freak , i think that's ok right ? ... food freak ? i mean can't be something wrong can it ? ... oh well if it is my mom and friends should learn to deal with it since i won't be changing in the near future (haha ) .
Have a nice evening guys and remember if you have any questions , or in need of an advice or maybe you wanna give me an advice feel free to e-mail me or send me a comment to whatever bugs you .
Bye , bye
On the second of april the applications for the program start , i'm not sure what will happen , whether i'll be selected or not for this program , but if i do get selected i'll make sure to give my best and failure is not an option . I believe it will be hard , but i'll have to go through all the hard stuff to achieve a better life not just for me but for my family aswell .
We as young people keep saying , '' Oh i have all the time in the world to grow up , i still enjoy being a kid right now '' ... but that's the thing we forget how time passes by , and the only thing you will never get back is time . The moment to grow up can be at any age , you don't need life experience to grow up ... that is forged throughout the years , growing up means more than life experience , it means seeing a purpose to your life , finding your way , having a dream and the will to fight for something . I believe i can say i found my way in this world but i still got a lot of work ahead , but i await that work with lots of excitment and thrill knowing that beyond that hard work fence there is a better life , brighter future and probably an answer to what passion truly is . You can't understand passion for what it is untill you see yourself over that fence and share it with your closest ones .
So i'm not sure if i will be chosen for the program , and i will always be fearfull of that untill the day i see the results , but one thing i know for sure is that i will never stop persuing my dream no matter what , and my dream is becoming a great chef .
As a note to all the readers here , if you truly want something , but that something is more of a dream and it seems something with almost 0% chances to be achieved don't be afraid to give it a go , what can you lose ? , i mean do not judge these things , sometimes it's better to listen to your heart because we're humans and that's what separates us from the animals , the fact that we can judge with two things : our mind and our heart , and when those two get in sync then be sure to not doubt yourself ... Don't fear hard work , fear you won't get the chance to work hard for your own high place , because only then you can enjoy the true fruits of your labour as i will be enjoying my chillis soon (haha) .
So my time typing is done for the moment since i feel quite hungry and my foodie personality tells me it's time we get funky and start cookin' , since all this talk about passion and future made me think of food (haha) ... and yeah i know i'm a freak , but a food freak , i think that's ok right ? ... food freak ? i mean can't be something wrong can it ? ... oh well if it is my mom and friends should learn to deal with it since i won't be changing in the near future (haha ) .
Have a nice evening guys and remember if you have any questions , or in need of an advice or maybe you wanna give me an advice feel free to e-mail me or send me a comment to whatever bugs you .
Bye , bye
marți, 20 martie 2012
Cherry flavoured Spring
Good afternoon , dear readers , these days i spend a lot of time outside , attending to my garden , cooking and have such little time left for my blog , but no worries this week i'll be free and guess i'll take some time and get filling this blog up with new posts .
Lovely weather outside , good for barbequing , i just wish i could go to the forest or a green space and spice up some awesome bbq recepies but since i am stricted in staying in the urban sites due to the fact i got no time it will have to wait for some other time .
Anyway these days were amazing , except for the fact that i caught a cold but i'm feeling a bitt better now , thanks to my mom's chicken soup recepy , and some lovely Melissa tea . Guess you expect me now with a new recepy and all that ... and yeah i got a lovely everyday awesome recepy that can be treated as a snack or maybe as breakfast , depends on your wishes .
Since it's spring we tend to bring bright colours up in clothes , but also in food . I just love a good food with bright colours on a spring sunny day .
So this is a warm salad recipe that i'm about to give you ... it's amazing and i enjoy making it every week at least twice .
The name of the salad is ''Cherry flavoured Spring'' , since the base of the salad is consisting of cherry tomatoes and spring onions .
Here is what you need for the recipe :
- 6 cherry tomatoes
- 3 spring onions
- 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- feta cheese ( or telemea is just as good )
- parsley
- garlic
- salt
So get the oil in the pan , chop the onions , and cut the cherry tomatoes in quarters or half if smaller and add them to the pan ( also the pan must be on a medium heat ) .
Chop 2 cloves of garlic finely , and add it to the pan with the cherry tomatoes and spring onions ... just keep stirring them and do not cook them for too long otherwise they go soggy and taste quite soury , .... add a pinch of salt but not too much since you have the salty cheese to add . This should take 3 minutes totally ... so when you've done you're business in the pan , empty the salad in a bowl with all it's juices , chopp some fresh parsley and some feta cheese in cubes . Drizzel a bit of good quality olive oil over it and you're done ... An easy , low buget , fast warm salad recepy , and you can eat it with bruschettas or simple bread .
You can also add some green beans to it , it makes it more amazing i just didn't have any (:D ) . If you can't find good fresh green beans , just buy frozen ones they are good also but you need to boil them to get their flavour up again . Just boil them in some water with salt and they'll be good for usage again .
A lovely spring salad that get's you in a good mood every day .
Have one with this one , and enjoy ...
Also these days i've been to some weird restaurants and i've tasted some lovely , amazing food that i'm about to share with you guys in my next posts , so untill then Bon Appetit and may each day bring you excitment , joy and a little spark in cooking and as for me an end to my flue (haha) .
Lovely weather outside , good for barbequing , i just wish i could go to the forest or a green space and spice up some awesome bbq recepies but since i am stricted in staying in the urban sites due to the fact i got no time it will have to wait for some other time .
Anyway these days were amazing , except for the fact that i caught a cold but i'm feeling a bitt better now , thanks to my mom's chicken soup recepy , and some lovely Melissa tea . Guess you expect me now with a new recepy and all that ... and yeah i got a lovely everyday awesome recepy that can be treated as a snack or maybe as breakfast , depends on your wishes .
Since it's spring we tend to bring bright colours up in clothes , but also in food . I just love a good food with bright colours on a spring sunny day .
So this is a warm salad recipe that i'm about to give you ... it's amazing and i enjoy making it every week at least twice .
The name of the salad is ''Cherry flavoured Spring'' , since the base of the salad is consisting of cherry tomatoes and spring onions .
Here is what you need for the recipe :
- 6 cherry tomatoes
- 3 spring onions
- 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- feta cheese ( or telemea is just as good )
- parsley
- garlic
- salt
So get the oil in the pan , chop the onions , and cut the cherry tomatoes in quarters or half if smaller and add them to the pan ( also the pan must be on a medium heat ) .
Chop 2 cloves of garlic finely , and add it to the pan with the cherry tomatoes and spring onions ... just keep stirring them and do not cook them for too long otherwise they go soggy and taste quite soury , .... add a pinch of salt but not too much since you have the salty cheese to add . This should take 3 minutes totally ... so when you've done you're business in the pan , empty the salad in a bowl with all it's juices , chopp some fresh parsley and some feta cheese in cubes . Drizzel a bit of good quality olive oil over it and you're done ... An easy , low buget , fast warm salad recepy , and you can eat it with bruschettas or simple bread .
You can also add some green beans to it , it makes it more amazing i just didn't have any (:D ) . If you can't find good fresh green beans , just buy frozen ones they are good also but you need to boil them to get their flavour up again . Just boil them in some water with salt and they'll be good for usage again .
A lovely spring salad that get's you in a good mood every day .
Have one with this one , and enjoy ...
Also these days i've been to some weird restaurants and i've tasted some lovely , amazing food that i'm about to share with you guys in my next posts , so untill then Bon Appetit and may each day bring you excitment , joy and a little spark in cooking and as for me an end to my flue (haha) .
joi, 15 martie 2012
Spring !! :D
Take a look outside ... it's so lovely , i mean spring finnaly came and you know what this means right ? ... That's right the time for gardening and barbeques it's just right . Leaving aside the barbeq for now ... i'm gonna talk about gardening . As i was saying in my older post ( the second one ) , in order to be a good cook aswell as a good chef you need to understand food ... where does it come from , and the only way to do that is by growing your own food . Take herbs for example , i mean let's forget for a moment about their important asset to any style of cooking , but there is more to it ... they make you healthier , live longer , your hair looks better due to the oils and attributes from the herbs , your face looks healthier and younger , basically they are a good asset to anything in our lives .
I stopped using medicines , and other types of pills , because they are not that natural and more or less they all have a secundary effect . When i used to get cold i always took any type of pills so i can get rid of it but i always felt weakened and without appetite due to the fact i was taking those drugs . After i started trying my first fresh herbs such as : rosemary , sage , chives , bay , basil , thyme , mint ... many others , i felt different ... the smell is amazing , fresh and i started feeling healthier already . By cooking with fresh herbs , you parfume your food with lovely fresh smells and the flavour is out of this world .
I started to grow so passionate about using herbs , spices , all of those things in just a short time ... it's a great asset to your cooking level . The problem was that fresh herbs are really expensive and as a student with a low buget i couldn't afford most of the times to aquire them so i thought of a great ideea . I always use to watch my favorite chef Jamie Oliver , and letting asside his passion for cooking was his passion for gardening so i thought , why not start my own little garden ... so i went to the supermarket and bought some fresh soil , seeds and some containers ... it all started with just a few but eventually it became a passion for me aswell , and these days i get my fresh herbs from my own little garden :D , and i am telling you nothing compares to the feeling of being able to pick what you need from the things you grew , it's amazing .
So let's start with :
These are my chillis , awesome and really hot peppers , easy to grow , just do not water them too much and when you plant their seeds after a while the first thing that comes out are its seeds , be carefull not to push them back otherwise you just kill them , so if you see any seeds above , you did nothing wrong it's just the way they develop . I used to buy from the supermarket chillis but i find them with no taste at all , and not even close to being hot so i thought i should grow my own chillis since i love them . They usually love heat so the more heat they get , the hotter the peppers will be .
Second one is Melissa , it's a herb used for salads , drinks , tea , and deserts . It has a special divine smell of lemon and mint combined ... quite fresh and perfect ... And it grows easy
The third one is Rosemary , my favorite one , and quite pretenciouss herb , you need to be extra carefull with this one , but i love it ... it's so parfumy and it gives meat and salads a lovely smell and flavour ... the tea made from it is good for people who have trouble sleeping and insomnia and also for freeing your mind from stress , one sipp of tea made from rosemary and you'll feel like a new born :D
The forth is thyme , quite good for meat , salads , tea .... has an amazing eathy smell also good for soups it gives it a deep flavour and groundy just lovely for a windy , cold day .
The fifth is Basil , which is part of the mint class but a little different , it's really good for sauces , especially tomato sauces , salads , meat , drinks ... has a lovely flavour and smell , especially with pasta and tomatoes .
These are my chillis but i had to replant them since they grew too big and it was time i replanted them in a bigger container in order for them to produce the peppers ... they need space betweene them so they can develop their root , i can't wait to taste my first peppers ... i'll keep you guys on track with that :D
So basically this is about it for now , i'm waiting for my cayenne peppers to grow also and the next things i want to plant are sage and mint .... so basically it's quite easy and cheap , if an idiot like me can do it so can you :D , it's no rocket science , just give it a go , i'm telling you it's fun and it surerly pays off .
Right now i have to leave you guys since tommorow it's a friends birthday and i have to get prepared and make him some desert , and i'm thinking about a chocolate tart and some sorbet .
Have a lovely sunny day all :D !
I stopped using medicines , and other types of pills , because they are not that natural and more or less they all have a secundary effect . When i used to get cold i always took any type of pills so i can get rid of it but i always felt weakened and without appetite due to the fact i was taking those drugs . After i started trying my first fresh herbs such as : rosemary , sage , chives , bay , basil , thyme , mint ... many others , i felt different ... the smell is amazing , fresh and i started feeling healthier already . By cooking with fresh herbs , you parfume your food with lovely fresh smells and the flavour is out of this world .
I started to grow so passionate about using herbs , spices , all of those things in just a short time ... it's a great asset to your cooking level . The problem was that fresh herbs are really expensive and as a student with a low buget i couldn't afford most of the times to aquire them so i thought of a great ideea . I always use to watch my favorite chef Jamie Oliver , and letting asside his passion for cooking was his passion for gardening so i thought , why not start my own little garden ... so i went to the supermarket and bought some fresh soil , seeds and some containers ... it all started with just a few but eventually it became a passion for me aswell , and these days i get my fresh herbs from my own little garden :D , and i am telling you nothing compares to the feeling of being able to pick what you need from the things you grew , it's amazing .
So let's start with :
These are my chillis , awesome and really hot peppers , easy to grow , just do not water them too much and when you plant their seeds after a while the first thing that comes out are its seeds , be carefull not to push them back otherwise you just kill them , so if you see any seeds above , you did nothing wrong it's just the way they develop . I used to buy from the supermarket chillis but i find them with no taste at all , and not even close to being hot so i thought i should grow my own chillis since i love them . They usually love heat so the more heat they get , the hotter the peppers will be .
Second one is Melissa , it's a herb used for salads , drinks , tea , and deserts . It has a special divine smell of lemon and mint combined ... quite fresh and perfect ... And it grows easy
The third one is Rosemary , my favorite one , and quite pretenciouss herb , you need to be extra carefull with this one , but i love it ... it's so parfumy and it gives meat and salads a lovely smell and flavour ... the tea made from it is good for people who have trouble sleeping and insomnia and also for freeing your mind from stress , one sipp of tea made from rosemary and you'll feel like a new born :D
The forth is thyme , quite good for meat , salads , tea .... has an amazing eathy smell also good for soups it gives it a deep flavour and groundy just lovely for a windy , cold day .
The fifth is Basil , which is part of the mint class but a little different , it's really good for sauces , especially tomato sauces , salads , meat , drinks ... has a lovely flavour and smell , especially with pasta and tomatoes .
These are my chillis but i had to replant them since they grew too big and it was time i replanted them in a bigger container in order for them to produce the peppers ... they need space betweene them so they can develop their root , i can't wait to taste my first peppers ... i'll keep you guys on track with that :D
So basically this is about it for now , i'm waiting for my cayenne peppers to grow also and the next things i want to plant are sage and mint .... so basically it's quite easy and cheap , if an idiot like me can do it so can you :D , it's no rocket science , just give it a go , i'm telling you it's fun and it surerly pays off .
Right now i have to leave you guys since tommorow it's a friends birthday and i have to get prepared and make him some desert , and i'm thinking about a chocolate tart and some sorbet .
Have a lovely sunny day all :D !
luni, 12 martie 2012
Awesome pork ribs with fresh herbs , garlic and crispy oven potatoes with a garlic sauce
Dear readers , first of all a warm hello to you all and sorry about my one week absence , but i was again really busy with a lot of stuff , including gardening ... yeah :D i made a replant on my chillies since they were 12 cm tall and they needed a replant badly in order to grow more and give me what i want . It's more of a business , i give them fresh soil they give me their fruits ... it's a fair deal after all ( haha ) . Since i am studying politics and economy at school , i tend to apply them in the wrong sections :D , but thats not important . What is important is that i'm back , i'm well and i'm pumped and fueled with new , exciting recepies that will blow you away .
These days i've been fueled with a lot of inspiration , on vegetarian parts .. and i discovered an awesome cuisine which is the turkish cuisine . I mean like wow , spicy food and quite buttery ... they even have theyr own form of pizza which is called '' Lahmacun '' ( pronounced lahmajun ) , if you love spicy food you'll surerly love this one ... it's quite awesome , i just had one today for the first time and i got inspired to try one at home but my own version in the next few days .
I'll also give a go this thursday and give you 3 vegetarian recepies which even a meat lover won't say no haha .
So for today i'll give the meat lovers a treat and give you a good recepy for some wonderfull , juicy , delicious pork ribs . A few days ago i found this awesome meat market and they had all kind of beautifull cuts , i was like a child in a toy store , it was amazing .... i didn't have the money to buy any , but it was interesting just to take a look at them , and after seeing so many cuts i ended up next to some pork ribs . They looked so amazing i was drooling all over the glass , when i got home i couldn't stop thinking about them they just blew me away ...it's a chef's dream to work with ribs , i mean the fat , the lovely juicy meat , the bones , almost anyhting you put on them makes them delicious , you don't need a sophisticated recipefor them or any other expensive ingredient , they're pretty awesome on their own considering they're fresh . After a few days have passed i finnaly got the money to buy these lovely ribs and i'm telling you it was a pleasure to deal with them .
So let's get down to business . So first of all what you need is :
-700 g of ribs
- 7 cloves of garlic unpeeled
- 7 sprigs of rosemary
- 7 sprigs of thyme
- extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 500 g of potatoes (white , red whatever you prefer )
- sour cream
- 1 handfull of fresh thyme for decorating
So first of all start by chopping your rosemary and thyme quite finely , and add them to a pestle and mortar , then add 4 cloves of garlic ( keep the skin on ) and bash them up really good to release the oils from the fresh herbs and garlic . Add 6 tablespoons of olive oil mix them all a bit , and just rubb the pork ribs on both sides with the flavoured oil . After that rubb some sea salt and be quite generous with it after all its a piece of meat with a lot of bones you need to be a bitt generous with the salt , and freshly ground black pepper on both sides . rapp them really good and put them in the fridge for 3 to 4 hours so all the fresh herbs oils with travel through the cut and flavour every part of it , thus making the the ribs tastier , juicier , and the meat just melts in your mouth . You could just put them straight in the oven but the result isn't the same . So if you wanna make some good pork ribs leave them over night in the marinade and use them the next day .
Here's how it looks like :
Preheat the oven on a low heat and place the ribs on the oven grill and under the grill place a tray to catch all the natural flavoured juices .Leave them on a low heat for 2 hours . But be warned spare ribs tend to go dry , but you can prevent that from happening . Every 30 minutes just use the natural juices from the tray and pour them on the ribs again to prevent them from drying out . It's quite easy , the only thing they need is a bit of attention and care , like a woman ( :D ) .
When the ribs are 20 minutes away from being done get a pot with salted water , peel the potatoes and cut them in cubes in size of a golf ball , and add them to the salted water . Bring them to the boil and after they are done , get rid of the water and let them steam away in order to get a crust . When they cooled off a bit just place them in the tray along with the juices from the ribs and coat them a bitt with the juice , if it's not enough add more olive oil to them and sprinkle a bit of sea salt and black pepper .
When they are both ready place the ribs on a platter and let them rest for 4 to 5 minutes in order for the juices to travel through the ribs . In this time make a lovely garlic sauce , by using the remaining 3 cloves of garlic , chopp them finely , grate them , mash them whatever you prefer add a bit of salt and about 4 to 5 tablespoons of sour cream .It's just amazing . Place the potatoes on the board next to the ribs amd just pour the garlic sauce on them and a sprig of thyme for the extra flavour , i know it looks it doesen't make a difference but it does trust me . Use the handfull of thyme to decorate and you're done .
An amazing feast , that requires patience and care .
Bon Appetit
These days i've been fueled with a lot of inspiration , on vegetarian parts .. and i discovered an awesome cuisine which is the turkish cuisine . I mean like wow , spicy food and quite buttery ... they even have theyr own form of pizza which is called '' Lahmacun '' ( pronounced lahmajun ) , if you love spicy food you'll surerly love this one ... it's quite awesome , i just had one today for the first time and i got inspired to try one at home but my own version in the next few days .
I'll also give a go this thursday and give you 3 vegetarian recepies which even a meat lover won't say no haha .
So for today i'll give the meat lovers a treat and give you a good recepy for some wonderfull , juicy , delicious pork ribs . A few days ago i found this awesome meat market and they had all kind of beautifull cuts , i was like a child in a toy store , it was amazing .... i didn't have the money to buy any , but it was interesting just to take a look at them , and after seeing so many cuts i ended up next to some pork ribs . They looked so amazing i was drooling all over the glass , when i got home i couldn't stop thinking about them they just blew me away ...it's a chef's dream to work with ribs , i mean the fat , the lovely juicy meat , the bones , almost anyhting you put on them makes them delicious , you don't need a sophisticated recipefor them or any other expensive ingredient , they're pretty awesome on their own considering they're fresh . After a few days have passed i finnaly got the money to buy these lovely ribs and i'm telling you it was a pleasure to deal with them .
So let's get down to business . So first of all what you need is :
-700 g of ribs
- 7 cloves of garlic unpeeled
- 7 sprigs of rosemary
- 7 sprigs of thyme
- extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 500 g of potatoes (white , red whatever you prefer )
- sour cream
- 1 handfull of fresh thyme for decorating
So first of all start by chopping your rosemary and thyme quite finely , and add them to a pestle and mortar , then add 4 cloves of garlic ( keep the skin on ) and bash them up really good to release the oils from the fresh herbs and garlic . Add 6 tablespoons of olive oil mix them all a bit , and just rubb the pork ribs on both sides with the flavoured oil . After that rubb some sea salt and be quite generous with it after all its a piece of meat with a lot of bones you need to be a bitt generous with the salt , and freshly ground black pepper on both sides . rapp them really good and put them in the fridge for 3 to 4 hours so all the fresh herbs oils with travel through the cut and flavour every part of it , thus making the the ribs tastier , juicier , and the meat just melts in your mouth . You could just put them straight in the oven but the result isn't the same . So if you wanna make some good pork ribs leave them over night in the marinade and use them the next day .
Here's how it looks like :
Preheat the oven on a low heat and place the ribs on the oven grill and under the grill place a tray to catch all the natural flavoured juices .Leave them on a low heat for 2 hours . But be warned spare ribs tend to go dry , but you can prevent that from happening . Every 30 minutes just use the natural juices from the tray and pour them on the ribs again to prevent them from drying out . It's quite easy , the only thing they need is a bit of attention and care , like a woman ( :D ) .
When the ribs are 20 minutes away from being done get a pot with salted water , peel the potatoes and cut them in cubes in size of a golf ball , and add them to the salted water . Bring them to the boil and after they are done , get rid of the water and let them steam away in order to get a crust . When they cooled off a bit just place them in the tray along with the juices from the ribs and coat them a bitt with the juice , if it's not enough add more olive oil to them and sprinkle a bit of sea salt and black pepper .
When they are both ready place the ribs on a platter and let them rest for 4 to 5 minutes in order for the juices to travel through the ribs . In this time make a lovely garlic sauce , by using the remaining 3 cloves of garlic , chopp them finely , grate them , mash them whatever you prefer add a bit of salt and about 4 to 5 tablespoons of sour cream .It's just amazing . Place the potatoes on the board next to the ribs amd just pour the garlic sauce on them and a sprig of thyme for the extra flavour , i know it looks it doesen't make a difference but it does trust me . Use the handfull of thyme to decorate and you're done .
An amazing feast , that requires patience and care .
Bon Appetit
duminică, 4 martie 2012
Tiramisu with a twist
I just love coffee in deserts .... don't you? Especially combined with chocolate and a bit of wine , amazing:X .
So yeah i know what you're going to say . I know i've missed a lot , i mean 3 days and i apologize for that i was really busy and when i just got home i only had time to make some salads and thats about it . I'm gonna go on salads with a bitt of luck and spare time tommorow , i got a really kick ass salad recepy ... I JUST LOVE IT ! ... but today on this post i was gonna talk about a desert that represents me totally .
That desert is a tiramisu , but with a twist ! I know the classic tiramisu with the lady fingers mascarpone cream , espresso and dusted cocoa on top . Well i'm not saying the classical ain't good but , we live in a modern day , and it's time we go up on the scale and stop thinking old , and think new . What can we do in order to improve , but still maintain the base of the desert . I really love this tiramisu twist recepy that i'm about to show ... It has chocolate , espresso , wine , orange uhhh so amazing i'm drooling all over the keyboard already (haha) , as a matter of fact i'll just make one after i'm done posting this recepy to you all.
So let's start with the begining , the ingredients you need are :
- 200 ml of hot sweetened coffee
- 150 g of good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
- 2 eggs
- 50 g of caster sugar
- 50 g of butter , diced
- Vin Santo or any other sweet desert wine
- 250 g of mascarpone
-salt
- a few fresh coffee beans , bashed up finely
-1 orange
- 100 g of lady fingers or sponge fingers whatever you like to call them
First off you get your coffee ready and just dip in the lady fingers , or sponge fingers whatever you like to call them , in the coffee and place them in a bowl . Next , time to melt 100 chocolate with a pinch of salt a bit of Vin Santo and 50 g of diced butter , on a bowl over a pan with simmering water , remember to styr from time to time . Next step is to make the tiramisu topping cream , so in a bowl separate the egg whites from the egg yolks and add the yolks in another bowl with 50 g of caster sugar and a bit of Vin Santo . Beat the egg yolks until they are pale and fluffy then add the mascarpone cream and mix it well untill it formes some sort of a cream . In the bowl with the egg whites , put a pinch of salt and whisk the whites until they are fluffy and bubbly ( you can check if they are whisked well if you can hold the bowl upside down over your head and they don't fall , if they do well tough luck haha , you needed more whisking ) .Finnaly add the egg whites to the egg yolks and mascarpone and gently fold them in to not break the bubbles . ( try using a spatula and not a whisk for the folding )
After the chocolate is melted pour it over the lady fingers but be sure to cover them all with the melted chocolate .then pour over the cream you made out of the yolks , whites and mascarpone . After that bash some coffee beans and gently pour some over the cream . After that get a knife and use the remained 50 g of chocolate to just shave some over the cream . I mean thats the thing about chocolate it's not only good but it looks a bit romantic . And finnaly grate some orange zest on top ... and the orange and chocolate is an amazing combo , and just lifts the tiramisu up ( by the way tiramisu in italian means '' pick me up '' , and i'm sure if you try this recepy you won't stop picking it up to your mouth every second :D ) .
This is how it looks like :
I just love this recepy , tiramisu with a twist , ... i mean i love this thing about cooking , you can lift pourly made dishes up with a few twists and the impact is so large and you can feel the difference between a classic tiramisu and this chocolatey tiramisu . So now that i've shared with you guys how i love to eat my tiramisu , i hope you'll give it a try , i'm sure you won't regret it ... it will blow you away.
This tiramisu recepy belongs to my all time favorite chef Jamie Oliver , so give it a go , taste your way to this lovely recepy . So thats about it for today guys enjoy while i'm about to make this recepy myself since i've been saying : ''I'm drooling all over the keyboardddddddddddddd '' ...
Have a lovely night guys and , Buon Appetito !
So yeah i know what you're going to say . I know i've missed a lot , i mean 3 days and i apologize for that i was really busy and when i just got home i only had time to make some salads and thats about it . I'm gonna go on salads with a bitt of luck and spare time tommorow , i got a really kick ass salad recepy ... I JUST LOVE IT ! ... but today on this post i was gonna talk about a desert that represents me totally .
That desert is a tiramisu , but with a twist ! I know the classic tiramisu with the lady fingers mascarpone cream , espresso and dusted cocoa on top . Well i'm not saying the classical ain't good but , we live in a modern day , and it's time we go up on the scale and stop thinking old , and think new . What can we do in order to improve , but still maintain the base of the desert . I really love this tiramisu twist recepy that i'm about to show ... It has chocolate , espresso , wine , orange uhhh so amazing i'm drooling all over the keyboard already (haha) , as a matter of fact i'll just make one after i'm done posting this recepy to you all.
So let's start with the begining , the ingredients you need are :
- 200 ml of hot sweetened coffee
- 150 g of good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
- 2 eggs
- 50 g of caster sugar
- 50 g of butter , diced
- Vin Santo or any other sweet desert wine
- 250 g of mascarpone
-salt
- a few fresh coffee beans , bashed up finely
-1 orange
- 100 g of lady fingers or sponge fingers whatever you like to call them
First off you get your coffee ready and just dip in the lady fingers , or sponge fingers whatever you like to call them , in the coffee and place them in a bowl . Next , time to melt 100 chocolate with a pinch of salt a bit of Vin Santo and 50 g of diced butter , on a bowl over a pan with simmering water , remember to styr from time to time . Next step is to make the tiramisu topping cream , so in a bowl separate the egg whites from the egg yolks and add the yolks in another bowl with 50 g of caster sugar and a bit of Vin Santo . Beat the egg yolks until they are pale and fluffy then add the mascarpone cream and mix it well untill it formes some sort of a cream . In the bowl with the egg whites , put a pinch of salt and whisk the whites until they are fluffy and bubbly ( you can check if they are whisked well if you can hold the bowl upside down over your head and they don't fall , if they do well tough luck haha , you needed more whisking ) .Finnaly add the egg whites to the egg yolks and mascarpone and gently fold them in to not break the bubbles . ( try using a spatula and not a whisk for the folding )
After the chocolate is melted pour it over the lady fingers but be sure to cover them all with the melted chocolate .then pour over the cream you made out of the yolks , whites and mascarpone . After that bash some coffee beans and gently pour some over the cream . After that get a knife and use the remained 50 g of chocolate to just shave some over the cream . I mean thats the thing about chocolate it's not only good but it looks a bit romantic . And finnaly grate some orange zest on top ... and the orange and chocolate is an amazing combo , and just lifts the tiramisu up ( by the way tiramisu in italian means '' pick me up '' , and i'm sure if you try this recepy you won't stop picking it up to your mouth every second :D ) .
This is how it looks like :
I just love this recepy , tiramisu with a twist , ... i mean i love this thing about cooking , you can lift pourly made dishes up with a few twists and the impact is so large and you can feel the difference between a classic tiramisu and this chocolatey tiramisu . So now that i've shared with you guys how i love to eat my tiramisu , i hope you'll give it a try , i'm sure you won't regret it ... it will blow you away.
This tiramisu recepy belongs to my all time favorite chef Jamie Oliver , so give it a go , taste your way to this lovely recepy . So thats about it for today guys enjoy while i'm about to make this recepy myself since i've been saying : ''I'm drooling all over the keyboardddddddddddddd '' ...
Have a lovely night guys and , Buon Appetito !
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