Italian Cobb Salad

 

I have been craving salads and I have been craving Italian summer food. This is the time I usually get to work and live in Europe for 6 months, but this year I can’t because I have a real job:)

So I thought I would bring some Italian food into my American world. This is a simple salad with a bunch of goodies from my organic garden.

Rocket: A Handful of rocket. This is similar to arugula, but I like it better. It grows very well and quickly.

Mozzarella di Bufala: You can buy it at Publix. One will do. It is expensive but it is amazing.

Sliced Turkey: 2 slices.

Half raw zucchini sliced really thin.

One spoon of tapenade olive spread paste

Prosciutto crudo (2 slices) or coppa

one tomato (sliced)

Olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper.

Sliced all the ingredients and places them in glass container or tray. I brought it to work so I put it in a glass container. You can alter one slice of tomato with one slice of mozzarella, place all your zucchini in the middle and your meat on a side. Sprinkle with tapenade and olive oil and you are done.

 

 

 

quiche with bacon and ricotta cheese

Happy Easter! We made a simple menu` with this quiche, dinner rolls, ham, grated potatoes, bacon with pecans, and a giant cheesecake.

The cheesecake and this quiche can be made the day before.

Quiche: one pastry puff layer found in the frozen section of your supermarket; one cup of ricotta (fresh if possible); one cup to 2 cups of swiss cheese grated or any strong flavored cheese; one cup and half of heavy cream; 6 eggs well beaten; 3 strips of bacon, salt and pepper; a glass pyrex.

How to make it:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine the eggs beaten, heavy cream, cheese grated, ricotta, and pieces of bacon pre-cooked in the oven (crunchy), salt, and pepper in a bowl. Whisk very well until all ingredients are mixed and smooth. Pour the mixture in the bottom of the pastry puff of the pyrex. You need to mold the pastry so it fits on the bottom of the pyrex. Leave some on the edge to flip on top once you pour the mixture in.

Pour the egg mixture on top. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the egg mixture is set. Serve hot or cold.

 

 

Tilapia with herbs

I have been on a protein 2 weeks diet trying to increase body mass and be stronger. My problem has always been that of feeling fatigue and tired. I am never able to increase stamina, not matter how often I work out or do the same exercise. Well I am also not consistent but I am moderately active, doing some physical activity at least 4, 5 days a week. I decided to learn a little bit about nutrition through my friends who are athletes, books and websites. I must admit I am doing a drastic change which is never optimal, but I am one of these people – I go all the way – sometimes I fail, sometimes I don’t.

What I am doing is that I cut all cheese, milk, yogurt, etc, carbs (rice, pasta, fruit), starch, processed food, sugar etc. I focused on lean protein, whey powder, nuts and green veggies. I am not perfect, meaning that today I had a coconut soup. I think the point, at least for me is to learn new recipes, a new way of cooking.

I am surprised that I have been inspired with the creation of new recipes – all good. I get to experiment with more vegetables and herbs, which I already loved. Today I felt like having some fish so I bought two tilapia filet. Below the recipe:

For 2 people:

2 tilapia filet; lemon zest (one teaspoon and grated), one stem of medium size celery chopped finely, parsley (1/3 cup finely chopped), lemon juice (half lemon), one clove of finely chopped garlic, salt and pepper, olive oil.

1. Chopped all ingredients, place them in a large bowl, squeeze the lemon, add some olive oil and stir.

2. Place the fish in the bowl and cover with the mixture. You might want to rub the mixture on the fish.

3. You can use the outside grill or the grill pan for indoor. I used the indoor grill pan which I sprinkle with olive oil so the fish did not stick. When it is hot, place the fish, cover the top with the mixture and let it cook (only on one side) for 5-8 minutes. You need to check based on the size of your fish. Turn off the stove. Flip the fish (make sure you save the mixture when you serve the fish).

Really delicious and simple and cheap.

Let me know what you think,

Gin

Marinate the fish for at least 30 minutes

 

Pasta with artichokes

My friend had made this pasta and posted on #instagram. It looks so easy and yummy that I asked her if I could use it for my blog. This is how she made it.

What you need: one small shallot; one or two big fresh artichokes or 4 already prefaced and ready to use. 4 slices of prosciutto crudo or ham. Parmigiano cheese.

If  you don’t know how to clean artichokes watch this video. Otherwise, clean your artichokes and slice them very thin. In a skillet with extra virgin olive brown the shallot and when transparent add the artichokes. Cook until soft and gold, but not dry. Add the ham chopped in small dices and let cook for other few minutes.

Cook the pasta according to the directions, drain and place in the skillet with the sauce. Add parmigiano reggiano cheese, salt and pepper and serve.

 

 

Spinach meatlessballs

You can use anything left in the fridge to make this recipe.

what I used: spinach meatballs

frozen organic spinach (400 grams or a big bag), garlic, feta cheese, parmigiano reggiano, salt, pepper, bread crumbs, one egg, vegetable oil for cooking, spices (oregano, paprika, red pepper, thyme, etc).

What you do: strain the spinach of excess water and place in a skillet with chopped garlic, onions and olive oil. Add salt and pepper and let it cool until warm. Set aside to cool.

In a bowl combine grated cheese (you can use any cheese you want) 1/2 (cups), bread crumbs (one cup), one egg, the spices and the spinach. Make medium size balls or small if you like with the spinach mixture and cover them in bread crumbs.

Warm up in a skillet the vegetable or olive oil (you just cover the bottom of the skillet, I don’t go crazy with it). Cook each side 2.5 minutes and let them cool on a plate with paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

If you like make on a side a tomato sauce with olive oil, a spoon of tomato paste and fresh chopped tomatoes or the ones in a jar.

The picture shows both spinach and meatballs. I ll blog about the other recipe another time.

Classic French Savory Crepes

 

For the crepes:

1 cup of all purpose flour, 1 cup of milk, 2 eggs, a pinch of salt.

For the stuffing:

swiss cheese or any other cheese with strong flavor (avoid blue cheese) (2 cups grated)

mushrooms chopped and salted in fresh oregano, parsley, garlic, pepper, salt, cognac and butter. 

Optional (ham).

For the sauce (besciamelle)

Ah I never use measurements – so you will have to follow my directions below.

How to make it:

First make the crepes because the mixture must rest for at least one hour. Sift the flour first, add the eggs and 4 tablespoons of milk. Mix together or whisk. As you mix slowly add the remaining of the milk. Add pinch of salt. Put in the fridge for one hour. 

You can cook the mushrooms. In a skillet add a tablespoon of butter, one clove of minced garlic, mushrooms of your choice chopped (avoid Chinese mushrooms), fresh chopped parsley and oregano. While they cook and they butter dry, add some cognac and keep cooking until tender. Maybe 10 minutes. 

Make the besciamelle: I made it for 2 people and we had 6 crepes. 

Take a medium tall pot, non-stick preferable. Add I want to say at least 1/2 cup of cold butter. As it melts you will slowly add flour, one spoon at the time and stir with a wooden spoon so no grains are left in the sauce. I added 4 or 5 spoons of flour. If you have too much flour and the mixture is dry, it means that you need more butter. At this point you should have a smooth somewhat dense mixture. You are ready to add the warm milk slowly, very slowly. Keep stirring. Do not put too much milk because the sauce will just be runny. It needs to be somewhat dense, to stick to the spoon, a little bit heavier than heavy cream.

Set the oven at 350. Now take a pyrex for the oven. On the bottom rub some butter.  Now the fun part, rolling. Place a flat crepes on the pyrex. Place the mushrooms, cheese and ham if you like on the edge of the crepes from where you stand. Roll it like it was a sushi roll;) Do the same for all 6 crepes. Cover with the besciamelle and some cheese. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until gold on the top.

 

 

 

Guest Post: Inviting Asha for dinner Indian and vegetarian cooking

White-pumpkin/Bottle Gourd/Zucchini Koftas in Gravy

So All my friends are really into food. What is even better is that they are all from different countries, which makes it a lot of more interesting when we talk about food. I have asked few of my friends to share some of their recipes with me on my blog and theirs. Here it follows Asha’s description. Check her blog out.

Ginevra is a close friend of mine from my PhD days at Florida State. We shared amongst many other things, the love of food. Here is a recipe for her. Do visit her blog at http://www.gincoolette.com

The idea of using a vegetable of the squash/pumpkin family in a dish as elaborate as the Kofta was not appealing. At all. Until I was fed this at my mother-in-law’s. Generally, a kofta dish consists of a rich gravy, either tomato or cashew/almond based, with balls of cottage cheese/potatoes/nuts submerged in it. My encounters with this dish, often ended up with me asking for warm water spiked with lime to wash this greasy dish down, and vowing never to attempt tasting this dish until the next appearance of Hailey’s comet. However, the recipe I will share today is rather simple, yet delicious, completely palatable, and highly addictive. While the koftas (we are going to call them fritters, as I am uncomfortable referring to them as balls) are fried, the gravy is devoid of any fattening agent like cashew-nut paste or heavy cream, thus making it reasonably healthy. In fact, if you bake the fritters you can cut down on the oil, but if you make it for the first time, I suggest you fry them for maximum taste. Of course, second time onwards tailor the recipe.

Ingredients for the Koftas (Fritters)

1 medium sized bottle gourd/lauki (If you aren’t able to procure this, try zucchini for very similar results, in fact it tastes outstanding with zucchini as well)
3-4 heaped tablespoons of gram flour (you can get this at any ethnic store, also called besan)
6-7 cilantro/coriander seeds

Salt and Cayenne Pepper to taste

Ingredients for the gravy

3-4 juicy tomatoes
1 onion
1 inch piece of ginger
3-4 cilantro/coriander seeds
2 tablespoons of coriander powder
½ teaspoon of ground turmeric
Salt to taste

Making Kofta/fritters

Wash the gourd/zucchini thoroughly and grate them using a grater. If you use zucchini, use about 3 of the large sized ones. Squeeze out all the extra water, and keep it aside.

Put a teflon-coated pan on low heat, and slowly roast the gram flour for about 2-3 minutes. You will have to watch this constantly to ensure this doesn’t burn. The purpose of doing so is to get the raw taste out of the gram flour. I guarantee you will be able to procure gram flour anywhere; however, if you are unable to do so, skip the steps above and use cornflour instead. Once roasted lightly, keep it aside until cool.

In a different pan, dry roast the coriander seeds for a minute or so, and lightly pound them using the pestle and mortar. You do not need to pulverize the seeds, just a slight whack on them is sufficient. You may roll a rolling pin on them once or twice too if you don’t have the pestle and mortar.

In a bowl, put the grated gourd/zucchini, gram flour, salt, pepper, and coriander seeds, and mix them. The gram flour is a binding agent, so if you feel the need to add more, feel free to do so. You should be able to make roundels without any breakage.

At this stage you have two choices, fry them or bake them in muffin tins. For an authentic experience fry them. You may choose to bake them, when you make them the second time. Fry them until crisp, and at this stage they make perfect snacks, and I am infamous for gobbling one or two, while my chai (tea) is brewing in the teapot. Keep them aside on a plate lined with absorbent tissue to soak up any extra oil.

Making the gravy:

I won’t be using my pestle and mortar here, as I need a smooth paste for my gravy. This is quite a refined and spectacular dish, so let’s get the food processor going. You will need to add the tomatoes, ginger, and the onion in the food processor and give it a blitz until you get a smooth paste.

In a deep dish, add some oil, about 2-3 tablespoons, and let it heat. Add the coriander seeds, and carefully add the tomato-ginger-onion paste to the pan. Be cognizant of the fact that the mixture may splutter, so keep your distance. Keep stirring this mixture; add salt, coriander powder, and turmeric to this mixture, along with 2-3 cups of water. You want to cook this mixture until the raw taste of the paste goes away. This should take about 15-20 minutes tops.

To serve, put a fritter in a serving dish and ladle  the cooked gravy onto it. Alternatively you could let the fritters cook with the gravy in the last few minutes.

Garnish with a sprig of coriander/cilantro.

Traditionally, this dish is very rich and heavy, and this is a nice way to enjoy this dish. The use of gram flour significantly cuts down on calories, and the ill-effects of cornstarch; and if you choose to bake the goods, you have got yourself one healthy dish. With every bite of the fritter, you can taste the unique flavor of the cilantro/coriander seed. Scoop up this dish with warm bread or even alone.

Please visit her food blog at http://artmasala.blog.com/2012/11/26/white-pumpkinbottle-gourdzucchini-koftas-in-gravy/

Best and easy pizza dough recipe

How many times have you tried to make home made pizza dough and it’s just does not taste like the one you buy at the store or in a pizzeria? I have become obsessed with pizza lately. I had posted previously how to make pizza dough using regular flour or wheat flour (all purpose) and following the typical Italian way of cooking. It was still good, but it was not the soft yet crunchy pizza I eat in Italy. The other day I was watching Test Kitchen and they were making pizza dough. I was skeptical because they did some weird things, but I gave it a try and it turned to be amazing. There are still few things I will change. I will talk about what I loved and hated about this recipe and whether it was easy to make at home.

This is the recipe: I strongly suggest to register for free on their websites because you get access to more details, but you can still watch the videos of the pizza dough. All credits go to America’s Test Kitchen. I will tell you whether I changed something.

Pizza Dough Taken from America’s Test Kitchen 

• 3cups (16 1/2 ounces) bread flour, plus more for work surface (see note)
• 2teaspoons sugar
• 1/2teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
• 1 1/3cups ice water (about 10 1/2 ounces) (see note)
• 1tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for work surface
• 1 1/2teaspoons table salt

• • 1. FOR THE DOUGH: In food processor fitted with metal blade, process flour, sugar, and yeast until combined, about 2 seconds. (I used the KitchenAid). With machine running, slowly add water through feed tube (I slowly added water); process until dough is just combined and no dry flour remains, about 10 seconds. Let dough stand 10 minutes. (This was weird because my dough did not unified and it was all broken in pieces. I added some more water to fix the problem).

  • 2. Add oil and salt to dough and process until dough forms satiny, sticky ball that clears sides of workbowl, 30 to 60 seconds. Remove dough from bowl and knead briefly on lightly oiled countertop until smooth, about 1 minute. Shape dough into tight ball and place in large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days. (I used the dough the third day. It looked sticky so I added some flour to work it. I divided the dough into two balls so two pizza. The recipe said to use a pizza stone and heat it up at high temperature. I think 500. Then to cook it at the very top of the oven. I did not have the stone so I used a metal round tray with holes at the bottom. I also could not place the tray at the very top. It was in the middle. My oven just is not that great I guess. The stove was at 500 when I cooked the pizza. Here something else I did differently. I always cook the dough before I top it with everything else. That is because otherwise it does not cook and the pizza gets soggy. I cooked it for 5 minutes but I would push it to 7 or 8. Then I added a full spoon of tomato sauce from a jar -did not have time to make it fresh- and added shredded mozzarella. I cooked it until the cheese melted and the crust was gold/brown. Also my dough when I work it is always thin. I like thin crust. 

    Verdict: the pizza is amazing. It really reminded me of something you buy at a pizzeria. The only critique is that I would not add sugar. The dough was too sweet for me. Very tailored to American taste. Also I thought it was weird to use yeast and ice water because of the process of yeast, but it worked. Another secret was the flour. I always used regular flour but the bread flour is magic because it allows rising of the dough and adds elasticity. I never imagined Americans would teach me how to make Italian thin pizza:) 

    

Easy Classic Hamburger

I usually don’t make hamburgers because they always turn dry inside. I also don’t eat much red meat. Though this week we are basing our recipes on proteins, which includes meat and eggs (and green veggies).

American Classic Hamburger

one pound of ground beef (grass fed); 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper; one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce; 1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce; 1 teaspoon chili powder; 1 teaspoon fresh Asian hot chili sauce (optional); one clove of fresh garlic minced; 1 teaspoon of dry green herbs (could be anything from basil, to thyme). 2/4 cups of bread crumbs.

American Cheddar Cheese for garnish. 4 slices of crispy bacon. Papaya, Ketchup or Mustard (optional). Obviously, you can add/omit any of the ‘garnish things.’

Mix in a bowl the meat and all the ingredients  very well and let rest in the fridge for at least 4 hours. You probably want to prepare this in the morning or at night so you will have an easy dinner the next day.

When you are ready to use the meat, prepare from 4 to 6 patties, shape them like hamburgers. (I like mine to be small, but thick). Heat up a grill and when it is hot enough cook the patties and the bacon on both side. It will take the hamburgers around 15 minutes to cook (depending on how you like your red meat cook). These were medium. The last 2 minutes, place the cheddar cheese on the burgers and let melt. At that point your hamburgers are ready.

Absorb the extra oil from the bacon. On a plate place the hamburger. Then on top of the cheese put one long strip of bacon. On top of that if you like put diced/minced papaya.

Add other condiments if you like. I do not like bread with my hamburger. I found it to be useful extra empty carbs I don’t really need or enjoy.

I served the hamburger with a spinach salad and papaya slices.

Roasted chicken with apples

The dichotomy between sweet and sour has always intrigued me and captivated my palate. From focaccia stuffed with Nutella, to cheese served with honey and omelette with jelly I just enjoyed years of sweetness and salty. So tonight I am making a roster chicken cooked with apples, prunes, pistachio and onions.

Depending on how many people —
1 kg of golden apples
1kg of white onions
150 grams bacon chopped or ham
One cup pistachio
One cup prunes (the ones in a jar)
Salt, pepper, olive oil
White wine

Put in an pot for the oven olive oil and the chicken to brown both sides. This must be done on the stove. So what you do first is brown the meat on the stove, then you will place it in the oven. This is a trick that applies to all meats (roastbeef). You get a nice golden color. While browning the meat on the stove add wine and let absorb.

Add bacon, chopped apples, prunes and pistachio, onions chopped and potatoes as optional. Don’t chop too small. Add olive oil and place in the oven for one hour or until cooked. Oven at 375. Cover with aluminum if top burns. during the cooking process you can add broth or some milk, which will create a delicious sauce at the end.

While enjoying the meal, you might one to read one of these books I found in this little village in the Wales. They are on Santa’s list:)

Also I just spent the week in Daytona before hurricane Sandy ‘stop by!’ 🙂