Citrus bean salad

200 g green beans
1 red onion
3 oranges
300 g can cannellini beans
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp maple syrup

Cook green beans for 5 minutes in salted boiling water, drain and refresh under cold water. Toss the beans with thinly sliced onion, 2 oranges peeled and cut into segments, and drained cannellini beans. Beat together olive oil, grated zest and juice of 1 orange, mustard and syrup. Season and pour over salad.

Spicy Spinach and Carrot Muffins

200ml semi-skimmed milk
25g butter
100g spinach
250g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 medium carrots
good pinch of crushed dried chillies
good pinch of black pepper
50 g fresh Parmesan
75 g savoury seeds mix
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 190C. Place the milk and butter in a large pan over a high heat. When the butter has melted, stir in the spinach and bring just to the boil. Remove from heat and pour into liquidiser or food processor. Whizz until spinach is finely chopped. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Sift the flour, baking powder and soda into a large bowl. Add the coarsly grated carrot, chillies and season. Stir in most of the Parmesan and seeds, reserving a tablespoon of each. Add the egg to the spinach mixture, then beat with a wooden spoon together with flour. Divide between muffin cases, sprinkle with reserved seeds and Parmesan. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Chicken with Grainy Mustard Sauce

2 boneless chicken breasts
6 rashers of streaky bacon
250 g spinach leaves
60 g firm goat's cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
200 ml stock
200 ml white wine
4 heaped tbsp -->crème fraîche
1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard

Flatten each breast to 1 time it's original width. Stretch 3 bacon rashers on a board into rectangle. Lay a breast on top, repeat with remaining bacon and chicken. Cover each with 4 spinach leaves, put cheese cubes in the middle. Season with pepper. Roll each one up, secure with cocktail sticks.
Heat half the oil in a frying pan. Cook the chicken over a high heat for 3-4 minutes until golden, turn, cook for 3-4 minutes more. Add stock and wine. Simmer for 20 min., turning chicken halfway. Remove chicken, stir in crème fraîche and mustard.
Heat remaining oil in a large pan, add remaining spinach, season. Cover and cook for 2 minutes to wilt the spinach.

Creamy Salmon Pasta

300 g penne
300 g broccoli
300 g boneless skinless salmon fillet
150 g packet soft cheese with garlic and herbs
140ml single cream
2 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste or chopped sun-dried tomatoes

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, adding small florets of broccoli for the last 3 minutes of cooking. Meanwhile, put the salmon in a frying pan, season and just cover with water. Bring to boil, then simmer covered for 6 minutes until flesh flakes easily with a fork. Transfer to a plate and keep warm.
Mix the soft cheese with the cream and sun-dried tomato paste to make a smooth sauce. Season to taste.
Drain the pasta and broccoli, then tip back into the pan. Pour in the sauce and stir well, Flake the salmon into large chunks and gently mix into the pasta. Season with black pepper and serve.

Pepper Chicken Potato Crush

3 garlic cloves
3 tbsp chopped flatleaf parsley
3 tbsp olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
100 g goat's cheese, cut into 6 rounds
3 strips of roasted peppers in oil
a few fresh thyme sprigs
300 g small potatoes
85 g rocket salad

Preheat oven to 200C. Chop garlic cloves and mix with 1 tbsp of oil. Make 3 diagonal slits accross each breast. Reserve half the garlic mixture and spread the rest over the chicken and into the slits.
Halve each cheese slice and tuck two halves, a piece of pepper and some thyme into each slit. Season and bake in an oiled shallow dish for 30 minutes, until chicken is cooked.
Meanwhile, cook the potatoes for about 15 minutes. Drain, return to the pan and coarsely crush with a fork. Stir in rocket to leave to wilt. Stir remaining into the garlic mixture, season and stir into the potatoes.

Moules

Food of the World - Vegetable Torte

150 g asparagus
4 tbsp olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 courgette
2 large garlic cloves
100 g spinach
1 tbsp chopped basil
75 g grated Parmesan
250 g ricotta
250 g mascarpone
4 eggs

Wash the asparagus and remove the woody ends. Slice the stems and boil asparagus for 2 mins. Preheat the oven to 180C. Heat the olive oil and cook the onion until soft. Increase the heat and add sliced courgette and cook until it's soft and golden brown. dd the garlic and then spinach. remove from the pan, add the asparagus and basil, season with salt and pepper and leave to cool.

Grease a 20cm tin with butter and dust with about 1tbsp Parmesan. Mix together the ricotta , mascarpone, eggs and 50 g Parmesan and add to the cooled vegetables. Mix well. Spoon the mixture into the tin and scatter with the remaining Parmesan. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes. Leave to cool for 30 minutes, then chill in the fridge for about 3 hours until it has set. Serve with salad.

Food of the World - Arancini

They are specialty of Sicily, and the name means "Little Oranges". Isn't it cute?

large pinch of saffron
250ml white wine
100g butter
1 finely chopped onion
1 large crushed garlic clove
750 ml chicken stock
2 tbsp thyme
225 g risotto rice
50g grated parmesan
100 g mozzarella, cubed
75 g breadcrumbs
oil for deep-frying

Leve the saffron to soak in the wine while you prepare the risotto. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and cook over low heat for 3-4 minutes until softened but not browned. Add the thyme and rice and cook, stirring, for 1 minute to seal the rice. Add the wine and saffron and stirr until the wine is all absorbed. Add several laddles of stock, stirring continuously, so the rice cooks evenly. Keep adding the stock, stirring frequently. Continue this way for about 20 minutes,or until the rice is creamy. It is not so essential to keep the rice al dente. Remove from the heat and stirr in the parmesan, then spread ot onto a tray covered with clingfilm, leave to cool and,if possible, leave in the fridge overnight.
To make the arancini, roll a small amount of risotto into a walnut-sized ball, press a hole in the middle,place a small piece of mozzarella cheese inside and press around. epeat with the rest of the risotto. Roll each ball in the breadcrumbs. Deep-fry the arancini in batches, drain on paper towels. Serve hot or in a room temperature.

Food of the World - Leek and Potato Soup

Apparently, it can be served hot or cold. Hot version is traditional French, and cold version is called Vichyssoise, as it is believed that it has been served for the first time in Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York by a French chef from Vichy.

50 g butter
1 chopped onion
3 leeks, white part only, sliced
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
200 g potatoes
750 ml chicken stock
220ml single cream

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the onion, leek, celery and garlic. Cover the pan and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring. Add chopped potatoes, stock and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes (covered). Allow to cool a little before puréeing in a blender.
Return to clean saucepan, bring the soup gently to boil and stir in the cream. Season with salt and white pepper and reheat without boiling.
Few tips: you can also make it without celery and / or without cream (a healthier option?)

Stuffed peppers

Delicious hot or cold

Food of the World - Chicken, Coconut and Galangal Soup

This is one of the classic soups of Thailand. There are a few variants of it and you can skip on ingredients if you don't have something at the moment. You can also use prawns, fish or vegetables instead of chicken.

400 ml coconut milk
1 lemon grass stalk
5 cm piece of galangal or you can use ginger instead
3 shallots, smashed
400 g skinless chicken fillets
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp palm sugar ( I used brown cane sugar)
200 g baby tomatoes (as you can see in the picture, I used normal-sized tomatoes, worked pretty well)
150 g button mushrooms
3 tbsp lemon juice
5 kaffir lime leaves

Put the coconut milk, lemon grass, galangal pieces and shallots in a sucepan or wok and bring to a boil. Add the chicken, fish sauce and palm sugar and simmer, stirring constantly for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Add the tomatoes and mushrooms and simmer for 2-3 min. Add lemon juice, lime leaves in the last few seconds, taking care not to let the tomatoes lose their shape. It's a bit tricky if you are using whole tomatoes cut into pieces, but unless you stir vigorously, it should work out just fine. Garnish with coriander.

Food of the World - Chargrilled asparagus

24 asparagus spears
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Parmesan shavings

Wash the asparagus and remove the woody ends (hold each spear at both ends and bend it gently - it will snap at its natural breaking point). Put the asparagus in a bowl, add the olive oil and toss well. Heat a griddle or BBQ (I used a simple frying pan though, or you can steam them) and cook for about 10 min. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with Parmesan to serve.

Food of the World - Coq au vin

The book says that this dish was already prepared by Caesar when battling the Gauls, who sent him a scrawny chicken as a message of defiance. Caesar cooked it in wine and herbs and invited them to eat.

1 chicken (1.6kg)
1/2 bottle red wine
1 bay leaf
1 thyme sprig
150 g bacon, diced
30 g butter
10 pickling onions
150 g button mushrooms
1 tbsp oil
15-20 g flour
500 ml chicken stock
50 g brandy
1 tsp tomato purée
1 tbsp chopped parsley

Cut chicken into pieces. Put the wine, bay leaf, thyme and some salt and pepper in a bowl and add the chicken. Cover and leave to marinade, preferably overnight.
Blanch the bacon in boiling water, then drain, pat dry and sauté in a frying pan until golden. Lift out on to a plate. Melt a quarter of the butter in a pan, add the onions and sauté until brown. Set aside. Melt another quarter of butter, add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and sauté for 5 min. Set aside.
Drain the chicken reserving the marinade, and pat the chicken dry, season. Add the remaining butter and the oil into the pan, add the chicken and fry until golden. Stir in the flour.
Transfer the chicken to a large saucepan or casserole and add the stock. Pour the brandy into the frying pan and deglaze for 30 s. Pour over the chicken. Add the marinade, onions, mushrooms and tomato purée. Cook over moderate heat for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Add the parsley.

Food of the world: a journey for food lovers

About a month ago or so I read this great book, Julie and Julia: My year of cooking dangerously, a book about a woman who started cooking all the recipes from a cookbook by Julia Child - "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Julie had a boring job and lived in a tiny appartment in New York, but one day she started cooking something from that abovementioned cookbook, and got herself into challenge of cooking all the 524 recipes in just one year - 365 days. She has also decided to write about her experiences in a blog.

There is another fun idea, not very original though - cooking all the recipes from a cook book. I have this huge book - "The food of the world: a journey for food lovers" which I love a lot and not only for great (and simple) recipes, amazing pictures, but also for the stories behind almost each of the dishes.

King prawn risotto

Soupe de fruits de mer Manhattan

60 g butter
3 slices smoked ham
2 onions
3 garlic cloves
2 celery sticks
3 potatoes
1 l fish or chicken stock
3 tbsp. fresh thyme
12 king prawns
425 g canned chopped tomatoes
375 g fish fillet
2 tbsp chopped parsley
lemon rind for serving

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add chopped ham, onions, garlic and sliced celery. Fry a bit constantly stirring. Add peeled and sliced potatoes, pour in the stock and add thyme. Boil on medium heat for about 15 min. Then add tomatoes, prawns, fish and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Season to taste and add parsley. Decorate with lemon rind.

Chocolate, ginger and praline bombe

100 g dark chocolate
200-300 g ginger preserve
600 ml double cream
50-100 g sugar
50-100 g flaked almonds

Measure 450ml of cream and whip well (it should be quite thick). Grate 30 g of chocolate and mix into whipped cream and ginger preserve. The next time I will be making it, I will add less ginger (200g or less), as together with chocolate it gives quite sickening sweet taste. Take a bowl and line with clingfilm and pour the mixture into it, cover and freeze for at least 4 h, better overnight.
Heat sugar in a pan until it caramelizes, mix the almonds in. Pour the mixture on a flat surface covered with foil, leave for few hours, or overnight.
Next what you do is pour the rest of cream into a saucepan, break the rest of chocolate, mix in, heat everything on the low heat, then leave to cool for until it thickens.
Now take the bowl out of the freezer, turn and take the bombe out, put on a plate. Pour the praline mixture over it, decorate with almond caramel, broken into pieces. Put again in a freezer for about an hour.

Chicken fillet with asparagus

Smoked salmon and avocado terrines

450 g smoked salmon slices
100 g Chevre or any other goat cheese
3 tbsp chopped chives
3 large ripe avocados
3 tbsp lemon juice
sweet chilli sauce
rocket salad to serve (now I feel particularly ashamed for this bit, as I didn't have any rocket salad at the time and the green stuff in the picture looks like something you would give your pet rabbit for lunch, but oh well, this was just practicing)

You will also need 8 ramekins or suffle dishes, which you slightly grease with sunflower oil, line with clingfilm and then a large piece of salmon (or 2 small ones), leaving free edges. Mix diced avocado with lemon juice, salt and pepper, crumbled cheese and chives (I didn't have any chives and used very finely chopped small onion, which was a pretty good idea as it spiced up a dish a bit). Fill ramekins with this mixture, press slightly, cover with loose salmon ends and then clingfilm. Leave in a fridge for at least 4 h, better overnight. Serve with chilli sauce and salad.

Easter

Salmon and new potatoes

1 kg new potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion
1 orange - zest and juice
handful of fresh dill (I used dried though)

Heat the oven up to 190°C. Wash potatoes and put into ovenproof dish, sprinkle with salt and olive oil, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Then add onion rings and bake for another 15 minutes. Then bring heat up to 220°C and add salmon pieces, sprinkle with orange zest and juice, also dill and freshly ground black pepper with some salt and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Salmon and prawn pie

20 g butter
a bunch of spring onions
1 tbsp plain flour
200 ml milk
375 g salmon fillet
100 g king prawns
80 g frozen green peas
lemon zest and juice
4-8 filo pastry sheets

Heat oven to 180° C. Melt butter in a large pan and cook chopped onions for few minutes, add flour, heat for 30 sec., pour milk. Then add salmon cubes, prawns, peas, lemon zest and juice, season. Heat for about 5 minutes. Then pour this mixture into an ovenproof dish, cover with filo sheets brushed with melted butter (or oil for a healthier option) and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Mini Wellingtons

From one of my BBC cooking books, 101 Simple Suppers. Take:

4 fillet steaks, brushed with olive oil and seasoned (I also used freshly ground mixture of peppercorns)
4 tbsp mushroom pâté (or if you have more time and inspiration, take 4 large mushrooms, cut and fry a bit, until the liquid has evaporated)
2 x 375 g puff pastry
1 beaten egg
green beans to serve

Heat the oven to 220° C. Sear steaks for 20-30 seconds each side. Cool slightly, then top each with pâté and put them on a piece of rolled pastry. Lay another piece of pastry on top and press the edges together firmly. Trim and seal. Glaze with egg, then bake for 12 minutes* for medium rare. Serve with green beans.

*Mine was baked for 15 minutes or so, so it was somewhere between medium rare and done.

Caribbean soup

500 g cod
1 papaya
1 lemon
6 tbsp of oil
1 garlic clove
cinnamon stick
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 chilli
1 tbsp dried marjoram
80g long-grain rice
pommegranate juice (1 fruit)
cayenne pepper
1 avocado, which I didn't have and didn't use this time. I don't believe it improves the taste tremendously (previous experience), but improves colour and appearance of the meal, which would have been very helpful this time...

Wash fish fillets and cut in chunks of 2cm. Cut papaya in a half, remove seeds and skin, dice. Cut avocado in a half, peel and cut in slices. Mix fish, papaya cubes and avocado slices with lemon juice and 4 tbsp of oil and leave for about an hour.
Chop garlic clove and fry a bit with marjoram, then add rice, mix to coat rice, fry for about 3 mins. Make a bouquet garni out of cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf and chilli (I used empty tea-bag!). Pour 1.5L of water over rice, season and toss bouquet garni in. Boil for about 15-20 minutes.
In the meantime, squeeze juice out of pommegranate and mix with fish. Add fish to rice and boil for another 5-7 minutes, take the bouquet garni out, add a bit of cayenne pepper.

Spiced plum chicken

1 chopped onion
1 chopped garlic clove
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
3 chicken breasts
250ml stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
250g ready-to-eat prunes
250 g couscous
handful of chopped fresh coriander

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan, cook onion for couple of minutes, add garlic, then spices and stir for a minute. Add chicken strips and cook for 4-5 minutes.
Add the stock and puree, cook for 15 minutes. Then add prunes and cook for another 5 minutes. sprinkle with coriander.
Prepare couscous, serve.

Warm crab noodle salad

100 g rice vermicelli noodles
3 limes or 2 small lemons
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp muscovado sugar
1 tbsp sweet chilli dipping sauce
1 tbsp grated ginger
1/2 red onion
170 g white crab meat
a handful of sugar snaps or mangetout
a handful of coriander leaves

Soak the noodles in boiling water until softened. drain and put in a bowl. The recipe says that you may want to cut them into shorter pieces with scissors that they mix with other ingredients more easily. Well, I tried to break them before soaking, but it didn't work, so I used scissors on soaked noodles and it worked miracles and was fun to do!

Put the lime/lemon juice, fish sauce, sugar, dipping sauce and ginger in a small glass jar, close and shake well. Toss the thinly sliced onion, crab, sugar snaps cut lengthways and coriander through the noodles. Pour the dressing over, toss well.

The picture is not very informative though. This time I used canned crab meat, as I needed a quick meal, but next time I'll make sure I look for fresh or frozen crab meat as it is more chunky.

This is how I make my own lasagne

Lamb shoulder with garlic and rosemary

Shoulder of lamb
Few garlic heads
A bunch of rosemary
Olive oil

Take an ovenproof dish and put few rosemary sprigs on the bottom as well as plenty of unpeeled garlic cloves. Season well, put few more sprigs and garlic cloves on top and drizzle with olive oil. Cover with foil tightly, preheat oven up to 220°C, put the lamb in and reduce the heat to 170°C and cook for 4 h. serve with mashed potatoes and mint sauce.

Maroccan chicken stew with lemon and olives

Specially for my sister, and she knows why. She went to Marocco and had to go through the hell of haggling over the price of saffron for me...

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
4 garlic gloves
5 cm fresh ginger
1/2 tsp turmeric
4 chicken breast fillets
1 small cinnamon stick
a pinch of saffron
600 ml chicken stock
1 small lemon - zest an juice
a handful of each chopped mint and parsley
275 g couscous
a handful of pine nuts
12-15 black pitted olives

Heat oil in a pan or small pot, cook the onion, chopped garlic (leave 1 tsp aside), chopped ginger and turmeric for a minute. Add chicken, cinnamon, saffron, stock and lemon juice. Season well and cook for 20 minutes. In the meantime mix garlic that you have put aside, lemon zest and herbs. Put aside.
Remove chicken from the stock and keep warm, boil stock for another 10 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by half. In the meantime pour 450ml of boiling water over couscous, cover an leave for 5 minutes. Then mix in the pine nuts and season. Finally, mix chicken with sauce, olives and herb mixture.

Spinach and ricotta filo pasties

400 g frozen spinach
250 g ricotta
1/4 tsp nutmeg
170 g pack filo pastry
50 g melted butter

Heat oven up to 180C. Defrost spinach and mix with ricotta, nutmeg, season with salt and pepper, mix well. Take one filo pastry sheet, cover with butter and put another sheet on top. Put a spoonful of ricotta mixture and roll into a small parcel. Repeat with remaining sheets and mixture. Bake in the oven for about 15 min.

Honey-glazed duck breast with clementines

Duck breast
2 tbsp honey
25-50g of brandy
1 clementine, peeled and segmented
salt and freshly ground black pepper
green beans
25g butter
1 tsp thyme leaves

Wash duck breast, trim any excess fat and season well. Fry one side for 3 minutes, then turn over, add the honey and clementine segments to the pan and fry for a further four minutes. Add brandy.

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the thyme leaves and green beans and sauté for five minutes, season well.

Oriental pork stew

4 pork loin steaks
2 tbsp sunflower oil
4 tbsp soy sauce
3 shallots
3 garlic cloves
4cm ginger root
1 small chilli pepper
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 orange rind
4 anise stars
4 tbsp rice wine
8 dried prunes
4 Bok Choi
2 apples

Cut pork into chunks and fry in oil. Add soy sauce and simmer until it thickens. Add chopped shallots, garlic, chilli and ginger, simmer for another minute or so. Pour this mixture into an ovenproof dish, add ½ l boiling water, maple syrup, orange rind, anise, rice wine and prunes. Mix well and cook in the oven (180°C) for about an hour. Cut apples into quarters, or thinner pieces if you wish, wash Bok Choi leaves. Add to stew, mix and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Serve with rice.

Watercress soup

1 bag of watercress
5-6 medium size potatoes
1 onion
25 g of butter
500-600ml of stock
bread sticks, dry-cured ham and pistachio nuts to serve

Melt butter in a saucepan, sauté chopped onion. Add cubed potatoes and fry a bit. Pour hot stock over it and cook until potatoes are almost tender. Then add washed watercress and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Take the saucepan away from the heat and let it cool a little bit. In the meantime wrap slices of ham around bread sticks and cook in the oven until the ham is crisp. Chop pistachio kernels to sprinkle on the top. Blend the soup until smooth, heat once again, serve with bread sticks and pistachios.

Salmon with almonds and cheese

I found the recipe here, however, my version is slightly different, and I've added garlic.

2 salmon fillets
2 tbsp flaked almonds
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 garlic clove, crushed
25 g cheese (emmental is the best, but I've tried it with other kinds, such as cheddar, as well)
salt, pepper, lemon juice

Season salmon and sprinkle with lemon juice. Leave for couple of minutes, while you are mixing almonds, parsley, garlic and grated cheese. Press it on the top of salmon pieces. Cook in 190°C for about 15-20 minutes.

So this is how people start