Monday, January 27, 2014

Meatballs With Tomato Sauce




        What is great about this recipe is that you can make more meatballs at once and keep them in the refrigerator, or even freeze them, and just put together a sauce when you crave for some meatballs. It is an easy to do recipe which can save you when you have unexpected guests.


         Meatballs Ingredients:

         - 500 g minced meat
         - 2 eggs
         - 2 slices of bread without crust (soaked and squeezed well)
         - 3-4 cloves of garlic
         - half a bunch of dill
         - salt and pepper
         - flour or breadcrumbs

         Tomato Sauce Ingredients:

         - 4-5 full tablespoons of tomato paste
         - 400 ml water
         - 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
         - salt, pepper, dry thyme and 1 bay leaf
         - 2 cloves of garlic
         - 1 tablespoon of flour



         To prepare the meatballs, just mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Taste the meat by putting a really small amount on your tongue and see if it needs more salt, and then spit it out.

         Moist your hands in water and start forming some meatballs. After every a few, moist your hands again to prevent the mixture sticking to your hands. If you fry them and see that they fall apart, that means that it needs more eggs.

        You can either pass the meatballs through flour or breadcrumbs, and then fry them in hot oil. If you use breadcrumbs they will be more crunchy, as opposite to the flour which will keep them fluffy.

        Prepare the sauce by mixing the tomato paste with water and pour it in the pan over the hot oil. Pour it all at once so the oil won't start splashing. Add a pinch of salt, pepper, dry thyme, bay leaf and minced garlic. Mix the flour with 2 tablespoons of water until you get a paste. Make sure it has no lumps, and add it to the tomato paste.

        Put the meatballs in and boil it for 5 minutes stirring from time to time so that the sauce won't make lumps. You can serve it with smashed potatoes and a green salad.

        Advice:

        - taste the meat to know how much salt you need

        - I always use chicken thigh, I buy it fresh and boneless from the store and I mince it myself

        - if you don't like tomato paste, replace it with one can of tomatoes which you blend into a paste, and add 1 teaspoon of sugar to cut down the acidity from the tomatoes

        - use as much dill as you like, it's not a rule that it has to be half of bunch, especially that the bunch can be bigger or smaller, depending on where you buy it from

        - you can soak the bread in milk instead of water





         This recipe is really easy and delicious. I know it might not be your traditional meatballs with tomato sauce recipe, but you won't know if you like it until you give it a try :)
         Kisses :*


                                                                                          Bon Appétit!



Sunday, January 26, 2014

Chocolate Eclairs



        This is my favorite dessert. I could eat eclairs everyday for the rest of my life and I still wouldn't have enough of it.

        It is a simple recipe but you have to be very careful to follow all the steps and pay attention to the tricks I'll give you.


        Ingredients:

        - 250 ml water
        - 100 ml vegetable oil
        - 1/2 teaspoon of salt
        - 125g flour
        - 3 large eggs (60g per egg, or bigger)

        Pastry Cream:

        - 600 ml milk
        - 1 vanilla pod or 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
        - 6 large yolks
        - 100g sugar
        - 4 tablespoons flour (40g)
        - 4 tablespoons corn starch(40g)
        - 150 ml whip cream

        Chocolate Glaze:

        - 100g dark chocolate
        - 50 ml milk


        The very first thing that you need to do is to preheat your oven. Increase the temperature gradually until you get to the step before your last on your oven (if your oven has 8 steps, cook the eclairs at 7).

        Now prepare the eclairs. Put together in a pan water, vegetable oil and salt and heat it. When it boils, take it off the heat and pour all the flour at once and start mixing. Put it back on the stove and mix it until it starts getting together like a ball and it's not sticking on to the pan.

        Let it cool down and then start adding your eggs one by one, mixing well after each one. If you have smaller eggs, add 4 instead of just 3.

        Put the batter into a pastry bag which is fitted with a large plain tip and on a baking paper start piping the batter into thick sticks, just as eclairs should look like. Leave space between them as they will rise. Dip your finger in cold water and tap on the sticks where they seem uneven, especially where they have a rise from the piping.

        Bake them until they turn a light golden-brown color. Turn the oven off and leave the door open to cool down. This way they will dry inside instead of becoming sticky. Just protect your oven's buttons to don't melt from the heat. It will take you around 20-30 minutes to bake them. Watch them through the window door and what ever you do, do not open the door.

        The cream is really easy to do. Pour the milk in a saucepan together with the vanilla pot and bring it to a boiling point, without actually boiling it. Meanwhile, mix together the yolks and sugar, and add the flour and corn starch.

        Take out the vanilla pod from the milk, scrape the content and add it to the milk.

        Temper the yolks so they won't curdle by pouring milk over the yolks using a ladle and mixing. Pour all the milk, mix and put it back in the saucepan and on the fire on a medium heat. Whisk the mixture constantly to don't curdle. When you see that the cream comes together, lower the heat but keep on mixing. Put the cream into a clean bowl, place a foil on top of it and set aside to cool down. If you haven't used a vanilla pod, add the vanilla extract now and whisk.




        Whisk the whip cream and mix it with the pastry cream.

        Using a pastry bag with a plain medium size tip, pipe the cream inside each eclair after they cool down. You will feel them getting heavy and try to get them as full as you can.

        Put together in a pan chocolate and milk and melt it into a cream. Dip each eclair top into the chocolate and place them on a platter.


        Trick:

        - you can make the cream more interesting by coloring red with red beet extract; cut into cubes a small beet and boil it until there is only one tablespoon left
        - combined with the beet reduction will make the mixture pink after you add the whip cream
        - you can choose to pipe the batter into profiteroles instead of eclairs, or do both.
        - if you are left with cream, you can put it into a bag and freeze it until you need it
        - remember to don't open the door while they bake, to have your oven heated and to let them cool down with the door opened


P.S.:

- the chocolate on my eclairs looks bubbly because I kept them in the refrigerator, got them out and then took pictures, and being hot in the house, condense occurred. 


         It might take you more than a plain cake does, but the result will give you satisfaction and happiness when you will see them fly off the plate and your family or friends will ask you to make more.
         Kisses :*


                                                                                                   Bon Appétit!


Penne Con Crimini




        A delicious white pasta. So easy to do and so tasty. When I've discovered this pasta they became my favorite over the red ones. Don't gate me wrong, red sauce pasta are pure heavenly, but the white ones, I can't even describe how good they are.

        I've tasted a variety of this recipe at a restaurant, and I've tried to recreate it at home. I do have to say that even if I don't know exactly what that chef used, mine tasted almost the same, so I guess I did a good job :)



        Ingredients:

        - 200g penne
        - 3-4 big Crimini mushrooms
        - 1 small onion
        - 100-150g chicken breast
        - salt, pepper
        - Parmesan cheese

        White Sauce:

         - 100 ml cooking cream
         - 1 teaspoon of flour
         - salt and pepper
         - dry basil


         Boil water and salt in a big pan. When the water boils, add the pasta and boil them as the package instruction you to.

        While the pasta are boiling, wash and cut the chicken breast into cubes and in a non-sticking pan fry it in a tablespoon of vegetable oil. After they turn golden, get them out into a bowl. Make sure you don't fry them for too long because they won't be moist anymore, and will harden. Also, don't add salt, as that will make the water to get out of the chicken and will harden it.

        Cut the onion in two and then julienne both half. Also fry it into one tablespoon of oil. When it starts to caramelize take it out and put it in the same bowl as the chicken. The onion is caramelized when it is soft and changed the color into golden-brown. This makes it taste sweet.

        Cut each mushroom in two and then slice each half. Fry them as well. They will release water before they start frying. When the water evaporates, fry them until they get golden. Mix them with the chicken and onion and this is when you can add salt and pepper.

        Make the sauce by boiling the cooking cream mixed with the flour, a pinch of salt, pepper and basil. After two or three boils you can remove the pan from the heat. Make sure to mix it continuously to make sure it doesn't curdle. If that happens, don't worry too much about it. Just strain the sauce.

        Strain your penne pasta, add the chicken, mushrooms and onion, pour the white sauce and add 1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese and mix all. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top, and serve.


        It's easy, it's fast, and it's really delicious. I hope you will enjoy them as much as all my friends do. Kisses :*


                                                                                     Bon Appétit!


Red Sauce Pasta



         I love pasta. Alongside pizza, I could eat pasta all day long and still not get enough of it. So today I will give you my red sauce pasta recipe that I just love.


         Ingredients:

         - 400g pasta
         - 200g chicken breast
         - half of can of mushrooms
         - 2 cloves of garlic
         - 1 can of cube tomatoes
         - 50g mozzarella cheese
         - 50g Parmesan cheese
         - salt and pepper
         - dry basil, thyme and oregano
         - 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil


        Put water and salt in a large pan to boil it for the pasta. When the water boils, put the pasta and boil it for as long as the package indications tell you to. Choose pasta with egg as they seem to be much tastier.

       While your water and then pasta are boiling, you can do the sauce.

        Put the olive oil in a pan and heat it up. Add the chicken breast which has been washed and cut into small cubes. When it turns white, add the mushrooms and fry them as well for a minute, together with the chicken.

        Add the can of tomatoes, chopped garlic, salt, pepper and condiments. You should put them all to taste. A little pepper, about a quarter of teaspoon of salt, and half of teaspoon of every condiment. Let it boil until it thickens.

        Strain the pasta and keep a cup of the water you've boiled them in. Add the pasta and the water to the sauce. Put the mozzarella cheese and Parmesan and boil for a minute or so, until the mozzarella melts.

        Put them on a plate and sprinkle some pepper and lots of Parmesan cheese.


        That is all that you need to do. You will have a meal ready in less than an hour. And what a meal will be :) I really hope you will enjoy it.


                                                                                          Bon Appétit!


Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Krantz Cake






           There is a Krantz cake that I used to buy from a sweetshop in my neighborhood which I absolutely love. So, today I have decided to make this cake at home, based on what I saw on the original cake. It has a vanilla cream layer, a chocolate cream layer, caramelized walnuts and whip cream.

            I have to say that this is not the first time that I try to make at home a cake that I usually buy, and even if I never have the exact recipe, it always tastes the same turning out really great.


            Ingredients:

            For the Sponge Cake:

           - 4 big eggs
           - 170g of sugar
           - 230g all purpose flour
           - 1 sachet vanilla sugar (8g)
           - 1 sachet of baking powder (8g)
           - 1 tablespoon lemon juice
           - a pinch of baking soda
           - a pinch of salt
          
           Vanilla Cream:

           - 600 ml whole milk
           - 1 vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
           - 6 large yolks
           - 120g sugar
           - 4 tablespoons (40g) flour
           - 4 tablespoons (40g) corn starch
           - 100 ml whip cream

          Chocolate Cream:

          - 125 ml whip cream
          - 50g dark chocolate
          - 50g milk chocolate
          - 30g sugar

          Syrup:

         - 300 ml water
         - 4 tablespoons of sugar
         - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

         Decor:

         - a hand full of walnuts
         - 100g of sugar
         - 50 ml whip cream


         First, turn your oven on to preheat.

         Now you start preparing the sponge cake. Mix the eggs with the sugar and a pinch of salt until they triple their volume. In a bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the egg and mix it together. Put the lemon juice and mix for a second. Pour the batter in the tray that was covered with baking paper and bake for about 25 minutes at 180º C. Tested with the knife to see if it is ready (it is if the knife has comes out clean), or just bake it until the top gets a golden-brown color.

         For the vanilla cream, pour the milk in a saucepan together with the vanilla pot and bring it to a boiling point, without actually boiling it. Meantime, mix the yolks with the sugar, and add the flour and corn starch.

         Remove the vanilla pod. Scrape it and add the content to the milk.

         You need to temper the yolks so they won't become an omelet, so, using a ladle pour some milk over the yolks and mix. Pour all the milk, mix and put it back in the saucepan and on the fire on a medium heat.

         Whisk the mixture constantly to make sure it doesn't curdle. When you see that the cream comes together, lower the heat and keep on mixing. Put the cream into a clean bowl, place a foil on top of it and set aside to cool down. If you haven't used a vanilla pod, add the vanilla extract now and whisk.

          Mix 100 ml of whip cream and combine it with the cooled vanilla cream.

          In another saucepan heat up the whip cream for the chocolate cream. In a bowl put the dark and milk chocolate, pour the heated whip cream and mix until the chocolate dissolves. When it cools down, use the mixer to turn it into a cream.

          Make the syrup by putting together the water, sugar and vanilla extract, and heat it up until the sugar melts.


          Caramelize the sugar for the decor and add the walnuts. Try coating them really well, and pour the mixture on a baking paper. Make sure you have a plate or something under the baking paper, because the caramel is really hot and it won't be a great idea to set it straight on the table.

          Spread the walnuts and let them cool. After that, either place them in a plastic bag and smash them until you get the desired dimension, either use the blender for it.

          Cut the sponge into sheets, you will get about 3 sheets if you use a small rectangular tray. Pour on the first layer the syrup using a spoon, making it as moist as you like, then add the vanilla cream. Put another sheet, syrup, then the chocolate cream. After the last sheet and syrup, add again some vanilla cream and sprinkle the caramelized walnuts.

         Whisk 50 ml of whip cream and make a model on top of the cake.

         Place the cake in the refrigerator to cool down and let all the flavors blend in.

        
          Advice:

          - you can add some raisins in the vanilla cream, if you like them

          - cut the cake on the length, and this way you will have two cakes

          - use as much syrup as you wish, depending on how moist you want them to be

          - the top sheet turn it up-side-down so that the syrup can be absorbed; that doesn't happen on the other side because the cake makes a crust in the oven which can be soaked harder.

          - if the whip cream is not sweetened, taste the two creams and add confectioners' sugar until you get the level of sweetness that you desire

          - the cake will take some moist from the creams as well, so try not to use too much syrup, as you might end up with a very moist cake



          There it is. It might seem like a lot of work, but the result is totally worth it and you will be very pleased with the taste. I hope that you will love it as much as I do.


                                                                                              Bon Appétit!   

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Salty Pretzels




     I've discovered these pretzels when I was about 8 years old, and a friend from my class invited me to her house to play. Her mother made these salty pretzels and when I first tasted them I was in love. Even if you do them with salty cheese, they still have a balanced taste, and don't seem too salty.

           All my friends ask me now to bake them every time there is a party, or when we decide to get out of town for a couple of days.

            I am sure that you will find them as perfect as I do :)


            Ingredients:

            - 500 grams all purpose flour
            - 250 grams margarine
            - 175 grams hard feta cheese
            - 2 eggs
            - 6 tablespoons of milk / or 3 tablespoons sour cream
            - 2 tablespoons white vinegar
            - 1 or 2 yolks for coating + 2 or 3 tablespoons of milk


            The very first thing that you should always do when baking, is to turn your oven on to heat up while you prepare the batter.

Grate the cheese using the big teeth of the grater and mix it together with the margarine. Add the eggs, milk or sour cream (which ever you choose to use), the vinegar and flour. Mix everything really well and keep it in the refrigerator for half an hour to cool down.

Roll the dough on a floured surface. Make it 0.5 cm thick. If it is too thin, the pretzels will burn in the oven instead of being moist. You can even make them a little thicker if you like them more this way.

Use a pretzel form and get as many pretzels you can out of a sheet. Gather the remains from every sheet and use them to make new sheets. When you are on your last sheet, you can cut them in long strips instead of still using the form. This way you won't have any other leftovers.

Take a big plate, sprinkle flour on it and deposit the pretzels until you end up making all of them. Use a thin foil to separate the rows of pretzels, and always sprinkle the foil with flour so that they won't stick. Place them in the freezer for at least half an hour. This will help them stay moist after you bake them.
Take a big tray and put a baking paper on. Put the pretzels on the baking paper, leaving small spaces between them. Mix the yolks with 2 or 3 tablespoons of cold milk and coat the pretzels.

Bake them for about 20 minutes at 180ºC, or until they get lightly brown on the back (the part that sits on the tray).

Advices:


- if you don't have time to leave the batter in the refrigerator before rolling it, it's not such a big problem, because you will freeze the pretzels before baking them. So you can cut out this operation.
- you can use any other cheese you like, as long as it is a hard salty cheese
- I always use sour cream instead of milk, and this makes them tender and better than milk does
- make sure that to use big eggs, 60 grams or more



There you have it. A perfect snack for movie nights, a party, or if you just want something to chew on. Something healthier than what you find at the store.
I hope that you will enjoy it.  Kisses :* :)


                                                                                    Bon Appétit!

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Red Velvet Cupcakes frosted with Cheese Cream



                     


      Who doesn't like a rich tasteful red velvet cupcake, to bite into it and see the intense red which complements perfectly with the white frosting on top.
      What is great about these cupcakes is that you can replace the red food coloring with beet extract. Take a beet of the size of a fist, cut it into big cubes, cover it with water and boil until the you have about 1 or 2 tablespoons of liquid.


      Cupcakes ingredients:

- 180 grams all purpose flour
- 100 grams sugar
- 1 tablespoon cocoa
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 125 ml vegetable oil
- 240 ml buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon red food coloring / or the beet extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice

      Cheese cream ingredients:

- 250 grams Mascarpone cheese
- 50 ml whip cream
- 50 grams confectioners' sugar


      Preheat the oven and place the paper cups into the cupcake tray.
      Mix together flour, cocoa and baking soda and sift them.
      In a bowl mix the eggs with sugar and salt until it triples the volume and the sugar melts. Add the vegetable oil, buttermilk, red food coloring and vanilla extract and mix until they all combine. Now add the flour mixture and mix it again to combine. At the end add the vinegar or lemon juice and mix again.
      Using a regular tablespoon or an ice cream scoop fill the paper cups up to 2/3 of their height.
      Cook until the toothpick comes out clean when testing them (after about 18-20 minutes).
      When they cool down, mix together the ingredients for the cheese cream, place it in the fridge for at least half an hour, and using a palette knife spread the cream on top of the cupcakes.




                                                                                                        Bon Appétit!



Brownies with a twist





      Why do I call them "Brownies with a twist"? Because I started craving brownies the other days, but I didn't wanted the sticky consistency of an usual brownie, but to feel like eating a fluffy cake which tastes and smells like a brownie.
      So, I started changing the actual recipe and they turned out exactly as I wanted them. I hope you will love it as much as I do now.


      Ingredients:

- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup of sugar (about 150g)
- 8 grams vanilla sugar
- 250 ml milk
- 125 grams margarine
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3-4 teaspoons of cocoa
- 8 grams baking powder
- pinch of baking soda
- pinch of salt
- rum and vanilla extract (as much as you usually like in cakes)
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice



      Preheat the oven.
      Mix sugar and milk in a pot on medium heat. Once the sugar melted, add the margarine and turn off the fire. Mix so the margarine will melt and cool down the milk.
      In a bowl mix the whole eggs with salt and the vanilla sugar until it triples the volume. Add the rum and vanilla extract and milk-mixture.
      Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa. Add the mixture to the eggs and mix until they all combine. The batter should look like a regular cake batter, shouldn't be runny like water, but more dense. Add the lemon juice and mix.
      Pour it into the baking tray and bake it for at least 20 minutes (do not open the oven door earlier than 15 minutes). Check to see if it is ready by inserting a toothpick inside the cake and if it comes out clean, than the brownie is ready to serve.
      Let it cool down in the tray, and do not cut it down while still hot.



      Well .... here it is. It won't take you more than 30 minutes to prepare the dough, and that is if you usually not moving fast in the kitchen.


                                                                                                                Bon Appétit!