Beet-pickled Deviled Eggs- Appetizers August (1)

I have a great fascination for appetizers, they are highly appreciated at every party, they look good, they are usually finger food and it is easy to make an impression. It is a pity we don't make them often enough for ourselves.

Personally, I find that, at parties, especially wedding parties, I am only impressed by or drawn to appetizers. Maybe because you can have more flavors and tastes on one plate and my greedy, exploring taste buds appreciate that. With that in mind, I am going to dedicate this hot month to those simple bites that prepare us for the main course.

 

For today, I put together  some deviled eggs with goose pate, that as a bonus, are also mildly pickled with beet.

First, you will need to hard-boil 10 eggs and remove the shell.

For preparing the pickled eggs you will need:

1 red beet
1 onion
3 cups water
1 cup white wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp sugar

Bring this to o boil, then let it simmer for 30 minutes. Let it cool completely and then cover the boiled eggs with this mixture. In order for the eggs to get a nice colour you will need to let them in the beet water for at least 1 hour, and for a great taste also it need 2 hours. You can also let it sit overnight it is more convenient for you. The more you let it, the more color you will have when you cut them in half.

For the filling I used:

100g goose pate
2 tbsp sweet mustard
2 tbsp pickled horseradish (also beet-pickled)
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Mix all the ingredients above. Of course, you can use your usual horseradish, it happened that I had one with beets and more pink couldn't possibly hurt. If you don't have horseradish at all you can use a spicier mustard or you can just skip it alltogether for a sweeter finish.


When your mixture is ready and you are satisfied with its consistency, fill the eggs halves and garnish as you like.You could make it less thick with mayo or cream, but taste wise is definitely better without and they last longer to.

Don't they look good? Trust me, they are also very tasty and if you boil your eggs and the beet the day before it doesn't take much time or effort to put it together when you need it.

Enjoy,

Meatballs Madness (I) Meatballs with Ricotta and Sun-dried Tomatoes

Did you ever think about who was the first person who thought of saying meatball madness? Who ever saw an indefinite amount of meatballs and screamed: This is madness! I keep imagining some 17th century dude, in his tight pants, being absolutely bedazzled by the sight of meatballs. So, with that image in mind, I decided I need to have  reason to say meatball madness, thereforeI had to cook some tasty  beef meatballs. 

I used: 

• 500 grams of minced beef, 
• 1 medium onion, finely diced, 
• 3 cloves of garlic, 
• 150 grams of ricotta cheese,  
• 100 grams of sun dried tomatoes and about 3 tbs of the oil they were kept in, 
• parsley,  
• thyme, 
• 2 eggs, 
• flour, 
• salt, 
• pepper, 
• some oil for cooking. 

Just mix all the ingredients together really well, except the flour. 

Make sure the onion, tomatoes, garlic and herbs are all finely chopped,  so you can mix then evenly.  Add the flour to thicken the composition, I used around 150 grams, both for putting it in the meat and for lightly flouring the meatballs. Heat up some olive oil on medium high heat, and fry you golf ball size meatballs until golden brown on all sides,  shouldn't take long. 

As a side dish, I just boiled some delicious,  fresh green beans and seasoned them as mentioned here. 

This meatball recipe, with  definite Italian influences is light, fresh and a delicious way to bring some ordinary and common meatballs to the next level. The ricotta make them moist and very light. There is definitely gonna be a next time cooking these.

Enjoy,

Warm Potato Salad/ Salata calda de cartofi

One of the most cooked meals back in my parent’s home was something called “Oriental Salad”, which is basically potato, pickles and boiled egg salad. Not much of culinary wonder piece, but, trust me, it would sure hit the spot. 

Oh, and by the way, that is one of the 3 or 4 dishes that my younger sister knows how to cook. So, 4^th of July and everything, I wanted to cook a nice, warm, summer, potato salad that was both light and flavoursome. 

The ingredients are as it is:

500 grams of boiled new (red) potatoes- rinse them under cold water then pat them dry with a towel. Do not peel them, the red skin will bring a gorgeous touch to the dish;

150 grams of bacon, cut into thin strips

2 chillies, one green and one red

2 hard boiled eggs, cut into sections

2 oranges

2 tbs of chopped fennel leaves

2 tbs of chopped parsley

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Start of by cutting the potatoes into cubes the boil them just until they are cooked enough, but be careful not to overcook them or they will crumble, keep trying them out. Meanwhile, fry your bacon strips, leave them to cool off for a minute so you can handle them, then use a knife to dice the meat into small pieces. Use one orange for its juice and the other one cut into small cubes. Mix all the ingredients together, nice and easy, you want to keep everything intact.

Despite the fact that this recipe had bacon and egg, the end result is a very light and fragrant  dish, with a very nice kick from the orange and the fennel and the awesomeness of bacon (maybe I should trademark that….). You can pair this dish with a Bordeaux style rose (made from a cabernet or merlot grape) or with a light, young red. We had a 2009 Portuguese red made in the same region as the Port wine (Douro) that really went well with the salad.  

By the way, I also tried to add some yogurt and Kalamata olives to the dish, it works just great, but I wanted the potatoes to not be covered in the pictures, I just loved that red skin. 

In casa parintilor mei una dintre cele mai  des pregatite feluri de mancare era salata orientala, practic cartofi fierti, muraturi si oua fierte. Nu e chiar cea mai tare inovatie culinara, dar cateodata era exact ce iti lipsea. Ah, si sa nu uit, asta este si una dintre cele 3-4 feluri de mancare pe care chiar si sora mea stie sa le faca. Deci, cu 4 iulie in gand, am vrut sa pregatesc o salata calda, de vara, care sa fie si usoara dar si plina de arome.  Am folosit: 500g of cartofi rosii noi fierti pe care am pastrat coaja,150g bacon, fasii subtiri, 2 ardei iuti, unul rosu, unul negru, 2 oua fierte tari, 2 portocale, 2 lgite frunze de fenicul, 2 lgite patrunjel tocat, ulei de masline, sare si piper. Cartofii se taie in cuburi destul de mari si se fierb mai tari. In timp ce se fierbi cartofii, se prajeste putin baconul si se lasa la racit, o portocala se stoarce si se pastreaza sucul, iar cealalta se taie cuburi. Amestecati ingredientele cu atentie pe farfurie, adaugati si ierburile. Chiar daca contine cartofi si bacon, preparatul este foarte usor si proaspat, feniculul si portocala merge foarte bine cu minunatia de bacon. Puteti servi salata cu un roze sau cu un rosu tanar si light. Noi am ales un rosu portughez 2009 cu un nume interesant (vezi poza) , care se face in aceeasi regiune ca si Porto.   Am incercat sa adaugam si putin iaurt si masline kalamata, se potriveste bine, dar nu am vrut sa acopar cartofii in poza, imi place la nebunie  coaja lor rosie.
 

Enjoy,

Mr. G.

Silk Handkerchiefs Pasta with Pesto Genovese

There are moments when I am deciding what to cook when I feel like I have to do something incredibly traditional, something extremely old-school, and when I get it right, for me, it’s an incredible accomplishment. 

This recipe is truly without the shadow of a doubt one of the great classics and, although this type of pasta may not be used on a big scale such as spaghetti or tagliatelle, it has an incredible elegance and beauty to it.

If you want to try this, I beg of you, do it all yourself: the pasta, the pesto, create it from scratch, don’t cut any corners by buying lasagna strips of pasta or canned pesto, trust me, the result will be worth it.

For the pasta, I used 250 grams of type 000 flour (for reasons beyond my understanding the 00 type has gone missing from stores) 1 egg and 2 yolks. The process of working the dough is the same as before, the difference being that the resulting dough will be more compact, robust and with a silkier feel (and also, more yellow). 

Be careful though, the pasta can be rather heavy on the stomach, so be prepared with some good, chilled Soave Clasico. You want to roll your dough until it is thin enough to be blown of the table. Just try and blow under the pasta sheet to see if it lifts; if so, that’s the thickness you need (in case you’re using a pasta machine, roll it up until the 9 mark). Take your pasta sheet and just break it into tiny squares, in a handkerchief like shape (or just cut it like that, breaking it is more fun), and boil it in salted water for 2-3 minutes, that’s all it takes.

For the pesto: 90 grams of basil leaves, 30 grams of pine nuts (toasted), 1 garlic clove, 70 grams of grated Parmiggiano, salt and good quality olive oil (I used the unfiltered kind for my pesto). Put the washed and dried basil leaves (be careful with them when washing, make sure you let them dry and not try and force the leaves, they lose their flavor like that) in a large enough mortar and start crushing them with a circular move with  a pestle, for 1 minute. Add the garlic and pine nuts and keep crushing them with the pestle until the garlic is nice and mashed in the pesto.

After this, add the cheese and crush some more, adding olive oil in the end to bring everything together. The amount of olive oil used should be enough to bind the ingredients and not take over the basil or be in such a quantity that the pesto is submerged in it. 

Regarding the salt, you can go 2 ways: use some coarse salt when adding the garlic, it will help you crush the ingredients better, or, if you’re scared you’re going to go overboard because of the cheese being also salty, wait until the end and added it there. 

So, a superb classic Italian that, for me at least, brought a very nice feeling of accomplishment when completed, hope it does the same for you.

Have a great weekend,
Mr. G.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

If you're ready for something sweet but also sour, buttery and moist, this recipe is perfect. It makes a great breakfast, you can serve it in the afternoon with tea or better yet, spoil yourself with a decadent dessert if you add it some cream and/or berries.

For one loaf you will need:

Recipe from the book "Carte regala de bucate"- Principesa Margareta a Romaniei

225g room temperature butter
225g sugar
225 all purpose flour
4 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 tbsp poppy seeds

For the syrup:
2 lemons juiced
100 ml water
200 g sugar

• With a hand mixer mix the sugar and butter until you get a white cream. 
• Add the eggs one by one and keep mixing.
• In a different bowl, mix the dry ingredients, the flour with the baking powder and the poppy seeds.
• Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ones.
• Pop it in the heated oven in a bread tin and let it cook for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• While the cake cooks you should prepare the sauce. 
• In a small sauce pan mix the water, sugar and lemon juice and simmer it for 10 minutes
• As soon as you take the cake out of the oven pierce the whole top with a fork and pour the hot sauce on it.
• The cake will absorb the syrup and it's gonna go from great to amazing in a couple of minutes.
• Let it cool in the tray before cutting it.

Extra: If you like lemon zest, you can add the zest from 1 lemon in the cake dough after you add the eggs.

Enjoy!
Mrs. G.

What Are You Having for Breakfast?

Poached eggs + bacon + peas.

I hope you will have an awesome week!

Jam Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

I am sorry we have been M.I.A. from the blog lately, but we actually didn't do much cooking and this blog is about that basically. We had food from our parents, we ate out or just grabbed a salad in a hurry.

A couple of days ago I bought a new muffin tin and I had to try it. We lost out muffin tin when we moved, I have no idea how that could have happen, but I was excited to have one again. As a first bake, I chose the Martha Stewart's recipe for Jam Cupcakes. The recipe is on the site.

In case you are wondering, the muffin cup liners are from IKEA. I found them a little big for the quantities in the recipes. As you can see, my oven still cooks uneven, but all was good. Just to be on the safe side I put a tray with water in the oven, underneath the muffin tin, so that they stay fluffy, which they did.

I baked them for about 25 minutes. I let them cool, then made a little hole in the middle and added the jam. I used cranberry jam and fig jam. The jam inside is a nice surprise, but if you choose to keep the chocolate frosting, don't put too much as the frosting is kinda heavy. The frosting is a butter one, as I said, a bit heavy for my taste, but it works with the delicate muffins.

Overall, these were good, for sure I would try the recipe again, even without any frosting. It is a simple one, no special cooking skills required. The muffins were super good, so fluffy and soft, the jam is the nice touch and the frosting is perfect for chocolate lovers.

Enjoy!

Morning Salad with Eggs and Bacon

Ingredients for 2 large servings:

200g baby spinach
200g valerian salad
4 thin slices of bacon
4 slices of your favourite bread
4 (soft) boiled eggs
salt and pepper
parmesan
oil and vinegar for the dressing

Fry the bacon without any oil until it gets crispy. Remove it from the pan. Add to the pan 3 tbsp oil and fry the bread, previously cut in cubes. Mix the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and add the dressing to the leaves. Add the crutons, bacon, eggs and grate some parmesan on top.

Of course you can use iceberg, rucola or any kind of salad you prefer, just keep it green.
That is it. Now you can start your day fresh! Enjoy.

Simple Breakfast- Spicy Scrambled Eggs

Good morning!

Sometimes, for a pick-me-up you need a rich egg breakfast.
My choice today: eggs + spring onion + hot pepper + salt + pepper. All scrambled and delicious.

Have a great day!

Sweet Sunday- Easy Sour Cherry Sponge Cake Recipe ( Chec/ prajitura de visine- cea mai simpla reteta)

I had some frozen fruits in my freezer so I thought I would use them until fresh fruits arrive at the market. I started with the sour cherries.

This recipe is so simple and with guaranteed results. It has 3 ingredients and one rule. Beware, this will involve math: you will need n eggs + n tbsp of flour + nx2 tbsp of sugar (and the cherries, duh!).

For example, I used 4 eggs + 4 tbsp of flour + 8 tbsp of sugar. You don't even need baking powder.

Separate the eggs, beat the yolks with 4 tbsp of sugar and then gradually add the flour. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the other 4 tbsp of sugar until light, fluffy and stiff. It's better to beat the egg whites on their own and when you're almost done, add the sugar. This will make it easier to beat them well.

Carefully and only using a spatula, incorporate the egg whites in the mixture.  The secret is air. You don't want to beat them when you mix them, or you will lose the light and fluffy texture. Place your dough in a parchment paper lined tray and add the cherries on top. I baked it in a bread tray.

RO: Am mai avut niste fructe de anul trecut prin congelator si am zis sa le folosesc pana nu apar cele proaspete in piata. Am inceput cu visinele. Ca reteta, mai simplu de atat nu se poate. Are 3 ingrediente si putina matematica: cate oua doresti + tot atatea linguri faina + dublu linguri zahar (si visine). Eu am folosit pentru o forma mica de chec 4 oua, 4 lg faina, 8 lg zahar. Separam ouale, batem galbenusul cu jumatate dinzahar si treptat adaugam faina. Intr-un bol separata, batem albusurile cu celelalte 4 lg zahar pana se fac spuma. Mai usor, mai intai batem albusurile pana aproape se intaresc de tot si la final adaugam incet zaharul. Puneti aluatul intr-o tava cu hartie de copt, adaugati ciresele deasupra si coaceti pana cand scobitoarea iese curata.

Enjoy!

Wiener Schnitzel

So, this is what we ate, schnitzel. Lightly hammer the veal,  salt it, roll it in flour, then in beated eggs, then in bread crumbs. Fried and very much enjoyed.

Traditionally served with potato salad and lemon, I served it with mashed potatoes and pickles!!!

Snitel vienez

Asta am mancat noi ieri, snitel. Vita batuta cu ciocanelul, sarata, data prin faina, apoi prin ou, apoi prin pesmet. Prajit apoi si savurat. In mod traditional e servit cu salata de cartofi si lamaie, dar acum l-am servit cu piure de cartofi si muraturi!!!

Enjoy!

The Best Buttermilk Pancakes

Hope you are having a great weekend.
We started ours with an American-style breakfast, pancakes.

For us outside US eating these can be quite the experience. I used this amazing recipe and they turned out just perfect. We served them with honey and loads of butter and couldn't resist adding some strawberry jam in the end.

Clatite americane cu lapte batut

Sper ca aveti parte de un weekend minunat.

Nou ne-am inceput weekend-ul cu un mic dejun in stil american, clatite. Pentru cei din afara SUA, prima oara cand incerci sa le faci este o experienta frumoasa. Am folosit reteta din linkul de mai sus, au iesit perfecte. Le-am servit cu miere si muuult unt. Nu am rezistat nici de la niste gem de caspuni deasupra.

Have some fun today!

Carbonara- Traditional Recipe

This is what we did with the homemade pasta shown in the previous post.
This authentic recipe is like a drug, you will never want the ham and cream version you usually have. It's not my recipe, it's ...uhmmm....well...Italian.

It's honestly the best pasta EVER for me and being a huge pasta lover it is a big deal!

You use pancetta ( i replaced it with copa di parma, could not find pancetta), garlic, you add the all dente pasta, you mix the eggs with some parmesan and salt, lower the heat to a minimum and add the eggs (do not cook them), remove from the heat, add some more cheese and be amazed. Not too heavy, you will not get sick as it happened to me after eating a really creamy carbonara in restaurants.

The second photo is one with added parmesan. If you're really greedy. 

Carbonara- Reteta traditionala

Mai jos este ce am facut cu pastele facute in casa, aratate in postul precedent.

Aceasta reteta autentica este ca un drog, nu o sa mai vreti niciodata varianta grea si satioasa cu sunca si smantana, pe care o gasim in restaurante sau la catering. Nu este reteta mea, evident, este a italienilor. 

Sincer, este de departe reteta mea preferata, si fiind un mare fan al retetelor cu paste, este un lucru mare!  Se foloseste pancetta (am inlocuit-o cu copa di parma, nu am gasit pancetta, copa di parma se gaseste cam mereu in Auchan), apoi usturoi, adaugi pastele fierte al dente. Separat, intr-un bol, se amesteca ouale cu parmezan si sare, se lasa focul mai mic si se adauga in tigaie si ouale, cu grija sa nu se faca omleta,  apoi se ia de pe foc  si se mai adauga parmezan. 

Nu e grea, nu ti se face rau cum mi se mai intampla mie de la carbonara smantanoasa pe care o pot comanda de obicei.

Please do try it!

Homemade Pasta- 1st attempt

I received a pasta machine as a gift in Jnauary and this weekend was the first time we used it. It's really rewarding eating something  like pasta made by you from scratch.

I used  Jamie Oliver's Recipe beacuse it made more sense and the whole proccess was well-explained. I did not use 6 eggs, but 3 and 300 g flour. 

Making the dough is the hardest, using the machine is pretty fun, though kind of messy. Also, it requires a pretty big working space.

Would you consider these tagliatelle?

Paste facute in casa- prima incercare

Am primit in ianuarie cadou o masina de facut paste/ taitei, iar in acest weekend a fost pentru prima data cand am folosit-o. Este foarte satisfacator sa mananci ceva cu care esti obisnuit sa fie cumparat gata facut in mod regulat, cum sunt pastele, dar facute de tine cap-coada. 

Am folosit reteta lui Jamie Oliver pentru ca ne-a atras imediat, iar procesul a fost foarte bine explicat. Am redus cantitatea, am folosit 3 oua, nu 6, si, in consecinta, 300g faina. 

Sa faci coca este cel mai greu, apoi sa folosesti amsina e chiar destul de distractiv, desi se face foarte repede faina peste tot si ai nevoie de un spatiu de lucru destul de mare.

Ce ziceti de aceste tagliatelle?

See you next time!

Smoked Salmon Snack/ Appetizers

Down below is our go-to snack or appetizers when someone shows up at our place. It's delicious and, like all my favourite get together/ party bites, looks like you have put more effort into it than you really did.

Just some slices that come together:

baguette slice + smoked salmon + boiled egg slice + tomato slice + capers or lemon + dill.

Do try it!
xo

Beet-pickled Deviled Eggs

A.k.a pink eggs.
These little ones get all the attention at the table. They are the perfect appetizers...and again, they are pink.

You can find many recipes online, I pickled them with the beet like here, but I used a different filling.
Filling:
chicken liver pate + sweet mustard + beet-pickled horse radish.
I think they turned out pretty nice.

'Till next time,
xo

Smoked Salmon Florentine

Honestly, you might have doubts at first, but this is amazing.
You will remember it for sure.

So, it goes like this: smoked salmon, spinach, poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce. It is usually served on an English Muffin.

The sauce might be some work, but you can find recipes everywhere, like here, and it's worth it.

Give it up for THE BRUNCH!