Pasta!

Ingredients:

- penne
- salmon trimmings
- zucchini (1)
- spring/salad onions (2)
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- grated parmigiano cheese

Method:

Start cooking the pasta in salted, boiling water.

In a frying pan:

Gently brown the chopped spring onions in a little olive oil.

Add the zucchini (1, thinly sliced with a mandolin) and cook at medium heat.

Drain the pasta very al dente and add to the zucchini.

Add the salmon trimmings and mix.

Add a little white wine, if available.

Lower the heat and cover for 2 minutes. The salmon will cook, the pasta will absorb the juices and be more tasty.

Serve with a sprinkle of black pepper and parmigiano cheese on top. In the photo, I forgot the cheese, but added some cherry tomatoes for decoration.

Note: Do not stir/mix with a spatula, just move the pan to flip the pasta, salmon and vegetables. Zucchini tend to become soft and break quite easily. Using a spatula will result in a “mushy zucchini” mix.

Also, the pasta having been cooked in salted water, the salmon being salty and the onions giving flavour to the zucchini, I didn’t need to add any extra salt, just the pepper at the end.

Yummy cheese cake

 

Dough:

- 250 g Philadelphia cheese

- 3 natural yoghurts (better if one has vanilla or lemon flavor)

- 10 spoonfuls of sugar – 3 spoonfuls of corn flour (Maizena)

- 3 eggs

- 10 g baking powder

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

Base:

- 15 Maria cookies

- 20 g butter or margarin

Crack the cookies with a roller and mix them with the butter / margarin. Set it on the bottom of a round dessert mold and add the dough. Preheat the oven (200C) and bake for about 40-45 minutes. Serve cold!

Stuffed marrow

Ingredients:
- marrow, a.k.a. “the giant zucchini”
- rice
- tuna in spring water
- capers
- mayonnaise
- salt, pepper
- chilli flakes

Instructions:
1. Boil half the marrow in salted water for 10 minutes. It doesn’t have to be completely boiled, otherwise it’s tok soft. Let aside to cool off.
2. Cook half a cup of (dry) plain rice.
3. In a bowl, mix 1 can of tuna, handful of capers, 1 spoonful of mayonnaise, salt, black pepper and chilli flakes.
4. Add the rice and mix well.
5. Stuff the marrow with the rice mix and cook in the oven at 180 degrees until the rice has a crisp crust.
6. Let cool off a little bit before cutting. Serve with a little olive oil and a couple of leaves of fresh basil as decoration.

Note: the marrow is quite watery and as you can see from the photo, it “shrunk” quite a bit in the oven. Leave the skin on to reduce the shrinking and help it keep the cup shape.

Zucchini Pie!

Ingredients

3 cups grated zucchini

1 small onion chopped

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup mozarella or provolone cheese (it will work with feta cheese too)

3 eggs beaten

1/4 cup vegetable oil

4 tablespoons grated Parmesan

2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil

1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Procedure

Simply combine all the ingredients in a large bowl.

Spoon the zucchini mixture into a pie plate that has been drizzled with vegetable oil. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes (350 F / 180 C) or until golden brown. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Cool 10 to 15 minutes before slicing. Really delicious!!

Summer bulgur salad

What we need (for 2 people):

200 g of bulgur

1 squash

1/2 small onion

2 chicken breasts

Sun-dried tomatoes

Grilling spices

Rosemary

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

 

How to prepare:

Boil the bulgur in salty water for about 10-15 min. Meanwhile, cut the squash in dices and grill it in the oven with salt, rosemary and some olive oil for 30 minutes (200 degrees).

Cut the chicken in dices, marinate it with olive oil and grilling spices and fry it slowly. Drain the bulgur and let it cool down.

Cut the sun-dried tomatoes in small pieces (you can also use fresh cherry tomatoes). Mix the bulgur with the chicken, squash and tomatoes. Add some fresh onion in the end, a bit more of salt, pepper and olive oil and let it in the fridge for about an hour.

 

 

 

 

Improvised sushi

Ingredients

Ingredients:

- nori algae
- “sticky rice”
- cucumber
- bell pepper
- carrot
- mayonnaise

Preparation:

Cook the rice with some rice vinegar and let it cool.
On a bamboo sushi roll mat, place one sheet of nori algae and one layer of rice. Cover the algae except 1 cm on one side.
Place the other ingredients along a line in the centre of your rice square.
Start rolling the entire mat and make sure the roll is sealed well.
Cut in smaller rolls and serve with soy sauce and wasabi paste

et volià!

This modified version was rather improvised. I had no crab meat or else, so the rolls are vegetarian. Also, I realised I had no mayonnaise, so I substituted it with a little cream cheese mixed with the tip of a spoon of chipotle paste: some Mexican smoky kick! Definitely not Japanese, but it turned out well

Gooseberry yoghurt fool!

A delicious summer treat  yet simple recipe to finish a perfect meal is the Gooseberry Yoghurt fool. Don’t be  a fool give it a try…..it is very light and healthy!!

ingredients

450 g gooseberries, topped and tailed

75 g caster sugar

100-140 g natural Greek yogurt

roasted almonds or strawberries to serve

method

1.Place the gooseberries, sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water in a saucepan and simmer on a low heat for about 15 minutes until the gooseberries are soft.

2.When the gooseberries are cooked, put them in a sieve and let the juice run out for two minutes.

3.When the gooseberry mix is cool, fold in the Greek yogurt you can add a bit of juice for more flavour (not too
much!!).

4.Just before serving, top the gooseberry fool with anything to hand. Roasted flaked almonds or strawberries or glace cherries all look great.

 

Lemon Drizzle Cake!

Lemon Drizzle Cake is Alex’s favourite (but we all love it ) it is so lemony and moist!! YUM!!

Ingredients

120g butter
180g castor sugar
180g self raising flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 lemons, zest and juice
Extra 2 tbsp castor sugar

How to make:

1.Cream butter and sugar
2.Add lemon zest, flour, eggs and milk and beat well.
3.Pour into lined loaf tin and bake for an hour at 180C.
4.When cooked mix the lemon juice with the extra sugar and pour this on the hot cake and allow to cool.

Pork fillet with honey and ginger

After watching the funny series Two Greedy Italians (BBC Two), I wanted to try this recipe. It’s easy and tasty, but I wouldn’t call it an Italian dish

Ingredients (4-6 people)

• 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 100g / 3½oz pancetta or bacon, roughly chopped
• 800g / 1lb 12oz pork fillet
• 2 garlic cloves, left whole
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1cm / ½in fresh root ginger, peeled, finely sliced
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 4 shallots, halved or quartered, depending on size
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 300ml / 10fl oz vegetable stock
• freshly ground black pepper
  

  Preparation method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a lidded saucepan and fry the pancetta until golden-brown. Remove from the pan and set aside. Fry the pork (with salt and pepper) in the same pan used to cook the pancetta for 4-5 minutes, or until browned all over.
  2. Add the garlic, honey and ginger and continue to cook over a medium heat until caramelised.
  3. Add the carrots, shallots, rosemary, cooked pancetta, stock and black pepper, cover with a lid and cook on a medium to low heat for 30 minutes.
  4. Check the vegetables are tender, remove them and set aside.
  5. Continue to cook for another hour, or until the meat is tender and cooked through. Remove the pork from the pan and set aside to cool slightly. Carve into thick slices.
  6. Return the vegetables and the pork slices to the pan to heat through before serving. I also boiled some baby potatoes to go along.

   

Rasberry Almond Cake!

If you like rasberries here is quick and easy recipe. I have found it at BBC Good food website and made it. It is very yummy!!

Ingredients

140g ground almonds
140g butter , softened
140g golden caster sugar
140g self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g raspberries
2 tbsp flaked almonds
icing sugar , to serve

1.Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and base-line and grease a deep 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Blitz the ground almonds, butter, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla extract in a food processor until well combined.
2. Spread half the mix over the cake tin and smooth over the top. Scatter the raspberries over, then dollop the remaining cake mixture on top and roughly spread – you might find this easier to do with your fingers. Scatter with flaked almonds and bake for 50 mins until golden. Cool, remove from the tin and dust with icing sugar to serve.