iCookbooks

One day I will offer myself the pleasure to eat one of the meals made by Chef Meir Adoni, but till then, I would love to read about his recipes, on my iPad. This app, Look and Cook, is not only a source of inspiration for the most sophisticated gourmets, but it is also a challenge for the world of cookbook publishing. 

And, even you may be the most conservative cookbook reader - or eventually, writer too - you would love the amazing possibilities offered by the modern technologies. The visuals - video and photo - are very helpful for a successful cooking experience. In addition, you will not lose too much time by searching various tutorials on YouTube as you have all the necessary ingredients at the same place. 

Thai coconut fish

For the first time in a long time, I follow exactly the letter of this recipe, posted on gourmetkoshercooking. The result was a perfect combination, with a special taste.

The mixture between lemon and ginger plus tomatoes gave a special flavor to the meal that goes very well with a good white wine.

Most probably, I should do more cooking experiments that includes as ingredients coconut milk, ginger and lemon. 

To be continued!

Pasta c(o)urse

We rarely miss a week without pasta. In fact, I would like to, but the little hungry monsters do not and I should follow their wishes.

But, it is not enough to prepare the simple pasta with cheese recipe. They expect some garlic, tomatoes, special spices and new recipes ideas every week.

This time I tried something amazing (for me): eggplant with fried almonds. And, of course, some small pieces of garlic.

The taste was indeed completely new and revolutionary but children do not like revolutions and I was punished to do my "classical" recipe next time.

Maybe my readers will appreciate more the gift of creative cooking.

Paprika stuffed with quinoa

Quinoa is relatively newly entered into my food universe. Openly speaking I don't like it too much, as I did not find (yet) its specific taste. From my point of view, it is like eating nothing. 

Last week, I wanted to diversify a bit our menu - but still keeping the main vegetarian line. After reading various posts and closing a bit my eyes in order to imagine some interesting combinations, it resulted the following wonder:

boiled quinoa - max. 15 minutes

finely chopped mushrooms fried together with equally finelly chopped garlic

quinoa+mushrooms+garlic are fried together with avocado oil

The fresh paprika is delicately stuffed with the fried mixture and put in oven for another 15 minutes.

To be served fresh and warm. 

Neapolitan Eggplants

Openly speaking, at the first sight you don't know exactly what it is all about in this picture...Also openly speaking, I didn't know exactly what wonderful food I am eating when I had the first bite of this.

I started to cook eggplants only a couple of months ago - due to an unhappy allergic experience a couple of years ago - but since then I love to introduce it on my menu at least every month.

This week, for the Shabbat menu, I wanted something new and thus, I tried another recommendation from The Classic Kosher Cooking, by Sara Finkel (p.142).

I did some changes but overall I kept the main narrative.

What do you need:

2 moderate eggplants

1 teaspoon salt 

1/3 cup oil

2 small red onions finely diced

3 gloves garlic, minced

1 cup grated Emmentaler

I cut the eggplants in half lengthwise, sprinkle with salt and put in the oven for around 30 minutes. After, I cut out the pulp, chop it and fried together with the oil and onion for 10 minutes. I added the cheese, the garlic and the salt for another 5 minutes, then put together in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. The taste is so wonderful that you don't know exactly what you are eating. 

A real pleasure!

Rice Latkes

This Hanukka I kept a very classical menu and when I've read this Rice Latkes recipe the last week, I couldn't stop thinking about preparing it as the sweet part of the Shabbat menu. This time, I used the recipe without too many modifications - maybe more sugar and cinnamon than recommended.

2 coups white rice, cooked. If you want to know more about cooked rice, I found a very good and simple reference here.

2 eggs, well beaten

3 tablespoon wheat germ or whole wheat flour

2 tablespoon sugar

generous pinch of cinnamon

oil, for frying

Combine all ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Drop by tablespoonful into hot oil and fry on both sides until golden brown. Yields 8-12 latkes. 

Bon Appetit!

My new brand salad with almost everything

What upon an afternoon, I was so full of imagination, that I added in this salad almost everything available in my basket of vegetables: 

Greek cheese, creatively chopped

Rucola

Olives

Avocado

Tomatoes

Champignons

Salt

Avocado oil

Corn

Mixed together little by little - with the hands - all the components are easily learning to live together. For the moment, the salad is impatiently waiting in the refrigerator the swalling moment. 

Bon Appetit!

Vegetarian treats: smoked cheese with mushrooms

I am trying to keep myself as much as possible in trends with the seasons and the overall mood. As we wanted to have a quality family time thinking about what we did already and discussing our plans for the next 12 months, I decided to prepare a couple of light meals, colourful and rich and, of course, a little bit creative as well.

Also, I wanted something fit for both cheese and meat based meals. 

As autumn is here and there are fresh vegetables are always on demand, I made the following choice:

zucchini

tomatoes

big mushrooms

sesame seeds

smoked tofu cheese

All together and with oil in the pan, they spent some time in the oven (heated at 150C) and disappeared shortly after in the bellies of the hungry members of my family.

The time dedicated to the preparation of this tasty meal was: maximum 15 minutes!

Plenty of time for blogging, isn't it?

My Carrot Sticks

Very often, a picture could be a good inspiration for a successful recipe. Sometimes, it is a measure of the success - or failure - of an amateur cook. 

In my case, I started by being mesmerized for a couple of seconds by this wonderful picture, and went as far as away as I dared to try my own variant. In my picture, the result doesn't look too tasty. Or even not tasty at all. But, believe me, at the end of the first 5 minutes of complaining about how unskillful cook I am, half of the products were eaten - and not by me, as a form of extreme punishment. At the end of the day, maybe I am only a bad photographer.

The ingredients, for 2 persons:
10 carrots peeled and boiled and thereafter sliced
2 cloves of garlic
100 ml. sesame oil
2 tablespoon of sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
All ingredients are fried at 250C for between 15 - 20 minutes.
Bon Appetit!

Eggplants with couscous and mozzarella

 The following recipe is a creative cocktail between the recipe found in this good book about Mozzarella and this tasty recipe from Israeli Kitchen: eggplant stuffed with fruit bulgur.

You need, for four persons:

2 medium eggplants, sliced and fried

2 packs of fresh mozzarella, sliced

250 gr. boiled couscous, with salt and rosmarin

100 ml. olive oil

Add the mozzarella, couscous and oil to the fried eggplants and fry together for approximatively 15 minutes. 

That's all!

Smoked tofu with tomatoes, garlic, sour cream and avocado

Did you miss my avocado recommendations? Well, be ready for more than one recipe. 

Let's start with the sour part:

To the wonderful recipe of smoked tofu with tomatoes and garlic, from the Vegetarian Tofu Recipes book, please be so kind and add a big avocado sliced and some 250 gr. sour cream, or yogurt. Maybe also some salt.

And, that's all!

Smoked tofu with tomatoes and garlic

The same source of inspiration, but an easier variant. To be included in the same category of spring recipes.

Here it is, for making happy 2 persons:

Smoked tofu

1 tomato, sliced

3 cloves garlic

100 gr. Garam Masala

3 tablespoon of oil

The basic architectural structure of the products - in various combinations, mine was a very stable one - is cooked in the oily heated pan for 16-20 minutes, at 100C. 

If you add a fresh lemonade with mint and some brown sugar, the meal will be even more delightful.

Delicate mushrooms

I love mushrooms a lot and I prepare them in various easy, but tasty combinations. This one is extremely easy and you don't need more than 10 minutes.

Add to the mushrooms a nail of butter - or/and cheese, including tofu - and fry them in a pan with oil. Serve with two or three leaves of fresh parsley. 

A glass of white wine might be a good chocie too.

New Year's Resolutions

As I am preparing for a couple of new colourful and tasty posts in the next two days, I decided that it is about time to have a deep breath and decide the plan for the next 12 months of intensive writing (and cooking).

So, here there are - it might sound modest, but for me it is pretty challenging:

- Trying every single week new recipes, discovering new tastes and spices and sharing them all on the blog

- Sharing my recipes on the expert cooking blogs

- Reading more cooking books and looking for my own cooking writing style

- Attending at least one single class on cooking writing

- Preparing a nice and cool booklet of recipes with my photos sand wonderful experiences of an inexperienced cooker

Stay tuned and wish you all a tasty and great time!

Baba Ghanoush: Need a new try

I used to be a very spoiled kid: when I wanted something, I didn't neet too much time to waite for. Professionally wise, when I wanted to reach something, I set up objectives able to be fulfilled, based on my experience and my skills.

With cooking...well, it is a different story. First, I need more experience. Second, I need more attention and focus. Third, all I want is to put some new skills on trial, while trying to make my happy family happier. 

The first objective is to get more experience, using the relative window of opportunity of enjoying, for the first time in my life, the free time to spend with my family. 

The last week, I wanted to try the Baba Ghanoush, following the recipe from the same book I am reading and following carefully, at least for the next month or so. 

The first step was to go buying:

2 big eggplants, of around 750 gr.

Tahini paste - out of which I used around 80 ml.

Garlic - 3 finely chopped cloves

1 bunch of fresh parsley

Olive oil

1 lemon - to be turned into juice

Black pepper

The longest time was dedicated to cooking the eggplants - almost one hour, at the oven heated at 250 degrees. After, the flesh is separated from the cover and put in the mixer, together with the garlic, tahini, pepper, salt and pepper. After another 10 minutes, you have a paste, where do you add and mix the rest of the ingredients. With some fresh pita, you can have a taste of the colourful Middle East.

My problem was that I had too much eggplant and not too much Tahini, for example. Or garlic.

Also, you need to eat it very fast, after maximum two days, as eggplants need to be consumed fresh.

Will try once again soon! Maybe another recipe and with some advices guidance. And looking for a place in Berlin to have a tasty experience...

Emergency pasta

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 It was one of the days when I was overwhelmed by work - writing, of course - and under the terrible pressure to solve in a very quick time the pressing question of feeding the impatient kid. The kid being in a terrible hurry herself, with only two hours between the school program and her sport class. 

I had a short look around and it was a kind of disaster, one day of the usual weekly refuel shopping. 

Then I saw the big salvation:

- four fat bananas 

- five delicate carrots 

- some curry powder 

- the rests of some butter - 150 gr. 

and...ladies and gentlemen, the queen of my kitchen - a pack full of commoner fussili                            

Without saying a single word for not disturbing the laments of the kid complaining as usual about the difficult fate to be about 12 yo and with a mother always busy writing various untranslatable things, I put the water in the pot for boiling the fussili and the carrots, peeled the bananas and cut into medium-size pieces, prepared the butter. In maximum 30 minutes - the good amount of time to finish polishing some words -, the pots were boiling. Took out discretely the carrots, cut them into medium-size pieces, added the bananas and the butter, plus some 100 mgr. of olive oil, spread the curry, mixed all together and...when the pressure from the children room was increasing, shouted loudly: do you expect a special invitation, sweet squirrel? If I remember correctly, somebody was hurrying up...                                         Without giving me any credit, she entered reluctantly the kitchen and asked: What is this? Your lunch, baby, of course. Set the table quietly (the duty of those who don't make the food) and in the next 15 minutes, it was so quiet in the house...Simply delicious, I was congratulated when nothing was left in the pan. Everybody was happy, but I was the happiest, for passing, once again, the difficult test of motherhood.