Carrot Soup !

The days are getting darker , but this doesn't mean that we shouldn't create some light inside our homes.
This soup has one of my favorite winter colors, orange!
The color of light, the color that makes me hungry, the color that makes me smile again and again...
It's easy to make, cause you just throw everything in a big pot and leave it on the stove to bubble away while you're having a beautiful afternoon nap...So much needed during the days before Christmas.


Ingredients :

1 kilo carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 potatoes, also peeled and chopped into cubes
50 gr. rice
1 liter organic vegetable broth
2 tbsp. chopped celery (use the root from the celery if you can find it !)
salt, pepper

You take out a big pot, add all the ingredients to the pot .
Make sure the broth starts to boil and then you lower the heat to let the soup simmer for about 40 minutes. Meanwhile you take a nap and when you wake up you pour the soup into the blender and blend all ingredients together to make a beautiful, smooth, thick soup.
Add salt and pepper to your liking and serve with a dollop of Greek yoghurt on the side.

Serves 4

Avocado salad for one !

Cooking for yourself doesn't have to be boring, nor time consuming, nor a drag. It should be fun to enjoy taking care of yourself every now and then.
This salad is healthy, a quick fix for your lunch break and it will fill you up till dinner time is knocking on your door ...
It also doesn't require cooking skills, nor do you need a stove, therefor I can definitely recommend it !

I always make this when I know I'll go out for dinner and I want to have a light, healthy meal during the day to keep my energy level up and besides all the good things avocado does for us, it's also very tasty !!!

My Sicilian friend Pio taught me this recipe a long time ago and every time I make it I think of him and the magical moments we used to share in our kitchen.

I wish you a wonderful lunch break !

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado
1 tblsp. virgin olive oil
zest and juice from half a lemon or lime
pinch of sea salt
black pepper
handful of walnuts
1 tblsp. parmesan flakes

Peel the avocado and chop it into chunks. Sprinkle the lemon juice on top ( this way the avocado won't turn brown) and add the zest.
Add all the other ingredients, except the parmesan flakes.
Mix the avocado with the ingredients and add the parmesan just before you're ready to eat.
Believe it or not, but that's it !!
Easy, quick, delicious ....

Serve at once and allow yourself to have a glass or full red wine with this.

Middle Eastern Style Lentils with marinated Cherry Tomatoes

Autumn has finally arrived and it's time to stay in, enjoy the warmth of our homes, fill up our lives with seductive smells coming from our kitchen , light some candles and accompany ourselves with our favorite music.

The point is of course to share all this with your loved ones , and to bring some sunshine in the house when the days get shorter and darker.

One of my proposals is to make this stew, the smell of the spices will make you travel to another world , so give it a try.

This dish is pure comfort food !

Ingredients :

250 gr. Lentils 

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 tomatoes, roughly chopped

2 celery sticks, trimmed and chopped

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 large carrot, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground curcuma

1 teaspoon ground coriander 

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon mild chili

1 teaspoon ground ginger 

600 ml beef stock

250 gr Greek style, full fat yoghurt 

For the marinated tomatoes:

20 cherry tomatoes

7 bay leaves

small glass of wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

pinch of salt

ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large casserole.

Add the vegetables, stir and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the lentils, stir again, stir in the beef stock and let this simmer.

Get creative and sprinkle the spices into the stew while it's simmering away.

Let the stew simmer for about an hour, add more stock if needed, the texture should thick, not watery like a soup.

Meanwhile put the cherry tomatoes into a little bowl with all the ingredients needed.

When ready to serve, pour the soup into individual deep bowls , add a few tablespoons of yoghurt to each plate and finish with a few cherry tomatoes on top of the yoghurt.

Serve warm with freshly ground black pepper .

p.s this stew can easily be made in advance, the flavors come out better if left in the fridge for a day, so make this on a Saturday if you want to serve this for a Sunday lunch.

I usually serve this stew with a loaf of country bread, some goat cheese and a simple mixed salad on the side.

Serves 4.

Baked Pastry with Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese

This is such an easy appetizer and very popular , even amongst the people who apparently hate blue cheese.
I love to use Roquefort, but a milder choice could be Gorgonzola or just a simple, cheaper, Danish blue cheese will do.
Prepare this ahead and bake it while you pour your guests a glass of beautiful red wine.
Easy, cozy and always a big success !

Ingredients:
1 Sheet of puff Pastry.
5 Red onions, peeled and chopped.
2 tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar.
1 teaspoon fine brown sugar.
1 tablespoon butter.
2 tablespoons olive oil.
160 gr. Blue cheese (any kind you like)



Heat the olive oil, together with the butter in a large sauce pan .
Stir in the chopped onions and let them simmer on a low heat, for about 15 minutes, until they are soft and have a golden color.
Add the balsamic vinegar and the brown sugar, stir and cook for another 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius .
Meanwhile lay the pastry on a baking sheet , sprinkle the blues cheese all over and finish with your caramelized onions.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, use a pizza cutter and cut into squares.
Serve warm with your wine and a green salad .

Serves 6.

Salad for dinner !

This salad is the perfect meal for warmer nights when we don't want to eat a heavy, hot plate of food and it's a healthy choice as well !
It's not really a recipe with specific ingredients, anything green will do, so let your inspiration flow and create your own version of a light dinner.
I'll give you the ingredients of my salad and you can play around with them as you like.
Enjoy your creation !





Ingredients :
1 lettuce
hand full of baby spinach leaves
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2  raw asperges,  chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
8 to 10 cherry tomatoes
1 beetroot ( wrap the beetroot in aluminum foil, sprinkle it with olive oil and roast it for an hour in the oven, let it cool, peel and chop it up for your salad)
6 slices of bresaola, sliced
hand full of roasted pine nuts

Take out a large salad bowl and mix up all the ingredients.
Prepare a dressing of :
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of truffle oil
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon fleur du sel
a few drops of worchestire sauce
black pepper

Mix up the dressing in a little bowl and pour it over the salad just before you're ready to eat.
Have some of your favorite dark brown bread on the side with a good quality goat cheese and nothing can go wrong anymore !

serves 4 people.

Chicken soup !

When I was a child, growing up in Amsterdam, my uncle Freddy had a restaurant with wonderful homemade food. We used to go there every sunday night and enjoy a warm chicken soup as a starter. He taught me that great food has three basic ingredients: Love, patience and the best quality products.
I always remembered his words and over the years I have learned through my own experiences that he was very right! The more I find out about food, the more I want to learn and that doesn't only include how to cook a recipe. I want to know where the products are from and that has made me try to grow vegetables in my garden. My future dream is to have some animals running around too, maybe some chicken and some pigs. But first I have to learn what they need to have a good life and then I have to learn to take my distance from them, cause one day they will end up in my kitchen ! Not so easy, but it's how people used to live and still do, so I made a little test with myself and went through the whole process of getting a fine quality chicken from my neighbor and getting it "ready" to be cooked.
I must say that this soup tasted different than ever before. And now I can say that I feel a bit less of a city girl who knows nothing about farming and only knows how to cook !


Ingredients:

1 chicken
1 onion (peeled)
1 large carrot (peeled)
1 leek (cleaned)
2 pieces of celery (cleaned)
2 bay leaves
half a cup of rice
1 1/2 liter of water (or more)
2 eggs
juice of one lemon
salt and pepper


Put the chicken together with the onion, the carrot, the celery, the bay leaves and the leek in a large pan.
Add enough water so that the chicken is covered and bring to boil.
Once the water boils you lower the heat and let it simmer for about an hour.
Take out the chicken and let it cool.
Take out the vegetables and add the rice to the pan, let it simmer until the rice is done.
Season the soup and debone the chicken.
Now I would like to propose to you to make a typical Greek augolemono sauce, because I'm sure you'll find it as delicious as I do.
It's a sauce which is added to soups and stews and it needs a bit of concentration from the cook, cause it shouldn't curdle.
Some chefs use only the yolks with added cornflour. Some cooks beat the yolks and whites separately.
Beat the eggs for a few minutes, then beat in the lemon juice. Slowly add 6 spoons of hot(never boiling or the eggs will curdle) stock, beating all the time.
Add the chicken to the pan and whisk the sauce into the soup.
Serve immediately .

Serves 4 people.

With love,
esther.

Frittata !

Now here's a recipe for something so easy and comfortable to make, you don't need any particular skills in the kitchen, nor do you need many pots or pans. Just one frying pan, so it's great for a weeknight when you want a quick and easy dinner. This frittata, combined with a mixed salad, a loaf of country bread and a glass of red wine will help you unwind from any stress in just a few minutes !
About the eggs... there's a lot of talk about the quality of eggs and I would suggest you try to get the best there is. Try to eat organic eggs, they also taste better !


Ingredients:

2 tbls. olive oil
1 large potato, peeled and thinly sliced
1 spring onion, diced
1 red onion, diced
salt, pepper
a few drops of worcestershire sauce
3 tbls. full fat milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or any other cheese you like)
4 eggs (organic)

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the potatoes and fry them for about ten minutes. The thinner you have sliced them, the quicker they will cook.
Add the red onion , stir, fry for a few more minutes and season with salt and pepper.
Preheat your grill to 200 degrees Celsius and whisk the eggs together with the worcestershire sauce and the milk.
Add the spring onion to the egg mixture and pour the eggs over the vegetables in the frying pan.
Leave the frittata for a few minutes on medium heat and then you sprinkle the cheese on top.
Transfer the pan to the oven and leave it under the grill for about 5 minutes until the cheese will be golden and bubbly !

Serve the pan directly to the table and help yourself.

Serves 2

With love,
esther.

Linzer Torte !

My grand mother passed away last year... She was 96 and lived in the Black Forest in the South of Germany. I will always remember her for the best Linzer Torte you can imagine. My grandma lived in the south of Germany and when I was a child she would bake it for me and send it to Amsterdam by post. I used to love those kinds of presents and I actually still do. A gift of food will put a smile on my face at any time of the day! The Linzer Torte was a special occasion present, so I had to calculate to eat it slowly. Of course that never worked, especially since the whole family would "help" to finish it off.... Over the years I have learned to make it myself, cause she stopped baking and now she's gone, but her recipe will stay alive. I am thrilled to share it with you!


Ingredients:
300 gr. flour
200 gr. caster sugar
200 gr. hazelnuts (ground)
200 gr. soft, unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 tbs. cacao
1 tsp. ground clove
2 tbs. cinnamon
1 jar red marmalade (strawberry or raspberry)
2 tbs. lemon juice

It's a very simple process, so no worries on how to get it right!
Start with a big bowl and add the flour, the sugar, the hazelnuts, the cacao, the clove, the cinnamon, and the lemon juice. Mix that all up with a fork and then add the one egg and the butter.
Now it's better to use your hands and to knead it into a soft dough. The smell will be amazing, try to stay focused, cause some of my friends like to nibble on the raw product!
My grandmother used to say that we should always leave the dough to rest, so I would advise you to do the same. I have noticed that it's easier to work with the dough, when you have given it some rest.
I put it in the fridge for about two hours and then it's ready to go!
Sprinkle some flour on your working surface and role out 2/3 of the dough. Try to give it the shape of your (medium sized) tart pan. Then butter your tart pan and transfer the dough to the bottom of your pan. Mold it with your fingers so that the dough also covers the sides of the pan.
Preheat your oven to 175 degrees and spread the marmalade on top of the dough.
Take the rest of the dough and role it out like you did before. Cut it into strips of 2cm each. Strips will have various lengths, but that is the point!
You will make a lattice top, so use the longer strips near the center of the pie and the shorter ones near the edge.
Cross the strips over each other and let me remind you that it doesn't really matter how you do it, as long as you are satisfied with the result!
When you're done whisk the remaining egg and brush the strips with it.
Now bake your Torte for about 50 minutes in the oven.

Leave it to cool and serve with icing sugar..
Serves 10 or me!

With love,
esther.

Vegetable Pie!

One of my favorite dishes that I got to know during my time in Greece is a pie made with homemade phyllo. It can be any pie, from cheese pie to pumpkin pie, I eat them all.
My only wish is that it should be a homemade pie, cause the ones you buy at the shops have too much oil in them and the filling is sometimes too little. This may sound as a challenging recipe to you, but it's actually more based on practice than on real cooking knowledge.
I think you should give it a try, make a large pie, freeze half for a lazy kitchen day and enjoy something different on your dinner plate! I'm Dutch and I realize that it's not the smartest thing in the world to take on making my own phyllo, when real Greek women have been doing this for generation after generation, with great success if I may say so. Nevertheless it's time to learn something new, because life is all about adventure and I admit that after a couple of try outs my pie still needs work, but one day it will be perfect!
If after reading this you are already in need of a break, don't hesitate, just use store bought phyllo for your first attempt.
Cooking should be fun, not some kind of performance...
You choose what's good for you and, concerning the filling, I love all the wintergreens combined with feta cheese, that's why I want to share this recipe with you.
It's humble, healthy, homemade food !

Ingredients :
For the filling,
1 1/2 kilo mixed leafy greens, such a spinach, chard, kale etc. (washed and chopped)
2 large leeks, white and light green only, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
4 spring onions, chopped
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
350 gr. feta cheese ( crumbled)
3 eggs
1 tbs. virgin olive oil
fresh pepper

For the phyllo,
600 gr. white flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tbs. olive oil
warm water
2 tbs. wine vinegar
150 gr. unsalted butter


Start with heating up the olive oil in a large pan. Add your spring onions, stir them a bit and let them cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile you prepare the dough. Sieve the floor into a large bowl. Make a hole in the middle and add the oil, vinegar and salt. Sprinkle the salt on top and start mixing these ingredients with your hands. Slowly add water, you must take into account that you will need about half a cup of water, but perhaps you'll need more, depending on the quality of your flour. Knead your dough for at least 7 minutes, then form it into a ball, cover it with a damp towel and let it rest for about an hour. During this time you focus on the filling. Add the greens to the spring onions, even if it looks like it's too much to fit in your pan, don't panic, cause the vegetables will shrink tremendously, so just take your time, let the first part shrink a bit, then add some more, until you have added all the veggies to the pan. Finish with adding the parsley and dill. Leave the greens for about 15 minutes over medium heat. Season with pepper and add salt if you like. I prefer to skip the salt , because the feta cheese is already salty. Let the vegetables cool off a bit and then you crack the eggs inside, stir the filling and add the feta cheese. Check the seasoning, for you may want to add salt and definitely some fresh pepper.
When you've done all that, clean your working surface and sprinkle it with some flour. Divide the dough into 6 balls and role out one of the balls with a thin rolling pin. Keep rolling the dough until it becomes thin and large enough to cover a medium sized over proof dish. Melt the butter in a small pan and brush the bottom of your oven proof dish with a bit of this melted butter. Place your first phyllo on the bottom of your dish and make sure the sides are covered, so the filling will be safe later on. Brush the phyllo with some of the butter and continue with rolling out the next sheet of phyllo. Brush again with butter and make the last sheet for the down part of your pie. Remember to always brush every phyllo with butter before placing the next sheet on top. Cover with the filling and continue with the next sheet of phyllo. Do the same procedure with the rest of the sheets and put them all on top of your filling. While you're at it, preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. When you're done with your pie you take a small knife and remove the edges of the phyllo that are hanging over the sides of the oven proof dish and use your hands to wrap the phyllo around the filling, so it will all stay into place. Brush the remaining butter on top of the pie and carve the pie into individual servings, cause it will be more difficult once the pie is cooked. Place it in the middle of the oven and cook the vegetable pie for about an hour.

Serves 6 people with a glass of chilled white wine.

With love,
esther.

My favorite marinated chicken !

There are days when a simple smell or a random thought brings me back to the memories of my childhood and even if it wasn't perfect, it's still a comforting feeling to remember small moments of joy. One of these treasured flash backs always revolves around our weekly Asian dinner party . Oh my, it is as if I can still smell the spices and whenever that feeling of longing to look back comes to me, I just run into my kitchen to dive into my cupboards and pull out all my stock of chili, turmeric, soya sauce, cumin, coriander and more!
I know that it's an insane proposal to suggest to make a marinade with at least 25 ingredients, so to make it more attractive, but not less tasty, I have come up with a simple marinade that all of us can make in no time.
It's delicious and the great thing is that young and old love this recipe...
Oh, and even if you don't have all the ingredients, nowadays it's so easy to get most of what you need from the supermarket, so just add the spices on your shopping list... they last for a long time...

May you make beautiful memories through this wonderful comfort food.

Ingredients:
400 gr. chicken breast, cut in small pieces (organic chicken if possible)
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 pieces of lemon grass (also available in a jar in the supermarket)
1 small piece of ginger, grated (or 1 teaspoon of powdered ginger)
100 ml soya sauce
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon coriander (in powder form will do)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons sesame oil

Put all the ingredients, except the chicken, in a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon.
Add the chicken and make sure all the pieces are coated well with your marinade.
Please let this wonderful mixture of spices get the time to infuse all their aromas in the chicken.
My suggestion would be to cover the bowl and to leave it in the fridge for at least one day, even better, 24 hours...

Then you take the chicken out of the bowl, let it come to room temperature and fry the chicken in a pan without adding extra oil. It will take about 15 minutes to cook the chicken thoroughly.
When your chicken is done you add the marinade, but please take out the lemon grass.
Warm the whole thing up and serve, preferably with basmati, or jasmine rice.

I keep a bowl with peanuts on the table, in Holland it's tradition to scatter them over the chicken before we dig in !

Serves 2 people

With love,
esther.

Fresh Orange Juice!

Living in Greece has many good sides, even when the times are tough. Now that the days are dark and cold we long for light and warmth... but we can still enjoy the many days of sun as winter here is short. If you can't wait for summer to bring some color to your kitchen do what I do: make yourself a glass of fresh orange juice! Oranges are full of vitamin C which is so much needed during these rainy days. Not to mention that orange juice is delicious! Buy yourself some oranges from your local market and make yourself the perfect refreshment! Cheers!

Ingredients:
4 medium size fresh oranges
Your favorite glass
Ice cubes (optional)
A straw (if you want it)

Squeeze the oranges with your juice maker, pour the liquid into your glass and add ice cubes and a straw if you like.
Serve immediately.

With love,
esther.

Revithada

One of the things I love about living in Greece is that I am learning about all kinds of dishes that I would probably have never thought of making, would I have stayed in my own country.
One of these recipes is "Revithada", a beautiful chickpea stew that doesn't really require any cooking skills, it just bubbles along by itself while it turns into a healthy, warmhearted, honest meal.
Chickpeas are quite common in the Mediterranean kitchen, we for sure all know hummus !
The only thing we should do to prepare for this dish is soak the chickpeas overnight, this rehydrates them and results in more tender beans when cooked.
What I do is the following: I take 500gr gr. chickpeas, soak them overnight in plenty of clean water, the next day I boil half of them in a pan with plenty of water to cover them, I add a whole onion for taste and some salt.
It takes about two hours for the chickpeas to get soft enough to make hummus.
The other half of the chickpeas I use for my Revithada and here is the recipe !

Ingredients:
500 gr. chickpeas
2 onions, chopped in wedges
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon of cumin (great suggestion from chef Con Zar)
1 tablespoon of rosemary
4 tablespoons of olive oil
salt, pepper
2 tablespoons of plain flour
enough water to cover the peas

Put the chickpeas in a pan or even better in a tagine or in an oven dish.
Add the onions, the chopped tomatoes, the herbs, salt and pepper, the oil and the flour.
Cover the chickpeas with water, but not more than necessary.
Cook them on a low flame, or on a low temperature in the oven and just leave them there for 3 to 4 hours.
Check the liquid every now and then and add water when needed.

Enjoy this dish as much as I do! That's my wish for you!!
This dish serves about 4 people. To make your meal complete present it with traditional Greek corn bread and a green salad.

With love,
esther.

Greek Bougatsa for a lazy breakfast

This feeling of waking up on a Saturday morning and knowing that you don't have to rush to get to work is so precious to me.
To create a setting that is like a stay cation , meaning experiencing a little vacation, without having to leave the house, is like a gift to me.
I wake up, put on some classical music, light the fire place and get going in the kitchen.
Sometimes I like to make Dutch pancakes, or scrambled eggs with bacon and red bell peppers, or I bake bread with chocolate and walnuts inside, but today I go for a real Greek Bougatsa.
Partly because I miss Thessaloniki a bit, but the main reason is always that it just tastes so good and the whole house smells like a bakery... The smell of butter, the homemade custard.... I love it and want to share it with you, it's that simple !

So, if you want, you can get the ingredients today and create this dish tomorrow or today for an afternoon of pleasure!

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup full fat milk
1/4 cup semolina
1/2 cup of butter, cut into pieces
juice of half a lemon
zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8-10 phyllo pastry, thawed and covered with a damp towel
1/2 cup of melted butter
icing sugar
cinnamon

Beat the eggs and add the sugar, set aside.
Heat the milk in a pan over medium heat until hot, but not boiling.
Whisk the warm milk into the egg mixture, put the custard back on the heat and stir constantly while keeping the pan over medium heat. Do this for a few minutes.
Gradually sprinkle in the semolina and add a pinch of salt.
Stir constantly for 5 minutes until you have a nice, thick custard.
Whisk in the pieces of butter and set aside to cool.
Once it's cooled down and you have read your mails or part of the newspaper, you add the lemon juice, the zest and the vanilla.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and make yourself a second cup of coffee or tea.
Use a buttered rectangular oven dish or just lay a buttered baking sheet on your working surface and unroll one phyllo sheet. Keep the rest of the sheets under the damp kitchen towel.
Brush the sheet with butter and repeat this with the next 4 to 5 sheets.
Cover the buttered sheets with the custard cream and spread it out, but leave the sides free, cause you have to fold the sides around the cream.
When the cream is spread evenly you fold the sides of the phyllo towards the centre, so they cover part of the cream and you then brush these parts of the phyllo with butter as well.
Take your remaining sheets, brush each of them with butter and carefully place them on top of your bougatsa.
When you're all set, wrap the sides of the sheets around the bougatsa, so you have something like a parcel.
If the sheets are too large , you can also cut some pieces off with a knife.
It shouldn't become too messy, you want to relax, not to have more work !

Now you can bake your bougatsa for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on your oven.

Let it cool a bit, and then sprinkle it with icing sugar and cinnamon to your liking !

In Greece bougatsa is cut with a pizza cutter, cause the phyllo is very sensitive and you want a clean cut, but if you don't have one of those, you just take a sharp knife and you're good to go!

I wish you will enjoy this breakfast as much as I do, and if you feel guilty , you can always go for a run in the afternoon..


With love,
esther.

Salmon fish cakes with prawn sauce.

My friend Kym says: " We should eat Salmon (pronounced as saman ) once a week". According to Kym it makes wrinkles disappear and this particular fish has omega 3 in it, so it's good for your skin in general...
I happen to love Salmon, so the prospect of a flawless, glowing complexion is such an appealing thought !

Today is Wednesday, the middle of the week, we should start preparing for the weekend... I'll meet up with some Dutch friends who will leave Greece soon to go and live in Berlin, then I will probably go dancing in this cute little bar me and my girlfriends discovered, and Sunday is booked for a long walk up in the mountains and a warm Taverna lunch afterwards before driving back home... Sunday night is movie night !
So I want to look rested and healthy..
The trick to achieve this is lots of exercise, yesterday was for circuit training, today is for yoga/dance class, tomorrow is for tennis... Add some Salmon to this life style and you'll be fine !

Ingredients for the Salmon fish cakes:
200 gr. Salmon fillet
100 gr breadcrumbs
3 potatoes( plus an extra potato if needed)
2 tablespoons of heavy cream
olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
tabasco
juice and peel of one lemon
handful of dill
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon of mustard (any kind you like)
salt, freshly ground pepper


Cut the Salmon in small cubes.
Peel and boil the potatoes and dice them once cool.
Chop the dill.
Mash the potato with the cream, combine the potato with the raw salmon, tabasco, lemon juice and peel, dill, egg yolks and mustard.
Season with salt and pepper.
Make your hands wet with water or white wine and form flat cakes that you then coat with the breadcrumbs... This is the fun part!
Heat a bit of olive oil together with the butter in a frying pan and fry your cakes on both sides until they look golden brown.


Ingredients for the Prawn sauce:
90 ml Vermouth or Sherry
150 gr peeled Prawns
300 ml heavy cream
2 shallots, finely chopped
juice of one lemon
salt, freshly ground pepper
Heat the Vermouth with the shallots, lemon juice and cream.
Stir in the Prawns.

Serve your Salmon cakes with the warm sauce, lemon wedges and some fresh parsley .

Now, I know this recipe has some calories, but I think it's worth eating this, cause the taste is fantastic, I can assure you that I've cooked this many times for friends and they all love it!
I would suggest to serve this either as a main course for two people with a green salad on the side, or as a starter for four people, with a warm baguette on the side.
Oh, and if you want to skip the sauce, salmon fish cakes are wonderful with ordinary ketchup, so there you go !!!

Tomorrow you can opt for steamed salmon with steamed broccoli.... Not that exciting, but healthy and plain...

With love,
esther.

I'm Back !

This is so common... You make a blog, then realize that it will take a while to reach people and you let it go..
But I'm back now and not planning to leave any time soon!!
I'm truly sorry for having been away, for not posting any recipes or ideas for great food... so now that we got that out of the way I can start..

It's winter, even here in Athens, although some of my friends abroad listen to me with disbelief when I tell them about the floods in the city and the snow in the mountains.

So, what do we do when the weather is absolutely awful? We listen to Ray Lamontagne... That song, "Trouble" is my one time favorite.... we pour ourselves a glass of ruby red wine... we light a few candles, the ones that smell like you want to eat them... and we disappear into our kitchen to come out when we're done with our cooking therapy !

And the best of all is to get the chance to share these moments with someone who is exactly in the same mood...

So, what would I suggest to cook today??
What about, mmmm, let me think, something not to heavy, still giving a fulfilling feeling, nothing weird, something homey, friendly, doable, with ingredients we have around...
Let's do some pasta !!! Homemade obviously !!!

SWEET POTATO RAVIOLI :

For the Pasta we need :
1 Recipe Fresh Pasta,in thin wide sheets
(which you'll find when you scroll down)

For the filling:
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 8 pieces
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons of Mascarpone(or creamy goat cheese)
Fresh ground pepper
1 large egg white, beaten (preferably organic)

For serving:
grated Parmesan cheese
some large sage leaves,sliced
some melted butter

So, we start by making the pasta...
Don't worry if you've never done that before, I had a lesson recently and it's really fun and easy..plus that you can always freeze the pasta if you have too much.
The taste is unbelievable, I have officially fallen in love with home made pasta !

All you need is :
4 large eggs(organic if possible)
400 gr pasta flour or unbleached all purpose flour, plus more for dusting.

Whisk together the eggs in a bowl.
Put the flour on a large board and make a well in the centre, pour the eggs into the well and then you slowly bring in the flour, using your hands or a fork.
Knead until you form a nice dough !
If the dough is sticky you can add some more flour, this is the classic rule for whatever you do with dough.
Now take out your pasta machine !
I have the simple hand -cranked pasta maker, my mum gave it to me as a gift and it sat on a kitchen shelf for 5 years, shame on me !
Now that I know how it works, I'm addicted..
Cut the dough into 8 pieces and roughly form into rectangles. Dust each rectangle with a bit of flour.
Starting with the widest setting, put one piece through the machine, dusting with more flour...yes, keep dusting your pasta, so it works with you!
Fold the dough over and go through again on the same setting, going from widest to thinnest, until you are left with a long thin sheet of pasta.
Repeat with all the pieces of dough, invite your friends, kids, neighbors for help and cover the pasta sheets with a damp towel.

For the filling:
You boil or steam the sweet potato for about 20 minutes, just like with a regular potato.
Mash it and stir in the cheeses.
Season the mixture.
Now put teaspoons of your mixture on half the pasta sheets, leaving a few centimeters space between them.
Brush the egg white along the top and bottom of each pasta sheet that you've placed filling on and brush between each dollop.
Lay the untouched pasta sheet over the filled ones.
Seal the edges with your fingers to get the air out.
Then cut the ravioli with a paring knife into squares.
Trim away extra pasta and seal each ravioli with your fingers.
Cook your ravioli in salted, boiling water, in batches, for two minutes....
Note: Fresh pasta doesn't need the cooking time that bought pasta needs.
Meanwhile hurry up and melt the butter with the sage, spoon this delightful mixture over your ravioli and serve with the extra Parmesan.

Heaven !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Enough talking for today... Enjoy !!!

With Love,
esther.