Thursday, February 23, 2012

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.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

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.

Monday, February 13, 2012

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.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

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.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

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.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

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.