Gnocchi

A very delicious gnocchi I made the other day and I just cannot believe how easy it is and so special at the same time. It was so good ! 

For 2 people you will need:
15 small size potatoes

1 egg
100-150gr of white flour ( + more flour for dusting)
pinch of salt
1/2 cup of finely chopped rocket
few drops of water if needed

First boil the potatoes in their skins until soft. Once cooked you need to peel them while they are still quite hot. Then you mash them. I used a fork to do that. Very easy :)

Allow them to cool down before adding flour ,salt, the egg and the rocket. Mix together all the ingredients until the dough is quite firm and not sticky.
Flour the board and cut the dough into 5 pieces and roll each of the pieces into a thin rope, about 1cm wide. Cut into 1cm long pieces. Lightly flour gnocchi while you cut them. You can either leave the shape of them as they are or you can roll them into tiny balls as I did :)

Boil the water with a little bit of salt in a big pot. Add the handful of gnocchi to the pan and cook them until they float on top, that would be approximately 1 minute. Remove the gnocchi with a skimmer,shake off the excess water and serve immediately as desired. 
I fried them slightly on the pan in olive oil and served with baked salmon. 

They taste as nice the next day in a soup or simply fried with pesto ,creamy sauce or just with butter.

                                                                  Delicious

LOVE ravioli !

I love Italian cooking and I love ravioli but I have never been brave enough to make them from scratch on my own. 
But here they are. I am happy in 99% how they turned out but there is always place for an improvement I think ;-)
It is a great dish not only for your loved ones. Those little heart shaped ravioli with delicious pea filling look and taste really nice.

For 19 pieces you will need:

The dough:
200 gr of flour
2 eggs
pinch of salt

The filling:
1 cup of green peas cooked
4 cloves of garlic
bunch of basil and parsley leaves

3 tsp of cream cheese
1/2 cup of parmezan
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup of roasted pistachios
salt and pepper

First you need to do the dough. 
Mix the flour with the eggs. If the dough feels too dry you can add few drops of water. Knead the pasta until smooth and then wrap in the plastic wrap.
Cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
In the meantime prepare the filling.
Puree in the food processor the peas, garlic, parmezan,lemon zest, cream cheese, herbs, pistachios and season it well with salt and pepper. Blend it all until smooth pesto texture.

Once the dough has been cooled down you can prepare the raviolis.
Remove the pasta from the fridge and the wrap and cut into half.
Work with one piece at the time. Lightly flour the dough and roll it out with a roller ( or pasta machine if you are lucky to have that) until really thin.
I used first my heart shaped form to mark where to put the filling.
Put the filling in the middle of each heart ,brush the edges with a little bit of water and cover it with the second piece of rolled out pasta.

Press down between them to seal the sheets together. I used a fork to be extra sure to keep the filling inside.

Boil plenty of water in a large pot and add pinch of salt. Drop half of the raviolis into the pot and cook for about 4-5 minutes until they start floating on top. Remove them and serve immediately with melted butter or creamy pea sauce on the bed of roasted asparagus as I did.

                                                             Buon Appetito :-)

Cocoa brownies with roasted walnuts

          Delicious brownie with walnuts and made entirely with cocoa powder. 

You will need for about 15 pieces:

 140g of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder (sweetened or unsweetened)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup of Spelt flour 
2/3 cup of roasted walnuts

Preheat the oven for 170 degrees.
Roast the walnuts on the hot frying pan for about 1 minute.

Mix butter, salt ,cocoa and sugar in a heatproof  bowl or a cooking pan ( in my case) and set in a wide skillet of simmering water.  Stir from time to time and make sure that the mixture is melting. It should be rather smooth and hot. Once everything is nicely combined together, remove the pan and put on the side to cool down.

Then add the vanilla extract and the eggs one by one. Mix all well with a wooden spoon until shiny and sticky. Add the flour and walnuts. Mix well and pour the mixture into the baking pan with the baking paper inside it.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Let it cool for about 10 minutes.

     Once the brownie had cooled down I poured some maple syrup on top.  
                                                                                    

Vegetable Curry with homemade Naan bread

 This is my version of the classic vegetable curry that is creamy, spicy and very delicious.

                                                             Ingredients for 4 people: 

                                                      6 carrots chopped
                                                     7 mushrooms chopped
                                                     1 paprika chopped
                                                      1 red onion chopped
                                                     8 cloves of garlic finely chopped
                                                     1 tablespoon of roasted sesame seeds
                                                     few cashew nuts

2 cups of frozen peas
ghee or rapeseed oil for frying
teaspoon of brown sugar
1 cup of kidney beans
1 cup of chickpeas 
1 teaspoon of peanut butter
salt + pepper + 1 vegetable stock cube

half a cup of lentils (any of your choice)

1 red chili chopped finely

1 tin of coconut milk 
half  zucchini chopped
half a cup of double cream
5 cherry tomatoes chopped in halves

For the curry mix of spices:

3 teaspoons of tandoori powder
2 teaspoons of madras curry (mild) powder
1 teaspoon of ground cumin powder
1 teaspoon of garam masala powder
1/2 teaspoon of kurkuma powder


Heat the ghee or oil on the frying pan. Dry roast the spices on the low heat for about 2 minutes . Make sure to stir them to avoid burning. Put on the side.

Next heat some more ghee or oil in the big pot and first add the onions. Let it cook on the low heat for about 10 minutes , until they soften and sweeten, then add the chopped chili and garlic.

 Cook them for a few minutes and then add the chopped carrots, mushrooms, zucchini and paprika. Add the roasted spices and mix it all well. Cook it for another minute then add the peas, chickpeas, kidney beans, tomatoes and lentils,sesame seeds and cashews. Mix it all well.
 Cook another minute and stir in slowly the coconut milk and the cream. Mix it well with a teaspoon of peanut butter, salt , pepper and the cube.

Reduce the heat and cover the pot for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

                                              Serve with some naan bread or rice. 

Beautiful ciabatta with cheesy mozzarella bake

This is really good recipe for an easy and super tasty ciabatta bread :)

You will need :

 400g spelt flour
1 tsp of sea salt
1 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of dry yeast
300g of luke warm water

Mix  everything well together in the above order in a bowl and cover it with a plate. Leave it to rise for about an hour or 2.
Put the baking paper on the baking tray and oil it properly.
Oil your hands with olive oil and take the dough out of the bowl to form 4 little ciabattas out of it. The dough will be very sticky and wet but flexible enough to create little breads. This is how it should be.
You can use some cherry tomatoes, chopped garlic pieces, pine nuts, parsley or sesame seeds to decorate the bread. Sprinkle some sea salt and pepper on top.

Leave it on the tray for another 30 minutes to rise and then bake in the preheated oven of 220 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden.

I served my ciabatta with the mozzarella bake,homemade oven chips and tomato salsa.

For the cheesy bake for 2 you will need:

2 mozzarella's

2 cloves of roasted garlic

bunch of cherry tomatoes ( I used 8)

3 tablespoons of cream cheese

5 tablespoons of Parmesan

3 tablespoons of Gruyere cheese or any mature Swiss cheese

few basil leaves

salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients together.  Put the mixture into the pots ( I used 4 ceramic pots) and sprinkle with some olive oil and Parmesan on top of each of one.

Bake in the preheated oven of 200 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.

Happy and healthy banana bread

                                                     Simply scrumptious :)

You will need:

3 big bananas, ripe

2 cups of spelt flour

1/3 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1/3 cup of natural yogurt

2 eggs beaten

1 teaspoon of vanilia essence 

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of honey

1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

few walnuts chopped(optional)

25g of dark chocolate chopped(optional)

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Grease and flour a loaf pan and put it on the side.  In the meantime stir all the dry ingredients together including walnuts and chocolate if you are using them.

In smaller bowl mash the bananas with a fork until finely smooth.

This one did not really want to be in my bread ;-)

  Add the beaten eggs and the rest of wet ingredients and mix well.  Batter should not be too fine. Pour the mixture into the pan.  Sprinkle a little bit of cocoa powder on top.

Bake it until the top of the bread has got brown and firm.  I would suggest about 45 to 50 minutes.

Remove it from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes before serving.

It tastes heavenly when warm but it can also be enjoyed cold and can be kept up to 5 days :)

Gooey chocolate pudding!

Chocolate pudding ingredients  for 2 :

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

100g of dark chocolate

2 tsp of caster sugar

3 tsp of whiskey

50g of butter + some more for rubbing

             3 tsp of grated almonds       

                                                                                                                                                                    

Prepare 2 small tart trays or muffin ceramic pots  and set the oven for 220. Rub the insides of the ramekins with butter and dust with grated almonds.

Then break the chocolate into small pieces, dice the butter and put them in a bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water to gently melt. Whisk every now and then until both are perfectly melted. In another bowl whisk the eggs and the sugar until smooth. Eventually gently mix the melted chocolate and butter into the egg mixture and add the whiskey. Pour the chocolate mixture into the pots.

Bake them for 10 minutes, until the edges are set and nearly firm and cracking.

Serve immediately with some very cold vanilla ice cream. Can also be enjoyed cold and kept in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Yummy :)

Asparagus risotto with honey marinated scallops

I love risotto and I think that lovely dish is great for a special occasion :)

Ingredients for 2:

1 cup of risotto rice
bunch of asparagus
3 cloves of garlic chopped
small red onion chopped
3 cups of vegetarian stock
3 tsp of grated Parmesan
1 tsp of pine nuts roasted
2 bags of wild Irish scallops
butter and olive oil for frying















Marinade for the scallops:


1 tsp of honey
3 tsp of olive oil
2 tsp of lemon juice 
salt + pepper


First of all you need to marinate the scallops.
Mix the olive oil, lemon juice and honey together with the seasoning and add the scallops to it. Leave in the fridge for at least an hour before cooking.

Then slowly fry the asparagus,onion...

 ...and garlic on low heat all together for about 10 minutes.

Then add the risotto rice and stir in gently and cook for a minute...

 ..then add little bit of the vegetarian stock ,just enough to cover the rice and slowly let the rice absorb it. Continue doing that until all the stock has been absorbed.

In the meantime heat the pan with olive oil and 1 tsp of butter and place the marinated scallops on it.

Fry them for 2 minutes each side and serve on top of the risotto...

...with some roasted pine nuts and Parmesan sprinkled on it.

                              Hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.