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.