Delicious shortbread

Easy shortbread cookies to make...

You will need:

125gr of butter ( room temperature)
200gr of Flour ( I am using white spelt flour )
pinch of salt
50gr  (or less)of sugar ( I used brown sugar)
vanilla extract or vanilla sugar









Preheat the oven to 170'C

Mix flour, butter, sugar, salt and vanilla together with your hands. Make it look like a crumble.

Transforn into the baking form. Lightly push the dough , make it flat.

Put in the preheated oven for about 15-20 mins. Depends how you like it..I usually keep it in the oven until the edges get brown.

Once backed let it cool for approximately 10 minutes. Cut it the way you want.

Eat :)

Enjoy!!!

                                                   Spelt bread recipe

You will need:

400gr spelt flour (or you can also use buckwheat flour )

pinch of salt

1 tsp sugar

handful of sunflower seeds

handful of pumpkin seeds

handful of chia seeds

1 tsp of dry yeast

450gr ( or more ) of warm water

                                        First add flour to a big bowl..

then add salt..

and sugar..

some sunflower seeds..

pumpkin seeds..

chia seeds...

and yeast..

                                                       

then add warm water..

Mix it all until you reach toothpaste like consistency. You need to be able to stir it with a spoon if you need to add even more water then do so. This is important to get it right so the bread after baking turns out nice and moist.

let it rise for and hour or so..

it should double in size:)

Place the dough in the bread form , sprinkle some more sunflower seeds on top and bake it for about 35-40 minutes, in preheated oven at 180.You will know when it is ready when the top of the bread starts turning brown :)

And here it is :) This is the best bread recipe I have ever used and my favourite as well. It is so easy to do and the bread tastes absolutely amazing. I have tried the buckwheat flour option as well and it is perfect and so healthy. You should try it and you will not be disappointed. Enjoy!

Lasagna

Vegetable Lasagna.

Yummy ;)

Ingredients:                                                                                      For the pasta:
10 mushrooms                                                                                 250 g of flour 
1 zucchini                                                                                           1 egg beaten
1 red pepper                                                                                      warm water
3 cloves of garlic                                                                              pinch of salt
1 mozzarella
1 cup of cream
1 cup of tinned tomatoes
1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese 
few basil leaves
salt and pepper

And this is how you do it :)
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and zucchini and do the same with the mushroom and the pepper.Fry them separately. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes.

Once all the veggies are nicely cooked , mix the peppers and the mushrooms all together and  stir in the tinned tomatoes. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer for 10 minutes or until sauce has thickened. Remove from heat. Cover. Season with salt and pepper.

Now for the fresh pasta for your lasagna.
Place the flour on a board or in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and crack the egg into it. Beat the egg with a fork until smooth. Using the tips of your fingers, mix the eggs with the flour, incorporating a little at a time, until everything is combined. Knead the pieces of dough together until the dough is smooth. Add some water if needed.

Now you need to roll out the dough and NO you do not need the pasta machine :)
The main thing is to get the dough as thin as possible. The way around this is to roll lots of small pieces of pasta rather than one big one. Dust your surface with some flour and roll out piece by piece. I have made 3 long pieces for my lasagna out of it.
Once you've rolled your pasta the way you want it, you need to shape or cut it straight away. Pasta dries much quicker than you think, so whatever you do try to use it asap. You can lay over a damp clean tea towel which will stop it from drying as I did.

You will need to boil your lasagna pasta before you layer and bake it.

Boil the pasta pieces for not longer that 1 minute. Please cook them one by one.

Meanwhile, melt ghee in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 1 minute. Add cream, keep stirring and bring it boil. Add salt and pepper and I additionally added few leaves of basil. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until sauce boils and thickens. Remove pan from heat. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.  Set aside.

Lightly grease with the olive oil a deep, square baking dish. Spoon the cream sauce the into dish. Arrange half the vegetables mixture over, add the zucchini. Put half of the mozzarella on top. Place half the lasagna sheets over it, breaking sheets to fit. Repeat layers. Spoon creamy sauce over top. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden and pasta tender. Done and ready to eat after few minutes just let it rest before serving.

Enjoy.

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.