Clementine and ground almond cake

This is an Ottolenghi recipe of the orange ground almond cake. There is another recipe I was thinking of making, that is the venetian version of the same cake from Polpo's cooking book. But because I am a big fun of clementines and because Polpo's cake syrup sounded more complicated to make, I decided to try this another time. Both the recipes are written below.

 Ottolenghi's clementine and ground almond cake

Ingredients


200g unsalted butter
380g caster sugar
4 clementines, zest grated, and juiced
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
280g ground almonds
5 medium free-range eggs, beaten
100g plain flour, sifted
1/8 tsp salt
Orange zest, cut in strips, to garnish

For the chocolate icing (optional)

90g unsalted butter, diced
150g dark chocolate, broken up
½ tbsp honey
½ tbsp cognac

I start with preheating the oven at 200º C. I will then grease a 23cm baking tin with butter and line the sides and base with baking parchment. Then, I will then grate the 4 clementines, juice them and keep 120 ml aside for the syrup. I will beat the eggs and keep them in a separate bowl, measure and sift the flour.

In a big bowl I mix the butter, 300gr of caster sugar and the citrus zest. I do so in a slow speed, trying not to incorporate air in the mixture. I add in stages half the ground almonds, gradually the eggs, scrapping the bottom and the edges of the bowl. Finally I add the remaining ground almonds, the flour and salt and mix it all together until smooth.

Then, pour the mixture in the tin, level it with a palette knife and put it into the oven to cook for 50 to 60 minutes. A skewer should be going through  the cake smoothly and coming out a little bit moist.

Before the cake is cooked i start preparing the syrup. I will heat the remaining sugar (80gr) and the clementine juice in a small pan, bring it to the boil and remove it instantly.

When the cake is out of the oven, I will make holes with the skewer and brush the syrup all over the surface of the cake and leave it to cool.

For the icing I add the butter, chocolate and honey in a heatproof bowl and place it over a slightly simmering saucepan. When everything is melted I add the cognac (or rum) and pour the icing over the cake, allowing it to move down the sides naturally. By the time the icing is set we can add the orange zest strips at the middle of the cake.


Polpo's flourless orange and almond cake

Ingredients

2 oranges
100gr brown sugar
400 gr caster sugar
6 medium free range eggs
250gr almonds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
zest and juice of 1 orange
250 gr mascarpone
2 tbsp double cream

In a large pan I place the two oranges with plenty of water and boil gently for 2 hours. After this time I remove the oranges, set them aside and reserve the cooking liquid.

In a food processor I whizz until white and fluffy the brown sugar, half the caster sugar and the eggs.

When the oranges have cooled enough to handle I cut them into pieces, remove any seeds and them to the food processor. When smooth enough I add the ground almond and baking powder and whizz to combine. I will then spread the mixture in a greased and lined with baking parchment baking tin (around 26cm) and bake it in a preheated oven at 180º C, for 1-1 1/2 hours.

Meanwhile I make the syrup. I will pour the reserved liquid from the oranges into a large pan (750 ml of water will do instead) along with the remaining caster sugar, the zest of 1 orange and its juice. I will bring to a fierce boil for around 10 minutes or until thick and immediately take of the heat (it will continue to thicken when removed from the heat).

To serve I slice the cake and place a little of the mascarpone and double cream mix on the side. I dress with the syrup.

Roasted roots

Roasted Roots

The dish is an Ottolenghi recipe. It seems like the usual way to roast your veggies, but there is the addition of the sauce that makes the dish differ. If you omit the cappers, like I did, the dish can be too sweet and it will need something to balance it. My idea to add german smoked cheese and goat cheese proved good.

Ingredients

150 ml Olive Oil
1 head of garlic halved horizontally
700 gr baby parsnips (cut into 2-3  segments then each piece lengthways two or four)
2 big carrots (cut into 2-3  segments then each piece lengthways two or four)
3 small size sweet potatoes (cut in strips, skin on)
4 medium red onions cut in wedges
30 cherry tomatoes (12 small plum tomatoes will do fine)
4 sprigs of thyme (or 2 tbsp of dried thyme)
2 sprigs of rosemary

For the sauce:
half a spoon mustard dijon
half a spoon honey
2 tbsp of lemon juice
4 tbsp of capers
1 tbsp roasted seamy seeds
salt and pepper

The dish is prepared in 3 stages. First I mix well 120 ml of the olive oil with the garlic, the parsnips, the carrots, the onions and  the thyme-rosemary and spread them in a large roasting tray in a preheated oven (190). After 20 min I will add the sweet potatoes and give them all a good stir. They will cook for about 40 to 50 minutes until  they get a golden colour and then  I will add the cherry tomatoes and let them roast for another 10 minutes. Meanwhile I whisk together the remaining olive oil with the ingredients of the sauce and pour it over the vegetables the moment i take them out of the oven. Scatter the sesame seeds, melt in the cheese and serve on the roasting tin.

Nice bread

By trying to avoid wheat products you are making a big compromise with the taste of your bread. Generally I will eat the german rye bread with everything but when I want to eat my favourite scrabbled eggs breakfast a good slice of bread is irreplaceable. I will buy a loaf of this nice organic sourdough bread from a shop in Lordship Lane, the cheese block, cut it in slices and freeze them for future use. The taste is amazing!

Sometimes I will try the seeded organic pitta bread from sainsburrys and add egg/avocando/haloumi to make a glorious sunday breakfast / brunch.

Spinach brown rice pilaff

It's so easy to cook this delicious and healthy vegetarian dish. You just need some spinach, olive oil and rice. Add some dill or fennel and lemon zest and indulge yourself.

Ingredients
1 kilo spinach washed and cut into chunks
6 spring onions finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
1 leek, both white and some of the green part chopped
zest and juice of one lemon (and lime optional)
dill finely chopped
fennel  root finely chopped
1 cup olive oil ( i suppose you could add less, I like my olive oil)
salt an pepper
1 cup of warm water
1/2 cup brown rice

In a heavy based sauce pan I heat the olive oil. I add the onions and leek and let them cook until they become transparent, stirring them often with a wooden spoon, for  5 to 6 minutes. I  pour in the water, add the rice and give it a good stir. I cover my pan and let the food slow cook for 25 min, making sure there is water in my pan but not too much. I often stir everything together. Midways I add the dill, fennel, juice and zest of the lemon. When the food is ready, I will take the pan off the heat and cover it with a towel and the lid to absorb the steam.

Spinach pie

Ingredients

Spinach (1 kilo)
2-3 leeks chopped
fresh onions chopped
olive oil (+ butter if you wish)
parsley/mint/dill
200gr feta cheese
200gr emental or edam or any similar kind  sweat tasting cheese
100gr pine nuts
2 eggs + 1 yolk to apply on top of the puff pastry
sesame seeds
salt and pepper
sesame seeds 

Cod cooked with kale, ginger and garlic

This is an amazing recipe I accidentally discovered while browsing for kale dishes. I admit I have never tried kale before and I am very happy i decided to add it into my cooking list; its salty, earthy taste combined with more neutral ones can make a dish very interesting. I suppose it is usually boiled or steamed but here I tried it a different way.

Ingredients
 1 table spoon olive oil
2 gloves of garlic, grated
a piece of fresh ginger pealed and grated
250gr curly kale
1/2 cup white wine ( or rice wine)
2 tbsp of tamari sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil

First I heat the olive oil in a heavy based pan, then i add the ginger and garlic, stirring them until fragrant. I will then insert the kale and toss it around to coat  with the oil and pour in the wine. I cover the pan and let it simmer for about 8 min, until the kale is soft. I, then, remove the lid and place on top of the cooked kale the fish fillet and pour in the sesame oil and the tamari sauce. I let it cook for 7 to 10 min. I serve it on top of the kale and sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds on top.

Easter feast

Well it's not the proper greek easter sunday menu, there are no cooked intestines or mageiritsa left overs, the lamb liver soup, but we had tzatziki, a delicious lamb rack and shoulder of pork cooked in the oven with lemony potatoes served with greek salad. The drinks were pure greek, mavroodafni to start with and the finishing touch, tsipouro without anise.

Mageiritsa - lamb offal soup with spring onions, dill and lettuce served with avgolemono (egg and lemon sauce)

This is a traditional easter dish, eaten on the easter Saturday, after midnight, when the lent period is over.

Ingredients
1 kilo of lamb offal - I bought one kilo of lamb liver instead
salt
1 onion finally chopped
1 lettuce bunch
2 bunches of spring onions
2 cups of thinly sliced dill
2 eggs
juice of a lemon

I 've done this dish once in the past, but this time it was a more traumatic experience since the liver just wouldn't stop bleeding. I know that you add the liver in one piece, in salty boiling water  as a way to stop the bleeding. Although i did this, the liver just kept dropping blood (horrendous!).

Procedure: After I boil the liver I put it aside, let it cool and chop it in very small pieces. In a heavy based deep saucepan I heat the olive oil and add the onion, fresh onions and the chopped liver. I cook them for a good 10 minutes and then I pour in the water, a tablespoon for start. I add the chopped lettuce and the dill and stir everything together. After  minutes I pour in a glass of water. i cover the pan and let the soup simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. I add some water in between incase it is becoming dry. The last 10 minutes I prepare the egg lemon sauce. I separate the yolks and whip them into a thick cream. I whip the egg whites into a meringue and add them to the yolks. i then whisk in the lemon juice, bit by bit and a tablespoon of the liver broth. I give it a good stir and pour the sauce into the soup. I take the pan off the heat.

Fried cod with stir-fried vegetables and cassious nuts

Fish means trouble to me. Although I recognise its nutritional value and want to add it into my weekly menu, at the same time I struggle to find recipes that will make it appealing to eat. I will usually result to the strong taste of salmon or disguise cod into something else ( pesto covered). This time I decided to fry my fish and add a chinese touch to it. An easy and delicious recipe.

Fried cod with stir-fried vegetables and cassious nuts

250g fresh cod, cut into 2,5cm cubes, skinned
3 tbsp coconut oil
2.5 cm root ginger shredded
3 fresh onion chopped
1 red pepper cut into small squares
half a courgette cut into small squares
2 tsp rice wine (or wine vinegar)
2 tbsp crushed cassious nuts

In a large wok I will heat 2 spoons of coconut oil and fry the fish for 3 minutes, drain it and put it aside. I then clean the wok thoroughly, reheat it and add the rest of the coconut oil and the ginger, stirring it until fragrant, then add the spring onions, pepper and courgette. I stir everything together, add the rice and cook for one-two minutes. I will finally add the fish and stir to warm through. A sprinkle of crashed cassious nuts ( or toasted pine kernels) on top and my yummy food is ready to eat.

Going sugar free : Glorious vegetable omelette oven cooked and chicken stir fry served with quinoa and yoghurt dressing

It is my second sugar free week and it feels weird, especially when I see me taking on any kind of carb; like making buckwheat flour based pizza at 11 o'clock at night, eating rice cakes all day or devouring large bags of chips. My body, or any unwanted host inside it, craves the sugar in any form, and since it is deprived of the real thing it goes for second best options (it apparently knows that carbohydrates are broken down into glucose).

In my attempt to forget about my sweet tooth I have cooked some really nice savoury dishes, like the following chicken stir fry, which was eaten immediately and didn't even manage to take a photo of it and my glorious today breakfast as seen in the photo.

Vegetable omelette

6 eggs
2 cups finally chopped vegetables (asparagus, mushrooms, onion, courgettes and yellow pepper)
sliced haloumi cheese into cubes
3 spring onions sliced
freshly ground pepper
coconut oil for greasing

While preheating the oven, I will whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then add the chopped vegetables and finally stir in the spring onions and the pepper. I will spoon the mixture into a greased muffin tray, add the cheese on top and let it bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Chicken stir fry served with quinoa and yoghurt dressing

1 chicken breast, no skin, into stripes

1 yellow pepper chopped into small cubes

1/2 red onion chopped into small pieces

50 gr quinoa

250ml water

 half  a vegetable stock cube 

1 Tbsp of olive oil

marinade

1 teaspoon of ground coriander

2 Tbs fresh coriander

2-3 spring onions, finely sliced

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

3 Tbs olive oil

Zest of 1 orange

2 Tbs orange juice

Juice of half a lemon

freshly ground pepper

yoghurt sauce

4 spoons of yoghurt

half a teaspoon of cumin

First I make the marinade, combining all the ingredients together in a bowl. I then add the chicken stripes and let it rest for as long as I can in the fridge. Then I will start cooking the quinoa; I will warm the olive oil in my pan and then saute the onion, being careful not to let it burn. Then I will add the soaked and drained quinoa, and move it around it for a minute. I pour in the cold water and some orange juice and when it starts to boil I will add the stock cube, stirring everything together. I cover the pan and while the quinoa is cooking , I heat some olive oil in a big wok and add the chicken with the marinade and the yellow pepper. I will stir constantly until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. When the chicken is ready and the quinoa has absorbed the water I will place then in a plate with the yoghurt sauce and sprinkle some chopped fresh coriander and orange zest to garnish.

Slow cooked chicken thighs with prunes, sun-dried tomatoes and rosemary

Recently while trying to come up with ideas for a perfect dinner party dish  I remembered this delicious recipe my friend Lito used to cook. So far i have slow cooked the chicken with many different ingredients; in this recipe I was to cook together the chicken with prunes, orange juice, rosemary and sun-dried tomatoes, a combination that in the end brought out a nice balanced flavour.

Red curry with tofu, brown mushrooms and runner beans

For this dish I followed a simple recipe found on the red curry paste package . By adding, though,  chopped mint leaves and serving it with coarse bulgur instead of noodles or rice, I managed to transform it into a new dish. It sounds simple but the flavours combined perfectly and gave the dish a divine taste.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp red curry paste
1 can of coconut milk
1 clove of garlic
runner beans
4 brown mushrooms
chopped mint leaves
1/2 cup coarse bulgur

I start with the bulgur, rinsing it with water and then adding it to 600ml boiling water. I will add a vegetable cube and stir it once, cover the pan and let it simmer for around twenty minutes. Meanwhile, I prepare my curry. The recipe sites that we should heat the coconut milk and add the curry and the vegetables. I changed it slightly; mixed two spoons of red curry paste with two full spoons of the cream that concentrates on the top of the can and the garlic chopped to get some extra flavour and then poured in slowly the rest of the coconut milk, the mushrooms and beans. After 15 minutes of simmering my curry is ready. I will mix the curry with the bulgur and add the chopped mint leaves on top.

Tart with salmon, leeks and dill

Trahanas

This week I wasn't feeling well so I was cooking mainly 'sicky food'. Deprived of taste and smell and with no appetite or energy to make my usual experimental dishes, I, instead, went back to my childhood memories and dug up easy to make dishes, such as chicken soup with lemon and egg sauce (kotospupa), dry bread (frigania) and a grain and milk thick soup( trahanas), simple and nutritious recipes but most important, ideal for upset stomachs and feverish colds.

Trahanas is made from a mix of cracked wheat or rye and milk and can be cooked into a soup with water , stock or milk ; could be made into a thick pie or added into other dishes instead of or with rice. There are many different variations of the basic recipe across Greece and its origins go back to ancient Greece.

My grandmother used to make each September the whole year's production, boiling the ground wheat with the sour milk, letting the mixture to cool overnight, and then spreading it in the form of small balls under the sun to dry out on a sheet for a couple of days. She would cook it into a soup with water and throw in an egg when the soup was ready.

My take was to make a chicken soup and add trahanas instead of rice.



Ingredients

150 gr trahanas
1 chicken breast ( better if I had thighs or the whole chicken)
1 carrot
1 celery
1 onion
salt and pepper
feta cheese

The idea is to boil the chicken breast with the vegetables until it's cooked, pass everything through a sieve, keep the vegetables and chicken aside and add trahanas into the water. It will take 12 minutes to be cooked. Meanwhile I melt the vegetables and shred the chicken and add everything to the trahanas soup with some feta cheese to make it more salty. Grind some pepper on top and the soup is ready.

Just to add that in the traditional chicken soup, we boil the chicken with the vegetables and the last ten minutes we add the rice. Meanwhile we whisk together the juice of one lemon with 2 eggs  till we get a smooth mix. Βefore we pour it into the hot soup we mix one cup of the warm soup water into the egg-lemon mix, then whisk to combine.

Stefano's red pepper pesto and chestnut flour cake

The photos don't do it justice, but this shell pasta with red pepper pesto was absolutely delicious. The recipe was simple; all you need is the right ingredients and an italian touch.

Ingredients (for 6 people)

2 Tbsp olive oil
12 red peppers cut into strips
2 Tbsp wine vinegar
3 gloves of garlic
grated parmesan cheese
basil (12 leaves)

1 packet of conchiglie rigate (shell pasta)
grated parmesan cheese



After heating the olive oil in the pan, Stefano added the red pepper slices and cooked them for 10 min or until they became brown. Before removing the pan from the heat, he poured in some wine vinegar to balance the sweetness from the peppers. When the peppers cooled down, he added them to the food processor with the garlic, the parmesan cheese and the basil, making them into a paste. The pasta was cooked according the packet's instructions and was mixed with the pesto before served.

The chestnut flour cake

Guvetsi with hilopites

The word guvetsi derives from the turkish word guves, the ceramic tray which is traditionally cooked in. Usually it is meat cooked lengthily in the oven with pasta and/or vegetables.

Ingredients

1 tbsp of olive oil
800 gr lamb cut into pieces
2 red onions cut into small chunks
2 carrots cut into medium pieces
 1 leek cut into pieces
1 aubergine cut into pieces
2 zucchini cut into pieces
2 garlic cloves cut into pieces
1/2 glass of white wine
1 and a half can of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp of tomato paste
500 ml beef stock
500 gr hilopites (greek soup pasta)
1 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp ras el hanout
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbsp of sugar
salt and freshly grounded pepper

I heat up the olive oil in a thick-based large saucepan and when it starts bubbling I add the lamb pieces, leaving them to cook until they get a nice brown colour in each side. Then I will add bit by bit the onions, the leeks, the carrots, the zucchinis, the garlic, the ras el hanout and thyme. I stir occasionally and when the vegetables soften I pour in the wine and wait until it evaporates. Then i will add the tomato can and paste, the bay leaves and 500 ml of stock (could use vegetable or beef stock). I reduce the heat, put the lead on and let it cook for an hour at least. When the meet is cooked I will add 500 ml of water , stir everything together and put it in a ceramic tray with the pasta. I cover it with foil and let it cook for 20 minutes or until the pasta is cooked. Mine took longer because either I've put more pasta and less sauce or the tray wasn't big enough.
I should have halfcooked the pasta before bake it i the oven.