Broccoli pasta.

Green fast food? Why not.
For broccoli fans and for those who love green colour. Easy meal for busy people.
The best with sprinkled nuts! I highly recommend!

Broccoli Pasta

Serves 2

Ingredients:

200g pasta (choose your favourite)
1 head broccoli, broken into florets
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic cloves, finely sliced
200g crème fraîche
50g Brie (with rind), cut into small pieces
¼ cup chestnuts, chopped coarsely
Black and white pepper
Sea salt

Method:

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Steam or boil the broccoli until tender when pierced with a fork, then drain and place in a bowl.
2. Fry the garlic in a large frying pan over a medium heat for about one minute, then add the crème fraîche and bring to a steady simmer. Add brie, sea salt and pepper. Stir until cheese melts.
3. When pasta is cooked, drain the water and place back in the pot. Pour in the pasta mixture and stir through gently until everything is combined.
4. Serve with sprinkled nuts on the top!

Enjoy :)

Pizza. A classic dish.

I bought today fresh basil. I opened the box and suddenly I felt like I was in Roma again walking through Via Gustiniani to see Pantheon, surrounded by ancient buildings and aroma of freshly ground coffee. Above me blue, clear sky and warm sun on my face. Yes...
I already knew, what to make for a dinner. The classic Italian dish. A pizza!

First time I was in Roma, I found the best pizza in a small suburb restaurant near Torre Maura. It wasn’t round pizza and it had only 3 ingredients. That was something surprising and I fell in love with this simplicity.
During my second visit in this beautiful city, I found delicious pizza in the restaurant near St Maria Maggiore thanks to lovely Marta (Martina) M., who showed me this nice place. Without her company the trip to Roma wouldn’t be the same.

Making pizza is very simple and everybody can have their own recipe. If you prepare dough earlier, finishing this perfect Italian dish takes less than 30 minutes.
Today I used for my pizza a goat cheese, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes and of course fresh basil.

Makes 2 small pizzas

Pizza dough*
4g dried yeast
90ml warm water
150g (1 cup) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oil

Tomato sauce:
100ml tomato puree
Glove of garlic, crushed
1 chopped onion
fresh basil, chopped coarsely
salt, paper
1 teaspoon oil

Extra adding:
Fresh tomato
goat cheese
mushrooms

*adapted from The Australian Women’s Weakly, Food we Love

Method:

1. Combine yeast, flour and salt in a bowl. Stir with water and oil. Mix to a soft dough. Turn dough onto floured surface; kneed about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
2. Place dough in oiled bowl, cover; stand in warm place about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
3. Meanwhile, heat oil in frying pan, add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring, until onion is soft. Add tomato puree, salt and pepper. Simmer uncovered, about 5 minutes. Stir in basil.
4. Preheat oven to 220C.
5. Roll pizza dough on floured surface to a 25cm round; placed on oiled pizza tray. Spread with basic tomato sauce.
6. Arrange goat cheese, mushrooms and tomato over tomato sauce. Bake about 25-30 minutes, until well browned and crisp.
7. Serve sprinkled with basil.


Enjoy :)

Green lentil Pate.

Vegetarian pate is delicious with a slice of bread or with warm vegetables. It’s spicy and has much less fat and calories than the normal meat pate.

You can use red or green lentils and add your favourite spices. The vegetarian pate should be spicier than the normal one because vegetables absorb spices more. Try pate before baking (and before adding eggs!) and add spices as much as you like.

Green lentils pate*

Makes one big pate**

Ingredients:

200g green lentils (1 cup), cooked in 3 cups (750ml) of water
2 small carrots, chopped thinly
3 gloves of garlic, chopped roughly
2 onions, chopped coarsely
2 eggs beaten lightly
2 tablespoons oil
½ cup water

Spices ***
2 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon chilli powder
1-2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

* The idea about lentil pate I adapted from Agnieszka Kreglicka cookbook
** I used loaf pan (22x11cm)
*** add your favourite spices if needed

Method:

1. Cook green lentils in 3 cups of water for 30-35 minutes, until lentils are soft. Drain the rest of water if needed. Let cool slightly.
2. Meanwhile in a frying pan heat oil and add onions, stirring occasionally until soft and golden brown for 8-10 minutes. Then add ½ cup of water and carrots. Cook for 30 minutes until carrots are soft. Let cool slightly.
3. Preheat oven, 180c. Grease loaf pan (22x11cm).
4. In the food processor, process the onions, carrots and garlic until fine, add green lentils and spices and process again until mostly smooth, with some small pieces remaining.
5. Add eggs in to the mixture, stirring accurately.
6. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, until firm in the middle.

Enjoy :)

Rice pancakes.

I like rice. I could eat rice even pure without any add in. However, sometimes it is nice to eat something more sophisticated. Rice pancakes? Why not? Just add eggs and flour and we have simple breakfast or lunch in 25 minutes.

I like this small rice pancakes with orange jam or honey. If you want something more savoury you can add instead sugar a pinch of salt and eat pancakes with tomato ketchup or your favourite dip.

Rice pancakes

Makes 16 small pancakes

Ingredients:

300g boiled rice (white or brown)
1 egg, beaten lightly
6 tablespoons white plain flour
4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons sugar ( or a pinch of salt if you want savoury pancakes )
oil for frying

Method:

1. Combine rice, flour, egg, milk and sugar (salt) in a large bowl.
2. Pour 2 tablespoons oil in a frying pan, fry pancakes on a medium heat.
3. Drop level tablespoons of rice mixture on frying pan, flattening slightly with back of spoon.
4. Fry until golden brown and then flip. Add more oil if needed.
5. Serve warm.

Enjoy :)

Cod with sun dried tomatoes and basil pesto.

I discovered amazing combination. Sun dried tomatoes and basil pesto! All, what we need to do now, is to add a cod and mozzarella cheese. We get aromatic, simply dinner!

I prefer baking fish to frying. It’s healthier and we can taste fish not only a breadcrumb and oil.
I think you can use any fish you like. Basil always comes together perfectly with fish.
In this recipe I used ready-made green basil pesto, if you don’t have pesto at home, fresh basil leaves could be a good alternative.

Cod with sun dried tomatoes and basil pesto

Serves 2

Ingredients:

100g sun dried tomatoes, chopped coarsely
2 tablespoons basil pesto
600g cod fillets
200g mozzarella cheese
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Sprinkle cod filets on both side with salt and pepper.
2. Rub the cod filets with basil pesto and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 200C.
4. Lay the cod filets in a greased ceramic baking dish.
5. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until fish flakes.
6. Then place sun dried tomatoes and slices of mozzarella on the top of the cod fillets, and roast for 5-8 minutes until mozzarella melted.
7. Take out from oven and serve with salad or rice if desired.

Enjoy :)