All Green Turnip & Courgette Salad

This salad is an ode to green. It is fresh, it is crispy, it is stylish!

Just cut up some fresh medium sized courgette into long thin ribbon style slices, and for this you best use a "econom", a vegetable peeler.
The turnip, not too large, you peel clean, wash and slice thin slices with a sharp knife. Assemble and season with the best extra virgin olive oil you can find , salt, pepper (I used green) and maybe some bits of green chilly pepper and chopped parsley. You can stain the corner of the plate with a little lemony mayonnaise.
Enjoy!

This Is Why I Know It's Summer 11

Cause all my ingreds are ripe, new and beautiful. I guess they are "shun".

Potato Pleurotus Fritatta

As you may already know, a fritatta is nothing else then a fancy omelet, but done thick and with a lot of ingredients in it (and eventually with a little cream and cheese). It's like a little tart or pie, but without the crust.

Anyway, this is a potato and pleurotus mushrooms fritatta. The pleurotus mushrooms are a thin and leafy kind. They are meaty-er and more moist and juicy then others. When cooked in a pan they turn a little rubbery and resemble meat. To me, anyway!

Notice in the picture, the different origin eggs: guess wich one is organic from my godparents chickens? Only the one in the middle. The yolk has a translucent and velvety kind of orange color. The others are from the store, different batches.

INGREDIENTS (for a pan):

• 1 medium or large potato;
• 1 pack (aprox. 300 gr. pleurotus mushrooms);
• 4-5 eggs;
• 3-5 tblsp. vegetable oil;
• condiments to taste.

HOW TO MAKE:

First, peel and slice up the potato into bits the shape that you fancy, but not too thick. Heat up the oil in the pan and fry the potatoes for about 5 to 10 minutes, so they are about half done. Chop up the pleurotus mushrooms roughly and throw them over the potatoes. Stir with a wooden spoon (so as not to damage the non stick pan). They will leak some moisture, so wait for it to evaporate. It will create a delicious sauce in the pan. Season with salt and pepper, but not too much, for the eggs will have seasoning too.

Now break the eggs and beat them in a bowl with seasoning (salt, pepper, time, a bit of hot chilly flakes, parsley etc.) Poor the eggs over the potatoes and mushrooms in the hot pan and shake a little. You can put in some cheese of your choice, now, broken into 1 inch bits. Let the eggs set for about 3 to 5 minutes on medium heat. You can wait for everything to become solid or you can leave the top a little runny. I did.
Enjoy with green salad!

Stuffed Bell Peppers (No Meat Version)

For the fasting Wednesdays and Fridays of fasting before this Easter of 2011, I've tried to treat my family to meals as good as I could, so they wouldn't miss animal products at all. So, I made a stuffed bell peppers recipe with no meat, only with a rice and mushroom based filling. They turned out very tasty.

INGREDIENTS (serves 5):

• 3-5 tablespoons olive oil;
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups of round grain rice;
• 5 medium to big bell peppers (any color, I used light green);
• a can of sliced champignon mushrooms (~ 300 gr.);
• one medium zucchini;
• one large yellow onion (or two medium);
• salt, pepper, fresh parsley;

FOR THE SAUCE:

• a can of pealed whole or cubed tomatoes;
• 3-5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil;
• 1 clove garlic;
• time, parsley, oregano, basil, salt, pepper (all or just the ones you like best).

HOW TO MAKE:

First it is best that you make the tomato sauce, to have it cool later when you put the peppers in the baking dish. It is pretty much the basic pasta or pizza sauce, with the spices that you like. I made mine in a pan with some olive oil, one minced garlic clove and a can of pealed tomatoes, that I crushed roughly with a wooden spoon directly in the pan. I let it simmer for about a quarter hour adding a little water so it wouldn't get too thick. I put in all of the herbs mentioned in the ingredients section, most of them dry, with the exception of the parsley.

Then you have to prepare your peppers. Just use a thin knife to cut off the tops and the seed veins while leaving them whole, like little jars of goodness. Put them aside and start on your filling.

The filling you also make in a pan, starting with some oil, on top of witch you throw the finely chopped onions. Stir them for a minute or two with salt to sweat good then throw in the mushrooms. It you use canned mushrooms (like I did) make sure that you drain them well first. Immediately throw in the zucchini, cut into small, half inch cubes.Stir everything in for a 5 minutes, then add the rice. Coat the rice with the oil for a minute and then add some water (or vegetable stock, if you have some), just to cover the contents of the pan. Bring to a simmering boil and cook until the rice grains are almost tender, "al dente" (you can feel the center if the grain still hard to the tooth). Season well with salt and pepper and set aside. The water must be almost evaporated completely by now.

Next you take a narrow spoon and carefully stuff the peppers with the filling from the pan, nearly to the top. You can cap them off with a slice of tomato. I didn't. Place the stuffed peppers in a tall baking dish up straight. Put them next to each other to keep them standing. Then poor the tomato sauce on top of the peppers. It must be a little runny, and it must cover at least 3/4 of the height of the peppers in order to cook them well in the oven.

Put the dish in the oven and bake on medium heat until the peppers get nice and brown on top (half an hour to an hour, depending on the oven). Serve them hot with a lot of sauce and fresh chopped parsley on top.

Champignon Mushrooms With Rice & Cherry Tomatoes

For reasons of laziness and lack of will, we decided to fast only on Wednesdays and Fridays for the coming Easter Holly days this year. Anyway, even so, we just couldn't eat only the easy to make boiled potatoes with some olive oil or plain rice or just bread with all kinds of nasty commercial spreads. 

So I had to engage in a little cooking on fasting days. That's how we ended up eating even better (not necessarily  healthier, but tastier altogether) on the days we fast. And everything in line with the restrictions of the christian orthodox faith, that means no products of animal origin.

Next I'll tell you about a meal so easy that you put it together in minutes.

INGREDIENTS (serves four):

FOR THE RICE

• 1 & 1/2 cups regular rice;
• a handful green olives;
• half a red bell pepper;
• 1 medium yellow onion;
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil;
• salt, pepper, ground cumin, time, 
• fresh parsley;
• water or vegetable stock;
• fresh chives to garnish.

HOW TO MAKE:

Heat up some vegetable oil in a thick bottomed pot and chop up the onion into fine bits. Sweat the onion with oil and salt until it becomes glassy (don't let it burn to a brown color, if possible), then add the red bell pepper sliced julien (thin long strips) and stir. Add the rice and stir some more (1, 2 minutes) then add the water or vegetable sock to cover well the rice. Let boil on low heat for as long as the rice needs to get soft. If necessary add more water. Add condiments: pepper, cumin, time. In the last 2 minutes add the green olives and as you turn off the heat add a handful of chopped fresh parsley. It's done when the rice is soft and the water is gone.

FOR THE MUSHROOMS:

• 5-6 medium to large champignon mushrooms;
• 3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil;
• 1 clove garlic;
• 2-3 twigs with cherry tomatoes on;
• salt & pepper.

HOW TO MAKE:

In a thick skillet, heat up 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. While oil temperature isn't yet very high, crush a garlic clove, chop it fine and throw it into the skillet. Make sure it doesn't burn. Next chop the champignons into quarters (or thick slices, if you like them better that way) and throw them in. Sote for about 10 minutes. Salt and pepper. They will absorb most of the garlic infused oil, but than they will leak water and make a very good sauce. When the mushroom bits are soft (not very soft) and browned a little, get them out of the skillet and into the plate next to the rice. 

For maximum effect get the cherry tomatoes and let them fry in the same skillet on high heat for a few minutes, until they become soft and glossy and coated with the garlic and mushroom oil. Salt and pepper!  Serve them on the side in each plate and I guarantee they're not only for decoration! 

On top of the whole plate sprinkle some freshly chopped chives. Enjoy!

Osso Buco Milanese

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 3-5 tablespoons olive oil (can use lard or fat rendered from ham); 
• 3 cross cut veal shanks (bone included);
• 2 medium onions;
• 2-3 cloves garlic;
• 1 can pealed tomatoes;
• 50 gr. tomato paste;
• 1-2 medium carrots;
• 1/2 celery root;
• 1 parsnip;
• 1/2 red bell pepper;
• parsley, time, sage (preferably fresh);
• 500 ml red wine (drinkable, dry);
• 1-2 bay leaves;
• salt & pepper.

FOR RISOTTO: 2 cups round grain rice, 1 onion, stock, Parmesan cheese, butter, olive oil, s & p.

HOW TO COOK:

First brown the (well seasoned with salt and pepper) veal shanks in olive oil or pork fat in a Dutch oven type pot, on both cross cut sections. Some people cover the meat in a layer of white flour first. It works just fine without.

Take out the meat and chop up the onions and garlic, then throw them in the same pot to sweat and deglaze the bottom of the pot. Stir well, and after 5 mins. put in the tomato paste and stir another 5 mins. Poor in 300 ml of wine. Drink a glass yourself.  Put the shanks back into the pot and poor stock or water in until it just about covers the meat. Add the crushed tomatoes. Bring to a boil and let simmer for an hour.

Add the carrots, celery root, parsnip, red pepper sliced, parsley, time, sage, bay leaves. Add another 200 ml wine. Add more water if the fluids in the pot have reduced under the level of the meat. Simmer for another 2 hours. After that extract from the pot the celery root, parsnip, bay leaves and throw them away.

If the stew has turned into a nice smelling thick sauce, the meat falls of the bone and tears easily  when you try it with a fork, than it is ready.

Serve with any carbs you like (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, polenta etc.) I served it on some milanese risotto, made with the ingredients shown above. It was sensational. Enjoy!

Soup a la Radauti

Radauti (pronounced rah:dah:utzi) is a small town in Romania, Eastern Europe. This soup is actually the lighter and "tidy"er version of another soup: tripe soup, which is very popular all throughout Romania. The main difference is that in stead of cow tripe, you use plain lean chicken breast meat.

INGREDIENTS (for a medium pot):

1 onion;
1-2 carrots;
1/4 celery root;
1 parsnip root;
1 potato;
1 chicken breast, no skin;
1 cup sour cream;
2 egg yokes;
3-4 tablespoons vinegar;
salt, pepper, soup condiment.


HOW TO MAKE:

Peel clean all the vegetables and put them to boil in a medium pot filled 3/4 with water. When I say all the veggies, I do mean all, onion left whole, do not chop. You can chop up one carrot into round little slices, but not the other veggies. Put the chicken breast meat in too, at the same time, and let it all boil for 20 mins to half an hour, skimming the foam off the top. Don't forget to salt it a little. You will adjust it later. After half an hour boil, take out everything but the little slices of carrot (if you decided to make them). The broth that resulted should be rather clear.

Cut the meat into bite size chunks and throw it back into the boiling pot. Throw the rest of the vegetables away. Let boil for another 10 to 20 minutes. In the mean time, blend together in a cup the sour cream, and the egg yokes with a little water. Add it to the soup in the pot while mixing continuously with a spoon. At the end adjust for condiments and add 3 or 4 tablespoons vinegar. Enjoy with or without more cream, a little crushed garlic or a hot pepper on the side!   

Linguine With Broccoli & Two Cheeses

INGREDIENTS:

• linguine pasta for 2 (half a pack);
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil;
• 2 cloves garlic, minced;
• half a broccoli, into flowrettes;
• 2 spoonfuls of kalamata olives;
• 100 gr. Grana Padano Italian cheese;
• 100 gr. Gorgonzola cheese;
• salt, pepper, oregano to taste.
 

HOW TO COOK:

Heat olive oil in a pan and throw in the garlic. Turn heat to lowest and add the chopped broccoli to the pan. Stir and sote for 3 - 5 minutes, then add a ladle of water from the pasta pot. Add the olives and seasoning and reduce (boil to evaporation) the liquid for the next 5 minutes. Add the linguine pasta that you have boiled according to the indications on the package, strained. Mix everything together in the pan. If it is too dry feel free to add some more of the water in witch the pasta have boiled. Add half the Grana Padano grated cheese and turn off the heat Add theGorgonzola cheese cut into chunks. It will stick to everything (knife, hands) but that is part of it's charm. Give it a final stir. Watch as the cheese melts coating the pasta. Transfer servings to the plates and sprinkle the rest of the grated Grana Padano on top. Serve hot.  

Linguine Grano Duro With Tomato Sauce & Broccoli

It's a spur of the moment dish, free cooking Italian recipe.

Heat olive oil in a pan and put in garlic and anchovies. Be careful not to brown the garlic! It will turn sour and ruin the dish. Go as far as to shut off the stove underneath the pan if it gets to hot. Also don't worry about the anchovies; they will simply melt into the oil and disappear. As soon as the garlic and anchovies start bubbling and release all that amazing flavor, poor in the tomato sauce (that you've made earlier and have ready made). If you don't have the sauce ready made, use a can of crushed tomatoes (good quality) or peeled ones that you will crush in the pan. Turn the heat up and start stirring. Season with salt, pepper, oregano, (basil, for the traditional version), hot pepper finely chopped or dry flakes.

Stir about 10-15 minutes, until the tomatoes don't smell any more as a raw vegetable and the flavor infused olive oil has blended well into the (now reduced) sauce. If it gets too thick, just add some water from the pasta pot that you've set to boil with salt (a good handful). Pasta should boil in a lot of extra water for as long as the package says. Personally, I don't like the "al dente" (to the tooth) feel, although it's the Italian way. I like mine nice and soft.

Chop up some broccoli and ad it to the pan in the last 5 minutes of cooking. Now add the chopped parsley, too.

When the pasta is done, drain it and add the lot to the pan. The sauce in the pan should be a little runny, as the pasta will absorb some extra moisture and "fatten up" with some flavor. Turn on the heat and let rest for no more than 5 minutes after all the pasta is coated well with red sauce.

Serve hot.

"Grano duro" means whole wheat in Italian. I added to the serving in the plate a lot of grated salty white cheese. The standard tradition is Parmesan cheese.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil;
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed;
  
• 2-3 anchovy fillets;
• linguine for two (half a pack);
• 2-3 cups tomato pasta sauce;
• half a broccoli;
  
• salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, chilly pepper to taste.

Dressed Broccoli

One of the simplest most delicious side dishes to meat is this garlic oil dressed broccoli salad. It is nothing more than blanched (boiled briefly) broccoli cut into florettes. It is important to bring the water to a boil before you submerge the broccoli into it, because if you subject the vegetable to heat more than a minute or two it will turn all soft and not nice. I think it is best served while it holds a little firmness to its structure. 

Then it is also important to put a fair amount of salt into the boiling water (i suggest course).  It's like when you boil potatoes whit skin on or pasta.

If you want to be thorough to the end, you should extract the broccoli from the water after a minute boil and immediately put it into a bowl with ice water. This is so the bright green color doesn't turn darker if left to cool in open air.

The dressing should also be put over the broccoli when it is still hot. It's simple. Almost always good food is simple! Good quality extra virgin olive oil, pepper (freshly ground) and crushed and finely chopped garlic. It's a delight anytime for me, as I discover more and more how great vegetables are.

Tomato Cucumber Salad

My (retired professional cook) father in law threw on this amazing fresh tomato cucumber salad with onions and lots of dill, as a side dish for some grilled organic raised chicken. Check out the baby grapes from the garden after the rain.

Sote Veggies & Cucumber Salad

My interest in broad beans (fresh from the outdoor market) has materialized in yet another fine meal. For a summer lunch we had some chicken meat to grill and in my late trip to the local market I picked up some half kilo broad beans (the yellow with violet spots kind) along with some cauliflower. As I decided to bring more and more fresh vegetables into our family's diet, I went for the sote version of the veggies, with oil, lots of chopped new garlic and fresh parsley.

Because the meal asked for a side salad, I made a nice summer cucumber salad with a white onion cut julien topped with lots of fragrant dill. The dressing is made of oil, salt & pepper and vinegar to taste.

INGREDIENTS:

SOTE VEGGIES

• chicken meat for the grilling;
• 1/2 kilo broad beans;
• 300 gr. cauliflower into flowerttes;
• 3-5 cloves garlic chopped;
• 1 handfull chopped parsley;
• 2 tbsp. olive oil;
• salt & pepper.

CUCUMBER SALAD

• 1/2 kilo cucumbers, sliced;
• 1 medium white onion, cut julien;
• chopped dill to taste;
• vegetable oil, vinegar, salt& pepper.

Chicken & Yellow String Beans

I've noticed lately that fresh yellow beans are a fashionable side dish for (grilled) meats. I stumbled upon the yellow things in the local vegetable market. It seems that they are in season and they sold them from whole sacks full, by the kilo.

So, I got a half kilo and got into the kitchen. I portioned up a chicken and shoved it into the oven with some potatoes and zucchini slices, one sliced onion, salt and pepper.

Separately, I washed the yellow beans and snapped off the little ends (with the stem). Then I heated up some extra virgin olive oil in a medium skillet and chopped up two cloves of garlic. Oh, how adding a little bit of garlic makes any food much nicer, at least the smell. Stir and take care not to burn the garlic. It literally takes seconds. Then throw in the beans and stir some more. Salt and pepper to taste. Keep steering for another few minutes as the veggies release some moisture. Then, if needed, add some water. It also helps to cover the skillet and steem for a few minutes. Try not to overcook, as they turn limp quickly. They still taste good, but it's better if they stay a little crunchy (like the asparagus, for example).
Note that there are more types of yellow beans (mainly the flat ones and the round ones). Some types take a bit longer to get tender (the round ones). I somehow managed to get them just wright: tender enough to eat but just a little firm "al dente" (to the tooth). It took three tablespoons of water and about ten minutes of cooking in the skillet.

After I threw a serving of chicken, potatoes, zucchini and yellow beans into the plate, I couldn't help but add some more garlic, crushed in some olive oil and salted. Delish!

 In the oven:

• 1 chicken (portioned into 8 pieces);
• 4 medium potatoes (peeled and cut to cubes);
• 1 meium zucchini (sliced into 2 cm thick slices);
• 1 sliced onion; 
• 2-3 tbspoons e.v. olive oil;
• salt & pepper to taste, herbs.

On the cooker:

• 1/2 kilo fresh market yellow beans;
• 2 tbspoons e.v. olive oil;
• 3-4 cloves of garlic;
• salt and pepper to taste.

Tagliatelle with Tomato, Olives & Fresh Spinach

I just made a quick pasta dish because I had bought all this fresh spinach from the market in a spring time frenzy. I was too lazy to cook something else more elaborate and I resorted to the simple and delightful italian cuisine. The whole recipe is a variation of the pasta with tomato sauce, so you start by making the basic tomato sauce.

In a pan, poor some extra virgin olive oil, then chop up 2 or 3 cloves of garlic and gently stir them over the smallest fire you've got. The garlic must absolutely not brown or burn, because it turns sour and you wouldn't get the good flavor in the sauce.

Ok, after a minute, poor in a can of "pelati", peeled plum tomatos that you've raughly chopped up. bring to a simmer steering constantly (preferably with a wooden spoon, better for the flavor, pan surface protection and style) and season with salt&pepper to taste, basil (fresh or dried). You can also use whatever italian herbs you facy, like rosemary, oregano, parsley. I used oregano, no parsley.

Towards the end of 15 minutes throw in the roughly chopped spinach and some kalamata greek olives (it's the best kind for flavoring food). Simmer another few minutes until spinach is soft and it's done. If it seems to you like too dry, feel free to add some water.

Simply poor the tomato spinach sauce over the hot tagliatelle and enjoy!

I Know it's Spring: Spinach.

This is why I know for sure it's spring: my kitchen sink is full of crispy green spinach!

Boeuf Salad

Boeuf Salad is a staple dish in almost every romanian household on the major holidays. So, New Years makes no exception. Both of my parents and parentsinlaw made a good quantity of the delicious mayonnaise treat.

Well, to be totally correct we made the variation "a la rouse" salad, that is the "boeuf" salad without the "boeuf".

So, it is basically  boiled potatoes, carrots, peas and pickles (green tomato or cucumbers) all diced in small cubes and mixed with lovely home made (lemony and mustardy) mayonnaise. Here it is in stages.

Pickles Time

It is now october, which means that autumn has come for real. In traditional societies in which people tend to their winter feeding needs, when autumn comes, it's pickles time. This year, I decided that I would make my own pickled cucumbers! I went to the market and I bought myself everything (4 kg of small, hard cucumbers, dry dill, horseradish, celery leafs etc.) I labored for two hours and I got it done. A few jars of pickles. They smell incredible from the celery leaf and time and garlic. I must add that my pickles are in salt, not the ones in vinegar, that fill the shelves of local supermarkets. I just can't wait to enjoy them on the side of a steamy plate of beans with smoked pork leg! Sorry, no recipe!