Caponata alla Nigella

Today I'll give you a recipe for a sidedish. An Italian dish, and to be more specific a Sicilian one. This is a great recipe, adapted from the lovely Nigella Lawson. If you're not familiar with her, make sure you get to know her and her recipes!
Italian dishes always make me smile, they add a little sunshine to your dinner! So does this recipe, but I have to add, again, to buy good food! It makes the difference between a great dinner and a disappointed one. Taste is everything, and you DO want THAT don't you!?

What do you need:

1 eggplant, chopped

olive oil

sea salt and black pepper

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 can peeled tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon sugar

6 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon grated dark chocolate, I used Green & Black's

4 tablespoons capers

14 cup green olives

1 egg, hard boiled

Fry the eggplant in olive oil for a few minutes. When done, put them on a plate and sprinkle some sea salt over it. Add some new oil to the pan and fry the celery for a few minutes. Add it to eggplant (you see the beautiful color of the celery??? almost luminous!!).

Add some new oil to the pan and fry the onion until soft. Add the chopped tomatoes, some salt and pepper and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat to low and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

In another (small) pan heat the sugar and vinegar, add the chocolate, capers and olives.

Stir until the chocolate has melted, and add it to the tomatoes and onion mixture.

Let this simmer for 5 minutes more. Then add the eggplant and celery and give it another 15 minutes.

Serve the Caponata on a big plate, and add the hard boiled egg. Et voilá, this is the result:

This side dish goes very well with the chicken with lemon and garlic I posted earlier. But fish or lamb will go very well with it too!

Enjoy!

Chicken with Lemon and Garlic

This recipe has only 6 ingredients, and I know you're thinking this can't be good. May I say that you're wrong, so wrong....? Ok, there, I said it!
Because this, my dear friends, is a great summer dish so you better hurry before the wind and rain comes around the corner. I'm sorry to post this just now as August is halfway gone, but I only discovered it myself yesterday!

Don't let the amount of garlic scare you, I'm not forcing you to eat them, but oh you're missing something if you don't.... Just pick a good day for this dish....the next day no vampire will come near so that's one benefit!

And a short remark about the lemons: buy organic ones! Since you're using the whole lemons: organic ones don't have a waxed coating.

The ingredients:
1 whole chicken, cut into pieces (ask your butcher or do it yourself, depending on which mood you're in)
1 bulb of garlic, leave the cloves unpeeled
2 lemons, cut into 8 pieces each
a handful of fresh thyme
3 tablespoons olive oil
half a cup white wine
black pepper

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Put the chicken pieces in a roasting pan or other shallow oven dish, add the garlic, lemon, thyme and olive oil. Use your hands to mix it all and coat the chicken with the oil. Make sure you place the chicken after this with their skins down. Sprinkle the wine over the chicken and add some freshly ground black pepper and cover it tight with aluminium foil.

This goes in the oven for about 90 minutes. I had a small chicken, for a big one you'll need 2 hours. After that amount of time it looks like this:

While you remove the foil, rise the temperature of the oven to 400F. Put the chicken back in the oven for 30-45 minutes, until the chicken has a nice color and the lemons are caramelized...oooh yummy...

I served this with a vegetable stew called "caponata" (recipe will follow soon) and bread. But baked potatoes with rosemary and sea salt and a green salad will also make you happy.

This is really so easy and amazingly delightful!!

Now, which wine should you serve with this? A Chardonnay from Chile I had. And don't let the amount of lemons makes you think this dish will taste sour, because it doesn't. It's very sweet because of the slow cooking! Therefore the Chardonnay!

Enjoy!!

Pizzzzza

Now, who doesn't like pizza....everybody luvvvvs it and I'm not talking about those cardboard flying saucers that you can buy for less than 2 Euro's, those aren't worth to be called pizza! No, I'm talking about homemade pizza, with all the toppings you like, coming straight out of your own oven! Or, from the barbecue, of course, but this time I made them in the oven....sorry if I disappointed you now....!!

If you never tried it because you thought it was too difficult or you get nightmares even thinking about making your own dough....please read this, I'm gonna convince you that it is EASY!

So, put your legs on the table and we'll start (yes, it is that easy!)

The dough comes from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, it's a great book written by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François. It contains lots of recipes for bread, pizza, dessert, anything with dough!

All you need is a big container with a lid, a wooden spoon and a thermometer and of course the ingredients:

3 1/4 cup all purpose flour

3 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon granulated yeast

1,5 cup water, lukewarm (that means absolutely NOT warmer than 100F, check with thermometer!)

This amount is enough for two large pizza's or several small ones, of course.

The original recipe also has sugar in it, but I omited that because I think it's too sweet.

Mix the flour and the yeast in a big bowl. In the container goes: water, olive oil and salt. Then you add the flour, all at once and start stirring until there are no dry spots of flour left. If the dough is too wet, add some more flour, if you think it's too dry add some water or olive oil.

Put the lid on loosely, don't close the container! Put it on the counter and have a glass of wine.

The dough needs approximately 2 - 2,5 hours to rise, so maybe you'd better take a bottle of wine.

This is how it looks after stirring, before rising:

In the meantime:

gather all the toppings you want, like onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, salami, garlic etc. etc. Anything you like! But there are three things you really need:

1 can of peeled tomatoes

dried italian herbes

shredded cheese. I used shredded Gouda cheese.

Use a blender for the tomatoes, in order to get a smooth tomato sauce, but some tomato chunks are okay.

Preheat the oven to 500F or use the crisp program if your oven has one.

When the dough has risen, scatter some flour over it and pull out half of the dough with your hands.

Now you can make the pizza, flatten the dough with a a rolling pin or simply use your hands. Put it on baking paper, a pizza stone, or as I did, use a crisp plate for pizza. 

Divide some tomato sauce over the dough and start building your pizza. End with the dried herbes and the cheese.

The first one I made, with onions, prosciutto, red bell pepper, and garlic:

After 12 minutes (when using the crips program or a pizza stone) or about 15 - 20 minutes when you use a regular oven method, it is ready!!

The second one (mine!) had salami, mushrooms, garlic, onions, jalapeno slices (from a jar) and green olives:

And I almost forgot to make a picture of the result, so here are the last 2 pieces.... :

And now I'm hungry, you too??

Try it, and enjoy!!

Potato Salad

Everybody needs at least one good recipe for potato salad, you can't survive the summer without! Lucky me, I've got three great recipes, an "unhealthy-but-sooo-good" one, a "healthy-but-also-almost-the-best" one, and the recipe I'm giving you today (the "definitely-not-the-average-salad"). And easy does it, cook, chop and mix!
Make this a couple of hours before dinner, keep it in the fridge and I promise you this recipe is gonna be a keeper for the rest of this summer!

Usually I don't measure the ingredients, and it's not that important in this salad. A little more or less, it still will taste yummylicious, so that's good news for the uncertain cooks among us!

The only thing that is important, is your choice of potatoes. Choose potatoes that will stay firm after cooking. Boil them, with the skin on, for 25 minutes and let them cool. It's easier to peel them when they have cooled off. A trick I use is an old, clean, towel. Rub the potato and the skin will go off easy and the potatoe won't break or fall apart. Cut them into not too small cubes.
In the meantime, boil 2 eggs for 10 minutes and let them cool.

In a bowl mix half a cup of sour cream with 4 tablespoons of the best olive oil you can get, one garlic (use a garlic press), some pepper and salt and give it a few stirs, just enough to get a smooth dressing.

Then it's time to chop chop!

What do you need:

green olives, capers, shallot, another clove of garlic, fire roasted red bell pepper, parsley and the boiled eggs.

Mix all the ingredients, put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours and here is the result:

When it's dinner time, put some meat on the grill like skewered beef (recipe will follow this week so stay tuned!), steak or whatever you're in the mood for and dinner is ready!

Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

Don't you like blueberries?? Well I do, and it's the season (here in my little country) so you got to enjoy them while it lasts! I've read that these treats of nature are very healthy and are also called "superfood": a food that can increase the body's natural ability to heal! So that's very good news, and therefore I'm giving you this recipe. Ah, who am I kidding, it's just a good excuse to have another muffin!!

It's a recipe coming from my baking "bible" Baking From My Home To Yours written by Dorie Greenspan. Oh I've made so many recipes from that book and it's super, really! Muffins, cookies, pies and more tempting recipes you can ever imagine! Buy it!

what are the ingredients:

grated zest and juice of 1 orange

buttermilk

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons honey

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/3 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour (sometimes I take 1 cup flour and 1 cup corn flour! yummy...)

2,5 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

and yes, here they are:

1 cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Pour the orange juice in a measuring bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Wisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.

Take a large bowl and rub the sugar an orange zest together, with your fingertips.

Whisk in flour, baking power, baking soda and salt. Add the orange juice and buttermilk and whisk gently but quickly, just to blend. Add the blueberries and stir a few times.

Divide the lumpy batter among the muffin pans or molds.

Bake them for about 20-25 minutes, these took me 22 minutes, the last time 25 minutes. Keep checking!

Let them cool for 5 minutes and remove them from the pans of molds.

As you can see, they didn't rise very much this time, but they we're still fabulous!

Want one?? You better hurry then!! Or make them yourself, there's no excuse why you shouldn't! Doctor's order!

Enjoy!

Surf and Turf Extra

Years ago I had a recipe almost like this, and I loved it! Some weeks ago I came across that same old recipe and was so happy, so I made it the same day. Guess what....it wasn't as good anymore as I thought. In fact, it was one big disappointment.

But, but, but, a miracle happend, yeah well almost....

In a magazine I found a recipe that had the puree as described below plus the beef, and then I knew, this has to be IT!

And there it was, a mixture of two recipes and a little extra. The extra is, yes of course, the tequila.

I used a red chili pepper, including the seeds, so it has a kick, but you can discard the seeds if it's too much for your taste.

Ingredients:

1 red chili pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

olive oil

1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

1 lime

about 7 oz raw large shrimps, peeled and cleaned

2 beef tenderloins

4 oz feta, cut in cubes

tequila

Use a mortar and pestle to make a puree of the chili and bell pepper, add some olive oil, the cilantro and the juice of half a lime. As you can see I didn't pureed it all, I like some chunks of the bell pepper in it.

The tenderloins got a rub with the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Cajun Foreplay Spice Rub (yes I used it again, and I love it!!) and some olive oil. I grilled the meat on the stove, in a cast iron grillpan, but you can do this, of course, also on the grill. Grill them for 5 minutes, then wrap them in aluminium foil and let them rest while you prepare the rest.

In the meantime heat a wok and start heating the pepper puree. Keep the heat high and keep stirring! Add the shrimps, and keep stirring! Add a splash (don't be shy...) of tequila and the feta cheese.

This all should take no longer than 5 minutes.

Unwrap the meat (yeah, really, makes dinner taste much better...) and slice the meat. Serve it with the shrimps and some bread.

I can't describe how it tastes, but trust me, you're gonna luvvv this dish!!!

Last but certainly not the least, uncork a bottle of Shiraz Rosé to complete your meal!

Enjoy!

Lasagne alla Bolognese

Andiamo! Today it´s time for a great italian dish, Lasagne (plural for lasagna) alle Bolognese! Too bad I don´t make it too often, actually I can´t even remember the last time I made it, so then you know it´s really time! There are many recipes for lasagne, but I like the combination of Bolognese and Napoletana, which has a bit more heat and cheese, and you can never have enough cheese!

What you need to make this great dish:
olive oil
1 carrot, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried chili flakes
half a pound of minced meat 
half a cup dry white wine
1 large bottle of passata (tomatosauce)
lasagne sheets
bechamel sauce, recipe below
2 cups parmesan cheese, grated
1 ball of mozzarella cheese (preferably made of water buffalo milk), sliced

Heat some olive oil in a large pan, and cook carrots and onion for 5 minutes, medium heat. Add the garlic and chili flakes and cook this 2 minutes. Add the minced meat and cook 10 minutes.

Then you can add the wine, and let this cook for 5 minutes on high heat. Add the tomatosauce and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat to low, and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

In the meantime you can prepare the bechamelsauce: melt 3 tablespoons of  butter and stir in 1/4 cup of flour, add 2 cups of milk and keep stirring until it comes to a boil. Add some salt, one bay leaf and some nutmeg. Let this simmer for 20 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Now it´s time to put it all together. In a large ovendish you make layers: sauce, sheets, sauce, bechamel, parmesan cheese, sauce, sheets, etc. Always end with a thick layer of bechamel sauce. On top of this comes the mozzarella and some more parmesan cheese.

Put the dish in the oven, and after 30 minutes it´s ready!!

I served some fresh fava beans (it´s the season!) with it, mixed with slices of italian prosciutto, extra virgin olive oil and savory.

And what´s a great meal without wine.....choose an italian red wine like a Sangiovese or a Montepulciano.

Enjoy!