Nostalgia in reverse, the longing for yet another strange land, grew especially strong in spring.
Vladimir Nabokov
Ingredients (2 servings): – 1 Hokkaido pumpkin (Red kuri squash) – 125g fresh baby spinach – 150g Feta cheese – 35g pine nuts – salt and black pepper – 1 tbsp olive oil for frying pumpkin
Dressing ingredients: – 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Method: 1 Preheat the oven to 180C 2 Wash pumpkin, halve and de-seed it 3 Bake the pumpkin for 30-35 minutes at 200C and let it cool down 4 Peel the pumpkin and cut into 1.5cm cubes 5 Wash baby spinach and let it dry itself 6 Cut feta cheese into 0.5-1cm cubes 7 Fry pumpkin cubes in olive oil for 4-5 minutes at medium heat 8 Put the salad ingredients on the plates as follows: 8.1 Baby spinach 8.2 Warm pumpkin cubes 8.3 Sprinkle with salt and black pepper 8.4 Feta cheese cubes 8.5 Pine nuts 8.6 Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar 9 Enjoy !
Serving ingredients: – 30ml acacia honey – 20g Feta cheese – a few raspberries Method: 1 Wash spinach and squeeze it in a colander to get rid of extra water 2 Mash spinach in a puree with an immersive blender or in a food processor 3 Combine spinach puree, flour, Kefir, eggs, olive oil, sugar & salt: mix well until smooth 4 Pre-heat a non-sticking skillet with a small amount of olive oil (we need extra oil only for the first pancake!) 5 Fry pancakes until golden at medium heat 1-2 minutes each side 6 Serve the pancakes with Feta cheese, acacia honey and raspberries 7 Enjoy and have a great sunny Sunday !
Side note: These beautiful guys might be capricious as many beautiful creates are… That is why it is important to choose the right heat level when cooking them, but after a couple of failures you will be on the right road to their hearts 🙂
Soup ingredients (2 servings): – 1 medium or 2 small broccoli heads – 4-6 baby potatoes – 1 small onion – 400ml vegetable or chicken broth – 1/2 tsp salt
Tartines ingredients: – 6-8 pieces of Ciabatta – 100g cream cheese (e.g. Almette) – 1/2 bunch chopped chives – 1/4 tsp black pepper – 4-8 cherry tomatoes for decoration
Method: 1 Soup: 1.1 Cut the washed broccoli with stalks & the peeled potatoes into 1-2cm cubes 1.2 Chop the onion as well. Yes, I often do this in sunglasses 😉 1.3 Put the vegetables into the boiling broth and cook for 15 minutes at medium heat 1.4 Add salt and blend the soup until smooth 2 Tartines: 2.1 Combine cream cheese with chopped chives and black pepper: mix well 2.2 [Optional] Bake slightly brushed with olive oil Ciabatta slices at 200C for 5-7 minutes. Let them cool down. 2.3 Butter the cheese mixture on the Ciabatta slices 2.4 Decorate with the cherry tomatoes halves 3 Serve and enjoy!
Cooking and serving ingredients: – 20g butter for frying – 20g miners lettuce
Directions: 1 Combine all Khachapuri batter ingredients in a bowl and mix well! 2 Preheat a non-sticking skillet at the medium heat: melt 20g butter 3 Pour the batter uniformly on the skillet, cook for around 4 minutes one side until golden, then flip (I flipped it with two spatulas), cook for another 2 minutes 4 Serve Khachapuri with fresh greens or tomatoes (miners lettuce on the photo) !
Serving ingredients: – 200ml sour cream Method: 1 Prepare dough: 1.1 Add olive oil in the middle of flour heap and mix oil with flour 1.2 Stir in boiled water into the oily flour and knead the dough 1.3 Let the dough rest for 15 minutes 1.4 Separate the dough into 4 equal parts with a knife. Form ~1.5cm diameter “sausage” out of each part with your hands 1.5 Cut each “sausage” into 1cm width pieces and roll out each piece into a ~5cm diameter round 2 Prepare the filling: 2.1 Wash and de-seed the plums. Separate the plums into halves. 2.2 Cut each plum half into ~6 thin slices 2.3 Combine plum slices with 2 tbsp sugar and mix well 3 Make Vareniki: 3.1 Put 3-5 plum slices into each round, fold the round into a half-moon and pinch all the edges together strongly with fingers. Be careful: these plum slices are very naughty… 3.2 Put Vareniki into boiling water and cook for 5 minutes at medium heat 3.3 Serve warm with sour cream and enjoy !
See, see how the sun has moved onward while we talked. Nothing can stop it in its course.
Eiji Yoshikawa
Ingredients (2 servings): – 180g salmon – 2 fresh quinces – 120g white rice mixed with wild rice – 3 garlic cloves – 2 tbsp butter for cooking quinces – 1tbsp olive oil for cooking salmon – a few sprigs of parsley for serving – 1/4 tsp salt – 1/4 tsp black pepper Method: 1 Salmon: 1.1 Wash salmon and absorb extra water with paper towels 1.2 Chop garlic cloves 1.3 Cook it for 4-5 minutes each side until golden in olive oil 1.4 Add chopped garlic cloves to the skillet 2 minutes before salmon is ready 2 Quinces: 2.1 Wash quinces and de-seed them 2.2 Slice quinces into 0.3-0.5 cm width pieces 2.3 Melt butter in the skillet 2.4 Stew quince slices for 15 minutes in butter at medium heat 3 Rice: boil it per instruction in salty water 4 Serve cooked salmon and quinces over the boiled rice: season with salt & pepper and decorate with chopped parsley 5 Enjoy!
Patsuk opened his mouth, stared at the Vareniki, and opened his mouth wider still. At that moment, a varenik jumped out of the bowl, splashed into the cream, flipped over and leapt straight up into his mouth. Patsuk opened his mouth again, and another varenik went through the same performance. The only trouble he took was to munch it up and swallow it.
Filling ingredients (all ingredients for 4 servings = ~30 Vareniki): – 500g new potatoes – 200g champignons – 1 onion – 1 carrot – 1 tsp salt – 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Dough ingredients: – 260g wheat flour – 130ml water – 30ml olive oil – 1/2 tsp salt
Serving ingredients: – a few sprigs of green onions – 200ml sour cream
Method: 1 Prepare the filling: 1.1 Wash champignons, remove dirt from them with a paper towel and cut a thin slice off the bottom 1.2 Stew on olive oil chopped onion with grated carrot for 5 minutes 1.3 Add chopped champignons to onion & carrot and stew for another 10 minutes 1.4 Put the frying pan aside and let it cool down 1.5 Boil for 15 minutes peeled potatoes. Then mash them with 1 tsp salt. 1.6 Combine mashed potatoes with fried champignons and mix them well. 2 Prepare dough: 2.1 Add olive oil in the middle of flour heap and mix oil with flour 2.2 Stir in boiled water into the oily flour and knead the dough 2.3 Let the dough rest for 15 minutes 2.4 Separate the dough into 4 equal parts with a knife. Form a ~1.5cm diameter sausage out of each part 2.5 Cut each sausage into 1cm width pieces and roll out each piece into a ~5cm diameter round 3 Make Vareniki: 3.1 Put 1 tsp filling into each round, fold the round into a half-moon and pinch all the edges together strongly with fingers. Put Vareniki on the floured plate. 3.2 Put Vareniki into boiling water and cook for 5 minutes at medium heat 3.3 Serve immediately with sour cream, chopped green onions, miner’s lettuce and grated carrot !
Notes: one can make several servings of Vareniki (e.g., during a rainy weekend) and put them uncooked in the freezer. And then… enjoy the benefits of quick & delicious lunch during the week! 🙂
Patsuk opened his mouth, stared at the Vareniki, and opened his mouth wider still. At that moment, a varenik jumped out of the bowl, splashed into the cream, flipped over and leapt straight up into his mouth. Patsuk opened his mouth again, and another varenik went through the same performance. The only trouble he took was to munch it up and swallow it.
Filling ingredients (all ingredients for 4 servings = ~30 Vareniki): – 400g pointed white cabbage or young white cabbage – 1 onion – 1 carrot – 1 tsp salt – 1/2 tsp black pepper – 1 tsp sugar – 1 tsp vinegar
Dough ingredients: – 260g wheat flour – 130ml water – 30ml olive oil – 1/2 tsp salt
Serving ingredients: – 1 grated carrot – a few sprigs of green onions – 200ml sour cream – a few leaves of miner’s lettuce
Method: 1 Prepare the filling: 1.1 Cut cabbage into thin strips, chop carrot and onion 1.2 Fry on olive oil chopped onion with carrot for 5 minutes 1.3 Add striped cabbage, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp vinegar to onion and carrot and stew for another 15 minutes 1.4 Add salt and black pepper and mix everything well 1.5 Put the frying pan aside to let the vegetables cool down 2 Prepare dough: 2.1 Add olive oil in the middle of flour heap and mix oil with flour 2.2 Stir in boiled water into the oily flour and knead the dough 2.3 Let the dough rest for 15 minutes 2.4 Separate the dough into 4 equal parts with a knife. Form ~1.5cm diameter sausage out of each part with your hands 2.5 Cut each sausage into 1cm width pieces and roll out each piece into a ~5cm diameter round 3 Make Vareniki: 3.1 Put 1 tsp filling into each round, fold the round into a half-moon and pinch all the edges together strongly with fingers. Put Vareniki on the floured plate. 3.2 Put Vareniki into boiling water and cook for 5 minutes at medium heat 3.3 Serve immediately with sour cream, chopped green onions, miner’s lettuce and grated carrot !
Notes: one can make several servings of Vareniki (e.g., during a rainy weekend) and put them uncooked in the freezer. And then… enjoy the benefits of quick & delicious lunch during the week! 🙂
It was the middle of winter, and the snow-flakes were falling like feathers from the sky, and a queen sat at her window working, and her embroidery-frame was of ebony.
Method: 1 Sponge cake: 1.1 Pre-heat the oven to 180C 1.2 Whisk 3 eggs & 80g sugar 1.3 Add cocoa powder & flour: mix well 1.4 Add baking soda & vinegar: mix well 1.5 Transfer the batter into the buttered 25x25cm baking form 1.6 Distribute the cherries over the dough 1.7 Bake at 180C for 20-25 minutes (test whether it’s ready with a wooden stick) 1.8 Let it cool down 2 Mascarpone layer: 2.1 Combine mascarpone layer ingredients: mix them well with a fork! 🙂 2.2 Put the mixture in the fridge until the cake cools down 2.3 You will get so beautifulDonau Welle waves caused by the cherries sinking in the batter… I do not have them on the photo since I flipped the cake upside down, pity. :-b 3 Butter the mascarpone layer on the cake. I distributed mascarpone only on half a cake (see photo). Distribute it overall if you aim for a thinner layer 🙂 4 Chocolate icing: 4.1 Melt chocolate & butter in 33% cream constantly stirring the mixture 4.2 Pour the icing quickly but carefully over the Mascarpone layer 5 Put the cake in the fridge overnight 6 Enjoy the cake the next day if you have a special occasion for such a cake, of course 😉 Or if falling autumn leaves make you think about sunny days by the Danube…
He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams.
Directions: 1 Toast oats and chopped cashew nuts ~2-4 minutes until golden at medium heat (no oil, no butter) 2 Sprinkle washed blueberries over the yogurt 3 Sprinkle warm toasted oats and cashew nuts over the yogurt 4 Enjoy and have a great day
Filling ingredients: – 150g Camembert – 200ml sour cream – 50ml cranberry jam – a few sprigs of chives – a pinch of black pepper
Method: 1 Preheat the oven to 220C 2 Mix dough ingredients and knead the dough for 5 minutes 3 Roll out the dough into a 3mm height oval or rectangle 4 Put the dough on the baking paper: bake at 220C for 5-8 minutes without filling 5 Remove the baking tray from the oven, spread the sour cream over it, then put the Camembert slices 6 Bake Tarte-Flambée for another 3 minutes at 220C 7 Spread cranberry jam, chopped chives and black pepper over the Tarte Flambée 8 Serve hot !
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.
Method: 1 Preheat the oven to 180C 2 Combine flour+sugar+Vanilla sugar+milk+olive oil+salt+baking soda+vinegar: mix everything well 3 Add chocolate morsels to the dough and carefully mix to not destroy the morsels 🙂 4 Form the round cookies from the dough and put them on the baking paper 5 Bake the cookies at 180C for 10 minutes 6 Enjoy 😉
Filling ingredients: – 20 chopped plums without stones – juice of 1/2 lemon – 80g sugar
Method: 1 Preheat the oven to 180C 2 Combine filling ingredients and put them into a battered baling form 3 Combine batter ingredients and mix them to crumbles 🙂 4 Sprinkle crumbles over the filling 5 Bake the cake 40-55 minutes until golden at 180C 6 Serve with fresh mint !
Serving ingredients: – 50g corn salad – a few sprigs chopped green onions – 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar – 1/2 tbsp chestnut honey Method: 1 Brush both sides of Ciabatta slices with olive oil 2 Bake oiled Ciabatta slices for 5-7 minutes at 200C on the baking paper, let them cool down 3 Butter the toasts with goat cheese 4 Put the chopped figs over the goat cheese 5 Sprinkle the toasts with black pepper, chopped green onions, balsamic vinegar 6 Serve on the corn salad with a bit of honey ! 7 Enjoy ! ☀️ ☀️☀️
Certainly the heart has always something to tell about the future to those who listen to it. But what does the heart know? Scarce a little of what has already happened.
Directions: 1 Preheat the oven to 200C 2 Brush both sides of Ciabatta slices with olive oil 3 Bake oiled Ciabatta slices on the baking paper for 5-7 minutes at 200C 4 Rub one side of each toast with garlic 5 Cut tomatoes into 1cm cubes and drain extra juice 6 Combine tomato cubes with 1/2 tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp balsamic vinegar + 1/2 tsp salt + 1/4 tsp pepper + chopped basil: put the mixture on the toasts! 7 Serve bruschetta with fresh corn salad and grated parmesan 8 Enjoy !
Patsuk opened his mouth, stared at the vareniki, and opened his mouth wider still. At that moment, a varenik jumped out of the bowl, splashed into the cream, flipped over and leapt straight up into his mouth. Patsuk opened his mouth again, and another varenik went through the same performance. The only trouble he took was to munch it up and swallow it.
Nikolai Gogol, Christmas Eve
Dough ingredients (~70 Pelmeni = 4-6 portions): – 3 cups (1 cup = 250ml) wheat flour – 170ml warm water – 1 tablespoon 9% vinegar – 2 and 1/2 tablespoons olive oil – 1/2 teaspoon salt
Filling ingredients (~70 Pelmeni = 4-6 portions): – 250g minced beef – 250g minced pork – 1 teaspoon salt – 1/2 teaspoon black pepper – 1 onion or 1 bunch of chopped chives
Serving ingredients (for 2 portions): – 200g sour cream – 2 teaspoons butter – 1/2 bunch dill or 1/2 bunch parsley Method: 1 Knead a dough from dough ingredients and transfer it to the fridge in a covered bowl for 30 minutes 2 Combine minced meat (no extra water!) + salt + black pepper + finely chopped onion or chives: mix everything well with a fork 3 Separate dough into 6 equal pieces: form a 1.5cm diameter sausage from each piece 4 Cut each sausage into 1cm width pieces and roll out each piece into a 5cm diameter round 🙂 5 Put 1 teaspoon filling into each round, fold the round into a half-moon and pinch all the edges together strongly with fingers, do it two times. Then pull together two corners and pinch strongly with fingers again. 🙂 6 Boil Pelmeni for 5 minutes in boiling water (at least 3 minutes after Pelmeni are floating on the top) and serve with sour cream, butter and fresh chopped parsley or dill 7 Enjoy !
Serving ingredients (4 portions): – 2 small onions – 100g ham – 2 garlic cloves – 1 bunch chives
Method: 1 Combine boiled (no extra water!) mashed potatoes+egg+flour+salt and mix well to a dough 2 Separate dough into 6 equal piece: form a 1.5cm diameter sausage from each piece 3 Cut the sausages into 1cm width dumplings taking a ~60 degrees angle with respect to the sausage 🙂 4 Boil dumplings for 4 minutes in salted water, then transfer them to a plate 5 Chop ham, onion and garlic 6 Pre-heat a non-sticking skillet: fry the dumplings & onion at medium heat until golden 7 Add ham and chopped garlic to the dumplings: fry for 2 minutes at medium heat 8 Serve the dumplings hot with chopped chives and … enjoy!!
Notes: Kopytka means “little hooves” in Polish and refer to the appearance of these potato dumplings, which are formed in the shape of hooves:-)
Ingredients (for 6 toasts): – 6 slices rye bread or baguette – 100g creamy goat cheese – 2 garlic 🧄 cloves – 24 red grapes 🍇 – 12 hazelnuts – 50g corn salad for serving – 6-7 sprigs green onions for serving – 1-2 tbsp olive oil for toasts
Directions: 1 Toast rye bread slices with or without olive oil 2 Rub upper part of toasts with garlic 3 Butter goat cheese on the toasts on the garlic side 4 Sprinkle the toasts with sliced hazelnuts, halved grapes and chopped green onions 5 Serve with corn salad and enjoy !
With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy.
Lope de Vega
Salmorejo ingredients (2 servings): – 🍅🍅🍅 500g fresh tomatoes 🍅🍅🍅 – 50g-100g ciabatta or baguette crumb (soft part) – 2 garlic cloves – 1 tsp salt – 1/2 tablespoon white wine vinegar – 50ml olive oil Extra Virgin
Serving ingredients: – 100g chopped ham – a few basil leaves Directions: 1 Wash tomatoes and remove the green middle part 2 Combine in a bowl tomatoes + ciabatta crumb (add 100g crumb for a thick soup and 50g for a light one) + garlic cloves + salt + vinegar + olive oil: mash everything with a food processor or blender until smooth 3 Serve the soup with chopped ham and fresh basil leaves ! Enjoy !
Notes: 1 This soup will not leave you indifferent 😉 2 Tomatoes, olive oil & garlic quality are essential for the taste! 3 Put the soup in the fridge for 1 hour before serving if you prefer to have it cold 🙂
Love... to cooking ! 