Method: 1 Grate Parmesan into a bowl and put in the fridge 2 Cut salmon into 1.5cm cubes 3 Chop garlic into slices 4 Simultaneously start boiling water for pasta and cooking salmon 5 Boil pasta in the salty water until ready, drain the water 6 Cook salmon for 5 min in olive oil, medium heat; add 33% cream and cook for another 5 min; add garlic slice and cook for another minute 7 Put the pasta in the frying pan with salmon for 1 min, carefully mix and transfer to the serving plates 8 Serve Paccheri with black pepper, grated Parmesan and chopped greens !
So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.
J.R.R. Tolkien
Ingredients: – 3-4 middle potatoes – 3-4 middle carrots – 4 eggs – 200g chicken breast – 150g ham – 250g canned green pea – 5-6 pickles – 1/3 bunch green onions + 1/3 bunch parsley – 3-4 tbsp mayonnaise to taste – salt/pepper to taste
Method: 1 Dice boiled potatoes, carrots, eggs, chicken breast and combine with diced ham, diced pickles, chopped green onions and parsley 2 Add mayonnaise and spices, mix well and put for 1 hour in the fridge 3 Serve ! Merry Christmas !
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
We used to make Pelmeni on Christmas Eve, all the family was gathered together. One of Pelmeni was “lucky one”, made with a different filling from the others – the person who will get the “lucky” Pelemen’ is supposed to be lucky throughout the year!
Dough ingredients (~70 Pelmeni = 4-6 portions): – 3 cups (1 cup = 250ml) wheat flour – 170ml warm water – 1 tbsp 9% vinegar – 2 and 1/2 tbsp sunflower oil – 1/2 tsp salt
Serving ingredients (for 2 portions): – 200g sour cream Method: 1Dough: 1.1 combine dough ingredients and knead the dough for 5-7 min 1.2 leave the dough under the cloth while making the filling 2Filling: combine minced meat, spices, grated butter: mix well until smooth 3 Pelmeni 3.1 separate dough into 6 equal parts and form a 1.5cm diameter sausage from each part 3.2 cut each sausage into 1cm width pieces 3.3 roll out each piece into a ~7cm diameter round 3.4 put 1 tsp filling into each round 3.5 fold the round into a half-moon, pinch all the edges together strongly with fingers; then pull together two corners and pinch strongly with fingers 3.6 boil Pelmeni for 5 min after boiling and serve with sour cream 4 Enjoy !
Method: 1 Preheat oven to 200C 2 Bake walnuts for 10 minutes at 200C to make them easy to chop, set aside 3 Combine flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, lemon zest, salt and grate butter to dry ingredients, mix well 4 Add sour cream, egg and chopped walnuts: knead a dough 5 Form with hands 2cm diameter balls out of dough, dipping them in flour 6 Bake the cookies at 190C for 25-30 minutes 7 Enjoy the cookies with Christmas fruits punch and Merry Christmas !
City sidewalks, busy sidewalks Dressed in holiday style In the air there’s a feeling of Christmas
Bing Crosby
I always tried Trdlo when being in Prague! Today I ventured to cook it myself – Christmas aroma filled up my kitchen and brought back some nice memories, flavour of frozen snowy morning and sparkling garlands. I can’t wait for Christmas eve to come to enjoy Trdlo again with a cup of cocoa.
Filling ingredients: – 20-40g grated butter for buttering carton rolls – 60g brown sugar – 1tbsp grated nuts or walnuts – 1tbsp cinnamon Method: 1 Filling 1.1 mix in a cup sugar, cinnamon and grated nuts 1.2 grate butter and keep it in a bowl at room temperature while the dough is being prepared 2 Dough 2.1 Warm up milk to 35C and add crushed fresh yeast and 1tbsp sugar: whisk until smooth and leave in a warm place for 15 min 2.2 Add grated butter, 2 egg whites, 1 egg yolk, salt: whisk well 2.3 Add flour constantly mixing, knead a dough and leave in a warm place under cloth for 30 min 3 Trdlo 3.1 Preheat the oven to 190C 3.2 Knead dough with a stretch and fold technique for 2-3 min and separate into 10 equal pieces 3.3 Form a long 0.8cm diameter rope out of each dough piece 🙂 3.4 Wrap paper towel carton rolls with a baking paper: butter baking paper with fingers 3.5 Wind up a dough rope around a buttered paper towel carton roll 3.6 Butter Trdlo surface with fingers before rolling in nuts-cinnamon-sugar mixture 3.7 Roll well each Trdlo in nuts-cinnamon-sugar mixture 3.8 Bake Trdlos for 15 minutes at 190C: serve hot!Jingle bells-jingle bells…
“I don’t see much sense in that,” said Rabbit. “No,” said Pooh humbly, “there isn’t. But there was going to be when I began it. It’s just that something happened to it along the way.”
A.A. Milne
Dough ingredients: – 450g all purpose flour – 200ml 33% cream – 20g fresh yeast – 2 eggs and 1 egg white – 60g sugar – 8g Vanilla sugar – 1 dash of salt – 4g lemon zest – 250g raisins
Beautifying ingredients: – 1 egg yolk – 1 tbsp milk – 20g almond petals Method: 1 Dough 1.1 Pre-heat the 33% cream to 30-34C in a saucepan 1.2 Add to warm 33% cream: crushed fresh yeast and 2 tbsp sugar. Whisk until smooth and let it stay for 15 minutes covered with the cloth 1.3 Add to cream & yeast: 2 eggs and 1 egg white, sugar and Vanilla sugar, salt, lemon zest: whisk until smooth 1.4 Gradually add flour and raisins: knead a dough. Let dough stay in a warm place covered with a cloth for 30 minutes to let it raise 🙂 2 Braided bread 2.1 Separate raised dough into 5 equal parts, then form a 40cm long sausages out of each piece 2.2 Join all the sausages at top firmly with fingers, then braid them taking the left most and putting in the middle, then right most and putting it in the middle: repeat until you braid all the length through 🙂
2.3 Join the sausages in the end firmly. 2.4 Whisk an egg yolk with 1 tbsp milk and brush well the bread-to-be 2.5 Sprinkle the bread-to-be with almond petals 2.6 Let the bread raise for another 15 minutes (no cover now) and meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 180C 2.7 Bake the bread for 25 minutes on the baking paper at 180C 3 Let the bread cool down and serve with butter. Enjoy and Happy Easter!
The Duchess! The Duchess! Oh my dear paws! Oh my fur and whiskers! She’ll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are ferrets!
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Ingredients (14-18 bunnies): – 110g all-purpose flour – 50g butter – 40-50g sugar – 50g chopped almond – 1 small egg – several chocolate buttons for baking Method: 1 Pre-heat the oven to 190C 2 Chop almond to 0.2-0.5cm pieces (I used pre-chopped 1cm x 0.3cm almond stripes from the shop) – do not chop too finely to make super-crusty cookies 😉 3 Mix flour, sugar and grated butter until smooth 4 Add an egg and chopped almonds: mix well 5 Roll out the dough to 0.5cm width, cut the cookies with a bunny cookie cutter, put the cookies on the baking paper. Put chocolate buttons – bunnies eyes 6 Bake the cookies for 15 min at 190C 7 Serve with a cup of black coffee and have a wonderful and sunny weekend !
Fruit ingredients: – 100g dried cranberries – 50g dried apricots – 50 g raisins – 100ml juice mixture (elder+grapes+orange+apple juices) – 5g spices mixture (cinnamon+clove+ginger+orange zest) – 1-2 tbsp wheat flour Method: 1 Preheat the oven to 180C 2 Fruits 2.1 Wash and chop dired fruits 2.2 Soak dried fruits for 10-20 minutes in juice mixture with spices mixture 3 Batter 3.1 Combine sugar+vanilla sugar+salt+butter: mix well until smooth 3.2 Add 2 eggs and whisk 3.3 Add milk and flour: mix well until smooth 3.4 Add orange zest and baking soda with vinegar in the same teaspoon: mix well 4 Cake 4.1 Drain extra liquid from the fruits in the separate bowl (we will need this liquid yet!) 4.2 Mix dried fruits with 1 tbsp of flour 4.3 Add dried fruits to the batter and mix well 4.4 Pour batter into the buttered baking form 4.5 Bake at 180C for 40-50 minutes 4.6 Remove the cake from the oven: cover it with a juice mixture with a brush 4.7 Sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar 5 Serve ! 🎄🎄🎄Merry Christmas!🎄🎄🎄
At Christmas I no more desire a rose Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled shows
William Shakespeare
Ingredients (2 servings): – 2 conference pears – 50g Feta or Gorgonzola cheese – 6 walnuts – a few dill sprigs – 2 tsp acacia honey Method: 1 Pre-heat the oven to 180C 2 Wash the pears, half them and de-seed 3 Cut Feta cheese in cubes 4 Put Feta cubes in the de-seeded pears and bake for 5-7 minutes at 180C 5 Serve warm pears with walnuts, dill sprigs and acacia honey. 6 Enjoy and have a great Sunday!
Notes: be careful, this recipe has an aroma of a holiday season 😉
If you pressed me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.
Michel de Montaigne
Ingredients (for 12 Biscotti): – 130g wheat flour – 78g sugar – 4g Vanilla sugar – 1 egg – 1/2 tsp orange zest – 1/2 tsp rum or Amaretto – 1/2 tsp baking soda & 1/2 tsp vinegar – 63g almonds Method: 1 Pre-heat the oven to 180C. 2 Wash almonds and dry with paper towels. 3 Combine in a bowl: flour + sugar + Vanilla sugar + egg + orange zest + rum. 4 Add to the dough baking soda in the same teaspoon as vinegar: knead the dough. 5 Mix the almonds in the dough and distribute uniformly. 6 Form ~3cm width & ~30cm length log from the dough and put it on the baking paper. 7 Bake the log for 20min at 180C until golden. 8 Remove the log from the oven and let it cool down for 5 min. Do not turn off the oven. 9 Cut the log with diagonal cuts into 1.5cm width Biscotti. 10 Put Biscotti back on the baking paper and bake for 5-10 minutes. 11 Enjoy Biscotti some nice Sunday morning with a cup of black coffee and your favourite Christmas movie. Would it be this, this, this, this or this movie? 😉
I sincerely hope your Christmas…may abound in the gaieties which the season generally brings…
Jane Austen
Potato pancakes ingredients (12-14 pancakes): – 10 medium mashed potatoes – 2 small eggs – 1 chopped onion – 2 tbsp wheat flour – 1 tsp salt – 1/3 tsp black pepper
Apple compote ingredients: – 2 apples – 4-6 tbsp lemon juice
Method: 1 Apple compote 1.1 Wash and de-seed apples 1.2 Chop the apples 1.3 Cook the apples with lemon juice at medium heat until tender in the pan for 4-6 minutes 1.4 Mash the apples until smooth with an immersive blender 2 Potato pancakes 2.1 Peel the potatoes and boil them until ready 2.2 Batter: mix well mashed potatoes & chopped onion & salt & pepper & eggs & flour 2.3 Pre-heat the non-sticking skillet with one olive oil 2.4 Fry 1 tbsp batter for each pancake for 2-3 minutes each side 2.5 Put the ready pancake on the paper towel to get rid off extra oil 3 Serve potato pancakes with a warm apple compote and fresh miner’s lettuce !
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…
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 !
Beatifying ingredients: – 8 strawberries – 12 mint leaves
Method: 1 Sponge cakes: 1.1 Preheat the oven to 190C 1.2 Whisk the eggs + sugar + vanilla sugar for 2-3 minutes 1.3 Stir in flour and finely mix 1.4 Pour the batter into the buttered muffin forms: bake for 25 minutes at 190C 1.5 Remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool down 1.6 Cut cooled down cakes into the upper and lower halves 2 Chocolate-strawberry icing: 2.1 Wash and slice the strawberries; wash 12 mint leaves 2.2 Melt chocolate + butter + 33% cream 2.3 Put each top cake half into the melted chocolate butter -> put on a separate plate 2.4 Decorate with strawberries&mint and put the cakes tops for 1 hour in the fridge 🙂 3 Filling cream: 3.1 Keep the butter at room temperature for 40 minutes 3.2 Whisk all the filling ingredients 3.3 Put the filling cream in the fridge for 30 minutes 3.4 Put the cream in between lower and top cakes halves, then join the halves 4 Put the cakes in the fridge overnight and & get prepared for a great coffee-break ! 😉
Method: 1 Preheat the oven to 180C 2 Make the batter: whisk eggs with sugar, then carefully mix in the flour 3 Pour the batter into the buttered baking form 4 Peel rhubarb and slice it into ~0.5cm pieces and put them over the batter 5 Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes at 180C (check if it is ready with a wooden stick, it should come out clean) 6 Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool down 7 Whisk the egg whites with sugar until firm peaks for 5-10 minutes 8 Carefully put the whisked egg whites over the cake and bake for 30 minutes at 120C 9 Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool down 10 Serve with fresh strawberries !
Hint: 1 Meringue can stick to the baking form if you do not let the cake cool down before putting whisked egg whites on it 😉
Method: 1 Make sponge cakes: 1.1 Preheat the oven to 180C 1.2 Whisk eggs with sugar and finely mix in flour 1.3 Put the dough in the buttered baking form and bake for 25-30 minutes 1.4 If you want to make mini-cakes, fill muffin cups to a 1/4-1/3 height since we will need a space for cream! 2 Wash strawberries and let them dry 3 Make custard cream 3.1 Put butter in the bowl and let it wait while we are making 3.2 and 3.3 3.2 Whisk for 2 minutes milk+sugar+egg+flour (if you are not afraid of making a super-tasty custard cream, add 2g vanilla sugar, but it will add a little darker tint to the custard) 3.3 Pour the mixture from 3.2 into a saucepan and warm it over middle heat constantly stirring until it gets thicker 3.4 Remove the cream from the heat, then quickly and finely mix in butter 3.5 Let the custard cream cool down 4 Put the custard cream on the cakes, decorate with halved strawberries and put in the fridge overnight to let the custard cream penetrate the cakes and make them delicious 😉 5 Have a great weekend !
Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing
Method: 1 Preheat the oven to 180C 2 Wash the raisins and let them dry 3 Mix in the 1st bowl Kefir with baking soda, leave it rest for 5 minutes 4 Mix finely in the 2nd bowl butter, lemon zest, sugar and flour 5 Add Kefir from the 1st bowl and an egg yolk in the 2nd bowl, mix finely 6 Add candied oranges and raisins in the 2d bowl 7 Put the dough in the buttered muffin cup forms till ~1/2 height 8 Bake 25-30 minutes at 180C and let the cakes cool for 20 minutes 9 Icing: whip for 5 minutes an egg white with sugar & lemon juice 10 Put the icing immediately after whipping on top of the cakes with a teaspoon & decorate with candied orange peel mixed with grated pistachio 11 Let the egg whites dry overnight (or you can put the cakes already with an icing in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 100C to fix the whites) 12 Enjoy and Happy Easter !
Method: 1 Start making Pavlova cakes in the evening to have them ready next morning 🙂 2 Preheat the oven to 200C (reduce it to 100C when putting the meringues to bake) 3 Whisk egg whites with sugar & vanilla sugar for 5-10 minutes until strong peaks 4 Put the whisked egg whites on a parchment paper on drawn circles: build the edge slightly with some depression in the middle 5 Put our meringues-to-be in the oven and bake for 1.5 hour at 100C. Do not open the oven and leave the meringues to rest there overnight 6 In the morning whip the 33% cream with sugar 7 Put the the whipped cream on the meringues. Decorate with sliced fresh strawberries and enjoy !
All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.
Method: 1 Crumble Savoiardi biscuits in a bowl 2 Make Mascarpone cream: mix Mascarpone + 33% cream + sugar 3 Peel grapefruits & remove membranes: cut each grapefruit slice in 3 pieces 4 Arrange in the glass the following layers: 4.1 Savoiardi crumble/ Mascarpone cream/ grapefruit pieces 4.2 Repeat 4.1 until the glass is full with the colorful layers, then serve !
Method: 1 Preheat the oven to 200C (reduce it to 100C when putting meringues to bake) 2 Whisk egg whites with sugar and vanilla sugar for 5-10 minutes until strong peaks 3 Add orange zest and carefully mix it in, then separate whisked whites mixture into 2 halves and add cocoa only to one to give them different color ! 4 Now start putting whisked whites on a parchment paper in small portions. I used a cookie cutter to give them a nice shape. Well, it takes time, but with a help of 2 teaspoons one can manage it perfectly 😉 5 Put our meringues-to-be in the oven and bake for 1.5 hour at 100C 6 Do not open the oven! At best, leave the meringues rest there overnight (-: 7 Enjoy it with a cup of strong black coffee some nice and sunny Monday morning !
