Lunch - Love... to cooking !

Plum Galette by Jacques Pepin recipe

It grew cooler and even a little darker (but not much) with the coming of the night. The sky was cloudless; it was still early in July, and pretty far north; in the darkest part of that night, you would have needed pretty good eyes to read, but for all that, I have often seen it darker in a winter mid-day.
R.L.S.

Dough ingredients:
– 1 and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
-170g butter
-1/4 tsp salt
– 1/3 cup cold water
Filling ingredients (I changed a little original recipe):
-1/4+1/3 cup sugar
-3 tbsp grated almonds
-3 tbsp all-purpose flour
– 500g prune plums+200g peaches (weight with stones)
-3 tbsp butter

Directions:
1 Dough
1.1 Grate butter in flour, add salt and mix well
1.2 Add cold water, mix well and knead the dough
1.3 Roll out the dough into an oval 0.5cm width and transfer it in the baking paper to rest, make a filling meanwhile
2 Filling
2.1 Cut in stripes plums and peaches
2.2 Mix in a bowl 1/4 cup sugar + grated almonds + flour
3 Galette
3.1 Preheat the oven to 200C
3.2 Spread the sugar-almonds-flour mixture in the dough within 4 cm from the edge
3.3 Put the plums/peaches stripes on the sugar-almonds-flour mixture, top with remaining 1/3 cup sugar and chopped 3 tbsp butter
3.4 Bake galette for 50-60 minutes at 200C
3.5 Let the galette cool down and enjoy !

Fresh Corn Pancakes with Basil-Mayonnaise sauce !

We must go on, because we can’t turn back.
R.L.S.

Pancakes ingredients:
– 4 fresh corn cobs
– 2 eggs
– 3-4 tbsp all-purpose flour
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp black pepper
– sunflower oil for frying

Basil sauce ingredients:
– 1/2 bunch fresh basil chopped
– 4 tsp mayonnaise
– 1-2 cloves garlic chopped

Method:
1 Wash corn cobs, cut corn kernels off cobs with a knife
2 Combine corn kernels with eggs, flour, salt, black pepper, mix well until smooth
3 Preheat 2 skillets, add sunflower oil, keep medium heat
4 Add 1 full tbsp of corn-batter for 1 corn-pancake: fry 2-3 minutes each side until golden
5 Transfer ready pancakes on the paper towels to absorb extra oil
6 Basil sauce: combine chopped basil, mayonnaise and chopped garlic and mix
7 Serve warm corn pancakes with the basil sauce and enjoy !

Creamy Spinach-Gorgonzola Tagliatelle !

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
Viktor Frankl

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 250g Tagliatelle
– 100ml 33% cream
– 125g baby spinach
– 2 small red onions
– 180g Gorgonzola
– sunflower oil for frying onion
– black pepper for serving

Method:
1 Tagliatelle: cook Al Dente
2 Spinach-Gorgonzola sauce:
2.1 Chop onions
2.2 Chop spinach
2.3 Fry onion on sunflower oil until soft, add spinach and cook at medium heat for 2-4 min
2.4 Add cream and Gorgonzola – cook at medium heat until Gorgonzola melted
3 Serving: put Tagliatelle in the plates, pour sauce on the Tagliatelle, sprinkle with black pepper and enjoy!

Simple and healthy sweet potato and cauliflower soup with beef !

Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.
Hermann Hesse

Ingredients:
– 400g minced beef
– 3-4 large sweet potatoes
– half a head cauliflower
– 1 tsp salt
– pumpkin seeds for serving

Method:
1 Boil minced beef for 25 minutes in 2-2.5l salted water
2 Wash and peel sweet potatoes and cauliflower
3 Add finely chopped sweet potatoes and cauliflower to the broth with beef and boil another 15 minutes
4 Mash the soup with a blender until smooth
5 Serve the soup with toasted pumpkin seeds and enjoy !

Pancakes with Beef and Tomatoes filling !

Il y a des fleurs partout pour qui veut bien les voir.
Henry Matisse

Pancakes ingredients (14-16 pancakes):
– 5/4 cup wheat floor
– 1/2 cup buckwheat flour (it gives to pancakes a wonderful color and taste)
– 0.5l Kefir
– 0.3l milk (combination of milk & Kefir gives a special taste to the pancakes)
– 2 eggs
– 2 tsp sugar
– dash of salt
– 1 tbsp sunflower oil
– 1/2 tbsp sunflower oil onto the skillet for the first pancake

Filling ingredients:
– 500g minced beef
– 2 small red onions
– 300g tomato purée
– 2 tomatoes
– 1 zucchini

Serving ingredients:
– 200g sour cream
– 2 cloves garlic

Method:
1 Pancakes
1.1 Whisk 2 eggs with salt & sugar
1.2 Pour Kefir and milk in the whisked eggs
1.3 Gradually add wheat and buckwheat flour continuously stirring
1.4 Mix in 1 tbsp sunflower oil
1.5 Preheat the skillet with 1/2 tbsp sunflower oil
1.6 Pour 1 soup ladle of batter into the skillet for one pancake
1.7 Cook each pancake until golden ~2 min each side
1.8 Keep the pancakes warm covered with a lid
2 Filling
2.1 Fry chopped onion in sunflower oil 2-3 min, add minced meat and fry another 10 min, medium heat
2.2 Add chopped zucchini, tomatoes, tomato purée and stew for 10-15 min
3 Serving
3.1 Put the 1-2tbsp filling on one half of each pancake and roll the pancakes out
3.2 Serve with sour cream with grated garlic and enjoy!

Warm soup in the pot with red bell peppers, carrots, beef and pearl barley !

花より団子
Japanese saying

Ingredients (6 pots):
– 400g minced beef
– 3 red bell peppers
– 5-6 carrots
– one large red onion
– 1 glass (250ml) pearl barley
– 2 tsp salt
– 5-6tbsp tomato puree (pure tomatoes, not salted)
– 300-350ml water in each pot

Method:
1 Grate carrots; chop bell peppers & onion
2 Combine vegetables, 1 glass not boiled pearl barley, tomato puree, salt: mix well
3 Preheat the oven to 190C
4 Distribute minced beef equally in the pots
5 Distribute vegetables & pearl barley mixture in the pots equally, over the minced beef
6 Add 300-350ml water in each pot
7 Cover the pots with lids and put in the oven for 60 minutes at 190C
8 Enjoy delicious soup!

Pelmeni: Dumplings with Beef and Pork !

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

Filling ingredients (~70 Pelmeni = 4-6 portions):
– 250g minced beef
– 250g minced pork
– 1 tsp salt
– 1/2 tsp black pepper
– 2-3 tsp grated butter

Serving ingredients (for 2 portions):
– 200g sour cream

Method:
1 Dough:
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
2 Filling: 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 !

Sweet potato chips – quick and healthy snack !

Ah, Nothing is too late, till the tired heart shall cease to palpitate.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sweet potato chips ingredients (for 2 servings):
– 3 large sweet potatoes
– 0.5 tbsp olive oil
– dash of salt

Sauce ingredients:
– 100g sour cream
– 80g blue cheese
– chopped dill

Method:
1 Sweet potato chips
1.1 Preheat the oven to 190C
1.2 Pill and cut sweet potatoes into strips
1.3 Mix potato strips with salt and olive oil and transfer on the baking paper
1.4 Bake for 30 minutes at 190C
2 Sauce: combine sour cream, blue cheese and chopped dill – mix until smooth and put the sauce in the fridge until the chips are ready
3 Serve hot sweet potato chips with a sauce from the fridge !

Lemon Cookies with Walnuts !

We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.
James Boswell

Dough ingredients (for 18 cookies):
– 200g all-purpose flour
– 125g butter
– 90g sour cream
– 1 egg yolk
– lemon zest from half a lemon
– 5g vanilla sugar
– pinch of salt

Filling ingredients:
– 100g grated walnuts
– 1 egg white
– 75g cane sugar

Serving ingredients:
– some sugar powder for serving

Method:
1 Dough: combine all dough ingredients, mix until smooth and knead a dough
2 Filling: whisk egg white with sugar for 3-4 minutes, mix in grated walnuts
3 Cookies
3.1 Preheat the oven to 180C
3.2 Roll out the dough to 3mm width
3.3 Cut 10cm diameter rounds with a cookie cutter
3.4 Put 3/4 tsp filling in each round
3.5 Enclose each round with fingers into the half-moon
3.6 Put the half-moons on the baking paper and bake for 20-25 minutes at 180C
3.7 Serve the cookies sprinkles with sugar powder and with a cup of strong black tea ! Enjoy !

Fluffy Apple Pie !

Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Ingredients:
– 300g all purpose flour
– 80g cane sugar
– 1 egg
– 50g butter
– 0.5 cup milk
– 21g fresh yeast
– pinch of salt
– 1 kg apples (weight unpeeled) = ~6 medium apples

Directions:
1 Warm milk to ~35C (95F) and add crushed fresh yeast, salt and 1tbsp sugar: whisk until smooth and set aside for 15 minutes
2 Add egg, butter and remaining sugar: whisk well until smooth
3 Add flour: whisk well until smooth and set aside under cloth for 2 hours to let the batter rise
4 Preheat the oven to 190C
5 Pour the batter into the battered baking form (I used 25x25cm)
6 Cut each apple into ~12 lobules and cover the batter with apple lobules
7 Bake the pie for 45-50 minutes at 190C (374F), let the pie cool down before serving!

Simple and wholesome lunch: potatoes, parsnip and carrot baked in cream with salmon !

О чем я думаю? О падающих звёздах.
Vladimir Nabokov

Ingredients (4 servings):
– 6 medium potatoes
– 4 medium parsnips
– 6 medium carrots
– 360g salmon
– 300ml 33% cream
– 120ml water
– 125g grated Grana Padano
– 1/2 tsp salt
– bunch of fresh dill

Directions:
1 Preheat the oven to 190C (374F)
2 Wash, peel and slice vegetables
3 Cut salmon in 1.5cm cubes
4 Combine salmon and vegetables in the baking form (~25cmx25cm), add salt, 33% cream, water and mix well: make sure that all vegetables and salmon pieces are covered with liquid
5 Bake for 40-45 minutes at 190C (374F) and serve with fresh dill!

Quick and healthy lunch: pasta with gorgonzola, zucchini and dill !

Bien sûr je te ferai mal. Bien sûr tu me feras mal. Bien sûr nous aurons mal. Mais ça c’est la condition de l’existence. Se faire printemps, c’est prendre le risque de l’hiver. Se faire présent, c’est prendre le risque de l’absence. C’est à mon risque de peine, que je connais ma joie.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 250g full grain penne
– 200g gorgonzola
– 100ml 33% cream
– 1 small zucchini
– bunch of dill for serving

Method:
1 Start simultaneously boiling penne (2) and making sauce (3)
2 Boil penne al dente in salted water
3 Pour cream in the skillet, add gorgonzola cut in 2cm cubes and cook at medium heat for 5 minutes, then add grated zucchini and cook for another 5 minutes
4 Drain water from penne and add penne to the sauce: mix well and cook for another minute
5 Serve penne with fresh chopped dill and enjoy !

Quarkkäulchen – Potato and Cottage Cheese Pancakes with Homemade Cherry Compote !

Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.
Hermann Hesse

Quarkkäulchen ingredients (for 10 Quarkkäulchen):
– 300g boiled potatoes
– 300g cottage cheese
– 1 small egg
– 100g all purpose flour
– 2-3 tbsp flour for forming Quarkkäulchen
– 1 tbsp olive oil for frying

Cherry compote ingredients:
– 300g frozen cherries without stones
– 50ml water
– 1 tbsp cornstarch
– 1 tbsp brown sugar

Method:
1 Quarkkäulchen
1.1 Mix boiled potatoes, cottage cheese, egg and flour until smooth
1.2 Put some flour on a separate bowl
1.3 Form 1cm width 6-7cm diameter Quarkkäulchen with your hands using the flour from the plate
1.4 Preheat olive oil in the skillet
1.5 Fry each Quarkkäulchen until golden each side for 3-4 minutes at medium heat
2 Cherry compote: transfer in the skillet washed cherries, water, cornstarch and sugar: mix well and cook for 7-10 minutes at medium heat
3 Serve Quarkkäulchen with warm cherry compote !

Feta and Cottage Cheese Dumplings: simple and delicious lunch !

Bez opatrnosti aj šikovnosť je márna
Slovak proverb

Dough ingredients (2 servings):
– 6-8 tbsp flour
– 150g feta cheese
– 100g cottage cheese
– 1 egg

Serving ingredients:
– 250g sour cream
– 1 small red onion
– 1tbsp butter

Method:
1 Combine flour, grated feta cheese, cottage cheese and egg: knead the dough
2 Separate the dough into 4 equal parts
3 Form a 1.5cm diameter sausage from each part of dough
4 Cut out each sausage into 1cm width dumplings and set them aside
5 Pre-heat butter in the skillet and fry chopped red onion until golden
6 Transfer the dumplings into the boiling water and cook for 4 minutes at medium heat
7 Transfer the dumplings to the skillet with fried red onion: mix and cook for another 2-3 minutes
7 Serve the dumplings with sour cream !

Cannelloni baked with Chanterelles and Leek !

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
Lao Tzu

Notes: inspired by Jamie Oliver Mushroom Cannelloni

Cannelloni & filling ingredients (4 servings):
– 200g cannelloni
– 250g leek
– 250g chanterelles
– 1 onion
– 1 tbsp butter
– 3/4 tsp salt

White sauce:
– 500ml milk
– 100g cheese
– 3tbsp flour
– 1 tbsp olive oil

Method:
1 Filling:
1.1 Wash, peel and chop chanterelles, onion and leek
1.2 Pre-heat the skillet with butter and fry onion 3-4 min, add chanterelles and cook for 10 min
1.3 Add chopped leek, salt and cook for another 10 min
2 White sauce:
2.1 preheat olive oil in the skillet, add 3 tbsp flour: mix well
2.2 Pour milk to flour & oil: cook 2-3 min until smooth constantly stirring, add grated cheese and cook for another 2-3 min: sauce is ready!
3 Cannelloni:
3.1 Preheat the oven to 190C
3.2 Fill cannelloni with filling (I used chopsticks for that)
3.3 Transfer filled cannelloni in the baking form and pour the white sauce over them
3.4 Bake cannelloni for 30-35 min at 190C until golden & serve with fresh greens!

Baked Meatballs with Italian Herbs served with Red & White Sauces !

Easy, take it easy! Is there anything to eat? A few meatballs, perhaps? Or a little cream cake?
Astrid Lindgren, Karlson Flies Again

Meatballs ingredients (4 servings or 24 meatballs):
– 400g minced beef
– 2 eggs
– 4 tbsps flour
– 1 tsp salt
– 1 tsp Italian herbs

Red sauce:
– 100g cranberry jam

White sauce:
– 200g 10% sour cream
– 3 grated garlic cloves

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 200C
2 Combine minced beef with salt, eggs, Italian herbs and flour: mix well until smooth
3 Form meatballs with your hands and put them in the baking form (no oil needed!)
4 Bake meatballs for 40-45 minutes at 190-200C
5 White sauce: mix grated garlic with sour cream
6 Serve meatballs with red & white sauces and enjoy ! 🙂

Quick and Simple Fresh Corn-Potato Soup !

It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
Lewis Carroll

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 3 fresh corn cobs
– 9 middle (~6cm length) potatoes
– 1 tsp salt
– 400-500 ml water
– bunch of green onions for serving

Method:
1 Wash corn cobs and wash & peel potatoes
2 Cut corn kernels off cobs with a knife
3 Cut potatoes in 2-3cm pieces
4 Cook potatoes & corn kernels for 15-20 minutes in salted water
5 Evacuate 3-4 tbsp corn kernels for serving on a separate plate
6 Mash the rest of soup with an immersive blender
7 Serve the soup with chopped green onions and boiled corn kernels!

Healthy Cold Summer Soup with Bell Peppers, Cucumbers, Garlic and Feta !

Многоточие – это следы на цыпочках ушедших слов
Vladimir Nabokov

Ingredients (3-4 portions):
– 3 cucumbers (270g)
– 1 small red bell pepper (200g)
– 1 small yellow bell pepper (120g)
– 700ml tomato juice unsalted
– 2 garlic cloves (10g)
– 100g wholegrain rye bread pulp
– 20ml virgin olive oil
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 100g Feta for serving

Method:
1 Wash and chop cucumbers and bell peppers
2 Peel, wash and grate garlic
3 Mash with a blender 2/3 chopped cucumbers and bell peppers+bread pulp+olive oil+tomato juice+grated garlic cloves+salt until smooth
4 Serve the soup with the remaining chopped cucumbers & bell peppers and with crushed Feta cheese
5 Enjoy – it’s a perfect soup for a hot summer day !

Summer Strawberry Biscuit Roll !

Donwell was famous for its strawberry-beds, which seemed a plea for the invitation: but no plea was necessary; cabbage-beds would have been enough to tempt the lady, who only wanted to be going somewhere. She promised him again and again to come – much oftener than he doubted – and was extremely gratified by such a proof of intimacy, such a distinguishing compliment as she chose to consider it.
“Emma” by Jane Austen

Dough ingredients:
– 60g flour
– 60g sugar
– 4 eggs
– 3 egg yolks

Filling ingredients:
– 250g 33% whipping cream
– 250g fresh strawberries
– 8g Vanilla sugar
– 1 tsp sugar

Method:
1 Dough
1.1 Preheat the oven to 200C
1.2 Mix sugar with eggs and egg yolks and whisk them for 5 minutes
1.3 Add flour and whisk for another minute until smooth
1.4 Pour the dough on the baking paper in the 30x35cm baking form
1.5 Bake for 12-14 minutes until golden: remove from the oven
1.6 Carefully remove the baking paper (place on “new” baking paper sheet and remove the “old” one from top): roll the cake with the new baking paper sheet and let it cool down for 10 minutes
2 Filling
2.1 Wash and dry fresh strawberries
2.2 Mash 70g strawberries with sugar and vanilla sugar
2.3 Chop the rest 180g strawberries into 0.5cm pieces
2.4 Whip the cream until firm and carefully mix with mashed and chopped strawberries – beautiful filling ready!
3 Cake
3.1 Unroll the cake and put the strawberry filling on 3/4 of the cake
3.2 Roll the cake with the filling
3.3 Put the strawberry roll for 2 hours in the fridge
3.4 Enjoy 😉

Simple Quiche with Salmon and Spinach !

There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it
Gustav Flaubert

Dough ingredients:
– 220g flour
– 100g butter
– 1/2 cup water
– 1/2 tsp salt

Filling ingredients:
– 200g fresh salmon
– 250g spinach
– 250-280g 10% sour cream
– 2 eggs
– 50g cheese
– black pepper

Method:
1 Filling
1.1 Wash spinach and pre-cook it for 15 minutes, then drain extra water
1.2 Chop salmon and pre-cook it for 5-10 minutes in water, drain extra water
1.3 Whisk sour cream and eggs together in a separate bowl
1.4 Grate cheese in a separate bowl
2 Dough
2.1 Mix flour, grater butter, salt and water: knead the dough
2.2 Pre-heat the oven to 200C
2.3 Roll out dough to 32cm round
2.4 Put rolled out dough into 32cm buttered baking form
2.5 Make in the dough small holes for airing
2.6 Pre-bake for 10 minutes at 200C
3 Quiche
3.1 Spread the pre-cooked salmon & spinach onto the pre-baked dough base
3.2 Pour sour-cream-eggs mixture over the salmon & spinach
3.3 Sprinkle uniformly the grated cheese and black pepper over the filling
3.4 Bake the quiche for 25-30 minutes at 200C until golden
3.5 Enjoy and have a great Sunday!

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