Spirals Bread with Mediterranean Flavours..........

Ricotta, sundried tomatoes, oregano, feta, kalamata olives

Spinach Lebanese style (with spinach and sumac)

After the spirals bread with pesto, I tried three different fillings.....all of them....DELICIOUS!!

Dough Ingredients:

400 grs. Flour

50 grs. Wholemeal

50 grs. chickpea flour (original recipe said pea flour)

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

warm water

For the sponge:

25 gr. fresh yeast (I use 5 teaspoons of instant yeast  dried)

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 / 2 cup warm water

For the filling

a) Ricotta, sundried tomatoes, oregano, feta, kalamata olives

200 grams ricotta

50 grams feta cheese

7 sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil

Oregano

Kalamata Olives

Put the feta cheese with dried tomatoes in a food processor, and grind them into a paste. Mix with the ricotta. You can vary the proportions of the ingredients if you like.

b) Spinach Lebanese style (the same Fatayer filling of spinach and pizza with spinach and sumac)

1 bunch spinach (washed and chopped)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 / 4 red onion (chopped)

1 / 2 teaspoon sumac

1 / 2 teaspoon zataar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

¼ teaspoon salt

Mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon olive oil and ½ teaspoon Zaatar

Wash and chop spinach. Sprinkle salt on the spinach, and let stand for 20 minutes to drain the water.

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and cook the onion with zaatar. Let it cool.

Squeeze spinach (remove as much water as possible), and mix it with lemon juice and sumac. Add the onion with the zaatar and olive oil. Adjust salt and sumac, if necessary (it has to be salty and acid).

c) Pasta Nuts and Herbs Laura Calder

I do not have pictures of this spirals; however, we have made this sauce for this pasta before.....and it is divine!

15 grams almonds

15 grams pine nuts

15 grams pistachios

¼ bunch of parsley leaves

¼ bunch mint leaves

Olive oil Parmesan cheese, for grating

1 / 4 clove garlic

Put nuts and herbs in a food processor and chop. Add a little hot water if necessary to mix and have a paste. Add garlic and salt. This mixture should have texture, and not be completely smooth.

Preparation

Mix the ingredients of the sponge and let it foam (15 minutes). Mix the flour with salt, and in the center add the foamy sponge. Add oil, and begin to knead. Add warm water to form a dough not sticky to your hands, and flexible enough that you can knead. Let stand in warm place for 45 minutes.

Roll out the dough with rolling pin until you get a rectangle 40 cm x 30 cm. Add the filling:

a) Ricotta, sundried tomatoes, oregano, feta, kalamata olives

Distribute the pasta with Ricotta, sundried tomatoes and feta. Sprinkle oregano and place the olives.

 

b) Spinach Lebanese style

Brush the dough with a mixture of olive oil and zaatar. Place the spinach filling Lebanese style. Stir in grated cheddar and mozzarella cheese .

 

c) Pasta Nuts and Herbs Laura Calder

Spread pasta Nuts and Herbs Laura Calder

Once we spread each filling, close the cylinder and cut into pieces of 5 cm. thick. Are arranged in a mold and allowed to warm environment for 45 minutes. Brush with egg and bring to a preheated oven (200 ° C) for about 40 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With these spirals I contribute to the HEMC #55, which the topic is comida de rollitos, and is hosted by Sonia L'Exquisit.....Thanks Sonia!

300 Minutes Egg......Because an Egg is Important!!

When I read that Brujix wanted to make a contest, I told her that I would love to contribute to her collection....This is our contribution to the contest "Me Importa un Huevo".....Thanks Brujix for this opportunity!

I went to read the rules,  and I read that the recipe should have only one egg, and the egg  should be relevant in the recipe....I thought...... What a challenge!!..Nevertheless, I misread the rules...the recipe should have at least one egg....

 

However, having that one-egg challenge in my mind, I went to the internet to find a recipe "with one egg only".....and I found one interesting proposal the 300 minute egg.....You can find the original recipe here in fxcuisine Thanks Fxcuisine!!

 

 

This recipe is very simple, but very interesting....you cook the eggs for 300 minutes (5 hours) in an oven at 100 Celsius.....and you serve them as a starter.....But, Why you cook them for so long?

The original site says that this recipe comes from North Africa. I search the internet, and found that this egg is also known in some areas of Ethiopia, and Eastern Europe. It seems that belongs to the Jewish cuisine as one of the dishes for their Sabbath.....Therefore, it is an egg with history....

 

How do you do it?

Soak eggs in warm water for 10  minutes
Put your oven to 100 Celsius
Place the eggs on the grate and bake them for 5 hours (at the same time I cook other food to make an appropriate use of the oven)
After 5 hours take them out, and leave them in cold water for 5 minutes
Peel them
Serve them with the dressing that you like
In our case, I make an alioli, and add some capers......

It has an interesting nutty flavour.....ENJOY!!

 

 

 

Bhutanese Red Rice Pilaf with Kewa Datshi.....a Nice Combination....Recipe for Espe Saavedra Contest

We tried this recipe few years ago......and literally....We felt in love with it!!

When we knew that Espe was organizing a contest with rice, we knew that we wanted to make this recipe. Not many people know Bhutanese red rice, and we thought it was a good occasion to make it.

This is our contribution to the Concurso El Arroz from the fantastic blog of  Espe. Thanks Espe !

Bhutanese Red Rice grows in the Kingdom of Bhutan in the Himalayas, and it is a staple food in that Kingdom.

We tried this rice with a dish called Kewa Datshi.....that in simple words is Potatoes with Cheese and Chillies

Bhutanese Red Rice Pilaf (adapted from lotusfoods)


1 cup Bhutanese Red Rice (rinse it first)
3 tablespoons butter
7 spring onions (diced)
1 cup of baby carrots (cut in pieces)
2 1/2 cups of vegetables stock
2 bay leafs
Salt

In a pan, put the butter at low heat. Add the spring onions, carrots, and bay leaf. Let it cook for 5 minutes. Add the Bhutanese Red Rice, vegetable stock, and salt. Let it cook for 40 minutes at low heat. If is not properly cooked, then let it cook for 5 or 10 more minutes. Add more vegetable stock if needed.

 

 

Kewa Datshi (recipe adapted from asiarecipe)

5 Potatoes

1 cup of cheese (I use a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese)

1/2 red onion (chopped) 

2 tablespoon of oil

Salt

Chilli powder (depending on your taste)

1 cup of water

Cut potatoes in small to medium cubes. In a pan, put the oil and add the potatoes. Let them cook for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of water, and let it simmer until the potatoes are "al dente" (not fully cooked). Add the onions, the chilli powder, and stir it. Add the cheese, and mix it well. Turn off the stove, and let it rest for 5 minutes, or until the cheese has all melted. Served with the Bhutanese Red Rice Pilaf.....ENJOY!!

Strawberry Pie with Custard......

This is my contribution to the Concurso Aprovechame from the fantastic blog of Laube. She asked for recipes made with leftovers, and I found that it was very interesting topic to contribute to.

Usually, in our home, we do not have much leftovers for the following reasons:

1) We have a big freezer; therefore, I froze every leftover because on Thursday we eat LUMAMI which are leftovers from LUnes, MArtes, and MIercoles....(Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday).
2) We like reheated food, and if it is pasta even better!!.....I found that reheated food sometimes taste better....

This pie was made with leftover from the puff pastry of the Galette de Rois, an egg yolk that was a leftover from cookies with only egg white, the last piece of strawberry jam,  and frozen strawberries that were telling me....eat me!!

 

Recipe

Frozen strawberries (you can use fresh as well)
Leftover puff pastry from my Galette de Rois
Strawberry jam (3 tablespoon)
1 teaspoon of natural gelatine

Custard
250 cc of milk
30 grams of corn starch
A piece of lemon peel
A piece of cinammon
2 tablespoon of sugar (more or less depending on your taste)
1 egg yolk

Use a roll pin to make a dough of 0.5 cms and put it in a oven tray. Make holes with a fork, and cook them for 20 minutes at 400F (time will depend on your oven).

Heat the milk with lemon, cinammon stick, and sugar. Don let it boil. Discard the lemon peel and cinammon. Mix the egg yolk with the corn starch, and slowly add the hot milk. Put this mix in the pot again, and cook it until the egg is cooked. Set aside.

Hydrate the gelatine with two tablespoon of water. Slowly heat the strawberry jam, and add the gelatine. Cook until is dissolved.

Over the cooked puff pastry place the custard, then the strawberries, and on top the strawberry jam with the gelatine. Let it cool and ENJOY!!

 

A Minimalist Tapa.....But....Exquisit!!

This is what I call a very, very minimalist tapa.......only three ingredients......but so good!!

With this recipe I want to contribute to the Concurso de Tapas organized by Sonia and her fantastic blog L'Exquisit.......Thanks Sonia!!

This is a recipe that I have made for the last 16 years.....and we love it!!.....It was the first appetizer I have made, and always has been a success at home and with friends

What it has?.....only three ingredientes......beautiful mushrooms, wonderful walnuts, and delicious blue cheese....plus a little bit of olive oil......neither salt nor pepper......but you can add them if you wish.....

How to do it?

Clean the mushrooms (I use small white mushrooms) with a paper towel
Carefully take the stem out, leaving a cup shape in the white mushroom
Chop the mushroom stems, and cook them in a little bit of olive oil until they are tender. Let it cool.
Chop the walnuts (I use 1 walnut per 4 mushrooms)
Chop the blue cheese (quantity up to your taste). It can be roquefort, gorgonzola, or cambozola. I prefer roquefort.
Mix the cold mushroom stems, walnuts, and blue cheese. Fill each mushroom cup.
Place on to a piece of blue cheese with a lot of the blue part (fungi). Thus, you will neither use salt nor pepper.

Place them in a oven tray (I prefer a glass one), and cook them in a preheated oven at 485F for twenty minutes, or until cooked. You will notice that they are cooked when the cheese is melted, and juice comes from the mushrooms. I cook them the first 10 minutes in the lower part of the oven, then the remaining 10 minutes in the upper part of the oven.....

PLEASE ENJOY THE PICTURES AS WE DID......!!

THESE FILLED MUSHROOMS ARE DEFINITELY.....EXQUISIT!!