Tiramisu

Who doesn't love tiramisu? :) It's been a few years I haven't done it, but last week I decided to do it at home and it was finished in only 1 day. :)

Ingredients:
savoiardi biscuits (400-500 gr)
coffee (1 l)
mascarpone cheese (600 gr)
eggs (6)
sugar (6 tablespoons)
cocoa (a few spoons)

Mix the white par of the egg until it becomes thick. In another bowl mix the yellow part of the eggs, add the sugar and mascarpone cheese. Mix until it's creamy, then add the yellow part of the eggs that you've mixed before. Take the biscuits and put them in the coffee for a few seconds, then put them in the baking pan. Put some cream on the top and then add the biscuits with coffee again. After that put some cream again. When you've finished the biscuits cover everything with cream and put some cocoa powder on the top. Leave for at least 3 hours in the fridge before serving (it is better if you leave in the fridge for 6 or 7 hours).

Sorbetto with black cherries and strawberries

You will need an ice cream machine for this recipe.

Ingredients:
black cherries and strawberries (500 gr)
sugar (300 gr)
water (250 ml)
oranges (2)
lemon (1)
black cherry syrup (half cup)

Melt the sugar in the water on high heat. Wait until it boils and mix for a few minutes, then put it away from heat and cool it. Blend the fruits, add the sugar syrup, the juice from oranges and lemon and the black cherry syrup. Mix everything and then put the mixture in the ice cream machine. Leave it in the ice cream machine for 10 or 15 minutes, then put everything in the freezer for 10 minutes. Mix again and serve.

Lepinja with sesame seeds

Ingredients:
white flour (450 gr - type 400)
whole weat flour (300 gr - type 1100)
baking powder (1 sachet)
dry yeast (1 sachet)
salt (2 teaspoons)
sugar (1 teaspoon)
natural yoghurt (150 gr)
warm milk (150 ml)
warm water (150 ml)
oil (4-5 spoons)
eggs (2)

butter (1-2 spoons)
sesame seeds
salt (in big grains)

Mix the flour, the baking powder, yeast. Add salt, sugar, yoghurt, milk, water, oil and the eggs. Mix everything well and cover it with a cloth and leave it in a warm place. Wait until it rises. Then take the dough, cut it in three pieces and do an oval bread 2 cm high. Put them on an oven pan and spread some melter butter on the top and then add the salt and the sesame seeds. Cover them with a cloth and leave them to rise. Put them in an oven for about 25 minutes (200 degrees warm).

Rocket soup with parmesan cheese

I found this really nice recipe in a book I have bought a few years ago in Ljubljana: Juhe (Kuhinja izbranih okusov). I have tried it (and modified the recipe just a bit, as usually) and it was very nice.


Ingredients:
potato (1 big)
rocket (250 gr)
onion (1 small)
garlic (1 piece)
olive oil (1 spoon)
water (0,5 l)
knorr cube
cream ( 0,2 l)
salt
pepper
parmesan cheese (40 gr)


Cook the potato for about 25 minutes, then drain the water, peel the potato and cut it in small cubes. Clean the rocket and leave some leafs on the side for decoration. Cut the rest of the rocket in small pieces. Peel the onion and garlic and chop in small pieces. Fry them in a pan with a spoon of olive oil. Just before it becomes brown, add the water and the knorr cube, leave it on low heat until the cube melts. Add the cream and mix. Then add the potato cubes and the chopped rocket. Pass the soup through the strainer. Add salt and pepper. Put the soup in a plate, add some rocket leafs on the top and some grated parmesan cheese (it doesn't have to be really thin) and serve.

Lepinja with olives

Lepinja is a typical bread from the Balkans. I wanted to bake it for a long time and finally I did it. I found the recipe in the book Vse o peki.

Ingredients:
 flour - type 500 (250 gr)
 fresh yeast (1/2)
 honey (1 small spoon)
 lukewarm water (125 ml)
 salt (1 small spoon)
 olives (50 gr)
 oil (6 spoons)


Put the flour in a bowl and do a whole in the middle. Put the yeast there, but crush it first. Then add some water to the honey and add it to the yeast (but be careful, the water shouldn't be too hot!). Mix with the fork and leave it for 10 minutes.
Add salt, olives, oil and the rest of the water. Then mix all the ingredients until it becomes a dough. Put some flour on the top and cover it with a cotton cloth. Leave it in a hot place until it rises. After that take the dough and do 2 oval-shaped lepinjas (25x15 cm). Put them on an oven pan and cover it with a cloth until it rises again. Before putting in the oven do some little holes with your fingers and in the recipe it says you should put a few drops of olive oil (I forgot to do it, but it was good anyway). Bake in the oven. (It should be 20 minutes on high heat, preheated.)

Lasagna with asparagus

Ingredients:

for the thin pankakes:

eggs (2)

flour (3 cups)

milk (1/2 l)

salt

oil (for frying)

for the lasagna:

besciamella sauce

onion (1)

asparagus (500 gr)

carrot (1)

olive oil

chilli powder

salt 

parmesan cheese

First of all you have to fry the thin pankakes. Mix the eggs and the flour, then add the salt and the milk until you have a creamy mixture. It shouldn't be too thick. If you need you can add more milk. Then fry the pankakes in a pan. Put some oil (really a little bit) in the pan and then add a dipper of the mixture and make sure that the mixture goes all over the surface of the pan. Do them really thin and don't fry them too long, because you don't need them crispy but soft. Here is a picture of the pankakes: 

 

Then prepare the vegetable mix. Put some oil in a pan, add the chopped onion and fry for a while until it changes colour, but add the other chopped vegetables (asparagus and carrots) before the onion is brown. Add the salt and just a little bit of chilli powder, mix and cook for 15-20 minutes. 

In the meanwhile you can prepare the besciamella sauce. 

Take a baking pan and first put some vegetables at the bottom. Add some besciamella sauce and on the top put the pankakes. Add the vegetables and the besciamella sauce again and cover with the pankakes. Continue to do the layers until you finish the besciamella sauce and the vegetables. Put some pankakes on the top and add some parmesan cheese (if you want it more creamy you can make more besciamella sauce). Bake in the oven until the top becomes crispy and brown (it should take about 30-40 minutes).

Here is the picture of the lasagna, fresh from the oven. It probably doesn't look nothing special, but even my brother liked it! :)

Besciamella sauce

And finally I did besciamella sauce, I haven't just asked my mother to do it. Hihihi :D
I found a great recipe on the giallo zafferano web page and I tried it, but next time I'm gonna try a low fat version.

Sorry, the picture this time isn't that good, it was kinf of difficult to make a good picture while cooking. :)

Ingredients:
butter (50 gr)
white flour (50 gr)
milk (0,5 l)
salt
nutmeg





Heat the butter in a pan until it becomes liquid. Take the pan away from the heat and add the flour, mix well and put again on the heat adding the milk and mixing at the same time. Add the salt and the nutmeg. Mix until it become creamy as you want.
I contiuned to cook and I used it in a dish, I'm gonna post the whole recipe next time. 

Lentils soup with amaranth

Some time ago I discovered amaranth, a cereal original from central America. I had some difficulties to find it here, where I live, but at the end I found it and I've tried a recipe that I found here. I've modified it a bit, as usually.

Ingredients:
lentils (1 cup)
amaranth (2 cups)
water
onion (1)
carrot (1)
salt
black pepper
chilli powder





Cook the amaranth in the water for 20 minutes. Cook the lentils in another pan for 10 minutes, cover them with water and put some salt, but at the end put away all the restant water. Put the lentils and the other vegetables (chopped onion and chopped carrot) in another pan and add the lentils. Add the knorr cube, some water, salt, pepper and hot chilli powder. Cook for 10-15 minutes and then add the amaranth. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, but check when it's ready. Then serve. You can serve with small pieces of garlic bread (but I haven't, I didn't have time to prepare them). 

Creamy asparagus soup

It's spring time and the nature is giving us a lot of vegetables and fruits. It's good to eat seasonal food, it's healthier and cheaper (and we help the environment as well). I've tried asparagus creamy soop. I found the recipe here, but I've modified a few things.

Ingredients:
fresh asparagus (600 gr)
potato (1)
cream (100 gr)
water
knorr cube
olive oil
onion (1)
lemon juice
salt
black pepper

Chop the asparagus in small peaces, but keep the top. Chop the onion and the potato. Put some olive oil in a pan, add the chopped vegetables and mix. Cover the pan and mix from time to time. After 10 minutes add 0,5 l of water and knorr cube. Boil it for 20 minutes, then pass everything through the strainer. Add some salt and pepper and just a little bit of lemon juice. Then put the asparagus tops in a frypan with some olive oil and cook them for some time on medium heat. Add the cream in the soup and at the end add the fried tops and serve. 

Risotto with rocket

This time I did risotto once again with one of my favourite plants: rocket (in italian rucola). And once again I added some spices, it can be done without any spices.

Ingredients (4 people):
rice (4 cups)
onion
rocket
knorr cube
parmesan cheese
spices (sweet chilli powder, chilli powder, curry, masala)

Chop the onion and fry it. Add the spices and mix. Add the rice and mix again. Then add water and a knorr cube. From time to time continue to mix and add water when needed. When the rice is done add some parmesan cheese and mix. Then add the rocket leaves and mix. Leave some parmesan and a few leaves to garnish. Put the rice on the plate, some parmesan on the top, a few rocket leaves on one side and serve. 

Butter paneer masala

And here it is, the recipe for butter paneer masala. I was so enthusiastic, 'cause the paneer turned out so well, that I tried this recipe that I found here as well. Of course I had to adapt the recipe to my taste... yes, sorry, but I can't stand coriander. It wasn't that difficult, but it took me a lot of time and it was really spicy (ask my friends!) :) Here is the recipe as I did it.

I served the butter paneer masala with some basmati rice and a chapati.












Ingredients:
paneer cubes (15 pieces)
butter (40 gr)
cinnamon stick (1 piece)
red onion (1/2)
garlic (4 cloves)
red chilli (1)
ginger
tomatoes (4)
salt
yoghurt (3 tablespoons)
oil

Spices:
masala (1 tablespoon)
chilli powder (1/4 tablespoon)
sweet chilli powder (1 tablespoon)
curcumin powder (1/4 tablespoon)
ketchup (1 tablespoon)
water (2 tablespoons)

Mix the spices in a bowl and do a smooth paste.
Fry the chopped onion in a pan with a little bit of oil until brown. Then put it in the food processor with the garlic, red chillies, ginger and some water; blend it until you have a smooth paste. (I didn't have fresh chillies so I used the dry ones and I didn't have the ginger rooth so I used the powder.) Then blend the chopped tomatoes. In a non-stick pan heat the butter with a cinnamon stick. Add the paste made of garlic and onion and mix for a while. Add the spice paste and cook for 30 seconds. Add the blended tomatoes and cook for some time on medium heat. Add 1/2 cup of water and mix. Add the paneer pieces and yoghurt. Cook on low heat for about 10 minutes, then serve. 

Paneer

And yes, I did it! :) I made my own paneer. Paneer is, for those who don't know it, an indian cheese.

And I was so exited that after that I made a dish out of paneer and invited my friends for dinner. :) The recipe will be on the blog soon.

I found the recipe here: How to make paneer. It's really well written, 'cause it illustrates everything from step to step.

Ingredients:
1,5 l whole milk
lemon juice from 1 lemon
vinegar

Boil the milk and when it starts boling add the lemon juice and mix it. The milk will start to curdle, but if it doesn't want to curdle, add after a few minutes a little bit of vinegar and continue to stir. After a few minutes put it away to cool a little bit. Put a muslin cloth on a bowl. I didn't have it, so I used a cotton cloth and it was ok. Pass everything through the cloth. The solid parts will remain on the cloth. Wrap the cloth and run cold water through it. Then squeeze it to remove all the liquid parts. Wrap it tight and put something heavy on the top. Leave it for 30 or 40 minutes. After that cut it in cubes and you have your own paneer. 

Green soup with millet

Millet is called proso in slovenian and it's an old traditional dish. It can be used as a side dish or as a sweet dish (with apples ad example). It is very healthy as well as it has a lot of fibers. Well, I tried to use it in a soup and it worked well. A healthy and light dinner. :)

Ingredients (4 persons or maybe more):

leek (1)
zucchini (1)
onion (1)
garlic (2)
chinese cabbage (3 leafs)
water
millet (125 gr)
salt
knorr cube (1)
various spices (white pepper, chili powder, curry powder, curcumin powder, ginger, nutmeg)

The preparation of this soup was very easy. I haven't used any oil or butter. I chopped the vegetables (onion, garlic, leek, zucchini and chinese cabbage) and put in a pot. I added the spices (just a bit of each one), salt and the knorr cube. I covered everything with water so that all the vegetables were under water. Then I put the pot on the heat and left it to boil. I left it 5 minutes boiling, then I added the millet and left to cook around 15 minutes. I served it hot in deep plates.

Risotto with asparagus (with oriental flavour)

As usually, I tried to cook with more fantasy and less instructions. Here is what it came out.

Ingredients (4 persons):

rice (5 cups of 1dl)
fresh asparagus (4 pieces)
olive oil
onion (1)
garlic (1)
water
salt
knorr cube (1)
various spices (hot chili powder, sweet chili powder, curry powder, curcumin powder, masala powder, ginger, white pepper, black pepper)

First of all I chopped the onion, garlic and the asparagus. Then I put a spoon of oil in a pan and fried the onion and garlic but just for a little time. I added the spices and well mixed everything. After that I added the chopped asparagus and mixed again. I continued to mix on medium heat. I added rice and mixed again. Then I added some water, salt and the knorr cube. I continued to mix and added water when it needed. I think I had to cook the rice about 15 minutes, but the best way to find out if it's cooked is to taste if it's ready or not (but you can always check the cooking time on the package of rice). Don't forget to mix from time to time otherwise it sticks on the bottom.

My new blog :)

Hello,
this is my new blog. For a long time I wanted to have a blog only about food,  now I've finally decided to do it. :) I'm gonna show you what I'm cooking, write the recipes and take some pictures.
The title I've chosen it's in slovenian, as you can see, and it means: the smell of fresh baked bread. There is nothing as good as bread and the best bread is the one that just came fresh from the oven (but it seems that is not really healthy).
Anyway, a few years ago, while I was still living in Ljubljana I came home just before Easter, on Good Friday and the whole courtyard smelled of bread. You can imagine that was a great welcome home after the whole week in Ljubljana. (I was actually coming home every weekend but it doesn't matter.) Even before that the smell of bread remembered me Easter, but now it has other meaning as well. But it's enough about bread for today.

By the way, I was thinking for a long time in what language should I write this blog and at the end I've decided for english. (Someone that is a native english speaker please tell me if I make too many mistakes.) Maybe some posts are going to be in more languages, I don't know yet. Anyway, I thought: most of my friends actually speak english so english should be ok.

Hopefully I'm gonna try to cook something new every week. Let's see if it works. If you have any ideas, just write me an e-mail or a comment. Any suggestions are the most welcome.