Rosemary focaccia bread

It's been a very very long time since I've last posted a recipe. Not that I haven't prepared or eaten any food, I just couldn't make myself to take time and write down on the blog. But here we are, a new recipe and hopefully more recipes will be posted in the months to come.

This is the recipe for the italian focaccia. It's not the proper recipe, if you want to try the proper one, just replace the splet flour with wheat flour. Let's proceed.

Ingredients:
250 gr - white wheat flour
100 gr - wholegrain spelt flour
200 ml - water
14 gr - brewer's yeast
1 potato (about 150 gr)
2 teaspoons salt
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
fresh rosemary
coarse salt

First boil the potato with the skin. Let it cook for about 20 minutes (check with the fork if it's ready). Then peel it and mash it in a large bowl. Add flour and mix well.
In the meantime let the yeast melt in the water (heat it a little bit before adding yeast).
Add salt and oil to the flour and slowly add the water with yeast. Mix well with your hands and form a ball with the dough. Cover it with a wet cloth and let it rise for 45 minutes.
Stretch the dough on a baking tray, covered with greaseproof paper. With a fork make some little wholes on the surface, put some olive oil on the top and sprinkle with coarse salt and rosemary. If you don't have fresh rosemary the dried one will work fine as well.
Let it grow 15 minutes and afterwards bake at 180° C for about 30 minutes.

Balsamic beef with rosa di Gorizia on a bed of lettuce

There is one dish that is very typical for the town where I come from and this is the chicory called rosa di Gorizia (rose of Gorizia). It's a vegetable with a long tradition and lots of work is hidden under those tender leafs that form a tiny rose, but the flavour is just something you need to try.

Our rosa di Gorizia it's been long forgotten and only some farmer families still ate it and produce it by themselves, but a few years ago some farmers stepped together and tryed to add some value to this amazing vegetable, that's now been very popular among the finest restaurants in the north-east region in Italy Friuli.

The special flavour of this radicchio is also coming from the long procedure before it comes from the land to the plates on our tables. There is a lot of work behind every rose of this radicchio. More about this lovely plant on this website, unfortunately only in italian: rosa di Gorizia. 

Ingredients:
300 gr beef meat
25-30 leafs of radicchio(rosa di Gorizia)
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
3 leafs of sage (salvia)
olive oil
water
salt
pepper
4 leafs of lettuce

Heat some olive oil in the pan with the sage, add the radicchio leafs. Stir for a minute, then add balsamic vinegar. Add salt and pepper and mix well until the vinegar evaporates. Add some water and continue to stir until it evaporates. Slowly add the beef meat, that you've previously cut into slices. Add just a few slices at time and cook them for a few minutes, then mix them with the radicchio. Continue until all the meat is ready, mix well and put everything on the top of 2 leafs of lettuce. (If you want, you can also use radicchio.)

Enjoy the meal.

Spicy garlic spaghetti

Today I came home from work "starving" (can't really use this word in our part of the world though) and I just wanted to eat as fast as I could. What is better than a really quick pasta? 

Ingredients:
spaghetti (80-100 gr per person)
salt (a tablespoon)
2 cloves of garlic
1 fresh chili
1 egg
some olive oil
pepper (a pinch)

Boil the water, add salt and cook the spaghetti. (Check on the box for the cooking time, all the types of pasta are way better if they're cooked "al dente".) Stir the chopped garlic and chili on some olive oil. Add the cooked pasta and crack an egg of the top. Mix well while it's still hot and put some pepper on the top. Serve and enjoy your really quick meal.
I was in such a hurry I didn't really bother about the pics.. Next time better! ;) 

Pineapple smoothie

After monday workout I craved for something delicious and... I made a smoothie
I've decided to give a try to some raw foodism recipes, but before I've got time to try any of those I invented my own smoothie.

Ingredients:
1/2 pineapple
1 banana
1 orange
1 lemon

Cut the banana and pineapple into slices and put them in the blender. Blend for a while, then add fresh juice from one orange and one lemon and voilà... your smoothie is ready! Easy, right?
If you want it less thick, just add some water.

Jam cookies with puff pastry

Ingredients:
450 gr frosted puff pastry
75 gr jam

Defrost the puff pastry. Use some flour, so it doesn't get sticky and roll the pastry into squares. Spread a little bit of jam on the top and roll them into a sausage. Cut the slices and put them on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes at 200°C.

Pan-cooked potatoes with sausage

 A simple recipe for those rainy autumn days, when you just neer more warm and nutritious.

Ingredients:
4-5 boiled potatoes (with the skin)
1/2 onion
1 sausage
olive oil
salt
pepper
water

Peel the potatoes while they're still warm and cut them into cubes. Chop the onion and cut the sausage into cubes. Fry the onion on some olive oil until golden, then add the sausage and fry for a few minutes. Add the potatoes. Put some salt and pepper according to your taste and stir well. Cook for 15 minutes and add some water, so that it doesn't get burnt.
Eat with some vegetables or meet. 

French toast

I can't believe I didn't know what french toast is, until I went to India. Our kitchen ladies used to prepare a different kind of egg every morning for breakfast and when they did french toast my room-mate was particulary happy! I found out later that I like it as well and that the recipe is quite easy! 

 

This recipe serves 2 people

Ingredients:
4 slices of bread
2 eggs
120 ml milk
pinch of salt
butter
honey or naple syrup






Mix the eggs in a jar, add the milk and salt. Put the bread slice in the mixture and let it retain it. Heat a non stick pan with a little bit of butter and place all the bread slices on it. When it's cooked on one side, flip it over and then serve still hot with some honey or naple syrup.