Archive for March, 2011

March 28, 2011

Recipe: Citrus zucchini dip with honey!

I love dipping:) any kind of bread or meat into any kind of dip/sauce.  My ultimate favourites are the ones which are yoghurt based. especially tzatziki. And the roast vegetable ones come close second. Most of the time they are very easy to make, and are great apetizers and party food. They also look very nice most of the time, especially if onse make a pretty colourful selection.


On the other hand, I barely eat zucchini dip. Maybe it`s just me, but I don`t usually find any, eggplant or squash for example are lot more pupolar. Even thou zhucchini holds a lot of potential flavourwise. It has a nice fresh taste, and can be perfect for a nice summer bbq. That`s how I got the idea for citrus. I used fresh lemon and zest, and a spice blend, orange pepper. The spice is amazing, and i`m in love with it, so to  say it can really “spice up” some dishes, with an easy move!


The recipe is easy like A-B-C!, and can be ready in about 20 minutes.

Ingredients (3-4 people)

2 zucchini

2 shallots

juice and zest of 1 lemon

2 spoons of honey

1 spoon of orange pepper- if you do`nt have any orange pepper, add some white pepper, and some orange juice.

salt

Slice shallots and zucchini in small cubes. Don`t make them too small, leave them a bit chunky.

Fry over oil, in a frying pan, untill soft. Add lemon juice, zest, honey, and seasoning. Mix well, fry a bit more.

Transfer into a bowl, and blend with food processor, until still warm.

Keep in fridge to cool.

Enjoy!

March 27, 2011

Recipe: Hungarian “Csoroge” doughnut recipe

 

Well, when I started this blog, I wanted to include plenty of Hungarian or Eastern European recipes. Sadly it`s not happening much, first of all, I dont get around to cook them much, and seconds these recipes are so well known for me, I always forget they would be more interesting for people reading this blog from outside Hungary. So now I`m putting my foot down, and yes more Hungarian recipes are coming! Yes `Im not going to be lazy about them! Hungarian cooking is delicious, and very different from what I experienced in my travels. Most of the time, the recipes are very easy, also cheap, and most of the time not vegetarian friendly. We love our lard, or just fat, fat and fat, even with bread if you wish!


And baking, we love baking, frying, not caring too much about our health and cholesterols.

So “Csoroge” “Doughnut”, I guess you are asking yourself WTF?? is “Csoroge”. Well in case you are in Hungary once, you are blinking at the menu and feeling confused, lost, and about to start to panic, just relax. Plenty of time the name of the dish represents where, from which region of Hungary its originated to. So “Csoroge”, is most likely from the historical region of “Csorog” or lets say “Hortobagyi pankaces” or “Bugaci salad” or “Vecsesi pickles”

This dish cheap, fast and easy dish, we call as a doughnut, but it`s more like a crisp to be honest. It`s perfect with all kinds of jam, my favourite at the moment is blueberry , but as soon the summer arrives, I`m getting my hands on some raspberry jam..yumm yummy!

Ingredients

  • 6 Egg yolks
  • 1 pinch of  Salt
  • 2 spoons of sugar Sugar
  • 1 spoon of brandy
  • 1 spoon of  white Vinegar
  • 1 cup  flour
  • half a cup of  Sour cream

1. In a big bowl, mix the flour with the sour cream and the egg yolks. Create a nice and soft dough. Add the sugar, vinegar, and brandy. Mix well, and kneed until smooth. I would say for a good 10-15 minutes.

Roll the dough out, for a clean, bit floury surface, a bit thin, not thicker then your finger.
Cut diamond shapes. Make a whole in the middle, and pull a loop through the middle.
Deep fry, in plenty of oil. Serve with cinamon sugar and jam.
Enjoy!
March 23, 2011

Recipe: deep fried Mars bars!

Well, I remember when I moved to Sydney and entered to one of Bondi`s infamous chip shops, and noticed this Mars bar treat on the menu, I wasn`t convinced. Back then, I wasn`t really adventurous. Also I wasn`t convinced after 1 year as well, I thought I try and try and try later later later… Never happened.  And I was finishing college and finishing with Australian living and thought I must try this once, this and gambling.

The fried Mars bar was surprisingly good, before I tried to imagine how it might taste, I was close,but my imaginary version wasn`t nearly as good. Let me start, the dessert doesn`t taste as bad as it sounds. Actually it`s kinda delicious. The chocolate melts well with the batter, which still holds the whole thing together, it`s almoust like a chocolate filled doughnut, but much better! Anyway, you must try!

Of course the Aussies say it`s their invention, but I’ve been noted by a few people, that it`s oridinated to Scotland, and it`s a popular part of the chip shops “healthy diet”. Wikipedia says the same thing. Anyway I never been, and the Aussies and the Scots can argue on this as much as they want.  Today it`s been tested on 30 sweet loving people, who were very satisfied.


Ingredients

4 Mars bars

150 g self raising flour

150g dry coconut

2 eggs

1 cup milk

pinch of salt

plenty oil for frying.

Keep Mars bars in fridge before frying.

Make batter, with flour, coconut, milk, egg and salt in a bowl. It needs to b a bit thicker then a pancake mix. Just like any other batter.

Heat oil.

Take mars bars out of the fridge,, (remove packaging of course..) roll into flour, then dip into batter, make sure it covers the whole bar.

Gently put it in the hot oil. It has to cover the whole bar. It fries in approx. 1 minute, so make sure don`t burn.

It it straight up, maybe with some vanilla ice cream!

Enjoy!

March 21, 2011

Recipe: Lemon, Beetroot risotto with walnuts and thyme.

One other favourites from the risotto family, this time with beetroot! I can`t describe how much I love it, it just tastes cool and loving the funky purple colour! The base of the recipe and the idea comes from Sydney`s Fyrefly tapas bar where I used to be an apprentice a few years ago.  I fell in love with the dish straight away, I never thought beetroot can taste so nice. I wasn`t really a big fan of the veg, but now it`s in my top 10 favourite ingredients. Since, I experimented with it a bit more,at the restaurant we served it with scallops,but  I wanted to add some ingredients, so it can be a nice individual meal, or starter. As much as I liked it, it was still a bit boring on it`s own. From all the searching, lemon was a surprisingly good taste with it, and walnuts are always a great companion to beetroot. The recipe is incredibly easy, and can be done in no time! And its an amazing treat for a romantic dinner!


Ingredients

150g Arborio rise

1 shallot brunoise

1cup white, rose or red wine, DRY!

2 spoons of butter

3 cloves of garlic

approx. 3 cups of veg stock

2 medium big beetroot, cleaned, peeled, greated

zest and juice of 1 lemon

handful of chopped, toasted walnuts

salt, white pepper

fresh thyme


Make a simple risotto base, in a medium saucepan. Melting the butter, adding the shallots first, then garlic, arborio rise. Add the wine, stir a little, until the onions cover the rise, before you start adding the stock. Reduce heat, and start adding the stock only a little at time, wait till liquid is reduced, and add more. Repeat untill rice is almost cooked. It`s ready when the middle is still a bit crunchy.

Add the beetroot, give a little bit of time for it to cook. Add rest of the ingredients, mix well, season.

Serve with fresh parmesan cheese, and some garlic butter bread. It is a perfect companion to seafood.

Enjoy!

March 15, 2011

Spring Rolls pt1: Spinach, smoked cheese and jalapeno

I love spring rolls, I also like making them. I mastered this activity in England, when sometimes I had to make a few hundred weekly. So I guess I had my chance to practice:) Now when it comes to spring roll pastry, it`s easy to use, untill you follow a couple of easy steps, after you shouldn`t have any problems with rolling your own:) What I like about it the most is, you can fill it with whatever you want, it can be vegetarian, or sweet, or meat, or even seafood, any spice, or cheese goes well with it. It`s really up to your own creativity what you make out of it!

And again, spinach is in season, and I`m already a bit addicted to it, and thought it would be good in my spring rolls. I wanted to add some extra flavour to it thou, when I found the smoked cheese in the fridge, it would give a nice thick and rich flavour I thought. But something was missing, I’ve been thinking about adding some chilly, but that would have been way too hot, especially if someone bites on it. I still had some jalapeno left over, and slicing it into small cubes would do the trick. The filling recipe is very easy, there’s few things you need to watch out for thou. Here are the crucial points:


  1. Get rid of as much excess water from the spinach as possible
  2. Make a thick filling mix
  3. The spring roll pastry dries out very fast, so ALWAYS cover after opening, with a clean cloth. You can also sprinkle some water on the cloth, but make sure don`t make it too wet, that also damages the pastry!
  4. When filling and rolling the pastry, make sure you do it tightly, otherwise it`s going to open, or blow up while frying.
  5. In case you storing it in fridge, never put foil on top. It sweats, and damages the pastry, just leave it open on a tray, you can put some baking paper under it.
  6. Always fill with ready to eat ingredients, fry in very hot oil.

Ingredients (for 10 spring rolls)

10 sheets of spring rolls pastry, defrosted, separated. Only separate as much as you need, the leftovers, cover in foil and put it in fridge.

2 cloves of garlic

300 g fresh spinach leafs, washed

200 g smoked cheese grated

150 g jalapeno peppers, chopped.

white from 1 egg

salt, pepper.


In a frying pan, fry the spinach leafs with garlic salt and pepper, over a bit of  oil. When ready put in a colinder, and try to push out as much liquid as possible.

Transfer in a bowl, and mix with cheese and jalapeno.

With your hands fold your mix into 10 individual batches, about 5 cm long rolls.

Put down 1 pastry, 1 angle facing you and brush the sides, with egg white, using a pastry brush. Dont put too much egg white.

Take one of your batches, put it down, to the angle facing you, fold the angle on it, firmly, start rolling up.

Stop before the middle, fold in the 2 angles, put some more egg white, and firmly start rolling to the top.

Fry in hot oil!

Enjoy!

 

March 14, 2011

Recipe: Apple Risotto (pt.2) with Gorgonzola cheese

Once, a few months ago I already posted an apple risotto recipe. Since I cooked it a few times, in many variations, and just can`t belive in how many ways this delicious meal can be served or to be made.

Also nowadays I stopped adding creme to my risotto! I always used creme, that`s what I learned, but since, especially with plenty of italian influence, I realised it`s not so important. If you do it right, you don`t need the creme. I like them better now. The only thing is, now I add some butter at the end, it really brings out the taste, and gives a beautiful silky color!

Lats couple of days, I had a massive kitchen just for myself, and now I`m working on a big big project. It`s so big, everyday after working on it I realise it`s way over me, and can`t even belive I`m doing it. Also trying to improve my photography skills, I think I`m getting better. Also working completely alone gave me the patience to take the shots, and not just rush over them.


Adding the gorgonzola to the risotto, came a couple of days ago, when I noticed the fresh cheese, at one of the local markets. It just looked so delicious. So we had it for dinner with some fruits, strawberries, and crackers and apples. They went fantastic together, the soft runny cheese with the fresh crunchy apple was a match made in heaven. Then I started thinking..apple apple, risotto, wow GORGONZOLA! It must be tried out!  And yes it works just as nice as I thought it will be. The recipe is sooo easy, and fast, and so gourmet, you could impress anyone coming over for dinner!

Ingredients (for 2-3 people)

20g butter

2 shallots brunoise

3 cloves of brunoise garlic

100ml rose or white wine (dry)

150 g arborio rise

2 fresh apples, peeled, chopped in small cubes

150 g Gorgonzola cheese

salt, white pepper

fresh thyme

about 1 liter warm vegetable stock

In a medium saucepan melt butter, add shalots, stir and cook. Make sure the shallots don`t burn or turn brown. Add the apples and the garlic, stir, and soften the apples a little bit. Add white wine or rose wine. Add rice, and stir. Cook for a couple of minutes and start adding the stock, not more than 1 cup a time. You need to reduce the heat and stir occasionally, so the rice doesn’t burn. Whet the liquid is reduced, add an other cup of stock, repeating untill the risotto is ready. You`ll know when it`s good, when the middle is still only a little bit crunchy. Don`t overcook! When ready add the salt, white pepper, and thyme for taste!

Meanwhile, your risotto is cooking, melt the cheese over bain marie, stirring occasionally.

Serve the cheese on top of the risotto!


Enjoy!

Ps: It`s amazing with some fresh bread, and garlic butter, and some wine on the side!

 

March 10, 2011

Recipe: Raspberry and coconut cupcakes!

 

I know my cakes are a bit “red Velvet” lookalike, but that`s oly a costume! Now `m back into a one/week cupcake baking, and experimenting, so far so good. Finally I found the perfect oven for it in the kitchen. The one without ventilation, so they actually stay flat, and not dry out. So the base now is just as tasteful as the frosting. I got a giant crush on cupcake frosting. Don`t you just love to lick the top off, like it was an ice cream?

I found the perfect cupcake base on taste.com.au, but soon I realised it is exactly the same as the ones in my Australian Women`s weekly magazines. The recipe is PERFECT! If you follow the steps, you going to end up with an amazing moist cake. I use this for the basics, and flavour the dough after. With whatever I got really:) I can`t describe how much I love this recipe!

The basic cupcake recipe as on taste.com.au

  • 200g butter, softened
  • 1 3/4 cups (370g) caster sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 3/4 cups (405g) self-raising flour
  • 1 cup (250ml) milk
  • I added 5 spoons of home made raspberry jam and beetroot podwer for colouring.
  • Butter frosting

  • 200g butter, softened
  • 6 cups (900g) icing sugar mixture
  • 1/2 cup (125ml) milk
  • Instead of milk i used cocnut milk, and dry coconut sprinkles!  The taste was just amazing!

 

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 24 1/3 cup (80ml) muffin pans with patty cases.
  2. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla bean paste with an electric mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until just combined. Add the beetroot powder, stir until combined. Add the flour and milk in alternate batches and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Stir in the raspberry jam.
  3. Spoon mixture evenly among the patty cases. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  4. For the frosting, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until very pale. Gradually add the icing sugar while beating. Add the  coconut milk and beat until well combined. Stir in the dry coconut flakes.
  5. Divide frosting into small bowls and colour. Use a small palette knife or round-bladed knife to spread the icing.

March 9, 2011

Recipe: Herb rosti with grilled vegetables and feta cheese!

And an other vegetarian treat. Weird thing is, I’m not a vegetarian, but I do love vegetables, salads, and fruits. I can`t wait to eat at New York`s “Whole food market” again, the salad bar just  blew my mind:) On the other hand, I`m the one in the kitchen who has to come up with the vegetarian meals all the time. Dunno why, maybe they think, if I`m the only female, I should do all the “girly food”. To be honest, I don`t think vegetarian meals are “girly” at all. This general thinking of some people ” I must eat meat, otherwise the food is shit” it`s kind of ridiculous. I love putting these people up to a challenge. I give them a delicious meal, they like it, eat it, compliment it..after that I ruin their mood by telling them “sorry dude, it was a vegetarian dish” Sometimes the general reaction is “OMG I gotta go to eat half of a cow now”, but if I get just one positive feedback, I’m fine with it. Don`t get me wrong, I`m not trying to convince people to be vegetarians, I’m just simply annoyed by meat being overrated and vegetarian food tagged “girly”.


To be honest with you, the morning I created this meal, I had no idea what or how I’m going to do it. I went for a “safari” among the fridges, and started collecting stuff. To be honest, that day, we were almost out of everything, so I didn`t had much to chose from. When Ive put down everything on the table, ideas came in to mind, and started to put a recipe together.  Potatoes I had plenty, and I didn`t make any rosti for a while.  When all of a sudden it was all clear. I make big pancake sized rosti and fill it with Julienne grilled vegetables, and some feta cheese. It was soooo easy to make and the result was absolutely delicious. It’s a great and easy meal. Nice and filling too!

Ingredients (3-4 portion)

3 medium potatoes

2 eggs

half a kg of white flour

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

salt, pepper, fresh herbs

For the filling I used just a little bit of these:

carrots, parsnip, red bell pepper, red onions, spanish onions, mushroom- all thinly or Julienne sliced.

200 g of feta cheese crumbles

Great the potatoes in a bowl. Add eggs, seasoning, garlic, mix well together, add flour, mix well. If the mix is too dry add some milk, or sour creme. It has to be a bit runny, but not as much as a pancake mix. Oil a frying pan, make it very hot. Ad a spoonful from the potato mix, and push it evenly among the sides. Make sure it`s not thicker then 3 mm. Fry both sides. Set aside.

In an other pan, fry all your vegetables on very hot oil. It needs to be sizzling hot otherwise your vegetables cook instead of frying. Add salt, pepper. From here you can add any other seasoning you wish.

When ready, fill the rosti with vegetables, only on one side. Add feta cheese and fold over.

Ps: it`s great with some pesto-sour creme dipping sauce!

Enjoy!

 

 

March 6, 2011

Recipe: Fried Tomato stuffed Mozzarella rings with pesto-potato salad!

Here I am back on fried food again! Thou this recipe is very wast and easy and a great lunch…even kids wh don`t like tomato would eat them! :) The pesto-potato salad idea is from Sydney, it`s so popular among deli shops, taste great as well. Theres plenty you can add to it..the most popular extras still mushrooms, parmesan shavings, and sun-dried tomatoes. But the pure pesto-mayo mix is good as well. When new potatoes are going to be in season, it`s better to use those thou, sliced in small cubes, and fried a bit after cooking with the skin on.

The tomato-mozzarella rings, I`ve been serving for a while as a vegetarian dish, and people just love them. Here it’s better to use, not such a good quality mozzarella, and it`s not really going to work out with buffalla..that one has way too much liquid in it. So try to buy dry cheese, which supermarkets sell as pizza-topping. Slice about 0.5-1 cm thick rings, try to keep the tomato thin as well.

Don`t forget you need to batter, the rings least twice, taking special care at the sides, so it won`t fall apart during frying.

Ingredients (for 2 people)

6 thin even slices of fresh ripe tomato

6 thin even slices of dry mozzarella cheese

breadcrumbs, egg wash, flour – for batter

Potato salad

4-5 pieces of potatoes

home-made or 1 small bottle of green pesto

1 cup of mayo

1 cup sour creme

salt, white pepper, basil

Cook the potatoes, with skin on. Cool, peel, and slice in 2 cm big cubes. Mix the pesto together with mayo and sour creme. Add potatoes, and season. Keep in fridge.

Put 1 tomato slice between 2 mozzarella slices, evenly in the middle. Batter. First in flour, then egg was, then bread crumbs. Remember you need to do the egg was-breadcrumb part least once more, until the mix covers the slices well.

Fry in deep VERY hot oil, until golden!

Serve with the salad.. goes well with chilled Rose wine!

Enjoy!

March 6, 2011

Recipe: Blueberry bomb!

I don`t know about you but I just can`t wait for spring to start! I wan`t fresh fruits and vegetables, and sunshine. Being a bit fed up with winter, I often daydream about nice cocktail in the sun! Or even about a nice fresh fruit salad. That`s why when I spotted the fresh blueberries at the local market this weekend I was so happy! Finally! For a few weeks now  strawberries appeared, but the taste was rather disappointing. And there were no raspberries or blueberries Fortunately this is about to change.


Also making a promise for myself, that I`m going to eat breakfast as much as I can, and try to bring healthier choices in my diet, including plenty of fresh raw fruits. I picked up a pack of cereal in the local supermarket, with some vanilla flavoured yoghurt. To be honest I never really eat cereal, I find them too flavorless for my taste. And thought trying something new, would be good for a change. This tasty breakfast treat is ready in no minute, and is really a good way to kick-start the day! Just add all ingredients in a bowl, and enjoy the fruity sweetness!

Ingredients

Fresh blueberry

Vanilla flavoured yoghurt

Cereal

 

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