Figs & Rosemary

Supper idea- mortadella sandwiches

2013-04-09T11:27:00.001+02:00

This is going to be a new part on F&R- supper ideas- something easy to make, perhaps an inspiration for you :)
Of course, tried out, and it's good! Don't forget to add butter!

Supper idea: Pork ribs with gravy and potato dumplings

2013-03-25T13:44:00.000+01:00

Pork ribs is part of my childhood memories. My aunt would make these with potato dumplings, and we would all dig in. Ah, the stuff she made... Delicious :)

I haven't made ribs in a long, long time, so when an occasion finally popped up in the showing up of Magali and Kamil, it was decided- there were going to get ribs:)

Since I was already near tears that I have to do everything myself (one of those days when you either cry or laugh hystericaly from being constantly tired), I didn't make the dumplings (if I did, I would have to cook potatoes the day before), I bought some store made and they where really good- I get them once in a while just to have them for supper.

This seems to take forever to make, but finally it takes like 40 min, where you spend 20 somewhere else.
Just so you know :)

Type of dish: main
Cost: medium/low
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 2-4
Time: 40min
Prep time: 10 min

You'll need: cutting board, sharp small knife, a shallow dish, paper towels, a large frying pan/ cast iron skillet, spatula, tongs, serving plate

Ingredients:

0,25-1kg ribs ( 0,5kg is enough for 2 very hungry people)
1 medium onion, sliced
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp flour
2 cups water
1/2 stock cube, beef
fresh herbs like thyme, parsley, a pinch of rosemary, minced
S&P
olive oil

How to:
Wash the ribs and pat them dry with paper towels. Cut into pieces with 1 bone in it. Season well, sprinkle with herbs, and pour over some olive oil. If possible- do this so it marinates a bit overnight or an hour or two.
Heat up the saucepan on high heat, add a bit of olive oil, and fry up 4-6 ribs at a time. FRy on both side until golden brown. Then set aside while frying the rest. When all are fried, add to the pan the onion, garlic, and wait until the onions become translucent. Scrape the bottom of the pan and add the stock cube, and the ribs. Stir, and cover up, turn down the heat to medium low and leave to cook for 20-30min. This will make the meat very tender, and it will start coming off the ribs. When you are to serve, transfer once again the ribs to a serving plate, and add to the remaing sauce the flour, sprinkling it in the sauce, so you don't have to deal with lumps. Whisk for a while, the flour will thicken up the sauce. Either pour the sauce over the ribs or serve in a gravy boat.
De- li- ci- ous!
I swear, try this:)

Red bean - broccoli salad or the Yum Yum salad

2013-03-21T13:45:00.001+01:00

This is an amazing simple salad that looks just delicious and inviting.
We had the pleasure of being introduced to each other by our friend Daria, who prepared this and also a few other dishes with nearly no effort. That kind is my kind :)
The colors are so pretty, especially shown in a clear glass dish.

Type of dish: salad, side
Cost: cheap
Difficulty: easy
Time: 20min
Prep time: 15min

You'll need:
a cutting board, small knife, collander, large clear shallow dish, tablespoon, a large cup, garlic crusher, medium saucepan

Ingredients:

2 cans drained and rinsed red beans
1 broccoli head, divided in small florets
1 tbsp mayo
2 tbsp greek joghurt
1 large garlic clove, crushed
salt
ground white pepper

How to?

Heat water in saucepan. Fill the colander with the beans and rinse well. Transfer the beans to the dish, making a layer out of them. In a large cup or bowl, mix together the mayonaise, joghurt, crushed garlic and season with some salt and pepper. Mix well. Set aside, best in the fridge.
Bring water to a boil in the saucepan, add 1 tsp salt, add the broccoli florets and cook until just tender - 10min is enough - even with frozen broccoli. Transfer to colander and rinse under cold water to make it crisp and to stop the cooking process. When the broccoli is cool, transfer to the dish, layering it on top of the red beans. Then plop over the joghurt- mayo mix. It will look like whipped cream over beans, but that's just the broccoli.
Cover up and chill a bit in the frigde. Serve with fresh baguette or garlic bread.
Great for a party or an appetizer.

Fettucine with sundried tomatoes, parsley and shaved parmigiano

2013-03-11T14:55:00.003+01:00

I was at the shop and a guy was buying before me parsley and a coke. Funny thing was that I rarely buy parsley, but I like it. I also had this great fetticine pasta and a ton of sun dried tomatoes from Rome, so it was time to put 2 and 2 together.
You get a simple, fast pasta dish that is suprisingly light.

Yes, light.

And the recipe is very basic. Add a tablespoon of salt to a pot of boiling water, add a drizzle of olive oil and cook pasta acording to package. Drain and dice dried tomatoes, chop roughly half a bunch of flat leaved parsley and shred some hard italian cheese like parmigiano. Drain the pasta, place in a pasta dish, sprinkle over with the tomatoes and parsley, add some olive oil over it, season with fresh cracked black pepper and top with the cheese. Serve!

Additional info: If you buy dried tomatoes, they are usually quite salty in the beginning. To make the taste bearable, try soaking in olive oil, and gradually change the oil or water out. This also works with capers.

Gyros Layered Salad

2013-02-01T13:37:00.000+01:00

There is just something about a layered salad or anything layered that really appeals to me. I mean, you can see all the ingredients, and they don't make sense. Then, you have a portion piled on your plate, you try it- and everything makes sense. That's the way good coking works. How could a potato be good with garlic and mayo? Fry the potato, cream the mayop with garlic and it does make sense. Somehow. I love food and the way cooking works. Drool.

You can make this salad dairly mild like this one ( I just added chili), or add crushed garlic, shallots instead of red onion, and add some tabasco or chili sauce to the ketchup. That will suprise your tastebuds :)

Type of dish: main, salad
Serves: many, many happy people
Cost: medium
Difiiculty: easy
Time: 40min
Prep time: 15 min
Cooking time: 10 min

You'll need:
A large clear glass bowl, a tablespoon, a cutting board, sharp knife, 3 bowls, a colander, frying pan, a cup, spatula,

First of all., heat the frying pan, add a drizzle of olive oil and the chili, when hot, add the chicken and fry until the chicken is white, then add the gyros seasoning and a glass of water. Mix well and turn the heat to medium. Place the cabbage in the colander, and add 1 tbsp of vegeta. Toss and set aside on the sink. Dice the vegetables. When the gyros mixture in the chicken is thick like cream, turn of the heat and let it cool down completely. Then place the chicken in the base of the large glass bowl. On top of the chicken, spread out 2 tbsp mayo. Spread it out evenly- all of the layers need to be or look even- this is the appealing part of this salad. Over the mayo, spread the onions, then the pickles. Then the tomatoes, corn and ketchup. Now, squeeze out as much excess water from the cabbage and fluff it out a bit and place in a layer over the ketchup corn. Spread out nicely, cover up and put in the frigde for at least 3h for the flavours to mix:)

Spaghetti polpettas! True italian meatballs

2013-01-28T09:51:00.000+01:00

Now once upon a time you turned on theTV and saw a movie with two dogs eating spaghetti meatballs. Fast forward a few years, you go to Ikea and eat the meatballs. They're ok, but a bit tough.
Fast forward few days ago- you just HAD to make meatballs but make them delicate, creamy even, and full of flavour.
And so simple.
And the best part is- you can smuggle in veggies :)
This recipe is just how to make the polpettas- if you want the recipe for the sauce, try this one . And cook some fettucine or spaghetti for the base- thin pasta goes well with the sauce.

To make it you don't have to be a rocket scientist- just mix, roll balls, cook and serve. Nothing more to that :)

Type of dish: main
Cost: cheap
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 4
Time: 30 min
Prep time: 10 min
Cooking time: 5-7 min

You'll need:
hand mixer with the chopping bowl end, a large saucepan with lid, laddle, medium mixing bowl, a large spoon, small plate, medium bowl, slotted spoon, cutting board, veggie peeler

Ingredients:

500 gr mixed ground meat- pork and beef
1 carrot
1 red chili
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
1 handfull mushrooms
1 egg
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
olive oil
1 tsp vegeta
1 bunch chives, chopped
1 pinch each: dried herbs: thyme, dill, parsley
pinch salt and pepper
1 bay leef
1 vegetable stock cube
flour, any kind

Get your blender asembled (or mixer, magic bullet, whatever you call it), pack in mushrooms, onions, garlic, carrots and chili, and mix until everything is the size of large splinters. In a medium bowl, put in the ground meat, add the minced mixture, egg, breadcrumbs, vegeta, herbs, and chopped chives. Add salt and pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Stir well together and heat up the saucepan with water. Add the stock cube and bay leaf and put the lid on. In the meantime, make the polpettas. Wet your hands ( it'll be easier to make the meatballs without the meat sticking constantly to your fingers), and form small balls, that are usually about 1 heaped tbsp of the meat mixture. Turn each meatball in flour on a plate, so it's covered in flour, and set aside on the cutting board. Repeat with all the meat, and when the water is boiling, add 6-8 polpettas to the pan, giving them time to cook and to float to the surface- this takes about 5-8 min ( including 3-4 min for the floating polpettas to cook). Remove them with a slotted spoon and set aside in a bowl. to cool down, or, if you are making them for dinner, straight into the tomato sauce. Repeat with all the meatballs and either serve, or prep for freezing. Great for a next day office meal to share with a buddy:)

Supper idea- italian plate

2013-01-25T10:12:00.000+01:00

Another idea to take home. This delicious plate is a mixture of what you can find in your fridge.
So a bowl of grape tomatoes, some prosciutto crudo, some salami, avocado with S&P and a bit of lemon juice, 3 types of hard italian cheese, some mini mozarella di buffala with a drizzle of truffle infused olive oil, bread and butter. To freshen the palette, some grapes.

Supper Idea - Pad thai with shrimps

2013-01-24T09:42:00.000+01:00

This is a delicious dish worth making when you really need some good food. I had a slight hangover, and when i do, i prefer spicy food to give me a boost of energy. Lately I've been also stressing out on the use of meat, preffering over it shrimps or tofu.
This was a little bit time consuming but so worth it:) Just prepare it in advance, then you just throw it together!
Ingredients:
For the sauce:

1 cup chicken broth or veg broth
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp brown sugar/ or palm sugar
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp fresh white pepper crushed

For the rest:

Tofu cut in a small cubes and marinated in 1 tsbp soy sauce
5-8 shrimps, thawed and with removed tails, soaked in 1 tbsp soy sauce and sprinkled with chilli flakes
1 carrot julliened
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, crushed
1 chilli pepper sliced
1 small onion sliced
green onions, white parts cut widely, green parts set aside
1 lime
1/2 pack of udon rice noodles
Chilli flakes
bean sprout
vegetable oil

Prepare the sauce by putting everything together in a bowl, mix well and set aside.
Bring a pot of water to boil, put in the noodles to soak and turn off heat. Check on the package to see if the noodles take 3 min or more to cook completly- mine were 3 min, so i soaked them 1,5min then drained and sloshed in cold water.
Heat up a large frying pan, add oil to a hot pan, and fry the tofu, and set aside. Then add to the pan the chilli, minced garlic, ginger, onions and white nion parts to fry until the garlic and onions are golden in colour. Then add the shrimps, tofu, the noodles, the bean sprouts, and 1/3 of the sauce, while stirring to cook the noodles and shrimp. Every time the liquid evaporates, add more, stirring all the time. When the noodles are done, they should be a little bit sticky, if not slightly mushy, the shrimps shoulb be pink and golden. Turn off the heat, stirr in the green parts of the onion, squeeze in some lime juice and serve!
Delicous

The greatest chocolate cake- Penguin Cake

2013-01-23T20:57:00.000+01:00

And I'm not talking brownies :) even though they are fool-proof, this recipe is even more fool-proof and will rise to your expectations. The batter is deliciously chocolate- as if you melted a ton of good quality milk chocolate bars and turned them into cake.

What I also love about this cake is that it's sweet but not overflowing with sugar. The cakes are sweet, of course, but the filling is with a small amount of sugar to balance out the overall taste. I might have to say, that after my absolute favorite, Black Forest cake, this is my second favorite that I absolutly adore.
And, of course, it's not that hard to make :)
Note: I doubled the chocolate batter as I wanted a thick cake.

Type of dish: dessert, cake
Serves: 6-10
Cost: medium
Difficulty: easy
Time: 1h
Preparation time: 20min
Baking time: 35 min
Oven Temp: 180C

You'll need:
1-2 same sized cake tins (or a large saucepan with a metal handle), large mixing bowl, medium mixing bowl, spatula, mixer, teaspoon, small saucepan

Ingredients:

110gram softened butter
220 gr sugar
3 tbsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
150 gr flour
100 gr cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
125 gr mascarpone cheese
50 gr icing sugar
220ml heavy cream 30%
200 gr dark chocolate

How to:
Preheat your oven to 180C. Grease your cake tins . In the large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla and crack in one egg, mix it in then add the other. Add the flour, milk, cocoa and baking powder and mix until you have a stiff looking chocolate smelling (and tasting) batter. Spread it divided evenly in the greased pans, smooth out roughly with a spatula and put in the oven for 30-35 min. Use a toothpick to check if the cake is baked inside.
Let the cake cool down, and in the meantime cream together in the medium bowl mascarpone cheese, heavy cream and icing sugar. At first it may try to splash out of the bowl, but after a minute it'll blend together and fluff up. Cover and put in the fridge to cool it down.
In a small saucepan, melt the dark chocolate bar, crumbled with 5 tbsp of milk. Heat on medium with a lid on, and mix well to dissolve the chocolate. Set aside.
When your cakes have cooled down, gently transfer one on a plate, flat side down, cover with the cheese filling, and put the other cake on top, flat side up. Spread the melted chocolate on top of the cake, set aside to cool down compleatly and keep in a fridge until serving.

It's just plain old good!

Healthy Stealthy Breakfast

2013-01-23T10:09:00.002+01:00

When you want to have a gluten free breakfast, it's good to remember, that you should eat some oats, yoghurt, white cheese (if you are lactose intolerant like I am), a portion of fresh veggies, like cucmber, tomatoes, or some lettuce, and if you're a meat eater, some cold cuts or ham. I had delicious italian ham leftover from Christmas, so basicaly that's my meal. And, if you want more flavour to the cheese, sprinkle some chili cayenne, and on the side, sprinkle a mix of your favorite dried herbs (basil and tarragon for me!) pour some good quality olive ol over it to refresh the taste of them. Then you can mix your cheese in the oil herbs and it's delicious. I was actually well fed for most of the day with this small plate. If you feel that this is not enough, have a soft boiled egg too.
YUM!

Lemon & thyme infused root vegetables

2013-01-21T17:34:00.002+01:00

This is a slightly different, a bit rustic approach to baking root veggies- which, with a bit of olive oil and salt are delicious on their own. This version brings out a bit different tastes and an aroma that actually makes you want more, so why not?

The best part is, that this recipe seems very restaurantish and a bit exclusive in taste, which makes this a perfect side dish with some braised meat.

Type of dish: side
Cost: cheap
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 4
Time: 40 min
Prep time: 10 min
Baking time: 30 min
Oven temp: 180C

You'll need:
a baking dish casserole type, tin foil, sharp knife. cutting board, peeler, grating plane or a small grater

Ingredients:

packet of root vegetables (4 carrots, 1 celery root, 2 parsnips)
5 garlic cloves unpeeled
1 lemon
5-6 branches fresh thyme
Olive oil
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
additional: a small knob of butter
optional a splash of dry white wine

What to do:

Preheat your oven, grease the baking dish. Peel all the vegetables, and cut off the ends. Cut the vegetables in stalks, the lengh of your thumb and half as wide.
Place the veggies in the baking dish. Mince half of the thyme, and sprinkle over the roots.
Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over them and add a splash of olive oil and butter. Peel half of the lemon, just the yellow bit, and grate the rest onto the vegetables. Throw in the dish the garlic cloves and ev. add the wine. Cover up loosely with tin foil (shiny side down) and bake for 30 min.
Serve hot and warm :)

Dinner Idea: pork sirloin in gravy with millet groats and peas

2013-01-17T16:54:00.000+01:00

Some days, I sit down at home, after work, and my mind goes blank- what should I make for dinner? Then I have no idea. So I'm putting up the project with dinner ideas to keep track. These recipes take a bit more time to make, but are generally worth it and are great leftovers for the next day.

So look into your freezer- you might find peas, or carrots, or both. Or green beans, who knows?
Point is, cook them tender with butter and a bit of olive oil and some Vegeta or sea salt. And keep them warm, tucked in some newspaper and dishclothes. Same goes with the groats- you can make them ahead of time, tuck the pot in paper and clothes, and the oldschool method was to keep it under the duvet until you came home from work- and them it was still warm and perfect. And if you don't feel comfortable with groats, make rice.

Type of dish: main
Cost: medium
Difficulty: easy
Serves:4
Time: 1h
Prep time: 20min
Cooking time: 40 min

You'll need:
a cutting board, sharp knife, large frying pan with lid, a saucepan with lid, a medium small saucepan with lid, spatula, tongs, a small bowl, plate

Ingredients:

1-2 pork sirloins, clean and sliced in 4-5mm slices, crosswise ( you'll have a lot of this)
1-2 medium onions or shallots, sliced thinly
Optional: 3-4 mushrooms, thinly sliced, for a bit of taste
1 beef stock cube
2 cups water
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tbsp flour
olive oil
black pepper
salt
bay leaf
3-4 juniper berries ( dried)
fresh thyme, few sprigs
100gr dried groats
fresh or frozen peas, or carrots, or both
knob of butter
1/2 tsp vegeta

Clean the groats- wash them a few times in cold water in the saucepan until the water isn't cloudy. Then drain and pour in 1 1/2 cups of water and cook according to package directions. Add a pinch of salt for flavour.
Place the meat in the bowl, salt and pepper, then sift with 1 tbsp of flour. Mix well. Heat up the frying pan on high heat and pour in some olive oil. Start frying the meat in batches, till golden brown, transfer done meat to plate aside. When the meat is cooked, , turn down the heat, add butter add garlic and onions to the pan, fry for a bit until translucent, add 1/2 spoon of flour and mix for 30 seconds. Add the water, beef stock, juniper, thyme, bay leaf and the cooked pork. Stir a bit, and cover. Turn heat down to low and check every 3-4 min to stir.
In the small pan, pour in 1/2 cup water, the kob of butter, a drop of olive oil and some Vegeta seasoning. Add the frozen or fresh vegetables and cook 15 min, until tender.
When the sauce and meat thicken, the peas and groats are cooked, serve!

Easy salmon teriyaki salad

2013-01-10T09:52:00.002+01:00

There comes a terrible time, when it's not the holidays, and you don't fit in your pants. That's when you take out the heavy guns and start eating salads in the dead of winter. Don't make it yuck. Make it at least good :)

Easy salad for next day- throw in a baggie and take to work- the sauces will marinate the hard veggies and the salad will be crisp if you put in on top in the baggie.

Type of dish: salad
Cost: medium
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 2
Time: 30min
Prep time: 10min
Baking time: 20min
Oven temp: 180C

You'll need:

a shallow baking dish, fork, cutting board, sharp knife, baggie or bowl.

Ingredients:

lettuce of any kind,
2 medium carrots
black sesame seeds
1/2 salmon filet, skinned, cut in large pieces
1/2 cucumber, sliced diagonaly
3 tbsp terriyaki sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce ( whatever your flavour)
1 tsp sesame oil

Preheat your oven, in the baking dish, lay out the salmon pieces, and pour in the terriyaki sauce. Mix around so all is well coated and pop in the oven for 20 min. In the meantime, julienne the carrots, and place it in the baggie or bowl, add the cucumber and add the oil and soy sauce. Sprinkle in some sesame seeds and when the salmon is baked, crumble the pieces on the veggies in the baggie. Let it cool down completely before puttting on top of that the shredded lettuce. Close the baggie and put in the frigde to take out before work. At work, tip the baggie over a plate, so the salad comes out reversed. Mix and eat.
If you plan on eating this at once, place everything the other way round- first in a bowl lettuce, carrots, cucmber, then the salmon, sprinkle with the sesame and pour over the soy sauce and sesame oil.
Serve!

Plum Cake

2013-01-07T15:54:00.000+01:00

When you have plums on hand, and you wake up in the mornign thiking of plums and a sweet cream vanilla sauce, it means it's time for baking a cake.
As I've said before, I don't make cake much, because for 2 people, where one eats most of it ( T. claims cakes to be too "sweet" ), I found a few years ago these great biking dishes, that are large enough to hold meat, and the exact size I needed to make cakes without going overboard on the quantity. Thank God for ceramics.

It's a very basic cake, with no need to use a beater, but you will have to kneed a bit the dough.

Type of dish: cake, dessert
Cost: cheap
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 4
Time: 1h
Prep time: 30min
Baking time: 30 min
Oven temp: 180C

You'll need:
cutting board, medium mixing bowl and a large mixing bowl, workplace to kneed the dough, sharp knife, medium baking dish or tray

Ingredients:

5-10 plums, pitted and sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 pinch ground cinnamon
optional: 1 tbsp Grand Marnier
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 cups flour
50 gr butter
1 egg
1 pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar

In the medium bowl, mix the plums, lemon juice, cinnamon, and optionally, the Grand Marnier. Set aside to marinate. Smear the bakig dish with bit of grease.
In the large mixing bowl, sift the flour, salt, baking powder, add the sugar, butter and egg. Take off all rings, bracelets and roll up your sleeves so you don't get dirty. Pinch the ingredients together, until they start blending into a hard dough. Sift some flour on your workplace and transfer the dough there and start kneeding. When the dough is slightly warm, roll out or flatten the dough out so it fits in the baking dish. You can also just tear off small pieces of the dough, flatten them into small rounds and lay them out on the dish. On top, you can either plop all the plums on, and spread them slighty out, or you can arrange them in a orderly manner. Doesn't matter. Sprinkle with the brown sugar on top. You can also grate a bit of the dough on top.
Preheat your oven to 180C and bake the cake for 25-30 min, or until dough is golden- brown.
Let it cool for 10 min and serve hot with vanilla icecream, or with whipped cream, or just a cup of tea:)

Raclette party

2013-01-04T17:53:00.002+01:00

Raclette if one of the few dishes where everybody eats from one plate.
Similar to fondue, this requires a special hot plate to keep the cheese melting and the potatoes baking.
We got a raclette set one year from our friends, and truth be said, the first time we did a raclette party, we drank way too much wine, to too little food. But it was a lot of fun. Hands up if you like fun!

And what can you also do with the raclette machine? Well,if you're considering getting one, or putting it on a wishlist, try getting one that has a plain top with no grill marks or any other kind of cute embelishes. Why? Because if you don't have a snazzy fancy schmancy crepe frying pan, this works just as well.
I've got the kind with a snowflake on top, so when I made crepes, they came out really fat and with the snowflake. So that kinda worked out.

What kind of cheese for raclette? Well, use the smelly raclette type. But it's smelly and heavy, so drink lots of wine folks, and have a salad on the side.
And you'll be merry merry :)
So what would you need to make this look and taste good?

raclette cheese - about 200-250 gram per person :)
2 lettuces, shreded with a light vinaegrette
potatoes, boiled, cooled, cut in half, about 6-8 per person
pickles like: pickled pickles, bell peppers, sherkins, mushrooms, you name it.
cold meat : ham, rossette, cured and regular bacon, pancetta, slices of sausages
fresh veggies: carrot sticks, zucchini slices, tomatoes
you can also serve grits, to warm up on the spoons with cheese.
wine White and red. Lots of it, and lots of water to drink

Set your guests around the table, hand out eacha plate and a spoon, set the table with all the food and let the party begin- who shall eat the last slices of bacon with a tiny bit of cheese? Who wants dessert? You'll probably hear groans after that question :)

Herbed toasts

2013-01-02T16:14:00.002+01:00

Serve these gorgeous bits with a thick soup for that extra ooompf:) Sadly, too easy to make, but only with the help of an oven....
Sorry guys without ovens :)

Get ur choppers out, and a baguatte that can be a day old.
As for the ingredients, you'll be needing:

15 thin slices crusty baguette
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp dried parsley or oregano
1/2 tbsp garlic salt or granulated garlic

Heat up the broiler on your oven. Prep a baking tray with tin foil, and set aside. In a small bowl, mash together the ingredients with a fork, until mixed well. Smear the bread sliced with the butter paste and place on the tray. Broil for 5-10min and serve warm, not hot!

Happy New Year 2013!

2012-12-31T17:44:00.000+01:00

And have in general a great time!
We only live once :)

Holiday market in Warsaw

2012-12-31T00:25:00.001+01:00

We went to meet friends in the old town, and wandered around the holiday market set up around the fountain square. Lights up everywhere, dozens of stalls selling food, mulled wine and beer, and other bricbrac. We had a lot of fun walking around, trying out Lithuanian dumplings with cheese, deep fried, some traditional polish dumplings called pierogi, we had mulled wine, and grilled sheep cheese, oscypek, with cranberry sauce. i think this came up a while ago, when fried camembert with cranberry sauce was introduced in Poland.

Oriental applepie

2012-12-30T14:41:00.000+01:00

A different version of the traditional polish apple pie- with a hint of sweet mango and a kick of freshly minced ginger- this pie made my day.
In Poland, there are a few aproaches to apple pies- one is to make mush from apples, and cover it with grated frosted pie crust. Or slice apples onto sponge cake and add peach slices. Or cover it up with whipped egg whites. It's all really good, but looks really mushy, which doesn't really match up with my appetite.

So what do I do? I make a applepie fitting my terrible aestetic needs.
Plus I had some dried mango and fresh ginger to use.
But you didn't know that. I'm kind of crafty :P

I think I just gave away what exactly you have to do. Well, nearly.

Type of dish: dessert, cake
Serves: many hungry people
Cost: medium
Difficulty: easy
Time: 1,5h
Prep time: 30min
Baking time: 45 min
Oven temp: 190C

You'll need:
a large baking tray, medium mixing bowl, rolling pin, electric beater, medium saucepan with lid, wooden spatula, rubber spatula, cutting board, sharp knife, cup, teaspoon,

Ingredients:

6-7 large apples mixed ( tangy and sweet)
100gr minced dried mango
6 tsp finely minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup sugar plus 3 tbsp
zest from 1 lemon
100gr currants or raisins (or cranberries)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
100gr butter softened

Dice your apples and put in the saucepan. Add the minced ginger, mango, raisins, cinanmon and sugar. Pour in half a cup of water and squeeze in a bit of lemon juice. Mix well and cover on medium heat.
On a working space sift together the flour , baking powder, vanilla extract, 3 tbsp of sugar, egg yolks and butter. Use a knife to cut up the batter, then knead for a few minutes until the crust is elastic, pliable and shiny. Cover in wrap and put in fridge for 30min.
Watch if the apples are coming apart, mix them from time to time. When part of the apples is mush, or what some people call it applesauce, and the rest of the apples are intact. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Preheat oven. Grease the pan. Beat the egg whites stiff with a spoon of sugar but use a beater.;) Take the pie crust from the fridge and roll it out to fit the baking tray. Cover the bottom and sides of the pan. Transfer the applesauce on the crust, and smooth out. Cover the apples with the beaten egg whites and put in the oven to bake for about 40-45 min in 190C.
Leave to cool down and serve either warm with a serving of vanilla icecream. Go crazy and add some whipped cream if you feel like it!

Boeuf Bourginion

2012-12-27T14:10:00.000+01:00

I got a Le Creuset pan and I'm proud of it. And I wanted to make straight away this recipe. I will not repeat the full name, just call it "beef" , well, because I can.

First time, our friend Magali invited us over for this treat I have to say I was dissapointed. A stew? Come on. Then I tried it. Then the magic happened.
I will tell you no more, except that this is not her recipe, but it still gives off the magic of a slowly cooked meat in wine, tomatoes, and beef broth.
And the magic gets done somewhere in the oven, when the tastes frolic together. I adore it, and I will definitly advise everybody to get a cast iron saucepan with lid to make just this recipe. Go get one now if you haven't got one. Shoo!

Type of dish: main, stew
Cost: medium
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 5
Time: 3h
Prep time: 30 min
Baking time: 2,5h
Oven temp: 160C

You'll need:
a cutting board, a sharp knife, a large frying pan, spatula, bottle opener, a cup, teaspoon, cast iron pan at least 20cm diameter with lid.

Ingredients:

1/2 kg cut beef for stew (it's diced)
1/2 kg mushrooms, cut in 4
1 can tomatoes
1 medium onion
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 bay leaf
few fresh sprigs of thyme
few sprigs of fresh parsley
fresh cracked black pepper
1 bottle red table wine ( medium dry or dry)
1 cube beef stock, or 250ml beef broth, unsalted
500gr short pasta (macaroni, penne, fusili), or rice
olive oil

Preheat oven to 150C. Heat the frying pan, drizzle olve oil heartily over the pan, wait for it to sizzle, then pop in the mushrooms. fry them up a bit, until they brown evenly. Transfer them to the pot. Saute the onions and carrots for 5 min, transfer them to the pot. Next, add more olive oil, and add the beef to the pan. We need to brown it on all sides before we add it to the pot. While cooking the beef, add the bay leaf, thyme, black pepper, can of tomatoes, beef stock to the pot and stir around so the flavours integrate. Open the wine, and once the beef is done, throw it in the pot, and pour the wine in the frying pan, heating and scraping the bottom of the pan, to get the goody stuff in the sauce. Once the wine has reduced by half, pour it in the pot, try to stir it up a bit, cover up with the lid and put in the oven for 2,5 h. No need to check the pot in the meantime, so clean up and relax. After 2,5 hours, check if the beef and carrots have incorporated most of the liquid, and the leftover liquid is more stewish. If so, remove the pot, cook some pasta al dente and serve with a hearty serving of the beef. Garnish with freshly chopped basil leaves ,or chopped thyme.
Serve!

Tis the time

2012-12-24T14:26:00.002+01:00

Figs and Rosemary would like to wish you all a very merry and tasty Christmas!

Bigos- Mishmash to do

2012-12-22T22:13:00.001+01:00

Bigos is another traditional polish recipe, which now is made usualy for Christmas (two versions- one with wild mushrooms, the other is with meat of all kinds- pork and beef), which in very loose translation means nothing more than mishmash- meaning you can throw in nearly everything to this dish and it's still good.

I told my husband it's a family tradition the man makes the bigos for Christmas. But I lied. It's no tradition, I just wanted him to do something for the holidays :) I hope he reads this :P
EDIT : he did read this, and then he took away my glass of champagne.... :P
It's a heav dish, more popular for autumn and winter, and traditionally, bigos was made, by cooking it for days, if not weeks. The best was supposed to be the one made in autumn, kept in the snow for a few moths, then reheated again for occasions.
There are also two schools of making bigos- with or without tomatoes. Originaly there were no tomatoes, but try making this with and without and decide which taste is yours (mine is definitely with tomatoes).

Type of dish: main
Cost: cheap to medium
Serves: a lot of people
Difficulty: easy
Time: from 2h to 3 weeks
Prep time: 30 min

You'll need:
a cutting board, a sharp knife, a spatula, a large frying pan, a large and deep saucepan with lid, small bowl

Ingredients: (for the meat bigos, for the vegetarian, just go without the meat)

1kg sauerkraut (taste it- if very salty, drain with water few times)
1kg mixed meat (pork, beef- sausages, kabanos, cured bacon, cold meat or cooked meat -from soups)
1 handfull prunes or plum jam
5 tbsp tomato paste
1 pinch sugar
1 handfull dried wild mushrooms
1/2 litre water

In the small bowl, put in the ddried mushrooms and cover with 1/2 litre boiling water. Set aside. Wash the sauerkraut and put in the saucepan. Add the prunes, and tomato paste. When the mushrooms regain some of their size, squeeze out the water from them, and chop them up roughly, and add them to the pot. Cut up the meat, and fry it up on medium high heat to brown it. Add with the fat from the meat to the large pot. Pour in the liquid from the mushrooms and put on the stove, on medium heat with the lid on. Mix every 45 minutes to make sure the bottom doesn't burn. Cook for 2-3 h, or if you like the traditional way, cook every 7 days, keeping the pot in the snow or your freezer.
And thats it!
Just try the bigos during cooking to check if it needs more sugar or tomatoes.

Polish Christmas Salad

2012-12-22T21:25:00.001+01:00

This is a typical Polish salad served on Christmas Eve, when we eat only food without meat. We eat a ton of fish, specialty is carp and herrings, in various ways, or the less popular but still very good eel and catfish.
I'm thinking about doing this year just salmon for Christmas Eve- with puree and vegetables, and for dinner, informal sushi or salmon teriyaki.
Or I'll make shrimps with green beans.

I have been making this specific salad for over 15 years, always having each year a lot of fun dicing the damn vegetables (I learnt how to chop with this salad- one year it was too fine, the other- the dice was too big and the salad wasn't that good). So dice small enough (the size of a pea or a bit larger is ok).
The key is to use regular mayonaise. No light mayonaise or a mix of mayo and cream will do the job. Accept the awful truth and just spoon in those 2 heaped table spoons of good mayonaise. I swear it'll be enough. And you HAVE to add the apple, otherwise it dosen't make any sense at all.
Since you have to cook the vegetables anyway, it's good to slow cook them with a few more ingredients and make vegetable broth, which, by the way, I intend to serve also on Christmas Eve with some noodles and a few carrot slices. If you don't want to have soup, just freeze it in a ice tray or muffin tray- this way you have good quality broth to use in other recipes.

Type of dish : salad
Serves: 4-8
Cost: cheap
Difficulty: easy
Time: 1h
Prep time: 20min
Cooking time:

You'll need:
Cutting board, sharp knife, large bowl, medium saucepan with lid, tablespoon, slotted spoon, tongs

Ingredients:

3-4 medium carrots
1 celery bulb
2 parsley root
1-2 leek parts
2 heaped tbsp mayonaise
2 apples ( green granny, or any sour type)
6-7 medium sized brined gherkins
1/2 can of peas
pinch salt
1/2 tbsp Vegeta seasoning
1 bay leaf
1 onion
small piece italian cabbage
small garnish fresh thyme

Dice all the vegetables except for the onion (which you don't peel, just wash- it'll give a lovely color to the broth), caggabe and leek. Put all the veggies, apart from the gherkins and apples in the saucepan, add the bay leaf and Vegeta, and cover with cold water and add additional 1/2 litre of water (this will evaporate during cooking anyway), and put on medium heat, wait till it boils, then turn down the heat to low for 20 min. In the meantime, add to the large bowl add the peas, diced apples and gherkins and the mayonaise. When the time is up, use the tongs to remove the leek, onion and caggage from the saucepan, and take out the bay leaf and thyme. Use the slotted spoon or a sieve to drain the vegetables from the broth (save it for other purposes), and add to the large bowl. Mix well, taste, add the salt if needed, then cover and put in a cool place (a fridge) and leave overnight for best results.
The taste is great, and kids really like this salad for some reason. I think it's because it's the only alternative to fish on that day. But still, a good way to feed them veggies :)

Pork Roast

2012-12-21T18:26:00.000+01:00

In my family, pork roast was for special occasions. You would have it for Easter, the second day of Christmas, for special dinners.
And the leftovers would be eaten on thick slices of bread with the jelly from the baking process.
My mom used to do it differently than I do, I recall it being a bit spicy, which means there was a lot of pepper and marjoram.

It was good, trust me. But best the next day. Like roast chicken. Same thing.
Since I didn't have the recipe and I wanted to recreate the pork roast , I had to try to figure out what was it there. Of course, I came up with something totally different in taste, but still good.
And it's a very versatile dish, with the leftovers you can make sandwiches, or rice/pasta dishes with the leftovers cut up.
There are a few methods of making this: if you like garlic, then jab the pork with a sharp thin knige, making deep pockets in which you can push in the garlic. Or you can mince the garlic and cover the pork with it, with salt and pepper. You can also skip the garlic, and use herbs all over the meat. Fresh herbs, like sage, can be put over the meat when baking to give a wonderful aroma. Rosemary twigs put into forementioned deep pockets. You can even get some prosciutto or some thin cure bacon slices and cover it up.
But don't use butter for the meat, and don't forget to fry the meat on each side before putting the pork roast in the oven.This will seal the juices inside the meat, making it very tender and juicy.
And, like handling any meat after thermal process, before cutting and serving, leave on a cutting board to rest for a while.

I've tried making pork roast in a pan, covered with foil, in a foil bag ( Jan Niezbędny sleeve), in a casserol dish, and I highly recommend the sleeve and the casserol dish.

So how to do it?
Buy a nice 0,5kg piece of pork roast without bones, and try to get one that doesn't have a lot of the silverish skin, as we will cut it off anyway. And fatty bits are ok, they will melt out.
Since we are roasting in a closed dish, why not peel a few veggies to give extra aroma and will be a great side dish (from a one dish meal :)) . I usually peel a few potatoes, add at least 3-4 carrots (they always dissapear at once), some parsnip and parsley. And more garlic. I have a thing for garlic. If you have those small cipolina/cipoletti onions, clean them and throw them in too. They will be scrumptious after they finish baking.
Prepare your meat, best by a night of marinating. Rinse the meat under cold water, pat dry with a paper towel, and place on a board. If you plan on the garlic or rosemary pockets, do it now. Pour about a teaspoon of good olive oil on the meat, and massage it in. The massaging at this point will losen up the meat, making it less tough. Just a bit, it doesn't work on the meat like it does on us :)
Now sprinkle some salt and pepper over the meat, rub that in too, and if you're going with a dried herb version, rub that all over too. I often used dried mint and crushed green peppercorns. If you are using fresh sage, then stick leaf by leaf on the bottom of the meat. As for the bacon wrap, you wrap it all around the meat, but you won't fry the meat then, before baking.
Once you're done with the seasoning, place the pork gently in a glass or ceramic bowl, cover with a plate and put in the fridge for at least 5h for the marinating process.
Btw, you can also marinate the meat in the same red vinegar marinade I posted a while back.
Baking time: around 40-60 min. In a sleeve, it usually takes 40 min. In a casserole dish, 50-60 min.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Take out the meat about 30min before the baking/ frying. Cold meat take longer to cook.
Put the veggies in the dish you will use to bake the pork, nest it around, pour in half a cup of water, and a bit of olive oil. Season a bit with salt and pepper.
Heat up a large frying pan on high heat. There's some searing to be done. When it's hot, turn your ventilation on, and put the meat on the pan. It's going to sizzle, but that's ok. Turn on all sides to seal the juices inside the meat (the meat will be browned), then transfer to the dish with veggies. Close it up and put in the oven to bake for the estimated time, depending on the dish you used.
If you decided to do the meat with bacon, or anything else that prevented you from the frying part, at the end of the baking time, turn on the broiler and take off the lid ( cut open the sleeve) and let it brown for 5-8 min.
Let the meat rest a bit ( 3-5 min), before cutting, and serve.
This is a recipe for just meat, if you like serving meat with sauce, then a light brown will do, or a bernaise sauce, regular dijon mustard works great too.

Baked mushrooms- Crowd pleaser

2012-12-18T14:29:00.000+01:00

We had a BBQ a while ago and I wanted to make some sides and salads as everyone else was bringing on the meat and wine. I had a few salads in mind but I got super cute mushrooms and just had to make something with them. While the stove was occupied on all four tops I had only the oven to make something. So I had them baked, and they came out delicious! Seriously, it was the first thing that disappeared from the table. To me, that's a sign that something is GOOD.
Deliciously easy. Make it for any potluck or party or for dinner. GUSH.

Type of dish: side, salad
Cost: cheap
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 4-8
Time: 25min
Preparation time: 5 min
Baking time: 20 min
Oven temp: 180 C

You'll need:
a shallow baking dish, knife, cutting board, spoon, oven

Ingredients:

olive oil
mushrooms ( as much as you want)
butter
4-5 garlic cloves, finely minced or crushed
1 bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped
addional: 1/2 glass of dry white wine
S&P

Go at heat the oven, chop up the larger mushrooms in 4, leave the smaller ones whole. Drizzle olive oil all over them,add the garlic, parsley, s&p, mix it over nicely and lay on small chunks of the butter over the 'shrooms. If you want the wine version, pour in the wine just before you put it in the oven. I swear to you, this is delicious. Now pop it in the oven for 20 min, just come back in 10 min to mix them so they brown evenly. After that they're ready to serve!
Serve with a fresh baguette to soak up the sauce. I'm hungry again:/