It’s spring time(well in Dublin not really but let’s consider the calendar, not the weather)!This is the perfect recipe to prepare for your Sunday’s afternoons or maybe just because you need to make a dessert for your friends! So here we go with one of the best Italian dessert in very fresh version: TIRAMISU WITH STRAWBERRIES
Ingredients:
3 eggs
250 grams mascarpone cheese
40 grams sugar
Savoiardi biscuits (2 packages)
400 grams of fresh, red strawberries
2 oranges
1 lemon
HOW TO MAKE IT:
Let’s start by cleaning the strawberries, remember to keep some of them for the decoration. Wash tand cut them in small pieces, then put them in an bowl with the orange and lemon juice. and leave them in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile you can start preparing the cream. Separate the eggs and beat the yolks togheter with the sugar. Gently add the mascarpone and stir with a wooden spoon. Beat your egg whites until stiff peaks form in your bowl. Add them to the cream.
In another bowl, squize the other orange, add 2 tbspoon of water and the liquid of the strawberries.
Let’s start now to create our tiramisu: put some cream on the base of your cake tray, take the savoiardi biscuits and dip then into the strawberry juice. They have to be moist enough but be careful not to break them..we all know how are biscuits with liquids ;0)!
Gently dispose them in the tray and when it is all covered, add some of the cream on the top. You can now add the strawbeerries. If you prefer you can blend them with a food processor so you will have a nice sauce..Personally I prefer to eat the strawberries. You can now add another “floor” of biscuits and then again the cream. When all your cream is finished add the strawberries for the decoration on the top and put the tiramisu in the fridge.
TIP: If you want to have a better result you can prepare your dessert the night before serving it!
I couldn’t resist, I had to write about pancakes!Last Tuesday was Pancake’s Tuesday and I decided to make some for a good reason!We were collecting some money by selling our delicious pancakes in the company I work for. It was my first time and I have to say they were really good!
Well here we go then, enjoy 
)
Ingredients:
100g plain flour
250ml of milk.
1 egg
a pinch of salt
some butter or margarine for frying
Let’s start by sifting togheter the flour with the salt in a bowl;then make a hall in the middle. Add the egg in the centre. Gradually add the milk and stirr with a wooden spoon until all the flour has been incorporated. With a mixer beat again the ingredients until you don’t have a smooth batter. Add the rest of the milk and beat for another 1 minute. You should have a nice and smooth cream like the one on the pic below!
Let’s now fry the pancakes!Get a non sticky pan and heat it well, then quickly coat the pan with the margarine or the butter. Put part of the mixture in the pan and fry it until golden brown on the side. Once is well cooked, you need to turn your pancake – actually it’s not that easy so if you don’t manage to flip the pancake (as I do,LOL) just turn it with a spoon or a palette.
Keep doing this operation until all the pancakes are ready. You need to serve them really warm before adding your favourite topping. Some tips? Nutella, Jam, Golden Syrup,….mmmmmmmhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! :0)
Hi all, today is cupcake’s day!YAY!So here we go with these delicious mini cakes!
For the cakes:
115 g softenend butter;
115 g brown sugar;
the zest of 1 orange;
2 eggs;
175g of carrots;
20 g of chopped walnuts;
125 g flour
1 tbsp baking powder
For the frosting:
250 g mascarpone cheese;
5 tbsp icing sugar
zest of an orange.
We will start by preheating the oven to 180°C. Place the softeoned butter in a bowl, with the sugar and the zest and beat unitl you don’t have a fluffy mixture – gradually add the eggs and keep beating.
Grate the carrots, squeeze the water in excess and add them to the mixture along with the walnuts and orange juice. Stir well. Sift the flour and the baking powder and set aside. Line your muffin case with 12 paper cases and spoon the mixture on them. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden.
While your cupcakes are baking prepare the topping. Place the mascarpone in a bowl with the icing sugar and the orange zest. Beat togheter until they are completly mixed.
Spread your frosting on the cupcakes using a spatula only when they are completely cold !Et voilà..that,s the result!
I decided to share with you one of my favourite recipe: it’s perfect for the lunchbox! We are gonna prepare chicken with vegetables and greek yoghurt cream. It will take you not more than 20 mins to prepare it. The best thing of this dish? It tastes good, it makes you full and it’s really really light (no salt and low on calories and fat).
INGREDIENTS:
200 g of chicken (breast!);
2 carrots;
half onion;
2 courgettes;
250 g of greek yoghurt;
curry;
parsley.
Chop your vegetables and put them in a warm non sticky pan fry . Add 1 cup of hot water and put them on the heating ( medium temperature).
Cook your veggies for around 10 mins until they are tender and all the water is absorbed, then add your chopped chicken.
Keep cooking for additional 10 mins and if required add another cup (or 2) of hot water. Do not add oil or butter. Just keep stirring and add water if needed.When the chicken is completly cooked, remove the pan from the hoven and let it cool down.
Now you need to prepare the sauce: take the yoghurt, put it in a bowl and add 1 teaspoon of curry and blend them togheter.
Add the sauce to your chicken and top everything with some parseley.
Quick tip: do not cook the sauce otherwise the yoghurt will become too liquid and you will lose that lovely creamy side of the dish!
Back to the Kitchen!!!Sorry folks but this Xmas Holidays got me really busy!Anyway….I’m back with one of the best things ever: PIZZA!I love it and I am sure you too!
Ingredients for the dough:
400 g of plain flour;
2 teaspoons dry yeast
2 tbs of extravirgin olive oil;
40 g of sugar;
1 tbs of salt;
250 ml of warm water.
Sift the flour with the yeast in a large bowl and add the salt and the sugar. Mix well, make a holel in the centre, add the olive oil and the warm water. Work all the ingredients quickly until you’ll have a smooth and slightly sticky ball. Cover your ball with a cloth and leave your pizza dough for few hours until it has doubled in size.
Dust your hands with some flour to avoid the dough from sticking. Start working the dough and stretch it using the back of your hands. You can help yourself by using a rolling pin to roll the dough out. There are few “rules” about how to do it but in my opinion you don’t really need to follow. We don’t want a perfect pizza, just our pizza. So just work the dough as you like (and as you can): it’s gonna be ok.
Once the base is ready coat your baking tray with oil and sift with some flour (alternatively you can use a baking stone) and place the dough on it.
Pre heat the ove to 200° and in the meanwhile prepare your tomato sauce. You will need:
tomato sauce;
pinch of salt;
2 tbsp of extra virgini oil.
Cover your pizza with the sauce and add some mozzarella slices. Cook for about 20 minutes and then remove your pizza. Add the topping you like: basil, cherry tomato, ham, anchovies, vegetables.. and cook for additional 10 mins. Complete with some oregano and.. your pizza is ready.
Today I made this nice lemon cake for R.! It took me only 15 minutes plus 30 in the oven. Happy sunday everyone :0)
Ingredients:
3 large eggs
200 g sugar
250 g flour
1 cup lemon yoghurt
20 g baking powder
lemon essence
1 pinch of salt
some slices of lemon
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 180°C and in the meanwhile grease and flour a cake pan.
Put the eggs in a bowl and mix them well with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and whisk it together with the eggs.
In another bowl sift together the flour and the baking powder and then slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Add the salt and make sure it’s fully incorporated in the mixture. Add the yoghurt and the lemon essence (1 teaspoon should be enough) and gently whisk with a wooden spoon.
Pour the batter into the pan, add the slices of fresh lemon on the top and bake for about 30 minutes at 180°C. Below your cake:
Tip: 1: if you are not sure about the cake after 30 mins in the oven you can check with a toothpick. If it comes out dry the cake is ready.
Tip 2: you can add some icing sugar or serv your cake with some ice cream (as I did).
Today’s recipe is about one of the most famous pasta sauce: the Ragù (or Bolognese sauce!). I love it; you can also eat it on a toasted bread slice with a glass of red wine as aperitivo!
Before starting I need to apologise for the pics!My official photographer wasn’t there so I took them with the iphone..as you can see they are not perfect!
Ingredients:
2 chopped carrots
2 chopped celery
1 chopped onion
200 g of minced beef
800 g (or 2 cans) of chopped tomato
salt
pepper
sage
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
3/4 hours
The first step is soffritto: warm the oil until it fries, add the onion, the celery and the carrots and cook until tender. After 5 minutes add the meat and cook until brown. Add the 3 tbsp of tomato purée and stir until the meat becomes red.
Now you can add the sage, the pepper, a generous pinch of salt mix well and add the tomato. Check the salt and if needed add more!
Decrease the heating to the minimum and cook the ragù for around 3 or 4 hours. The most you cook it the better it is. Just remember to stir sometimes to avoid it sticks ( if you want to decrease the cooking time you can use a pressure cooker).
As usual on Sunday I woke up late in a very lazy mood. Well didn’t know what to eat so I decided to prepare crumbled eggs with carrots and mozzarella: 10 minutes to cook and 2 mins to eat them! It’s the perfect for hangovers!:o)
I’m moving!And finally a bigger kitchen with much more space and complements!Yay! ) So for a bit no more updates on the site!
Today we are gonna cook the risotto!I love it!It’s a perfect main dish but “posh” enough for a special dinner with your friends, parents, partner. Risotto is a typical dish from the north of Italy, in particular from Lombardia and Piemonte (the areas where italian rice fields are located).
I decided to start with an easy one: Risotto Giallo/ Arancio (Yellow and Orange). It’s Halloween time after all! )
You can choose among a big range of risotto’s , depending on your taste and time. To be honest with you the cooking tecnique is almost the same for all the recipes; you just need practice to improve it!
A quick advice before starting- you need to remember the following rules the “Tostatura” and the”Mantecatura”:
- “Tostatura” should be the first thing to do when cooking risotto. Basically, it is important that your rice is slightly toasted before adding the broth.
- “Mantecatura” is the last step and it’s necessary if you want a creamy and tasty dish.
Let’s start then!
Ingredients (for 4 ppl):
- 1 cup of rice for each person (Arborio is probably the best)
- 1 glass dry white wine
- 2 chopped carrot
- 2 chopped yellow pepper
- half finely chopped onion
- fine sea salt
- 500 ml vegetable stock, heated to a simmer (if you don.t have stock you can use hot salty water but the taste won’t be the same)
- 50 grams of finely chopped parsley
- 50 grams of grated Parmesan cheese.
Heat 2 tbs of olive oil in a pot over a medium heat. When oil is hot, add the onion and cook until softened. Add the carrot, the pepper and the rice then stir for 1 minute. When your ingredients have softened add the wine and let it evaporate (this is the tostatura!).
Add the first cup of stock and stir constantly until almost all the liquid is absorbed. Add another cup of broth and repeat the previous action. Remember to allow each cup of stock to be absorbed before adding the next. The secret is not to add all the stock at the beginning and leave the risotto cooking on its own. We are not preparing boiled rice, so be patient and follow up your dish!
Carry on adding more stock and keep cooking until rice looks tender and creamy (be careful: if the liquid is absorbed too fast you need to reduce the heat).
You can taste your recipe while cooking so you will know when it’s time to remove your pot from the heat.
Add your parmesan and a little slice of butter and ensure they melt well with the risotto (this is the mantecatura). Before serving add the parseley and adjust seasoning if needed.
Sorry about the few pics I posted but it’s pretty hard to cook and take pictures at the same time