Archive of posts from March 2015

Panzanella

I love this recipe with all its freshness. The secret for a perfect result is the quality of the ingredients you will use: you don’t need many so make sure they are excellent. This is perfect for a spring pic-nic or it can also be an idea for your Easter vegetarian meal.

What you need:

  • ciabatta bread (250g)
  • 6 skimmed tomatoes (500g)
  • 1 medium red onion
  • 25 g of capers
  • extra virgin olive oil (as needed)
  • basil Leaves (as desired)

Optional:

  • anchovies fillets
  • 1 cucumber

How to make it: Cut the bread in small pieces and place them in a lined baking tray. Grill the bred until lightly browned and cut into chunks (to make it quicker you can use sliced bread and use a toaster; the flavour won’t be the same but it will work well). Drizzle with olive oil.

Chop the tomatoes, slice the onion (and if you want the cucumber!), then place them in a serving bowl.

Add the bread to the veggies and mix well with some extra virgin olive oil. At this stage you can add the basil, the capers and the anchovies, if you decide to use them.

Panzanella

TIP: you can prepare a small dressing with a garlic clove, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. For more taste you can prepare a small cup with the olive oil and let the garlic clove infuse all night.

Chocolate cookies

An evergreen: chocolate chips cookies!

What you need:

  • 420 g flour
  • 250g butter
  • 200 sugar
  • 200 cane sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • vanilla extract
  • chocolate chips (as much as desired)
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate soda

How to make it:

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C. Soften the butter to room temperature, when softened beat it with the sugar (both sugars) until you get a light creamy result. Add the eggs, one at the time and then the vanilla extract. Add the sifted flour until all the ingredients are well combined. Add the chocolate chips and stir them quickly. You should have now a quite thick dough.

Line a baking tray and distribute the dough by using a spoon: make sure to leave a bit of space between the cookies as they will grow while cooking. Bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown. Make sure you do not over bake them (as I did with the first batch) as the cookies will burn!! Remove the tray from the oven and let the cookies rest for few minutes. Enjoy your amazing cookies!

Chocolate cookies