Zucchini burgers

For 10 (small-ish) burgers you will need:

500 grams finely diced zucchini
2 tbsp olive oil
75 grams buffalo mozzarella
50 grams fresh breadcrumbs
2 cloves finely diced garlic
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 lightly beaten egg
some finely chopped parsley
50 grams grated Parmesan
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
little flour for dusting

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

Heat the oil and lightly fry the diced zucchini about 5 minutes. You need texture, so do not over-fry them. Set on several sheets of kitchen paper to absorb the oil.
Add the zucchini into a mixing bowl and add the buffalo mozzarella. Break with the back of a wooden spoon.
Add the breadcrumbs, garlic and lemon zest and stir to combine. At the end, add the lightly beaten egg, Parmesan and parsley and season with pepper and salt.
With damp hands shape small burgers, dust them with little flour on both sides and put on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Bake for about 10 minutes on each side, or until golden.

Chicken schnitzel with grilled vegetables and messy Caprese salad

Ingredients:

200g stale sourdough bread

50g Parmesan cheese, grated

6 sprigs thyme, leaves only

2 sprigs rosemary, leaves only

couple of chopped flat parsley leaves

Pinch of salt and some ground black pepper

2 chicken breast fillets

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk 

70g plain flour (seasoned with salt and pepper)

3-4 tbsp olive oil for frying

20g butter

Grilled vegetables:

1 medium aubergine (eggplant) thinly sliced

1 large zucchini sliced at angle

1 red capsicum

1 yellow capsicum 

For the Caprese salad:

Handful of cherry tomatoes sliced in half

3-4 bocconcini mozzarella

2-3 basil leaves, torn by hand, not chopped

dash of extra virgin olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

Method:

In a food processor put the stale bread torn in bite size pieces and add the grated Parmesan. Pulse until you have coarse crumbs. Add the herbs, season with little salt and black pepper and continue pulsing until you have nice, small breadcrumbs.

Take the filleted chicken breast, place on a chopping board in between 2 sheets of cling film and lightly pound with a meat mallet, to flatten it.

Place the seasoned flour on a flat plate. Whisk the egg and milk in a bowl with a fork and place the breadcrumbs mixture in a deeper dish.

Take a fillet, place in the flour and lightly coat on both sides. Shake the excess.

Nest, dip the fillet into the egg mixture, let it drain and then dip into the breadcrumb mix.

Fry on olive oil, about 3-4 minutes on each side. 

Just before the bottom side is done, reduce the heat, add the butter and let it brown.

Place the schnitzels on a plate lined with kitchen paper, to drain the excess oil.

For the grilled vegetables, arrange the sliced veggies into a bowl and add some salt and little olive oil. Let them stand until the griddle pan is getting heated.

Lightly brush the pan with some olive oil and arrange the vegetables on it. Grill for about 4-5 minutes on each side.

Caprese salad:

Mix the torn mozzarella and tomatoes in a bowl. Add some torn basil, a sash of extra virgin olive oil and little freshly ground black pepper. Toss lightly, so the mozzarella and tomatoes are nicely covered with the oil.

Let them eat cake!

For a couple of years I have been hearing about this stunningly beautiful setting of a particular restaurant and a caffe. However, after looking at their price list, I won't be going there any time soon. I find the notion of paying € 6.00 for a slice of cake utterly ridiculous. No slice of cake is worth that much, even if the owner of the restaurant is of noble birth.

I don't really read newspapers, I admit, I only buy them on Sundays, and this past Sunday, there was lovely surprise in a form of a food magazine together with the newspaper.

Surprise, surprise, Baroness Muffy shared 3 of her cake recipes with everyone who bought the newspaper that day!

I told you that no cake is worth those €6.00. (Photo borrowed from Trip Advisor. Told y'all that I haven't been there).

So, I decided to try, guess which one of Muffy's cakes?! The Chocolate Layer Cake, of course!

Here's what you will need for about 8-12 slices, depending how big or huge you want to cut them.

Cake ingredients:

225 grams unsalted butter

225 grams caster sugar

4 eggs

175 grams self-raising flour

55 grams cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

Buttercream frosting:

200 grams unsalted butter

350 grams icing sugar

150 grams dark chocolate

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a 20cm cake tin with a little butter and then baking parchment.

In a bowl beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs. 

Sift the cocoa, flour and baking powder and fold into the butter mixture. Spoon into the baking tin and bake 45-50 minutes until soft and springy.

Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Slice the cake horizontally into 2 layers ready for frosting.

For the frosting:

Melt the chocolate over a pot of boiling water. Stir in the butter and allow to cool before adding the sugar. Stir occasionally until the mixture is a thick spreading consistency.

Use half of the mixture to spread on the base of one sponge and use the rest to cover and decorate the cake.

As you can see, I decided to add my own twist to the decoration and went little enthusiastic with the cream. The strawberries are there just because I think that there's nothing better than strawberries, chocolate and cream in one place :)

Although it is indeed a good cake, I repeat, one slice is not worth €6.00, considering that with that money you will gather the ingredients for the whole cake... and feed between 8-12 people with it!

Work in progress

Sorry about the mess...it is a work in progress :)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Sometime, somewhere, I had read that muffins are just ugly cupcakes. Strongly believing that (almost) everyone is entitled to their opinion, I disagree with that statement and claim that muffins and cupcakes are cousins.


Speaking of cousins, brings me fond memories of my cousins and my grandma Stefana. She had this little cottage and there was meadow behind where we used to run and pick flowers. Ah, memories! The reason I'm ranting about muffins and my grandma in a same place has a point, I promise. You see, it is thanks to my grandma (may she rest in peace) that I discovered poppy seed. She was visiting and one day, she took me to see a cousin of hers. I was probably 6 or 7 at that time. As the custom goes in the ole' country, when guests arrive, you start taking out food and piling it on the table. Among the piles of food, there was something I hadn't seen before. It was poppy seed cake and I fell in love with the taste!


I haven't been quite successful in trying to reproduce that particular flavour, but that's probably due to the fact that I never tried. However, my mom can do that with closed eyes.


Recently, while shopping in a health food store (yeah, I do know where they sell healthy stuff), I took a small pack of poppy seeds. I don't know why I did it, but nonetheless, I got it.


So, today I'm sitting bored out of my wits and hating the pile of clothes that needs to be ironed and suddenly I remembered the poppy seeds. Off to the lab and experiments! So, here's the result, fluffy, flavoursome and just as intended.

Lemon & Poppy seed muffins

For 4 BIG muffins, you will need:

75 grams sugar

1 large egg

155 grams flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

60 ml plain yogurt

15 grams poppy seeds

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp olive oil

5-6 tbsp milk

Method:

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Combine the wet ingredients with a whisk and add to the dry ingredients. Mix just enough to combine. Divide the bater equally among 4 large muffin cases and bake 20-25 minutes.  

Rose water cookies

Well, hello there!


I know, I know... It has been literally ages since I blogged about something, but life sometimes can be overwhelming. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes in ways that nobody should be conscious while going through some things.


Spring is in the air, the flower scents make my heart sing and I bake. Lately, a lot. At times I bake because I feel sad, other times I bake because I feel like to terrorize the world with cookies and hugs.
Today's baking was one of the later ones, where I want to conquer the world with cookies and I strongly believe that these cookies can literally stop the world from spinning, at least for a split second.


I won't be going with my rant for too long, as you might skip reading the recipe, so here we go:


For approximately 18-20 cookies you will need:

96 grams all purpose flour

30 grams ground almonds

85 grams butter (room temperature)

96 grams icing sugar (sifted)

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

1 tablespoon rose water

1 large egg (room temperature)

About 50 grams icing sugar (sifted) for dusting

 

Method:

 

Sift the flour and almond meal in a bowl and set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter with electric whisk until pale (about 2 minutes on medium speed). Add the sugar, salt, vanilla & rose water and beat on medium speed for about a minute, until amalgamated well.

Add the egg and beat about 15-20 seconds. Do not over-beat, as you’ll end up with tough cookies. (No pun intended).

On low speed, add the flour mixture and mix well until just incorporated. About a minute or so should do the trick.

Wrap the dough in cling film and let it chill in the fridge for 30-40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius and put the rack in the lower third of the oven.

With floured hands pinch small balls of dough, roll them gently between your palms and place them on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper or a silicone mat.

Space the dough balls about inch apart and bake the cookies 10-13 minutes (depending on the strength of the oven), or until golden circle appears around the outer edge.

As soon as you remove them from the oven, cover with sifted icing sugar and gently pull the lining paper/silicone mat, letting them cool completely on a wire rack.

Let them cool about 40 minutes and then the face stuffing feast can begin! Just in case you have some leftover from the face stuffing feast, you can keep the cookies in airtight container on room temperature for up to 3 days.

 

In the name of god!

Couple of months ago, someone asked me why I'm not following organized religion. The person that asked me that is deeply religious which is fine by me. 
I'm not a hater.
You see, I have my own values or quirks, or call them what you will. How I could belong to a group that preaches one thing and then does other? If I cannot follow something to the 'T', I might as well not even do it. I personally believe that you cannot just pick whatever suits you from the religion/faith and then chuck the rest. Or you do it, or you don't.
Being somewhat uncomfortable with gray areas and preferring the predictability of black and white, I'm not a suitable candidate to be a 'follower'. (The way I see it, you can't say that you're this or that and then start hating. If love is one of the fundamental pillars in most religions, how come the hate gets center stage?)
Why?
Because, I do believe in a free will for one. 
Because I cannot grasp the concept of having this all loving god who can punish you. If god's grace is cast upon everyone, why the need to belong to an 'elite' club of followers?
Because I ask questions. Too many questions. Questions that are bound to make the 'people of the cloth' uncomfortable and unable to answer.
Because of my ability to think with my own head, rather than take someones word for it.
No, definitely I'm not a follower material.
I admire and respect the dedication and faith of all faithful, but I steer clear from the stuff. 
The thing that I have to admit though, is that I am curious about all religions, but I cannot stand the competition of the sort 'mine is better than yours'.
Someone smart, somewhere had said that if you want to be respected, you have to give your respect. (It is one of the reasons that I can have great time with believers and non-believers alike).
However, the thing that bothers me most is not religion itself, let me tell you. Religion as such is a good thing, but the interpretations of the teachings are completely different story. There I have the problem.
While an individual with a little bit of common sense would pause, reflect and question, the 'blind followers' mess up everything. They start going on rampages against individuals who are different than themselves, groups or associations which hold different perspective of things and the list goes from bad to worse from here on.
So, in the name of (your) god, please don't try to 'convert' me. I am very comfortable with my choices or the lack of thereof, and prefer to believe that ultimately, it is your choices and actions that you will be remembered for.

Peace and light to all!