Salmon En Croute

We love salmon! Poached, grilled, smoked, or in any kind of way. This time I created my own version of Salmon En Croute, which is basically salmon wrapped in pastry. It is possible to vary the ingredients added in with the salmon, so it is a recipe that also calls for your imagination. Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 2 people):
2 salmon fillets
1 bunch of spinach
400g of ricotta cheese
10 leaves of basil
1 egg
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper
Puff pastry

Start by cooking the spinach on a non-sticky pan for about 3 minutes, so they loose most of their water. Chop the spinach and transfer to a bowl. Add the ricotta smashing it with your hands, and the basil also chopped. Season it to your taste and mix everything. Lay some of this mixture in the center of the pastry, covering about the same area as the salmon fillet. Lay the salmon on top, making sure it is skinless and boneless. Wrap everything in the pastry and brush some egg on top. Put it inside a pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes at 180 ºC. Garnish with a green salad (watercress in the picture).

Notes:

I believe shortcrust pastry would also be really good, but I didn't have access to it. Instead, I tried phyllo pastry (see picture below), but the result was not as tasty as with the puff pastry.

Bruschetta

Sometimes the way home after work takes too long and we get home starving. No patience to cook for too long, but a very great mood for food. Bruschetta can be the perfect solution. To prepare this Italian delicacy brings many advantages: it's quick, we can use almost anything we have in our fridge, and it is a good way to use the bread we didn't eat for breakfast.

Ingredients (4 units):

4 slices of bread

5 cherry tomatoes

4 olives

100g of ricotta cheese

Olive oil

Herbs

Pour some olive oil on top of the bread. Add the ricotta, the tomatoes in small slices, and the olives. Tranfer to the oven already hot and bake it for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving plate, pour some more olive oil on top and spread the herbs.

Notes:

The herbs mixture can be anything, and doesn't really have to be a mixture. For instance, try to use only oregano. It's also delicious.

Tropical breakfast

The tropical breakfast is a delicious and energetic combination. It combines essential nutrients to start your day at your best. I don't think I can even call it a recipe, but I can guarantee that it is worth to try it.

Have a nice day!

Ingredients:

1 natural yogurt

50g of oats

1/2 mango

1/2 papaya

1 banana

Chop the fruits in big cubes and transfer to a bowl. Add the yogurt, and spread the oats on top. It also works if you put the yogurt first, then the fruits and finally the oats.

Notes:

Vary the fruits to your taste. For us, now living in a tropical country, this combination is perfect!

Enjoy it and have a nice day!

Homemade hamburgers*

Homemade burgers can be a piece of heaven. We can still recall the last time we had them. We were on vacation enjoying a beautiful sunset, and the smell of the grilled burgers invaded the balcony enhancing our expectations about dinner. We were not wrong! It was all delicious! Today, I tried to recreate that meal.

Ingredients (serves 2 people):
600g of minced meat
2 tablespoons of herbs mix for barbecue
1 large onion
2 egg yolks
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper
Olive oil

Garnish:
Lettuce
Tomato
Pickles
Cheese
Hamburger's bun

Mix all the ingredients except the olive oil, until they are all incorporated. Make burgers using your hands, brush them with the olive oil, and grill. Use your favourite ingredients to garnish.

*Inspired by and dedicated to Kerstin Ek

Breaded Chicken pieces with Honey

On a Friday evening, after a long week of work, it feels good to sit down with a cold beer and some "pub" food. Instead of going out, we decided to do that at home by cooking some chicken delicacy and enjoy ourselves in a cosy atmosphere.

Ingredients:

500g of chicken breast
3 garlic cloves
2 eggs
Flower
Honey
Bread crumbs
A pinch of salt
5 medium potatoes
1L sunflower oil

Cut the chicken breast in small pieces and add the garlic finely chopped and the salt. Let it rest for 30 minutes. Afterwards, dip each chicken piece in honey, then flower, the beaten egg and finally the bread crumbs. In the end, deep fry the pieces and let them cool down for a couple of minutes. Serve with some extra honey on top. Garnish with salted fried potatoes.

Notes:

The oil must be hot before you introduce the chicken pieces or the potatoes. 

The chicken pieces will be fried in about 1 minute.