Caprese Garlic Bread

After training hard we always get home starving and craving something tasty. This recipe is fast to make, really tasty and makes our bellies happy. Usually, I prepare everything and leave it in the oven while I shower and then it's ready to eat.  

Ingredients:
1 loaf of bread, sliced in half horizontally
3 tablespoons of butter, at room temperature
3 cloves garlic, minced
125g fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped


1. Preheat oven to 200 ºC. 

2. In a small bowl add butter and minced garlic. Mix until combined. Spread onto bread halves. Place sliced mozzarella cheese on top of the bread in a single layer. Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until cheese in melted and bubbly.

3. While bread is baking prepare the balsamic reduction. Place balsamic in small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 6 minutes or until mixture is reduced by half. Set aside and let cool.

4. Remove bread from oven and top bread with tomato slices, salt, pepper, and fresh basil. Drizzle with balsamic reduction. Cut into slices and serve.

Meatballs in Curry sauce

Meatballs are a common dish in Sweden and is usually served with brown sauce and boiled potatoes. However, meatballs can be served in many other ways. Meatballs in curry sauce is a recipe from Chef José Avillez, a portuguese chef that recently got a Michelin star. I tried his recipe, with some small changes, and it was delicious. Give it a try if you are curious.

Ingredients:

Meatballs
500g beef mince
250g pork mince
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, finely diced
1 egg
50g bread crumbs
milk, enough to soak the bread crumbs
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp green curry paste
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Soak the bread crumbs with the milk, for at least 5 minutes. Mix well all ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Fry a spoon of the mixture and taste it. Using your hands, wet with water, make small balls and set aside on a tray, brushed with some water. Heat a drizzle of olive oil on a frying pan and fry the meatballs, rotating frequently to cook them evenly. Remove and set on towel paper.

Curry sauce
500ml coconut milk
10g fresh ginger, finely diced
1 tbsp thyme
75g green apple, finely diced
150g onion, finely diced
5 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 tbsp green curry paste
1tsp curry powder
fresh coriander
Olive oil

Heat a drizzle of olive oil on a frying pan. Add onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add the remaining ingredients except the coconut milk. Cook for another couple of minutes. Add a 1/4 of the coconut milk, mix and blend using a hand blender. Add remaining milk and simmer for about 10 minutes. 

Serve the meatballs and the curry sauce with basmati rice.

Salted Cod Portuguese Pastéis

Salted codfish is one of the biggest Portuguese specialties. It all started long long time ago when refrigerators didn't exist and the fish had to be stored somehow. The solution found was to salt and sun dry the codfish. Nowadays, salted cod is one of the most used ingredients in Portuguese cuisine. According to tradition it can be cooked 1001 ways, such as steamed, baked, grilled, in salads, etc. One of the most famous recipes is "Pastéis de Bacalhau", something like a salted cod fish cake. The recipe contains all the ingredients that go so well with codfish and the taste brings me back to my country, no matter where I am physically...

 
Ingredients (makes about 24):
600g of salted cod, already soaked in water for at least 36h, changing water twice (weighed after soaking)
600g potatos
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup of olive oil + more for rubbing
3 big eggs (4 small)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
Oil

1. Boil the potatoes, in their jackets, in salted water.

2. In a different pan, boil the salted cod until cooked through. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down. Shred it in flakes, removing bones and skin.

3. In a frying pan heat up the olive oil. dd onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add the codfish and cook for a few more minutes, stirring so the flakes of the fish get slightly mashed. Set aside.

4. Mash the potatoes until you get a smooth puree. Add the codfish mix, parsley and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add one egg at the time and mix well in between each addition, so the mixture becomes consistent and homogeneous. Taste for seasoning and correct if needed.

5. Heat up about 3 fingers of oil. Rub olive oil on two table spoons. Get a spoonful of the mixture and pass it from one spoon to the other, until you obtain an oval shaped "pastel". When you are happy drop it inside the heated oil and fry on both sides. Remove from oil onto a plate covered in paper towel. Repeat until the mixture is over. You can fry more than one piece a the time.

6. Serve solo as a starter, or as a main dish garnished with tomato rice and lettuce salad.

Note: The two spoons technique might be tricky at first but it's easy once you get it. Here's a video that might help.
You can deep fry the pasteis as well (as shown in the video), but I prefer to reduce the amount of oil used.