Mexican frittata

Frittata is an egg-based italian dish. It is very much versatile since the filling can be almost anything. This recipe presents the fusion of two very rich cuisines, as it mixes the simplicity of the Italian aroma with the rich spicy flavours of Mexico, turning into an explosion of taste in your mouth!

Ingredients:

4 eggs
2 tablespoons of milk
100g of minced meat
1/2 onion
1 cup of water
Spices mixture for tacos
4 cherry tomatoes
4 cucumber pickles
50g of ricotta cheese
20g of parmesan cheese
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper
Olive oil

The filling:

Chop the onion and fry it in a few drops of olive oil. Add the minced meat and let it cook for a few minutes. When it's almost done add the water and the mixture of spices that you would use for tacos (a combination of grounded peppers, chili powder, and garlic powder). Let it cook for about 10 minutes.

The frittata:

In a bowl add the eggs, milk, salt and pepper and stir. On the stove, heat up a non-sticky skillet and then transfer the meat onto it (feel free to use the same pan where you cooked the meat). Add the eggs mixture and stir just until it becomes homogeneous. Let it cook under medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the cherry tomatoes in halves, the pickles and the ricotta cheese. Sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese on top. Transfer the skillet into the pre-heated oven (200 ºC), and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Serve at room temperature.

Notes:
Adjust the spices mix to your taste (more or less hot).
Use fresh mozzarella instead of ricotta. It is equally delicious.
You can serve it warm, but if you let it cool down for at least a few minutes the flavours are enhanced.

Caesar's tagliatelle

In the evening, it is preferable to eat something lighter, unless a running competition waits for you the next morning. If so, something light but still containing carbohydrates is recommended, to start preparing your body for all the physical effort. This recipe combines pasta with light ingredients, and it is simple to cook, so you save your energy for the next day. It was tested by us and it worked well!

Ingredients:

Tagliatelle

Cherry tomatoes

Watercress

Tomato sauce

A pinch of salt

Start by cooking the tagliatelle al dente. Prepare the tomato sauce as described in this post, and add it to the pasta. Add the watercress and the cherry tomatoes in halves. The salt in the tomato sauce should be enough, but add more salt if needed. Serve immediately.

Notes:

No quantities were included in the ingredients since it depends on how much you want to eat, how early in the evening you will eat, and so.

Add some ricotta or parmesan cheese if you like.

Hasselbackpotatis

Even though the Swedish Chef is our inspiration, we are missing a trip to Sweden. Potatoes are a very common ingredient in Sweden and this recipe brings something different to the table, not only in taste but also in presentation. To give it a personal touch we have also created the "hasselbacklok", using onions.

Ingredients (serves 2 people):
10 small potatoes
6 baby onions
Laurel leaves
Rosemary
Fennel
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper
Butter
Olive oil

Wash and dry the potatoes, and peel off the onions. Make several vertical cuts, about 3/4 deep, in each potato (see picture). Use 2 chopsticks to help not to cut all the way through the potato. 

In the gaps insert the laurel, rosemary and fennel. Repeat the procedure for the onions, and transfer everything onto a baking plate. Brush with a mixture of butter and olive oil, and add salt and pepper to taste. Spread some more herbs on top. Cover with aluminium foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil, brush again with the butter /olive oil mixture and let it bake for another 10 minutes without covering them. They should get a golden color. Serve as garnishment with meat or fish.  

Notes:

In gas heating ovens (like ours) the potatoes will not become golden since the heat only comes from the bottom.

Use any other herbs mixture of your creation.

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.

Conchiglione with Spinach and Ricotta filling

Today I was feeling like pasta, but at the same time I wanted to cook something different. Conchiglione was the perfect solution. The big shell-shaped pasta provides a different look to the dish, and the hollow inside calls for your creativity to combine different ingredients.

Ingredients (serves 4):
24 conchiglione 
2 garlic cloves
200g ricotta cheese
200g mozzarella cheese
1 egg
10 leaves of fresh basil
1 large bunch of spinach
4 mature tomatoes
1 onion
Olive oil
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper


The filling:

Wash the spinach and transfer to a skillet with just the water clinging to the leaves. Cook over medium heat, tossing from now and then, until the leaves are evenly wilted. Afterwards, put the leaves in a sieve and place under cold running water until they cool down. Squeeze them dry and chop them finely. Tranfer to a bowl and add the garlic and the basil chopped in small pieces, the two kinds of cheese coarsely grated, the egg, and the salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything very well.

 

The sauce:

Chop the onion in brunoise and transfer to a sauce pan. Add some olive oil and cook over low heat. Add the tomatoes also chopped in small pieces and let the mixture cook slowly (for about 20 minutes). Afterwards, process the mixture until it becomes homogeneous.

The pasta:

Boil the conchiglione in salted water until they are not quite al dente (about 8 minutes). Afterwards, cool them down under running water and toss some olive oil on top so they don't stick together. When cooled and dry, fill each shell with a spoon of the filling.

On an oven plate, put some spoons of the tomato sauce previously prepared until it covers the bottom. Place the shells on top. Spoon the rest of the sauce, cover with aluminum foil, and put it in a pre-heated oven. Let it cook for about 30 minutes, at 220 ºC. Serve with some extra mozzarella on top.

Notes:

Add grated parmesan on top if you prefer.

Green eggs

Green eggs are a delicacy that I have only seen in my family reunions. Maybe it was a recipe invented by one of my ancestors (or maybe not...). The recipe uses very simple and common ingredients and still the result is something so different in flavour.

Ingredients:

14 eggs
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper
Coriander
White wine vinegar
Flower
Oil

Boil 12 eggs until they are well cooked. Cut them in halves, and carefully remove the yolks. Put the yolks in a bowl and mash them with a fork. Add seasoning (salt, pepper, coriander and vinegar) to your taste. Personally, I like them with a lot of vinegar. Mix all the ingredients until the mixture is homogeneous. Carefully, put the mixture back into the egg whites (see picture).

Afterwards, beat 2 eggs on a deep plate. On another plate put some flower. Pass the eggs with the enriched yolks on the beaten egg, and then on the flower. Afterwards, heat up some oil and deep fry the eggs. Let them cool down and serve as a starter or a snack.

Notes:

Coriander can be replaced by parsley.