Καραμελωμένα Μανιτάρια - Caramelised Mushrooms #vimagourmetfoodblogawards #vimagourmet #madewithAB

(For English scroll down or click here)

Το σημερινό post  θα είναι σύντομο αλλά ιδιαίτερα γλυκό. Αυτή η συνταγή είναι το καινούριο μου "κόλλημα" εδώ και δυο βδομάδες. Μανιτάρια καραμελωμένα με μέλι και μυρωδικά!  Γρήγορα, νόστιμα και εντελώς εθιστικά.

Γεμιστά με Κιμά, Μπέικον και Μυρωδικά - Stuffed Summer Vegetables with Beef, Bacon and Fresh Herbs

(For English scroll down)

Ψάχνω για δουλειά εδώ και 9 μήνες, από τη μέρα σχεδόν που επέστρεψα στην Ελλάδα, και φυσικά δεν βρίσκω τίποτα. Μέχρι πριν από 3 βδομάδες που βρήκα κάτι, πιο temp δεν γίνεται. Δεν το απέρριψα όμως. Ακόμα και αυτό ήταν καλύτερο από το τίποτα. 

Ξεκίνησα λοιπόν Δευτέρα πρωί να πάω στο γραφείο και όταν τελείωσα το απόγευμα και γύρισα σπίτι, κουρασμένη, με πονοκέφαλο αλλά τόσο χαρούμενη που μετά από τόσο καιρό βρέθηκα ξανά να κάνω κάτι συνειδητοποίησα ότι δεν είχα σκεφτεί το πιο σημαντικό πράγμα.

Τι να μαγειρέψω...

Calamari with Peppers and Couscous ~ Καλαμαράκια με Πιπεριές και Κους-Κους Μυρωδικών

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

Today's dish was something of a revelation for me. It's neither fancy nor gourmet yet it is so delicious and filling, not to mention colourful, that I think is going to be a permanent fixture on our weekday table.  

Celery Root Soup with Curried Apples ~ Σουπα Σελινοριζας με Μηλο και Καρυ

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

Celery root, is definitely not a charmer. It is bulky, sometimes hairy, with strange root tentacles coming out of its many nooks and crannies. Makes you wonder how on earth you're going to peel it and if is, actually, worth your effort.

Chickpea Spinach Stew - Ρεβιθάδα με Σπανάκι

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

My love for chickpeas is very well documented on this blog. Just take a look in my recipe list and you will find recipes featuring chickpeas in many forms and shapes, like the deliciously creamy Hummus or the spicy Chickpea Curry and off course my favourite Socca made from chickpea flour!

Piperade - Πιπεράδα

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

And then there were peppers.

Loads and loads of peppers.

Green peppers....

Red peppers....

Yellow peppers....

Blue peppers....

Helene's White Salad #FrenchFridayswithDorie

This week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe is Helene's All White Salad. It is named after the woman who created it, another of Dorie's friends from Paris, Helene Samuel. She was the owner of a very fashion conscious cafe in Paris where the food was perfectly colour coordinated with the décor.

I was so happy when I saw it on the menu for this week! I've been on a quest to fit into a pair of jeans I bought two years ago and are a size too small now so salads were on the menu throughout the week and are going to be for the next few to come! 

Variety is a diet's best friend if you ask me and this salad is definitely something I've never tried before. 

Apples, white cup mushrooms, cabbage and celery sticks! All raw and fresh. It is definitely a herbivore's dream meal.

 I changed it up a bit to make it almost fat free since the original vinaigrette called for 3/4 cup of olive oil ---way too much for my diet--- and I used fennel instead of celery because George jinxed the celery.

On Thursday night as I was writing down the shopping list for the ingredients I needed to make the salad, George looked over my shoulder and said:

"This is going to be one strange salad. Where are you going to find celery sticks? Is celery even available in Zagreb?"

Off course there is celery in Zagreb! Tons of celery in Zagreb! I said. Only the day before I saw all these huge, fresh, almost fluorescent green, celery stalks sitting languidly in Mercator.

He looked at me with an apologetic puppy look and went back to his laptop to continue his battle with Championship Manager.

And then the next day when I went to the supermarket and all that beautiful celery was gone! I looked everywhere! Under the swiss chard and the spinach and the lettuces. No celery stalks anywhere. Talking about heartbroken!

I did find a few gorgeous bulbs of fennel though! They were white and crunchy and so aromatic. Perfect for a raw, fresh salad like this one. I sliced it really thin and I think it added so much flavour.

I also tampered with the vinaigrette. I tampered quite a lot actually. The original recipe calls for a type of mayonnaise made from an egg yolk, Greek yoghurt and olive oil. Very tasty, I am sure, but I opted to skip it all together and make a skinny version of a mustard vinaigrette with a little bit of coconut milk.

I have to confess that the fennel substitution worked perfectly with this salad! In the end I am happy that George jinxed the celery!

To see how my fellow Doristas liked this recipe please click here!

~~~~~~~~~~

All White Salad with Fennel & Mushrooms

Adapted from "Around my French Table" by Dorie Greenspan

Serves 6

Ingredients for the Salad

1 large bulb of fennel

3 apples

Lemon juice

300gr (10 ounces) white cup mushrooms

1 small Napa cabbage

A few small cubes of Graviera cheese or any other hard cheese

Ingredients for the Vinaigrette

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons coconut milk

Water to taste

Instructions

Wash and trim the fennel. Finely slice it using a food processor or a mandolin. Set aside.

Peel, halve and cut the apples into small cubes. Sprinkle them with a little lemon juice to keep them from becoming brown. 

Clean the mushrooms with a brush or a wet paper towel and slice them very thinly. Sprinkle them with lemon juice and add them to the apples. 

Wash the cabbage and cut it in very thin slices (like coleslaw) and add it to the bowl with the apples and mushrooms. Sprinkle the fennel slices on top and mix everything well.

Make the vinaigrette by mixing all the ingredients in a small jar. Shake the jar well until they emulsify. Add salt and pepper and a few tablespoons of water to make it as thin as you wish. The vinaigrette can be used immediately or stored in the fridge (might need to come to room temperature before it is used again due to the hardening of the coconut milk). 

To serve pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables and add a few cubes of cheese, if you want!

~~~~~~~~~~

Zucchini & Feta Summer Gratin

In my book, summer cooking is all about the "F's". ... I can see some eyebrows already getting higher so let me explain... 

.... F as in Fresh,   Fragrant,   Fuss-free,   Flavourful food.....

....and.....

Feta cheese!!!!!

I adore feta cheese! It is in my genes, I am Greek after all, but even if I wasn't I am sure I would have found my way to a barrel of this heavenly dairy creation! Excuse the hyperbole but I seriously have a crush on this cheese. I know because I can never get tired of eating it!. 

What makes me even happier than a piece of fresh, firm piece of feta drizzled with olive oil, oregano and a ripe tomato  on the side, is a recipe which uses my favourite cheese is a way that works in harmony with the rest of the ingredients.

This lovely summer dish is made with seasonal ingredients. Zucchini is the undisputed king of summer  and an all-time favourite of mine, and together with fennel and dill they make the Holy Trinity of summer aromatic combinations. The feta is there to bind everything together. Its salty sharpness is  beautifully tamed by the sweetness of the vegetables leading to a perfect harmony of flavours.

I have to apologise for the bad photograph. I was supposed to leave it to cool down a bit before I take the picture but that was simply impossible. The smell was so tantalisingly appetising I just snapped a quick one and grabbed a spoon....  It was all gone in less than 10 minutes.

I will be making this recipe again and again and again and maybe one of these times I will remember to take a better one!

~~~~~~~~~

Zucchini & Feta Summer Gratin

Adapted from Argyro Barbarigou, Gastronomos June 2008

Serves 4

Ingredients
8 big zucchini, grated
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
400 gr feta cheese, crumbled
3 eggs
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
1 large fennel bulb, grated
Instructions
Place the grated zucchini in a colander and sprinkle it with about 1 teaspoon of salt. Mix it well and leave the zucchini in the colander for about 10 minutes. We do this so that the zucchini would be able to release most of its liquids.

In a large pot heat the olive oil and sauté the onions and fennel for 5 minutes, just until they start to glisten and become transparent. We don't want them to become brown!

Squeeze the zucchini with your hands to remove as much of the liquid as possible and then put in the pot with the onion and fennel. Cook for 5 more minutes and then remove from the heat. Leave it to cool down a bit for about 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

In a bowl, beat the eggs and add the crumbled feta cheese. Add a bit of pepper but be careful with the salt because there is already salt in the zucchini and the cheese is quite salty. Stir it very well and add it to the zucchini mix together with the chopped dill.

Oil an oven-proof deep dish and pour in the mixture. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, or until the surface becomes golden.

Remove from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before serving - if you can control yourselves that is!!!!

Enjoy!

Asparagus Soup & Avocado with Pistachio Oil #FrenchFridayswithDorie

Green is the colour for this week's French Friday with Dorie post, my first since January!

Avocados with Pistachio oil was this week's "assigned" recipe but it is hardly a recipe as Dorie says in her book. Nevertheless the advice passed on to her by Mme Leblanc, and now given, generously, to us, to eat a fresh avocado drizzled with pistachio oil, is priceless. Ripe avocado are virtually tasteless. Their stiff unripe bitterness is lost and in its place you get a smooth buttery texture with no particular taste except maybe for a hint of grassy greenness. That is why avocado has been the perfect substitute for dairy fat and it is now widely used by those who follow the Paleo Diet or are lactose intolerant. Its green neutrality is the perfect canvas upon which you can create an extraordinary flavour experience. I know because I have used it several times to make recipes like this and this one....

....and this is as much as I can say about today's "recipe" because I was not able to find pistachio oil to drizzle all over my not-so-ripe avocado!! I found almond oil, walnut oil even hazelnut oil in a new boutique grocery store that opened in Zagreb while I was away (it is called The Pantry Deli Zagreb and it has all sorts of fancy goodies from France, Spain and the UK and I just know that I will be spending a lot of ... money  hm, hm, time there) but it didn't feel right to go astray on this one. It is not a recipe where you can replace a scallion with an onion and expect no change in the overall taste. It is a suggestion, something you have to experience as given in order to be able to access it, no substitutions are allowed. So I gave up and moved on. I later found out that you can make pistachio oil at home and I will give it a try, believe me, not only because my palette is quite intrigued to experience this perfect combination but also because by that time the avocado I bought yesterday will be perfectly ripe - I swear to God it takes about 2 weeks to get these things ripe enough to be able to use them!!! You can check out what my dear friends and fellow Doristas had to say about their Pistachio Oil - Avocado pairing experience here.

Now on to a recipe which I have actually tried. The Green Asparagus Soup. Would it sound silly if I say that this was the best Spring comfort food ever? I mean do we even need comfort food in spring? Everything is blooming and coming back to life, the juices are flowing again and the bees are buzzing romantically and the sun is shinning.  Only it is not! Since I came back from Athens, I've seen the sun once or twice . Yesterday was a lovely day, bright and filled with the sweet aromas of freshly picked strawberries (-strawberry jam with a twist is coming your way pretty soon - ). But today, oh today I woke to the sound of rain lashing at our window blinds and a grey miserable morning.

Not surprisingly I was in a very fowl mood when I started cooking this soup and for a moment there, it was going to end up like this epic disaster, but you know what? It didn't! Thank you Dorie for the clear and brain-fog proof instructions: blanch, cool, mix in some leeks and onion, boil, blend, easy peasy!

The result was delicious and it comforted me all right...First it brought a stop to the protest an unrelenting heartburn was staging in my stomach for the past couple of days. And then it comforted my soul. It reminded me that asparagus are Spring after all. As I was ladling it into the bowls and got ready to photograph them, I felt it! This dish screams Spring; hell it smells like Spring and its almost fluorescent greenness made up for the lack of natural sun light for my photo shoot!!

French Fridays with Dorie (FFwD) is an online cooking group where we cook recipes from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook "Around my French Table". We do not publish the recipes on our blogs. You can buy your copy of the book from The Book Depository for free worldwide delivery. For more information about our group and on how to join us click here. 

Creamy Cauliflower Soup {FFwD}

Cauliflower Soup....
Creamy Cauliflower Soup...
Creamy Cauliflower Soup "sans" Cream....

How do you sell Cauliflower soup to a house full of people known for their epic aversion to the vegetable.

I said "You should try it, the recipe is French" and hoped that the francophiles among them will yield to the soup's refined flavours... "The French also eat snails and frogs" they replied...

"The recipe is from the same book last Friday's beef daube came from. Wasn't that the best braised meat you've had in a long time" I countered hoping that the power of association is strong enough to make them want to take the plunge into the soup! "That was beef stewed in wine for hours how does it relate to boiled cauliflower? DO you see any similarities because I don't" came the reply and in all fairness I get the point!

"It is creamy and velvety and it doesn't really taste like cauliflower at all" I found myself screaming from the kitchen as they walk away with a piece of bread and a slice of cheese on the plate...

"But I put bacon in it" I finally say exasperating.... "mmmm OK, I guess I'll give it a try! After all everything tastes better with bacon!!!"

OK, I might have exaggerated a bit here, but more or less this is how it went down in the kitchen today. Cauliflower is not glamorous and not the easiest dish to sell, especially when it it quite sunny outside and no one is suffering from a stuffy nose and is in need of a soothing pottage.

I for one, love cauliflower, in any version! Boiled and mashed up with a bit of lemon and herbs, roasted, oozing with cheese from the oven, even as a substitute for rice - the famous cauli-rice for those of you conversant in "Paleo talk". There was no way this pot of velvety, fragrant, white magic would go to waste. The challenge was to get the rest to try just a bit (I would never dare think of converting them to cauli-lovers) and in the end I managed just that. M-i-L had about half a bowl and declared it "quite good". Honestly I think there's going to be a long time until another head of cauliflower sees the insides of this kitchen! 

This is how I tweaked Dorie's recipe for the Creamy Cauliflower Soup sans Cream

 Serves 8

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan "Around my French Table"

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 large yellow onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

200 gr sticky bacon, cut into small cubes

The leaves of 2 thyme springs

1 cauliflower head, washed, and cut into florets

7 cups of chicken stock

Procedure

Heat the olive oil into a large stock pot. Add the onions, garlic, half of the bacon cubes, thyme, salt and pepper. Stir well and then lower the heat, cover the pot and cook for about 20 minutes stirring often. 

Add the cauliflower into the pot and pour in the chicken stock. Increase heat until the liquid is starting to boil then reduce heat, cover and let it simmer gently for about 20 minutes (the cauliflower has to be very tender).

In the meantime, heat a small pan and add the remaining bacon. Fry it for 10 - 15 minutes in low heat until it becomes crispy. 

When the soup is ready, purée it with an immersion blender until it becomes very smooth and velvety! Ladle into warm bowls and sprinkle them with bacon bits and thyme leaves. 

To see how other members of our group enjoyed this recipe visit the French Fridays with Dorie website. 

Zucchini "Noodles" with Meatballs and Basil-Walnut Pesto

Before I start telling you about today's recipe, I have to say that Georgie, my lovely husband, used to be a big time pasta lover and eater! He could have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! He even claimed that each different shape of pasta has its own particular taste!! To me that was just nonsense...pasta tastes like pasta it doesn't matter if it is long, thin, flat, round or looks like a mad professor's ill advised fashion choice. Then we discovered that his frequent lower abdomen troubles were caused by a gluten intolerance and that meant the end of his pasta love affair. I am sure he still fantasises about a huge bowl of steaming pasta with tomato sauce...I don't blame him, there is no harm in fantasising. Over the years I have experimented with many different alternatives to normal pasta. Rice noodles and spaghetti were pretty nice, better actually than some corn based gluten free pastas. They hold their shape better and have a good relationship with the sauce as long as you do not overcook them. 

Bear with me for a little while longer please....

Just before summer I came across a website called Balanced Bites. I was searching for a recipe to make meat or vegetable broth to freeze and use in my cooking instead of cubes. I found a great recipe and I also found a lot of other interesting information concerning some of mine a Georgie's health issues (chronic fatigue, acne, bloating and IBS). Diane Sanfilipo had a book coming out and on an impulse I pre-ordered it (I am a sucker for new cookbooks) and then forgot about it. It arrived about a week after we returned from our summer vacation happy and slightly heavier due to our summer indulgences. The book is called Practical Paleo. I had no idea what the paleo diet  was and I have to admit that even after reading the book (which is, by the way, very well written minus some spelling errors which I hope will be corrected by its second edition) I  still will be at a loss if someone asks me to explain what this diet/philosophy is about. The only thing I can say for sure  and from my own experience is that since I stopped eating grains and dairy and some nuts my skin problems almost disappeared and most importantly Georgie got his energy back! 

One book led to the next and that's how I got to find this very easy and flavourful recipe. Small, succulent balls of beef together with lively green, nutritious zucchini "noodles", sautéed together in a lemony Basil & Walnut pesto. Georgie's verdict....: "The best non-pasta pasta dish I've ever had. You have to teach me how to make this". My verdict...: amazing taste for an amazingly small amount of work, that is if you have a mandolin and know how to use it to make those noodles :)

~~~~~~~~~~

Zucchini "Noodles" with Meatballs & Basil-Walnut Pesto

Recipe from "The Food Lovers Make it Paleo" by Bill Staley & Hayley Mason

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 kg ground beef (or 500 gr ground beef and 500 gr ground pork)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 egg, whisked

4 medium zucchini

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

Basil & Walnut Pesto

Ingredients

2 cups basil leaves, washed and dried with a paper towel

1/2 cup walnuts

1/3 cup olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt & pepper

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. In a large bowl combine the meat with spices (salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder) and mix well with your hands. Add the egg and mix a little more until the egg is absorbed by the meat. Form small balls with you hands (about the size of a golf ball) and place them on a parchment-lined baking tin. Roast them for 20 - 25 minutes. 

In the meantime make the pesto by blending all the ingredients together for a few minutes. You may add more olive oil to suit your taste. 

Cut the zucchini into thin noodles using a mandolin. If you do not have one you can use a potato peeler and peel thin "tagliatelle" like pieces. One way or the other they still taste amazing!! Heat the olive oil in a large pan and sauté the zucchini for 2 - 4 minutes. If you leave it more it might turn mushy. 

Toss the zucchini noodles with the pesto and top them with the roasted meatballs. 

Enjoy!!!

Note: If you want the meatballs to become even more succulent you can add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the meat and leave it in the fridge overnight before you shape it into balls. 

French Fridays with Dorie: Hummus & more

First I made the hummus...

It didn't take much time! Chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, salt & pepper. Simplicity never tasted so good.

Then I made the sweet potato chips...and I burned the first butch. I doesn't matter how interesting Angela's post for her Pumpkin Seed Oil Bunt cake is, when the timer goes off you have to go and check the oven...

Then I baked a few more sweet potatoes. Here in Zagreb I can only find red-skinned, white-fleshed sweet potatoes, they are not very photogenic but they taste yummy. I baked some thinly sliced celery root to supplement the vegetable quota of the day :)

Then I made the chicken...Trevor reminded me last week that I have a bush of rosemary thriving on my windowsill which is in desperate need of trimming... so Balsamic Rosemary Chicken was born.

You would think that's enough. I made this week's FFwD chosen recipe, a zesty hummus. I have sweet potato chips to dip into the hummus and I even have chicken to make everything a full meal. But no. I want more...I want...grapes and apples and fennel. So I made it again. Last week's recipe, that is, only this time I swapped the bitterness with the drunken sweetness of fennel. I am going to say just one thing...grapes and fennel are a match made in taste heaven. 

I cannot give you the recipe for the wonderful hummus I made today. You have to buy Dorie Greenspan's book "Around My French Table". But I promise it is worth every cent...I mean who would have thought grapes and apples in butter....magic....

I can give you the recipe for the Baked Sweet Potato & Celery Root Chips and the Balsamic Rosemary Chicken so here you go....

Baked Sweet Potato & Celery Root Chips
For 4 - 6 people
Ingredients
1 kg sweet potatoes
1/2 celery root (about 300gr)
Olive oil or coconut oil (2 - 4 tablespoons each)
Turmeric
Thyme
Paprika
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Ground cumin
Sea salt & ground pepper
Procedure

Pre-heat oven to 150 C.

Slice the sweet potatoes very thinly using a mandolin.  If you don't have a mandolin you can use a very sharp knife but please be very careful.  I left the skin on but you can peel it if you want. 

Peel the celery root and slice it thinly with a knife or a mandolin. 

Put the sweet potatoes in a bowl.  Add half of the olive oil and whatever seasoning you like. I used paprika, garlic powder and thyme. Mix them very well with your hands.

In another bowl mix the celery root slices with about 2 tablespoons of coconut oil turmeric, cumin, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Lay the slices out on a oven pan covered with baking paper. It is better for the slices not to overlap with each other. This will mean that you have to bake them in batches. If you are pressed for time and don't care about how crispy the chips become you can put them all together but there is a big possibility that they will turn out a bit soggy. 

Bake the sweet potatoes for about 35 minutes, checking frequently, or until they are nice and crispy.  

Balsamic & Rosemary Chicken
Recipe from "The Food Lovers Make it Paleo" by Bill Staley & Hayley Mason
Serves 2

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced

4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 200 C.

Rinse the chicken breasts and pat them dry with a paper towel. Place them in baking dish.

Drizzle the olive oil over them and rub them to evenly distribute the oil. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Rub them with the garlic and rosemary and put them in the oven.

Roast for 20 - 30 minutes (depending on the oven) until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 75 C. 

Remove from the oven and pour the balsamic vinegar over the cooked chicken. Prepare yourselves for a bit of sizzling action!!

Enjoy!

French Fridays with Dorie: Eggplant "Tartine" and the Return of the Prodigal Dorista

It's been more than a month since my last post for FFwD. In normal life, this is not such a long period. In the blogosphere, though, is nothing less than an eternity. Just consider how many clicks and unique visitors I've missed during this past month of cyber inertia...

Who cares, though, really? Not me. I was on vacation and vacation for me means vacating my life and mind of all the things I do everyday. It doesn't matter if these are activities that I actually enjoy, like cooking, photography, maybe writing, I need to get away from them, forget them and rediscover them when I come back. I spent 20 days going to the beach, swimming morning and afternoon, reading Murakami's 1Q84 and sleeping, a lot... I know that this is a type of "luxury" not available to everyone, especially in these challenging times, but you have to agree that the guilt free sleep of vacation, when you don't have to get up to go to work or do any errands is priceless. 

What is also priceless about vacation is that it ends. Don't frown. Take it from me, someone who's been on a non intended, semi-permanent vacation (it's really called unemployment but this word is so unimaginative and crushing) for the best of 7 years now. Vacation is meant to be short and sweet, like a chocolate fondant. A precious something that you cannot have everyday so that you savour every tiny bit of it. Even the best chocolate in the world would seem tasteless and even make you puke if you ate it by the bucket-full every day. Now that my box of Valrhona truffles finished I feel a sweet longing for them. I crave the peacefulness of midday naps in the shade by the sea. I am content, though, and wait for next year's delivery. 

Today's recipe has nothing to do with chocolate, but it has everything that my family and I have been eating for the past month. Eggplants (that's aubergines in my part of the world), tomatoes, olives, cucumber, capers. It is my summer in a plate ! I loved every bit of it. 

To see how other bloggers made the "Eggplant Tartine", check out French Fridays with Dorie where we make recipes from Dorie Greenspan's "Around my French Table".

Recipe: Ratatouille with Ground Beef

This is not your typical Ratatouille. Ιt is not vegetarian! It has ground beef in it and I did not go crazy on the oil. 

The vegetarian/original version was and still is my mother's favourite summer dish! It's easy to make and we always had all the ingredients ready at hand thanks to my father's spring/summer hobby of growing his own vegetables. Peppers, aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes overflowing from our vintage Miele refrigerator, sometimes to the point we had to give them away to friends because we could not possibly eat them all! 

I made this dish a couple of weeks ago, when the temperature was dangerously close to the lower 10s Celsius and even though the calender said June it felt more like October. My attempt to lure summer into Zagreb.

Ratatouille with Ground Beef

Serves 4, ready in 30 minutes

Adapted from here

Ingredients

• 4 aubergines 
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup white dry wine
• 1 garlic clove
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped
• 500 gr ground beef
• Salt & pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Procedure

1. Sauté the beef and the whole garlic clove in one tablespoon of olive oil on high heat for 5 - 6 minutes. Pour in the wine and let boil for 5 more minutes. 
2. 
   
3. In the meantime, preheat oven to 180C. Wash the aubergines and partially peel them. Slice them thinly (I used a mandolin), arrange them on parchment paper in a baking tin and lightly brush them or spray them with olive oil. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes depending on the oven. 
4. 
   
5. In another pan sauté the onion and peppers with 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 5 minutes and add the tomatoes. Finally, add the roasted aubergines and ground beef, season to taste and gently simmer for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve.

While I was taking the pictures for this post I had an unexpected guest visiting my "state of the art" studio that doubles as a sofa...

Mediterranean Risotto / Ριζότο με Λαχανικά

It's been so hot the past couple of days! And it happened quite suddenly. Only last week it was raining and the wind blew cold from the North. Today the thermometer hit the low 30's (that's 90F for my American friends) and I'm starting to think that summer has arrived, premature, yet here.

I spent the last weekend of April in Istria, drinking wonderful wine and eating my way though humongous quantities of fresh bread, prosciutto, wild asparagus and pasta! I came back fully sated and a couple kilos heavier. But who cares!!

The view of the sea brought back memories of summers past and I had to seriously restrain myself from dipping into the water, the Adriatic is still quite cold for my Aegean constitution!

Coming back to Zagreb I need something to remind me of the sea! That is, something different from the mini heatwave we've been experiencing! So I venture into the farmer's market to buy my favourite summer vegetables, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and courgettes!

Fresh thyme and feta cheese just completed my homage to the Mediterranean, serving as a prelude to what is going to follow over the next few months!

Mediterranean Risotto

Adapted from The Food Doctor Ultimate Diet by Ian Marber

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 onion finely sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus a little to drizzle over the courgettes
• 100 gr (3 1/2oz) brown risotto rice
• 200 ml (7 oz) vegetable stock
• 2 springs fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
• 2 medium courgettes cut into medium thin slices (I used a mandolin)
• 250 gr (8oz) red peppers coarsely chopped
• A squeeze of lemon juice
• 50 gr feta cheese (or more :)

Instructions

1. In a big saucepan soften the onion in the olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir for a few seconds. Add the stock and the thyme, stir well and leave to simmer for about 25 minutes, or until the rice is just cooked and the stock is absorbed. 
2. Put the courgettes and the peppers in a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and to so that are all covered with oil. Put under a medium - hot grill and brown turning them regularly. 
3. When the rice is cooked, mix with the vegetables and add a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve topped with crumbled feta cheese.

You can pair this dish with a light fruity rose like Roxanich Rose 2009 or an aromatic Malvazia from Poletti

~~~~~~~~~~

Ριζότο με Λαχανικά

Εμπνευσμένο από το βιβλίο The Food Doctor Ultimate Diet του Ian Marber

Για 2 άτομα

Υλικά

• 1 κρεμμύδι κομμένο σε λεπτές φέτες
• 1 κουταλιά της σούπας ελαιόλαδο, και λίγο ακόμα για να ραντίσουμε τα κολοκύθια
• 100 γρ καφέ ρύζι για ριζότο
• 200 ml ζωμός λαχανικών
• 2 κλωναράκια φρέσκο θυμάρι or 1 κουταλάκι του γλυκού ξερό
• 2 μέτρια κολοκυθάκια κομμένα σε λεπτές φέτες
• 250 γρ κόκκινη πιπεριά ψιλοκομμένη 
• 1 κουταλιά της σούπας χυμό λεμονιού
• 50 γρ φέτα

Instructions

1. Σοτάρουμε το κρεμμύδι στο ελαιόλαδο για 5 λεπτά. Προσθέτουμε το ρύζι και ανακατεύουμε για λίγο. Προσθέτουμε τον ζωμό και το θυμάρι. Ανακατεύουμε καλά και βράζουμε σε σιγανή φωτιά για 25 λεπτά ή μέχρι να γίνει το ρύζι και να απορροφηθεί ο ζωμός.  
2. Βάζουμε τα κολοκυθάκια και τις πιπεριές σε ένα ταψάκι και τα περιχύνουμε με λίγο λάδι. Τα βάζουμε κάτω από ζεστό γκριλ και τα αφήνουμε μέχρι να ψηθούν γυρνώντας τα συχνά.  
3. Όταν το ρύζι βράσει, το ανακατεύουμε με τα λαχανικά, ρίχνουμε το χυμό λεμονιού και τη φέτα.