Thursday, November 21, 2013

Cupcakes with chocolate

Last weekend I did again some baking, oh the weekends are fantastic for those things ;-) On Sunday I made two batches of kruidnoten, you can read how to make them in my previous post. But on Saturday I made cupcakes with chocolate for all tastes, just mixing things here and there, with ingredients I had at home, they were absolutely delicious!

To make 12 cupcakes you need:
  • 200 gr. flour
  • 220 gr. caster sugar
  • 7 gr. baking powder
  • A pinch of salt
  • 1 egg
  • 180 ml. milk
  • 60 ml. sunflower oil
  • 1 table spoon vanilla extract
  • About 70 gr. pure chocolate (chopped)
Sieve the flour in a bowl and mix with all the dry ingredients, except the chocolate.In another bowl mix the egg, milk, oil and vanilla. Then put all ingredients into one and mix again, only this time with a mixer, the last 10 seconds use the mixer at maximum speed. At last scoop the chopped chocolate and divide the dough into the cupcakes cases. Bake in a 180 degrees preheated oven for about 25 minutes, until gold.
For the topping I had as ingredients
  • 150 gr. butter at room temperature
  • 140 gr. icing sugar
  • 10 gr. cacao powder
  • Some chopped white chocolate
Put the butter, icing sugar and cacao in a bowl and mix, with the mixer, until soft and creamy. Then pipe the butter cream on top of the cupcakes, sprinkle with the white chocolate.

Enjoy with a capuccino or a hot chocolate, kids will love it!



Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Pepernoten or Kruidnoten

Saint Nicolas is approaching and in The Netherlands is big party specially for kids. Of course with those celebrations belong also special sweets, in this case what they call "pepernoten" or "kuidnoten". I always say pepernoten but a Dutch friend point out that actually they are "kuidnoten". In any case they are nice, easy and fun to make, specially if you do that together with children. So last Saturday I made together with my daughter, for the first time in my life, "pepernoten" and they taste fantastic. It was fun as well, so that coming weekend we are planning to do another batch!

Ingredients you need for about 500 gr. "pepernoten":
  • 250 gr. self-rising flour
  • 100 gr. butter
  • 125 gr. bruin sugar
  • 50 ml. milk
  • 1 and half tablespoon speculaas spices 
  • A pinch of salt
Using a mixer, that will make easier, mix the butter until creamy and soft. Then add all the other ingredients to the butter and scoop all together until is well mix, it is actually better if you do this by hand.

Once the dough is ready make small balls, really small (mine were a bit too big actually), don't be afraid of small size, they will rise. Then put them in baking tray that is prepare with baking paper, after that using your finger push a bit the balls, that way they will look like a button.

Bake for about 15 minutes in a 170 degrees preheated oven. Allow to cold down, about another 15 minutes, that way they will get a hard an nice. You can keep them for about a week in an air tight box.

Enjoy!!


Monday, November 4, 2013

Panellets


It has been quite a long time since I wrote something in my blog. What is the excuse this time? Well shortage of time, long working days, weekends busy, holidays, … a lot going on. Also a lack of original recipes and ideas.

Finally this weekend I came up with a good idea, Panellets. This is typical Catalan sweet that you normally eat on November 1st, the day of “All Saints”. It is not very well known outside Catalonia and this is really a pity because they are actually very good, easy and tasty.

My recipe to make 30 Panellets, ingredients for the base dough: 
  • 250 gr. Very fine ground almonds
  • 200 gr. Caster sugar
  • 150 gr. Potatoes’ or Sweet potato
  • Zest of ½ lemon

Clean the potatoes and boil them with skin until they are soft, drain well and peal them, then make puree and allow to cool down completely. After that add the sugar, almond and lemon zest, using a fork mix well but not too long otherwise it will too soft and will not cook well. Before you start making the Panellets you will need to stove your hands with flour.

With this base you can make different kind of Panellets, I made 3, 10 each, with pine nuts, with almonds and last one with coconut.

The ones with pine nuts, you need about 70 gr. pine nuts and 1 egg, split yolk and white egg. Take pieces of the dough and make small balls, soak them into the white egg and then sprinkle all around with the pine nuts. Put in a greased baking tray and paint the top part with the yolk.

Then we have the one with almonds, you need about 80 gr chopped almonds and 1 egg, split yolk and white egg. You prepare exactly the same as the ones with pine nuts.

With the rest of the dought you make the ones with Coco, here you need 60 gr. of grated coconut and white egg. Take about 2/3 of the coconut and mix with the dough using a fork. Once is well mixed, make balls and give them a pyramid form, sprinkle the top part with the rest of the coconut and a bit of flour at the bottom. Paint the top part of the pyramids with the white egg.

Once all Panellets are in the baking tray, bake in a 225 degrees preheated oven for about 9 minutes, until nice and golden.

They are delicious with a glass of muscatel (sweet wine). Enjoy!




If you actually made them, let me know, I am very curious about your results!!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Blackberry muffins and jam

In September is the perfect season for wild blackberries, so my husband and my daughter decided to go to pick up some, I gave them a couple of small plastic boxes. Well the came back with almost 2 kilo blackberries ... so dilemma, what do I do with so many? Solution cakes and jam.

First I prepared 12 muffins filled in with blackberries and decorated with a blackberry topping. With the rest I made 5 pots of jam, thats a good use of the fruit.

Ingredients for 12 normal size muffins or cupcakes, how you prefer to call them:

  • 200 gr. flour
  • 230 gr. caster sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • A pinch of salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 180 ml. sunflower oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 130 ml. fruit juice (I had multi fruit at home)
  • 130 gr. blackberries in small pieces
In 1 bowl mix the flour and baking powder (sieve), add then the sugar and the salt and with a fork mix slowly. In a second bowl mix the eggs, fruit juice, oil and vanilla, the best is to use a mixing machine. Then add to this second bowl the mixed flour, using the mixer, mix until a nice smooth dough. When ready add the blackberries. Divided in the 12 muffins cases and bake in a 180 degrees preheated oven in about 25 minutes.

You can eat them like that or you could also make some topping, that's what I did. For this just mix again in a mixer, about 100 gr. cream cheese, 100 gr. icing sugar, 100 gr. butter. When you get a nice smooth cream, you can add some blackberry puree to give a bit of extra color.


With the rest I made jam, if you buy jelly sugar, just follow the instructions for the proportions, there is nothing better like self made jam.



Saturday, August 31, 2013

Italian meatballs

I am not sure how I can actually call this recipe, I took the idea from Nigella, but I put my own twist with some extra vegetables. In my garden is now everything growing, in the beginning of the week I could pick a small courgette, small red pepper and a nice aubergine. So I thought, I should do something where I can put all the ingredients in once and then I found this idea. I made enough for 6 people, actually in that case we can eat 2 times, safe time for other days.

So what do you need for 6 people:

  • 500 gr chipolata sausages
  • 3 or 4 garlic cloves
  • 5 spring onions
  • 1 small aubergine
  • 1 small red pepper
  • 1 small courgette
  • 3 pot chopped tomatoes
  • 4 laurier leafs
  • 70 ml white wine
  • Dried oregano
  • Fresh parsley
To start you need to take out the skin of the sausages and with the meat make small balls of the size of a  cherry tomato, more or less. 

Then cut all the vegetables, the spring onions in small rings the rest in small dices. In a big pan and in olive oil bake the red pepper, aubergine and courgette for about 10 minutes. Take them out of the pan, put a side in a plate. Now bake the meatballs until they are golden, the last minute add the garlic. After that add the spring onions and the oregano, about 1 table spoon. Stir well and then add the wine and the tomatoes with half glass water. When starts cooking add the already baked vegetables, some pepper and maybe more oregano if you like. Let it cook slowly for about 30 minutes, until the sauce is a bit thicker.

Serve with rice or pasta or couscous, whatever you prefer, finalize with chopped parsley. Perfect with some bread and a fresh salad, and of course a good red wine.



Friday, August 30, 2013

Penne with pancetta and tomatoes

When you have a busy day, but still you want to eat good and is of course nice and sunny outside, there is nothing better than a salad or like this a simple pasta. For this pasta I use my own tomatoes, they are now getting beautiful red in my garden, so I have a lot of them and this is the best way to eat them, after a salad of course.

What you need for 3 people, my daughter eats now almost like a grown up ...

  • 1 chili pepper
  • 100 gr. good quality pancetta (very thin)
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 600 gr tomatoes
  • 275 gr penne
  • Parmesan cheese 

Cut the chili pepper in small rings, if don't like very spice then make sure you clean the seeds. Chop the tomatoes in dices.

In a pan heat some olive oil, then bake the pancetta with the chili and the onions, until all is nice golden. Add the tomatoes, some pepper, salt and one table spoon sugar, let it cook slowly for about 30 minutes, stir every now and then.

Cook the pasta following the instructions on the package. Serve with the sauce, grated parmesan and a bit of dried or fresh basil. Perfect for the summer days!


Monday, August 19, 2013

Plum Cake

Summer holiday has passed, this year we went to the beautiful Ireland. We drove around starting from south-east to south-west, going a bit up until Doolin ending in Dublin. It was the first time for us, we have been many times in England and Scotland, but never before in Ireland. We had good food, people are very friendly, the coast line is amazingly beautiful, sometimes even breath taken. But all good comes to an end and until the next we are back in Haarlem.

Anyway in those 2 weeks I hardly make special cooking and of course I didn't bake. I bought a book "Paul Hollywood's bread" with a lot of good bread recipes, now I just have to find the time again bake bread, maybe this weekend.

When I did the grocery shopping on Friday I saw that plums are now in season, they look great and they taste at their best, so I decided to buy some extra and make a plum cake.

The ingredients you need for a big cake, I think my baking tray is 35x24x5:
  • About 12 plums cut in half
  • 375 gr. caster sugar
  • 300 gr. butter
  • 3 eggs
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 250 ml buttermilk
  • 1 a 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 425 gr. self-raising flour
To start grease the baking tray and cover the bottom with baking paper. Using a mixer, that is the easiest way, mix the sugar and the butter until very light and creamy. After that add the eggs, one at the time, keep mixing, then stir the vanilla extract and the lemon zest. Using a wooden spoon stir slowly and carefully the buttermilk and the flour.

Once is all well mix, don't do this to long, scoop the batter into the baking tray, make the top smooth. Then divide the plums with the cut side up. As you can see from my picture, I push my plums a bit down, that made that when the cake was baking the plums were covered. So my advice is, if you want to have a cake where you see the plums, just put the fruit on top and don't press them.

Bake in a 160 degrees oven for about 55 minutes, until golden brown. Serve with some icing sugar, it is absolutely delicious.




Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Chocolate-Orange Cake


It has been a while since I wrote in my blog. I have been very busy, still I am, but I thought it was about time to give an update on how things are going and also add a new recipe!

Well the summer has fully arrived to The Netherlands, we had no spring unfortunately. Oh well I shouldn’t complain now is nice and that is what it counts. The last few weeks we had already barbecue a couple of times, we are having dinner in our garden almost every day and we are enjoying summer food as well.

Last weekend we went to visit our friends that live about 140 km from our house. I made a nice chocolate-orange cake to bring with us and that was absolutely a good idea, you should try this at home!

The ingredients you need for a cake from about 20 cm diameter:
  • 175 gr. caster sugar
  • 175 gr. butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 175 gr. self risen flour
  • 2 tablespoons cacao powder
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 3 tablespoons orange juice
  • Zest of half orange

First of all using a mixer, mix the sugar and butter until very light and smooth, then add with the machine still working one beaten egg at the time, wait until is well mix before you add the next egg, after that sieve the flour in the bowl and scoop slowly until is well combine.

Divide the dough in two, one of the parts mix with the cacao and the milk, the other part mix with the orange juice and the orange zest.

Put first the chocolate dough into the grease baking tin, then the orange dough, using a knife stir a bit to give a mix color to the cake. Bake for about 25 minutes in a 190 degrees preheated oven. When ready leave it for about 5 minutes in the tin before you take out and then put in roaster to cool down completely.

Of course this cake needs a glace, very easy to prepare. You just need 175 gr. glazing sugar and about 2 tablespoons of orange juice. Sieve first the sugar, then add orange juice while mixing, don’t make it too wet otherwise it will be to runny. Spread the glace on the top of the cake, wait until is hard and then you can decorate with some melted chocolate, like on the picture below.

 

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Vegetarian Linguini Bolognese

I have a subscription to a cooking magazine since very long time, but the last few months I have been thinking to stop because the recipes begin to look like other ones and also they are not so good or interesting anymore. Well finally last tuesday I got the one for June and there are a few recipes that look good! So yesterday I made this vegetarian pasta, absolutely fantastic.

The ingredients you need for 2 adults and 1 child are:

  • 250 gr. linguini or spaghetti
  • 12 gr. dried porcini
  • 1 carrot in small pieces
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 1 red paprika in dices
  • 125 gr. chestnuts mushrooms
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 1 tablespoon thyme
  • 1.5 tablespoon oregano
  • 2 tablespoons tomato pesto
  • 200 ml vegetable stock (bouillon)
  • 120 ml red wine
  • 120 gr. mascarpone
Put the porcini in bowl with 125 ml boiling water for about 10 minutes. When ready, chop the porcini and keep the water for later.

In a mixer chop fine the carrot, onion, paprika, celery, mushrooms and garlic. Take a big pan heat some olive oil and bake the vegetables for about 5 minutes, add the spices, porcini, pesto and bake for another 2 minutes. As last add the stock, wine and water from the porcini, let cook slowly for about 5 minutes, the stir through the mascarpone and season with salt and pepper.

Prepare the linguini following the instructions of the package, when ready pour them keeping a cup of the boiling water. Scoop the linguini into the sauce, mix well and if it is to dry add some of the water you kept. Serve with some fresh oregano leafs and grated parmesan. It taste very good with a fresh salad and a ciabatta bread.


Monday, May 20, 2013

Enchiladas

We like a lot of different kind of world kitchen's and one of them is the Mexican, it is so rich and colorful, tastes fresh and also spicy, perfect for your senses. Well on sunday I found in one of my books a nice recipe for enchiladas and that's what I made, very colorful enchiladas.

Ingredients for 6 small enchiladas, perfect for 3 people:

  • 6 organic medium/small tortilla's
  • 1 green pepper, in small rings
  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • 4 to 5 spring onions in small rings
  • 750 gr. good quality tomatoes
  • 150 gr. grated cheese
  • 2 mozzarella balls
  • Fresh coriander 
  • 250 gr. creme fraiche
  • 1 lime
To start you need to take out the skin of the tomatoes and the seeds, then cut them in dices. Mix in a bowl the tomatoes, with the spring onions, red onion and chopped coriander, season with salt and pepper and some of the lime juice. 

Then we will fill in the enchiladas, first a bit of the creme fraiche, some of he tomato mix, some of the mozzarella and the grated cheese. Roll the enchilada and put into a with oil greased baking dish. Do the same with the rest of the tortillas. Make sure that you have enough ingredients and that still you have a portion left over. Those left over's sprinkle on the top and bake into a 175 preheated oven for about 25 minutes.

Serve with guacamole and some tortilla chips. Enjoy!





Sunday, May 19, 2013

Pasta with chorizo and fresh salad

It has been a while since I have updated my blog, first I was quite ill for a few days, also working late, then a short holiday in between and a lot of catch up with other things at home so no time for typing, a pity because we had some good cooking in between of course, well it will come again ...

Finally all starts to fall in place and I have time again for this and the best way to start is pasta, a favorite for almost everybody ;-) On saturday I made this pasta from the book Jamie in 15 minutes, but even that I am good organize cook, it took me about 45 minutes, hahaha, anyhow I did enjoy making it and changing the ingredients to my own taste, so no exactly as the book.

Ingredients for 2 adults and 1 child:

  • 250 gr. penne or any other pasta like fusilli
  • 80 gr chorizo in small slices
  • Fresh rosemary, chopped leafs
  • 1 spanish pepper, clean seeds and in small rings
  • 1 egg
  • 4 to 5 garlic cloves
  • Lemon juice of half a lemon
  • Some yogurt, depends how creamy you prefer you could also use double cream
  • Some grated parmesan 
Cook the pasta following the instructions of the package, when pasta is ready you will need to keep a cup of the boiling water.

In a pan with olive oil bake shortly the chorizo, rosemary, chili pepper and garlic, until golden. In a bowl mix well the egg, lemon juice, parmesan and yogurt. Pour the pasta and put back into the pan, add the chorizo mix and the egg mix and scoop all very well, if you see that is to dry you can add some of the boiling water that you kept until is  a bit creamy. 



Serve with a salad, I made one using spinach's that I am growing in my own garden (but this is another story). Anyway the ingredients you need are:
  • Some roasted pine nuts
  • Fresh spinach's
  • Fresh rocket
  • 2 mandarins cut in fine slices
  • Some fresh mint
  • Parmesan
  • Red wine vinegar
  • Extra verge olive oil
  • Honey
Just but in a bowl all the ingredients, spinach's, rocket, mandarins, pine nuts, parmesan and the mint leafs. For the dressing mix the vinegar, olive oil, honey with some salt and pepper, mix all well and add to the salad. Absolutely delicious! This meal should have a white wine, very fresh!



Monday, April 29, 2013

Minestrone

Some time ago I already post a recipe for minestrone, well this one is a different one, you still use a lot of vegetables but it looks and taste different that the one I published in October last year follow this link.

For this version of minestrone I made quite a lot, so I could freeze some for another time, that's the good thing of a big pan. The ingredients you need for this one are:

  • Pancetta in strips
  • Fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 2 carrots, in small pieces
  • A bit of celery in small pieces
  • 1 chopped red onion
  • 1/2 broccoli in florets
  • 1/2 cauliflower in florets
  • 1 can of beans
  • 1 hand of frozen green peas
  • 2 cubes chicken stoke
  • 75 gr. rice
  • 75 gr. macaroni
  • 2 chicken breasts
Bake in a big pan the pancetta with some olive oil and the chopped rosemary until crust, when ready put in a bowl and keep warm. Keep the pan in the fire add the carrots, celery and onion and season with salt and pepper, crumble the cubes chicken stoke (bouillon), mix well, add the rice, pasta and cauliflower in the pan, pour about 1.5 liter boiling water and put the lid on. After a few minutes add the chicken and let it cook for about 10 minutes. In that you can prepare the Salsa Verde, this are the ingredients:
  • Some dragon
  • Some parsley
  • Some mint
  • 1 tablespoon capers
  • 1 teaspoon mustard
  • 1 garlic clove squeezed
  • Extra verge olive oil (3 to 4 tablespoons)
  • Red vinegar
Put in the blender all the ingredients except the vinegar, mix well. Scoop in a bowl and add 1 soup spoon of the stoke, the vinegar and a bit more olive oil, if the sauce is too dry you can add a bit more bouillon. 

Once the chicken is ready, take out of the pan. Then add in the pan all the beans and the broccoli, let it cook for about 10 minutes again.  Meanwhile cut the chicken in strips and lay in the salsa verde, sprinkle with the pancetta.

Serve all together with some grated parmesan, bread and a good glass of white wine. Enjoy this fantastic meal!







Sunday, April 28, 2013

Irish soda bread and Italian roasting pan

This might look like a strange combination but it isn't, actually it was fantastic to eat together, all easy to make and delicious to taste.

The first I made it was of course the bread, this recipe it was following the one from Paul Hollywood's Bread, program from the BBC. As this is not my recipe, you can see how to make this extremely easy bread at the BBC LINK . Mine doesn't look so dark because I couldn't find organic wholemeal, it was a combine version, so it's a bit lighter but still very good.



Then I made the Italian Roasting Pan with my own twist. The ingredients you need for 2 adults and 1 child are:

  • 4 to 5 potatoes (or what you think you can eat) with skin and diced about 2 cm big.
  • 4 chicken thighs with skin and bone
  • 5 to 6 italian sausages
  • Fresh rosemary
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Salt, pepper and olive oil
This is really simple, what I did it was bake in a pan with olive oil for about 15 minutes the potatoes until the start to get golden. In a roasting pan put the potatoes, the chicken and the sausages. Then add some chopped rosemary and also a few small branches. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with olive oil. Bake in a 220 degrees preheated oven for about 1 hour, maybe less, just keep an eye. Serve with the soda bread and good red wine.


Friday, April 26, 2013

Pasta with tomatoes, basil and brie

On Wednesdays my husband is off, normally he cooks something special this day, so when I get home from work I have a nice meal on the table ;-) Last wednesday it was one of the best meals he has prepared for us for a while, so I thought I have to put it in my blog.

The ingredients you need for this pasta are (2 adults and 1 child):

  • Extra verge olive oil
  • 6 vine tomatoes, without seeds and diced
  • 3 to 4 garlic cloves in slices
  • 275 gr. any lint pasta (parpadelle, tagliatelli) better if you use fresh pasta
  • 175 gr. brie in slices
  • Fresh basil
In a pan bake in olive oil the garlic for about 3 minutes, then add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and take out of the fire. 

Cook the pasta following the package's instructions, pour the pasta when ready and add to sauce, mix well, serve with the brie and the basil seasoning a bit more with pepper and salt if necessary. Serve with a ciabatta bread and/or a caprese salad (see my recipe in another post CAPRESE ). It is absolutely fantastic, taste good and is easy, definitely something to eat in a busy day.


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Frittata with left over's (2)

Every now and then we all have to clean our refrigerator, we have to many left over’s like a bit of vegetables or meat or … that is not enough to prepare a meal but if you combine you can make something fantastic, like a frittata. So yesterday I decided to do so, “clean up” my vegetables and make one.
My ingredients yesterday for 1 frittata (enough for 2 adults and 1 child):
·         1 leak
·         Some champignons
·         Few spring onions
·         1 sweet red pepper
·         3 to 4 garlic cloves
·         Few cherry tomatoes cut in half
·         6 eggs
·         75 gr. grated parmesan
·         Quite a lot fresh basil, chopped
·         Fresh rosemary, also chopped
·         1 table spoon dried sage, of course you could use fresh if you have.

You could start with the eggs, in a bowl beat the eggs, then add the parmesan and the herbs, mixing all very well, add a bit of pepper.
In a pan that also in the oven can go, bake in olive oil the leak, add the sweet red pepper, champignons and garlic, bake then a few minutes. Add the spring onions and bake another 2 minutes. Pour the eggs mix into the pan, scoop all well, bake about 3 minutes and then put the half tomatoes in the frittata, like in the picture below. After that in a 150 degrees preheated oven, bake about 20 minutes, until the egg is ready. Serve with a nice salad and of course ciabatta bread.
You can make your own combinations, to give more taste you could have some salami or Serrano ham, also pancetta or bacon is perfect, spinaches, green peas, anything can go. About herbs, you can use thyme as well or dragon. That is what is so great about frittata you can give your own touch and every time will taste different but still so good! Enjoy cleaning up your refrigerator ;-)


Monday, April 22, 2013

Spaghetti Carbonara

On Sunday was in Haarlem  what is called the Bloemencorso, it is a very beautiful parade made all with flowers. We were lucky this year because it was very good weather as well, so we could enjoy a bit the spring. Then for dinner a nice spring pasta is the best and Spaghetti Carbonara are for us one of the bests.
The ingredients you need for 2 adults and 1 child are:
·         250 gr. spaghetti
·         150 gr. bacon in dices
·         125 gr. double cream
·         2 eggs
·         3 to 4 garlic cloves
·         75 gr. grated parmesan or grana padana
·         Fresh parsley

Cook the spaghetti following the instructions on the package. When they are ready keep some of the water, you might need that later.
In a bowl mix well the eggs with the double cream with some salt and pepper. Bake the bacon in a dry pan, add the garlic and bake for another minute of so, then let drip in a paper towel the bacon. Mix the spaghetti with eggs mix and let it get a bit warm, then add the bacon mix, parmesan and the parsley, scoop all together, if you feel that is a bit dry you could add some of the boiling water you saved. Serve with a green salad and some bread, fantastic with a glass of rose wine.


Sunday, April 21, 2013

Pancetta with vegetables and saffron rice

On Friday I felt like making something easy and still healthy. So I decided to use my wok to prepare some fantastic vegetables with pancetta combining with self made saffron rice.
The ingredients you need for 2 adults and 1 child are:
·         100 gr. Pancetta
·         1 red onion
·         1 sweet red paprika
·         Some champignons
·         3 to 4 garlic cloves
·         3 to 4 spring onions
·         Dried Italian herbs
·         250 gr. Good quality rice
·         Saffron
To start boil water with some salt and the saffron, then cook the rice until ready.
In a wok pan bake the pancetta in olive oil, add the red onion, after a couple of minutes add the paprika, garlic and champignons, mix well, bake for about 5 minutes, then add the spring onions and a table spoon of the italian herbs.
Serve all together with a nice ciabatta with pesto and a green salad. Easy, delicious and healthy!


Friday, April 12, 2013

Chocolate chip muffins and other cupcakes

Last saturday we had the kids party for my daughter's birthday, actually it was a sleepover party. So 6 girls between 9 and 10 years old sleeping all in the same room! Well I have to say it was not that bad.
I didn't want to make a cake again and just to make it a bit a party I made some cupcakes for decoration and also chocolate chip muffins, just to have some kind of cake.

The ingredients you need for 12 chocolate chip muffins are:

  • 100 gr. soft butter
  • 225 gr. muscovado sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 150 ml full fat yogurt
  • 5 tablespoons milk
  • 275 gr. flour
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 175 gr. dark chocolate in small pieces

Mix the butter and the sugar until is very light and creamy, you can use a mixer that will make it easier. Then add the yogurt, milk and eggs, beat slowly. Sieve the flour and soda and scoop into the mix until everything is good mingled. Then scoop the chocolate pieces. Divide the dough into the muffin cases. Bake in a 190 degrees preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Let the muffins cool down 5 minutes before you take them out of the form, let them further cool down in a rooster.



For the party I thought it would be fun the make cupcakes and let the girls decorate. So I made 12basic vanilla cupcakes, that way there would 2 per girl. The did a very creative work with the marzipan. You can see below for and after. If you would like to make the cupcakes yourself the recipe I already publish in another post, just follow this link CUPCAKES