Lazy weekend and some berries

It's just this kind of weekend here. One short trip for groceries, minimum time spent outside - to avoid the allergies, then books and tea. Love it!

Cats are also taking a day off. They took over our bed, taking only quick food breaks, then back to sleep. Oh, it's good to be a cat on a day like this.....

I'm also on a slower mode today. I tried to stay away from the kitchen as much as possible, but then as I put my dinner fish in the oven and set the clock to 20min, I thought '20 minutes to spare...'. And there was an idea - a big bowl of berries in my fridge, and a recipe that has been hanging on my cork board for the past couple of months. 20 minutes to prepare, oven will be ready - perfect!

Blackberry & Coconut Squares
prep time 15min, baking time 75min

250g self raising flour
100g of oats
300g brown sugar
200g of cold butter, cut in pieces
75g desiccated coconut
2 medium eggs, beaten
350g of blackberries (fresh or frozen)


1. Heat oven to 180C. Mix flour, oats and sugar in a big bowl. Rub the butter into the flour mix using fingertips until small pea-size pieces remain. Stir through the coconut, then fill a teacup with the mixtures and set aside.
2. Stir the eggs into the bowl, then spread over the bottom of a lined baking tin. Smooth the surface with the back of a spoon, scatter over the berries. Scatter the reserved cup of crumbs. Bake for 1hr-1hr15min, or until golden and cooked through. Leave to cool a bit, then cut into squares and serve!

The recipe comes from 'renew your subscription to Good Food magazine' leaflet. It has a post-it note which says 'I found this and thought of you'. Well, it must be a miracle because it really looks like my kind of dessert... Berries, oats and coconut is a combination to die for! I'll better grab another piece.....

TGIF and chocolate cake for adults

Friday - the hole weekend ahead of me. Ever since I remember Friday evenings were longer than all the other evenings. They're more stretchy, they melt and flow. Get back from work, having the hole evening ahead of me, then a bunch more hours in the couple weekends days to fill. What to do, what to do.....

Just a quick check of emails, speedy tour of cyber news, a glance at my to do at home list and then I'm off to the world of Swedish crime, just a few pages left  before I can start a new journey of another crime novel. The tea is ready, the white chair too....

There is no dessert to go along with the tea, surviving on some swiss chocolates instead, and the the memories of one chocolate cake....

My multiple experiments proved that chocolate is good all year long... The judges? The crowd at work, who never says no to brought the next day half eaten cakes, cookies or muffins. When I entered the office with a bag and a box inside, I see big smiles, still half awake eyes that shine. Then, almost immediately it's coffee time, and what goes better with morning coffee then a slice of deliciousness? Some chocolate recipes are more successful then others but nothing ever lasts all day. And that's exactly how I know how successful the recipe was....

My newest creation was gone is 60 seconds. Never had so much success.... Everything except the last bite - no one ever wants to eat the last piece....

 (picture of just few pieces of cake shortly after it  the big part was devoured. Other pics temporarily unavailable)

Chocolate Cake (for adults)
prep time 35min, baking time 35min

140g of prunes
4tbsp of Kirsch (or other cherry alcohol)
100g of butter
2tbsp of cocao
140g of dark chocolate, chopped (I used one with almonds)
100g og caster sugar
50g of muscovado sugar
4 large eggs (2 with separate eggs/yolks)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
100g of ground almonds
1tbsp of plain flour

1. Heat over to 180C. Gently heat the prunes and cherry alcohol over a low heat until hot. Remove from the heat and leave for about 1 hour or until prunes have absorbed almost all of the liquid. Whizz the prunes and any remaining buzz in a food processor until roughly chopped.
2. Prepare the tin (round, 20cm) - butter and dust with 1tbsp of cocao. Melt the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. When all melted, put aside and cool. Add prunes mix.
3. Combine the sugars, 2 eggs and 2 yolks until pale, thick and double in volume. Fold the chocolate mixture and vanilla into the egg mixture - add ground almonds, flour and remaining cocao.
4. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and gently fold into the mixture. Pour all into the tin, bake for 20-25min, or until a light crust has formed. Cool and serve!

As said - a big success. The cake keeps the moisture inside, and the kirch/prune combination is to die for! I call it for adults, because even after the cherry alcohol evaporates, it still leaves a sweet note of cherry ...
The original recipe comes from this months issue of Good Food. It came with a booklet of 40 cakes, so I guess I'm not done with experimenting with chocolate!

Spring time soup.

Spring is gradually getting closer and closer. Each day stretched a tiny bit more, with a few more seconds of sun on each end. The tender sun rays gently caressing the faces of people patiently waiting for a bus in the morning. Slowly waking up, no longer packed like penguins in the corner of a crowded bus stop, seeking shelter from an icy wind. With hands out of the pockets, scarves now just loosely hung around the white necks, jackets halfway unzipped - sometimes even fearlessly holding a morning newspaper in their gloveless hands, following big and small world news, gossip, and the weather forecast that already sound more positive. Spring is in the air!

 

Soon there will be flowers, green lawns with many first-time couples - innocent but already so eager to spend forever with each other. Because forever sounds magical when lying hand in hand on the lawn smelling the fresh grass and bathing in the new-spring sun....

But meantime spring has another week to start officially. Looking out of the window I cherish every minute of this warmth, storing it for days when winter coldness will make an appearance again. Hopefully not very soon….

So, to stretch the warmth yet a bit more, I made a new soup, that we fell in love with at first spoon!

 

 

 

Indian Chickpeas soup  

Prep time 10 min, cooking time 15min, serves 4ppl

 

1tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1tbsp garam masala

1 carrot, peeled and quartered lengthways and chopped

1l of vegetable stock

2cm finely grated fresh ginger root
400g  can of chickpeas, drained

100g green beans, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

 

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan, then add the onion, ginger and garlic. Fry for 2min, then add garam masala, give it 1min more, then add the stock and carrots.

2. Simmer the mix for 10min (or until carrots get tender), then add the chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in beans and simmer for 3min.

*tastes great with naan or garlic bread 

I found this recipe in the winter issue of 'Eat Well' magazine, changed a bit the proportions. All in all a great success - the oriental spiciness perfectly balanced by the earthy and slightly burnt flavor of the chickpeas, crispy freshness added by the green beans, and the carrots giving a nice solid foundation to chew on!

I'll show you my other favorite indian soup some other time....

Chocolate oatmeal balls

Weekend has passed too quickly again.

 

Friday can’t get here fast enough; in my mental calendar each weekday is seen based on its relation and distance to Friday. Wednesday is two units away from Friday, Thursday means almost weekend. And then suddenly it’s Friday 6pm, I’m almost skipping instead of walking. Just a tram way away from the weekend, patiently sitting and looking out of the window with many others like me – tired but with a tiny spark in their eyes – so called weekend happiness.

 

Nothing on the agenda, yet so much to do. Is it all going to fit into my weekend? Laundry, quick visit to the supermarket, chat with the neighbor in the staircase, phonecall to my best friend, walk by the lake, reorganizing the tall stack of papers, an afternoon with books and cookies, a lazy nap….? Shouldn’t Saturday and Sunday by law have more hours in them? Maybe then I would fit in them then an extra hour with the French vocabulary and some jogging…?

 

And suddenly, it’s Monday again. Sitting by the same computer, with a second cup of tea. Weekend still so close, I can almost feel the coziness of it, the sun sneaking through the gaps of the curtains, and the taste of the freshly baked chocolate oatmeal balls. So close yet so far already.....

 

 

 

Back to reality - with longing looks at the calendar on my desk – Monday, 4 days away from Friday, 4 early mornings before the solace of another weekend…..

 

 

 

Chocolate Oatmeal Balls 

prep time 15min, baking time 10min

 

130g of cane sugar

300g of rolled oats
125 g of butter
1 egg 

5 tbl spoons of milk

2 tea spoons of vanilla sugar
1 cup of flour (self raising or regular + a teaspoon of baking soda)
50 grams of dark chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Melt butter, sugar, and chocolate in a deep pot. Add rolled oats and stir until all liquid ingredients are well absorbed (about 10min on low heat)

2. When cooled off - transfer to a bowl with previously mixed flower and vanilla sugar. Add egg and milk, then stir until all well mixed together.

3. Roll little balls (use more flour if the consistency is too sticky) - the size of a big walnut, then bake for 10min.

 

The inspiration for this recipe comes from this blog. It’s one of those things that I’ve been longing for for years, without realizing it. And then I saw it and could almost taste it. I’ve altered the proportions; it somehow seemed more true to more childhood memories. The result – yummy! And I guess it’s a kind of healthy dessert with all the rolled oats…..

Summer on the plate - olive & ricotta chicken

So, we are back. The bags are unpacked and things are making their way back to their accustomed places. Summer dresses, high filter sun lotions, books read while lazying on the beach, cables for all kinds of electronic items, snorkeling mask, coins from places we passed through.... Some things are going back to their old places on the shelves, others are new, still need to find their new location. In the background sounds of newly acquired chillout album accompanied by the noises of the washing machine, patiently going through the n-th load of laundry.

Traveling is an enriching experience. Apart from new cities, new people, new customs, we bring back something else - a new, refreshed way of looking at life. Traveling allows to step back and observe, take pictures and mental notes - in order not to forget.... And relax, breathe....

From this trip, apart from the sun-kissed tan, I brought my favorite items - cooking books and magazines. And that's what my Saturday was like - in the big white chair with a stack on the coffee table, a journey through different tastes and flavors. New ideas, new inspirations, many new posts.... 

Green olive and ricotta - stuffed chicken
prep time 20min, cooking 20min, serves 2

1 zucchini, finely chopped
1 tomato, seeded, finely chopped
2 crushed garlic cloves
2tbsp of olive oil
1/4 cup of ricotta
150grams of green olives, pitted and sliced
2tbsp of grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
2 chicken breasts
salt, pepper, sweet paprika (to season)
4 toothpicks

1. Preheat oven to 230C. Combine zucchini, tomato, garlic and olive oil in a bowl. Put in fridge.
2. Combine ricotta, olives, Parmesan cheese and egg in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Make a small incision in each chicken breast, creating a pocket. Fill with ricotta mixture, season with sweet paprika and secure with a toothpick.
3. Cook chicken on a frying pan, toothpick side up, until lightly golden. Place in a oven proof dish and move to oven for 15min (until cooked)
5. Serve topped with tomato salsa.

The recipe comes from the Australian issue of Good Food magazine. Here served over quinoa and asparagus but it goes very good with just some green salad. It's definitely a summer recipe, or a nice reminder of our sunny vacation. And on the plate the tangy bitter olive taste is a prefect compliment to the sweeter notes of ricotta. Simply Good Food!
And what's for dessert?