Kitchen garden soup with tiny herb omelettes

It’s almost winter here and I have to say I love cold days – maybe because they remind me of the time I spent with my mom as a kid, watching cartoons under the blanket after school with a bowl of her piping hot rice pudding, loaded with cinnamon...

Now that I’m a grown-up I have to do boring things – like going to work – but I still have a nice feeling when the cold wind hits my face. For days – and nights – like these, soups are my favorite kind of meal. I must confess, though, that I only made this recipe because of the tiny omelettes – aren’t they cute? :)

Kitchen garden soup with tiny herb omelettes
adapted from The Cook's Companion

1 onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 bay leaf
1 large sprig thyme
100g unsalted butter
2 liters chicken stock
300g snow peas, washed and strung
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Herb omelettes:
2 eggs
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
1 teaspoon freshly snipped chives
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil, for frying

Sweat onion, carrots, potatoes and herbs in butter in a large saucepan for 10 minutes. Add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are tender. Drop in snap peas and boil vigorously for 3 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and the thyme sprig, blend at once in a food processor, then strain through a coarse sieve and season with salt and pepper – I blended the soup but did not strain it. Keep warm.

Make the omelettes: place the eggs in a bowl, beat with a fork, then add the breadcrumbs, parsley, chives, salt and pepper. Heat a little olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over high heat and fry teaspoonfuls of egg mixture until crisp and a little puffed at the edges. Turn and cook until golden on the other side as well. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
Serve the soup with the omelettes as garnishes.

Serves 4

Herb and spinach fritters

Have you ever cooked something because you missed someone?

After watching a concert on TV, I could not stop thinking about my mom – she and my father met on one of that singer’s presentations, back in 1975. My way of dealing with it was preparing something I knew she’d love: it had to be something packed with veggies or fruit.

These fritters come from DH mag #29 and were perfect for the occasion.

Herb and spinach fritters
from Donna Hay magazine

1 cup (140g) self-rising flour, sifted
2 eggs
1 ½ tablespoons (21g) unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup (60ml) milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup chopped chives
½ cup chopped basil leaves
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 cup spinach leaves, packed, torn or chopped
vegetable oil for shallow-frying

Place the flour, eggs, butter, milk, salt and pepper in a large bowl and whisk to combine – a batter will form. Fold through the chives, basil, parsley and spinach. Place two tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan and heat over medium heat. Add tablespoons of the mixture to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes each side or until bubbles appear on the surface – avoid making tall or very large fritters because they might not cook completely on the inside. Set aside.
Add another two tablespoons of oil and repeat with the remaining mixture.

Serves 4 – I got 10 fritters

Crepes filled with corn and nutmeg

Don’t you love going through cookbooks/websites with lots of photos? Isn’t it wonderful to know what to expect – visually speaking – from a recipe?

After taking a look at this, I knew I would end up making it. I’m a big fan of crepes and they look so adorable served this way!

I thought these were good, but in my opinion they would have been better with some sort of sauce. I think the sage brown butter sauce I used for this spaghetti would have worked really, really well here.



This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Gay, from A Scientist in the Kitchen.

Crepes filled with corn and nutmeg

Crepes:
1 cup (240ml) milk
½ cup (120ml) water
2 eggs
1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
pinch of salt
butter, oil or cooking spray, to coat the pan

Filling:
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups frozen, cooked corn kernels, thawed – I used canned corn kernels, drained
¼ cup (35g) all purpose flour
2 cups (480ml) milk
salt
freshly ground fresh pepper
pinch of ground nutmeg
chives, to fasten the crepes – dip them quickly in hot water before using, so they will be more flexible

Start by making the crepes: Place the milk, water, eggs, salt and flour in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Heat a lightly oiled or greased with butter 22cm (9in) frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the pan, using ¼ cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Repeat with remaining batter. Set aside.

Now, the filling: in a large, deep frying pan, melt butter over medium-high. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until golden. Add the corn, cook for 2 minutes, then sprinkle with the flour. Cook, stirring constantly, for another minute. Add the milk and cook, still stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, mix well. Place mounds of warm filling on the center of each crepe, closing it like a bundle/package and tie it up with one chive.

Makes 12

Herb ricotta cannelloni

It's funny how we spend time with people and still don't know hundreds of things about them. Or we think we know something, but we don't (This is not a philosophical post, I promise).

I was going through a couple of books trying to choose something for lunch and suddenly João looked at a photo and said "why don't you cook this?" - I looked at him and replied "but you don't like cannelloni. And you don't like ricotta either". "Of course I like cannelloni. And I would definitely try your ricotta cannelloni - but don't add spinach, please"

After my jaw was back where it belongs, João was off to the grocery store to buy the ingredients and I was glad to know he's more open to trying new food. :)

I'm submitting this post for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Scott, from Real Epicurean.

I adapted a recipe from this book and used a combination of parsley, chives and basil to replace the spinach.

Herb ricotta cannelloni
adapted from Modern Classics Book 1

500ml readymade tomato sauce
4 fresh lasagna sheets, halved lengthwise
½ cup finely grated parmesan cheese, extra

Filling:
750g (1 ½ pounds) fresh ricotta
2 tablespoons virgin olive oil*
4 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 tablespoons chopped basil
4 tablespoons chopped chives
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
½ cup fresh breadcrumbs – I made my own with some stale Italian bread
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
To make the filling, combine the ricotta, olive oil, parsley, basil, chives, parmesan, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper.
Spread 1/3 of the tomato sauce over the base of a greased 20x30cm (8x12in) ovenproof dish.
Lay a lasagna sheet on a flat surface, spoon on some ricotta filling and roll up. Place in the baking dish, seam-side down. Repeat with the remaining filling and sheets.
Pour the remaining tomato sauce over the cannelloni, sprinkle with the extra parmesan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

* I added the olive oil because the ricotta I used was too crumbly – it helped create a creamier filling

Serves 4

Grilled Tilapia with basil-chive butter and parmesan steak fries

Yesterday Joao and I celebrated our 2 year and a half anniversary – I was (still am) recovering from a horrible flu that got me last week so we decided to stay in and celebrate it at home.
A nice meal made with love was mandatory!! :)

The recipe for the fish was taken from the July issue of Bon Appétit – I adapted some details. If you want to make it like the one in the magazine, use halibut instead of Saint Peter fish (Tilapia) and spring onions instead of chives.
I seasoned the fish with garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper and marinated the fillets for 2 hours, even though it’s not asked in the recipe.

The potatoes were taken from this book, and they were delicious – the only problem was that I used waxed paper instead of parchment paper and I had to peel the potato spears off the paper. Next time, a spritz of cooking spray will do the trick – thank you, Lydia, for the hint on the spray, I’ve been using it like crazy! :)

Grilled Tilapia with basil-chive butter
from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast and from Bon Appetit magazine

1 ½ cups (loosely packed) fresh basil leaves
4 tablespoons chopped chives
8 tablespoons (½ cup-112g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
6 x 170g (6-ounce) Tilapia fillets
extra virgin olive oil

Finely chop basil and chives in a mini food processor. Add butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, and process until blended, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides. Transfer to a small bowl, stir in lemon zest and season with salt – I used a little freshly ground black pepper, too.
Prepare barbecue (medium heat) or grilling pan.
Rub fish fillets on both sides with olive oil. Grill until fillets are just opaque in center, about 4 minutes per side.
Transfer fish to plates and immediately spread some basil butter over fish.
Serve, passing additional basil butter alongside.

Serves 6.

Parmesan steak fries

3 large egg whites – I think 2 would be enough
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 baking potatoes, 220 to 280g (8-10 ounces) each
1 ¼ cups (125g) grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF.
In a wide shallow bowl, whisk the egg whites with 1 teaspoon salt until frothy.
Cut each potato into 6 long spears; add to the egg whites and turn to coat.
One at a time, lift the spears out of the egg whites shaking off excess.
Working over a plate, sprinkle with the parmesan cheese until coated (do not shake the excess). Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake without turning until the potatoes are fork-tender and golden brown – about 30 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper before serving.

Serves 4

Vegetable crepes with cottage filling (and my eternal hate for Channel Fox)

That’s right, my dear readers. Channel Fox (Brazil) sucks, big time.
They have decided to air only dubbed movies and series - no more of my beloved original sound and subtitles that I decide to read whenever I want to.
I will never forgive Fox for making me watch the first episode of “Dexter” this way – btw, it is fantastic. I can’t wait to watch the next episode.

Back to food… These crepes are delicious! And they’re light – yep, healthy and NOT packed with thousands of calories. My type of food lately – so true that I had all 4 you see on the plate. :S

The batter is not thick as the usual crepe batter and I thought it would be difficult to transform it into crepes. Practice makes it perfect, though: my first crepe looked like a flower, there was nothing round about it… But after that first attempt I got to make the others without much trouble.

My opinion about the filling is that it’s OK, but the curry flavor is too overpowering (and I like curry). I liked the crepes so much that I have been thinking of making them again with a number of different fillings – use your imagination and you may end up liking this recipe as much as I did.

There were some crepes left and I had them later that day, cold, without filling. I told you I’d liked this recipe. :)



This is my entry for this Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by the sweet and dear Susan.

Vegetable crepes with cottage filling
Weight Watchers Brazil

Crepes:
2 eggs
½ cup non-fat milk
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ cup shredded/grated carrot
½ cup shredded/grated zucchini
4 tablespoons grated parmesan
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Filling:
¾ cup cottage cheese
½ teaspooon curry powder
1 tablespoon chopped chives
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Make the crepes: place the eggs, milk and flour in a blender and blend well. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Heat a crepe pan over low heat until hot. Lightly coat with vegetable oil or cooking spray. Pour batter into the pan and tip to spread the batter to the edges. When bubbles form on the top and the edges are dry, flip over and cook until lightly browned on the other side and edges are golden. Repeat with remaining batter – you’ll have to get 8 crepes with this recipe. In order to achieve this number, I poured an almost full ¼ cup of batter into the pan.
Mix all the ingredients of the filling and spread small amounts of the mixture onto each crepe. Fold them as you wish and serve.

Serves 4.

Trivial food - steak with herbs

A dear friend of mine, who happens to have a lovely blog written in Portuguese, asked the other bloggers about the trivial food they cook at home.

I have lunch close to work and my dinner is always the same, so I though I should share one dish that João loves - beef. I mean, steak - he'll gladly have it everyday.

To change things a little, once the steak is grilled, I remove it from the pan and add a bit of butter. When it's melted, I add a generous amount of chopped fresh herbs - I usually use parsley, chives and basil or rosemary. Once everything is well combined I pour it over the steak. I serve it with sliced onions browned in olive oil, rice and salad.

It's not an actual recipe but it's a hit with my picky husband! :)