Labna (yogurt cheese)

Do you remember my homemade ricotta? That recipe is wonderful – I’ve received comments and emails from many of you who have tried it too, with great results. I have made it dozens of times already and used it in both savory and sweet dishes. I thought it was about time I tried another recipe from Donna Hay’s cheese making spread (issue 35), especially after seeing the wonderful cheeses my friend Ana Elisa has been making lately.

If you liked the ricotta, you’re gonna love the labna: it’s even easier to make – no cooking involved, no need for a thermometer – and tasted really good. I highly recommend it.

Labna (yogurt cheese)
from Donna Hay magazine

2 cups (520g) plain, full fat yogurt
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
olive oil to cover
¼ cup fresh oregano leaves
½ teaspoon black peppercorns

Place the yogurt and salt in a bowl and stir to combine. Line a sieve with fine muslin and place over a deep bowl – the bottom of the sieve should not be in contact with the liquid released from the yogurt. Pour the yogurt mixture into the sieve. Cover, set aside in the refrigerator and allow to drain for 5 days, removing the liquid every once in a while.
Roll 2 teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls and place in an airtight jar. Repeat with the remaining mixture. Add the oregano and peppercorns and cover with oil*. Store the labna in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

* the olive oil coating may solidify in the refrigerator so allow the labna to return to room temperature before you serve it.

Serves 4

Baked ricotta with olive salad

Anyone who’s been reading my blog for a little while might have probably noticed I’m insanely partial to sweets – don’t get me wrong, I love food as a whole, but desserts ARE the best part of a meal. Don’t you think? :D

As a very responsible person, ahem, I know that one can’t live on cakes, cookies and ice cream – that’s why I’m always searching for delicious savory recipes that will be as much fun to prepare as their sweet counterparts.

I love cooking with ricotta, but what really caught my eye here was the olive salad and the dressing – what a fabulous combination of flavors.

Baked ricotta with olive salad
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Ricotta:
350g ricotta – I used homemade
2 eggs, separated
75g parmesan, finely grated
pinch of nutmeg, freshly grated

Olive salad:
200g mixed olives
½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ thinly sliced zest of an orange
¼ cup firmly packed flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil*

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; grease well four 150ml-capacity well greased ovenproof dishes.

For olive salad, combine olives with chilli, garlic, orange zest, parsley and extra-virgin olive oil, season to taste – I used only freshly ground black pepper since the olives are salty already. Set aside.
Press ricotta through a fine sieve into a bowl – mine was really soft, so I skipped this part; add egg yolks, parmesan and nutmeg and stir to combine. Whisk egg whites in a large bowl until soft peaks form, add to ricotta mixture and gently fold until combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spoon ricotta into prepared dishes and bake for 15 minutes or until golden – mine needed 25 minutes; they will puff in the oven like soufflés but will deflate.
Stand for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the molds and unmold the ricotta. Serve warm or at room temperature with the olive salad.

* I used garlic infused olive oil and omitted the garlic clove from the recipe

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

Roasted carrot soup

A lot has been said about Michael Jackson’s death and I won’t bother you with my thoughts about it. Just wanna say that to me he was a genius, his music has been part of my life since I was a little girl and “Thriller” scared the bejeesus out of me for the first time - the guy never ceased to amaze me.

When it comes to food, Donna Hay is the one that always amazes me – this delicious soup comes from her website.

Roasted carrot soup
from Donna Hay magazine

1kg carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
340g brown onions, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1.5 liters vegetable stock
1 cup (240ml) pouring (single) cream
parsley leaves, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Combine the carrot, onion, oil, salt, pepper and cumin in a baking dish. Roast for 30 minutes or until the carrot is tender.
Process, add the stock and blend until smooth. Place in a saucepan over medium heat, add the cream and bring to the boil. Cover, cook for 5 minutes and sprinkle with the parsley.

* I used garlic infused olive oil

Serves 4 (generously)

Summertime tagliatelle, in the middle of fall

My dad sometimes tells me funny/cute stories about my mom and I especially like the ones about her weird pregnancy cravings, like the day she felt like cooking and eating a rooster – no, I’m not kidding. :D

She’d crave ice cream desperately in the middle of the winter and would get under 2-3 blankets to eat it.

Everyone that knows me and knew my mom says that we look exactly the same and they say that we have a lot in common, too, when it comes to personality. Maybe they are right, because I felt like eating summertime pasta in a very cold day. :D

Summertime tagliatelle
slightly adapted from Cook with Jamie

115g (4oz) pine nuts
juice and zest of 2 lemons
a bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked
¾ cup (180ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ cups (150g) Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus extra for shaving
½ cup (50g) pecorino cheese, freshly grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper
500g good-quality tagliarini or tagliatelle

Smash up half of the pine nuts to a paste, then put it into a big heatproof bowl with the rest of the whole pine nuts, the lemon juice and zest, and the extra virgin olive oil. Stir and add the Parmesan and pecorino. Season with some freshly ground black pepper.

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil for your pasta. Sit the sauce bowl on top of the pan while the water’s heating up – this will take the chill out of the sauce and warm it through slightly. When the water starts to boil, remove the bowl and add your pasta to the water. Cook it according to the packet instructions then drain in a colander, reserving a little of the cooking water. Toss the pasta with the sauce and a little of the reserved cooking water to help loosen it up a bit. The heat from the pasta will melt the cheese, allowing all the lovely sauce to coat it. If you find the sauce is too thick then add a little more water. It’s not supposed to thick – it should be more a dressing than a sauce.

Serve with a little extra Parmesan shaved over the top and a sprinkle of parsley leaves. Eat immediately.

Serves 4

Basil and parmesan madeleines

Even though I have my pride – I’m a Scorpio, after all – I will admit it when I’m wrong and apologize.

After telling you that I wasn’t in the mood for Mr. Benjamin Button, I changed my mind and decided to watch it – with a little push from my good friend C. I’m so glad I did - what a beautiful movie. It touched my heart like very few have. David Fincher really gets the best out of Brad Pitt, every time.

Something similar happened here. I wasn’t so sure savory madeleines would work. So I kept postponing making them. And now, a year after bookmarking the recipe, I finally tried it. And it’s good. I was wrong.

My only thought here is that both flavor and texture are much better when the madeleines are hot/warm. But let me know if you disagree.

Basil and parmesan madeleines

8 tablespoons (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup (140g) cake flour – I used all purpose flour
3 teaspoons finely minced fresh basil
1 teaspoon fleur de sel, plus more for sprinkling
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 190ºC/375ºF (I preferred to bake them in the higher part of the oven so they would not burn).
Brush the molds of two 12-well madeleine pans with 2 tablespoons of the butter and dust with all-purpose flour; tap out the excess.

Sift the cake flour into a bowl and gently stir in the basil, the 1 teaspoon fleur de sel and the pepper. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs on high speed until yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the cream of tartar and sugar and beat until the mixture drops from the whisk in ribbons, about 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the flour mixture and the 1 cup cheese, then fold in the remaining 6 tablespoons butter*.

Spoon the batter into the prepared molds so the batter is even with the rims. Bake until the madeleines spring back when pressed lightly, about 12 minutes. Immediately remove them from the pan and let cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle with a pinch of fleur de sel and cheese and serve.

* the recipe doesn’t call for it, but I refrigerated the batter overnight

Makes 18 madeleines – I halved the recipe and got 15 madeleines (I used a 15-well pan and each well holds 1 tablespoon batter)

Pasta with eggplant and pine nuts

Thank you all for your comments and emails – the nerd girl that never fit in is feeling pretty popular right now. :)
I’m looking forward to my next blogging year!

After all that icing – so much it could block one’s arteries just by looking at it – I thought you deserved something fresh and a lot lighter. Pasta + veggies seemed perfect.

Despite the tiny list of ingredients, this is one of the most delicious pasta dishes I have ever tried. Make it, even if you don’t have pine nuts around – it tastes great anyway.

Pasta with eggplant and pine nuts
slightly adapted from here

400g pasta
2 large eggplants
olive oil, for brushing
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
a large handful of basil leaves
4 tablespoons pine nuts
fleur de sel and freshly ground black pepper
juice of 4 small limes

Preheat oven to 200ºC/400ºF.
Cut each eggplant in half lengthways, then make criss cross cuts on the flesh nearly all the way down to the skin. Brush with olive oil, place in a lightly oiled baking pan and bake for 25 minutes or until soft. In the meantime, cook the pasta until al dente and toast the pine nuts on a non stick frying pan.Remove the eggplant from the oven and, using a spoon, scrape the flesh out of the skins and place in a bowl. Pour the extra virgin olive oil gradually mixing it with eggplant until you get to a smooth paste. Season it with fleur de sel and pepper
Drain the pasta and mix it with the eggplant to coat it really well. Add the basil , pine nuts and lime juice.

Serves 4

Olive gnocchi with parsley garlic sauce

Thank you all for being so supportive about my disastrous bread. I learned that KJ and Jenjen, two of my favorite bloggers, did not have any luck with this recipe either. And Syrie, tks for the suggestion of leaving Jamie a message – it had crossed my mind, but I thought I was being too childish... :)

With all the info I have received from you and from the people who read my blog in Portuguese, I ended up thinking that Jamie’s cooking recipes are great, but his baking recipes might not be all that. I say that because the complaints are about cakes and bread and not about pasta and salads.
Anyway, my new book has arrived and I am sure I’ll be baking some amazing bread this weekend. :)

I’ll offer you something savory today: a recipe adapted from here. I omitted the mushrooms just because I wasn’t in the mood for a grocery store trip. But even with this very simple sauce it was a good pasta dish – Joao had his gnocchi with tomato sauce and loved it.

I did have to use more flour than the amount called for in the recipe, but I believe it was the potatoes’ fault. Make sure you use potatoes that are suitable for gnocchi.

Olive gnocchi with parsley garlic sauce
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Gnocchi:
800g (about 3) large desiree potatoes
3 egg yolks
80g (½ cup) black olives, pitted and finely chopped
110g plain flour*
salt

Sauce:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
50g butter
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced**
1/3 cup (loosely packed) flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
grated parmesan, to serve – I took the photo before adding the cheese, duh!

For gnocchi, bring potatoes to boil in a large saucepan, cook until tender (25-30 minutes). Drain, peel and pass through a potato ricer into a bowl while still hot. Beat in egg yolks and salt, add olives and flour and gently work mixture together. Turn onto a floured work surface and, using your hands, roll into 2cm-thick logs. Cut logs widthways into 1½cm pieces, pinch in the sides of each piece slightly and set aside.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add gnocchi and simmer over medium heat until they float to the surface (2-3 minutes). Transfer to a tray to keep warm.
Heat olive oil and butter in a large frying pan, when butter starts to foam, add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft (2-3 minutes). Add gnocchi, gently toss until coated, scatter with parsley, sprinkle with parmesan and serve immediately.

* I ended up using more flour because the dough was extremely soft
** I used garlic infused olive oil instead

Serves 6

Roasted tomato and goat's cheese tart with fresh oregano

Apparently, it’s still winter here – after a week of 33ºC (91.4ºF) days, we’ve been having much colder ones.

I know that tomatoes are much tastier in the summer, but I would never be able to wait that long to make Pille’s wonderful tart. Would you? :)
The only change I made was to use fresh oregano instead of thyme - just because I happen to grow it.

I used to have a hard time digesting garlic but is all in the past now: my friend Clarice told me to remove the central root off the garlic cloves before using them and it has worked like a charm.

Oh, and a little side note: remember my sake panna cotta? It was the most voted recipe on the event I made it for! Yay! :D

Roasted tomato and goat's cheese tart with fresh oregano

500g puff pastry, rolled
150g soft and creamy goat cheese*
4 teaspoons fresh oregano leaves
2 fresh garlic cloves, minced
500g ripe plum tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.

Roll out the puff pastry to 30x40 cm rectangle and place on a slightly oiled baking sheet. Carefully score a line about 1 cm from the edge along the pastry, but do not cut through! This will help the filling to stay inside the pastry and the edges to puff up nicely.

Mix the goat cheese, minced garlic, oregano leaves, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Spread the mixture evenly on the puff pastry sheet (remaining inside the scored line).
Cut the tomatoes into 3-5mm slices and place nicely next to each other on top of the goat cheese. Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper and drizzle some olive oil on top.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the pasty is golden and tomatoes have dried up a little.
Before serving, scatter some more oregano leaves on top. Cut into squares and serve.

* my cheese was a bit crumbly, so I added a bit of olive oil and mixed it all with a fork

Serves 6-8

Grilled cheese and basil polenta

I never thought this would happen, but it did. Donna Hay disappointed me.

It was last Saturday – my Amazon box arrived and I couldn’t wait to go through my new cookbooks. Donna’s book looked so adorable and cute... I started to flip the pages, eager to choose the first recipe to prepare. Unfortunately, as I glanced at the photos there was only one thing going on in my mind – “I’ve already seen this. And this. And this one, too.”
Several of those recipes had been published in other Donna Hay’s books and magazines – the ones on my bookshelf. :(

I’m not interested in buying cookbooks with recipes I already own and I guess you aren’t either – that’s why I thought you should know about this. I have deleted the other “Simple Essentials” volumes from my wish list.

To remind me of how wonderful Donna’s recipes are, I prepared this polenta (from her magazine, issue 40). I’ll tell you, my friends: this is what I call reconciliation. :)

Grilled cheese and basil polenta
from Donna Hay magazine

3 cups (750ml) water
1 cup (170g) instant polenta
60g butter, chopped
½ cup (50g) finely grated parmesan
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup basil leaves
2 cups (200g) grated mozzarella*
olive oil, for brushing

Place water in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Gradually whisk in the polenta and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat and stir through the butter, parmesan, salt and pepper. Pour half of the polenta into a 20cm square pan lined with non-stick baking paper (I used foil) and spread to smooth. Top with the basil, mozzarella and remaining polenta. Refrigerate for 45 minutes or until set.
Cut into squares/rectangles and brush with oil. Heat a char-grill pan or barbecue over high heat. Cook the polenta for 3-4 minutes each side or until golden and the cheese has melted. Serve with pan-fried veal cutlets, grilled lamb or steak and baby spinach.

* I used the yellow mozzarella we have here, that seems to be really similar to Monterey Jack

Serves 2 - I think it can serve 4, depending on what you serve it with

Pine nut-crusted cheese with roasted pepper

I think you have all been there: you see a wonderful recipe but one of the ingredients is not easy – or worse, impossible – to find where you live. That’s fine - we use something else instead.

Valentina had told me that queijo coalho is similar to haloumi – it even “squeaks” on the teeth once bitten. So queijo coalho it is. But the type found in the supermarket was one already cut in sort of sticks. :(
Not wanting to make my poor hubby march towards another grocery store, I decided I would glue the cheese sticks on the frying pan before dipping them on the pine nut mixture. Oh, yeah, I’m so smart, aren’t I? Except for one small detail: the cheese wouldn’t melt. At all. That’s why my plan did not work, as you can see on the photo. But this is such a delicious recipe I had to share it with you.
I highly recommend it - with the right cheese, of course. :)

Pine nut-crusted cheese with roasted pepper
from Donna Hay magazine

½ cup (80g) toasted pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 ½ cups flat-leaf parsley leaves - I mixed parsley and fresh oregano
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
250g haloumi, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil, extra
450g store-bought char-grilled red bell peppers, torn*

Place the pine nuts, garlic, parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper in the bowl of a small food processor and process in short bursts until just combined. Spread the pine nut mixture on the haloumi. Heat the extra olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat. Cook the haloumi for 1-2 minutes each side or until browned.
Serve immediately with the roasted bell pepper.

* Or cut off the top of a (or more) bell pepper, cut it in half, remove all the seeds and pith and place it on a lightly oiled baking tray, skin side up. Brush the skin with olive oil and bake in a preheated oven (200ºC/400ºC) until the skin starts to blister. Remove from the oven and immediately transfer the peppers to a glass bowl, covering it tight with plastic or cling film. Set aside to cool. The skin will be removed very easily, then.

Serves 4

Nigella’s unpestoed pesto

Part 2 - that is not something I like seeing on the title of a movie. Some do make me curious, I’ll admit it, while others... Can even become a dark spot on someone’s career - I bet that the Oscar nominee Amy Adams would agree with me here. :)

You’ll think: “she’s already posted pasta al pesto”. And you are right. Since sequels can be masterpieces, too, I present you my pesto part 2.

I saw Nigella cooking this dish on TV but couldn’t write down the recipe - I eyeballed all the ingredients. As I ended up finding it online, I’ll post it here for you.

Even though this pasta recipe is insanely simple, I’ll be honest: I prefer the original pesto sauce. But that doesn’t mean you can’t give the part 2 a try.

Nigella’s unpestoed pesto

1 pound (450g) spaghetti
1 cup (240ml) olive oil – I used less
5 garlic cloves, peeled
1 bunch fresh basil leaves
½ cup pine nuts
8 ounces (224g) whole Parmesan
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and then add the spaghetti. While the pasta is cooking, pour the olive oil into a large frying pan and throw in some peeled cloves of garlic. Cook over gentle heat until the garlic starts to turn light brown and its scent wafts upward. Remove the cloves from the pan and take the pan off the heat.
Roughly chop or shred a mound of basil leaves, set aside. In a second dry frying pan, toast a handful or so of pine nuts. When the pasta is ready, drain it, toss it in the garlic-infused olive oil, and then transfer to a warm bowl.
Using a vegetable peeler, shave in the parmesan and sprinkle with the toasted pine nuts. Toss well, throw over all but a small handful of the basil leaves, and turn again.
Sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper and the remaining shredded basil leaves and serve at once.

Serves 4

Grilled eggplant with tomatoes and cheese and a new home

A quick post this time - I’m moving today and lots of boxes surround me right now.

If you like veggies, please, make this dish. It couldn’t be simpler and the flavors are so good. Serve it with some crusty bread and you’ve got yourself a meal.

Grilled eggplant with tomatoes and cheese
inspired by a recipe from Family Food

2 eggplants, sliced
1/3 cup (80ml) olive oil*
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lb 2 oz (510g) cherry tomatoes, halved
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 teaspoons capers, drained
½ cup mozzarella – the one I used seems to be similar to Monterey Jack cheese
¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated
small basil leaves, to garnish – it was raining heavily so I couldn’t go outside to pick them

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/392ºF.

Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Brush the eggplant slices with some of the oil. Grill the slices on both sides until they are soft and begin to brown, then lay them in a large, shallow baking dish. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat the rest of the oil in a small saucepan, add the cherry tomatoes and garlic, then fry briefly until the tomatoes just start to soften. Add the capers for a minute. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the tomatoes over the eggplant, and sprinkle the mozzarella and the parmesan on top.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden. Remove from the oven then sprinkle the basil leaves over the top. Serve at once.

* garlic is not my best friend when it comes to digestion, so I used garlic infused olive oil and omitted the garlic cloves.

Serves 4

Linguine with zucchini, capers, lemon, pine nuts and herbs and a tribute to Sher

As many of you in the food blog world I was shocked with the news that our dear Sher had suddenly passed away.
A lovely woman who would brighten up everyone’s day with encouraging comments and kind words, Sher was a passionate foodie and shared many delicious recipes on her delightful blog. She was the queen of meatballs!

I only knew her virtually, but she’ll be missed and my heart goes out to her family and friends.

After reading Sara’s post, I felt like taking part in the beautiful tribute to Sher. This is the recipe I chose and it was delicious, just like everything else on her blog.

Linguine with zucchini, capers, lemon, pine nuts and herbs

1 lb. (450g) linguine
8 ounces (226g) small, firm green or golden zucchini
½ cup mixed fresh herbs: parsley, marjoram, basil, chervil, thyme, and others of your choice
1 lemon
6 tablespoons virgin olive oil
5 tablespoons pine nuts
4 shallots, roughly chopped
4 teaspoons capers, rinsed in water
2 sun dried tomatoes, cut into narrow strips - I omitted this
salt and freshly ground black pepper
grated parmesan, to serve

Slice the zucchini into pieces about the same thickness as the pasta you are using, then cut them into narrow matchsticks. Bring a large pot of water to boil.

Using as many of the herbs of your choice that you want, pull the leaves off the stems and chop the herbs roughly. Grate the zest of the lemon and set aside (you’ll use the juice as well).

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a small pan and add the pine nuts. Cook them until they begin to color, then add the shallots and cook over medium heat until the shallots are limp and the pine nuts have colored even more. Do not burn the pine nuts. When done, transfer this to a large bowl, along with the lemon grated zest, capers, tomatoes and herbs.

Add salt to the boiling water, drop in the zucchini and cook for 1 minute; Scoop the zucchini out, shake the water off and put it into the bowl with the pine nuts mixture. Then boil the pasta until al dente, drain and place in the bowl. Season with salt and pepper, the remaining olive oil and lemon juice to taste. Toss until the noodles are coated with the oil and herb mixture. Serve with the grated cheese, passed separately.

Serves 2-4

Garlic lime shrimp

It’s winter here now and you guys from the Northern Hemisphere keep tempting me with your ice creams and sorbets... Not to mention the cherry recipes, right, Susan? :)
To make things worse, the Mail Service is working again and yesterday I finally received the July issue of Bon Appétit – loads of ideas for barbecues and grilling outdoors. I’m not a fan of barbecues, but Joao loves them. And I even think he would be interested in grilling on the weekends, but we live in an apartment – no yard.:(

So, no barbie. But that doesn’t mean he can’t have something he absolutely loves: shrimp. For the hubby, the simpler, the better. And the recipe I adapted from the DH mag #37 was a huge hit.

I cooked the shrimp using a frying pan, but also posted how to make them on the grill, if anyone wants to give it a try.

Garlic lime shrimp
from Donna Hay magazine

1kg large raw shrimp, peeled, tails intact
1/3 cup (80ml) lime juice
4 tablespoons garlic infused olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
chopped flat leaf parsley, to taste
lime wedges, to serve
aioli or mayonnaise, to serve

Place the shrimp, lime juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl and toss to combine. Cover with plastic/cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Remove the shrimp from the refrigerator and strain any juices – remove the garlic slices, also. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the shrimp and toss to combine. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp, turning to avoid burning. Cook until the shrimp turn pink, about 2 minutes each side – don’t overcook, or they will become rubbery.
Remove from heat, sprinkle with the parsley and serve immediately.

If you want to make them on the barbie: thread three shrimp onto a skewer (if they are wooden skewers, soak them in cold water for 30 minutes before using, to avoid burning). Repeat with the remaining shrimp. Heat a barbecue over high heat. Barbecue the shrimp for 2 minutes each side or until cooked through.

Serves 4

Cheese Stuffed Crusty Rolls

Choosing something doesn’t always have to be a difficult task – and that coming from the one who can take forever to decide which recipe to prepare is quite an improvement. Sometimes, we just know where to find it.

If you have a twisted, weird, crazy-looking role, you get Gary Oldman. Very simple. And if you want beautiful, delicious, out of this world desserts, you just go to Helen’s blog. But she can bake some seriously good savory recipes as well – yeah, I know, there’s nothing to be surprised here. :)

The cheese stuffed crusty rolls she posted in May were fantastic and the idea of using herbes de Provence in their filling sounded brilliant.

I have a challenge for you: make these and DO NOT eat them all the minute they are out of the oven. :)

Cheese Stuffed Crusty Rolls

Starter:
1 ¼ cups (175g) bread flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon instant yeast
½ cup (120ml) cool water

Dough:
all of the starter
1 cup (240ml) + 2 tablespoons to 1 ¼ cups (300ml) lukewarm water – I used 300ml
½ teaspoon salt
3 ½ cups (490g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon instant yeast

Filling:
1 ½ cups (280g/10oz) grated Monterey Jack cheese – I used the yellow mozzarella we have here, that seems to be really similar to Monterey Jack
1 cup grated parmesan
2 tablespoons herbes de Provence

To make the starter: mix the 1 ¼ cups flour, salt, yeast, and ½ cup water in a medium-sized bowl. Mix till well combined. Cover with plastic and let rest overnight at room temperature.

Make the filling: mix well all the ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

To make the dough: combine the risen starter with the water, salt, flour, and yeast. Knead by hand or with a stand mixer for a few minutes (I went with 5 minutes by hand, like Helen did). Place it in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for 1 ½ to 2 hours, until it’s nearly doubled in size. Gently deflate the dough, and pat and stretch it into a ¾ inch-thick rectangle, about 9x12in (23x30cm). Spritz with water, and sprinkle with the grated cheese and the herbs. Starting with a long side, roll it into a log, pinching the seam to seal. Place the log, seam-side down, on a lightly floured or lightly oiled surface. Cover it and let it rise for 1 to 1 ½ hours, till it’s puffy though not doubled in size. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF. Gently cut the log into four crosswise slices, for mini-breads; or simply cut the dough in half, for two normal-sized loaves. Place them on one (for two loaves) or two (for four mini-loaves) lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets, cut side up. Spread them open a bit, if necessary, to more fully expose the cheese and close the other end. Spritz with warm water, and immediately place them in the preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes (for the mini-loaves), or 35 minutes (for the full-sized loaves), or until the cheese is melted and the loaves are a very deep golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack.

Note: You can also roll the log and cut 12 slices from it and set them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and proceed with the recipe as written.

Bacon and oregano homemade pasta and two silly people having fun in the kitchen together

I have read that food can bring people together. I think it’s true – many celebrations involve family and/or friends around a table. And one doesn’t need an established occasion at all – having friends over for dinner for no apparent reason is equally wonderful.

Joao and I make our Sunday lunches a special part of our life. Work and traffic jams already keep us apart on weekdays and there’s barely any time for cooking. That’s why I love cooking and baking on weekends – my way of having fun. I’m lucky the hubby shares that with me.

Weekdays are all about what I have to do, so weekends are all about what I want to do. I want to have fun. And is it fun making pasta while Joao takes pictures? You bet!

We laughed like two kids – there was flour all over my kitchen when we finished our “pasta making session”. And after that, we had delicious, fresh pasta for lunch. A pretty good Sunday, if you’ll ask me.

This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by the lovely Kalyn, the blogger who created the event.

Bacon and fresh oregano homemade pasta
from Donna Hay magazine

400g (14oz) fettuccine, linguini or any long pasta you prefer
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup fresh oregano leaves
2 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed and drained
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
60g (2oz) unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup olive oil, extra – I used a little less
crispy bacon, to serve
grated parmesan, to serve

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, return to the saucepan and keep warm.
Meanwhile, heat a non-stick frying pan over high heat, add the oil and oregano and cook for 30 seconds or until crispy. Drain on absorbent paper. Add the capers and garlic and cook for 1 minute or until crispy. Add to the pasta with the butter and extra oil and toss to combine. Divide between plates and top with the oregano, bacon and parmesan.

Serves 4.