Crispy goat’s cheese, tomato and basil salad

Another recipe by Donna Hay – from her magazine, issue #35, to be more specific.

I’m a huge fan of hers and those of you who have been around my blog for a while already know that – Joey and I go hand in hand in our love for Donna’s recipes! :)

I tried goat’s cheese for the first time while on vacation last September and can’t imagine how I had lived without it till then. I tried it on salads, quiche, sandwiches, pasta… And love everything. “Gotta start using it in my cooking”, I thought.

Joao brought it from the grocery store one day – I didn’t even know they had started selling it there – and I knew exactly where to look for a good recipe: Donna’s books and magazines.

What a delicious salad! I know that doesn’t sound much modest, but this is one of the best dishes I have ever cooked. The cheese was so good after the shallow-frying process: crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. The tomato + basil combination is always a winner and the dressing worked perfectly with all the ingredients – I was amazed by how great everything was together.

I don’t like to repeat recipes – there are so many new things to be tried, right? – but this is a salad I can see myself eating again, and again, and again…



This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Simona, from Briciole.

Crispy goat’s cheese, tomato and basil salad
from Donna Hay magazine

all-purpose flour for dusting
1 cup (110g/3 ¾oz) store-bought breadcrumbs
240g (8 ½oz) goat’s cheese, sliced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced
1 cup basil leaves
1 bunch (100g/3 ½oz) rocket (arugula), trimmed

Balsamic dressing:
¼ cup (2fl oz) olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon caster sugar

To make the balsamic dressing, place the olive oil, vinegar and sugar in a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.

Place the flour and breadcrumbs on separate plates. Press the goat’s cheese slices into the flour, dip in the egg and press into the breadcrumbs. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat. Cook the cheese for 1-2 minutes each side or until golden and crispy. Divide the cheese, tomatoes, basil and rocket between plates and drizzle over the balsamic dressing.

Serves 4

Chocolate pots de crème

Peabody has recently moved to a beautiful new house and to celebrate that she’s throwing a Housewarming Party, pot luck style.
She’s such a lovely person, so talented and generous, and one of my all-time favorite cooks/bakers - I had to take part in her event!

I thought of many dishes to “bring” to her party and decided that dessert would be a good choice - we rarely have dessert at home. Also, I had been meaning to make something with the fantastic Green & Black’s bars Valentina gave me when she came to Brazil. So, there you have it: a silky, smooth and delicious dessert (recipe taken from this book). Excellent for when you have people over – it can be made in advance.

I decorated the pots of crème with some whipped cream and lemon rind, but feel free to use your imagination - my first thought was to use raspberries, but couldn’t find any that day. I did find some beautiful and shiny blackberries, but they were so tart I had tears in my eyes after tasting one.

Pea, I hope you like my contribution to your party. May you have wonderful moments and lots of love in your new home!

Chocolate pots de crème
from The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Dessert

1 1/3 cups (11fl oz/340ml) heavy cream
1 1/3 cups (11fl oz/340ml) whole milk
185g (6oz) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped – I used 72% cocoa solids
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder or instant coffee powder – I used the latter
6 large egg yolks
¼ cup (1 ¾ oz/50g) sugar

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF. Have ready 6 size ¾-cup (6fl oz/180ml) ramekins and a shallow roasting pan.

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the cream, milk, chopped chocolate and espresso powder and cook, whisking frequently, until the chocolate is melted and the liquid is hot – do not allow to boil. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until well blended. While whisking constantly, gradually pour the hot chocolate mixture into the yolk mixture. Pour the custard through a sieve place over a 4-cup (32fl oz/1l) glass measuring pitcher. Using a large spoon, skim off any foam and bubbles from the top*.

Divide the custard evenly among the ramekins. Place the ramekins in the roasting pan and pour very hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the cups. Cover the pan with foil.

Bake the custards until they are set but the centers still jiggle slightly when a cup is gently shaken, 55-60 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and leave the ramekins in the water until cool enough to handle. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hours or up to overnight. Serve chilled.

* I completely forgot the sieving/skimming thing. :S

Makes 6 servings

Butternut squash compote – doce de abóbora (updated post)

One more recipe I cooked especially for Joao - one of his crazy out of the blue requests. :)

I had never made butternut squash compote before – we call it doce de abóbora and it’s such a traditional dessert here (not to mention easy to find) I guess I just took it for granted.
Luckily Google was there for me. I found many, many different recipes online but the minute I saw one of my dear friend Clarice’s post among the other links I knew my search was over.
After reading it, I found out she had gotten the recipe from another talented blogger friend of ours, Silvia – one more reason for me to try it. What a wonderful surprise it was: the compote was absolutely delicious!

While I was in the kitchen cooking the butternut squash, Joao kept telling me from the living room “wow, it already smells like doce de abóbora!”.
I hadn’t eaten this sweet in many, many years and honestly I can’t remember eating one as good as the one I made – I just hope my grandmother doesn’t read this! :)



This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by its own creator, the adorable Kalyn, from Kalyn’s Kitchen.

UPDATE: during these quarantine days I have been making this recipe quite often. It goes great with cheese and also for dessert. We like to have cheese and wine dinner on Friday nights, and this compote is a great addition to the chese board.

Butternut squash compote – doce de abóbora

500g butternut squash – peel it and remove the seeds before measuring – cut in 2cm cubes
250g sugar
5-6 cloves
½ cup unsweetened desiccated coconut

Place the butternut squash, sugar and cloves in heavy-bottom saucepan and mix well; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the squash is soft.
After it is cooked and tender, mash it with a potato masher until you get an even looking paste – there will be a bit of liquid still.
Keep cooking until the liquid is gone – make sure you stir occasionally so the compote won’t stick to the pan. It takes a while for this to happen, but it is worth it, I promise. :)
Remove from heat, mix in the coconut and set aside to cool. Keep it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Serve it on its own – it also goes really well with soft flavored cheeses.

Nic’s Lime Sugar Cookies

Isn’t it curious how much our taste for things changes over the years?

I was thinking about it the other day, while watching “Friends”. I used to love that sitcom, wouldn’t miss it for the world. Now, I don’t find it funny anymore. I watched two episodes, one right after the other – not a single laugh.

As a kid, my favorite flavor was chocolate. I loved chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, chocolate ice cream… A while later, back in my teenage years, I started my love affair with citrus flavors. And that love has grown stronger and stronger.

These cookies were on my "to try" list forever and I’m glad I finally made them – they’re irresistible! Believe me, you won’t be able to have only one, no matter how hard you try.

I borrowed Nicole’s recipe and used lime instead of lemon - the result was really good. I want to make them again, next time using lemons like she did.

Nic, thank you for such a wonderful recipe, sweetie!

Nic’s Lime Sugar Cookies

2 cups (400g) sugar, divided
grated zest of 2 large limes
1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 ¾ cups (385g) flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Prepare lemon sugar: In a mini food processor, blend ½ cup (100g) sugar with 1 teaspoon lime zest. Pulse several times until the zest is incorporated into the sugar. Put sugar mixture in a shallow bowl and stir lightly with a fork to break up any clumps. Set aside.

Prepare cookie dough: In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and remaining 1 ½ cups (300g) sugar. Blend in eggs, one at a time then add vanilla, lime juice, and remaining lime zest. Add flour mixture, one cup at a time, blending well after each addition, until all flour is incorporated.

Refrigerate dough for one hour.

Preheat oven to 175ºC/350ºF and line 2 baking sheets with waxed or baking paper.

Shape the cookies: Shape one tablespoonful* of dough into a ball and roll in lime sugar. Place ball of dough on cookie sheet and press down lightly with the bottom of a glass until cookie is about 1.25cm (½ in) thick (mine were thinner) – it might help to press the glass first in the sugar then onto the dough, then it won’t stick. Repeat.

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes at 175ºC/350ºF – I baked mine for 14 minutes.

Makes: 55 large cookies

* Nicole made giant cookies and used 2 tablespoons of dough into each cookie – she got 24.

Lemon Pasta

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post – you sure do know how to put a smile on a girl’s face!

There were two different holidays here in Sao Paulo and I didn’t go to work for 6 days in a row – how great is that? :)

I had a wonderful time at home, friends over for dinner, my sister spent a day with me (we played Super Mario Bros. a hundred times). I took care of my herbs and cooked some new recipes.



I’m pretty sure this pasta sauce is known by everyone, but since it was the first time I had lemon pasta and it tasted really good (without the addition of cream, which was a plus in my opinion), I decided to post it. And it will also be my post for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this week hosted by the dear Truffle, from What’s on my Plate.

Lemon Pasta
from Kitchen: The Best of the Best

400g spaghetti
3 lemons
1 handful chopped flat-leaf parsley
10 basil leaves, torn
100g (3 ½ oz/1 cup) grated Parmesan cheese
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Finely grate the zest of the lemons into a bowl. Add the juice of 2 of the lemons to the bowl and add the juice of the other lemon to the cooking water for the pasta. Cook the pasta until al dente.
Add the parsley, basil, parmesan, olive oil, salt and pepper to the lemon zest/juice. Mix together well.
Drain the pasta and immediately toss it through the sauce. Serve at once.

Serves 4