Ricotta and spinach stuffed shells - a nice idea for lunch on Mother's Day

Nigella promoted her cookbook in several different TV shows here in Brazil and in one of them she baked her chocolate banana muffins – she said that they would be a nice treat for breakfast on Mother’s Day. Her comment reminded me of this recipe I cooked a while ago, the first one I tried from Martha’s wonderful vegetarian cookbook: I find it perfect for a celebration day, since it can be put together in advance and kept covered in the refrigerator; all you need to do is let it come to room temperature, then bake it – easy-peasy.

Unfortunately I no longer have my mom around, but if I did I would probably make her both the muffins and the pasta bake – spoiling people with food is one of my favorite sports. ;)

Ricotta and spinach stuffed shells
adapted from the absolutely beautiful Meatless: More Than 200 of the Very Best Vegetarian Recipes

Tomato sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ large onion, finely diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 400g (14oz) can peeled tomatoes
¼ teaspoon sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
handful of fresh basil leaves
handful of fresh oregano leaves

Pasta and filling:
16 pasta shells (6cm each)*
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
100g frozen spinach, unthawed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch of freshly nutmeg
1 ¼ cups fresh ricotta – I used homemade
¼ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
handful of parsley leaves, finely chopped

Make the sauce: in a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the garlic, cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the tomatoes and the sugar. Fill 1/3 of the can with water, swirl it around and add to the saucepan. Season with salt and pepper, break the tomatoes with a wooden spoon then cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add the basil and oregano, stir to combine, cover and remove from the heat.
Cook shells in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and let cool. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

Filling: in a small saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, cook for about 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the spinach and cook until it thaws, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and remove from the heat. Cool slightly.
In a large bowl, mix together the ricotta, parmesan, spinach and parsley. Season again with salt and pepper.
Coat a 25x15cm (6x10in) ovenproof baking dish with the sauce. Generously spoon filling into shells and arrange in pan, dipping them into the sauce. Cover with foil and bake until bubbling, about 30 minutes.

* some shells might break in the boiling water, so it’s a good idea to cook more shells than you actually need

Serves 2 generously

White chocolate, pistachio and lemon cookies

Due to incorrect information given by the bookstore over the phone I arrived really early at the mall last Friday to get Nigella’s autograph; with all that time in our hands my sister and I needed something to do, so we ate lunch and then went to the movies. The options are pretty limited these days with “Iron Man 3” taking over half the theaters, so “Evil Dead” was our choice. The original terrified my teenage years and I thought that this version would be even scarier, but it turned out to be softer – at least in my opinion. I was expecting sheer horror after watching the trailer – I was so scared I couldn’t watch it properly and thought Zac Efron was in the movie when it was really Shiloh Fernandez (!) – but the 1981 version is a lot scarier. Needless to say, my sister liked the movie a lot. :)

I usually bake a lot on weekends but because my legs hurt so much I ended up resting more than anything. Slice and bake cookies are wonderful for times like those: if you have a log of dough in your freezer you’re only moments away from freshly baked cookies – and that is never a bad thing, right? :) If you agree with me, I suggest this recipe: the flavor combo is delicious and the dough can be kept in the freezer for up to one month – let it sit on the counter while you preheat the oven and the log will soften up a little, enough to be sliced.

White chocolate, pistachio and lemon cookies
from the always delicious and foolproof The Good Cookie: Over 250 Delicious Recipes from Simple to Sublime

195g (7oz) white chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup (95g) shelled unsalted pistachios
2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
½ cup (88g) light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
finely grated zest of 2 large lemons
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the white chocolate in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to small pieces. Add the pistachios and pulse again until finely chopped.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in zest and vanilla. At low speed, mix in the flour mixture. Stir in the pistachio mixture. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.
Divide the dough into two equal parts. Place each on a piece of parchment paper; shape dough into logs. Fold parchment over dough; using a ruler, roll and press into a 3.5 cm (1.4in) log – like Martha does here. Wrap in parchment. Chill in the freezer until very firm.
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Unwrap one log at a time (keep the other in the freezer). Cut into 6mm (¼in) thick rounds; space 5cm (2in) apart onto prepared sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown around the edges, 11-13 minutes. Cool completely on the sheets over a wire rack.

Makes about 50 cookies

Coconut and cherry banana bread and meeting Nigella

Something I never imagined possible happened a couple of days ago: I met Nigella Lawson! :) No, I wasn’t dreaming – she actually came to Brazil to promote her book "Nigella Kitchen" and I went to the book signing held in Sao Paulo. I had to stand in line for four hours – my legs hurt like hell up to this moment – but it was all worth it: the woman is a goddess. Beautiful beyond words, she greeted me with a kind smile and we talked for a couple of minutes before she signed my book – I was so smitten that I told her she was wonderful twice. :)

While leaving the bookshop I told my sister (who was with me the whole time, even though she did not quite know who Nigella was) that I felt really inspired to cook and bake after meeting Nigella. She told me that I should make one of Nigella’s recipes, and I did: a moist, perfumed banana loaf that lighten up my kitchen the same way Ms. Lawson lightened up my Friday. <3

Coconut and cherry banana bread
from the beautiful, always delicious and now autographed Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home

125g soft unsalted butter
4 small-medium bananas (450g/1 pound unpeeled), mashed
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (160g) plain flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2/3 cup dried cherries – mine were really big, so I coarsely chopped them
1 1/3 cups (133g) desiccated coconut – I used sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F*. Lightly butter a 900g (2lb) loaf pan, line it with baking paper and butter the paper as well – I used a 21x11xcm (8½x4½in) loaf pan.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan, and take it off the heat. Cool. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat the sugar into the cooled, melted butter, then beat in the mashed bananas, eggs and vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture. Finally, add the dried cherries and coconut. Fold well so that everything is incorporated, then pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for about 50 minutes, but start checking after 45 – a skewer inserted in the center of the cake should come out clean.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully remove it from the pan and cool completely over a wire rack.

* out of distraction I ended up baking my bread at 180°C/350°F

Serves 8-10

Orange and pistachio financiers

Financiers are one of my favorite baked goods: I love their chewy texture and they are also very versatile when it comes to flavors – the sky is the limit. A small bag of pistachios in the freezer was the perfect excuse for baking these financiers: since the lemons I had in my fridge were reserved for a cake I replaced their zest with orange and I think the result was better than the one from the original recipe.

Orange and pistachio financiers
slightly adapted from the always sinful and delicious Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth

½ cup (50g) almond meal
1 cup (135g) unsalted pistachios, lightly toasted and cooled
1 ½ cups (210g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2/3 cup (133g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 2 oranges
8 large egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, melted

Combine the almond meal, pistachios and the confectioners’ sugar in a food processor and process until the mixture is very fine and powdery.
Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the granulated sugar, orange zest, egg whites and vanilla just until smooth. Sift the flour and salt together over the batter and fold in gently. Carefully stir in the butter. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Generously butter 24 financier molds. Fill each mold ¾ full and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden and firm. Remove from the oven and immediately unmold onto a wire rack to cool. Dust with confectioners’ sugar to serve, if desired.

Makes 24 – I halved the recipe above, used 2-tablespoon capacity molds and got 24 financiers

Chocolate whisky cupcakes with peanut butter icing

Every time a new DH magazine issue arrives I go crazy with so many delicious recipes and it’s a tough task to choose which one to make first. This time, however, it was a bit easier: I decided I would only make something if I had all the ingredients home. Since I was out of cream cheese all the gorgeous cheesecakes would have to wait, that way I settled for these cupcakes: tender and deeply chocolaty, they are enhanced by the delicious icing. The original recipe called for smooth peanut butter but I used crunchy and thought that it worked really well, adding a nice bite to the smooth frosting. The recipe also called for a caramel sauce to be poured over the frosting but to me the cupcakes were sweet enough without it – more sugar wouldn’t do them any good.

Chocolate whisky cupcakes with peanut butter icing
slightly adapted from the always delicious and stunning Donna Hay Magazine

Cupcakes:
200g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons whisky
140g unsalted butter, chopped
½ cup (45g) Dutch-processed cocoa, sifted
2 eggs
1/3 cup sour cream*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
275g granulated sugar

Peanut butter icing:
160g icing sugar, sifted
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
80g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a 12-hole (½ cup capacity each) cupcake pan with paper liners.
Cupcakes: in a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Place the whisky and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and stir until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cocoa. Add the eggs, sour cream and vanilla and whisk to combine. Whisk in the sugar, then the flour mixture and mix until smooth. Pour the batter equally into the prepared pan (don’t go over 1/3 of the capacity or the batter might overflow) and bake for 25-30 minutes or until risen and cooked through when tested with a skewer. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing: place the sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale and fluffy, 6-8 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the cream and beat for 1 minute. Spread the icing over the cooled cupcakes.

*homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Makes 12 – I halved the recipe above, used 1/3-cup capacity muffin pans and got 9 cupcakes