Apple cake

Great cake for breakfast. I use whatever apple variety is "cheap" at the market because I am not that fancy. 

Ingredients:

500 gr of apples
100 gr of butter
100 gr of sugar
2 big brown eggs
150 gr of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 lemon
ground cinnamon
powdered sugar for topping

cook at 180 C / 360 F

Pre-heat the oven.

Start by peeling the apples and cutting them into slices. Place the apple slices into a bowl with cinnamon and the juice of a lemon and set aside.

Melt the butter and let it cool off then add the sugar and the eggs. Slowly add the flour (already mixed with the baking powder) using a sieve. When the batter is uniform and thick, grate the zest of a lemon and half of the apple slices and the juice. Cover a cake pan about 22 cm diameter with parchment and then pour in the batter. Place the remaining slices on top using your own imagination and bake it for about 40 minutes.

Let the cake cool off and then dust the top with powdered sugar.

Weekend Obsession // Brunch Menu Idea

MENU

Chicken and Waffle with Maple Sirup 

Quiche with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil 

Onion and Goat Cheese Quiche 

Zucchini Muffin

Fruit Salad

Pineapple up-side-down Cake

Mimosa 

Orange Juice

Sguazzo 

(50%Prosecco 50% Sparkling Water, Fresh Lemon)

Color-Blocking Asian-Inspired Noodle

My mouth is craving edgy flavors and my brain needs to visualize happy colors on my plate. This is the story behind the noodle dish.

In a frying pan, put some oil. When it is hot, throw a sliced onion and a sliced carrot (i have used the potato peeler) and grate some fresh ginger. The veggies need to cook but stay crunchy. Add some fresh tomatoes, pour some soy sauce to taste and add some honey. In the meatime cook the noodle in salted boiling water according to the instruction in the package.

Sauté the noodle with the sauce for a minute. 

To garnish add fresh chives or spring onion and fresh cucumber  for that extra crunch and sprinkle some sesame seeds. 

Lunch Box Idea: Crunchy Healthy Salad

Eating in the office could be extremely depressive, especially if you are stuck inside the building's premises because your office is in the middle of nowhere, you don't have a car and you only have 1 hour break anyway... Eating outside is also too expensive to do it regularly, could be heavy to digest and ticket restaurant are bullshit. Let's face it, what the hell can you buy with 5,29 euro worth of ticket restaurant for lunch??  not to mention that you have to go on a scavenger hunt to find where they even accept those stupid pieces of paper. I personally buy fresh food at the farmer's market and get the rest of the grocery at the local supermarket where of course they don't accept tickets restaurants for almost everything that I need except beer. I guess beer is more necessary than coffee, oil and maxi pad....according to the stupid team behind ticket restaurant. Here is a great lunch box idea that will let you forget about those stupid ticket restaurants and will make you happy. 

Ingredients for the Crunchy Salad:

Arugula
Cherry Tomatoes
Carrots
Fresh Fennel
Cooked Soy Beans
Cucumber
Canned Tuna

Dressing: Soy Sauce, extra virgin olive oil and sesame seeds

Dessert: Banana and Strawberries with a squeeze of a lemon 

Spaghetti with Artichoke Cream

The aftertaste of artichoke is so delicate and fresh that you won't even need to brush your teeth after your meal. I wish my toothpaste tasted like artichoke.
I got the inspiration for this dish after my last visit in Rome. I went to " Al Pompiere" http://www.alpompiereroma.com/, an awesome restaurant specialized in Roman-Jewish Cuisine and they served me this amazing plate of  Tonnarelli with Artichoke and Pecorino.
This is my own way of bastardizing the recipe.

For the sauce you will need:

• Artichoke heart ( if you have the fresh one then it is great, I have used the one in the can...)
• Garlic Cloves
• extra Virgin Olive Oil 
• Parmiggiano ( Pecordino Romano is better)
• Vegetable Stock-
• Salt and Pepper to taste

 Start by pan frying the garlic with some extra virgin olive oil. Add the chopped artichokes to the pan and saute them for 5 minutes. Add 1 or 2 ladles of Vegetables Stock, cover the pan and let it cook for 15 more minutes or until the artichoke are nice and tender. I have added 2 table spoon of double cream just to create a nice cream with the tender artichoke and the grated Parmiggiano ( be generous).

Cook the spaghetti " al dente" and add it to the pan with the sauce for few minutes so that the sauce can marry with the spaghetti. Drizzle with some Extra Virgin olive oil and freshly ground pepper.

Salmon, Pak-Choi and Cherry Tomatoes Tart

Quiche and Tart are normally my way of cleaning up the fridge. This doesn't mean it can't be super rewarding. It helps when you have awesome leftover like Pak-choi from a previous Chinese dinner feast and some Scottish salmon.  The trick to make a good quiche is to be generous with the eggs and with the double cream/ or Milk.

Here are the ingredients: 

4 eggs 
Smoked Scottish Salmon
Pak-Choi or Chard 
Cherry Tomatoes
400ml of Double cream
Puff Pastry

Preheat the oven at 180 and roll the puff pastry over a tart tin.  
Cook the Pak-Choi in a non stick pan with a crushed garlic clove and season it to taste.

Tuck the Pak-Choi into the tart case in between the salmon pieces and the cherry tomatoes. Gently whisk the eggs and cream, pour into the case and bake for 25 minutes, or until set. 

Paprika Vegan Sausage Soup Bomb with Orzo

I have always been a bit skeptical about those meat surrogate for vegetarian. It is just seemed wrong to use them until now. I must admit that it is otherwise very limiting to cook without them when it comes to preparing second courses or stews. 

Here is a delicious Soup Bomb with vegetarian Sausage, flavored in a lot of Paprika and Cajun Pepper with Orzo. I swear you will not miss the pork!

To make this you need: 

1 liter of Vegetable stock
1 Big Onion
1 Carrot
1 Celery
1 can of chopped tomatoes
6 Vegetarian Sausages
1 cup of Orzo
1 Glass of Wine

For seasoning:

A lot of Paprika, 
Cajun pepper 
Salt to taste
4 peppercorn 
1 bay leaf

 
Start by dicing the vegetable, oil a large pot and start gently cooking the vegetables. In the meantime seasoned the Sausage with a generous amount of paprika ( i like the smoked one), a little but of Cajun pepper to add a bit of heat. Dice the Sausage and add them to the pot. Pour the glass of Wine into the pot and higher the flames so that the alcohol can evaporate.

Once the alcohol has evaporate, add the stock, the can of tomato, french peppercorn and bayleaf into the pot. Once the soup reaches the boil, lower the flame, cover the pot and let it cook for at least 60 minutes. 

Season with salt, add the Orzo to the soup and let it cook according to the instruction in the package

Once the orzo is cooked, you can serve the Soup with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and and some Parmiggiano ( if you are not Vegan)