after a whole day walking in Olida here it comes... Easter at Fortnums Restaurant and Reception Venue green tea - so refreshing, scones - giant, warm, light, fresh and fluffy with hand made raspberry jam and cream (and even a japanese maple leaf for decoration on the side), the potato wedges - so crispy on the outside and so soft on the inside with fresh chili sauce and melting milky sour cream... The restaurant is very busy with tourists and locals, the food is simple but made with so much love and the autumn lush garden is created to be vanished inside of... we would not rush if we knew Tosha was not waiting for us at all in the car
there are lots of people asking us when Mounir Slamani's recipe on Chorba [shor-ba] Algerian soup will b released. I just got an email from Alice Slamani with the recipe. Please read carefully, cook slowly and chew leisurely as it helps the society... :) MOUNIR SLAMANI ALGERIAN CHORBA [ shor-ba] SOUP NEW the dish was warded Golden Ticket from Channel 10 Recipe For Riches program
Ingredients: 500g of lean beef cubes (I use the “slow cook” marked product) 1 large onion 2 cloves crushed garlic 1 large zucchini 500g of crushed tomatoes (canned) 2tbs tomato paste 250g of chick peas (canned) 1 medium potato 50g of angel hair pasta 1 bouquet of coriander 1 tbs salt 1 tbs of pepper 1 tbs paprika 1 tsp chilli flakes 1 tbs olive oil 2 lt of water Method Use olive oil while heating the pan on high Add diced onion & garlic Add beef and brown Peel zucchini and cube, add to meat Peel potato and cube, add to mixture Chop coriander and divide into three portions Add 1/3 of chopped coriander Let it brown together, stirring thoroughly until caramlisation occurs Cover meat and contents with warm water Bring to the boil Add tomato paste Allow it to simmer and dissolve Drain chickpeas and add to mixture Add crushed tomatoes Bring to the boil Add remaining warm water Mix well Add spices Stir Add another 1/3 of coriander Stir Reduce heat to a constant simmer (low) Simmer for 1hour, checking every 20 minutes Taste at 1hr and check the tenderness of the meat. If meat is tender, chorba is fully cooked. Turn heat off Break angel hair pasta into 1/3rds. Addto soup Sprinkle remaining coriander on top and allow soup to rest for 15 minutes Ready to serve.
MARCH 2015 NEW
I am so excited about today's event mainly because it is promising to be phenomenal: I really miss Jason D. Varga's amazing performances here at our place; Ramarim shoes Brazil is going to be one breathtaking art exhibition as we got the best models in the industry (some new very good looking Russian girls too) and I heard that the shoes are something every girl is dreaming of plus Mounir Slamani's cooking class which I have very high expectations of and Sergey Lazo's songs which I know nothing about to be honest...
everything is ready...well... almost... our featured sponsors are: Floral Décor (thanks to Tanya Lyssenko) - gorgeous tender pink almost to the due of delicate violets - roses bureks with cinnamon and apples: http://www.burek.net.au/ (thanks to Milan M) delish cheeses (thanks to Andrei K, Olya and Blue Bay Cheese team) and kishes I made adding some of their cheese - they will melt in your mouth... and last but not least: European Bazaar Shop North Road Ormond (thanks toIrina Shutkina ) with some beautiful sweets and croissants with different yummy fillings - the smell is awesome and all around the house now...
plus there is a basket full of some surprising prizes and gift bags to give away to everyone including our crew and all the guests... it is going to be something very special...
what else ? you need to be here to see...
SEREZHA'S SALAD NEW plenty, live and recipe-ed
it was exactly ate when we sat down and eight I could see so much tasty food, but eye could only try a bit Be honey really wanted to bee at the table too so we invited the sticky jar we had beens and beats in the salad that have bean so lovely and it beet everything on the table with its rainbow colors No one guest he was our guessed as we looked as the guests of one cute puppy ourselves We did not need as we had everything we knead One knight and also: two is better than one night Everything was home maid, we would just need a made for washing the dishes ...and someone's nose and pause were everywhere till he needed to paws and fall asleep
cabbage salad rcipee: quater of a cabbage head 1/4 of large raw beet one small light green pepper one stalk of celery asian bean sprouts 4 garlic cloves 1 medium cucumber 1 large carrot 10 yellow mini-tomatoes one large red tomato 1 medium green-red capsicum white onion no-salt salt, grapessed oil, vinegar
on the side: with chicken filet-miniuon and chicken cutlets on skews adding crossants from European Bazaar shop for Polish fruit tea and cheese burek from Burek Company mango and banana juice broad beans and wasaby peas honey
shall we continue with
RUSSIAN TRADITIONAL CUISINE
I am introducing three new dishes today: one of them fish in marinade my grandpa used to cook for family occasions and I did not like it for one reason: there was so much other nice food on the table that fish was the least on my favor list... But it was healthy and I should cook it this week at home myself:
Fish with marinade
Need: 300g fish filet 2 white onions, sliced into semicircles 2 medium carrots, coarsely grated 3-4 garlic cloves, cut into circles 1 large tomato, diced into large cubes 2 tablespoons tomato paste 5 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 tablespoon apple cider or red wine vinegar half teaspoon ground red (cayenne) pepper
This dish can be served hot as a main course or cold as an appetizer (refrigerating it overnight will let it soak in the marinade and intensify in flavor).
Do: Cut the fish into equal pieces. In a medium bowl mix the flour with salt and red pepper. Pour 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil into a frying pan and put over medium fire. Carefully roll the fish in the flour mixture, one piece at a time and add to the pan. Fry for 3 minutes on each side.When the fish is ready, remove with a slotted spoon and transfer into a deep bowl. Place the onions, garlic, carrots and tomato into the same pan you used for the fish. Add another 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and stew the vegetables for 10 minutes, stirring periodically. Add the salt, sugar, vinegar and tomato paste and stir till well-combined while the pan is still on the stove. Add 250ml of water, stir once again and let the mixture come to a boil. Let the marinade boil for another 5 minutes, then take the pan off the stove and pour its contents over the fried fish. Let the hot marinade sit over the fish for 10 minutes, then serve: place 3 fish pieces per person topping with the cooked vegetables.
Napoleon Torte
Need: Dough: 12.5 oz butter 3.5 cups flour Half teaspoon salt 1 large lemon
Believe it or not, but we will create a true masterpiece from these seemingly ordinary ingredients. Let’s start with the dough.
Do: Measure the 3.5 cups of flour and pour into a bowl. Coarsely grate the butter on top of the flour. Stir the flour and butter with your hand to achieve the consistency of uniform crumbs. Squeeze the juice from the lemon and strain it into the same cup you used for measuring flour. Add the salt and pour enough water to fill half of the cup. Add the lemon water to the bowl with the flour and butter crumbs. Stir well. The dough should stir easily and absorb the flour. Place the dough into a plastic bag and put aside. Now it’s time for the custard. Mix half of the milk with the cup of sugar in a deep pan and place on the stove. Separately whisk together the remaining half-quart of the milk with 3 eggs and 3 tablespoons of flour. As soon as the milk and sugar boil, add the milk, eggs and flour mixture to it and continue to heat constantly stirring with a whisk. As soon as the custard thickens, take off the heat. Do not boil the custard and keep in mind that it will get even thicker while cooling. Divide the dough into as many parts as you’d like to have layers. The classical Napoleon must consist of 16 layers – no more, no less. But you don’t have to stick to this crazy number, so feel free to divide the dough into 8-10 equal parts. You would need to have perfect circular layers of dough to have a beautiful cake. However, it is recommended fixing the layers’ shape after baking: no matter how perfectly you roll each part of dough into a circle, the shape can get uneven in the oven. Roll each piece of dough in the flour and then roll out with a pin, generously dusting with flour along the way. Another piece of advice: roll the dough out on the parchment paper as it’ll be easier to transfer both together onto a baking sheet. Bake each layer in a preheated oven (180C) for no more than 5 minutes. As soon as you take the baked layer from the oven, cut it into a perfect circle using any large enough circular object, such as a pot lid, cardboard circle cutout or a large plate. The dough should be very thin and almost see-through. Have no fear though: even if it breaks, no one will notice once the cake is put together and covered with the frosting. Place the dough trimmings into a separate bowl and when all the layers have been baked, use the potato masher to crumble the trimmings. Now it’s time to put the custard frosting onto the layers. Again, if a layer breaks, do not panic. Just place the layer’s pieces carefully over the custard, and no one will ever know. 2 tablespoons of custard are enough for each layer. Make sure to cover each layer’s edges with the custard before adding the next layer. Do not cover the top layer with the custard right away. Let the cake stand for 30 minutes at room temperature and soak in the custard. Then place a cutting board over the top layer and apply a little pressure to the cake. Sprinkle evenly with the crumbled trimmings: first add the crumbs with your hand onto the sides of the cake, then pour the remaining crumbs over the top layer and spread evenly with a knife. That’s it! The Napoleon is ready.Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours before serving. Then slice and treat your friends to the most delicate and moist cake that literally melts in your mouth.
PERFECT MASH
my mom's recipe...
Need: 1 kg potatoes 60g butter 150ml milk 1 raw egg 1 generous teaspoon salt and parsley and dill for decoration Mashed potatoes are probably the most beloved and popular side dish in Russian cuisine. They are served alongside various meat, fish and poultry dishes. They also go extremely well with vegetable salads.
Do: Peel the potatoes and place them into a medium pot. Add water to cover the potatoes. Add a generous teaspoon of salt and place the potatoes on the stove. After the water boils, continue cooking for another 20-30 minutes. Warm up the milk separately. You can check the doneness of potatoes by sticking a small knife through one of them: if the knife goes through easily, the potatoes are done. Pour the water out. Keep the potatoes in the same pot where they were cooking. Add butter, egg and mash the potatoes using potato masher. If you do it right away while potatoes and their pot are still hot, you’ll end up with perfect, lump-free mashed potatoes without too much effort. Then pour in the hot milk, a little at a time, and continue to stir the potatoes. While you’re mashing and stirring, the butter will melt and mix with the rest of the ingredients.
MASHA: HONG KONG LUNCH
on the photo: organic rye grains, nz tomatoes, part of the fork, container, dill, artichoke hearts, dried blueberries and pecans, love of cooking by Masha
QUEENS CAN COOK AKA THE MOST PERFECT LUNCH AT YULYA'S
yes, you are right - and you think exactly like myself - you always thought that princesses can not cook... but what about the queens?.. I thought: well they are made from the same dough as princesses meaning - they can not cook too... and how WRONG we all were..
today's invite to my friend's place for coffee turned into a whole lunch accompanied by the thunderstorm behind the window and her majesty, Laser Queen ( of Laser, Skin & Wellness Clinic Melbourne) cooking... I am always up to a healthy and unusual food if you know what I mean: it is hard to surprise me; I also love my food raw, close to raw and with very simple highlight: "less cooking is better..." I always appreciate when I learn something new - a small elegant detail about "not cooking" or less work in the kitchen and also: I love food full of soul... nowadays I would never touch the fried food, no I would love the food taken from a can by professional cook on TV telling me that this is still good for me... as I might not, but my body knows and it gives me messages when my food is great and it is prepared well... I also like when the food is made with light heart and an easy going attitude...
Laser Queen took my food knowledge today on a different level. We had VERY GREEN SALAD - some (SOME!!!) ingredients included carrots, cucumbers, watercress, dill, parsley, vietnamese mint, coriander, some greens that I have never seen in my life before, raw chia seeds, tomatoes sunflower and sesame seeds, hemp (marijuana) seeds - all seasoned with hemp oil, lemon and some other oil I never tasted before - all organic products VERY TASTY SOUP - some ingredients included (all organic): chicken, carrots, parsnip, celery, broccoli, buckwheat, red hot chili, quinoa plus very little amount of Celtic salt; decorated with dill. The magic was in love of course applied to the cooking process...
I could literally see the vegetables and green leaves glowing under the queen's hands armed with the sharp knife... Laser Queen looked at each and every leaf she placed inside our bowls... That was one miracle MEAL... and I was singing on the way back home... Plus home made organic black coffee...
THE QUEENS CAN COOK AND THEY DO IT EXTREMELY WELL...
A LITTLE BIT JAPANESE
this is what happen when someone wants to be a little bit Japanese