Today it is raining.....

And I want to eat something warm for lunch..... I was looking at www.thecoolhunter.net where I found my inspiration for today: I am going to make Broccoli soup and this is the recipe:

We need:
2 tablesp olive oil extra virgine
1 onion finely chopped
2 celery sticks chopped
2 cloves of garlic, pureed
1 1/4 l vegetable or chicken stock
700 gr of broccoli, chopped
2 tomatoes
250 gr spinach
1 tablesp. lemon juice
1/2 teasp. cardamom
pinch of salt
fresh ground pepper

Start:
Heat a pan on medium heat. Braise the onion and celery for about 15 mins. Stir slightly. Add the garlic and stir for about 2 mins. Add the stock, bring it to boil and leave it on a low heat for about 6 minutes. Add the broccoli, tomatoes and spinach and leave it cook for about 6 more minutes until the broccoli is cooked.
Take the pan from the heat, let it cool a bit and puree with a hand mixer or in the food-processor. Put the soup in a clean pan and reheat on medium heat. Than add the lemon juice, the cardamom, salt and pepper to personal taste.

This soups really warms me up! I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do! What are you having for lunch? Care to share?

It's a new day

What better than to start the day with a healthy-rich-of-vitamins breakfast? I always start the day with some nice yoghurt. Not the non-fat one, but preferably the Greek one with 3,5% fat. When there's no fat it will only make you go hungry after 2 hours..... I like Greek yoghurt because of its rich taste and its thickness.

Then add a handful of raspberries or strawberries or banana, whichever you prefer most and preferably what's in season.
Add a tablespoon of honey and add some chopped up almonds....MMMM and if you really want to make it superb, add some cinnamon.
There you have a perfect healthy source of vitamins and happiness!

What are you having for breakfast?

Time for dessert

And a dessert it is!
As you have already impressed your date with the delicious spare ribs, why not overly indulge him with this to good to be true chocolate mousse?

This is what you need:

250 gr dark chocolate
4 eggs
100 gr sugar
60 gr butter
4 tablesp. water

Start:
Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Then separate the eggs. In one bowl whisk the yolks, half of the sugar and the water into a foamy mixture. Put the bowl on top of a pan with slightly boiling water and whisk the mixture for about 3 minutes or till it reaches 55 Celsius.
Add the chocolate and the butter and mix till all the chocolate is melted and all is well mixed in. Take the bowl of of the pan.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites stiff and mix in the sugar while whisking. Keep whisking until all is stiff and shiny.
Stir one third of the egg whites into the chocolate mix. Then carefully blend in the rest of the egg whites until it is equally coloured.  Divide the mixture over 6 nice cups, bowls or glasses and leave it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.   Garnish with strawberries, raspberries or any fruit you think would be nice.

Enjoy!!!!

Date night... what to prepare?

OK, it's date night and for some reason, instead of going out for dinner, you've decided to impress the guy with your cooking.... o dear. Well we all know by now that preparing something really "chef worthy" will always tend to fail so we're not taking up that challenge. Instead, why not make something over which you can bond and is real 'guy-food' such as meat.... starting to get my point?
You know you will be an instant hit as I can not think of 1 girl who wouldn't make the poor guy a salad (with bacon for him), a soup or or maybe even worse.. something vegetarian (Vegetarians out there: please don't take this as an insult! I like vegetarian food a lot but statistically most guys still love their meat).
So we are making the guy home marinated spareribs! If you follow this recipe well you might even end up marrying this guy so if you might have doubts..... don't come knocking.... I told you so ;-)

Here we go, we need:

1 1/2 kg spare ribs, already cut by the butcher
1 onion, sliced in half
1 tablesp. peppercorns
a dash of Japanese soy-sauce

To make the marinade:

2 dl ketchup
1 dl Japanese soy-sauce
1 tablesp. grated ginger
3 tablesp. cane sugar
2 teasp. 5 spice powder
125cl sherry or rice vinegar

Start:
Cook the ribs in a large pot for about 30 mins with the onion, the peppercorns and the soy-sauce.
Then, mix, in a large roasting pan, all ingredients for the marinade.
Take the ribs out of the pot and put them in the roasting pan and cover them all in the marinade. Let it cool and marinade. The longer the better.

Pre-heat the oven to 180 Celsius. Take the ribs out of the roasting pan and put them on top of a oven-rack with underneath a deep oven-tray filled with water (this will catch the dripping marinade so it won't make such a mess) or simply use this. Put everything in the oven for about 30 minutes and turn them once or twice.

These spareribs will be as juicy and tender as possible. Serve them with roast or jacket potato and some vegetables or salad. The guy could probably care less about the vegetables but it is just to make it complete.

Enjoy!!!!!!

Fruits & Vegs of the Season

(click on the image to enlarge)

As I like to promote that we should go back to eating fruits and vegetables of the season I decided to put everything in a quarterly table. So since June just started, you'll already get an update next month! I will never forget when I was in Serbia last November. Most of the country consists of agricultural areas so for one month I saw the farmers harvest the corn, burn down the remaining and plough the land for the next type of vegetables/fruits they were planning on growing there. I have never tasted such good tomatoes as when I was there. So every time I had the opportunity to eat them, I did. However, eating mostly in the countryside the day came that the waiter said: sorry, they're out of season.... That was a first for me. Can you imagine sitting in a restaurant and they don't serve tomatoes? They eat what the land gives them and so should the rest of the world. It doesn't make any sense to eat strawberries in the winter. And if you do buy them, you'll notice that they taste like crunchy water with red colour... Nothing more. So therefore a handy list which vegetables/fruits you can buy now. And really try it, it tastes much better and it is also cheaper than the other vegetables available. So it is also money saving ;-)

If you have trouble with some of the vegetables, they're not all very popular, you can experiment with them as there are many recipes to be found on the internet. Also Jamie Oliver made a book on how to cook with seasonal veggies/fruits: Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life
He also gives tips on how to grow your own vegetables, isn't he smart!!! Good luck!

P.s: this list focuses on countries in Europe and is partly applicable for North America as I'm not sure how many of these vegetables are grown there. But of course feel free to see if you can get them, try to experiment, makes cooking more fun!

Rooftop Farming

Howdy Guys! How y'all doin'?

There is a new trend up and coming and I LOVE it. Since big cities as New York don't have the capacity to grow their own vegetables they have to get them from far... but that costs a lot of money for distribution etc... So some people started farming on top of a skyscraper! I guess they must have the office with the best view ;-)

No but seriously, I think it's a great idea to bring some green to mix in with all the grey. I hope this will inspire people around the world to, even though you live in a big city, even if you have the smallest pad, do try to grow some greens yourself. Start little by growing some herbs and then you can start growing your own tomatoes, strawberries and maybe even plant a small fig-tree. I guess you will surprise your guests when you say you harvested those luscious tomatoes yourself!!!!

Gotta love balls

I really have to share THIS (thank you Nigella) recipe with you. Whenever it is rainy or cold or you just need comfort food for whatever the reason ( I think Nigella is the Queen of comfort food), this is the meal you are looking for. It is very easy to make, you don't need to be a certified chef as long as you follow the recipe. Some people do tend to complain about the time it takes to make the meatballs.... I don't understand as you are done within 10 mins. If 10 minutes is even too much of a hassle, why don't you ask your kids to help you make them... then it even becomes fun!!! ENJOY!!!!