MARTIN, Paris

Its already April. Time flies so fast, soon half of the 2015 will be behind us. But finally we welcomed spring and life is happier with the sunshine. Everything is in bloom, the weather is warmer and people seem to smile more.
Barbora and Kat have reunited in Paris again, straight after the Easter break. The weather could not be better. We have visited a newly opened tapas restaurant close to the Republique and liked it so much we went back the next day. 

CELERY SOUP WITH POACHED EGG

As promised we are working on new posts for the new year more often. I hope you are still feeling motivated to keep healthy. I am not sure why we decide to start eating healthier in January since the fresh produce is so limited. But there are some vegetables that are full of vitamins and are available. For example celery. There is not much we cook with celery, its mostly used as garnish or crudités, but I recently found this soup recipe and gave it a go. It is fairly inexpensive vegetable and the whole soup will not cost you much and the quantities will feed at least 6 people. Or you can have it for lunch the next day, possibly freeze for another day.

Rice, Salad, Aubergine Pilaf

Even though the weather is quite cold now and we need to wrap up warm, I still fancy fresh and colourful food. The recipe I want to share with you today is a version of the classic pilau rice with extra bits added, to achieve more colourful and wholesome dish. It is filled with baked aubergine cubes, sweet apricots, nuts, spinach, avocado, mint, three different types of rice and lentils. The flavour combination is awesome, and its packed fool of goodness. I have cooked rice and green lentils together to save time and simplify the recipe. 

Informal summer dinner

This year we were lucky and got to enjoy warm summer full of sunshine. Even though I still had to go to work, evenings seemed longer and I just didn't want to waste them. Often I invited friends for dinner, just impromptu, no fuss, no hassle. Many times we enjoyed it on the balcony, or when it was few more of us, we sat around the table. This was one of those evenings. The wine was flowing and everyone was happy. The dinner I prepared was fairly simple, light and fresh, mostly inspired by Italian flavours. 

TOMATO TART

Summer is in the full swing and we have been enjoying all the wonderful produce available. This is the time of the year I wish I had a garden. Or allotment, somewhere close enough. To grow my own peas and radish and blackcurrants. But most of all, the seasonal tomatoes which are more flavoursome, sweet and tangy. All different kinds are available from the markets at the moments. Like a colourful painting you can smell and eat.
My mother came to spend some time with me an my sister. I wanted to cook something nice for her. She is a big fan of healthy food, so something fresh and light came to my mind.

I found this recipe on another blog. I was a bit worried that the tomatoes might be a bit too sweet. But it was wonderful. The crust is from wholewheat flour mixed with butter and cheese. The filling has a touch of honey and spring onions. My mum asked for fish so I bought some cod and quickly panfried it. It was flaky and soft. I also made a salad from everything I found in the fridge. Fennel, carrots, radishes and some rocket. We both enjoyed our dinner on the balcony. The warm weather is very unstable in London, I'm trying to enjoy every moment. It was lovely to have her around. In the morning, to say thank you I guess, she cleaned the kitchen before I even woke up.

SLOVAK SUMMER FOOD

This dish is very dear to my heart. When I go home to Slovakia, this is the dish I ask my mum to cook for me as a welcome home meal. It is traditionaly a summer dish, because peppers used to be a summer food. Everything is more seasonal in Slovakia. We have a different type of peppers, which I have not seen anywhere else so far. They are pale green colour with thiner flesh and they can be very spicy, or not. Its a russian roulette. Normally it can be established by smell. I always take a few back to England with me.

Because these peppers are not available in Uk, I've chosen these little baby peppers. The skin is not as thick so they will cook through in the sauce. They are stuffed with a mixture of mince pork and rice. Any leftover mixture is rolled into meatballs, slightly bigger then the Italian version. Some recipes use uncooked rice, I've tried it but the rice didn't quite cook inside the peppers and it was a bit crunchy. My mums recipe uses cooked rice and this worked very well .
Everything is cooked in rich tomato sauce. The sauce picks up the flavour of the peppers and the meat cooking in it. This gives it an irresistible flavour.

Chorizo, Potato, French Bean

Recently I didn't have much inspiration to cook. I spent most of my time baking macarons and then Im too tired to spend any more time in the kitchen. Hence the posts were a bit sparse.
In summer I always want to eat light. Make the most of the fresh vegetables. Most of the times I just chop everything in a big bowl. Everything I find. My mother was quite surprised with some combinations during my recent trip to slovakia. But she did enjoy it and so did I.

But today I want to talk about Chorizo. I think its my favourite spanish food. Along with Padron peppers which are so hard to find in London.

I buy the cooking chorizo. It releases all the spices and juice when cooked adding incredible flavour to the dish. It comes in a small pack of 9 mini sausages. But if you are not able to find this, use what you can.
This dish is simple, quick and very tasty. And there are leftovers too, sometimes.
All you need is a pack of new potatoes, pack of french green beans and a pack of cooking chorizo.

Boil, fry and eat.

No time to cook? Grilled ricotta and courgette salad

Spring is such a wonderful season. After long months of brown and beige food it's very refreshing to see some colour on the store shelves again. And with produce that is local, not exported from south america or Spain. In Spring, everything is small but full of flavour. Here I want to share a vibrant, simple plate of food just perfect for this season.
There is not much to say about this salad – it is as charmingly simple and straightforward as it appears . I'm sure you could replicate it even without the recipe. I have come across this dish while on a trip in Australia and i was bold over by its simplicity, yet exciting taste. Its fresh and light, the perfect lunch for a warm day. You can substitute the apricots for different fruit, figs for example or use different nuts, almonds will work nicely here.

To make this salad you will need some fresh ricotta, rocket leaves, nuts, olive oil, apricots,  baby courgettes, salt and pepper. 

Put a little bit of olive oil on the pan and fry the ricotta until golden. Cut baby courgettes in half lengthways and add them to the pan and cook until lightly brown and soft. Then put some rocket leaves on the plate, place the grilled ricotta in the middle. If you wish you can place the ricotta on a slice of toasted bread. Put the baby courgettes and nuts on the top of your ricotta. Garnish the salad with some fresh sliced apricot or figs. Taste and season with olive oil, salt and pepper. 
Lets start this season in a healthy way. 

GREEN PRAWN NOODLE SALAD

Are you ready to start your New Year the healthy way? You don’t have the time to cook? Try this quick, healthy recipe.

Not only is Vietnam a beautiful country, it’s also home of one of the best tasting cuisines in the world. Fresh herbs, spices and sea food are just some of the ingredients which make Vietnamese cuisine so good. One of my favourite dishes is a prawn and noodle salad. This juicy salad is a perfect antidote against all Christmas treats you may have indulged in.

Don’t foget to add a bergamote lime. It is a small yellow lemon that looks like a classic lemon but it is much more fragrant. It would be cross between a bitter orange and a lime.

Place noodles in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Stand for 10 minutes until tender , drain. Toss the noodles with the prawns, onion, coriander, snow peas, spinach leaves, soy sesame oil and lemon.

J'AIME LES CAROTTES

Two weeks ago I have discovered very cute bookstore specialising in food books « Librairie Gourmande » situated at 92, rue Montmartre in Paris. This two floor shop is a paradise of cookbooks covering every feasible cuisine. From Haute Cuisine to Gluten Free, Korean  and Japanese, they've got it all, including a fantastic selection of cross-disciplinary books on food design, food history, dieting, farming, food politics, etc.


As I wanted to cook the carrots I bought the book "Le Meilleur du potager " of Alain Passard, great vegetable specialist, owner of the three-star restaurant L'Arpège and I decided to cook the carrots «à sa façon» :

Depending on their size, cut the carrots into 4 or 6 strips lengthways . At low heat,put the carrots in a large sauté pan without overlapping. Add water so the carrots are just covered add a little salted butter and a little bit of olive oil. Cover and cook until almost all the water evaporates. Serve the carrots on hot plates.  

Your carrots will be "al dente"and they will keep all their flavor and vitamins.











Kabocha squash gnocchi

Another experiment with squash that has turned out to be delicious. I love gnocchi as it reminds me of potato dumplings we eat in Slovakia. They are not as difficult to make as I always imagined they would be and once you get the basic, you can experiment with adding flavours. These ones still contain enough of boiled potatoes.  Add flour gently, just until it combines, do not over mix, otherwise they will be heavy. There is no need for egg but do make sure you season the mix properly. Roll the dough into long thin sausage and cut into 2cm pieces. Cook in boiling water. They will float to the top once they are ready as most pasta does.

Tricolore

This classic salad is so simple to make but tastes delicious and looks beautiful. The colours compliment each other so well. We picked up some of the ingredients in the Farm shop and wanted to use them as fresh as possible. Creamy milky mozzarella with tomato and buttery avocado was just sprinkled with salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil. Make sure you use the Extra Virgin ones for salads. Peppery rocket adds another flavour and we finished it with lovely prosciutto ham and toasted ciabata. Now how could we make this more wintery ...?

Asian Style salad

The main ingredient for this salad are the glass noodles. To get these right, do not cook them in a pan, as I found out, only few minutes of boiling will turn them into mash. Place them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them, leave for about 10 mins or until your happy with the consistency. Now you can add anything you like. Red pepper, spring onions, some cos salad leaves, lightly cooked asparagus, avocado, coriander and roasted cashew nuts. Pour over a dressing consisting of virgin olive oil, soy sauce and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper and Voila,

For people who like it hot, add chilli or ginger. 

Superfoods

Today I made a salad from quinoa for the first time. I mixed it with roasted red beetroot, grated carrot and lightly toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds. All of these ingredients are so called superfoods! All charged with vitamins and antioxidants, just what I need for this windy rainy weather.