Root Vegetables

Happy New Year from Paris this time! I am sure that you had a great time during the festive season and you are looking forward to the rest of your year. Are you feeling very positive about the year ahead but maybe a little guilty about your over-indulgences?

Chocolate caramel walnuts

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. I hope you all had lovely Christmas and New Year celebrations with your loved ones. We have been busy baking and preparing meals, which left us with no time to prepare a post for you. But we have some ideas already for the new year that we want to share with you. 

Firstly I'd like to show you a recipe for an excellent snack. I found it in one of my favourite magazines called KINFOLK. Amazing lifestyle magazine, do check it out if you can get hold of it or visit their website kinfolk.com.
This appealed to me instantly as I am a big fan of walnuts. Paired with caramel and chocolate it seemed like the perfect combination. And it did work. My sister enjoyed this snack very much as she loves dark chocolate!

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. 

Les Moules Marinières

I just spend severals days in « Bretagne » and I love the seafood, especially mussels, or as the French call them, “moules”. Mussels steamed in white wine and served in a sauce made from the cooking liquid with shallots is a classic French way of preparing mussels, « moules mariniere ». This is one of the easiest and loveliest ways to eat them. It is wonderful for an appetizer or a light lunch, and excellent with a glass of white wine and some crusty bread.

The Kiwai and it's health assets

First time I came across this tiny green fruit was at my local greengrocer. I did not even notice it as it is not the most appealing fruit, but he recommended it to me and let me try. I thought it was delicious. I have never heard of this fruit so I did some research.  Here I want to share with you what I found out.

The KIWAI is an ancestor of Kiwi. In English its called Hardy Kiwi and its also referred to as Siberian Kiwi. It also grows in Korea, Japan and Nothern China. It is approximately the size of a grape, very similar to kiwi in appearance and taste. It can be slightly sweeter.

It has been grown and collected from wild in Asia but only recently found it's way to the Western world. The fruit is very rich in vitamin C, also has a high amount of Vitamin E and Potassium. Its also high in fiber and rich in Folic acid.

BEEF SHIN RAGU

Autumn is in full swing and even though we had such lovely weather so far, the days are getting colder and the nights are longer. This calls for comfort cooking. The kind of cooking that takes long, but its worth the wait. I'm talking stews, casseroles and hearty soups.
My flatmate overheard me that I wished for a pressure cooker. She kindly bought me one for my birthday last year. It has been sitting on the shelf ever since as I was too scared to use it. I don't have much experience with it, only the horror stories how it explodes! Also I remember that my mum used it a lot and produced most delicious meals in it.  I gave it a go and cooked this amazingly tasty beef ragu. It was supposed to be from beef shin but since i didn't find this cut last minute, I used braising steak which worked well too.

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. 

CUSTARD TART

I would like to share a recipe for another tart. You must all think that all I bake is tarts. Which is true, but i do cook other things too. This one is just a quick post, I guess to end the summer on a high. There is a bit of work involved, but the results are worth it. The recipe is from Aran Goyoaga, the creator of Cannelle et Vanille blog. I recently ordered her book and I'm enjoying it immensely. All Arans recipes are gluten free, including this tart, but the one I made was with classic sweet crust pastry. I guess I was cooking for a different crowd...