Perfect Morning moment

Imagine - Sunny morning, fragrant freshly brewed cup of coffee, homemade bread with fresh things on top.

Avocado sandwich

• Avocado
• red onion
• lemon juice
• salt/pepper
• smoked paprika

Mix everything together. Make sure the onion is chopped as finely as possible and season according to your taste. 

You might want to be little careful with the smoked paprika (my new spice obsession, which smells a.m.a.z.i.n.g), which can give your sandwich topping a somewhat funky colour. 

Cannelloni

We have gone past the magic date 17th of May and Exam period is officially done - hurrah! It also means that all the chocolate and basically all the other foods we once had in the cupboard are also done. After all the comfort eating it is rather lovely to get back to some sort of proper food. This next experiment came out of a serious trip into the deepest part of our cupboards: it turns out you can make quite a nice dish out of 4 lasagna plates, half a bag of spinach, an onion, chopped tomatoes, and some cheese.

• 4 lasagne plates.
• ca 200 gram of frozen spinach
• 1 onion
• Garlic
• Salt, pepper, chili.

Sauce:

• 1 can of chopped up tomatoes
• Chicken stock
• Chili

Chop up the spinach and onion, and fry lightly with oil and spicec.

Boil the pasta, be careful so they don't stick together. Cut them in half so you will get 8 cannellonis.
Place the spinach on the pasta and roll together, place in oven dish and sprinkle some grated cheese on top.
Grill in oven until golden.

Mix and heat up the tomato sauce and serve with the cannelloni.

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Avocado Pasta

 

A while ago avocado pasta was THE thing to try, at least according to food blogs out there in the bloggosphere. The simple truth is that it is yummy - if you like avocados that is. And to continue our obsession with foods that can help your thinking muscles, we though avocados would be great to try, as it seems to quite useful (as are tomatoes). The following is my version of the dish, which is quick (takes the same amount of time as for your pasta to boil) and easy and will feed two people.

 Avocado pasta

• two avocados
• two handfulls of cherry tomatoes
• garlic and chili infused oil
• squeeze of lemon
• salt 
• Pasta of your choosing 

While your pasta boils, peel the avocados and smooch them with a fork in to a paste. Squeeze some lemon on top and add salt. Mix in the quartered tomatoes. 

Drain your pasta and drip a generous amount of the garlic chili oil on it. Mix the avocado/tomato mixture with the pasta and leave it on the hob for a moment so that the tomato pieces are warmed up. 

Serve it as it is or with some parmesan cheese. 

If an infused oil, like the one I used, is not available, add some heat from chilies in a different way by either dried chilies or fresh. Avocado pasta really needs that little punch that chili offers. Some dried garlic powder might be nice to add as well with a drop of olive oil.

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Goat to see this!

Easter is a holiday (or nightmare) for sheep across the globe. Although it is common to eat lamb - which by the way have always seemed a bit sad to me, little lambs being so cute and all. I have always hoped (this frail thing which is hope) that people, including me, were really eating grown up sheep rather than baby sheep, but ah well...

       Goats, on the other hand, have had a way better time lately with their sudden surge in popularity. For example with the ever growing trend of "goating" popular songs and making memes such as these:

We like goats too, especially their CHEESE. Or rather cheese made from goats milk. Yum. This, see below,  is a lovely savory pie, or quiche to use its french and fancy term. Also yum. Try it!

Spinach and Goat's Cheese Quiche

Crust

• 3 dl flour (preferably a mix of wheat and some darker flour)
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 0,5 dl (ca 50 g) melted butter
• 1 dl of milk 

Fill with!

• ca 250 gram of frozen spinach
• 2 cloves of garlic
• dash of olive oil
• half a jar of Red Pesto
• 100 g Goat cheese
• 2 eggs
• 2 dl milk
• 1, 5 dl grated cheese  
• Salt and pepper

Start by making the dough, spread out in a baking tin - push the edges quite far up so there is a lot of room for the filling. Put the oven on 200 degrees and pre-bake the dough for 10 minutes.

Fry the spinach lightly with garlic, olive oil, then adding the pesto. 

Original recipe included sun dried tomato an fresh basil instead of pesto,
but this was a cheaper and quicker alternative. Or as we like to say:

Put the spinach mix in the tin, then stir together the rest of the ingredients - apart from the goat cheese - and pour on top of the spinach and mix together lightly.

The final, and most important step: crumble the cheese and sprinkle generously on top. 

               In the oven for 30 minutes.

Serve with a simple green salad! 

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Spur of the Moment

It is funny sometimes how life works: you stumble onto something or make a spur of the moment decision and it ends up being better than in your wildest dreams.  Yours truly ended up in Glasgow due to a spur of the moment decision, this blog was created similarly and so are my stuffed tomatoes. The stuffing came about accidentally by combining things that happened to be in the kitchen - but what to do with it?
 -Why not stuff something...
 -Tomatoes?
 -Oh, yes!!

Stuffed Tomatoes

• 6 Tomatoes
• 150g Feta cheese
• 0,5 cup Mung beans (soaked and boiled)
• 7 Spring onions
• Spices
• Oil (for the oven dish)

Chop off the cap of the tomatoes and wee slice from the bottom (so they will stay up right in the oven) Take a spoon and scoop out the insides to make space for the filling

Mix the feta, cooked mung beans and spring onions and season according to taste

Stuff the mixture into the tomatoes and pop the caps back on.

Bake in the oven in a oiled dish for 25 minutes in 200C

Speaking of Spur of the Moment; check out my new oven dish! I should be banned from stores that sell kitchen ware ( especially when stuff are on sale) because I tend to end up buying something like this blue beauty - and yes, I call my oven dishes beauties...

Taco time!

                               
A week to go till the faux freedom that is Springbreak - a whole month of niceness - until one realises that exams will appear at the end of it. Nevertheless, one step closer to spring and summery(er) weather! Before that though, a few more essays to be completed while rain and hail batter our windows.

What would be more suitable on a cold Friday night than some spicy tacos? Everything seems more festive in a taco shell!

Chickpea and spinach tacos

1 cup of dried chickpeas, soaked and boiled
1,5 cup of frozen spinach (defrost and drained)
1 cup of diced tomatoes (i used cherry tomatoes)
2 gloves of garlic
Dried chili flakes and salt
Oil

Heat up the oil, then roast the garlic and chili flakes in it before adding chickpeas and saute them until warm all the way through.
Add tomatoes (and some spring onions if you have them) and finally the spinach. Season to taste! Mash it a little bit, crushing some of the chickpeas,  until the veggies have almost formed into a paste.
    A little indulgence near the weekend might prompt you to add in a bit o cheese and sour cream ;) - enjoy!  (Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

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Studenty soup

Seeing the blazing sunshine outside, soup might not be the first thing on your menu. But such a cheap and lovely lunch idea could not be ignored. I'm off to enjoy the vitamin-D, have a good one!

It can't get much more studenty than this, but it is surprisingly yummy.

Red Lentil Soup

1 cup of red split lentils
2 + cups of water
1 can (400g) of diced tomatoes 
1 veggie cube, plus other spices and herbs according to taste




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Death Star Canteen

This stuff should come with a warning - the pasta is angry! Or is it be the cook who is slightly heavy handed with the chili-flakes that should come with the warning sign? Either way, today's dish comes from the canteen of the Death Star via Eddie Izzard.

Penne All'Arabiata (for 2)

• Penne pasta
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes 
• Chili flakes
• Herbs ( basil, thyme etc. dried or fresh) 
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Boil the pasta.
2. Sauté chopped onion, garlic and chili flakes. Add the chopped tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Let simmer for 5minutes (until the pasta is cooked) add herbs and mix the sauce and pasta

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The Tzatziki Battle

Carrot vs. Cucumber

If you are one of those who have never understood the glory of those watery, green things called cucumbers - look this way! A quick and tasty dip for veggies, naan-bread and more. Also lovely as a simple sauce with chicken.

Carrot Tzatziki

• 1 Crème fraiche (or a nice yoghurt if you prefer)
• 1 Carrot
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (or more depending on taste)
• Dash of black pepper

Pour the crème fraiche in a bowl, grate the carrot and garlic. Mix well with black pepper according to taste.

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But what about the rest of us that don't share Nina's views on cucumbers? Are we to be left out? I say, NO - and here is why:

• 500g natural yogurt
• 1 large cucumber (without seeds)
• 2-4 cloves of garlic in tiny bits
• 1.5 lemon (the juice of)
• Good amount of fresh mint (or dill)
• Salt and pepper

1. Drain the yogurt (I use a coffee filter), dice or grate the cucumber. Leave the cucumber in a colander with a pinch of salt to get rid of excess moisture.
2. Mix the everything in a bowl, add lemon, mint, salt and pepper according to taste. and let it stand in a frige for 10-20 minutes.

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Power Lunch

Long day at the Uni? Library? Work?
Here is something easy and filling to take with you.

Lentil Salad with Lemony Chili Dressing

Puy lentils
Rocket
Baby plum tomatoes

Dressing
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Dried chili and garlic flakes
Sugar
Salt

The basic rule of vinaigrettes is to have a oil to acid ratio of 3:1; I make mine closer to 2:1 ratio. Key thing is to keep tasting. Mix all dressing ingredients in a bottle or a container that can be closed tightly, and shake the living daylights out of it until it has emulsified.

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To be pasta, or not to be pasta…?

Zucchini ‘pasta’ in two ways

                          Procrastination

Avoiding doing something for as long as possible, sometimes not doing it at all.

As a uni student you find yourself procrastinating (a lot). Sometimes when procrastinating on other people’s food blogs, you stumble on something unexpected: zucchini pasta -  in which the zucchini is the pasta!? For a person who tried (and failed) making a lasagna by replacing the pasta sheets with slices of zucchini, this was something that had to be tried. The essay writing will wait another day.   

As it turned out, Nina had been making another version of the same dish during last summer; so here we go, Zucchini ‘pasta’ in two ways:

Anna’s

1 zucchini (smallish : 300g)

1 cup of sliced mushrooms

50 g of walnuts

2 garlic cloves ( 1 is enough, but I am a garlic girl)

feta cheese according to taste

1 or 2 spring onions for garnish (and to give a little brightness)

sunolive oil for the pan

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

      1.  Either press or finely chop the garlic onto a frying pan, add mushroom slices and the walnuts. Sautee in the oil until the mushrooms are cooked. Add salt and pepper

      2.   Use a potato peeler to slice the Zucchini into fine thin ‘pasta’ strings. Do not use the middle bit with the seeds (that is watery!!)

      3. Pop the ‘pasta’ onto the pan with the mushrooms etc. Give it a quick stir for 2 minutes (don’t overcook!)

      4.  Choose a nice plate or bowl – pop your beautiful ‘pasta’ on it and sprinkle some feta cheese and chopped spring onions on top.
                                                                      5.  Enjoy!

Oh and the budget! This is less than £5 for 2.

This recipe was inspired by: http://www.lily.fi/juttu/kesakurpitsapasta. Modifications were made. For example, no bread in mine, and mushrooms added on a whim… J  

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Nina's

You need:
1 Zucchini
1 clove of garlic
1/2 of a red onion

1. Chop the onion and garlic, put in a pan with olive oil and fry gently.
2. With a potato peeler, slice into thin 'pasta' strings.
3. Finally, put the zucchini in the pan with the onions, and mix well. Serve immidiately.

Enjoy!
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A little bit of Heat

After 24 hours of particularly Glaswegian-style weather: rain, snow, sleet and hail with little rays of sunshine in between (all in 5 minute intervals), I am craving something with a little bit of heat to it.

Tomato soup with a kick

400g of diced tomatoes
1 white onion
1 clove of garlic
1 red chili (medium heat)
1 veggie stock cube (and some water - if needed)
fresh basil (dried will do as well)
some goat's cheese to balance the heat
a drop of oil

1. Sauté the onion, garlic and chopped chili.
2. Add the diced tomatoes, veggie stock and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes
3. Just before serving add the basil and top of with the cheese.

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