How to cook duck?

June 23, 2016 By cammylee12 in Uncategorized No Comments Tags: duck

Duck can not only be baked, but also fried, braised, boiled, steamed and so on…

Usually duck is cooked for a holiday table, especially at Christmas and New Year. Most people prefer to cook stuffed duck, choosing the toppings to their taste. However, duck can not only be baked, but also fried, braised, boiled, steamed and so on. There are plenty of great recipes with duck breasts or legs…

But first Passion.ru will explain you how to choose a good duck:

It’s better to buy a duck of the meat type. It has gentle, soft and tasty meat. You can also buy a duck of the meat and egg-laying type. Egg laying type of duck should be avoided for cooking.

Best duck for cooking is a two months old duck. By this time, its weight reaches two kilograms or more, and the meat becomes tender, soft and delicious. In this case there is no characteristic unpleasant smell of duck.

The duck must be well-fed and with a smooth, shiny, but not sticky skin. Meat should have saturated red color on the cut.

10 secrets of cooking duck

Cooking duck is a little more complicated than, for example, chicken, so we picked up helpful tips on how to properly cook duck, so it turns out tender and tasty.

Choose a duck weighing 2 to 2.5 kg – it is a guarantee that the bird is young.

In the process of cutting it is required to cut the ducks butt, so that there was no odor.

For a roasted duck to be more juicy and flavorful, use apples, oranges, mushrooms with rice, prunes for the filling.

Time of cooking duck can be calculated like this: 40-45 minutes for 1 kg + 25 minutes for browning, temperature – 180 degrees. At lower temperatures, the cooking time increases. That is, for a roasted duck weighing 2 kg it takes approximately 1 hour 45 minutes.

If you have frozen duck, you should defrost it in advance on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.

Bake and roast duck can be on the grid, on the baking sheet, in utyatnitsu on pan in foil, in a sleeve for baking. If you decide to bake the duck whole, it is best to use a sleeve or foil, cutting them for 20 minutes until it is ready to duck browned.

If you bake the duck without a foil sleeve, be sure to water the duck heated with fat throughout the cooking process.

To duck breast did not dry, it should be quickly fry in a pan on medium or high heat.

There is another secret for beginners housewives: the duck can be a little boil (about 20 minutes) to cool and continue to cook for the recipe, then it definitely will not be raw inside.

If you purchased already singed a duck, then it is not necessary to singe. If not – it is recommended to singe the bird, especially if there is a “hemp”.

The best recipes of duck – Duck stuffed with fruit

Ingredients:

Young duck – 2-2.5 kg,
Apples – 300 g,
Pear – 300 g,
Plums – 300 g,
Granulated sugar – 3 tbsp. spoons,
Butter – 3 tbsp. spoons,
Cardamom – a few grains,
Carnation – 2-3 bud,
Juniper dry (berries) – 1 handful
Dry basil – 1 tbsp. a spoon,
Salt,
A mixture of peppers.

Preparation:

Singe the duck, if necessary (anneal on an open fire, such as a gas burner), then rub with a mixture of salt and pepper inside and out.

Remove pits from apples, pears and plums. Cut the fruit into cubes of medium size. Add to fruit sugar, powdered cardamom, juniper, clove, basil and mix – it will be filling.

Fill the inside of the duck prepared stuffing, sew the hole with a thread and fasten with toothpicks. Put the duck on a baking sheet. Melt the butter and pour it over the duck. Place the bird in the oven, preheated to 180 degrees, for 1.5-2 hours. Do not forget to constantly water duck with heated fat.

Duck stuffed with sauerkraut, in the sleeve for baking

Ingredients:

Young Duck – 2-2.5 kg,
Sauerkraut – 600 g,
Onions – 2-3 pcs,
Offal of duck – 500g,
Pounded crackers of white bread – 1 cup,
Salt,
Pepper.

Preparation:

Rinse the duck, pat dry and remove with tweezers, if necessary, the remains of feathers. Then, cut the duck with a little fat.

Onions cut into medium-sized cubes and then the melted duck fat to a soft state. Add the sauerkraut and cook it with onions about 20 minutes Season with salt and pepper and then cut apart into pieces of duck giblets.

Connect the ready offal and cabbage with onions, stir and stuff the duck. Fix with toothpicks or sew with a thread. Place the stuffed duck into the sleeve for baking and cook in the oven at 160-180 degrees for 2.5-3 hours.

Duck breasts with orange sauce

Ingredients:

Duck breasts – 2 pcs,
Oranges – 2-3 pcs,
Honey – 2 tbsp. spoons,
Cinnamon – 2 pinches,
Balsamic vinegar – 1 tsp,
Butter – 20 g,
Salt,
A mixture of peppers.

Preparation:

Breasts wash, dry, put on the table, the skin up. Make incisions on the breasts diagonally first in one direction, then in another. Season the breasts salt and pepper.

Put the breasts on a well heated pan, skin down, and cook over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, then turn the breasts and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Ready breasts put on a sheet of foil and wrap. Then you need to give them a little “rest”.

At this time, squeeze the juice from oranges, pour the fat from the pan and put it back on a strong fire. Pour into pan, orange juice, honey, balsamic vinegar, cinnamon, add a little salt and pepper. Warm everything on high heat until the volume is reduced by half. Add the butter and stir the sauce and remove from heat.

Duck breast cut diagonally into slices 3-5 cm thick, put on a platter and pour the sauce.

Ragout of duck

Ingredients:

Young duck – 2 kg,
Carrots – 2 pcs,
Parsley root – 1 units,
Onions – 2 pcs,
Potatoes – 600 g,
Tomatoes in own juice without skin (crushed) – 400 g,
Wheat flour – 1 tbsp. a spoon,
Dill and parsley – 1 bunch,
Bay leaf – 2 pcs,
Salt,
Pepper.

Preparation:

Singe the duck, if necessary, then rinse, cut into small pieces, salt and pepper. Roll the pieces of duck in flour, fry in a dry frying pan on both sides for 5 minutes. Transfer the duck pieces in a saucepan. Add a small amount of juice from the tomatoes and simmer for 25-30 minutes.

Peel the potatoes, carrots, parsley, and onion. Everything except the potatoes, chop finely. Potatoes should be cut into slices; add salt.

Chopped carrots, parsley root, onion slightly fry in the same pan, where the fried duck is. Add roasted vegetables, potatoes, bay leaf and tomatoes to the duck and cook under the lid until ready. Serve with chopped greens.

The sauce for the pasta with duck

Ingredients:

Duck breast – 2 pcs,
Onions – 2 pcs,
Garlic – 4 cloves,
Celery – 4 units,
Tomatoes without skin in its own juice (chopped) – 400 g,
Greens to taste – 1 bunch,
Oil for frying,
Salt,
Pepper,
Ready-made pasta.

Preparation:

Young duck breast without fat cut into cubes of medium size. Fry in a hot pan with oil over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then you need to put the duck breast in a saucepan, add salt and pepper and mix well, cover and leave it for 20-30 minutes.

Onions and garlic are to be peeled and chopped. Chop celery and the greens. In a frying pan, where the roasted duck is, put chopped onion, garlic and celery. Cook them in a frying pan until soft. Then put tomatoes into the pan, add the greens and stir, bring to a boil. Make fire less and cook for another 5 minutes at this point; you can add salt and pepper sauce.

How to fry liver for it to be tasty?

June 18, 2016 By cammylee12 in Uncategorized No Comments Tags: liver

How to cook liver for it to be soft and delicious? We’re going to tell you some secrets of cooking an extremely tasty and healthy food.

What kind of liver can be fried?

For the purpose you can take chicken, beef or pork liver. The most important benefit of eating chicken liver is the great amount of selenium and Vitamin B 12 in it. It’s cooked fast and has a delicate flavor.

Beef liver has Vitamins B, A, D, E, folic acid, chrome, magnesium and iron. liver

Pork liver includes lots of proteins, vitamins and dietary elements.

How to choose and precook liver?

To make such a dish you should choose a fresh, smooth and shine liver with a bit fine structure. To find out whether the liver is fresh or not you can push it with your finger. If there is no track left or it disappears quickly, the liver is good. And vice versa.

Before cooking it you should rinse it thoroughly, remove all the films, ducts and a gall bladder if it’s necessary.

How to make liver tasty?

It’s important to remember that liver is very soft. To make its taste even more delicate you can keep it in milk from 30 minutes till 2-3 hours. Then the liver will get the most delicious and delicate taste.
Cut the liver into pieces of 1-1,5 cm wide.
Add some oil into your pan, put it on the fire and heat it well.
Roll the liver pieces in flour and put them into the pan. At the same time you should hear how they sizzle. If there is such a sound, you’ve heated up the pan to the right temperature.
Fry the liver from one side for a minute and then turn it to the other and keep it some more time in the pan. To identify the right time when it’s ready, you can prick it and the liver should let some juice out. If it still bleeds, you need to fry it some more time. But if you prefer it raw, you can stop cooking.
It’s better to add salt and pepper to your dish at the very end of cooking process. Otherwise it will be tough.
Don’t keep it on the fire for too long. Liver is cooked very fast and takes very little time. In this case it will be tender and toothsome.

Pomegranate bracelet salad. Traditional recipe

June 13, 2016 By cammylee12 in salads No Comments Tags: salad with pomegranate, unusual salads

Pomegranate bracelet is a real decoration at a festival board

If you are going to organize a party, we offer you to cook a wonderful, bright and exotic pomegranate bracelet salad.

Apart from its unusual and nice taste, this salad is a perfect dish at the festival board as far as it looks very attractively!

If you don’t like such a great amount of ossicles, you may cook this salad, using pomegranates without any ossicles. This fruit has a light pink color without its typical sour taste. The seeds are enough soft to chew.

Pomegranate bracelet salad: Ingredients

300 gm of chicken fillet;
2 pomegranates;
2 beets;
2 carrots;
2 potatoes;
1 onion;
3 eggs;
70 gm of walnuts;
200 gm of mayonnaise;
1 tablespoon of 9 % Vinegar;
1 teaspoon of sugar;
black pounded pepper to your taste;
salt.

Cooking

Boil beet, potatoes and eggs. Let them cool and peel the ingredients. Grate them and put each product in its plate.

Boil chicken fillet in a salted water and cool it. Now cut it into small cubes. You can also fry them a little in vegetable oil.

Chop the onion finely and pickle it for 15 minute. Add salt, sugar and vinegar.

Grate the carrot. If it is too juicy, then strain off the excess juice.

Dry out the walnuts, peel and pound them.

Put a glass in the center of a wide plate to form the future bracelet. Start laying out the salad round the glass by layers. Add salt, pepper and smear each layer with a thin mayonnaise grid in the next sequence:

potatoes;
beet;
carrot;
walnuts;
chicken fillet;
onion;
eggs;
chicken fillet.

Now take the glass out of the salad, smear it with the mayonnaise and coat the top with the pomegranate seeds.

Now cover the dish with a food film and leave the dish in a fridge for 4 – 5 hours to let it soak.

Bon appetite!

Do you like coffee with milk Italian style? Learn how to make latte

May 19, 2016 By cammylee12 in drinks No Comments Tags: coffee, latte

Latte is the famous Italian coffee beverage with whipped milk, similar to the layered cocktail. Knowing the tricks, you can make it with no difficulty and can prepare infinite variations of the subtle nuances of taste.

Classic coffee latte macchiato

Ingredients for one serving:

ground coffee – 1 tsp;
milk 3.2% fat- 1 cup;
water – 0.5 glass.

In Italy they say that the latte macchiato (in Italian – spotted milk) would be ideal if for its preparation you use the coffee mixture containing no less than 15-20% of Robusta – one of the two types of coffee beans. It is also called Congolese. Robusta loses to Arabica in taste and aroma, but it gives the drink an unprecedented strength and intense color.

There are just two types of coffee. Robusta and arabica, also known as an arabian coffee. All other types of fragrant beans are just grades.

Brew coffee the usual way. You can use the coffee maker, a Turk or a coffee machine. In any case, the coffee should be quite strong. Pour milk into a separate container and warm up a bit. Do not bring it to boiling, 50-60 °C would be enough. You can make it either on an electric or gas stove or in the microwave (40 seconds at 600w power in the microwave oven is enough).

Now we have to whip the milk. Take your home mixer or blender, it’s impossible to do by hand. Beat thoroughly, no less than 5 minutes to form an airy and fluffy foam. If have neither blender nor mixer, you can take a French-press ( a device with a mesh plunger for brewing tea or coffee by extraction method), pour milk into it and lowering the plunger in the milk intensively move it up and down. If you won’t be lazy and would work hard, you’d get a rich and thick foam. Then carefully pour the milk in a prepared beforehand transparent Irish high-glass or a wine glass. Carefully lay out the foam, which has remained in a blender or mixer,on top of milk.

Next goes the most crucial moment that requires skill and accuracy. With a thin stream, slowly pour the brewed coffee into the whipped milk. The stream of coffee must be very thin and unbroken. This is the only way to get a real latte, the main feature of which is the autonomy of each of the layers of coffee, milk and foam. They should in no case should be mixed with each other. Provided the milk was correctly whipped and the coffee was accurately poured in, you will enjoy a delicious three-layered cocktail: coffee between milk and an airy milk foam.

There exists a variation of the classical recipe you can take an instant coffee for preparing latte, but it should be of extremely high quality. Then the final beverage will have little difference from the classical one.

Tip: do not let the layers mix, the coffee should be a few degrees hotter than milk. You can also use another trick – take a teaspoon and drop it handle first at a slight slant into the milk until you reach the coffee cream, but not touching it (literally 1-2 mm from the surface). Start gently pouring the coffee into the spoon with a thin stream, from where it would relatively evenly flow down the handle and into the glass.

At the end of the process of preparing the classic latte you can sprinkle the milk froth with powdered cinnamon or grated dark chocolate. The latte should be drunk or served with a long spoon.

Latte with syrup

This recipe is addressed to sweets lovers. To make it you will need all the same as for the classic latte, plus 20 ml of a syrup, which should be poured into the high-glass first, before the milk. Choose the syrup according to the preferences of the person for whom you are cooking. If you are making it for yourself, use the syrup with your favorite flavor. Essentially, any would do: chocolate, fruit, vanilla, and so on, except citrus which would make the milk go sour. Connoisseurs believe that you get the most successful coffee latte when you use the black currant syrup. latte

Original latte

Ingredients for one serving:

natural finely ground coffee – 1 tsp with slide;
sugar – 1 tsp incomplete;
salt – on the tip of a knife;
3.2% fat milk – 1 cup;
liquor Baileys – 1 tbsp;
cocoa powder – 1/3 tsp;
water – 2/3 of glass.

Warm up the glass in hot water and pour the liquor in it. Heat up milk but do not boil. Whip it in a blender at high speed for 3-5 minutes, then pour into a warmed glass of liquor. In an empty clean and heated dish, in which you will make coffee (Turk, bucket, pot), put salt, freshly ground coffee, sugar and warm up for 10-15 seconds at a very low heat stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Then pour cold water into the pot and continue heating (remember stirring) as long as the coffee foam rises. Immediately take off the fire, do no allow to boil.

Frothed milk at this point would divide into two layers: the milk at the bottom and the milk foam at the top. Carefully start pouring the thin stream of coffee in the middle of milk. If done correctly, the coffee will be in the middle of the layers, i.e. bottom – milk, medium – coffee and on top – the foam. Prepare beforehand a cardboard template in the form of a heart, circle or any other shape, attach it to the foam and sprinkle with cocoa powder. Remove the template and adjust the picture with a wooden stick (for example with a toothpick), if needed. Now your latte is not just very original, it is also beautiful and flavory.

How to bake the chicken in the oven: tips and recipes

May 9, 2016 By cammylee12 in chicken No Comments Tags: bake in oven, chicken

To bake a really tasty, juicy and appetizing chicken in the oven you need to both choose the right bird, observe the cooking temperature and time, and pick correctly the accompanying ingredients.

At first glance, there is absolutely nothing complicated in cooking a chicken or any other bird in an oven. But this is only at first glance. Despite the seeming simplicity of the preparation, this dish requires cooking skills, knowledge of certain secrets as well as use of your imagination.

It is important to carefully approach the selection of poultry carcasses. Try to buy chilled or fresh-killed chicken, which differs from the frozen poultry with much more rich flavor and tender meat. Chicken Carcasses of chickens younger than one year and with maximum weight of 1.5 kilograms are best suited to be baked in the oven. Pay attention to the freshness of the poultry. Fresh chicken should have a well-developed muscle tissue and rounded breast without protruding bones. The color of the skin should be smooth, pale yellow with a pink tinge, meat and poultry fat should be equal color without spots. If the skin color is streaked with gray and the muscle fibers are uneven, not pale pink shade, and the fat is too yellow, it’s better to not purchase such poultry. You won’t be able to make a tasty dish with it. Do not forget to sniff the chicken before buying. A good fresh bird has a pleasant sweet smell.

Choosing dishes for baking, try to find a cast-iron or a ceramic form. Such cookware heats slowly and evenly, which will exclude the possibility of burning or uneven roasting of the poultry. However, metal and glass baking dishes will also work fine, but will require more careful attention to the temperature regime as they have a tendency to overcooking. For those who want to easily bake a whole chicken, we would advise to look in specific stores special deep forms with a high cone in the center or separate metal stands for grilling a chicken in a vertical position.

During roasting you should monitor the temperature regime as well. A chicken is considered fully cooked when the internal temperature of the meat exceeded 85°C. But this can only be traced using a special thermometer. To determine the degree of readiness without special gadgets follow the simple guidelines. Preheat the oven before you put the prepared chicken in. The baking time is about 40 minutes per kilogram of carcass weight at a temperature between 180°C and 200°C. You can check the chicken readiness with a toothpick piercing it in the breast area. If the appearing juice is absolutely transparent and clean, without any mixture of blood and excessive turbidity, then the chicken is ready. But do not keep the chicken too long in the oven, otherwise its meat will be too dry and will acquire an unpleasant odor of remelted fat.

Getting a really delicious browned crust on the chicken is not difficult. If your oven is equipped with a grill, then just use it 10 – 15 minutes before the end of cooking. For those who do not have a grill in the oven, it may be advisable to cover the chicken with a small amount of melted honey, or a thin layer of sour cream. But it is better to avoid using a mayo bought in a hypermarket. Mayonnaise will give the chicken a not too pleasant smell of vinegar and will soak it through with too much fat that would adversely affect both the taste of the finished dishes, as well as its dietary qualities.

The easiest way to quickly and deliciously bake a chicken in the oven is to bake it on a thick layer of coarse salt. Pre-heat the oven. Wash the bird carcass, cut the breast in the center and open like a book. Rub the chicken with grated black pepper. Pour one kg of coarse salt on a pan and put the chicken on it with its back down. Bake until done. Do not worry, the chicken will not turn over-salted. It will absorb as much salt as needed for good taste, while even baking and a crispy golden-brown crust are guaranteed t you without any hassle. Besides, you will always know how to quickly and easily cook a chicken in the oven.

A chicken would turn juicy, tender and flavorful if baked with lemon and garlic. Thoroughly wash the chicken carcass and dry it using a paper towel or a napkin. Cut one large lemon into thin slices, 6 cloves of garlic cut in petals. Rub the chicken with salt and black pepper, stuff with half of the lemon slices, add 1 – 2 sprigs of thyme or ½ tsp dried thyme leaves. Put the remaining lemon and garlic slices on top of the chicken, wrap with the parchment paper and place in a baking sleeve. Bake until done at 180°С for 1 – 1.5 hours.

The chicken turns very tasty if cooked according to a simple Turkish recipe. Wash the chicken, dry, rub with salt and black pepper and place one small sour apple into the carcass. In a separate bowl, mix 2 tbsp. of mustard, 2 tbsp. spoons of lemon juice, two crushed cloves of garlic and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Smear the sauce of the chicken and place it in a baking dish. Cut 5 potatoes, 3 carrots and 5 large onions into middle-sized cubes. Mince 50 gr Of parsley and thyme greens. Mix vegetables and herbs and spread around the chicken. Bake in the oven at 200°C. The first 30 minutes the chicken is baked with vegetables, covered with a lid. Then remove the lid and bake until done.

You would get very juicy and tender chicken with delicious crispy crust if it is baked sprinkled with bread crumbs. Wash the chicken, dry it and cut into four pieces. Mix one glass of bread crumbs with 1 tbsp. of chopped fresh or dried garlic. In a separate bowl whisk two eggs with a fork. Rub the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, dip in whisked eggs and mix thoroughly cover in bread crumbs with garlic. In a wide frying pan warm-up 3 tbsp. spoon of vegetable oil on strong fire and quickly fry the breaded pieces of chicken on both sides until they are golden brown. Cover the baking dish with oil and put the fried chicken in it. Place 50 g. of butter on each piece of chicken. Bake the prepared chicken in the oven for 40 minutes at 200°C. Serve with a fresh vegetables salad.

Chicken stuffed with Brussels sprouts would decorate any holiday table, while the perfect combination of good juicy roasted chicken with rich aroma of delicate stuffing would pleasantly surprise you. Heat 3 tbsp. of butter in the frying pan. Add 2 fine slices of bacon and fry for 2 minutes, then add 1 chopped onion and 2 minced garlic cloves. Fry for another 2 minutes. Add 200 g of well washed and dried Brussels sprouts, salt and black pepper to taste, mix well, cover and stew on medium heat for 10 minutes until soft. Coll the cooked cabbage slightly and grind in a blender to a state of a large sized minced meat. Wash the chicken carcass, dry, rub with salt and black pepper, stuff with minced cabbage, put in a baking dish and place in oven preheated to 180°C. Bake for 40 – 60 minutes until done. Serve the portioned slices with a side dish of stuffing, and sprinkle with lemon juice.

And at the end we would like to offer a completely extravagant North American recipe of a chicken cooked on the beer can. Chicken cooked in such a way, turns very juicy, flavorful and savory. Wash and thoroughly dry the chicken. In a separate bowl, mix 2 tbsp. of paprika, 2 tbsp. of brown sugar, 1 tbsp. of salt, 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of dry celery and 1 teaspoon of dried mustard.

Rub the chicken with the resulting mixture inside and outside. Warm one metal can of weak beer to room temperature and make several holes in the lid using an opener. Pour out part of the beer, leaving little more than a half in the can. Carefully stick the chicken bottom part on the beer can and place on a baking pan in the oven, preheated to 200°C. Bake for 1.5 hours at 180°С until done. Take the cooked chicken off the can, put on a platter and let it rest for 10 minutes. Immediately serve with a fresh vegetables salad and a spicy sauce.

Romantic dinner recipes: Top 10 appetizers, salads and desserts

May 6, 2016 By cammylee12 in appetizers-sides, desserts, salads, Valentines Day No Comments Tags: deserts, romantic dinner, salads

The St. Valentine ’s Day is one of the most popular occasions for celebration among pairs all over the world. Such celebration is very intimate: a romantic dinner for two, valentines, candles, declaration in love and tenderness. Cook some light salads and desserts and you darling will definitely appreciate this.

It’s better to cook together as such culinary work will make you both even closer. We provide you tens of appetizers, salads and desserts!

Champagne mousse

Champagne mousse with cream and ratafia

300 ml of double cream;
4 tablespoons of sugar;
200 ml of champagne;
Small ratafia for setting the table.

How to cook?

Beat up cream and sugar, add champagne and beat up this mass once more.

Cool it a little and serve with ratafia.

Bon appetite!

Sweet apple cups

A dessert with baked spicy apples and a filling from dates, sultanas and oranges

2 middle-sized apples;
80 gm of dried dates;
80 gm of sultanas;
2 tablespoons of Muscovado sugar;
a teaspoon of cinnamon, cardamom, ground cloves;
lemon peel and orange juice.

How to cook?

Cut apples in half, remove a core and a part of pulp, using a dessert spoon.

To cook the filling, mix chopped dates, sultanas, spices, sugar and orange peel. Put 2 teaspoons of the filling into each cup of the apple.

Lay out apples on a plate and cover them with orange juice. Now bake then in a microwave (500w) for 5 – 7 minutes.

Bon appetite!

Peppers with mozzarella à la Italia

A dessert made of spicy Bulgarian peppers with mozzarella and anchovy

2 red Bulgarian peppers;
5 dried tomatoes in vegetable oil;
4 anchovy in oil;
a small bunch of sweet basil;
a handful of olives;
balsamic vinegar.

How to cook?

Divide peppers in half, remove seeds and septum. Oil them, add salt; bake about 20 minutes at 200˚.

Pound tomatoes and olives with 2 tablespoons of oil. Divide 4 anchovies in half and (8 strips). Add pepper.

Take out peepers from the oven, pour off the juice and add the filling. Close them by a half of mozzarella ball.

If you have a grill in the oven, put the dish under the grill for 3 minutes. You can also bake them at maximal temperature about 2 minutes.

Before to serve the dish, sprinkle it with vinegar and olive oil.

Bon appetite!

Salmon envelops

Patties with salmon and leek

4 leeks (chopped white part);
25 gm of butter;
100 gm of double cream;
6 sheets of puff pastry;
2 salmon fillet.

How to cook?

Stew chopped leek with 3 tablespoons of water and a bit of butter within 10 minutes. Let it cool and add sour cream. Add salt and pepper.

Roll out the pastry. Put the sheets one by one, shifting them a little. Put a salmon fillet in the center and cover it with a vegetable filling. Lift up the edges and make a suture. Turn the envelope and repeat once more. Oil the top with bitter.

Bake at 180˚ for 20 – 25 minutes.

Bon appetite!

Chocolate soufflé

Chocolate soufflé with cream and cocoa-powder

75 gm of melted chocolate;
1 tablespoon of double cream;
2 eggs;
cocoa-powder;
a bit of mutter and sugar.

How to cook?

Heat up the oven till 180˚

Oil 2 heatproof cups with butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Beat up yolks and cream into melted chocolate.

Beat up proteins to get thick foam and add a chocolate mass gradually.

Lay out this mass in cups and bake 10-12 minutes.

Bon appetite!

Salmon Carpaccio

Salmon appetizer in marinade with onion, eschalot and olive oil

400 gm of fresh salmon;
1 lemon;
1 onion (eschalot);
1 tablespoon of dill;
2 tablespoons of olive oil;
capparis;
lettuce leaves and bread for setting the table.

How to cook?

Wrap up already washed and dried salmon in a cling film and leave in a freezer for one hour.

To cook marinade: grate a lemon peel and press out the juice. Mix this chopped dill, eschalot, granulated sugar, olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.

Remove a film from the fish and slice it diagonally. Lay out one layer of the pieces on a plate and cover with the marinade. Coat the plate with a cling film and let it cool within 2 hours.

Serve the dish with fresh bread and lettuce leaves. Add black pepper.

Bon appetite!

Prosciutto with pear and rocket

Italian ham, pear, cheese and rocket

6 pieces of Prosciutto ham ( or some other smoked ham);
1 teaspoon of lemon juice;
1 pear;
a handful of rocket;
several cutting of Parmesan cheese;
salt and Pepper;
12 toothpicks.

How to cook?

Slice the pear. Sprinkle it with lemon juice and spices.

Lay out some rockets, a slice of pear and a pinch Parmesan on each ham slice.

Make a roll and fix with toothpicks from both sides. Divide in half.

Bon appetite!

A salad with cuscus and nuts

100 gm of cuscus;
200 ml of vegetable broth;
spring onion;
1 red Bulgarian pepper;
1 small cucumber;
50 gm of Feta;
2 tablespoons of Pesto sauce;
2 tablespoons of cedar nuts.

How to cook?

Put a cuscus in a salad dish and add broth. Cover with a cling film and leave for 10 minutes.

Chop onion, pepper and cucumber. Add them to the salad.

Use a fork to stir Feta and Pesto. Add cedar nuts and dress the salad.

Asian chicken salad

A chicken salad with coriander, lettuce, chili pepper, and red onion

1 fillet of chicken breast;
juice of a lemon cedar;
1 teaspoon of granulated powder;
100 gm of lettuce leaves;
a handful of chopped coriander;
¼ red onions;
1/5 chili pepper;
1 cucumber.

How to cook?

Boil the chicken breasts and divide them into fibers.

To cook the sauce you need to mix juice and lemon cedar with granulated sugar.

Remove all seeds of pepper and crumble it. Cut a cucumber and coriander. Slice the onion.

Mix all the ingredients and dress them with sour – sweet sauce.

Bon appetite!

Bananas in caramel

Bananas fried in caramel sauce with ice – cream balls

3 big bananas;
4 tablespoons of Muscovado sugar;
2 tablespoons of butter;
100 ml of double cream;
1 tablespoon of fried seeds of sesame;
Several balls of ice – cream to serve the table.

How to cook?

Divide bananas into 4 parts and roll each piece in 2 tablespoons of sugar. Fry in butter. Roll up in a foil.

How to cook the sauce?

Mix the rest of oil, cream and sugar. Heat up on a slow fire to dissolve sugar. Add the sesame.

Serve bananas with caramel and ice – cream balls.

Bon appetite!

Carmelitas with Homemade Soft Caramel

February 18, 2014 By Cammylee in desserts No Comments

Finally feeling a little better today. That flu, or whatever it was, had me down for the last 8 days straight. It was so awful. Head pounding all the time, and if you weren’t sleeping or laying down is was like the world was spinning all around you. Now I’m getting better. Still not 100% back to normal, but good enough to be up and moving around. Thank heavens!! But now to tackle the house. Ugh!

I had made these a while back, but haven’t been feeling good enough to bake or cook, so I decided to pull this out of my photo stash. This picture was after I decided to take my cooled Carmelitas and reheat them before taste testing. I couldn’t resist the way the caramel was spilling out like that. I had to take a picture. So yummy. I think the only thing I would have done differently is used dark chocolate instead of the milk chocolate chips, but that’s only cause I have a thing for dark chocolate 😉 Seriously amazing. Like a oatmeal cookie in a caramel lava waterfall with just a dash of chocolate. You gotta try this!!

Carmelitas with Homemade Soft Caramel

1 batch homemade soft caramel recipe (see below)

3/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Soft Caramel

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Start off by preparing caramel. Combine all caramel ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stirring occasionally bring to a boil.

Once mixture comes to a boil reduce to medium heat so that mixture stays at a steady, moderate boil.

Cook mix for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until caramel starts to thicken and mixture resembles a golden color. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, oats.

Flour.

And baking soda.

Pat half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of an 8×8” pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust.

Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips.

Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel. Return to oven and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting. When Carmelitas have cooled to room temperature, cut and serve.

Red Velvet Tres Leche Trifle

February 10, 2014 By Cammylee in cake, chocolate, desserts, Valentines Day No Comments

Printable Recipe

I’ve been crossing my fingers for the past couple of weeks, hoping, that we weren’t going to get this awful stomach flue that is going around. This last week has been a nonstop battle against it. Hand sanitizer. Antibacterial soap. Vitamins. You name it. But the last 5 days I’m afraid that we’re most likely coming down with it. We’re all grumpy and tired, and hungry in the way that nothing sounds good, and even if we do eat, nothing settles right. Maybe, knock on wood, this will be the worst of it. And if there are a few grammar errors, please forgive me. I feel like I’m writing through a fog. And then, since I’m venting anyways I might as well add that, I have my husband that’s deciding that he’s gonna do a juice diet. So even though he’s not sick, and never does get the bugs that pass around within our household, he’s not going to be eating either. Which frustrates me cause he’s like my all time favorite person to feed.

In my grumpy, not feeling good, nothing sounds good, my stomach hurts but I don’t want to eat, mood, I decided to throw this together. I’ve been having this problem where I think, “Oh this would be such a cool new recipe to create”. Then I make it and photograph it, and get on Pinterest just to find out someone else has just created and posted the same exact idea. It’s maddening. How my mind is working in sink with so many other people is beyond me. I’m trying to decide now whether just to embrace it and post the recipe anyways, or scrap it.

This at first was one of those recipes. I was originally going to just make Red Velvet Tres Leche, but then was on Pinterest and someone else has just done it. I figured I’d take it a step further so it would still be original and turn it into a trifle. On the upside, even though I’m being a total “Oscar the Grouch” right now, I’m super excited with how this turned out. Who was the genius that decided to take that glass of milk they were drinking and pour it over the cake? Ingenious! One of my favorite ways to eat Red Velvet!! Or cake for that matter 😉 Enjoy!!

Printable Recipe

Red Velvet Tres Leche Trifle

1 (18 ounce) box Red Velvet Cake Mix, plus ingredients listed on box

1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups whole milk

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 (8 ounce) container cool whip, softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2/3 cup butterscotch caramel topping

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Prepare cake mix as directed. Place cake batter in a 9×13 inch pan and bake according to directions. Let cool completely.

In a medium bowl whisk together evaporated milk, condensed milk, and whole milk. Set aside. Using a kebab skewer to poke multiple holes into the top of cake. Poor milk mixture over top of cake and let sit until cake has completely absorbed.

In a separate bowl combine cream cheese and mix on medium speed until smooth. Add cool whip and powdered sugar and mix well. Set aside.

Cut sheet cake into cubes, and using a spatula, scoop cake cubes out of pan and place into the bottom of trifle dish. Cake will be very moist and will fall apart easily, so handle with care.

Make 2 layers of cake cubes, and then spread half cool whip mixture over cake cubes. Top with half caramel and mini chocolate chips.

Repeat layers a second time.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Nutella Marshmallow Cereal Treats

February 6, 2014 By Cammylee in chocolate, cookies and bars, desserts, Gluten Free No Comments

Printable Recipe

Nutella Marshmallow Cereal Treats

1 (10 ounce) package mini marshmallows

6 tablespoons butter

2 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 cup Nutella, plus 1/4 cup to drizzle

7 cups Cocoa Pebbles Cereal

1/3 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts, optional

Spray a 9×13 inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large sauce pan heat marshmallows, butter, and corn syrup over medium heat until marshmallows are almost completely melted but still some clumps remain. Add 1/2 cup Nutella and stir until completely smooth.

Take off heat. Add cereal and fold mixture until marshmallow mixture is consistent throughout. Scoop into the 9×13 inch pan. Spray fingures with cooking spray and press cereal mixture evenly into the pan. Set aside an let cool for 10 minutes until it comes to room temperature.

In a microwave safe bowl heat up 1/4 cup Nutella for about 30 seconds. Drizzle over cereal treats and top with toasted hazelnuts. Cut and serve.

Flourless Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies

February 1, 2014 By Cammylee in chocolate, cookies and bars, desserts, Gluten Free No Comments

Printable Recipe I’ve been meaning to post all week, but after spending last weekend in Jerome and Sedona, I’ve been trying to catch up on all the house work that accumulates when your gone. It was seriously the most beautiful weekend with some much needed alone time with my hubby. I totally forgot my camera so I ended up resorting to using my phone, but we’ll definitely have to make another trip and this time be sure to bring my camera.Jerome is this super quaint little town in Northern Arizona. It sits on the side of a mountain overlooking these gorgeous canyons below. It and Sedona have tons of fun art galleries.But one of the must see stops in Jerome is by this cool old falling apart building, where this old hippy gives blown glass demonstrations every 10 minutes from “12ish to 5ish” (Something I’ve always wanted to learn how to do). But this week was back to business and work. I decided to make these gluten free cookies that ended up being a huge challenge. You know how when you bake all the time how you can get kind of cocky? Like instead of reading over the whole recipe you just start skimming over them and then get this feeling like “I got this”. As if you’re now a culinary genius and can make any recipe with the simplest of ease. Then you totally bomb a recipe 3 times to give you a good dose of humility again. This was that recipe for me. First I accidentally used white sugar instead of powdered sugar and my eggs whites went flatter then a pancake. The second time I learned the hard way that after you add the warm chocolate to the marshmallow/egg mixture not to try and scrape additional chocolate out of the bowl and start mixing it again. Don’t do this same thing or else your dough will break apart and your cookies will come out completely flat (if you can roll the goo into the powdered sugar at all).

The third time was finally successful. I ended up with these gooey, lava cake, pudding like cookies that literally melt in your mouth. They seriously have so much flavor. And did I happen to mention that they melt in your mouth? I’m gonna say it again. These cookies literally melt as soon as you put them in your mouth. It’s like eating melted chocolate disguises as a cookie. One of my all time favorite cooking recipes ever. You Gotta Try This One!!! Enjoy!!

Printable Recipe

Flourless Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (about 9 ounces)
3 large egg whites, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar, divided (plus 1/2 cup for cookie coating)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray 2 large baking sheets with nonstick spray. Set aside.

Melt 1 cup chocolate chips in glass bowl in microwave, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes. Set aside and let cool slightly.

Using electric mixer, beat whites in large bowl to soft peaks. Gradually beat in 1 cup sugar. Continue beating until mixture resembles soft marshmallow cream.