Champignons Risotto

This is one of my favorite dishes. The rich taste, the creamy texture, the ingredients used, easy and quick to make.. It is one of those dishes you can make for your own delight, or as gratitude to your guests. An all times dish, a classic, a full enjoy: Champignons Risotto!

I must say that I didn't see any recipe for this before I made it the first time. I knew there is a world known recipe, but I just thought on experimenting a bit, and the result was great. So this recipe, step by step is nothing I've read or seen made in other recipes. To be dead honest, I have not read any other, as I am quite happy with my own result. I hope you enjoy it as well!

Ingredients: (3 servings)

• 125 gr / 3/4 cup White rice
• 300 gr / 2 1/2 cups Sliced Champignons (white or brown, your choice)
• 1/2 Glass White Wine (Dry, Chardonnay for example)
• 4 Tbsp Shredded or grounded gratin cheese (Gouda for example)
• 4 Tbsp Sour Cream
• 3 cups of hot or boiling Water.
• 1 small Onion, sliced or diced
• 2 Tbsp Chopped Leek
• 2 Tbsp Chopped Parsley
• Salt, pepper, a bit of garlic, nutmeg for seasoning.

Preparation:

In a large cooking pan, at medium fire, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil, add the chopped onions and leek. Mix and cook until onion is begining to get transparent. Then add the sliced Champignons, mix and let it cook for a minute or 2. Then stir the mix and cover with a lid. Rest to cook for around 3 to 5 minutes. When the mushrooms, onion and leek are beginning to get covered with the cooking water, remove the mushrooms mix to a bowl keeping the liquid in the pan, and reserve.

Add the rice to the remaining liquid in the pan. Add 1 cup of water. Stir the rice constantly in paced and rhythmic movement (for best result, draw an 8 with your cooking spoon). Keep moving for around 5 minutes. When the water begins to vaporize and the rice begins to absorb and begins to look creamy, add another cup of water. Keep the movement in the rice.

The movement of the rice helps to release the starch, which is what makes it creamy. After same procedure as before, add the 3rd cup of water, stir and cover with the lid. After around 5 minutes, when the rice is even more creamy, and maybe already sticky, add the half glass of wine. Stir, cover again and reduce the heat to minimum.

Let cook for a minute. Add the mushrooms then season and mix well. Add the sour cream and mix well.

Then add the shredded cheese and mix (don't you love how the fine threads of the melted cheese covers the rice when stirring?). Remove from the heat and add the chopped Parsley.

Serve hot and enjoy!

Chicken rolls with spinach and mozzarella

I don't know if this dish has a name, if it was already made and if its known in the recipes books around the world. I just came with the idea of making the chicken like this a couple of weeks ago, but had no chance to make it until some nights ago.

I was a bit skeptic about the result, because the spinach always reduces so much, and the mozzarella drops a lot of liquid when being cooked, so I was not sure of the final outcome. But.... the result was even better than I thought it could be! The combination of these 3 main ingredients its simply amazing! All three kept their flavor, not mixed but combined. No more blabling, you just should try it!

Ingredients: (3 servings)

• 3 Chicken breasts
• 2 cups of Spinach (frozen -defrosted- or if fresh, already cooked or steamed)
• 1 ball of Mozzarella cheese
• Salt, pepper, garlic, ginger, paprika, marjoram for seasoning
• Wooden sticks for cooking or serving

Preparation:

Heat a large teflon frying pan, spread or spray some olive oil on it. Get the chicken breast and laying it flat in your cutting board, cut lengthwise to obtain 2 flat layers out of each chicken breast. Smash a bit -careful not to break or shred the meat- with a cooking hammer or the back of a glass (I used a ceramic glass because i don't have a hammer o-O`) to make it even more flat to be easier to roll it. Be creative, but careful not to break the meat.

Slice the mozzarella in 6 equal sticks. Season the spinach with salt, pepper and garlic. Spread the 6 layers of the chicken breast and season in both sides of them. In a separate plate, lay one half chicken breast and spread over it around 2 Tbsp of the spinach. Then lay one stick of the mozzarella in one of the short ends.

Begin to roll until you reach the opposite end. Secure with one wood stick and reserve. Repeat for the rest 5 chicken halves.

Place them evenly in the hot pan. Cook uncovered for around 5 minutes. Then turn around and cover. All the liquids will flow and cook the chicken inside without getting burnt. Once the liquids are steamed, turn around, remove from the heat and serve hot.

To accompany I made a quick couscous with fresh radish, tomato, carrots and celery.

Enjoy!

Spinach Quiche

Last time when we went to buy veggies and groceries, I had 2 beautiful and bursting dark green broccoli bunches in my hands. Then came my hubby and said: remember your son is tired of broccoli, can we change? I almost cried! haha! So well I moved on from greens for this week, and got some nice spinach leaves! (sadly frozen because can't find them fresh in this time of the year).

Some days later, I came up with the idea of using the last frozen pieces from a huge pumpkin I got last autumn, so I decided to combine them with the spinach and then the lightbulb turned on! It was an "Aha!" moment. So I came up with this delicious, easy and relatively quick to make Quiche recipe that I'm sharing with you now.

As always, feel free to make your own changes, I always come up with ideas of mixing veggies. Dare to mix your own! and enjoy!!!

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

• 200 gr / 2 cups All purpose wheat flour
• 100 gr / 1/2 cup Cold Butter or Margarine
• 1 egg
• 20 ml / 2 Tbsp water
• Pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 200 gr / 8 oz Pumpkin (diced and previously cooked in boiling water for around 10 minutes)
• 200 gr / 8 oz Spinach leaves (frozen or fresh)
• 3 eggs
• 1 leek diced
• 1 cup sweet corn
• 1 cup diced red paprika
• 1 Tbsp ginger powder
• 2 Tbsp herbs of the season (try italian or mediterranean mix: parsley, basil, majoram, rosemary)
• Salt, pepper, garlic for seasoning
• 1/2 cup of cheese for Gratin

Preparation:

Pre-heat your oven at 200 °C /392 °F. Start with the pastry.

In a bowl, add the salt to the flour and mix well. Then add the cold butter or margarine and with a knife or a pastry spatula divide or cut the butter in smaller pieces at the same time as mixing with the flour. When the butter or margarine is distributed in smaller pieces add the egg and continue mixing while "cutting" with your spatula.

Then begin to knead with your hands until forming a soft dough. Transfer the dough to your working table previously spreading some more flour in the surface to avoid sticking too much. Continue kneading until you get a soft textured dough. Cut 1/4 or a bit less of the dough and reserve.

With your rolling pin to make the big ball flat until you get a thin layer big enough to cover your baking plate (better if you have a pie form, but a normal cake or lasagna plate can also work). Try to keep the layer thin, no more than 5 mm (3/16").

Cover your plate, making sure you're covering all the sides as well. Don't leave open spaces or bubbles. Trim the excess off the borders and reserve. Pinch with a fork evenly through all the surface of your covered baking plate.

Bake for around 15-20 minutes (check until the borders begin to get a darker yellow color, do not over-do because it can get burnt in the second baking period).

While the pastry is the oven, mix your previously cooked pumpkin, the spinach, eggs, leek, ginger and seasoning. Use your mixer, food processor, or stab-mixer. Once you get an homogeneous mix, add the corn and the diced paprika and mix with a spoon or spatula.

When the pastry is baked, fill with the mix you just made and decorate with the cheese for Gratin and thin stripes made with the reserved pastry dough.

Bake for around 25-30 minutes (time varies in every oven) at 200°C/392 °F, until the borders and the pastry stripes begin to get that yummy golden color.

When done, move out of the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes. Cut, serve and enjoy!

PS: my hubby and my sun are not close friends of spinach. This time they loved it!

Yogurt Vanilla Pudding

Let's start with a simple math calculation: I love yogurt + my favorite dessert is vanilla pudding = Yogurt Vanilla Pudding!

As incredible as it seems, I came up with this mix just some weeks ago, when I decided to make the Birthday cake of my son, which I decided to be Lemon Cream Cake. I made the cream with a mix of vanilla pudding, yogurt and Quark plus lemon juice. Was delicious!!

So I thought to make the same, but without Quark and lemon, just plain Yogurt and Vanilla Pudding. The result is as well delicious! Though a bit less consistent as Quark adds stability to the mix. If you want it even harder, add transparent Gelatin and let it cool for at least 6 hours. I added one Peach cut in 3 as decoration. Add any fruit you want!

And of course, as my goal for this year is to cook more nutritious and healthy food, avoiding as much as I can the fatty and artificial foods, when its about desserts, what is best than yogurt? and even better a soft delicious yogurt vanilla pudding? njaaammmm! Yogurt is tooooo beneficial for our health, buy as much as you can and start making your salad dressings with yogurt, make pudding with yogurt, make your cakes with yogurt (sometime soon will come this recipe too!), make your drinks with yogurt. Or just add some spoons of yogurt in a bowl, some berries and a bit of honey and oatmeal, there you have a delicious breakfast or snack and even a dessert! Enjoy!!!

Ingredients:
(Easy way with commercial vanilla pudding without sugar)

• 1 package of Vanilla Pudding (without sugar) for 500 ml Milk
• 400 ml Milk
• 1 Tbsp Corn Starch
• 2 - 3 Tbsp Sugar (I added 2, more than enough!)
• 1 tsp Bourbon Vanilla extract
• 6 - 8 Tbsp Full of Plain Yogurt (no sugar, no flavor)
• Peach or any other fruit to decorate.

Preparation:

Mix the extra spoon of Corn Starch with the Vanilla Pudding powder mix and the Bourbon Vanilla extract. Reserve half a glass of the 400 ml Milk. Add the Vanilla pudding powder and corn starch to the reserved milk in a glass and mix well until dissolved.

Pour the rest of the milk in a sauce pan. Heat until begins to boil. Quickly, as soon as begins to boil, add the dissolved mix of pudding, corn starch and vanilla extract and mix quickly until you obtain a homogeneous mix. Notice it will get hard quickly as it contains less milk and more corn starch. Remove from the heat and pour in a bowl.

Add the yogurt and mix well. Here you have to vigorously mix everything to avoid crumbs. If you still obtain crumbs (mine are there because of taking photos), you can use your hand mixer or stab mixer to mix it thoroughly and make it smooth. Add to individual bowls and decorate with your fruit.

You can refrigerate it for later and better consistency or you can devour it right away :)

You're done!

Müsli bars

Following my list of healthier recipes, I came up with the idea of making some chewy and totally delicious Müsli bars! I have a lot of different nuts to be used, as well as a bag of Müsli ready to eat (add milk or yogurt and done) which has been my almost daily breakfast. I had the thought to make something else out of it, and all of a sudden had the clear image of myself making these healthy bars. Just some honey, some more nuts and you will have these delicious treats with not a gram of sugar or butter!

Ingredients:
(around 20-25 mini bars)

• 180 gr. / 6.35 oz Müsli (oat flakes, raisins, some nuts)
• 50 gr. / 1,76 oz Almonds (complete, crushed or slices. I prefer complete)
• 40 gr. / 1,4 oz Sunflower seeds
• 10 gr. / 0,35 oz Dried grounded Coconut
• 10 gr. / 0,35 oz Sesame seeds
• 2 Tbsp Corn Starch and 2-3 spoons of water (not more than that!)
• 3 - 4 full Tbsp Honey

Preparation:

In a bowl, mix Müsli, seeds and nuts alltogether.

In a small saucepan, add the honey to heat. While heating (is quite fast, you have to be very fast during the whole process), quickly dissolve the corn starch with the spoons of water, to create a fluid but thick paste. When the honey begins to boil, add the corn starch and mix fast. Remove from fire almost as you add the starch. Keep moving the mix to avoid cooling too fast.

Quickly add the honey with corn starch to the müsli-nuts mix. Mix thoroughly until everything is well mixed and very few nuts or müsli are not adhered to the rest.

Pour or place this mix inside a clean plastic bag (I used the ones for freezing food). Spread carefully with your hands over a flat surface, until it is at your desired thickness (around 8 mm/0,3 in. thick). Then with your rollpin, make flat and break some bigger nuts to spread them more. Be careful to make all ends straight to have an even square or rectangle.

Let it cool in your fridge and keep flat for at least 2 hours. Then cut the bag (you can use baking paper as well but the bag gives you more control on the shape), and slice in rectangles or squares. Store them separately, better if wrapped with baking paper.

Eat them and enjoy, or give them away as healthy and yummy treats to your loved ones!

Veggie-Lasagna

Who doesn't like a good Lasagna? Ok Ok, this is not the classical Bolognese-Lasagna, but full of vegetables that makes it irresistible for all of us Veggies lovers!

I love to invent, to create and to add new ingredients or combination of them to well known recipes I am used to make. That's how I always come up with different mixes for pastas, or rices, or stews. This time I didn't want to spend much time when cooking, and when I opened the fridge, all we had were veggies, veggies and more veggies. As I know that the rest of the family are meat lovers, I found myself wondering what to make with so many veggies. So I decided to make use of the rest of the lasagna from the Tomato Lasagna, and created something new. I confess I didn't know how the result was going to be. And was well worth it!!!

What I love from cooking with pasta (in different kinds) is that you can always come up with something new, or you can adjust a recipe to your taste. So if you don't particularly like some of the ingredients, you can omit or change it. It will be good anyway.

Ingredients:
(4-6 servings)

• 2 Tomatoes
• 2 Carrots
• 1/2 red Paprika
• 2 Zucchini
• 1/2 Onion
• 15 - 20 Brussels Sprouts
• 6-8 slices of smoked ham (like Italian Prosciutto, or German Rohschinken)
• 6-8 Tbsp Cottage Cheese
• 6-8 Tbsp Sour Cream
• Cheese for Gratin (Edam, Gouda, Parmesan)
• Lasagna Noodles
• Salt, pepper, basil, garlic for seasoning

Preparation:

Slice thin all the veggies. In a sauce pan half full of boiling water, cook the Brussels Sprouts for around 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a pan with few Olive Oil and cook the Zucchini until they are reduced in half their size, but don't over cook them, we want them half cooked and a bit crunchy.

Mix the cottage cheese with the sour cream and add some pepper. In your Lasagna tray, add the ingredients as shown in the picture: noodles, zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, onion, ham, noodles, Brussels sprouts, carrots, paprika. To close add the cottage cheese with sour cream mix and end with some Cheese for Gratin.

Bake at 200°C / 392°F for around 15 minutes, then raise to 230°C / 446°F for 10 minutes or until the upper cheese is golden brown.

When done, remove from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy with a good cup of white wine!