BEEF MEATLOAF

The last piece of the puzzle, I am so sorry I didn’t get to post all the elements of our Christmas lunch earlier but finally I have done it, thank God. May be you can use it for other special occasions or for up coming new year 2019.

Well we have started with our delicious starter: ANCHOVY AND DRIED TOMATO BROCHETTE then came our so easy but delicate first course,SPAGHETTI WITH FISH AND CHERRY TOMATOES now we have got the main dish which is a BEEF MEATLOAF and for our dessert we have my all time favorite CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES AND HOT CHOCOLATE WITH MARSHMALLOW .

 

Serve: 8 portions

Ingredients

For the meatloaf

• 800gramms ground beef
• 2 slices of bread
• A little bit of milk enough to wet the bread
• 4 eggs
• A mixture of onion, celery, carrot chopped and  cooked
• Different kinds of spices of your choice
• 1 freshly crushed garlic
• Fresh rosemary
• Salt and pepper
• olive oil

For the gravy

• A little bit of butter
• Some flour
• The liquid that is going to come out of the meatloaf

For the oven roasted potatoes

• 1/2 a kilo of potatoes
• 4 small rosemary
• Freshly ground pepper
• pinch of salt
• olive oil

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/356F
2. Cook 3 of the eggs, they have to be hard boiled
3. In a small bowl soak the bread with the milk
4. In a big bowl add the ground beef , onion, garlic, the spices, one whole egg, the bread squeezed of excess milk, salt, pepper mix well put it the fridge
5. Peel and cut the potatoes. Season them and put them on a tray ready to be cooked
6. When the eggs are cooked drain and peel
7. On a parchment paper spread the mixture of meat, put the 3 eggs in the middle cover them with the beef and make a cylinder shaped meatloaf
8. Put some rosemary leaves on the side and over the meatloaf. Drizzle with a little bit of oil
9. Roll the parchment paper over the meatloaf very tightly and tie the ends
10. Transfer the meatloaf to the cooking tray and cook for 1hour and 15minutes (until the liquid coming out of the loaf is clear)
11. While the meatloaf is resting lets prepare the gravy
12. In a small pot add the butter and the flour stir till amalgamated, add the broth that came out of the meatloaf after it is cooked and stir constantly
13. When it has the desired consistency take it out of the fire and serve with the meatloaf
14. After 10minutes of rest cut the meatloaf add the gravy and some potatoes. HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

 

 

 

 

 

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CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES AND HOT CHOCOLATE

Hear is the chocolate chip cookies with their perfect companion of hot chocolate topped with marshmallow. They are again easy to make, not time consuming at all. we can also involve our kids always supervised. It is a delight for our eyes and delicious for our palate.

Next for our Christmas lunch we are going to prepare a delicious meet loaf( better known as Italian polpettone) and oven roasted potatoes with rosemary. We are also going to add boiled egg in the middle of the meet loaf which is going to give it color and taste a lot different and sophisticated than the traditional polpettone.

 

 

Ingredients

For the chocolate chip cookies

• 150gramms butter
• 70gramms sugar
• 1 egg
• 250gramms flour
• 1 tea spoon vanilla extract
• 100gramms chocolate chips
• 1 tea spoon lemon zest
• pinch of salt

For the hot chocolate

• Already prepared chocolate mix
• 250milli liter milk
• Some marshmallow

Procedure

1. Heat the oven to 180c/356F
2. In a food processor mix flour and butter
3. Add the sugar, vanilla and mix until it is crumbly
4. Add the egg and mix until it becomes a dough
5. Take it out and while adding the chocolate chips, work on it with your hands for 2 minutes until smooth
6. Spread the dough and cut them with desired shape
7. Bake them for 30minutes and let them cool for a minute or two (if the kids let you)
8. For the hot chocolate I have used a prepared chocolate mix. It is very easy to prepare and you only need the fallow the instruction on the box
9. Put the marshmallow on top and ENJOY. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.

SPAGHETTI WITH FISH AND CHEERY TOMATOES

In continuance of our Christmas lunch, after the delicious starter   we just prepared. I am going to share a delicious first course which is a pasta dish. This is a very quick and easy meal ( 15 minutes) exactly for our intention not to spend more time than necessary in the kitchen. It is a single plate with three, simple to find, ingredients and the outcome will surprise you.

For me Christmas is time spent with family, I personally would prefer spending as much time as possible with family and friends and pass the message of family first no matter what.MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.

We will  also prepare our dessert in advance, it is going to be a simple but amazing and every kids dream that is traaaaa: chocolate chips cookie next to hot chocolate topped with marshmallow. It is going to be out of this world and we can involve our kids under our supervision.

Serving: 4 portion

Ingredients

• Two cans of Mackerel fish
• 200grams cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 of crushed fresh garlic
• A little bit of tomato sauce
• 400grams spaghetti
• Extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper
• A little bit of freshly rosemary

Procedures

1. Boil salted water for the spaghetti.
2. Wash and cut the cheery tomatoes in half.
3. cook them in a pan with the garlic and a little bit of olive oil for about 10 minutes with a lid on.
4. Add the tomato sauce and cook for 5 more minutes
5. The water must be boiling by now, add the spaghetti and cook al dente ( according to a packet instruction).
6. Open the can of Mackerel, add a little bit of the oil and the entire fish to the pan, mix well and Let it simmer for 2 minutes or so
7. Add salt and pepper. Taste the seasoning and adjust to your liking.
8. Drain the spaghetti and add it directly to the prepared sauce. Toss the ingredients together if you find it a little bit dry add the cooking water, it will make it more creamier and delicious.
9. Serve it sprinkling with fresh parsley and a drizzle of olive oil. .ENJOY

 

STARTER: ANCHOVY AND DRIED TOMATO BRUSCHETTA

I thought of making an entire Christmas lunch, and I began with a very simple starter of anchovies, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and olives. Which will be put on a day or so old worm bread. So it is bruschetta, very very easy to assemble and the saltiness of the anchovies will make you want to eat the next pasta dish, which is pasta with Mackerel fish and fresh cherry tomatoes. It is a pasta dish that needs only 15min. of preparation, which makes it ideal for holidays cause no body needs to cook food that is going to need hours and hours of preparation in that specific day.

Ingredients

• 4 Slice of bread
• 4 Anchovy
• A good quality olive oil
• 2 Dried tomato
• 4 small pieces of Mozzarella
• 4 olives

Procedure

1. Slice the bread into one bit size( because our starter is going to be finger food)
2. Put the sliced bread in the oven at 150 °C / 302°F for 5-7 minutes just to worm them up and make them a little bit crunchy
3. In the meantime drain and cut the dried tomatoes in to small pieces
4. Do the same procedure for the mozzarella cheese
5. Take out the worm bread and arrange your starter starting from the anchovies then the mozzarella, the dried tomatoes and at last but not least the olive
6. Then drizzle a good quality olive oil on the top and serve. ENJOY

YOGURT PLUM CAKE

A very simple and quick yogurt plum cake. you practically need 10minutes to make the batter and only one bowl to mix the whole ingredient, then put it in the oven. you are done. Come back after 40 minutes. Remember to keep the jar of the yogurt because we are going to measure the ingredients with that jar.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 eggs
• 125grams of yogurt (flavor of your choice)
• 1 and 1/2 jars of sugar
• 1/2 a jar of sunflower oil
• 3 jars of flour
• 16gramms (1 pack) baking powder
• 1/2 a jar of milk

PROCEDURE

1. Preheat oven to 180c/356F.
2. Grease an 11 x 25 cm loaf pan or line with parchment paper.
3. Using an electric whisker whip the eggs together with the yogurt, sugar and oil until creamy
4. Add the flour and baking powder a little bit at a time and whisk until it is well amalgamated
5. Add the milk, mix again and pour it in the pan
6.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes(check with tooth pick if it is cooked well)
7. Leave to cool for another 10 minutes and ENJOY 

 

CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH CRUMBLE

Hello every one to day I present to you a very easy easy easy chocolate cake with crumble. Actually my intention was not to bake this kind of cake but by mistake I created a tasty “torta meravigliosaso “I said wow I will share it on my blog, I know a lot of recipes are created by mistake and I decided this is going to be one of them. ENJOY

INGREDIENTS

• 200grams (1 cup and 1/8cup)of dark chocolate
• 150grams (2/3 cup)of butter
• 100grams (1/2 cups)of sugar
• 3 eggs
• 250grams (2 cups and 1/2cup)of shortbread biscuits
• 40grams (1/3 cup)of white flour

PROCEDURE

1. Preheat oven to 150C/302F
2. spray a 20cm/8″ round tin with oil/butter
3. In the blender add the biscuits and crumble
4. In microwave melt 50grams of butter
5. Adds 150grams of the crumbled biscuits in to the melted butter and mix well
6. Spread the mix at the bottom of the tin you have already prepared previously then put in fridge for half an hour
7. Melt the chocolate, the rest of the butter and sugar together in double boiler
8. When completely melted take off the heat and add the eggs mix immediately
9. Add the flour sieving and mix till smooth
10. pour the mixture in the tin over the crumbled biscuits then spread the rest of the crumble over the chocolate mix
11. Bake for 20-25minutes, check with toothpick it has to come out with a little bit of moist
12. Leave to rest for 10minutes and ENJOY

PASTA WITH ROASTED ARTICHOKES AND SUN DRIED TOMATOES

Hello every body, to day I have come up with a dish so good that you wouldn’t believe it can be prepared in just 15 minutes or less. It is well balanced for your palate, it is creamy, spicy, smoky, crunchy… It is the perfect pasta recipe for fast but incredibly tasty outcome.

Roasting your vegetables will give them this smoky flavor that I personally adore so much and also who wouldn’t like to see those gorgeous dark brown colors on there plate. It immediately gives you the feeling of warmth and good taste.

 

Serving : 4 plates

Ingredients

• 400 grams of your preferred dried pasta
• 100 grams cooked artichokes
• 100 grams sun dried tomatoes
• A hand full of green olives
• 200ml heavy cream
• salt and ground black pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil ( we can use the oil which the sun dried tomatoes were in, it is already seasoned )

Procedures

1. Boil salted water to cook the pasta, when boiled add pasta and cook al dente
2. Cut the artichokes and the sun dried tomatoes thinly
3. Cut the olives in small circles
4. Put a large frying pan on medium heat, first with out an added oil roast the artichokes when they are brownish take them out on a plate
5. Then add the sun dried tomatoes on the same pan and roast them till they are fragrant and take them out on a plate
6. Pour the heavy cream in the very same pan, add salt and pepper and let it simmer for 10 seconds
7. Add the pasta and toss so that they will mix really well
8. Add the roasted artichokes and sun dried tomatoes. Mix also the olives together
9. When all are well mixed, serve hot( because any pasta dish with cold heavy cream is inedible ) with freshly ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil on top. ENJOY.

 

FRIED RICE ROLL

Last night I made one of Italian classic and most loved dish RISOTTO ALLA MILANESE. It is a risotto made with the delicious saffron. It was very very good.

Today, I have got some leftover risotto and I though of a Sicilian recipe which is called ARANCINI DI RISO ( which is basically rice cooked with saffron, made in to a ball, stuffed with varies ingredients and then fried). Delicious.

I have stuffed ,my fried rice roll, with mozzarella cheese, made a mozzarella fondue. Then, instead of rice ball I made rice roll. The result was astonishing.

Enjoy the beautiful crunchy fried rice roll with the worm and soft mozzarella filling, feel free to add the leftover mozzarella fondue as well. Thank you so much.

Serving : depends on how much leftover risotto we have.

Ingredients

• Left over risotto with saffron
• 3 tablespoon bread crumbs
• Vegetable oil enough to fry the rolls
• 125 grams of Mozzarella cheese
• 150 milli litters milk
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• A little bit of tomato sauce
• Some basil leaves

Procedure

1. Take a handful of the leftover rice, shape it in to a roll and stuff it with mozzarella (if it is sticking to your hands put a little bit of water on your palm)
2. Dust it with the bread crumbs and put it in the fridge
3. Make the cheese fondue by heating the milk, putting in the cornstarch, the mozzarella and stirring it until thick and velvety
4. Heat the oil for frying and fry the rolled rice until golden brown
5. On your Plate put a little bit of tomato sauce, cheese fondue then place the fried rice roll on top and sprinkle some basil leaves, ENJOY

PRUNES TART

Hello every one, to day I present to you one of my favorite dessert a prunes tart with a home made prunes jam. It can be eaten for breakfast, brunch, snack or after a full dish as a dessert.

 

 

Ingredients

• 200g (7/8 cup) chilled and chopped butter
• 150g (2/3 cup) sugar
• 2 yolks and 1 whole egg
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 400g flour + some for dusting
• One prunes jam
• Five fresh prunes(washed, cut in half and with out seeds)

procedure

1. Preheat oven to 150c/302F.
2. Spray a 20cm/8″ round tin with oil or line with baking/parchment paper.
3. Mix the butter and the sugar in a big bowl until homogeneous
4. Beat the eggs with lemon zest, pinch of salt and baking powder.
5. Add them in the bowl with the butter and mix.
6. Now add the flour, a bit at a time and mix well till it is a dough.
7. Then roll in a film and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
8. When the dough run its course,cut half 25% for the upper crust, roll the rest out on the counter with a little bit of flour 1/2 an inch thick.
9. Put it in the tin make sure the boards are a little bit higher than the filling.Fill in the prunes jam.
10. Put the fresh prunes on the filling skin side up.
11. Roll out the other half of the dough, cut in long stripes and cover the filling alternating the stripes.
    
12. Cook for 40minutes or till golden brown. Let it rest for 10 minutes before lifting out of the tin. Allow to cool before cutting and ENJOY.

SHRIMPS WITH CREAMY BROCCOLI

This recipe is absolutely fabulous! It tastes like something that you would order at a nice restaurant.

You’ll want to cook it immediately and eat it, but patience will be rewarded; the shrimp taste better the longer they sit in the marinade. Leave them for a couple of hours, if you have the time.

 

The marinade is so easy to prepare and can be done ahead of time. If you prefer to spice up a little bit more add one teaspoon of chilly powder and minced garlic. It will definitely change the flavor a lot.

It is also possible to grill the shrimps instead of cooking them on a pan. They will have the smoky flavor that I adore. I practically want to grill every ingredient because I love the smoky taste and the smell of it. It is amazing.

Serving:  4 portion

Ingredients

• 16 cleaned shrimps
• 1 cooked broccoli
• 1 tomato
• 10 olives
• 4 fresh basil leaves
• Some fresh chopped rosemary
• Some fresh chopped thyme
• The juice of freshly squeezed 1/2 lemon
• Oil, salt and pepper

Procedure

1. Marinate the shrimps in a bowl of rosemary, thyme, lemon, oil, salt and pepper. Put in a fridge and we will go on preparing our creamy broccoli
2. In an immersion blender add the broccoli, the basil leaves and a little bit of lemon juice and blend all together until creamy
3. Cut the tomatoes and the olives around the same small size
4.  Heat a non stick pan on medium high, take out the marinated shrimps from the fridge and cook them for 2 minutes for each side ( useful tip: don’t over cook the shrimps if so they will be rubbery. This is how you now when they are done, they will have a bright pink color out side, their flesh will be white and they will curl )
5. Choose your plate, pour the creamy broccoli( one tablespoon for each shrimp) put the shrimps on top, at the side add the diced olives and tomatoes a drizzle of good quality olive oil on top and it is done. ENJOY