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

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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

TUNA AND TOMATO SAUCE PASTA

It is a luscious Mediterranean Tuna and tomato sauce Fusilli recipe. It is flavored with roasted dried tomatoes and the salty flavor of anchovies creating a healthy, filling main dish.

Italian tuna packed in olive oil is a must for this pasta dish: the flavorful oil is drained from the tuna and used for cooking the sauce.

Nothing can be as simple and delicious as this tuna pasta dish I made in under 15 minutes. It Autumn friendly, because the chilly powder will give the right amount of heat you need to make you feel warm.

I don’t know about you, but personally I could eat a lot of pasta( if it is cooked as good as this tuna and tomato sauce pasta) any time of the year, and in winter specially the lure of the carbohydrates becomes particularly tempting.

I also realized that it has to be a go-to recipe for every single busy person, who wants a fresh delicious meal prepared with minimum effort.

 

Ingredients

• 200 grams Italian tuna
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 carrot
• 1/2 celery
• 4 pieces of dried tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon chilly pepper
• 4 anchovies
• some parsley leaves
• oil and salt

Procedure

1. Boil a salted water to cook the pasta.
2. In a pot heat a little bit of oil ( I used the tuna oil which has a lot of flavor) and dissolve the anchovies.
3. Clean and processes the onion, carrot and celery in a food processor. Add them in to a pot and cook until soft and transparent.
4. Add the chilly pepper and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add the tomato sauce and cook for 5-7 minutes.
6. In the mean time on a hot grill.
7. Heat a grill on high and grill the dried tomatoes a minute on each side, until dark, then cut them in to bite pieces.
8. Add the tuna, the dried tomatoes, salt (if necessary) and mix.Add the pasta in a pot and mix well.
9. Serve with sprinkled parsley and a drizzle of oil. ENJOY.

 

CHICKEN CURRY WITH RICE

Chicken curry is a common delicacy in South Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as in the Caribbean (where it is usually referred to as “curry chicken”). A typical South Asian curry consists of chicken stewed in an onion and tomato-based sauce, flavored with ginger, garlic, mango chutney, tomato puree, chili peppers and a variety of spices, often including turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom and so on. Outside South Asia, chicken curry is often made with a pre-made spice mixture known as curry powder.

Now this chicken recipe is one of the easiest yet most rewarding recipe, it is so easy that even a novice cook can do it perfectly. It is also not as hot as it should be, because I added yogurt so that it will cut the level of the hotness.

But the delicious result depends on one thing only, a very good quality curry powder. It is a mixture of all those magnificent spices that I have mentioned above, that results in a tasty out come.

Ingredients

• 200 grams rise
• 8 sliced Chicken breast
• 6 teaspoons of Curry
• 1/2 yellow onion chopped
• 5 tablespoons unflavored yogurt
• 3 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 200 ml vegetable broth
• 1 finely chopped fresh garlic and 1/4 of teaspoon grated ginger
• Pinch of fresh ground nutmeg
• Oil, salt and pepper
• Chopped parsley

Procedure

1. Cook the rise according to packet instruction
2. Cut the chicken in to bite size
3. Heat a pan on medium with a little bit of oil, cook the chicken until half way through about 10 minutes add 2 teaspoon curry powder cook for another 5 minutes
4.  Put it in a bowl and set aside
5. On the same pan, add the chopped onion cook till transparent and soft, add a little bit of oil if necessary
6. Add the garlic and ginger mix, the rest of the curry and cook for 2 minutes
7. Add the tomato sauce and the yogurt cook for another 5 minutes
8. Add the vegetable broth and the chicken. Cook until thick for about 10-15 minutes
9. Pour the chicken curry over the rise, sprinkle with parsley. ENJOY