Plaice in Polish Sauce

Hi! Today is about fish again. It is a recipe followed from “The Practical Encyclopedia of East European Cooking” 1999, by  Lesley Chamberlain as are these many other recipes, in case you feel like cooking more:

• Mixed Vegetable Casserole
• Bavarian Cream
• Cold Cucumber and Yogurt Soup/ Tarator
• Baklava
• Layered Pancake Gâteau
• Beef Stroganov
• Baked Peaches

The recipe mentions Polish sauce and also that it is only in name not in origin, so don’t get fooled. It is an easy recipe and for this time of year when Orthodox are fasting for Christmas, there are lots of days when you can have fish. In case you don’t know how to cook it, here is another idea.

Plaice in Polish Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 plaice fillets, about 225g/ 8 oz each
• 75 g/ 3 oz/ 6 tbsp butter
• 2 eggs, hard-boiled and finely chopped
• 30 ml/ 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
• 15 ml/ 1 tbsp lemon juice
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• lemon slices, to garnish
• boiled baby carrots, to serve

Method:

• Put the fish, skin down, on a sheet of greased foil or baking paper (healthier option) on a grill rack. Melt the butter in a small pan and brush a little over the fish. Season with salt and pepper. (If you don’t have a grilled oved, you can fry the fish in a pan)
• Grill the fish under a  moderate heat for 8-10 minutes, or until just cooked. Transfer to a warmed plate.
• Add the eggs, dill and lemon juice to the melted butter in the pan. Heat gently for 1 minute. Pour over the fish just before serving. Garnish with lemon slices and serve with boiled baby carrots.

Enjoy your meal!

Elena G

Idle March…Not

It seems that March is my most productive month of the year so far. I am in the mood for writing, about many, many things but most of them I will keep them unwrapped or just let you have a glimpse of them. Like a teasing. And you can guess whatever you like. It’s up to you. What is up to me is just to lead you on, if I want to. Now make sense of THAT! :))

Disclaimer: “I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.” Dr. Seuss quote.

So from now on proceed with caution. :)) Definitely I am in a joking/ flirting mood today. Or not. Blame it on the weather.

What I like to say and I have no clue how to introduce this is that I want to present to you today a very easy to make sandwich. :)) I came home one day, from the job and I was hungry and tired and I wished I would find something already made but, no chance. On my way I was thinking what should I eat, using what I got. I scrambled my grey cells and probably it would had become an omelette if I hadn’t stop in time. May be I was a bit late because look what I write now. It’s not even proper English.

In fact I knew what I would eat a night before that, but I just like to over-think it. It wakes up my brain. So, today (drummings) I present to you my special sandwich. All you need is …. Oh, no, this is not on the menu. Some other time. It is not in the kitchen, on my plate, in the salt, nowhere to find. Precious little thing called … Cynical. Sarcastic. Can you read between the lines? Can you feel the hurt?

So, here’s to you my own sandwich with just 3 ingredients. Feel free to experiment though.

Sandwich plain and simple

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread
• 1 egg
• 2 slices of cheese

Method:

• This is how I do it: I put a medium size non-stick pan on the stovetop over a medium heat. I crack the egg in the middle, trying not to move the pan as I like my egg as round and as collected as possible. I leave the pan for about 30 seconds so that the egg starts to cook and the white appears and because the pan is large enough, I put next to the egg the 2 slices of bread and cover. After 1-2 minutes, I turn the slices. 1-2 more minutes, then I remove the slices, cover the pan and turn the heat off. The egg will cook a bit more but don’t worry. It will be ok. I like the egg a bit runny but not too much.
• I spread a bit of butter on the slices (optional) then cover with cheese. I remove the egg from the pan and put it on a slice of bread. I cover with the other slice and it’s done.
• You can add salad, ham, bacon, cured pork, etc, but remember, simple doesn’t mean less tasty.

Good appetite!

 

Marble Cake

When I say marble, I always remember Marble Arch in central London. This is a symbolic sign of London, but not the only one. But I like the way it stands marking the end of Hyde Park and the beginning of Oxford street, in an open area and circled by roads and cars. I would love to see it again.

Talking about marble, what I am to put here now it is a recipe that it is well-known in Romania and it is somehow different from the way others do it. But, in my humble opinion ;), this recipe is better, even if it takes longer but the result is worth it. Trust me! I have eaten it in my godson’s house. His mother made it and I asked for the recipe. Since then, I haven’t tried out other marble cakes but this one is the best.

Marble Cake

Ingredients:

• 10 eggs, separated
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 10 tbsp oil
• 1 – 2 cups walnuts, chopped
• 2 – 3 tbsp cocoa
• 1 tbsp sugared vanilla or vanillin sugar
• butter
• honey
• icing sugar

Method:

• Preheat oven to 170°C.
• Whisk the egg whites with sugar and vanilla sugar in a big bowl until stiff.
• Beat the yolks with the oil in a smaller bowl.
• Pour the yolks and fold gently with the whites until mixed.
• Sieve in the mixture a cup of flour and fold again until mixed.
• Divide the cake batter and put 1/3 of it in another bowl. Combine the cocoa with this 1/3 and fold carefully.
• Sieve the flour in the white batter and fold again until mixed then add the walnuts.
• Brush 2 loaves pan with melted butter to lightly grease or choose 2 foil bread loaves for a quicker baking. If you have a non-stick loaf pan, you don’t need to use butter at all, or do as I do: use non – stick baking paper to line the loaves and pour the mixture directly. Once it is cooked, you just take out of the loaves the marble cakes and discard the paper. Easy, peasy!
• Pour the white mixture and then the cocoa one. Use a spoon to gently swirl the batters together to create a marble effect. Tap the base of the pan on a flat surface to smooth the surface.
• Bake in preheated oven for 50- 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside in pan for 5 minutes. Brush the top with honey or sieve some icing sugar
• Turn onto a cake rack to cool completely and cut into slices. Serve.

Bon appetite!

Strawberries For You And For Me

Yes, this is a very tasty dessert for two. Or more. The moment I have made this recipe I fell in love with cheesecake. My favorite cheesecake is the strawberry one, but you can do it with other fruits like mangoes, bananas, kiwi or all at once. Be creative. I have to say one thing. There are a lot of utensils to wash after the fun in the kitchen, so just ask your significant one to do it for you. Joking. But a little help is always welcomed. Another thing I have discovered and liked was digestive biscuits, especially those with dark chocolate.

The recipe is taken from “Good Housekeeping, Cookery Book”, 1985.  You know what is my favorite part? Eating the cheesecake. 😉 So please, won’t you make it for me, once? Please! 🙂

Strawberry Cheesecake

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 75 g (3 oz) butter (don’t fool yourself with margarine)
• 175 g (6o oz) chocolate digestive biscuits, finely crushed (try dark chocolate ones)
• 50 g (2 oz) desiccated coconut (if you don’t like it, skip this one)
• 250 g strawberries (or 2 medium mangoes, or 2 bananas or 5 kiwi fruit, etc)
• 150 ml (1/4 pint) pure orange juice (you know you can make your own)
• 30 ml (2 level tbsp) gelatine
• 350 g (12 oz) full fat soft cheese (I use 2 Philadelphia cream cheese, plain)
• 100 g (4 oz) caster sugar
• 2 eggs, separated
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) lemon juice
• 300 ml (10 fl oz) double cream
• 3 strawberries to decorate (or 3 kiwi fruit)

Method:

• Lightly oil a 22 cm (8 1/2 inch) spring release cake tin. Base-line with greaseproof paper and grease the paper. If you ask me, I would choose a rather larger cake tin, let’s say about 25 cm, or an oval/ round Jena glassware. And no grease or greaseproof paper at all.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the biscuit crumbs and coconut. Press into the base of the prepared tin. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• Wash the strawberries and mash them or use the blender for a short while. You don’t want strawberry juice. With mangoes you have to peel them cut the flesh from the flat oval stone, discard the stone and roughly chop or mash the flesh. With bananas or kiwi you can apply the same treatment.
• Put the orange juice into a bowl and sprinkle in the gelatine and leave to soak for a few minutes. Place over a pan of simmering water and stir until dissolved. Leave to cool for 5 minutes.
• Beat the cheese and sugar until smooth, then beat in the egg yolks and lemon juice. Stir in the strawberries and gelatine mixture. Lightly whip the cream and fold into the mixture. By now you have used a lot of utensils. Told you so! 😉 Oh, you can taste a bit.
• Whisk the egg whites until stiff and carefully fold into the cheese mixture. Pour into the prepared tin  (this part is not for mature, busy, angry, over-worked adults: leave a little cream in the bowl and use your fingers to clean it or ask the children to do that and have some fun) and place in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours until firm. Or make the cheesecake in the evening and leave it over night in the refrigerator.
• To serve, carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin. Decorate with strawberries (or kiwi fruit). Now you can enjoy yourselves. 🙂

Bon appetite!

Feeling Blue?

To be or not to be…

As we all know, a little chocolate now and then makes us happy. Very happy. Especially when we are heartbroken. But as they say, forget love, I’d rather fall into chocolate. :)) I wish!;) No, I’d rather fall into chocolate and Love. For the moment let’s talk about chocolate. Not any chocolate but something special. A chocolate cake full of this aphrodisiac.

I found this recipe a few years ago in a supermarket in Constanta in “BBC Good Food” magazine. In pictures it didn’t look extraordinary. But the look can be deceiving, as we all know. I read the ingredients and then it clicked. This cake had 7 chocolates in it! Imagine that! 7! I searched Google at home at that time to see if I could find something similar. But I couldn’t. There were only cakes with 3-5 chocolates mostly. That was different.

Because of this I decided to make the cake on a special day. It was almost 2 years ago, probably on Christmas, Easter, my name day or my birthday. Or mom’s. Who cares! I made it and it was an instant hit from the beginning. It was sooooo delicious, you can’t imagine. Feeling the chocolate melting in your mouth, the smell, sensations that can’t be described. I just felt happy. Thinking now of it, makes me happy again. 🙂

For a tastier and why not, funnier description of this simple cake with 7 chocolates try my choice. Because my choice of cake is made with plain chocolate only, of at least 70% cocoa. Yes, you already know that, but bear with me. I was more generous with the cream and chocolate. I would never put only 250 g of chocolate in something but go for 300 g. I know, you agree with me here.

Chocolate Cake

Serves 12

Ready in 1 hr 30 minutes, plus cooling

Ingredients:

• 250 g flour/ self raising flour
• 1 baking soda package (in case you don’t find self raising, mix flour with baking soda)
• 250 g unrefined soft brown sugar (if you don’t have it in your kitchen, choose the white one)
• 50 g cocoa
• 250-300 g plain chocolate
• 250 g butter (again, 80-82% fat if you don’t mind, because I do)
• 4 eggs

For the cream:

• 400 g plain or milk chocolate (please, please, please, plain)
• 300 ml pot single cream (my choice is full-fat)
• 25 g butter
• 100-200 icing sugar
• cocoa powder for dusting

Method:

• Heat the oven to 160°C/ fan 140 C/ gas 3. Line a 20cm x 20 square cake tin. I use at home my round 26 cm diameter cake tin.
• Mix the flour, sugar and cocoa together in a bowl. Melt the chocolate (don’t touch it!) and the butter together with 200 ml water in a pan and then beat this along with the eggs into the dry mixture. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean. It may crack a little on top but this will be covered by the icing. Cool.
• To make the icing, melt the chocolate (I said to keep your fingers out of this!) with the cream and butter until smooth and then cool to a spreadable consistency, beat in enough icing sugar to make the icing opaque and stiff.
• Slice the cake horizontally into 2 or 3 layers and spread some icing (yummy) between each layer. Ice the outside of the cake in a thick even layer and smooth the icing down as much as possible, don’t worry about the top too much. I worry, I want it to be smooth on top too.
• Dust with cocoa powder just before serving.

Bon appetite!

Blessed those who have tried this out!

PS: while searching this recipe on the net one day, years after, I discovered that it was no longer on the BBC Good Food site. So I turned myself into a detective. And guess what? I looked closely on the printed recipe I had since 2009 and there it was: “Recipe from olive magazine, September 2007.” While you find it here too, the original is from that site and I must add this. I am glad that everybody can access it too, from different sources.