Kitchen Insider

I love baking bread and I love focaccia. Focaccia basically is like a bread, just that it is baked flat in a pan, instead of a loaf.

Focaccia with rosemary, red onions and sundried tomatoes. On the left before baking.

The recipe is one from Leila Lindholm's book:  "A piece of cake" . Which is one of two books from her that I have. 

The recipe calls for 25 grams yeast, 300 ml lukewarm water, 50 ml olive oil, 2 tablespoons honey and approx. 425-480 g of wheat flour.

I pour the water in a bowl, add the yeast and honey and stir it together, then I add the olive oil and flour and mix it together in a bowl.  I am in luck because I have a wonderful red Kitchen Aid and the mixing is no science of work at all. 

Then I cover the bowls with a cloth and let it rest for at least 40 mins. Usually I let it rest longer because I forget all about it, which doesn't harm the dough the least it only rises a bit more. 

Then I drizzle some olive oil and sea salt on a deep baking pan and with my hands I stretch out the dough all over ot and cover it up again to let it sit for another 30 mins, after which I poke some "holes" in the dough with my finger. In fact they're not actual holes, just little deep pockets were I stuck in my finger. 

I mostly divide my focaccia in three parts, one with finely chopped rosemary to drizzle it over the dough, one part  with finely chopped sundried tomatoes and one part with thinly sliced red onions. Then I drizzle some olive ol on top and put it in the preheated oven (225° Celsius) and let it bake for 10 mins. 

This bread is also great to take with you to work, and eat it with maybe some caprese (tomatoe, mozzarella and basil) . 

What do you like to bake?  

This weekend is one of the rare ones,  when we're both at home, so of course there is a lot of cooking going on. I love to cook, Mr. Happy loves to eat. 

So we started the day off with a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and baguette with a glass of non-alcoholic "champagne". 

Plate of scrambled eggs with onions, prosciutto, tomatoes, herbed cheese and basil with baguette and non-alcoholic "champagne"

 There really is no recipe for this, I usually use what I find in the fridge. This time it was a very nice italian prosciutto that I sliced into thin stripes which, along with a finely chopped onion - scallions would have been nicer, but I didn't have them - I put in the heated pan to least them "sweat" a bit, the onions should not be browned. 

Then I whipped up three eggs with a shot of milk and some ground pepper and ground paprika and poured it in the pan. 

When the egg starts getting a bit firmer at the edges I start moving them around (I do not scramble them senselessy) and swith off the stove, the heat of the pan is enough. Then I drizzled it with some grated herbed cheese (a summer-gouda) and added the chopped tomatoes. 

It's basically ready after that and I divided it onto two plates and sprinkled some sea-salt flakes on top. 

We had some baguette left over from yesterday which we buttered and ate it with the scrambled eggs.  To toast the rare occasion we had some non-alcoholic champagne with it. 

A very nice weekend-breakfast to be enjoyed in our "winter-garden" s long as the weather is still nice and not too overbearingly hot as it has been in the past days. 

I would consider this a typical german, festive weekend breakfast. What do you have for breakfast when you want to make it special? 

Ho frequentato le scuole elementari dalle suore. L’edificio si trovava proprio di fronte al palazzo in cui abitavamo, bastava attraversare la strada, varcare il pesante cancello di ferro battuto e mi ritrovavo nel giardino curatissimo delle suore.

Ogni volta che dico di aver studiato in una scuola ultra estremista cattolica mi guardano tutti con compassione, ma devo ammettere che, a parte i dogmi religiosi che non condivido, è stato uno dei più bei periodi della mia vita per quanto riguarda le attività scolastiche e sociali.

A scuola pranzavo con gli altri bambini nella mensa, grande e luminosa. Il primo piatto era uguale per tutti e cucinato dalle suore, il secondo si portava da casa. Mia mamma mi preparava spesso gli arancini, perché, diceva, erano facili da trasportare nel cestino e si mantenevano a lungo. Poco prima di mangiarli bastava scaldarli nel forno della scuola. Aveva ragione.

Per questo vorrei iniziare la mia collaborazione in questo bellissimo e gustosissimo BLOG (grazie a Martina per avermela chiesta) con una ricetta legata alla mia infanzia: gli arancini vegetariani.

Ricordate il gusto di Proust per la madeleine? A me succede lo stesso con gli arancini. Al primo morso vengo catapultata con il pensiero in quella bella mensa bianca e luminosissima, sento le voci degli altri bambini e l’odore del cibo nei piatti e provo la felicità nel sapere che subito dopo il pranzo si andrà a giocare all’aperto, nel giardino, per un’ora, prima di iniziare il tempo scolastico pomeridiano.

Eccovi la ricetta. Non ho scritto le quantità perché io cucino “ad occhio”.

Ingredienti:

• riso cotto al dente
• verdura cotta al dente di vostra scelta (carote, patate, piselli, cipolla, peperoni, etc.) e tagliata a pezzetti
• 2 uova
• provola dolce a cubetti
• parmigiano
• capperi
• pangrattato
• farina
• sale
• pepe
• olio per friggere

Cuocete il riso, lasciandolo al dente, e quando tiepido mescolatelo con 1 uovo, parmigiano, provola a cubetti, olio, pezzettini di verdura e capperi. Salate a piacimento.

Lasciate riposare il composto, fino a farlo raffreddare. Quando ben compatto, formate delle palline e passatele nella farina, poi nell'uovo e infine nel pangrattato.

Friggetele in abbondante olio e lasciatele asciugare su carta assorbente. Servitele calde.

Lunch/Dinner on 9. March 2013

Risotto with red onion, walnuts, lambs lettuce and gorgonzola
(aerves four)

250 grams of carnaroli rice
60 grams walnuts (toasted in a pan, no oil)
50 grams of gorgonzola
100 grams of lambs lettuce, watercress, tropaeolum or similar
1 red onion thinly diced

Lunch/Dinner on 8. March 2013

Endive salad with tomato, scallion and "canned" tuna (well, in our case it was a glas)

In between appointments there wasn't enough time to cook, so we made a quick salad both for lunch and dinner.

Both times we used 2 endives, one tomato, one scallop and approx. 70 grams of the canned tuna (serves two).

Lunch/Dinner on 7. March 2013

We only had sandwiches and fruit (apple, banana) as we were out of the house all day and couldn't cook. To make up for it I made a nice dessert for my partner when we got home late.

Mascarpone-limoncello cream with crumbled amarettinis and amarena cherries.

Lunch/Dinner on 6. March 2013
Pasta with peas with a sauce similar to "carbonara"
(I cooked 4 portions, so we will have the same for lunch and dinner.)

For the sauce I used 1 small thinly diced onion, instead of speck I used 4 slices of cooked ham, which I sautéed in a pan. Instead of cream, approx. 3 tablespoons milk, the rest is vegetable broth and cooking water from the pasta (it contains starch, so it makes the sauce quite creamy).

I did, however, add 1 egg yolk and the usual salt, pepper, a little nutmeg.

Lunch/Dinner on 5. March 2013
Roulade with mashed potatoes

Today we had no lunch or dinner in the regular sense of it. We had a cheese sandwich (Käsebrötchen) around 2 pm and then we had an early dinner approx. 5:30 pm.

The dinner this time is a typical german dish, that would traditionally be eaten on a Sunday. I had pre-cooked it on Sunday for freezing, so if I don't have time to cook I can just take it out of the freezer in the morning and by evening it will be thawed and I can reheat it (no microwave in our home, don't want it).

Monday 4. March 2013

Lunch& Dinner

Brokkoli-carrot quiche. 

Sunday 3. March 2013

Lunch
Brown rice with zucchini, onion, red pepper and turkey filet

For two people: 100 grams turkey filet, 1 small zucchini, 125 grams brown rice, half a red pepper and 1 onion, 1 tablespoon* olive oil, salt, pepper & paprika for seasoning 
Sauce: After I took the turkey filet out of the pan I added a tablespoon* of cream and 1 teaspoon* butter and, so each of us got like one tablespoon sauce. (*tablespoon/teaspoon: I am talking actual tablespoon/teaspoon, not the american measurement)

Afternoon snack
Mascarpone-amaretto cream , dates and fruit puree

4 dates each & 1 teaspoon fruit pure
(since I used 125 grams of mascarpone there is still like 100 grams left ..., so probably more mascarpone-amaretto cream in the next few days)

Dinner
Lambs lettuce with baked goat cheese and pomegranate seeds and a slice of toasted bread

The goat cheese has been baked with honey and rosemary. 
The salad dressing is olive oil, pomegranate vinegar, a pinch of honey, salt & pepper