Small tomato-mozzarella pies

Extra simple and lovely as a starter or as a main dish.
The preparation of the tomato sauce takes a little time but if you invite people over, you can anticipate things and prepare it the day before.



* No. of Persons: 6
* Cooking time: 20min
* Preheat oven to th. 7 / 210°

Ingredients:
500 g puff pastry (pâte feuilletée)
18 medium tomatoes
2 buffalo mozzarella (2x 125 g)
2 garlic cloves
basil and marjoram
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder


Set aside 12 loooovely basil leaves ;) and chop the others.
Peel, remove seed and chop 12 tomatoes. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cook it all for 5 minutes. Add chopped garlic, chilli, marjoram and reduce for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper, add the basil.
Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 2 mm and cut out 12 circles of 12 cm diameter.
Cut 6 remaining tomatoes into thin slices.
Place the pastry discs on a baking sheet greased with 1 tbsp of olive oil.
Cover each disk with 1 tablespoon of tomatoes preparation and add few slices of fresh tomato. Bake 15 minutes.
Cut the mozzarella into 12 slices. Place a slice of mozzarella on each little pie. Bake in the oven for another 5 minutes. Decorate with basil. And some olives if you wish ;) On the photo black spicy Greek olives... yummy!

Bon appétit :)

Chicken with herbs and coriander sauce

I made this recipe already few times and each time it's a pure delight :)


* No. of Persons: 4-6
* Cooking time: 30min
* Preheat oven to th. 6 / 180°

Ingredients:
6 chicken breasts
1 small spoon of curcuma (turmeric)
1 small spoon of paprika
1 dose of saffron powder
1 cilantro bunch
20 mint leaves
1 garlic clove
1 ginger knob
1 red onion
1 lime
1 small fresh chilli pepper
20 cl of coconut milk (or cream if you don't like coconut milk)
salt, pepper
olive oil

In a bowl, mix the crushed garlic, chopped onion, grated ginger, chilli, seeded and crushed spices, salt, pepper, lemon juice, mint and half the chopped coriander.
Then, add a little bit of olive oil until the mixture has the consistency of paste.
Wrap the chicken breasts with the "dough", place them in a baking dish and add a glass of water.
Cook for 30 minutes in the preheated oven on th. 6 / 180°.
10 minutes before the end of cooking pour the coconut milk and add the rest of cilantro as well as saffron.
Serve immediately.


Bon appétit :)

Zucchini with vegetables

* No. of Persons: 2
* Cooking time: 25min
* Preheat oven to th. 6 / 180°

Ingredients:
2 zucchinis
1/2 of a green or yellow pepper
1/2 of a red pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil
100 g of grated cheese

Wash zucchinis, cut off ends. Cut it in half (lengthwise). Remove the pulp with a spoon.
Dip the zucchini "cups" in boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes. Then remove them gently, dry and put in a heat resistant dish.

Cut the inside of zucchini into dice. Do the same with pepper.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan. Fry diced zucchini and pepper for 5 min.
Remove from fire. Add half of the grated cheese. Mix well, add salt, pepper, and other spices if you want.
Arrange the zucchini cups in a baking dish and fill with the preparation. Cover each with the remaining grated cheese and bake 25 minutes.

The cool thing about this recipe is that you can use anything really. You could as well add some pre-cooked meet (chicken, minced meet etc).
The original recipe included carrot and quinoa but as I didn't had any of these, I used pepper and I found it really good. So... It's up to you and your creativity ;)

Bon appétit :)

Mr... or Mrs Smith? Mr Smith!

No idea why this dessert is called Mr Smith but I prefer Mr over Mrs Smith so it's perfect ;)



* Preparation time: 15min
* Cooking time: 10min

Ingredients:
1 Golden apple
1 Granny Smith apple
10 plums
1 glass of red Porto
shortbread
butter
sugar

Cut a Golden apple into small pieces, add a few pieces of butter, a pinch of sugar, then roast 10 minutes in the oven (200°C). Once it has cooled, mix with a Granny Smith apple cut into pieces.

Cut plums into pieces, add a small glass of red Porto and cook over low heat until all liquid evaporates.

Next step... playing with shortbread and your imagination to find the best composition. ;)

Below two more presentation ideas... For these one I used mixer to get a smooth texture for plums.




Bon appétit :)

Lamb confit with beans

It's an easy one to make... but you need to be patient... It's not a "I'm hungry right here and right now" kind of recipe ;))



* Preparation time: 20min
* Cooking time: 255min (you have been warned....)


Ingredients:
1 de-boned and de-fatted lamb shoulder (that's from original recipe; I used filet mignon part)
800 g of Romano beans (in France called "coco beans")
600 g of tomato pulp
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt, pepper


Peel the garlic and onion, chop it. Cut lamb into 6cm cubes.
Cut the ends of the beans. Boil water in a large pan and immerse beans. Boil them for 1 minute, then drain and rinse, drain again.
Heat oil in a large cast iron pot. Briefly fry garlic and onion. Add meat cubes and stir until they obtain nice golden color. Pour the tomato pulp. Add salt and pepper. Some paprika/chilli if you like it more spicy (like me ;> ).
Once the tomatoes start simmering, add beans, stir and cover. Simmer for 4 hours (or shorter.. my cooking time for filet mignon was 2,5h) on a very small fire, until the meat and beans are well cooked and tender (almost "mealting" in your mouth ;>). Enjoy hot.

Taking into account that a Lebanese friend of mine, after tasting this dish, said it reminds him his childhood and his grandma's cooking, I think I can consider it a success ;))

Bon appétit :)

Coriander lamb

5 min recipe..



Ingredients:
lamb (filet mignon)
coriander
garlic/herbs butter
salt, pepper

Cut the lamb into smaller pieces, add some salt and pepper, fry on a hot plate with garlic/herbs butter and chopped corainder.

Here served with a piece of raisins bread, some garlic/herbs butter and decorated with fresh coriander.

Bon appétit :)

Feta tomatoes

It's more of a presentation or "how to do sth out of nothing" idea than a recipe. ;)


Ingredients:
tomato
feta cheese
basil (preferably fresh leaves but I used frozen one)
reduced balsamic vinegar

Empty the tomato with a spoon, fill with feta cubes.
The interior of the tomato was mixed (here with just a drop of olive oil) to obtain smooth texture.

The rest depends on your imagination.

Bon appétit :)