Fruit and yogurt Sunday smoothie

It's been a long time! I know! But I'm fine, cooking as always and enjoying life. In fact, probably enjoying life too much, that's why there was no posting for such a long time!

I felt a bit guilty but since I am in a hurry I will post a very simple breakfast recipe that I made for my sister when she was visiting in January. I call it Sunday smoothie! You can go the easy way and mix all the ingredients in a blender or you can do it the pretty way, in colorful layers. There is not much of cooking to be honest, I know it is cheating but I just really like it!

INGREDIENTS:

(for 4 glasses)

2 cups plain yogurt

2 tbsp honey

2 large, ripe mangoes

1 cup red berries

2 ripe kiwis

extra berries for garnishing

1. Mix yogurt and honey in a bowl and divide the mix between 4 glasses.

2. Place the mangoes in a blender and process until smooth. Divide between the glasses.

3. Continues with the rest of the fruits, each one separately, making colorful layers, one on top of the other.

4. Garnish with extra honey and berries and serve. Mix well before drinking, otherwise you will end up with plain yogurt on the bottom of your glass! :P

Very simple, yet so beautiful and yummy! Other variations include bananas, pineapples, mellon, pears or any other soft fruit.

Benedict Eggs

Poached eggs... Somehow I've always considered them a very difficult task, something only a pro could make. I mean, properly poached eggs, in a pot with simmering water, not on a pan with the help of a ring that would hold the egg whites together. However, I always wanted to try. At the end, what's the worst thing that could happen? A couple of wasted eggs? Oh well, this is really far from a disaster. So, I thought I would give it a go and see. I googled a lot in order to find a perfect technique. Apparently, all of them involved adding some vinegar to a pot of simmering water and them pouring the egg inside. Well, doesn't sound too difficult, does it? Let's see what I could make...

I already had in mind an evil recipe which involved poached eggs. Benedict eggs! On one hand, poached eggs do not require any fat to cook. But, the Hollondaise sauce for the eggs is almost entirely made of butter! So it kind of ruins the healthy, low-cal profile of the dish. Therefore, I would not encourage you to make them your "usual" weekend breakfast. But once in a while, I guess there is no harm.

When I eventually manage to put the whole dish together, I realized that the only real difficulty was to make everything simultaneously. You really should have your eyes on the eggs while poaching. At the same time, the sauce requires constant stirring. So you either need an assistant that you can trust or a place where you could keep the sauce hot while poaching the eggs. I went for the second one (No offence! :P), placing the bowl with the sauce in the warm (about 50 degrees) oven. Worked pretty well :)

INGREDIENTS (2 servings):

4 large eggs

2 slice smoked bacon, either fried or just the way it is :P

2 slices of toasted bread (the original recipe requires toasted English muffins instead, but in Holland it is impossible to find them, so... bread it is!)

Slices of cheese and fresh tomato to serve

1/2 cup white vinegar

For the Hollonaise sauce:

150 gr butter

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp hot water

1 tbsp lemon juice

pinch of cayenne pepper

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. Prepare the sauce. In a small sauce pan melt the butter and set aside

2. In a bowl beat the egg yolks with lemon juice, cayenne, salt and pepper.

3. Slowly start adding the melted butter and hot water, while constantly stirring.

4. Return the mixture to the saucepan, and cook over a VERY low heat, while CONSTANTLY stirring. It is very important that you keep the heat as low as possible and stir the sauce all the time. Otherwise, you risk cooking your eggs, so you will end up with pieces of cooked yolks swimming in melted butter. Be patient, it will take some time, but eventually the sauce will start thickening. It took me about 15 minutes!!! Remove from the heat and keep warm until serving.

5. Now poach the eggs. Bring a pot of water to the boil. Lower the heat, so that the water is simmering but not really boiling. Add the vinegar (it helps the egg whites to stay together istead of "dissolving" in the water).

6. Break an egg in a cup, taking care not to damage the yolk.

7. With a spoon swirl the water around to create a whirlpool. Bring the cup with the egg close to the water surface and very carefully pour it in the middle. Continue moving the water around. Cook for about 1-2 minutes, remove the egg with a slotted spoon and set aside.You eggs should be firm outside but still runny inside. Proceed with the next egg. Some people manage to cook all the eggs at once. I thought I would stay away from this at least at my first attempt. :P

8. Assemble your final dish: First place a toasted bread on a plate, next a slice of bacon, next 2 poached eggs and top with half of the sauce. Garnish with some cheese and tomato slices and enjoy!

Cheese and Mushrooms Pie

Lately my man has been really stressed with his research and I can't do much to cheer him up. Although there is a little trick that almost always works. New, delicious recipes on our table! So, since he really likes pies, last weekend I made a completely new pie, a mushroom pie!

First I was thinking to make it the easy way, using phyllo sheets. But then I thought I could be a bit more creative, so I decided to make it with curu dough, which is a very typical Greek kind of pastry, used in many pies. It is soft and slightly sandy and it literally melts in your mouth! Of course this meant that I would spend at least one extra hour in the kitchen, but since I enjoy it anyways I don't really care!

INGREDIENTS:

For the curu dough:

800gr white flour, sieved

1 cup olive oil

1 full cup thick, Greek yogurt (Straggisto)

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp dry yeast

For the stuffing:

500gr fresh mushrooms, chopped

3 onions, sliced

150 gr yellow cheese, grated (Gouda worked just fine for me)

150 gr Mozzarella, grated

300 gr Greek feta cheese, crashed

1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

4 eggs

1/2 cup thick Greek yogurt

1/4 cup olive oil

paprika and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1. First prepare the curu dough. In a large bowl place the oil, yogurt, eggs and yeast and beat with a mixer.

2. Keep beating and slowly start mixing in the flour. Once the mixture is too thick for the mixer, continue adding the flour and mixing with your hands. Place the dough on a table and work it with your hands for about 20 minutes. You will notice that as you work the dough will become more elastic. Shape it in a ball, place in a large bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and leave in a worm place to rest.

3. Prepare the stuffing. In a large pan heat the oil. Add the mushrooms and onions and saute until the vegetables are soft. Set aside.

4. In a separate bowl beat the eggs (reserve a couple of tablespoons to brush the pie), add the cheeses and the yogurt and season with pepper and paprika. Fold in the mushroom mix and the parsley and mix well.

5. Take the dough and divide it in 2 pieces, one slightly bigger than the other. Take the bigger one an place it on greased table. Use a roller to flatten the dough into 5mm thick sheet, big enough to cover a large backing tray and its walls. Fold the sheet twice, transfer on the backing tray and unfold so that it would cover the whole surface and the walls. Fold all the stuffing on top and even out with a spoon.

6. Take the remaining dough and again using a roller flatten the dough so that the sheet is big enough to cover the tray. Fold it, transfer on top of the stuffing and unfold. Using a fork or just your fingers seal the pie by sticking the bottom and the top sheets together.

7. Brush the pie with the beaten egg and back in the preheated oven at about 180°C for about half an our, until the pie is golden from outside. Serve either warm or cold, as a main course or just a starter. Ah, it's also great for a quick breakfast, given, of course that you have it prepared from the previous night :P

Chocolate and walnut muffins

Last year I got a baking book as a birthday present for Zoe. She really loves all the "evil" cakes so it was an easy decision. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask the lady at the book store to wrap the book for me. So when I came home I went through the pages a bit and I got really jealous! The book was amazing, with great pictures, tips about decoration of the cakes and very clear directions for baking even very challenging cakes. So what do you think I did? The next morning I went back to the store and bought the same book for myself!

Due to my everlasting diet plans I didn't bake many things from it though. So when last weekend I saw the book standing on the shelf, and having given up on the diet, I thought I would give it a go. After some "reasonable" pressure from Stratis' side I had to choose between chocolate cake or chocolate muffins. Somehow I decided in favor of the second one and we both really enjoyed it! I changed some of the proportions slightly to make it more chocolaty and brownie-like. Here it comes:

INGREDIENTS:

170gr butter

200gr plain chocolate (I used Toblerone and ... OH! MY! GOD!)

200gr caster sugar

60gr brown sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

150 gr self-rising flour

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

150 gr walnuts, chopped

1/3 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

12-15 muffin paper cases

1. Place the butter and the chocolate in a small bowl on bain-marie and let it melt. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

2. Stir in the caster and the brown sugar, the eggs and the vanilla essence and mix with a mixer until smooth.

3. Sift over the flour and cocoa powder. Add the baking soda and vinegar and mix, capturing the air bubbles inside the dough.

4. Stir in the walnuts.

5. Pour the mixture into the paper cases, filling them to 3/4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 30 minutes or until an inserted in the center match comes out clean. Dust with some caster sugar and serve with coffee, tea or even better hot chocolate with cream!

Cheese filled Tortilla toasts

In Greece we say: "A good day could be seen since morning". Well in my case it was the other way around. While I was biking to the train station in the morning, the chain fell off of my bike. I didn't want to become all messy while fixing it, so I dropped it there and walked. Of course I missed my train, the next one was cancelled (or at least I never saw it arriving) and the next one came with a delay of 10 minutes. So I came to the office about 45 later than I was planning. It would be great if the chain of bad luck would end there, but no! All kinds of issues during the day... Typical beginning of a month! The only good thing that happened was the lunch break at the new Surinamese place nearby. I think this place is totally gonna beat the Italian sandwich, the Turkish kebab and both of the Chinese restaurants that we usually go to!

Anyway, when I finally arrived home, well after 7pm I was totally wasted and super hungry. Of course there was no way I would cook anything too complicated. The most I would go for was a quick sandwich, after which I was planning to kick back with a book on the couch. Then I saw a half pack of tortillas and thought I could as well use them instead of bread. After a quick look at the fridge I came up with the following recipe. The result was crispy outside and with melted cheese inside! Definitely goes to my favorites! :)

INGREDIENTS:

2 corn tortillas

100gr Gruyere-type cheese, thinly sliced (I used Ladotyri, which is a hard-type of Greek cheese, traditionally produces on the island of Lesbos)

1/2 sweet red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 handful fresh basil leaves

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

1. Heat some olive oil in a non-stick pan.

2. Place one tortilla on a pan. Arrange the cheese slices, pepper stripes, basil leaves and garlic evenly on top of the tortilla.

3. Cover with the second tortilla and fry on medium heat for about 2-3 minutes or until the lower tortilla is golden brown. Flip and fry on the other side. Cut in 6 pieces and enjoy!

Syrniki - Russian quark pancakes

- I'm hungry!

- ... (waiting)

- ... (sweet eyes)

- Do you want me to make you something for breakfast?

- Will you make me a toast? (sweet eyes)

- A toast? Sure! What do you want inside?

- Oh well, something not too difficult... Ham and mozarella?

- Hmmm, ok. (Pause) What if I make you syrniki?

- What?

- You'll see!

Syrniki. (plural from syrnik)... How do I explain this? Well it's something very Russian (I already hear a voice of G. saying "BACK to Russia!") and very breakfasty. They look like american pancakes but are made of "tvorog", which is the Russian word for quark, and very little flour. This combination makes them crunchy outside and soft and creamy inside. The taste is something between sweet, salty an sour. It might not sound very tasty, but you have to try in order to understand!

You could also make them with cottage cheese instead of quark. In this case you should first drain the liquid, then put the cheese in a blender and process until it is almost smooth.

INGREDIENTS:

500 gr fresh, thick quark or processed cottage cheese (it is important to use thick quark, otherwise your mix will be too liquid an it will require more flour)

1 egg

5 tbsp white flour

2 tbsp sugar + 1 tbsp vanilla sugar

1 pinch salt

some extra flour for dusting

vegetable oil for frying

1. Place all the ingredients except for sugar in a bowl and mix well. You should have a very thick dough, that doesn't stick to your hands. If it is too liquid add some more flour, just no too much.

2. In a large, non-stick pan heat the oil. Once it starts "smoking" add the sugar and vanilla sugar to the dough an mix well.

3. Take once table spoon of dough, shape in a cake, dust with some flour and place on a pan. Continue with the next syrnik. Depending on the size of the pan, fry about 5-7 syrniki at a time.

4. Fry for a couple of minutes on both sides, turning carefully with a fork, until they are golden brown. Place on kitchen paper towel to absorb the extra oil.

Serve either plain or with jam, honey or caramel syrup! Amazing for breakfast or just a snack with your coffee or tea. You could also add some dried berries to the dough for a little twist and some extra taste! Wonderful!

On the other hand, if your dough is too liquid even with the extra four you could do the following trick. Instead of shaping the syrniki and dusting them with extra flour you could just take some dough with a wet table spoon and place it directly on the hot pan. They will be a bit more flat but still very very tasty! Plus you avoid the extra calories from the flour :P

Spinach omelet

Again no blogging for quite some time, because of my trip home. The vacation was wonderful. I spent Christmas at Kastoria, a beautiful city in the north of Greece. Then a long drive to Thessaloniki, a week of drinking and a traditional new year's night at friend's place where we traditionally played Black Jack (I lost 1 whole euro :P) and had a traditional Vasilopita pie (my mom's recipe of the pie is coming). The pie contains a lucky coin inside and the person who gets the piece with the coin is supposed to be very lucky in the coming year. Well this year I won 3 coins, so I am very optimistic about this year!

Anyways, now I'm back to Amsterdam and cooking again. However, I didn't have time to upload the pictures so I will post another omelet recipe (too many eggs lately), which I made just few days before going home.

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
1/4 zucchini, diced
30-40 gr feta cheese, crashed
1/2 tsp dry oregano
salt, ground black pepper to taste
olive oil for frying
1 tbsp parsley for garnishing, finely chopped

1. In a pan with non-stick surface heat the oil. Saute the onion with zucchini until softened.
2. In a bowl beat the eggs. Add tomatoes, spinach, feta and oregano and spice up with salt and pepper.
3. Pour the egg mixture over the onion and zucchini, cover, lower the heat and cook until the omelet is hard but still juicy. Garnish with parsley and serve along with cheese or ham or both.
4. Alternatively, instead of frying you could pour all the ingredients into a baking pan and bake in the oven.

In fact you could use any vegetables you have in your fridge. When I cook it for lunch I some times use potatoes instead of zucchinis or add some ham as well. I would guess that chicken must also fit nicely. Hmmm, I might try it soon :)

Feta cheese omelet

I have to admit, I was not blogging too much lately. But I just came back to Greece few days ago and I was meeting with friends, picking up and dropping off people at the airport and of course...shopping! So, I really did not have time. Sorry for that! The truth is that I did not have time for cooking either. But I felt a bit guilty, so I went through old pictures and found out a picture of a fried double egg that I have on the head of this blog. Also, Arturinho was asking for this recipe from the beginning of my blog, so here it comes.

INGREDIENTS:
(for each omelet)

2 eggs
50gr Feta cheese, mashed
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 small clove garlic, minced
3 slices smoked ham
1 small tomato
60gr mozzarella cheese, cut in 6 pieces
6 fresh basil leaves
some butter for frying
ground black pepper to taste
egg ring of any shape (optional)

1. Separate egg whites from yolks.
2. In a small bowl mix the egg whites, Feta cheese, onion and garlic. Spice with some black pepper. Don't add any salt as Feta is already salty enough.
3. In a pan with non-stick surface melt some butter. Place an egg ring (if using) in the middle and pour inside the cheese mix. Place the two egg yolks on top of the omelet. Close the lid, lower the heat and let the eggs cook until the whites are firm and cooked through.
4. On a plate arrange the ham. Place the omelet on top.
5. Cut the tomato in 6 pieces. In each basil leaf place a piece of mozzarella and a piece of tomato. Arrange them around the omelet and it's ready to eat.

Really nice way to wake up your beloved once in the morning! ;)

Croissant with Banana and Chocolate

Last Friday we went out with an Italian friend of ours. After watching a movie, topped with a couple of beers and while the time was already past midnight I suddenly figured that I was a bit hungry. The fact that beer is a liquid bread didn't really help, and my thoughts were jumping from one nice food to the other. At some point I realized that I was already thinking about the great breakfast that I would cook the next morning. Banana and chocolate croissants! I have to admit that the idea of mixing bananas with Nutella is not mine. Back in Thessaloniki (my home city), while being a student, this was one of my most favorite sweet crepes from Valentino. Ok, maybe second favorite after Nutella with cookies' crumples. So I figured: "What's better than crepe with Nutella + banana? A croissant with Nutella + banana!!!". And here I was, in the middle of the night, slightly drunk and thinking about my breakfast!

INGREDIENTS:
1 pack of croissant dough, that makes 6 croissants
1 banana
6 tsp Nutella
1 egg lightly beaten (optional)

1. Preheat the oven at 200°C.
2. With a sharp knife cut the dough along the marked lines, so that you obtain 6 triangles.
3. Spread 1 tsp of Nutella over the surface of each triangle avoiding the top.
4. Cut the banana in half and slice each half in 3 pieces. Place one piece on each dough triangle, along it's short side.
5. Holding the banana inside, roll the croissant in a nice roll, starting from the short side of the triangle. Don't press to much. There should be some space between the layers for the croissants to "grow". Otherwise the croissants won't be puffy.
6. Brush the croissants with the beaten egg.
7. Place the croissants on a buttered baking tray and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until they are nicely golden and crispy.
8. Let them cool a bit and serve with some custard sugar.

Grenki

I was lieing in my bed this morning, wondering if the weather would improve later on and if we would see some sun. It took some time to wake up completely and by the time I was up I was pretty hungry. I was thinking about some nice breakfast idea and remembered my mom's Grenki (very popular Russian breakfast). I think the English name for this is French toast. I literally grew up with this food. It was a typical weekend breakfast since I can remember myself. Some nice memories came to my mind. :) I wonder why I make them sooo rarely.

INGREDIENTS:

10 slices of bread

3 eggs

100 ml milk

pinch of salt
pinch of sugar

some olive oil or butter for frying
sliced ham and mozzarella for serving, optional (you could remove the ham for vegetarian version)

1. In a shallow bowl beat the eggs with the milk, salt and sugar.

2. Heat the oil or melt the butter in a pan with non-stick surface.
3. One by one dip the bread slices into the egg mixture from both sides (don't let them soak though) and place on the pan, few at a time. Fry on both sides until its dark golden. Remove from the pan, set aside and proceed with the next batch.

4. Arrange few Grenki on a pan, place a slice of ham and some mozzarella on each piece, cover and fry over a very low heat until the cheese melts. Serve immediately.

Alternatively you could serve Grenki with jam or honey. It is a great start of the day and it keeps you full for quite some time. My man sad that Grenki rock!!!

Omelet with ham, cheese and chili beans

About a year ago I brought to Amsterdam a Greek Tavli game (one of the most popular versions of Tavli is backgammon). Since then me and Stratis established our little weekend tradition. The morning starts with a big cup of Greek coffee (recipe is coming soon and don't you dare calling it Turkish!) and a game of Tavli which could last up to 2 hours (!) and even more sometimes depending on the mood.

Anyways, the problem with this tradition was that we actually stopped eating proper breakfast and would eat a brunch (=BReakfast + lUNCH) instead. So I figured that in order to keep us full till the evening, the brunch should be quite nutritious. Piece of cake! What is more nutritious than eggs?! And since we are not so huge fans of plain eggs I came up with the following simple, tasty and quite healthy omelet recipe. I use 2 eggs per portion. I think in combination with all the other ingredients it's more than enough.

INGREDIENTS:

2 eggs
2-3 slices Gouda cheese, chopped (you could substitute it with any other low fat cheese, like mozzarella or Feta)
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp lemon juice
1 small pinch baking soda salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 red paprika
2-3 slices smoked ham, chopped (optional but very highly recommended)
1/2 can (100gr) chili beans in their sauce

1. Break the eggs in a bowl and beat them with a whisk.
2. Add the cheese, basil, parsley, lemon juice, baking soda, salt and pepper and mix well.
3. In a large pan heat the oil.
4. Add the onion, paprika and ham to the pan and fry until the onion is golden.
5. Stir in the egg mixture, lower the fire, cover with a lid and let cook until the omelet is solid. Transfer to a plate.
6. In the same pan warm the chili beans and transfer them to the plate with the omelet.

Ready and full with proteins!