I Am Delicious: November 2012

Oven Baked Eggplant with Autumn Vegetables

Stuffed eggplant with autumn vegetables you can get in every grocery shop is one of the most tasty dishes for light dinners or hot starters. I love it!!! Eggplant is famous for low in saturated fat and cholesterol. It is also a good source of Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Potassium and Manganese. Perfect dish for vegetarians, you don't need to add small sausage if you don't like. All vegetables provide you with vitamines and fibers. It takes only about one hour to prepare.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Wait Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

2 mid size eggplants cut into halves
1 Tbsp capers
1/2 red pepper - chopped
1/2 green pepper - chopped
3 Tbsp crumbled bread
1 large tomato - chopped
2 spring onions - finely chopped
4 Tbsp finely hashed chives
150-200 g grated mozzarella cheese
3 small pepperoni sausages - in slices - optional
8 champinions - sliced
1 egg
1 Tbsp dried oregano
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Method:

1. Wash eggplants well and cut into halves. Season with a sea salt and leave aside for 30 minutes. After that time you will see spots of water on your eggplant - remove it well with a paper towel. That way you will ensure your eggplant won't have bitter taste anymore.

2. Once eggplant is ready, scoop out the pulp leaving about 0.5 cm pulp around the skin. We will fry the pulp on the olive oil later.

3. In a heavy skillet, heat the oil and saute the onion with eggplant pulp, champinions and little sausage (optional) until onion turns yellow-gold. Add some salt and freshly ground pepper with oregano.

4. Add chopped red and green pepper mixed with chopped tomato. You can add more ground pepper and a bit more salt if you wish. I like to make it a bit more spicy. Keep frying for approx. 5-7 minutes until vegetables turn tender. Leave aside to cool down.

5. Once your vegetables cool down a bit, add capers, hashed chives, whisked egg, 3/4 of grated mozzarella and crumbled bread. Mix well with a spoon.

6. Stuff the eggplant halves with vegetable and cheese pasta and spring remaining mozzarella over the top of each.

7. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Place stuffed eggplants on a large non-stick dish and bake for approx 50 minutes, or until eggplants become tender and cheese stuffing turns gold.

8. Serve hot with a glass of good wine.

ENJOY!!!

Posted on November 26, 2012 at 06:20 AM in All, Starters, Vegetables & Grains, Vegetarian | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Cinnamon Oven Baked Pears with Vanilla Ice cream

Super delicious and healthy dessert. Perfect option for cold autumn afternoons. Takes just a few minutes to prepare. Just give it a try and you will see what I mean.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 ripe pears, peeled
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1.5 Tbsp butter
vanilla ice cream to serve with

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 C. Cut peeled pears into halves. Remove the seeds with a small spoon.

2. Put 2 halves of a pear on a piece of foil and carefully wrap it all around the pears.

3. Season with brown and vanilla sugar and cinnamon. Add small piece of butter into each pear foil package.

4. Place on a baking tray and bake for approx. 30-35 minutes until pears turn tender.

5. Ready pears place on a plate, pour sauce from inside the foil and serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

ENJOY!!!

Posted on November 25, 2012 at 01:22 PM in All, Cakes & Desserts, Vegetables & Grains, Vegetarian | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Zucchini Vegetarian Pancakes

This is an excellent recipe option for vegetarians. Great for lunch or light dinner. Zucchini pancakes are light and very tasty. Takes about 30 minutes to prepare. Must be served hot, straight from the pan. We are using only fresh ingredients here thus your pancakes are nutritious meal. Enjoy!!!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Wait Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 big or 2 smaller zucchinis (350 g)
250 ml cold milk
4 eggs
1 egg white
150 g all purpose flour
2-3 Tbsp hashed basil leaves
2 Tbsp olive oil for zucchini
2 Tbsp olive oil to fry the pancakes
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:

1. Beat the eggs with a little bit of salt.

2. In a large mixing bowl combine the following ingredients: milk, beaten eggs and all purpose flour. Mix well with an electric mixer on high speed until the mixture has a cream consistency. Should take about 5 minutes. Whisk until lumps are completely gone. Mixture cannot be too dense. Set the mixture aside in the fridge for about 1 hour to 'breath'.

3. In the meantime, wash zucchini, cut into halves and again into halves. Grate into thin slices.

4. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with 2 Tbsp of olive oil. You can apply it using a paper towel to avoid excess of oil. Add sliced zucchini mixed with sea salt and pepper. Fry until zucchini becomes soft. Should take about 5 minutes. Once ready leave aside to cool down a bit.

5. Add cooled zucchini into cooled mixture and stir well. Whisk the egg white and add to the mixture and zucchini.

6. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of mixture onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side. Should take 60-80 sec on one side and about 30-50 sec on the other side of the pancake. They will turn into nice brown color.

7. Before you put pancakes in one pile, set it aside for a moment letting to cool down, otherwise they will stick to each other.

8. Serve hot.

ENJOY!!!

Posted on November 15, 2012 at 06:01 AM in All, Breakfast, Cakes & Desserts, Vegetables & Grains, Vegetarian | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Delicious Apple Pie

Apple pie is a perfect dessert during autumn when delicious apples are in all the supermarkets. This is my grannie recipe, old and traditional. Using fresh apples is a key secret here. This is the apple pie that is true delight in every forkful. I hope it becomes one of your favorites apple pie recipes.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 - 35 minutes

Wait Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

500 g all purpose flour
4 large egg yolks
200 g sugar
20 g vanilla sugar
small vanilla extract
1 Tbsp baking powder
200 g butter
250 g 18% sour cream
1.5-2 kg apples, peeled, cored and grated
2 Tbsp of sugar for the apples
1 Tbsp of cinnamon

Method:

1. In a large bowl combine all-purpose flour, yolks, sugar, cut into pieces butter, vanilla extract, vanilla sugar, baking powder and sour cream. Using your hands create two balls from the dough. One ball should be bigger.

2. If the dough is too dry, add a little bit of milk.

3. Ready bowls leave for 2 hours in the fridge.

4. After the dough is well cooled down, from a bigger bowl create a large rectangle, not too thick and put on the bottom of a large baking tray. Prick the dough with a fork to let it breath.

5. Put the dough into a pre-heated to 180 C oven and bake for 10 minutes until cake starts to become gold.

6. In the meantime we prepare the apples. Grate peeled and cored apples and mix with 2 Tbsp of sugar. It is better when you have less sweet apples.

7. When the bottom of the cake is ready, put the apples on the top of it and season with 1 Tbsp of cinnamon on the top.

8. Now take the second bowl from the bridge and grate it on the apples.

9. Bake in a pre-heated to 180 C oven for 20-25 minutes until cake turns gold.

10. I love to serve it warm with a cup of coffee.

ENJOY!!!

Posted on November 12, 2012 at 05:20 AM in All, Cakes & Desserts | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Roasted Duck Breast in Cranberry Sauce

Duck meat is considered to be 'white' meat, although it is darker than any other poultry like chicken or turkey. Due to that duck meat is much reacher in flavours and aromas than any other poultry. This also means, duck meat goes really well with any fruits, sweet or spicy ingredients. In this recipe I propose simple roasted duck breast This is why you have so many duck recipes and all of them are delicious.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 large duck breasts
1 Tbsp of butter
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
250 ml cold water
250 g cranberries
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp of cinnamon
20 g vanilla sugar
2 Tbsp of honey
150 ml dry red wine

Method:

1. Wash the duck breast well.

2. Now, using a knife, cut the skin all over the fatty parts at the breast. Don't cut deeper than is necessary just to cut the skin. You want the fat to run, but not the juices from the meat. By cutting or piercing the skin of the duck, this will allow the fat to drain out during roasting. Season the skin lightly with salt and pepper and leave aside for a moment.

3. Melt butter on a heavy skillet, brown breasts on both sides - approx. 3 minutes on each side.

4. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C and cook the breasts together with butter and red wine for approx. 10-15 minutes. Remember to not over-cook, otherwise breast will be too dry. A good method to check if the meat is ready is to check meat temperature. A duck is properly cooked when the temperature of the breast has reached 75-80 C.

5. Rince the cranberries and mix with honey, water, cinnamon and sugar. Simmer the cranberries and cook until they turn soft. Leave aside.

6. Serve on warmed plates, with cranberry sauce on side.

ENJOY!!!

Posted on November 06, 2012 at 10:09 AM in All, Chicken, Dips & Spreads, Sauces & Dressings | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Chocolate - Coconut Mousses

Chocolate Mousse is one of my favorites. I add fresh coco and that is an excellent combination. Takes about 25 minutes to prepare - give it a try and you will see.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Wait Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

70 ml cold milk
4 egg whites
4 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 fresh coconut fruit
2 Tbsp dark chocolate shavings to decorate (I use 85% cocoa chocolate)
4 Mars bars (69g each)

Method:

1. In a large saucepan combine the following ingredients: milk, cocoa powder and Mars bars (in small pieces). Cook over a low-medium heat and keep stirring. Wait until chocolate and all other ingredients melt and mix. Should take about 5 minutes.

2. Transfer melted chocolate into large mixing bowl and mix with an electric mixer on high speed until the mixture has a cream consistency. Should take about 5 minutes. Whisk until lumps are completely gone. Wait a bit until chocolate cools down a bit.