Salad with grilled chicken, green peas and yogurt dressing

handful of rocket

1/2 chicken breast

10 cashews

1 tomato

2 tsp parmesan cheese, grated

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic

salt and pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

sauce

1 tbsp philadelphia cheese

2 tbsp yogurt

1 tbsp milk

1 garlic clove, fine chopped

sauce:

mix all ingredients in food processor until smooth.

salad

break the garlic clove with the knife and then finely chop it. Dice the chicken and mix it with the spices and chopped garlic. Put the green peas to the boiling water add a little bit of salt and cook for about 5 minutes. Heat the olive oil and grill the chicken on the pan until done. Dice the tomato. Mix rocket with tomato and green peas. At the top put the chicken and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and cashews.

Lasagne al bolognese

3 tbs. olive oil
1 carrot, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2-3/4 cups ground meat
scant 1/2 cup dry white wine
generous 1 cup bottled strained tomatoes
2 tbs. butter, plus extra for greasing
*1 quantity fresh pasta dough
1 quantity béchamel sauce http://www.classy-kitchen.blogspot.com/2014/11/bechamel-sauce.html

scant 1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the carrot and onion, and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for five minutes. Add the meat and cook until browned, then pour in the wine and cook until it has evaporated. Season with salt, add the strained tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes, then season with pepper. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter. Roll out the pasta dough into a sheet. Cut into 4-inch squares and cook, a few at a time, in plenty of lightly salted boiling water for a few minutes. Drain and place on a damp dish towel. Arrange a layer of pasta at the bottom of the prepared dish, spoon on some of the meat sauce, then some of the béchamel sauce on top; sprinkle with some of the Parmesan and dot with some of the butter. Repeat the alternating layers until all the ingredients have been used, ending with a layer of béchamel sauce. Bake for 30 minutes.

*Fresh Pasta Dough (pasta all’uovo) Serves 4

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting 2 eggs, lightly beaten
salt

Sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a mound on the counter. Make a well in the center and add the eggs. Using your fingers, gradually incorporate the flour, then knead for about 10 minutes. If the mixture is too soft, add a little extra flour; if it is too firm, add a little water. Shape the dough into a ball and let rest for 15 minutes. Roll out onto a lightly floured surface or use a pasta machine to make a thin sheet, and cut out tagliatelle, lasagne, etc.

bechamel sauce

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 1/4 cup milk
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional) 
salt and pepper




Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour.
Pour in all the milk, whisking constantly until it starts to boil.
Season with salt, lower the heat, cover and simmer gently, stirring occiasionally, for at least 20 minutes.
Bechamel sauce should not taste floury. Remove pan from the heat. Taste and add more salt if necessary and season with pepper and/or nutmeg.

Note! 

If sauce is too thick, add a little more milk.
If too runny, return to the heat and add a pat of butter mixed with equal quantity of all-purpose flour.
For a richer Bechamel, replace half the milk with the same amount of heavy cream.
For a lighter Bechamel, add half milk and half water.

Apple tart

Autumn is back and back with it are also cold, rainy days. During this days the only thing which I want is to spent the rest of the day in a big armchair under big woolen blanket in front of the fireplace. Or even better - to spent all day in bed, but not everyone has this opportunity. Also food is an inherent part of this fall. Cakes and tarts with plums, apples or pears are compulsory! I really can't spent any autumn without this amazing fruits. Perfect companions to pastries are for me hot tea with rum or tincture of summer fruits. Summer in autumn, isn't it perfect? I hope that you'll enjoy this delicious tart!

125 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick or 85 grams) unsalted butter, just softened, cut in 1/2-inch pieces

3 1/2 tablespoons (50 ml) chilled water

Filling: 

2 pounds (910 grams) apples (Golden Delicious or another tart, firm variety), peeled, cored (save peels and cores), and sliced

2 tablespoons (30 grams) unsalted butter, melted

5 tablespoons (65 grams) sugar 

Glaze:

1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar 

MIX flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; add 2 tablespoons of the butter. Blend in a mixer until dough resembles coarse cornmeal. Add remaining butter; mix until biggest pieces look like large peas. 

DRIBBLE in water, stir, then dribble in more, until dough just holds together. Toss with hands, letting it fall through fingers, until it’s ropy with some dry patches. If dry patches predominate, add another tablespoon water. Keep tossing until you can roll dough into a ball. Flatten into a 4-inch-thick disk; refrigerate. After at least 30 minutes, remove; let soften so it’s malleable but still cold. Smooth cracks at edges. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 14-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Dust excess flour from both sides with a dry pastry brush. 

PLACE dough in a lightly greased 9-inch round tart pan, or simply on a parchment-lined baking sheet if you wish to go free-form, or galette-style with it. Heat oven to 400°F. (If you have a pizza stone, place it in the center of the rack.) 

OVERLAP apples on dough in a ring 2 inches from edge if going galette-style, or up to the sides if using the tart pan. Continue inward until you reach the center. Fold any dough hanging over pan back onto itself; crimp edges at 1-inch intervals. 

BRUSH melted butter over apples and onto dough edge. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over dough edge and the other 3 tablespoons over apples. (Deb note: I found it nearly impossible to coat it with this much sugar, so I used a little less–more like 3 tablespoons. It made a lightly sweet tart, which we found perfect.)

BAKE in center of oven until apples are soft, with browned edges, and crust has caramelized to a dark golden brown (about 45 minutes), making sure to rotate tart every 15 minutes. 

MAKE glaze: Put reserved peels and cores in a large saucepan, along with sugar. Pour in just enough water to cover; simmer for 25 minutes. Strain syrup through cheesecloth. 

REMOVE tart from oven, and slide off parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 15 minutes. 

BRUSH glaze over tart, slice, and serve. 

Pancakes with vanilla sauce and fresh raspberries

 PANCAKES

ingredients

1 1/4 cup flour

1 egg

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup powdered sugar

0,5 tbsp baking powder

0,5 tbsp soda

1/4 cup olive oil

pinch of salt

sauce:

200 ml yogurt

sugar

vanilla powder

fresh rasberries

Mix all ingredients untill the batter is smooth and quite thick. Heat the pan. When you cook the pancakes, all you need to remember is that when the upper side of the pancake is blistering and bubbling it's time to cook the second side, and this needs only about 1 minute, if that.

vanilla sauce: mix all ingredients together

ragù di carne alla bolognese

Serves 4
Preparation: 15 min.   Cooking: 2 hr

2 tablespoons olive oil
40 g butter
1 onion, cut into 6-mm dice
1 celery, cut into 6-mm dice
1 carrot, cut into 6-mm dice
1 clove garlic, crushed
250 g minced steak
1 tablespoon concentrated tomate purée
120 ml dry white wine
salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy-based saucepan and stir in the onion. Cover and cook over a medium-low heat for 5-10 minuts or onion starts to become translucent. Stir every couple of minutes. Add the celery and carrot. Cover and cook for further 5-10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and just start browning on the edges. Stir in the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add the steak, breaking it into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Increase the heat to medium-high. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring, or until the meat loses its red colour and starts to fry. Stir in the tomato purée. Cook for a further minute. Stir in the wine and 120 ml water. Season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat to low. Cover and cook over a very low heat for 1 1/2 hour, adding when the sauce seems to drying out. The meat should be almost covered with liquid during the first hour of cooking and should bubble slowly.

Spiced Mirabelle Plum Galette Recipe

At the bottom of my garden there is an old, big mirabelle plum tree. I don't know how old is that tree but i'm sure that it's older than me. Every year it gives us kilos of delicious small fruits, but honestly its my first time when i decided to do something with these amazing plums.  I found easy recipe for mirabelle plum gallete and the effort totally surprised me. I didn' t expect that these fruits can be so amazing in their taste. In the middle they are sweet but the skin is sour so the mix of this flavours is absolutely delicious. Mix of spices which is used in this recipe is really flavourful.  As a result i got flavoured explosion.

Serves	8 slices
Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	30 minutes
Total time	45 minutes

• 1 portion of basic shortcrust pastry (or shop bought ready rolled shortcrust pastry) http://classy-kitchen.blogspot.com/2014/09/basic-shortcrust-pastry.html
• Apricot jam
• 225g to 250g mirabelles (halved and pitted)
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 2 tablespoons Demerara sugar

Note

An easy plum tart that is quick and easy to make and uses a minimum of ingredients and is perfect for any family supper pudding. Use fresh Mirabelle plums when in season, or Victoria plums, Damsons and Greengages. This tart also works well when made with fresh figs.

Directions

	Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6. Grease and/or line a large round tray, such as a pizza tray.
	Roll the pastry out if using home-made to a large circle about 14" (35cms). Spread some apricot jam over the pastry leaving a border of about 2" (5cms) around the edge.
	Mix the mixed spice and sugar together and set to one side.
	Arrange the plum halves on the jam on concentric circles,so they completely cover the jam covered pastry base in one layer.
	Bring the pastry edges up and around the fruit, so part of the fruit is covered but the middle of the fruit is showing.
	Sprinkle the mixed spice and sugar mixture over the top of the fruit and pastry and bake in a pre-heated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and golden, and the fruit is cooked and has released its juice.
	Allow to cool on the tray for 3 to 5 minutes, to allow the juice to sink back into the fruit and then serve warm with cream, crème fraîche or ice cream.