Fish and Chips

Living in an Island would be very natural to eat a lot of fresh fish almost every day. Therefore for lunch I was inspired by the classic british Fish and chips recipe and I decided to prepare this little treat to the family. It is easy to cook and the kids love it. Although I did not fry the potatoes I find it too heavy and unhealthy since we are all very careful lately with our weight. Here is my version of fish and chips after I made few changes from the original recipe of Ina Garten. 

Ingredients :
serve 4

• 900g Fresh Grouper fillets ( Cod would be ideal but it is very difficult to find  here in the Middle East)
• 2 large eggs
• 130g all-purpose flour
• 30g baking soda
• 240ml cold sparkling water
• 40g freshly grated lemon zest
• salt and pepper
• peanuts oil for frying

Lay the fish on a cutting board. Season both sides with salt and pepper and cut the grouper fillets in large stripes.

In a bowl whisk the eggs and then add the flour,lemon zest, a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk the water and at last the baking soda. Let rest the batter for 20 min in the refrigerator.

Pour the oil into a frying pan and heat it to about 180C°.

Take the batter out of the refrigerator and dip each fillet into the batter, allowing the excess to drip back into the bowl. Place few fillet into the hot oil being careful not to crowd the pieces. Cook the fish on each sides until lightly golden and remove it to a plate with a paper towel to eliminate the excess of oil. Adjust the salt and pepper and serve it hot with the baked potatoes.

Baked potatoes

Ingredients:

• 4 large potatoes peeled
• 20g minced fresh rosemary
• 4 tablespoon Olive oil
• salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C°.

Clean and peel the potatoes, cut each potatoes in 8 pieces lengthwise.Place the potatoes on a baking pan and season them with olive oil, salt, pepper and the fresh rosemary. Toss all the ingredient and spread the potatoes in a single layer.

Bake the potatoes for 35 minutes, turning to the other cut side after 25 min. Bake them until lightly golden and crispy outside. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Let's celebrate !

I was thinking what could I prepare to celebrate the wedding of our good friends Marco and Rosien that we missed last July in Paris. I wanted to combine some French and Italian flavors to create an ideal connection with their respective countries of origin.
To celebrate the triumph of the mediterranean cuisine I thought to start our festive dinner with savory crepes filled with asparagus and prosciutto cotto (honey roasted ham) followed by a salmon roll with mint that combined perfectly the earthy and sea flavors which are typical of the mediterranean cuisine. Roasted cherry tomatoes and herbes de provence to compliment the sweetness of the pistachio crust of the salmon.
A wedding is not a wedding without a proper wedding cake therefore I decided to bake one with a surprise inside. I found a heart cake pan set from Wilton and I thought that it could have been great to hide a red heart inside the white cake covered by the white vanilla frosting. I got the idea from I am baker and used his recipe for the red velvet heart, but I had a different recipe for the white cake that I liked better.

Crepes with Asparagus and Prosciutto cotto

Ingredients: 

Batter for crepes(make 8 crepes)

125g All purpose flour

300ml milk

3 medium size eggs

1tablespoon of butter

pinch of salt

Filling

24 fresh baby Asparagus spears

8 slices of Prosciutto cotto(honey roasted ham will do perfectly)

200ml cooking cream

100g Parmigiano

Salt, Pepper

Serves 4

• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the three eggs with a pinch of salt. Gradually add in the flour and the milk stirring to combine. Add the melted butter mix until you get a smooth batter. Put the crepes batter in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
• Clean and wash the Asparagus. In a saucepan boil 1liter of water and add a pinch of salt and the asparagus. Boil them for 3 min, drain them and place the Asparagus in ice water. After few minute you can drain them and pat dry.
• Take an 8" frying pan. Grease it with some butter. In the lightly heated pan poor about 1/4 cup of the batter and cook it until is golden, with a spatula turn the crepes on the other side and cook it for about 3 min. Once you have the 8 crepes prepare the filling.
• Prepare an oven pan to put the crepes. Grease it with some butter and preheat the oven at 180 C°. 
• On each crepes spread some cooking cream to keep the filling moist, layer a ham slice and three asparagus spears . Roll them gently like a spring rolls or burrito style and place them in the oven pan.
• Poor the remaining cooking cream on the top of the crepes and sprinkle some parmigiano on top of them. Place the crepes in the oven for 20/25 min. Serve them hot.

Salmon roll with mint

Ingredients:

700 g Salmon filet
30 g breadcrumbs
40 fresh mint leaves
100 g peeled pistachio
400 g cherry tomatoes
1 lemon zest
origano
Olive oil
Salt, Pepper

Serve 4

• Preheat the oven at 180 C°
• Cut the salmon fillet in half and open it like a book to have an even and flat base for your filling (You can ask the fishmonger to cut it for you).
• In a food processor mix the breadcrumbs, peeled pistachio, lemon zest and the fresh mint leaves until all the ingredient are well blended.
• Season with salt and pepper both side of the salmon. Add half of the mix of the mint, pistachio, lemon zest and breadcrumbs evenly on the top of the salmon. Starting from the longest side of the salmon begin to roll it. Once you have the roll use some kitchen wire to tie the salmon to avoid that the filling come out from the roll.

• Brush the outer surface with olive oil and use the rest of the mix and cover the salmon.
• Put the salmon in a baking pan lined with baking paper and put it in the oven at 180 C° for 25 min.
• In a different pan season the cherry tomatoes with salt, pepper, origano and olive oil. Mix well the tomatoes and the rest of ingredient with your hands to be sure that the tomatoes are well seasoned and put them in the oven at 180°C for 25/30 min depending of the sizes of the tomatoes which should be roasted and without too much juice in the pan.

• Serve the rolled salmon with the roasted tomatoes aside.

Heart cake

This is a combination of recipes. For the white cake I used the recipe of Ina Garten for the Coconut cake but I did't put the coconut in the batter. For the filling and frosting I used the recipe from I am Baker but the icing was too soft and kept melting. Next time I have to find a better recipe.

Thai food at home.

Today I decided to prepare a light lunch. My husband and myself used to go to a Thai restaurant in the neighborhood and we loved to order fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce and a minced chicken salad with mint ( Larb Kai ). This was our healthy treat, therefore today I prepared it here at home and it was delicious.

FRESH SPRING ROLLS

Serve 4

Ingredients :

8       rice paper discs for spring rolls skin

30g     rice vermicelli

8       leaves of lollo salad

1       carrot 

1       cucumber

16      leaves of fresh mint

8       leaves of fresh basil

• Wash the salad, basil and mint separately and dry them with a kitchen paper. Chop the carrot and the cucumber julienne and put them in separated bowl.
• In a bowl put  1/2 liter of warm/hot water and add the vermicelli and let them soak until they soften. Drain them and put them aside.
• In the same water soak individually for 30 sec the rice paper disks. Let the excess water drip off and lay them in a cutting board.  I suggest to prepare the spring rolls one by one because the rice paper disk are sticky once they are wet. 

• Place on the bottom center of the spring rolls skin a handful of vermicelli followed by the salad, mint, basil, the carrot and Cucumber julienned. Roll gently pulling aside like sushi rolls. Fold the sides into the center to avoid the filling to drop out and continue to roll the spring rolls.
• Continue to roll the rest of the rice paper discs and you serve them with Thai penut sauce.

 Larb Kai

Ingredients:

450g    ground chicken breast

1       red onion finely sliced

2       tablespoon spring onions

20      leaves fresh mint 

1       cloves of garlic

2       red chilly (thai)

1       thumb of fresh ginger

8       leaves of lettuce

2       spoons olive oil

6       tablespoon fish sauce

4       tablespoon chopped peanuts

Handfull of fresh coriander leaves finely chopped

dressing sauce:

1/4       cup of lime juice

4         tablespoon fish sauce

1         tablespoon brown sugar

• In a serving plate prepare a bed of salad. 
• In a food processor ground the garlic, ginger and red chilly.
• Place the 2 tablespoon of olive oil and the mixture of ginger, garlic and chilly in a hot wok. Add the chicken and stir continuously to cook it evenly. Once the chicken change color add the fish sauce and let it cook for few minute more.
• In a mixing bowl transfer the hot chicken. Add the sliced onion, mint, spring onions and the fresh coriander finely chopped.
• Combine all the dressing ingredients in a bowl. Stir the sauce to dissolve the sugar.
• Pour the dressing into the bowl with all the ingredient and toss well.
• Put the chicken salad on top of the lettuce bed. Finally add the chopped peanuts on top of the salad.