Thai Green Curry

This is a basic recipe of a Thai Green Curry. Add the chicken if you wish, but I recommend to keep it veggie, the flavours are simply amazing as they are. I hosted my first cooking lesson (yes I am now available for hire , please contact on olitchkaking@yahoo.co.uk) and one of my kind friends had to put up with my bossy ways! On the other hand I quiete enjoyed having her wonderful company around, helping me and asking questions and general chatting! We made this curry, and it was super delicious! The recipe is for 6 adults, we had to put some curry paste aside (it will keep in the fridge for 3 weeks).
For the curry paste:
Green Chillies: 4-6 (deseeded)
Shallots: 2
Ginger: 2" piece (chopped)
Garlic: 2 cloves
Fresh Coriander: a small bunch
Lemongrass: 2 ,chopped
Lime: 2 zest and juice
Coriander Ground: 1tbsp
Cumin: 1 tbsp
Black Peppercorns: 1 tbsp (crushed)
Thai Fish Sauce: 2 tbsp
Olive Oil : 3 tbsp
Place all the ingredients in the blender and whiz it well! The curry paste is ready!

For the curry we will need:

3 tins of light coconut milk

1 aubergine/eggplant(chopped)

2 courgettes(chopped)

10 baby potatoes, halved

300 gr green beans , halved

a splash of olive oil 

a pinch of salt

fresh spring onion and coriander to garnish

Heat up the olive oil in the pan, put the curry paste and warm it up. When the flavours have been released (i.e. after heating it up for a few minutes) add the coconut milk.

Bring it to the boil, turn the heat down, add the vegetables. 

If you are making it for dinner, cook for a further 20 min. on low heat. My advice is to make this in the morning, bring the curry to the boil point, switch off. Allow to stand all day and infuse, heat up for 30 min., in the evening.Serve with plenty of rice.

Enjoy!

Spinach Roll with Feta and Pine Nuts.

Happy New Year to everyone!
I hope that this year is going to be the best for your families , may all your wishes come true and everything you do will be successful! In Russia, the traditional holiday season is still going , it finishes on the 14 of December with the "Old Style New Year". I couldn't even dream of starting to explain that one!
I'm sure that by now you all are sick and tired of the Holiday Season food extravaganza.
So , here, in my kitchen, I try to come up with some vegetarian main dishes recipes , which are delicious, filling (it is still cold out there), but not too heavy on your tummy.
Even if you are a carnivore, like my husband, you are going to like this. Use the best puff pastry you can buy, unless you prefer making your own.This roll is great hot or cold, I would recommend to serve it with some green salad. The recipe makes enough for 6 adults.If there are less of you, still make the full recipe, keep it for the lunch next day, still delicious!
300 gr of fresh spinach
200 gr feta cheese
50 gr pine nuts, toasted
a small pinch of salt
pepper to taste
nutmeg to taste (I love loads of it)
approximately 300 gr good quality puff pastry sheet

Preheat the oven gas mark6/200C.
Boil the kettle, and pour the boiling water over the spinach, this will cook it. Squeeze the excess water out.

Line the baking tray with some baking paper, lay the pastry sheet on it. 

Put the spinach on it, crumble the feta cheese and sprinkle the pine nuts. Season with salt,pepper and nutmeg.

Gently roll it up.

Brush the top with some milk and make a few incisions with a knife.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until all puffed up and golden. Allow to cool in the oven for a few minutes.

Now slice and serve! Easy and tasty!

Enjoy!

Festive Food for Family and Friends.

Firstly, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year!
I hope my recipes have been useful in your own kitchens, and I will continue to bring you more in the new year.
During the Christmas season it's so nice to get together, but the last thing we want to do , is to end up in the kitchen all night , making food for everyone , while they all are having fun without you. So what I usually do is a good ham from a shop, maybe some cheese and pate too, and set up a self-service table with a few things I make myself. Easy way to claim all the credit with almost no effort made!
Here's a few ideas

• Cheese and Fig Muffins with Pumpkin seeds and Rosemary
• Pita Bread Parcels with grilled Haloumi and Tzatziki
• Beetroot Salad with Horseradish Dressing
• Mini "Toad in The Hole" bites       

Cheese and Fig Muffins:

250gr plain flour

3tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika

50 gr butter (softened)

1 egg 

250ml milk

50 gr grated parmesan cheese

100 gr soft goat cheese

2 tbsp chopped rosemary

4 figs (halved and sliced)

a small handful of pumpkin seeds

12 muffin cases

Preheat oven gas mark 4/180C.

Keep goat cheese, figs and seeds on the side for later.

Mix all the dry ingredients with butter.Whisk milk with the egg and stir in together with the dry ingredients. Spoon into the muffing cases (it's easier with the ice-cream spoon) and put a bit of goat cheese and figs and pumpkin seeds on top. Bake for 25-35 min., or until the skewer comes out clean.

Pita Parcels with Grilled Haloumi.

6 pita breads

500 gr haloumi

1 red pepper

1 tab of tzatziki

Wrap pita bread in foil and heat it up in the oven while the muffins are baking.

Grill haloumi cheese, chop a sweet pepper.

Cut the pita bread in two, open the parcels, fill up with haloumi, peppers and tzatziki.

Beetroot Salad with Horseradish Dressing.

This recipe is a slight deviation from something we used to make in Russia for holidays. The original recipe is full of garlic and mayonnaise, not that this one is any healthier , but the flavours are less offensive.

4 medium, cooked beetroot

3 dried apricots

a handful of toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds

100 gr crumbled feta cheese (or blue cheese)

1 tbsp horseradish sauce

1 tbsp mayonnaise

Dice the beetroot, chop the apricots.

Mix all ingredients well.

Mini "Toad in the Hole"

2 large eggs

200 ml milk

a pinch of salt

150 gr plain flour 

4 good quality sausages, skin removed, chopped 

2 medium potatoes cooked, diced

Heat the oven gas mark 7/220C, use the baking tin for muffins, pour some oil in every hole and pop it in the oven to heat up.

Make the batter with eggs, milk, salt and flour.

Be careful taking the tin out of the oven, place some sausage and potato in every hole and top up with the batter.

Bake for 25 min.

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

Black Forest Pudding Cups.

Inspired by something we currently have on our menu at work. Retro flavours work well for Christmas entertainment ideas. As usual, these are super easy to make and my advise is to make it in the morning and serve in the evening. Allow the cups to stand out of the fridge for about 10-15 min. before serving. Alcohol is purely optional, I used a small shot of whiskey for the chocolate and Creme de Cassis liqueur for the cherry compote.Decorate with mini meringues,macaroons or just a little whipped cream.I made 5 cups, but my desserts are super generous in size!
100 gr dark chocolate
30 gr unsalted butter
200 ml double cream
about 100 gr cherry compote or 1tbsp of cherry jam per cup
Creme de Cassis
a splash of whiskey or rum or brandy
1 heaped tbsp of icing sugar
a small packet of biscuits of your choice

Melt the butter and chocolate over the boiling water.

 

If you are using alcohol, at this time add a shot of whiskey to the chocolate.

Set the melted chocolate aside, allow it to cool down. 

Whip the cream with the icing sugar.

 

When the chocolate has cooled down, start pouring it gently into the whipped cream, whisking slowly as you do.

The chocolate mousse is ready. 

Now assemble the desserts.

 

I used different biscuits for the base, use the ones you prefer. Basically you need to layer: biscuits, cherry compote (with or without a splash of Creme de Cassis), chocolate mousse.

 Here you can see different stages of dessert construction.

 When all dessert cups are ready, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for a couple of hours or , if desired , overnight.

 Take it out of the fridge a few minutes before serving, and decorate to your liking. I went to town with the edible glitter here!

Enjoy!

Savoury Mozzarella and Basil Pesto Bread and Butter Pudding.

I just love the recipes I can make ahead and cook on the day, which is especially handy when I have family and friends to entertain as well as to feed.The idea came from a Christmas Hollywood movie "The Family Stone", Sarah-Jessica Parker's character made a similar dish for her hosts. It all went terribly wrong in the movie,but who cares about that when we have a lovely recipe to make!

 I shall be making this for the Christmas morning this year and serving it with some smoked salmon and a bit of caviar! This recipe is enough for 4 adults , if you don't like fish, ham and salami go nicely with it too.

400 gr loaf of Brioche bread (crusts cut off)

50 gr butter (unsalted, softened)

250 gr grated cooking mozzarella

100 gr fresh basil pesto

4 eggs

400 ml double cream

fresh dill (a small bunch chopped)

2tbsp grated parmesan cheese

salt, pepper to taste

 Butter the dish, set aside.

Cut the bread into triangles and make butter and pesto sandwiches.

Arrange the pesto sandwiches in the dish and generously sprinkle the mozzarella on top.

 In a mixing bowl beat together the eggs and cream. Stir in salt, pepper , dill and grated parmesan.
Pour the mixture over the bread and allow the dish to stand in the fridge overnight.

In the morning , preheat the oven gas mark 4/180C . Bake for 20 minutes or until the top of the dish turns golden.

Serve hot with the festive accompaniments and plenty of coffee and Bucks Fizz!

 Enjoy!

Winter Salad with Mackerel.

Easy, healthy and filling! Put it together for a hearty lunch or dinner. I use olive oil and lemon juice to dress the salad, but , please , feel free to use any salad dressing you like.This recipe is for 2 adult, main size portions.

2 soft boiled eggs

1 small tin of red kidney beans

2 tomatoes

4 small potatoes, cooked

a bunch of tender stem broccoli , cooked

2 fillet of hot smoked mackerel, torn into strips

a pinch of sea salt

juice of half a lemon

2-4 tbsp of good olive oil

Divide all the ingredients equally between two plates, arrange the eggs on top of the salad.

Dress with lemon juice and olive oil, sprinkle some sea salt if desired.

Enjoy.

Crunchy Juicy Lemon Cake.

I have been given a big bag of beautiful home-grown Spanish lemons recently by my friends (big thank you to A.and P.). The flavour, the smell are just perfect! So I have been enjoying a number of G&Ts so far, made a lemon vodka (if this works out , I shall put the recipe on),made some whole candied lemons and candied lemon peel in chocolate, and I still have a few lemons left! So I thought, what could be better after a hearty dinner , then a simple dessert , a lemon cake to be precise. This recipe will be enough for 8 adult portions, just double if you need more. You can keep it in the airtight container for a couple of days. A little tip: for a crunchy topping allow the cake to cool a bit , before pouring the lemon juice over it (too hot and the sugar will melt and go through it).
For the cake:
150 gr of self-raising flour
110 gr of softened unsalted butter (half a standard pack)
110 gr of caster sugar
1 tsp of baking powder
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
zest of 2 lemons (unwaxed)
For the topping:
100 gr of regular sugar
juice of 2 lemons

This topping should be mixed very last minute, the sugar will dissolve if mixed beforehand.
I used my trusty old food processor with a blade setting.
Put all the cake ingredients in the bowl, and beat together for about 3 min. Preheat the oven, gas mark 3/160C.

Use a small baking tray, grease it and line it with the baking paper. Pour the cake mixture into the baking tray.

Bake for about 30 min. or a bit longer, until the top is golden.Allow it to cool in the oven for a few minutes.

Next step: use a small wooden skewer or a toothpick or even a fork and prick the cake all over.

Now is the time to mix the lemon juice and the sugar.Keep the cake on the baking paper, to collect the juice.

Pour all the mixture over the cake , and leave it to cool properly. One hour should be enough.

Cut into squares , serve with vanilla or clotted cream ice-cream. 

Enjoy!