Courgette and cheese soup

Do you want something creamy, delicate and elegant? It is a Courgette and cheese soup!


















"Courgette and cheese soup"

- olive oil
- 1 onion
- 3 courgette
- 100g dolcelatte or gorgonzolla or any bluecheese
- dried oregano
- 1l water+stock cub /or salt and pepper/
- 300ml single cream

Cut onion into slices. Wash courgette, trim and slice.

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, cook gently. Add the courgette and oregano, a bit salt and pepper for a taste. Cook for 5 min stirring frequently.
 Pour in the stock or water and bring it to boil, lower the heat and cook for about 25-30 min. Stir in the diced cheese until it is melted. Take off from the heat.
Blend the soup, add gently the cream. Serve with fresh oregano for decoration or with a cream on a top.

Leek and thyme soup

My son went for holidays so I can cook what I like to eat. First was leek and thyme soup...

















"Leek and thyme soup"

- 3 medium leeks
- 1/2 kg potatoes
- 100g butter
- fresh thyme leaves
- 300 ml milk
- black pepper
- salt

Wash and cut the leeks into thick slices.
Wash potatoes and cut them rough dice.
Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add leeks, potatoes and cook for 3-5 min. Pour enough cold water to cover the vegetables. Cover and cook for 20-30 min.
Pour in the milk and season well, add thyme leaves and simmer for another 10-15 min. You can blend it in the end.

Flat baguette with green olives and thyme

Magnifique! ;) Especially with pesto or just a butter...


















"Flat baguette with green olives and thyme"

- 1/2kg white flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried yeast
- 1tsp sugar
- 350 ml warm water
- some olive oil

- 100g green olive from a jar
- finely chopped fresh thyme leaves


Sift the flour into large bowl or into a food processor. Add salt, yeast, sugar and water. Mix very well, leave it for 1 hour in a warm place.
Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces shaping them into batons. Place them on a floured baking tray to rest for 15-20 min.
Brash the batons with a few drops of olive oil and top each one with a few whole pitted olives and sprinkle thyme. Wait another 30 min.
Put the baking tray in the middle of the oven and bake for 15-20 min.

Moroccan Vegetable soup

A fantastic soup for a hot day. Very tasty and almost no calories ;)

















"Moroccan Vegetable soup"

- 2 tbsp olive
- 1 onion, chopped
- 250g carrot, chopped
- 250g parsnip, chopped
- 250g pumpkin, chopped
- 1 l vegetable stock / or just water!/
- salt and pepper

For the garnish:

- chopped fresh coriander
- 1 glove garlic, chopped
- some olive oil

Heat olive in a pan and fry the onion shortly. Add vegetable and fry for a few minutes stirring occasionally.
Add the stock or water, season well and cook for about 15 min.
Cool soup slightly and blend well with a blender.

Heat the oil on a small pan and fry the garlic and coriander for about one minute.

Put a little of prepared garnish on the top of the soup. Taste delicious.

Sweet soft butter rolls

I baked them in the evening. My friend who visited me eat four ;) With butter and lemon jam.

















"Sweet soft butter rolls"

- 500g white flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 glass warm milk
- 60g custar sugar
- 10g fast-action dries yeast
- 100g soft butter
- icing sugar for dusting

Mix flour, salt, sugar yeast and milk in a bowl. Add eggs and 70g butter. Mix all again. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and leave for 1 hour in a warm place.

Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape into balls. Wait again for 30 min.

Heat the oven to 190stC. Brush the top of the rolls with remaining butter and bake in the middle of the oven for around 25 min.

Dust with icing sugar.

Rolls with gorgonzola cheese

Freshly baked rolls for breakfast...  coffee with milk. It is my favorite combination. Like today :)

















"Rolls with gorgonzola cheese"

- 350g white flour
- 350g plain flour
- 22 glasses warm milk
- 2 tsp fast-action yeast
- 150 g gorgonzola cheese, cubes
- 1 tsp salt

Combine all igrediance together, cheese in the end. You may use a food processor.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured bowl and wait 1 hour.
Knead again for a few minutes. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and shape into the balls. Put them on the prepared baking tray and wait another 20-30 min.
Bake them in the preheat oven /22 st C/ for around 20 min.

Courgette from the oven

This is a very tasty, full vegetarian dish... My daughter's boy-friend like it very much!

















"Courgette from the oven"

- 3 courgette, sliced
- 80 ml olive oil
- 2 small onions, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- salt, pepper
- 3 eggs
- 50g parmesan
- leaves from coriander /optional/
- one glass cooked rice

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and garlic, than courgette. Stir for 5 min.

In a big bowl combine the courgette, rice and 3 eggs with parmesan and coriander.

Grease a baking dish. Spread the mixture into the dish. Bake for about 25-30 min in a warm oven.

Roasted vegetable and ricotta rolls

I love this full, rich smell of baked rolls with vegetable and garlic...

















"Roasted vegetable and ricotta rolls"

For dough:

- 1/2 kg white flour
- 2 tsp fast-action dried yeast
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 glass warm water

Mix all together in a food processor or by hand. Cover with a clean towel and leave it to rise for about 1 hour.



For the filling:

- 1 medium courgette
- 1 red onion
- 1 yellow pepper /or green/
- 1 glove garlic, chopped
- salt, pepper
- Theme or rosemary leaves

Cut vegetables into 1 cm cubes,  add garlic salt and pepper. Cook in the middle of the oven for about 25 min.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface and roll into a log shape. Mix ricotta cheese with vegetables and spread over the dough. Roll it up into a log shape. Cut with a very sharp knife into rolls.

Prepare the baking tray, spread oil on it and place the rolls. Wait another 30 min and bake in the middle of the oven for 20 min.

Sonia's Dad favorite soup

From the mail from Sonia:
Sooo.. :) i promised you some cookie recipes, but i haven't had the time yet (however today I plan to make some cinnamon buns so i will take some pictures and send you the recipe :)... for now i realized that about 4 weeks ago i was making these soup dumplings that we absolutely loved when we lived in taiwan.

The 'broth'

2 quarts of water
2 pounds chicken bones (wings/back/neck)
2 ounces of Virginia Smithfield ham (or cured Chinese ham if you can get it), cut into 4 pieces
1/2 pound of pork skin & fat (you can ask your butcher for this, he’ll most likely just give it to you. you could also use pork belly, or just a fatty cut of pork)
1 inch piece of ginger, sliced into 4-5 ginger “coins”
2 green onions, cut into 3″ pieces
2 large garlic cloves, smashed with side of your knife
2 teaspoons of Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)

add some gelatin to help it setttle

The Filling
1 lb ground pork
1/4 lb shrimp, shelled, deveined and minced finely
3 stalks green onion, finely minced
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (use rasp grater)
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

Hot Water Dough
(makes about 40 dumplings)

400 grams of all-purpose flour (but please re-read the part above re: dough)
3/4 cups boiling hot water
1/4 cup cold water
1 tablespoon cooking oil

To make the broth put all the ingredients into a large pot. After it starts to boil, reduce the heat and cook for another 3-4 hours. Keep cleaning the surface from impurities in order to have a nice clean broth. When finished, add a little bit of gelatin into it and pour it into a deep baking pan. Put it into the fridge (for example) to help it settle. Once settled, take a fork and run through the broth to create little squares.

Put all the ingredients for the filling into a bowl and mix it well. Then add the broth gelatin and mix the entire mixture one more time.

For the dough: Put 90% of the flour in a large bowl. Pour about a third of the hot water in the flour. Stir vigorously. Add more hot water. Stir more. Add the last bit of the water and stir vigorously until the dough begins to form. Add the cold water and oil. Keep stirring vigorously. Stop when you can’t stir anymore.

Roll the dough until very thin, then put the filling in and make little dumplings out of it. :) 

Bring some water to boil and use the bamboo steamer to steam the dumplings. Let them steam for about 15 minutes or until done. 

Serve the dumplings with a dipping sauce that consists of a mixture of soy sauce and red vinegar (can be rice vinegar if you don't have a red one). Don't forget to grind some fresh ginger as well :) enjoy!

Chocolate and pecan brownies

My daughter asked me to bake a cake for a charity... I chose this one because it's tasty and people like chocolate brownies a lot...

















"Chocolate and pecan brownies"

- 110g salted butter
- 180g caster sugar
- 70 g brown sugar, muscovado
- 150g dark chocolate
- 2 eggs
- 120g white flour
- 2 spoons cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp instad coffee
- 60g chopped pecan nuts

Put the butter, chocolate and sugars to the saucepan. Heat gently and, mix well and leave to cool.
Beat the eggs, pour in the chocolate mixture and whisk until it is well combined.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder over the mixture, add pecan nuts and mix again with a spoon.
Grease a tin, spoon the mixture into the tin and bake in a warm oven for 25-30 min.