Dried fruit and chocolate milk loaf

This milk loaf is basically another version of this recipe, so I will write the recipe down now, which I didn't do the first time I uploaded it on the blog. It's a bit time consuming but definitely worth the effort.

 Ingredients:

• 350 grams of  plain flour
• 100 grams of whole wheat spelt flour
• 50 grams of fresh yeast
• 70 grams of butter
• 100 grams of caster sugar
• 1 egg for the dough
• 1 egg for wash 
• 200 mls of lukewarm milk
• all kinds of dried fruit
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• zest of one lemon
• zest of one orange
• 2 tablespoons of rum
• 100 grams of dark chocolate 

Measure the two types of flour for the dough and then mix it with the sugar. Then you can add the butter and the yeast, cut into pieces, and crumble it into the flour. Add the cinnamon, the nutmeg, the egg and the milk. Give it a good stir with a wooden spoon and when it starts to combine well, keep kneading it with your hands. It has to become this soft but not sticky dough, so you can add a bit more flour, if needed. Place it in a bowl, cover it and let it rise for about an hour. 

In the meantime mix the dried fruit with the rum, so they can soak it up and be even more delicious ;) Also, line a middle sized cake ring with parchment paper. When the dough is double its original size, give it another round of kneading, and then cut the dough into 8 pieces. What you need to to with each of them is stretch them out with a rolling pin so they are more or less 10 cms wide and  25 cms long and have a rectangular shape. Then fill the pieces with the dried fruit and the chopped up chocolate. Then roll it up starting from the longer side of the rectangle, and roll the whole thing up so it's shaped like a bun. 

 

 

Place each of these in the cake ring, next to each other so that there's not space in between the buns. When you have all of them inside the cake ring, give the whole thing a good egg wash. Bake it in the oven at 180 C for about 45 minutes. When done, take it out of the ring, let it cool down and ice it with icing sugar dissolved in a bit of cold water.

 

Grilled mozzarella wrapped in Black Forest ham

Not having access to Parma ham and buffalo mozzarella, I had to re-design and make this amazingly delicious dish with regular mozzarella that you can buy in any store and Black Forest ham. Ruccola and balsamic vinegar lovers will appreciate this recipe, I hope :)

 

Ingredients, serves 2: 

• 3 mozzarella balls 
• fresh ruccola, the amount depends on how much you like it... :)
• 9 slices of Black Forest ham
• dark balsamic vinegar 

Cut each mozzarella ball into three pieces and wrap each of them in one slice of ham. If it wants to fall apart,  you can stick a toothpick in each piece. Heat up a tiny bit of oil in a pan and grill both sides of the ham, and when that's done, pour in the vinegar. Let the acid boil away, so that it thickens and becomes very sticky. 

Pile the ruccole up on a plate, and place the hot pieces of wrapped mozzarella right on top of it. Pour the remaining "dressing" all over it, so it can mix with the ruccola too.

Dried cranberry and white chocolate cookies

I'm gonna sound like a commercial now: are you craving something sweet but you don't have a lot of time to bake? Then this cranberry and white chocolate cookie recipe is the one for you! :)) But really, it takes only 15 minutes to make the dough, and another 5 to make it into cookies, and then the baking is 10-12 minutes. If you really don't have much time, you can add the chocolate to the dough but if you feel like being creative, I suggest decorating the top of the cookies with it. 

 Ingredients which will make about 17 cookies:

• 13 dkgs of plain flour
• 13 dkgs of whole grain spelt flour
• 10 dkgs of sugar
• 8 dkgs of cold butter 
• 2 eggs
• two handfuls of dried cranberries
• a handful of raisins
• 1.5 tablespoons of candied orange peel
• a pinch of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder

Mix the two types of flour with the sugar, the cinnamon and the baking powder. Crumble the butter into the flour mixture, then add the two eggs. You can start stirring it with a wooden spoon in the beginning but then you'll have to dive in and knead the dough with your hands, until almost done. In that exact moment just add the dried fruits and the orange peel and finish the dough. Line some parchment paper in a baking tin and shape the cookies so that they are of 6 cms of diameter, approximately. Bake them at 180 deg Celsius for about 10-12 minutes, until the top becomes golden brown. Place them on a cake rack and let them cool, while you melt the white chocolate. You can decorate the cookies with the melted chocolate, almond flakes and cranberries. 

Spicy salmon with avocado salsa and potato salad in horseradish dressing

Having a bigger amount of salmon at home is just great, you can always take a piece out of the freezer. Although I bought this particular salmon for Christmas, it is almost time so it's not cheating... ;) All of these 3 recipes are very easy and quick to make, perfect for a Sunday lunch. 

Ingredients for the salmon:

• 1fillet of salmon (approx. 10-15 dkgs)
• half a teaspoon of smoked paprika
• half a teaspoon of ground coriander
• half a teaspoon of ground caraway seeds 
• juice of half a lemon or lime
• one teaspoon of soft brown sugar  
• half a teaspoon of chili powder
• salt 

Pour the lemon juice on the salmon fillets and give it a stir, so that the juice covers the entire piece of salmon and let the lemon juice do its job until you prepare the  seasoning. Mix all of the spices with the sugar and then take the fillet and roll it into the spices, so the entire salmon is covered in the lovely spice mixture. Heat a bit of oil in a pan and cook both sides of the salmon for 5 minutes tops, you don't want to dry it out. 

 

Ingredients for the salsa:

• 2 ripe avocados
• a handful of cocktail tomatoes
• juice of half a lemon
• a bit of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 thin spring onions
• salt
• freshly ground pepper

The avocados need to be cut into smaller cubes, the tomatoes into quarters. Slice the onions fine and then add the salt, the lemon juice, the olive oil and the salt and pepper. Give it a good stir and let it rest for a while.

Ingredients for the potato salad.

• 10-12 pieces of small potatoes
• 2.5 dls of sour cream
• two pieces of spring onions
• 1 tablespoon of grated horseradish
• 2 tablespoons of white vine vinegar
• zest of one lemon
• salt, freshly ground pepper

Cook the potatoes in salted water until soft, then drain them and let them cool down. When that's done, you can peel them and cut them in quarters. Add the vinegar and the lemon zest, give it a stir. Meanwhile you can stir the horseradish into the sour cream, slice the onions fine, add the pepper and the salt and in the end mix everything together. Add more salt, if needed

Mexican stlye pita pizza

Pita can be a great replacement for pizza crust when you don't have the time for making it yourself. Especially for those of you who prefer thin crust pizzas. The pita will get extra crispy in the oven below the topping making the whole pizza much lighter than usual. 

Ingredients, serves 4 people:

• 6 small pitas
• pizza cream or ketchup
• half a can of sweet corn
• one can of red beans
• 1,5 red onions 
• spicy chorizo 
• 2 tomatoes
• chilli flakes 
• grated cheese 

Take the pitas apart, and spread the pizza cream or ketchup on top of each piece. Top it with the rest of the ingredients and sprinkle some chilli flakes on top, then you can also sprinkle the cheese. They need around 15 minutes to get crispy at 200 deg Celsius in the oven. They can also be served cool! :)

 

Lemon and chocolate mousse cake

The first step of cake making is the sponge cake that I always make from scratch. I have a recipe for sponge cake that always works, so I will share that now. If you want to prepare a big cake, you can plan on a sponge cake with 8 eggs but you can always reduce the number of eggs by 2 depending on the size of the cake you are making.

Ingredients:

• 8 cold eggs separated
• 4 tablespoons of  caster sugar
• 8 tablespoons of plain flour sifted
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract / flavour

It's important for the eggs to be cold. First you have to separate the whites from the yolks. With an electric beater start whisking the egg whites, gradually adding the sugar. Beat the whites until stiff peaks. Then stir the vanilla extract/flavour into the yolks and add the whole mixture to the whites. From now on you can only use a spoon for stirring. Carefully whisk the yolks and the whites together, gradually sifting the flour into the mixture. When it's done, you know you did it right if it doesn't collapse, but looks more like a really light dough. Line parchment paper on the bottom of a cake ring and butter the ring from the inside. Spread the sponge cake mixture in the cake ring and bake it at 160 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes. You can check if it's ready with a needle or a knife. If you are using a fan-assist oven, at half time I advise you to turn the fan off and let the heat come from below so that the sponge cake can rise. After 10 minutes you can turn the fan back on. When done, let it cool down on a cake rack. 

Lemon mousse:

• 800 grs of Greek yoghurt
• 2 packs of express gelatine
• zest of one leomon and juice of one and a half
• zest of one orange and juice of one and a half
• 4 tablespoons of icing sugar

For the lemon mousse, all you have to do is mixing the yoghurt with the lemon and orange juice, the zest and the sugar. If it's sour and sweet enough, you can add the gelatine and let it rest until you make the chocolate mousse. 

Chocolate mousse:

• 20 dkgs of good quality dark chocolate
• 400 mls of cream
• juice of half a lemon

Whisk the cream until it becomes stiff and then add the orange juice and the melted chocolate. Give it a thorough stir. 

Assembling the cake:

Cover the cake ring from the inside with non sticking foil. Cut the sponge cake in three layers and lay the bottom part back in the cake ring. Pour the yoghurt cream on top of the first layer of sponge cake and cover it with the middle layer. Now you can spread the chocolate mousse on top and cover the cake with the top layer. It needs one night in the fridge so that the gelatine sets. You can decorate it the next day however you want, I used lemon cream and chocolate ganache.

 

Ildi's fresh cheese and lemon crepe cake with chocolate icing

Months ago my friend Ildi got the idea of a cake made with crepes in my head, which is really unfair to do by the way, if you don't have a fresh cheese and lemon crepe cake with you because all you will be able to think about for the rest of the day, how delicious it can be. Since my dear Ildi is the owner of the idea, this cake will be named after her, especially because it was made for her wedding reception for the first time. I really hope she will like it, and even if we are about to meet, I want to wish her all the happiness in the world in here too! :)

Ingredients for a cake of 12 slices:

• 10-12 pieces of crepe
• 25 dkgs of ricotta
• 25 dkgs of fresh cheese
• 1 dl of cream
• 4 gelatine leaves
• zest and juice of one lemon, plus juice of another half of a lemon
• sugar or sweetener according to taste

Chocolate frosting:

• 1,5 dls of cream
• 5 dkgs of butter 
• 20 dkgs dark chocolate

Stir the fresh cheese with the ricotta, the sweetener or sugar, the lemon zest and the lemon juice, until you get a smooth mixture. It needs to be tasted by all means, because it has to be lemony and sweet enough. Put the cream on the heat and keep it there only until it comes to a boil. Meanwhile soak the gelatine leaves in cold water, and when it's soaked and soft, take it out, squeeze the water out of it and add the leaves to the cream. Give it a good stir, and you can add this to the cream as well. To speed up the process you can put it into the fridge for a while so that the gelatine can start to set. Now is the time to set together your cake ring and cover the bottom part with kitchen film.When that's done, you can lay down the first crepe.

If you are lucky, your pancake pan will be the same size as your cake ring. Approximately two tablespoons of cream goes in between two layers of pancake. You just have to keep building the layers. For the chocolate frosting, the cream needs to be brought to a boil together with the butter and then mixed with the chocolate. It will melt nicely, but it needs to be smooth so stirring thoroughly is very important. You can let it set for a while before you start using it. When half of the pancakes are already in the cake, you can spread some chocolate frosting in between two pancakes in the middle of the cake. Then continue with the layers and spread the frosting on the top of the last pancake. Let it cool down for a couple of hours in the fridge. Then take the cake out, take off the side of the cake ring, and cover the sides with the frosting as well. Keep it in the fridge until serving.