Caesar salad

 

I know that there are tons of Ceasar salad recipes on the internet, and to be honest, I created my recipe out of several other ones I found on the net. I changed some things though, for example I tired to make the dressing less greasy. I won't write a recipe for the salad, but just the things I changed which in the end resulted in a less heavy but absolutely delicious salad in no time. 

Everyone knows the ingredients: salad,  tomatoes, in my case thin slices of red onion, cucumber, chicken breast fried with some seasoning, croutons andthe dressing itself. 

If you make the croutons, it's best if you fry some chopped garlic in a bit of oil and then you fry the bread in it, it gives the bread a nice additional flavour. 

I completely left the egg yolk and the oil out of the dressing. I started with some lemon juice, Worchestershire sauce and mustard, I added some salt and pepper, and pour cream into it. I did this until the amount and the flavour was good enough. If you like anchovies, you can add some anchovy paste. Since I didnt have any at home, I poured some of the oil of the canned anchovies. But be careful, it has a strong taste! All of this together made a very nice caesar salad :)

Mushroom caps filled with apples and mozzarella

Ingredients:

• mushroom caps, big ones
• mushroom stumps sliced 
• 1 mozzarella ball chopped fine
• 1 small onion chopped fine
• 1 apple chopped fine
• 10 dkg of ham or bacon
• fresh rosemary leaves
• salt, pepper, olive oil 

Wash the mushroom and remove the stumps gently. Pour a bit of olive oil in a fireproof dish and put the caps in it. Chop the onions fine and start cooking them in a bit of olive oil. Meanwhile chop the bacon or ham, the apples, the mushroom stumps and the mozzarella fine. The rosemary leaves also need to be choopped really fine. When the onion is half way done, add the bacon, the mushrooms and the apples, and cook them together until the apple gets soft a bit. Add some salt and pepper and the rosemary. Stuff the caps with the mixture and cook it in the oven at 180 deg Celsius for 15-20 minutes. 

Celery and pumpkin bisque with sausage chips

Ingredients

• 1 smaller onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• one half of a pumpkin
• one half of a celery
• 2 tbl spoons of sour cream
• 1.5 tbl spoons of rosemary leaves
• sliced sausage, amount according to taste
• a bit of ground nutmeg
• salt, freshly ground pepper
• about 1 l of water

Peel the onion and the garlic and chop them quite fine. Add some salt and pepper and start cooking them in a bit of oil. Meanwhile peel the celery and the pumpkin and cut them in equally big pieces. When the onions and the garlic is soft enough, add the vegetables and cook them together for 10 minutes, after adding some salt, then pour the water into the dish, turn on the heat and cover the dish. Cook it until the celery becomes absolutely soft. When it's done, puree the soup with a blender and put it back to the burner. Add the sour cream and the nutmeg, some ground pepper and, if necessary, salt. The soup is finished. 

Fry the rosemary leaves in a bit of oil to make them crunchy, as well as the sausage, and serve the soup with these two on the top.

Cauliflower in a spicy coat

I absolutely love deep fried cauliflowers, but I rarely make it at home because it needs too much oil that I can't use afterwards, and also if I have a head of cauliflower I prefer cooking something light of it. This is how I got to the idea of rolling the florets into a spicy crumble and cook them in the oven, because the result is almost the same. It's crunchy and very delicious! I had a couple of pieces of dry bread and rolls so I used those to make homemade bread crumbs.

Ingredients

• 1 smaller head of cauliflower
• 3 eggs
• a little milk
• bread crumbs
• salt, freshly ground pepper
• ground cheese
• garlic salt
• ground nutmeg

Cut the cauliflower head in florets, so that you can handle them better. Sprinkle salt on them, and steam them almost until done. It shouldn't be too soft. Meanwhile, if you make your own bread crumble, grate or grind the dry bread, then add salt, pepper, cheese, ground nutmeg and the garlic salt. Let the cauliflower cool a bit. Beat 3 eggs, and add to it a little milk. Roll the florets in the eggs first, then the crumbs and put them on a tray covered with baking paper. Cook them in the oven for about 10 minutes until golden, at 180-190 degrees Celsius. I mixed some sour cream with lemon juice and rosemary leaves as a dip for the florets. 

Tartlets for onion lovers

These tartlets contain three types of onions: red ones, normal ones and leeks. This time I followed the thin layer of crust with lots of filling in the inside principle again. The crust is the same as the one of the apple pie posted below, in a salty version of course. The best thing about these tartlets is that they are filled with tons of onions, and that is, for a true onion lover, is heaven itself. And I'm proud to be one of them. 

Ingredients for roughly 10 tartlets

The crust:

• 10 dkg of full wheat flour
• 10 dkg of flour
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder 
• 5-10 dkg of butter
• oregano according to taste
• cold water

The filling:

• 3 red onions
• 2 onions
• half a leek
• salt, pepper
• 4 tablespoons of sour cream
• 2 eggs
• grated smoked cheese 

Measure the flour for the crust, add the baking soda and the oregano, add the bits of butter and make a crumble with the butter and the flour. When its done, add the water and kneed the dough. Let it rest in the fridge until you make the filling. 

Peel the onions, cut them in half, slice them and cook them on a mixture of oil and butter for 20 minutes with the lid on.Add salt and freshly ground pepper. When it's done let it cool for a bit. Add the sour cream and the 2 beaten eggs and mix it carefully. 

Roll the crust very thin, and with the help of some round object cut perfect circles out of it. Stick the edges together so that it has the shape of a little basket. Of course my tartlets lost their shape while they were in the oven, so you might want to use tartlet dishes. Fill the baskets with the sour cream and onion mixture, sprinkle them with the smoked cheese and put them into the oven at 200 deg Celsius for 15-20 minutes until golden. They are absolutely fantastic hot and cold as well.

Roasted beets with cold chicken salad

If I had to choose a favourite vegetable based only on colour, beet would be the absolute choice with its amazing purpleness. Besides its extremely healthy and there's a huge variety of dished you can make of it.

Serves 2

The beets

• 4-5 pieces of beet roots, middle sized
• salt and pepper
• a handful of thyme
• red balsamic vinegar
• water

Peel the beets (better to do it wearing rubber gloves), cut them in equally sized pieces, put them into a dish, add salt and pepper and the thyme leaves. Pour some water under them and cover the dish. Put it in the oven for an hour at least at 200 deg Celsius. When it's done, remove the tin foil used for covering and let the water disappear. Then sprinkle the balsamic vinegar on the beets and mix them. Put it back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes until it gets sticky, but don't forget to mix it again 2 or 3 times. It's done when there is no water under it and its dark and sticky from the vinegar.

The chicken salad

• half a chicken breast fillet
• 1 red onion
• 1 packet of mini mozzarellas
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons of sour cream
• 1 big tomato
• 2 branches of thyme
• salt, pepper

Peel the onion, cut it half and slice it. Start cooking it in a pan, add salt and pepper and the rest of the thyme leaves. While it's getting done, dice the chicken breast. Put the onions into another dish, and let it cool (I usually put the ingredients I want to cool into the window, nothing has fallen out to the roof yet luckily). Pour a bit of oil into the pan and start cooking the chicken. Add salt and pepper again and cover it for 10 minutes, then remove the cover and let it roast a bit. Chop the garlic fine and add it to the chicken. Now you can let the chicken cool too. Meanwhile add the mozzarella, the diced tomatoes to the onions, and then the chicken. Add salt and pepper to the 2 tablespoons of sour cream, and mix it with the rest of the salad. Let it rest until the beets get done.

Stuffed chicken thighs with roasted apples

Even during the hard workdays we deserve some treats, today this manifested it self as stuffed chicken legs for lunch. This autumn break inspires me to put apples in everything I make, and besides apples can make a perfect substitue for potatoes as garnish. I wouldnt call it a light meal , because the stuffing contains bread and mozzarella cheese, but the apples might give it a lighter essence.

Ingredients:

The amount of the ingredients is up to you to decide, depending on how much bread you want to use and how many chicken legs you have, etc.

For the stuffing:

• dry bread
• onion
• mozzarella cheese
• lemon zest
•  lemon juice
• walnuts
• rosemary 
• 1 egg
• salt, pepper

First of all soak the dry bread in water. Chop the onion fine, and fry it in a bit of oil. Put it in a dish and add the lemon zest and the finely chopped mozzarella. Chop the rosemary fine too, and add it to the mixture. Squeeze the water out of the bread and add this too. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix it thoroughly, dont leave big bits of bread stuck together. Taste it, if its all right, then add the egg(s) and mix it again.

 

The apples:

Cut the apples in halves, get the cores out and put them into a pan, on a bit of oil. Put the rosemary on the top of the apples, sprinkle some salt and pepper on them, and cover it tin foil.

  

All you need to do now is to sprinkle salt on the chicken legs on both sides, and get the stuffing under the skin. Cover them with tin foil and get it done in the oven at 180 deg Celsius in 45 minutes. When its done, remove the cover and let it become golden on the top. The apple only needs 20-25 minutes at the same temperature.