Basil paste

I came across this recipe while looking for an alternative breakfast recipes. This paste sounded really perfect to me - something new, quick and easy to make. And - believe me, it tastes really, really good - some of you may know flavoured butters (smaksełko? ;) ) - they were extremely popular some time ago and very tasty, though I can't find it in any shop, can you? This is not a butter, as it is made of cottage cheese. Though I'm sure it would be same delicious as a butter! It is perfect for example with: fresh, hot bread/rolls, with cold meats, tomatoes, for brushetta, ciabatta bread... :)

Recipe, slightly changed, comes from this website.

Ingredients:

• 250g of cottage cheese (low-, semi- or full-fat)
• a bunch of fresh basil
• 1/2-1 clove of garlic
• 8 tablespoons of oil 
• 1 teaspoon of black ground pepper
• a pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon of sichuan pepper

Preparation:

1. Put the cheese in a bowl, add spices (black pepper, salt, sichuan pepper). 
2. Take a blender and its bowl (or any bowl suitable for blending), put basil, garlic and oil inside, blend till smooth (or almost smooth). 
3. Mix basil paste with cottage cheese, blend till smooth.
4. Store closed in the fridge.
5. Bon Appetit! :)

Puff pastry cookies with strawberries and Nutella

Are unexpected guests coming soon? Don't you have a clue what to put on the table? Are you organizing a party where sophisticated cakes aren't a suitable match? This is an easy, quick, and overtasty solution :) I do strongly recommend :) They're outrageous!

The recipe comes from this website, as usually, I changed a tiny little bit :)

Ingredients:

• 1 packing of good quality ready made puff pastry
• 1/2 jar of Nutella (or something very similar in taste to Nutella)
• 100 g of strawberries
• powdered sugar

Optional ingredients:

• chopped pistachios (to sprinkle the top)

Preparation:

1. If your puff pastry is totally frozen - defrost it. It needs to be in a room temperature (so that it won't shrink during baking).
2. Take your puff pastry and using a shape cutter (in every shape you want, it doesn't need to be a heart shape) make as many shapes as you can from your puff pastry. Roll the leftovers of the puffpastry and use it as well. If the puff pastry is too sticky - use some flour (sprinkle it on the puff pastry and rolling pin)
3. Put the cutouts on a baking sheet (remember to put the baking paper on your baking sheet)
4. Put in the middle of every cutout 1 teaspoon of Nutella
5. Take the strawberries and - optionally - cut them into halves.
6. Put the strawberries on Nutella.
7. Bake in 200 C for 15-17 minutes (may be ready faster - keep an eye on them - if the colour is gold - it is ready). Cool down.
8. Add some powdered sugar on the top.
9. Bon Appetit ! :)

Rafaello

Finally! :) After few considerations and reading many descriptions about this cake, I finally decided to prepare it :) Prepare - not bake, because it is a non-baking cake! ;) (and I really, really love such cakes - time&energy saving ;) ). I prepared it, mixing all the ideas for this cake I found on the Internet. I must honestly admit that all the people who tried it enjoyed it a lot. To my great surprise, among many (from my point of view) better cakes, this Rafaello was the one that disappeared first. 

And - this is another cake, after greatest-of-them-all Gourmet Sensation and it's brother Gourmet Sensation vol 2. which really gets better with time! (second day, amazing!) 

I do recommend! Easy, not expensive, wonderful cake, both in its appearance and taste :)

Though, surprisingly, this cake might be even better - try the second version of Rafaello here.

Ingredients: (for a small rectangular pan, otherwise there's not enough cream, but You can double the ingredients and make double cream, then You'll also need more crackers)

• 1 litre of 3,2% milk
• 2 vanilla powdered custards, 40g each (or double the recipe for this budyń, recipe here ;) )
• 2 tablespoons of potato starch
• 3/4 glass of sugar
• 2-3 vanilla sugars (16g each)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 egg yolk
• 250g of butter
• 200g of shredded coconut (150g for the cream, 50g to sprinkle the top)
• 2-3(3-5 if bigger pan) packs of crackers (rectangular shape)

Optional ingredients:

• almond flakes, for sprinkling the top
• 1/2 glass of vodka or 
• 1/2-3/4 glass of advocaat (if You wish to add any alcohol, I would recommend this one)

Preparation of budyn/custard:

For those of You, who has powdered custard, follow the steps below, if You can't buy powdered budyn/custard then follow all the steps in that recipe, just remember to double all the ingredients.

1. Take a glass, fill 3/4 of it with milk. Add powdered custard and potato starch. Stir till smooth (no clumps please!)
2. Take a pot, put all the remaining milk in there, add sugar, start boiling. Stir from time to time to help the sugar dissolve. Bring to boil and add the mixture from the glass. Lower the heat, stir energetically till it turns thick. Cool down.

Now, when the custard is ready: 

1. Using a stand mixer, mix butter with egg yolk, adding cooled down custard, one tablespoon after another.
2. Here is a good time to add alcohol and mix.
3. Add shredded coconut (leave around 50g for sprinkling the top), mix till it links.
4. Take a rectangular pan - preferably a rectangular springform pan (no baking paper inside is necessary, in both cases).
5. Put one layer of crackers and start adding some part of the cream, to cover the entire crackers layer (yes, I realize how hard it is to distribute the cream, You can use many techniques to make it easier - for example: put some lumps and try to link them or distribute the cream through syringe and then smooth it with a spoon)
6. Put another layer of crackers and cream - repeat till all the ingredients are used, the last layer is cream.
7. Sprinkle the top with shredded coconut or/and almond flakes.
8. Cover the cake with foil, put in the frigde for at least 3 hours.
9. Bon Appetit! ;)

Banana Pancakes

Fantastic! I finally managed to prepare them ;) With an irreplaceable help of Nigella's 'Feast' Book :)

I do recommend them, they're outrageous!
I slightly changed the original recipe as I personally prefer them without a banana.

Ingredients:

• 150g of flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 30g butter
• 1 egg
• 250ml of buttermilk*
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar

Optional ingredients:

• 1 banana

Additionals:

• maple syrup (I honestly do recommend it)
• honey
• more bananas
• shredded coconut
• jam
• etc ;)

* buttermilk makes pancakes springy, but I realize that it is fat, so you can easily add milk, 1,5-3,2% but then it is very important to add 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar


Preparation:

1. Take a bowl in which you can mix ingredients (preferably a bowl suitable for using a mixer or blender).
2. Melt the butter and put it aside to let it cool down.
3. Optionally - Wash and peel the banana, chop, put in the bowl and mix till smooth.
4. If you're using milk - put it in another bowl, add vinegar and leave for 5 minutes. After that time add all the ingredients (without butter, unless it is already cold) and mix, till smooth.
5. If you're using a buttermilk - add all the ingredients except for melted butter in a bowl. Mix to receive smooth mixture.
6. When the butter is cooled down, add it and whisk again, till smooth.
7. Take a frying pan, put some oil on it and distribute the oil using a paper towel (yes, pancakes aren't supposed to swim in that oil ;) the frying pan just needs to be greased).
8. Turn on the lowest heat. Wait a minute.
9. Put some dough on the frying pan, fry for a minute or two, till the colour is gold (keep paying attention to your pancake, they fry really fast), overturn.
10. Take it off from the frying pan, add your favourite additional ingredients. 
11. Bon Appetit! ;)

Tropical Pavlova

I have no idea why I was hesitating for such long time... this is absolutely gorgeous... It exceeded all my expectations :) not only its appearance on the table is wonderful but the taste is just overdelicious! sweet meringue with tropical fruits! this is a real feast for senses ;) I do recommend! :) 

For those afraid of baking a meringue - here is a tip - you can buy a ready-made one in a good bakery ;) And they are probably available in a few sizes - you can make a couple of small pavlovas or one, very big :) all of them will be same delicious :)

Recipe for the meringue comes from this website, the rest is my idea, as Pavlova might be prepared in plenty different ways and will always taste good :)

Note: meringue and lemon curd might be prepared earlier. But - lemon curd must be stored in a closed box, in the fridge.

Ingredients:

Meringue:

• 4 egg whites from 4 big eggs 
• 250g of sugar 
• 1 teaspoon of potato starch 
• 1 teaspoon of white or rice vinegar 

Lemon curd:

• 3 eggs 
• lemon zest and lemon juice from 3 lemons 
• 100g of powdered sugar 
• 100g of cool butter 

Whipped cream:

• 500 ml of 36% cream 
• 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar 
• 1-2 packages of powdered whipped cream (to stiffen the whipped cream, or polish smietan-fix*) 

* remember to stick to the proportions while using powdered products. If powder package says it is enough for 200 ml of cream/milk (no difference), and you're using 500ml of cream - add 2 packages.

Top:

• Tropical fruit (any, tinned or fresh) 
• peach 
• mango 
• passionfruit 
• lychee 
• pineapple 
• guava 
• ... :) 
• a handful of shredded coconut, to sprinkle the top 

Preparation:

Meringue:

1. Preheat the oven to 120C (without convection, just this time) 
2. Prepare a baking sheet, cover with baking paper. Draw a circle (diameter: for M size eggs - 18 cm, for L size eggs - 20 cm). Put aside. 
3. Take a mixer and its bowl, put egg whites inside, start beating. After a while, start adding sugar, one tablespoon after another, stiring precisely all the time. The beating should take 10-15 minutes, not less. The meringue after the beating should be stiff and shiny. 
4. When done, add potato starch and vinegar and beat for another few minutes so that it links. 
5. Using a spoon or spatula, distribute the meringue on the baking sheet, on the drawn circle. Pull up the sides. (please don't play with it much, just few good moves, because the meringue might be destroyed). 
6. Put in the oven and bake for 30 min in 120C. After that time, lower the temperature to 100C and bake for another 3 hours. 

Lemon curd:

Lemon curd requires a 'bath' so it is necessary to have a suitable pot and a bowl, that can be put one on another.

1. Chop the butter into smaller pieces. 
2. Take a pot, put some water inside, start boiling it. 
3. Take a bowl that matches the pot, put eggs inside, beat. 
4. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, powdered sugar and stir till everything links and there are no lumps. 
5. Now put the bowl on the top of your pot (make sure the bowl stands out from the pot so that you don't get burn) and slowly keep heating up the mixture (don't boil it). 
6. Keep adding the butter, one piece after another, stiring after adding. 
7. When all the butter is melted in the mixture, turn off the heat and put the bowl with lemon curd somewhere aside, to let it cool down. 
8. Then put your lemon curd in the fridge so that it stiffens more. 

Finishing:

1. Prepare fruit. If fresh - wash, peel (if necessaroy) and chop. Dry them on a paper towel. Put aside for a while. If tinned - half of the job is already done - just chop and dry. 
2. When the meringue is baked and cooled down, distribute cooled down lemon curd all over the top. 
3. Now, prepare whipped cream going through the steps below:
   
   Whipped cream: 
   1. Before preparing the whipped cream make sure your cream is really, really cool (I always put it in the freezer before beating, for around 10-15 minutes). 
   2. Take a mixer and its bowl, put cream inside, start mixing. After a while add powdered sugar and something to stiffen it (powdered whipped cream/smietan-fix). 
   3. Beat for around 10 minutes (depending on the power of a mixer it might take more or less time, keep paying attention not to make butter).
   
   
4. Distribute whipped cream all over the top. 
5. Just for the sake of safety, dry all the fruit again on a paper towel, before putting them on the meringue with whipped cream (as the juice from fruit may destroy both whipped cream and meringue). Make any pattern you wish out of the fruit. 
6. Sprinkle with shredded coconut. 
7. Store in the fridge. 
8. Bon Appetit! ;) 

Monte Coffee

I really enjoy trying new tastes of coffee out! That's why, for example, I never order in a restaurant a coffee that I can prepare on my own at home ;)
So, today, here is a cute and very sweet idea from MK Cafe website :) It contains a well-known dessert/yoghurt for children, that I think everyone loves - ohh yes - Monte :) 
....The real taste and pleasure begins, obviously, when you stir all the coffee layers together... ;)
Mmmmm, I will come back to this recipe very soon, I'm sure!
Bon Appetit, everyone! ;) especially Monte Lovers ;)

Ingredients (for 1 coffee):

• 1 monte
• 50-100 ml of milk
• 100-200 ml of black coffee
• 50-150ml of milk foam 
• brown sugar (optional)

 For the top:

• whipped cream, chocolate (chips), cinnamon, cocoa, caramel, nuts... :)

Preparation:

1. Take a latte spoon. Using it, take the first, white layer of monte, put it on the left or right bottom side of a latte glass. Do the same with the dark, chocolate part of monte, putting it on the opposite bottom side.
2. Gently patter the latte glass on the surface, so that monte  won't mix that easily with the milk.
3. Prepare your favourite coffee (without adding milk).
4. Add sugar to the coffee if you wish and stir.
5. Hold the glass, tilt it a little and start adding milk, pouring it slowly down through the glass's side.
6. Using the same method as with the milk, slowly add the coffee.
7. Cover with milk foam or whipped cream and additional toppings.
8. Bon Appetit! ;)

A Shark Steak

Uhh, I must admit that was a challenge. A shark. My first question: my Goodness, is it edible? I bought only one small piece (in case it turns out to be terrible) and searched through the Internet to find out more about good ways to prepare THAT. During my research I found some information that sharks are under preservation, did you know? Well I didn't... so that's for sure the last time I bought it. I do encourage you all to look up for such information, they're life-useful.

But - for those who don't mind or - as me - didn't know and have already bought it - here is extremely easy and short recipe that will help you prepare it and not put it in the bin (as wasting food seems same bad...)

About the fish - surprisingly not disgusting, though it probably depends on your own taste and how well can you deal with the 'fishy smell' and 'fishy taste' of the fish ;) the meat itself is bright, delicate and moist. Personally I don't know what to do with the dark part of the fish - it is edible but maybe it should be cut out?
The big advantage is - no fishbones! :) except for a big one, that needs to be cut out before preparing, but that seems obvious :)

The recipe comes from... all the ideas from the Internet put together ;)

Ingredients (serves 1):

• 200g of shark steak
• 1-2 drops of lemon juice 
• spices: salt, pepper, oregano, basil
• chopped parsley

Optional/Additional:
anything you like to eat it with, for example:

• boiled vegetables
• chips
• potatoes
• rice
• couscous
• grains

Preparation:

1. Defrost the fish, wash. Cut out the big fishbone. (And here maybe the dark part too?)
2. Sprinkle with all the spices and put aside for 10 minutes.
3. Take a grill (electric one, or a grill-like frying pan, etc.) put the fish on it, add 1-2 drops of lemon juice, put parsley on the top, start grilling.
4. After few minutes overturn, add another 1-2 drops of lemon juice and parsley, keep grilling for another few minutes.
5. Bon Appetit (? ;) )