Posts made in July, 2009

Sauteed Chicken Livers

Posted by Brigita on Jul 25, 2009 in Appetisers, Mains | 0 comments

Chicken livers are mild in taste and not so bitter, but cooking them in the milk completely takes bitterness away and sauteed onoin with garlic gives sweetness and aroma.

Ingredients:

• extra virgin olive oil
• 4 shallots or one larger onion finely chopped
• 1 tsp of salt
• 4cloves of garlic crushed and chopped
• 45 g of sour cream
• 500 g fresh chicken liver washed and sliced
• 1-1/2 cup of milk
• cracked papper  and chopped parsley to season

Method:

Trim 500g of chicken livers and pat dry.

Heat 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan, add  peeled and chopped onions with garlic and stir until soft and golden brown. Reduce heat, add chicken livers and sautee  till they are just brown. Add milk and sautee further for few minutes until reduced into sauce. Add sour cream for last minute of cooking and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

To serve:

Serve with  green salad and mashed potatoes. Serves 4.

Cold Squares

Posted by Brigita on Jul 25, 2009 in Desserts | 0 comments

Ingredients:

Pastry:

6 eggs
6 tbs sugar
6 tbs ground walnuts
6 tbs standard flour
3 tbs cacao
1 lemon’s grated rind
1tsp baking powder

Syrup:

300 g sugar
2cups water

Cream:

750 ml milk
12 tbs standard flour
3 tbs sugar
3 egg yolks
250 g unsalted margarine or butter
4 tbs icing sugar

Glazing:

100 g cooking chocolate
20 g unsalted margarine or butter
1 tbs milk

Preparation:

Pastry:

Beat eggs with sugar until smooth, then add the rest of ingredients, mix it and bake on 180-200 °C for approx. 20 min.

Cream:

Beat egg yolks, then add already mixed together flour and sugar. Add it gradually into boiling milk, stirring all the time that it wouldn’t clump. Cool it after it thickens. Separately beat margarine with icing sugar then mix it with cooled cream.

Chocolate glazing:

In a bowl above the hot steam melt and mix together chocolate, milk and margarine.

Pour syrup over cooled pastry, then spread the cream and glaze it with chocolate.  Refrigerate for couple of hours, then cut into squares with a knife dipped into a hot water and serve on a platter.

French Salad

Posted by Brigita on Jul 25, 2009 in Appetisers, French, Salads | 0 comments

This is an excellent cold salad which should be served with cold meat cuts or on it’s own with toast.

Ingredients:

For Mayonnaise:

3 egg yolks

1 / 2 liters of oil

200 g mustard estragon tatste

salt and pepper

a few drops of lemon

For Salad:

3 / 4 to 1 kg of potatoes smaller and of equal size

250 g carrots

250 g peas

5 large or 10 small gerkins (depending on size)

Preparation:

The secret of good French salad is in mayonnaise, and we recommend that you create your own instead of buying it. For the amount that we recommend here (for fifteen people) you will need three eggs, or egg yolks. Egg yolks detach from the egg-white and the first to add one teaspoon mustard making it so easily to blend into unique mass. Then, slowly, drop by drop, add oil, mixing constantly. When the oil and eggs are not connected, stop adding oil and mix at the maximum speed. When oil and egg yolks connect, continue with a slight adding of oil. Three egg yolks can “drink” up to half a liter of oil that will be enough for the amount of other ingredients. Mayonnaise can be done and of olive oil, which is warmly recommended. When the oil and egg yolks connect in unique mixture, it should be seasoned. First mix in 200 g mustard making (estragon recommended), then add salt and pepper. Mayonnaise should be tasted, and salt and pepper should be placed so that you can do that mayonnaise  is somewhat too salty, too peppered and too sour. It is for this reason that the vegetables are cooked in water only and has no additional flavorings, whichyou will get from the mayonnaise.

Cook the whole potatoes. When cooked, immediately peel it. Cook carrots and peas. Cook all ingredients separately, only in hot water. All ingredients (potatoes, carrots, gerkins) dice into cubes of equal size (approximate size of grains of peas), then all together mix with mayonnaise. Leave in refrigerator for at least 12 hours to cool down.

These amounts are approximate, may vary slightly.

Spinach artichoke dip

Posted by Brigita on Jul 25, 2009 in Appetisers | 0 comments

INGREDIENTS:

TIP:

Serve with raw vegetables, toasted pita breads or crackers (or combination of all).

Fruit Salami

Posted by Brigita on Jul 24, 2009 in Desserts, Italian | 0 comments

This is an easy sweet recipe that can be prepared in advance. Enjoy this rich salami with divine taste.

Ingredients:

300 g pitted prunes

500 g dry figs

250 g dates

150 g walnuts

200 g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla sugar

Rind of one orange

Crystal sugar for coating

Preparation:

Finely chop walnuts and orange rind. Process prunes, dates and figs in food processor until finely ground. Cook the icing and vanilla sugar with a small amount of water into a very thick syrup (you should be able to pull a string between two fingers), then take away from the heat and mix with fruit mixture. Spread crystal sugar in a thin layer over alu foil. Spread the mixture in the shape of roll and roll foil over it. This should give a shape of salami. Chill in the fridge for a day. Slice into thin slices (few mm).

Serve:

Excellent with coffee.

Tip:

This can be done in advance and stored in a fridge for quite a while as all ingredients are natural dry fruits.