BREAKFAST FOR PRINCESSES

As the old saying goes, 'Breakfast like a queen, eat lunch like a princess, and dine like a pauper.' Let me change it and cook a jam with pieces of whole strawberries ideal for little princesses!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups sugar
1 lemon juiced
1 kilo fresh strawberries


Directions 

Wash the straberries with plenty tapping water. Pick off the green tops. Combine the sugar and the strawberries in a bowl and place the bowl in the refrigerator for 24 hours. After 24 hours the strawberries will have released some of their juices and some sugar will have dissolved. In a saucepan add the mixture and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon or spatula to prevent burning. With a spoon remove the foam that rises to the surface. While the mixture is boiling, pour the lemon juice in the saucepan and continue cooking. An easy way to understand when the jam is ready is to pour a small amount of the mixture on a cold plate that you have put in the freezer. If it gels then jam is ready! Pour the jam into sterilized jars. Jam should be refrigerated after you open the jar. 

If your jam junkie, you can take a look at From tree to table!

NO MORE DISHES

How about cooking a tasty salad without using a serving plate? 

Ingredients

1 black olive oil halved
1/2 cup crisp canned corn
1 avocado
2 tomato cherries
1/2 boneless and skinless chicken breast
1 tablespoon dried oregano
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

 Directions

Cut the chicken breast at small pieces.
Heat 4 tablespoons oil into a pan and stir-fry the chicken. Season with salt, pepper and oregano. 
Let chicken cool.
Halve the avocado, remove the stone and dice it. Don't forget to reserve the shells.
Drain the corn.
Chop the tomato cherries. 
In a bowl toss the chicken, the avocado, the tomato cherries, the corn and the remaining oil for the recipe. Season them with salt and pepper according to your preferences. 
Place the mixture in the avocado shells
Garnish with the halved olive.

DEEP-SEA DELICACY

Looking for seafood recipes? What about a shrimp risotto with saffron? This time, I will not ramble on about  Saffron origin, but if you are curious about it, you can take a look at  WHEN CHINA MET ANCIENT GREECE. 

Enjoy!

Ingredients

4 servings

1 1/2 cup Arborio rice

12 large shrimps
8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion
1/4 cup ouzo
1 garlic clove1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup lemon juice
1 large pinch of saffrona pinch of ground garlic

Salt and pepper
2 1/2 cups water

Directions

Peel and devein the shrimps. Keep the shrimp heads. (You can also keep a whole shrimp to garnish.)

In a large skillet, heat the water over high heat. When you bring water at boiling point, add the shrimp heads and the garlic glove. Salt, pepper and add the saffron. 

Let the mix boil for 30 minutes. Then pass the stock through a fine sieve. Reduce the heat and keep the stock warm. 

Dice the onion finely.  In a pot, heat 4 tbsps. olive oil over medium heat and sauté  onion until translucent. Add rice and fry until it looks slightly translucent (about 2-3 minutes). Add ouzo stirring the rice. Once ouzo is evaporated, pour 1/4 cup shrimp stock. Gradually add all the shrimp stock, waiting every time to be absorbed before you add some more. 

In a saucepan over high heat add the rest olive oil. When oil heats enough, add shrimps. Pour the lemon and orange juice. Stir and simmer the shrimps until shrimps become orange. Season with salt, ground garlic and pepper. Add shrimps to rice and spoon the risotto into your serving dish. Serve immediately!

I LOVE LOVE ICE CREAM CAKES!!!!

I love cakes... 
but I love ice cream cakes more...
but I love love ice cream cakes most !!!

As the the weather in Greece is still sunny and the temperature reaches 30 degrees Celsius, I found good idea make this cake for a friend that was getting married. The cake was never delivered as a friend and I didn't manage to resist and we ate it...(It happened before I start dieting..) However I took this photo with my cell phone while we were eating the cake.

 It is so delicious that even if the weather is not so hot where you live or you are not that kind of person that eats ice creams all year long, it is worth a try!

For the chocolate biscuit base 

• 100 gr. softened butter
• 100 gr. bitter chocolate
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 200 gr. finely ground digestive biscuit crumbs

Directions

1. Melt the chocolate over a bain marie. 
2. In a saucepan heat the butter to melt it.
3. Ground the biscuits finely to turn them into crumbs using an electric chopper.
4. Add the biscuit crumbs and the melted chocolate to the butter and stir well.
5. Press the mixture into a 25-28 cm. springform cake tin. 
6. Chill for about 1 hour.

For the ice cream 

Please see my post Back in Time 

Directions

1. Prepare the ice cream mixture according to the steps described at Back in Time
2. Freeze it about half an hour.
3. Beat it again.
4. Put a layer of ice cream on the chocolate biscuit base.
5. Use a palette knife to smooth the surface.
6. Put the whole tin in the freezer for a couple of hours to firm up.
7. Before serving, put the cake on a cake plate and into the fridge to soften a little. 
8. Place the red hearts (see below) on the ice cream cake.
9. Slice with a knife dipped in hot water.

For the red heart toppers

• 200 gr. icing sugar
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. vegetable oil
• Vanilla extract (optionally)
• Red food dye
• Some water

Directions

1. Mix the icing sugar, the lemon juice, the vanilla extract and the vegetable oil in a saucepan.
2. Add some water to make thick syrup. 
3. Best way to avoid watery syrup is to add the water gradually.
4. Heat the mixture at low temperature for 5 minutes and process till the syrup converts to an opaque paste.
5. Add some red food dye drops and process 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Allow your paste to cool slightly.
7. Use a roller pin to flatten out the paste (0.5-1 cm thick).
8. With a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut as many heart toppers as you want to use. 


The red hearts toppers can be stored at room temperature for a day. For later use you can refrigerate them.

HAPPY OCTOBER WITH A QUICK RECIPE!

I hope October has gotten off to a fantastic start. I want to apologize for having been neglecting my blog lately. My new month's resolution is to spend more time to my blog! Pick one new month's resolution to start today too. Just to give you some ideas about what you can do. You can quit smoking, help a friend, call your parents, try to be more creativeor laugh more!!
Okay, time to cook dinner for 4!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups wide egg noodles or Greek chilopites

1 cup small mushrooms

1/2 eggplant

1 red pepper

Salt

1/4 cup cauliflower

1/4 cup peas

1/4 cup green beans

1 carrot

A pinch of pepper

Vegetable oil for frying

100 gr. gruyere cheese

Process

Boil noodles according to package directions or boil the noodles for 4-5 minutes. Noodles need a lot of water to cook properly. Don't forget to put a pinch of salt in water and try not to over cook them. Drain water and drizzle a little olive oil over noodles to prevent them from sticking. Cut all the vegetables at small pieces and put them (apart from the mushrooms) in boiled water for 2 minutes to soften a little bit. Preheat the vegetable oil and fry all the veggetables for a couple of minutes stiring at the same time. Add the noodles and mix well. Salt and pepper. Stir well. Serve to the dishes. Grate the cheese over the top of your dishes. Ready! Yummy!