Socca

This originally Italian dish that spread out to south France (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farinata) is the single most easy, tasty and healthy thing you can make. All you need is chickpea flour, water, olive, seas salt.

Here is the recipe from David Lebovitz I used:



http://www.davidlebovitz.com/socca-enfin/


Note: I used cast iron skillet as the recipe calls for and also before turning on the broiler I preheated the oven to 500F.


This makes wonderful snack for kids in school or for busy moms and wonderful appetizer if you are having friends over for dinner.

Enjoy!

Poached Peaches With Baked Ricotta

 Few things say summer like peaches! We loved this recipe for baked ricotta with poached peaches - we made it two times in the past two weeks. It was a great way to use peaches from our tree too!
Summer vacation is almost over! First time I made this cake "for a sweet start of 1st grade". The second time the girls asked for it so I said: "Lets make it a double sweet beginning of school years to come!

Here is the recipe:

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/poached-peaches-baked-ricotta

Note: Both times I cut the recipe in half. First time around I did not have lemon verbena and I used only lemon balm for the sauce and it turned out fine; second time I used them both for the extra lemony sauce.



Enjoy!

Sweet potatoe fries a la Jamie Oliver

Not only are they perfect with a salad, as a side dish, but for me these sweet potatoe fries can easily pass as a dessert!
The recipe is available online here. 

Bon ap!

Happy National Cheese Lovers Day

It is the National Cheese Lovers Day today, January 20th, and I've thought it would be interesting to share a story about Swiss cheese that I came to know more about during a recent trip...

New Year and Christmas in Serbia translate to hard core post-holiday diet upon returning back home. Well, that would not have been so difficult, considering the vast variety of fresh produce in the sunny California, had there not been a glitch in the plan on the way back through Switzerland... I've read this interesting article about Swiss cheese on the plane and ventured straight to Coop to pick few varieties to try during my stay (which was inevitable to happen anyway, be it for the article or not). I typically buy more than what I can finish during the visit and have been accused in the past of leaving stinky cheese in the fridge... So this time I was careful and opened only cheese I ate, which means the rest had to travel back with me! Now it's the fridge full of cheese here at home and a sad prospect of a diet that is looming over... except that today is National Cheese Lovers Day and the diet will have to wait till tomorrow ;)

Before I jump to the article about cheese, I also wanted to share a great snack/dessert idea that I learned about recently while celebrating Christmas with my friends from Cuba. Yes, I celebrate Christmas twice :), on December 25th and on January 7th. My friend's father is 94 years old. He was born in northern Spain before he emigrated to Cuba. He came to visit and celebrate Christmas with us. I can only wish to be like him when I grow old, full of positive energy, jokes and love for his family and friends. He travels, goes for long walks, drives a car, cooks,... everything! So inspirational! He brought back many food goodies with him, including guava paste, special crackers, and a variety of traditional Spanish Christmas turron sweets. Not to forget original coffee, and a very special way I've learned from my friends how it is made in Cuba. :)
I have never ever tasted anything like guava paste! It is both sweet and salty at the same time, and is best paired with crackers and soft Mexican cheese. I don't know if it is because of the guava paste itself, or the special crackers that Papi brought, or the spirit of Christmas celebrated in such good company, but surely it was one of the best desserts I've ever had!
Just when I arrived back home from the trip, a package arrived and Papi sent me a can of original guava paste! Now I can't wait to try pairing it with the Swiss cheese that I've brought back!

Homemade Panettone

Santa Claus is coming to town!!! This year we got the similar size Christmas tree (which means the star barely fit on it because it is almost all the way up the ceiling ;) The girls (and mama) enjoyed pulling the ornaments out of the boxes and yelling out loud:" This is my favorite! I love this one!" etc. This year, since the girls are bigger and could do much of the tree decoration by themselves-other than putting the star on top :)  I had some extra time which I used for some  Holiday time in the kitchen :) I always wanted to make Panettone: for two reasons -one: I love to eat them and two: they mean Christmas season is here. I even candied my own lemon peel for it!
They turned out fine. I think the recipe I used is very good recipe for homemade Panettone. The only fun thing I did (that I maybe should not have done) is: I made my own molds with parchment paper. They did not hold the best - so my advice is to invest money and time in buying those. Another even more fun thing I did which, I think, compromised the end result are the two wooden sticks you use to hang the panettone up side down to cool. I did not invest in those either (I used chopsticks that were too short :) Hey, it is all about having a good time!  That being said- I loved my panettone and enjoyed it with a tea so much that I will be probably making them again during this holiday season with store purchased molds etc :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2016 to you all!