Blue Cheese Burgers ( a la Gordon Ramsay)

1kg beef mince 

1 red onion , finely chopped

100 gr blue cheese , crumbled

chives ( i used frozen chives )

tabasco sauce.....use wisely...it is hot :)

2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon english mustard..I used provenceale mustard that had garlic and roast paprika in it 

sea salt and black pepper

olive oil

 Mix all of the ingredients, except the oil, into a large oil and season with salt and pepper.Cover the bowl and chill for a few hours.

Preheat a pan, drizzle olive oil and cook the patties for 7 to 10 minutes.
I used iceberg sallad, tomatoes, fried bacon and tex-mex dressing to serve.

Pizza Night

I have this wonderfull book called *500 pizzor och tunnbröd * by Rebecca Baugniet , that I 've bought this winter but never bother to read it to be honest.

So last week I decided to make my own pizza, real style... making my own dought and sauce and everything..... and it was delicious.... one of the best pizzas I have ever ate..........or I like to think so :)

I made the sauce in a very simple way, all you need is olive oil, 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, salt, oregano and chilli flaskes.

Heat up the oil in a pan, add chopped garlic and stir fry a couple of minutes.Add tomatoes and stir, leave it to boil for about 15-20 minutes until the sauce beginns to get thicker.Add salt, oregano and chilli flakes.

The recipe for the dought in the book is called neapolitan pizza and the measurements used are enought for 2 pizzas with a diameter of 30 cm.You can change everything depending go your needs.
1 teaspoon dry yeast
3 dl warm water
1 teaspoon salt
4 dl special white flour ( if you can find , if not use regular flour )
2 dl white flour

I used a food processor, it is much easier a´than mixing everything by hand.
First add the yeast to the warm water and let it rest for 5 minutes, add salt and mix in the flour for about 4-5 minutes until the dought starts to get a nice shape, even and elastic.

Divide the dought in two even bits and put them in a bowl that has ben lightly rubbed with olie oil, move them around until the dought gets a nice thin layer of oil.
Cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth and leave it to yeast for about 2-3 hours in a warm place.

It should double in size.:)
I made three pizzas, two with roast beef and one with shrimp.
Almost forgot ....preheat the oven at 250 Celsius, I turned on the hot air instead of normal heat, worked better like that.

The first one didnt came out that round.... but well in the future I will try more. My choice of toppings were : pizza sauce, roast beef, olives, mushroom, red bell pepper and cheese and for the second one had basicly the same just without olives and instead of beef I had shrimps.

Not much left in the end....3 pizza....4 hungry persons.....

Premiu!

Mersi Pansy pentry premiu...si eu care credeam ca nu imi urmareste nimeni blogul...haha!


Thank you Pansy !

http://panseluta-violet.blogspot.com/

Wiener Schnitzel

Schnitzel is a traditional Austrian dish, easy to make but overall very delicious. I used thin slices of beef, ussually it consists of thin slices of veal, but often people use pork too.
First you coat the meat with flour, then dip it in egg ( that was beat before, salt and pepper added) and the last step I coated with breadcrums, breadcrums that were mixed with herbs before.

I fried the slices in oil, it needs about a minute or a minute and a half on each side because the meat it isvery very thin, I changed the oil about 3 times along the way, because the flour tends to burn and then it tastes bitter and I had about 11 slices to fry and I didnt wanna use the same oil more than twice.

I served the schnitzel with boiled potatoes coated in butter and parsley and steamed asparagus and baby carrots.For the asparagus it needs to steam for about 4-5 minutes, you need a normal sized skillet , add the asparagus , a glass of water, a big nob of butter and salt, medium heat you bring it to boil , cover the skillet and let it steam for 5 minutes.

Yummy!

Muschi de porc impletit cu bacon / Braided tenderloin fillet with bacon

Cut the tendeloin fillet in three, be carefull not to cut all the way , that way it will be easier to braid.

Put a bacon and fresh thyme ( you can use dried too ) on each piece.Start to braid it, stuff some crushed garlic in between .

Preheat the oven to 175 C. Oil an oven tray.Sprinkle salt, pepper and paprika on top.Drizzle some more oil.

I

I added some bay leaves , garlic cloves and the bacon that was left, it gave the sauce a better taste in the end.

It looked like that when it came out of the oven, can not explain the smell....HMMMM....it was in the oven for about 1 h, but it is best to check it with a termometer.
I drained the juices from the tray , added some meat stock, some soy sauce for the colour and I made a nice brown sauce that works perfectly with this piece of pork.I served it with mashed potatoes and a nice sallad with an italian vinegrette.

It came out very good considering that I had a couple of Tom Collins cocktails while I was cooking.....What??...IT WAS SATURDAY!!!

Saturday night dinner / Easter dinner

Too be honest I am not a huge fan of religiuos holydays but my parents where here and I wanted to amused my dad.

I coloured some eggs , made a boeuf salad. Recipe really simple , add in a big bowl boiled green peas, boiled chicken meat ( chopped), pickeld cucumber ( chopped ), boiled potatoes ( chopped ), eggs ( chopped ....of course) boiled carrots.........( chopped :) ) make a mayonnaise I belive it taste better with homemade mayo.
Half of the mayo you add with everything and mix , rest the salad in a nice bowl and add the rest of the mayo on top.

The dinner that I made I will post it later.

Salata orientala / Oriental Salad

I have no clue why the hell they call this salad oriental in Romania because it has nothing oriental about it, at least I dont think so.
 I will not say how much you need of anything because it depends on how much salad you want to make.I will just share the basics and the way that I do it.
So... what I added was : boiled potatoes ( cut in cubes), boiled eggs, chopped black olives, red bell pepper (finely sliced), cucumber ( take away the seeds with a spoon and again finely sliced), red onion ( finely sliced) mix them all together with salt and pepper, olive oil and white wine winegar.Chop some parsley on top and let it rest in the fridge for at least and hour...........and to quote Mister Ramsay now.... I will say    ***DONE***

Romanian Stew with polenta / Tochitura cu mamaliga

This is very typical dish in classic romanian restaurants, there is 3 different ways to do it from 3 different regions in Romania.... I did it my way which was...mixing a bit of everything from the 3 recipes.
 It is usually served with a fried egg on top of the polenta...I choose not to do it because it was a dinner and it was already a plate full of fried meat  and it seemed to me that adding the egg was a bit too heavy for my family.
1.Have your meat ready, sausage and some mushrooms....I cheated with the mushrooms and i used canned ones... not that tasty as fresh ones but anyway....next time :)

2.Chop some red onion and garlic.Heat up the pan and add some oil. When the oil is hot add the onion and garlic.

3.You also need a beef stock cube, about 2 dl red wine and tomato paste.

4.When the onion and garlic it's almost done add the meat, sausages , mushrooms and fry for a little while until the colour of the meat turns white, when that happends add the beef stock, wine, tomato paste and a bit of water if it is needed.Add salt and pepper at the end, check the meat if it's done. Served it with a nice creamy polenta and grated feta cheese on top.

Thai chicken wok!

900 gr chicken file
1 box of  egg noodles
500 gr frozen thai vegetables
cabbage
thai spices
cooking oil
salt and pepper
1.cut the chicken breast into thing stripes and let it marinate for about 1-2 hours in soya.

2.Finely cut the cabbage.Turn the heat on max and heat up the wok.Add the oil when the wok is hot, add the chicken and fry it.

 3.When the chicken turns white add the spices , stir and add the wok noodles and from now you basicly need to cook according to the indication on the box.Add the vegetables when the noodles are half way done and the white cabbage.Stir fry it but be carefull and reduce the heat at medium so the noodles wont burn.

Ärt soppa / Pea Soup

This is the ultimate lazy food for everyone and I am guilty .......I love it!
Basicly I just bought a pack of already done pea soup, you heated up in a pan with a little bit of water so it wont be so thick , add one top some fried bacon strings......and like Gordon Ramsay will say......Done!

Roasted Pork shoulder (bogfläsk)

I have no idea if that is the correct way to translate from swedish * bogfläsk* to english.Anyway it looks like the picture below and I bought a big round piece for about 1, 5 kg.

Basicly you leave the meat the way it is, fat side up, and you make a spice mix with : garlic powder , cayenne pepper, rosmarin, koriander ( cilantro ), thyme, grill spice, salt, white pepper and oil.

Pre.heat the oven at 150 degrees C, place the meat in a non stick oven pan , brush the meat all over with the spice mix and alongside the meat cut a red onion  in four and crush 3-4 garlic cloves too.The red onion will give a better taste to the sauce that will follow.

It will stay in the oven for about 2 hours and 30 minutes or better check it with a meat thermometer , when the meat in the middle reaches 85 C it is done.

When the meat is done you have to let it cool down  for at least 15-20 minutes before you can cut it.

For the brown sauce you have to strain the juices in a pan, melt some butter with a tablespoon of flour , add the juices some cream, a beef stock cube, and a few drops of chinese soya to give it a bit more of a brown colour.

I made a sallad with parsley, cherry tomatoes and isberg sallad.

Chicken wings with peas

You need : 1 bag frozen peas
                  1 can of chopped tomatoes
                  1 red onion , 2 garlic cloves crushed and finely chopped
                   a little b
it paprika powder, chicken stock, salt and pepper
                  1 bag of chicken wings

First you put the chicken wings to boil with a chicken stock cube, when they are done boiling, take them out and save the broth in a deep pan.
Add the oil in the pan, bring the heat up alittle, add the onion finely chopped with the garlic too and sprinkle some paprika powder too, be carefull dont burn the onion and garlic because they will taste bitter in this simle dish.
After they got some colour add the frozen peas, chopped tomatoes and chicken stock, bring to boil.
When your peas are almost done, add the chicken wings, salt pepper and some fresh dill ( or frozen)-
Ready to serve, very simple, and you can re- heat it during the week if you dont have time to make something for lunch. I served it with  different kind of pickeld cucumber and cabbage.