Hey!

Don't forget! If you have any questions, ask! I'd love to clarify and explain as well as i can how i go about things, or what to do if something goes wrong. ;)

Cous cous salad!

Ok, this is what i just made, and it's SUCH the great idea for a very very quick fix, that's also very healthy, a tad exotic, simple, and delicious. But don't take my word for it, here's the idea:
First you throw some vegetables in the pan, nicely chopped or sliced, and basically the beauty of it is that you can use any kind of veg you prefer. Zucchini is a must in my own salad, and also eggplant (it fries in the most amazing manner). Very often i use onion and tomato as well, but you could even use a bag of wok veggies, already sliced, for added ease. You fry those in a pan with a dash of olive oil, adding some salt and a bit of sugar to balance out the flavours, and maybe a couple of spices of your choice. I use a little pepper, paprica and chilli powder. When these are done, you pour some balsamic vinegar over them and withdraw from the stove.
While you're waiting for the veg, you make the couscous. Basically you can just boil some water in the kettle, and use about 3 decilitres of couscous to aprox. 2,5 decilitres of water. Leave it for a few minutes, stirring occassionally and adding salt and olive oil. In the end you combine everything, and you can also crumble some feta over it. Also, if the result is a little dry, you may add some extra balsamico.

Two quick dips

I got a craving for some yummy goo this evening, something i could dip some bread in, for a quick tasty fix. I ended up with two. Read on.
The first one was made with a can of chick peas and a can of sweet corn. Combine the two in the blender along with one not too big onion, some olive oil, salt, the juice of a lemon and just grind it all up. It's like a variation on hoummous.
The second, which is one of my all time favourites and a common greek favourite, is eggplant dip. You make this with one or two eggplants, which you must first bake in the oven. Wrap each eggplant in tin foil and place in the oven at abouot 200 degrees. You should poke them with a knife or fork to make sure they cook all the way to the center. You can check on them every once in a while, and you'll know they are ready when they get really really soft and soggy. Then you put them in the blender along with some garlic (start with one clove and work your way up after you've tasted it, to make sure you don't make it too hot), olive oil, salt and vinegar. You can also add some sweet, red bell pepper. About half to being with, so its taste doesn't overpower the eggplant. I really love this one and make it almost every time we have people over for dinner. Make sure you let it cool down before you eat it, so all the flavours can be infused.

Nordic salmon

When i first got together with the bf and became interested in all things swedish, i found out that the most popular way to cook salmon in Sweden is plain, with nothing but salt. Preferably coarse grain salt, and nothing else, no spices or oil. It is truly the über way to enjoy the salmon to the fullest. The swedes combine it with boiled potatoes and a sauce. It is very juicy and succulent! For a large piece of salmon it's enough to bake for about 20 to 30 minutes tops. You don't want to overcook, as it gets dry.
Now, another thing i tried a couple of nights ago was another variation which is also made with no oil, but lots of spices. I used four salmon fillets which i covered in dried dill, salt, pepper, chilli powder and sweet paprika. Those are placed in the oven at about 175 to 200 degrees centigrade and baked for about 20 to 30 minutes as well.
Ok now bear with me on this, this is a bit of a parenthesis, but this actually leads to a sauce. I have a little dish i usually make on its own as a pure vegetable dish, on the days when we want the flavour but we're not feeling the meat. Basically you take an eggplant, a red bell pepper, a green one, a large zucchini, a large tomato, and you slice them rather thickly, laying them in a baking tray. You sprinkle salt, sugar and a little bit of pepper over them and drizzle with olive oil and red balsamic vinegar. Next you put them in the oven at 175 to 200 degrees. You will see when they're ready, they will cook in the oil and become soft. Now, these are lovely on their own as a type of warm salad, as it were, but you can also use the juice from the tray to make a nice sauce.

Salmon sauce

And i continue!
You can take the veg juice from the aforementioned baked veggies and mix them with the juice from one lemon, one red chilli pepper hacked into tiny bits (or if it's too spicy for you, you can try a mild chilli or even half a red bell pepper instead), one clove of garlic finely chopped, a drop of balsamic vinegar (ok, two), some salt and some chopped, fresh rocket. This is a non cook sauce, you just serve it on the side of the salmon dish described in the previous post, along with a nice spot of plain mash potatoes. Cheers :D

Hello and welcome!

Hi all! welcome to my blog. My name is Katerina and I am a person with a passion for food and cooking, and I wanted to share that passion with other people, those who feel the same way about cooking and those who really should give it a shot. I am hoping to inspire other people to delve into cooking and to offer a few ideas that will get you started. And I'm not just talking recipes, but also spices, drinks, desserts, shopping tips, recommendations of all sorts. And whatever else comes along. So have fun and stick around :)
Katerina

Feta, a couple of variations

I love feta. I am greek so it makes sense really, it's the cheese that no one in Greece goes without. I have a couple of thingies i like to do with it on a regular basis. Such as:
Spicy feta dip.
Extremely simple and always good, for those who appreciate a bit of spice. Just take a piece of feta, size is not really important, it all depends on how much you want to make, and mash it with a fork. To make it all saucy, add a little bit of water, some olive oil and a touch of vinegar. The quantity of the fluids should always be small to begin with, and you can add as you go along, so you don't make it too wet to begin with. The only other thing you need is a touch of spice. You may use whatever you'd like to make it spicy, the easiest thing being chilli powder. You can also use actual fresh chilli peppers, preferably lightly roasted, so you can remove the skin and make it easier for you to mash them into the mixture.
And also:
Peppers stuffed with feta.
For this one you can use any type of sweet pepper that's not too big in size. Preferably the longer, green type. You simply make a cut on the pepper lenghtwise and stuff it with feta. If you want you can secure it a little bit with a toothpick. Then you put it in the oven, sprinkling some salt over it and a bit of olive oil and bake them until the skin looks like it can be pulled off easily. Serve with a bit of vinegar over them. ÿummy :D

Chicken skewers with cashew sauce

On my last birthday i received a cook book from my boyfriend's parents, in swedish (because i am practicing and trying to learn while i'm living here) called "Kärlek, oliver och timjan" (which freely translates to "Love, olives and thyme"). I used it last night for the first time, so i went for the random page selection, and landed on chicken satay, which is something i've never tried to make before. It was simpler than i thought, although a bit time consuming, but definately worth it. It's as simple as this (my way was slightly different, i didn't have exactly the same ingredients as in the book):
Make a marinade by combining curry powder, cumin powder, a whole chopped chili pepper and three cloves of garlic. First you put the powdered spices in the pan and let them roast up for about a minute and then add some olive oil (always olive oil) and the rest of the ingredients.
While it's preparing, cut up some chicken fillets (i used 3 of those for 2 people) in cubes. When the marinade has cooked for a couple of minutes (don't let the garlic get too dark, or else it gets bitter), rub it all over the chicken cubes with some salt and leave it to marinate. The recipe said 2-3 hours, but meh, i didn't have that long so it was about 30 mins for me.
After that, you put the chicken bits on skewers and roast them in the oven (i used the oven grill). The peanut sauce i made with cashew nuts instead of regular ones. For no reason. All it takes is an onion and 3 more garlic cloves fried in a bit of oil, and then you add about 200 grams of nuts, ground nicely in the blender, some salt, some chili powder or cayenne pepper, a couple of teaspoons of honey, about 2-3 deciliters of water and one dl of milk. You're supposed to use coconut milk, but I used regular milk with some dried ground coconut. And bob's your uncle really. You can serve it with a nice rice (basmati works lovely). It's the über, really.