My first birthday present for this year!!!
Isn't it beautiful??? I am just going to shoot and shoot and shoot!! :D And very fast too!
I am turning 25 tomorrow. Yay*

Smoked salmon and beetroot salad

This is a recipe which I picked up from Jamie Oliver's show last week, and it got stuck in my head for a whole week. It kept recurring every time I would ponder dinner, and finally I got the chance to try it out a couple of days ago.
It is extremely simple, you need a pack of sliced smoked salmon and a jar of sliced beetroots- essentially. Lay the salmon slices out on a big dish and pour the juice of one lemon over them. Arrange the sliced beetroot casually over the sliced salmon, and then drizzle some olive oil and balsamico (always red!). Let the flavours infuse for a little bit (shouldbe at least 15 minutes, but this can be made in advance and kept in the fridge). I also chopped some fresh parsley over the whole dish. Really fresh and like a carpaccio but not! :D
By the by, I can't take responsibility for mentioning Jamie.. I love him to bits and all (my personal fanourite "celeb" chef ever), but i may have altered his recipe in the creative process.. I only remember specific recipes vaguely..

Last night's dinner...

Ok, here's a complete dinner suggestion: this is what we had last night, salmon fillets with creamy pesto, garlic flavoured mashed potatoes and ratatouille with balsamico.
This is pretty straight forward: the salmon fillets are placed on a baking tray (the amount is, as always, up to you) on a bed of grain salt and nothing else (the juices will take care of the rest). Bake for about 20 minutes or until firm anyway, at about 200 degrees.
The pesto needs a strong hand: in a mortar (you do have one, don't you??? Go buy one now :D Oh alright! If there's no mortar, just use some kind of blending apparatus... but I am very disappointed, jsut so you know! :P) place one small bag of pine nuts (about a small fistful), one clove of garlic, the leaves only of one small pot of basil, the kind with the wide, juicy leaves, some salt and olive oil. Using the pestle, grind everything together forcefully, until the whole thing is smooth. In the end, if you wish to make it all creamier, you may add a couple of tablespoons of some kind of cream (I used sour cream).
The mashed potatoes, and I am not ashamed to admit it because I AM a busy girl you know :P, came from a bag. Just make sure you make it only with water and butter, and no milk, and adding one or 2 cloves of garlic, crushed.
Finally, the ratatouille consists of one big zucchini, one onion, 2 bell peppers, different colours, one tomato, and one eggplant. Slice everything, place in a baking tray and season with salt, pepper, sugar, balsamico and olive oil. Don't go easy on the olive oil, you won't regret it- it feelslike the more olive oil veg gets cooked in, the better it tastes. You can also add some basil here too. Bake until all the veggies have turned all soft, yet keep baking until they have that elusive "golden crust" formed as well. Impress your friends and all that lot. :D

Milk chocolate pannacotta

This is something I essentially copied from a restaurant me and the boyfriend went to the other night.
You need a couple of individual forms (ramekins), oiled a little bit with a brush and covered with plastic foil, if youi wish to de-form the desserts afterwards.
What you do is, you take about 1 to 1 and a half decilitres of unwhipped cream per portion you want to make, place it in a small pot and bring it to a boil, adding one (not entirely full) tablespoon of sugar per portion and some vanilla essence or vanilla sugar. Whisk and remove from the stove once it starts boiling lightly. Next, take two small sheets of gelatin and melt them in about 2 centimetres of warm water in a cup. Then, take 2 squares of dark chocolate per portion (so 4 for 2 portions), add them in the gelatin cup and nuke them. That's right, I didn't bain marie! Hehe. Anyways. Mix the chocolate well and then add to the cream mixture. The whole thing with the gelatin (if you're using too little for instance) will be evident once you've tried this and you know how you want your dessert. Let the cream cool off a bit, and then place it in the 2 ramekins. Place in the fridge and make sure you have a few hours before you have to serve your dessert!
If it turns out more creamy than set, don't worry about it, as I am certain it'll be pretty tasty anyway. Just call it a chocolate pudding and call it a day :D

been reading the prince... finished and I have to say I for one thought it was very good. Come on, what 600+ page book can make you finish it that fast hey?? And it's so sad at the end! I also have to say I love the romantic envolvements- It's so cüte :P

The victims. The little trout was incredible! 

Oh my, what incredible fishing skills (raised eyebrow).  

the mosquito net is an absolute must! those buggers are everywhere..  

don't i make a fine little dictator?? :P This is me in my fishing attire. Rubber boots and all!  

This is the clearest rainbow I have ever seen.  

hehe the swedish dream...:P isn't that cüte!

Involtini!

This is amazingly easy to do and we love it in this household, as eggplant happens to be one of our favourite vegetables. As a matter of fact, it is probably in our top 5 of vegetables. I just can't understand people who say they hate it.. Obviously their parents never knew how to cook it properly..
Anyways! Take your eggplant and slice it horizontally, placing the slices in salted water afterwards, to get rid of the bitterness. Fry the eggplant slices in oil until they are soft and juicy. Make a stuffing (I used leek, egg and feta cheese, you can improvise if you want, although the cheese is instrumental. If you're using leek, you might want to saute it in the pan a little bit, so it doesn't come out stringy). Place about a tablespoon of stuffing on each slice of eggplant and roll it up. Put the rolls in a baking tray (as in the pic above) and pour a can of tomato sauce over them. Season with salt, pepper and oregano and give it a little bake in the oven for 15 to to 20 minutes.

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