Tag: savoury

Savory Cheese scones with cherry chutney
17Dec

Cheese scones with cherry chutney

I have been struggling with the flu for the last two days. Deciding to walk around the Christmas market in the pouring rain does that to you. With the temperatures dropping and the sun becoming very shy this time of year it has been easy for me to sleep in. And sleeping in means that meals merge into one another and this gives me a great excuse to have brunch in bed. In England scones are often eaten as an afternoon treat, with tea and sweet toppings like clotted cream and jam, and although I will never say never to a scone with cream and jam I will always reach for the savoury ones first. Scones are not what first pops into people’s mind when they think of brunch, but for me that’s the perfect dish to have with coffee. Fluffy cakes with tangy cheese. Chutney is often paired with cheese scones but my choice of cherries as the fruit is unconventional for a chutney. It makes it a little sweeter than traditional recipes, but as a big fan of sweet and sour tastes this was a gamble that paid off. Sweet cherry chutney (yields around 300g) 250g frozen pitted cherries
3 mins read
1246 Views
White pizza margherita with crispy base
06Sep

White pizza margherita

My blogger friend Amanda gave me this idea to make a #dirtypizzaparty to get all of our guilty pleasures on top of one base (or two. or three). This pizza party is transatlantic btw so i had this 12″ margherita to myself. She reiterated the pizza had to have your favourite, guilty food as a topping. And loads of it. Consequently cheese, which means the topping is pure cheese with a touch of cherry tomatoes. Pizza for me is all about simplicity, the way to my heart is a thin crispy margherita, simple and crunchy. The base in my opinion can make or break a pizza. This challenge by Amanda push me outside of my comfort zone because I rarely make bread and have never made a pizza base before. No, correction – I have attempted it before but ti doesn’t even bear thinking about it. The shape on my white pizza base turned out very “rustic” but the texture was really amazing, when rolled to half an inch it bakes like heaven. White pizza margherita (makes 2 12” pizzas) for the base: 300g plain flour 7g dried active yeast 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp olive oil 200ml warm water 1.
3 mins read
734 Views
05Jul

Classic vinaigrette

Let’s not talk about Brexit today. Let’s talk about how to make classic vinaigrette.  I have always been confused when I have searched for vinaigrette recipes I get a liquid version of it, like a salad dressing. That’s not the version I grew up to love. I decided to recreate my family’s version of vinaigrette after I got a whiff of cheiro-verde.  Cheiro-verde is what we call the mix of parsley and coriander leaves in Brazil. You’ll often find the market sells this mixture together. The smell is a throwback one for me, if you add cumin and the noise of a pressure cooker, I am right in my grandma’s kitchen. So this is the recipe with the classic vinaigrette I have always known, with cheiro-verde. In my opinion it’s better than a salad dressing, you can add it to anything: rice, couscous, quinoa, salads and even as a side to grilled sausages. Classic vinaigrette (serves 4-6) 100g cherry tomatoes  1 small red onion  Bunch of flat parsley  Bunch of coriander  Juice of 2 limes 30ml olive oil Salt to taste 1. Finely chop the onion, tomatoes and herbs and place it all in a bowl 2. In a separate bowl
2 mins read
749 Views
28Feb

Chicken filo parcels

It’s no secret that Europe is a very small continent, especially when compared to places like Russia, US, Australia or Brazil…If I drive out of Frankfurt right now I will be in France in 2 hours, a 3 hour drive would get me to Belgium, Switzerland or the Czech Republic…It’s almost ridiculous. So when I tell people that I need to take a 3 and a half hour flight to get from São Paulo to my hometown, they find it hard to believe it. If I got on a plane for 3 and a half hours from Frankfurt, I would be in another continent. The interesting thing though is that even though everything is relatively close by each country has very distinct cultural and food traditions. Whilst here in Germany the traditional food is a bit “primitive” with things like pig trotters and sausage, big portions of it with very little extra added. Next door, in France food is a tad more refined. I find this all very interesting. And then Mariana has the wonderful idea to do a culinary foreign exchange. So every so often she will send me a typical English ingredient and I will send her German
4 mins read
556 Views
20Nov

Stir-fried noodles with cashew nuts

For a couple weeks now I have had an enormous desire to eat oriental food and I especially adore Thai and Vietnamese cuisine, but will be the first to admit I don’t often venture into the kitchen to cook these dishes. The reason behind my it is not lack of will or time it’s more the shopping for the ingredients that puts me off.  And I am spoiled for Asian shops where I live, plus the prices are super affordable, so what’s the big issue? In recent times I have been trying to avoid going to shops packed full of people, and all the Asian shops are in central Frankfurt, where everyone seems to be, all the time. So when I think of making noodles I also start to think of having to get in the packed Metro then fighting the crowds when I get off on the other side. So I often give up just thinking about it. The scary thing about all this is that I never used to be like this. Am I getting old? Sometimes I ask myself whether living in a big city and paying ridiculous rent makes me yearn for the comfort and coziness
3 mins read
625 Views
11Jun

Cheese bread and Chimichurri sauce

Today we continuing with our special posts for the World Cup. This recipe is a true Brazilian tradition, we call it pão de queijo which literally translates to cheese bread. It doesn’t matter where you come from we guarantee you’ll love this snack. Snacks are definitely an essential part of our culture as they are always popular for the mid afternoon munchies or just to accompany a cold beer at the end of the day. Pão de queijo is one of our essential snacks and it’s has a special place in Brazilian hearts, almost as much as football. And amazingly these cheese breads are gluten free! That’s right, they are made with cassava flour which is a root vegetable, it looks like a white potato with a thick brown skin. Although cassava that originates from South America it has been exported to Africa and Asia therefore you will find it in dishes from different cultures. It is this special flour that gives these little rolls its texture: crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside. The chimichurri dip however is not a Brazilian recipe but it complements the cheese bread so well. Many people also add butter or even berry jams to it but they
3 mins read
754 Views