Homemade Granola-Muesli

Yep, you read it right! HOME-MADE!!!! :D If I would have known it was this easy to make, I would have made it AGES ago!!! I love it, make your own granola, perfect!!! And it tastes so gooood! mmh mmh mhh! :d You can just put in what YOU really want! :D Forget about those sultanas/raisins nobody really likes! ;)

Here's the original recipe, but feel free to let your imagination flow and replace those 3 cups of almonds by what you fancy in your granola in the morning!

Time to start feeling homey:
(notice though that this makes a big batch, about 10 cups... I usually make half...
ah, and for the ones that don't have a cup measure, know that roughly 1cup = 240ml)

Dry ingredients:
5 cups rolled oats
2-3 cups raw almonds
3/4 cups sesame seeds
1/2 cup light brown sugar (i didn't add this the last time as i thought it's sweet enough without it...)
2 tsp ground cinamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp salt


Wet ingredients:
3/4 cup unsweetened apple puree
1/3 cup rice syrup (couldn't find this so i used glucose syrup, works fine :) but i guess things like maple syrup or maybe golden syrup should do the trick too...)
3/4 cup honey
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and combine well with a wooden spoon. Combine all of the wet ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir together.


Spread the mixture evenly on two rimmed baking sheets (i used a baking tray lined with a baking paper). Bake 35-40 minutes or until an even, golden brown. Stir the granola every 10 minutes and rotate the pan. This helps to cook evenly.

Remove from the oven and stir the mixture again to prevent it cooling into a solid sheet. Set aside.
The granola will still feel slightly soft, but it will crisp as it cools. Store in an airtight container indefinitely.

Beautiful on yoghurt, with milk or even just on its own! I tell you, it's hard to keep your hand out of the jar!!! ;)

Let me know what version you made and how it worked out! :)

~ Bon appétit! ~
**Gg**

Spinash, Butter Bean and Ricotta Frittata

Two new recipes today, nice and easy to make for when you don't have much time or inspiration, but still are after something good :)
ok, second might take some more time to make, but is soooo good! I was really surprised by it and LOVED it! It made several of my lunches very enjoyable :D

but first things first: the Spinash, Butter Bean and Ricotta Frittata!


Serves 2 ~ Preparation 10 min ~ Cooking time 10 min
Kcal 417 Protein 32g Carbs 34g Fat 18 g (info that came with recipe in case you cared ;) )

What you need:

- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 onion, sliced
- 400 g (13 oz) can butter beans, drained and rinsed
- 200 g (7 oz) baby spinach leaves
- 4 eggs beaten
- 50 g (2 oz) ricotta cheese (i had some smooth ricotta that looks more like some sort of cream cheese than ricotta... it worked, but i am sure that proper ricotta would be so much better!)
- salt and freshly ground pepper (optional)

Put your apron on and:
1 - heat the oil in a medium frying pan, add the onion and fry 3-4 min until softened. Add the butter beans and spinach and heat gently for 2-3 min until the spinach has witted.

2 - Pour over the eggs, then spoon over the ricotta and season with salt & pepper, if using. Cook until almost set, then place the pan under a preheated hot grill and cook for another 1-2 minutes until golden an set.
I didn't used the grill, but turned over the frittata using a plate like you would do for a spanish tortilla... if you want to do it my way: take a plate that can cover the pan you use, put it on top of the pan and while holding both turn over the two so that the frittata now lies on your plate and is turned over. You can now slide the frittata back into the pan to cook the side that was previously on the top.


Easy to make in advance and take with for lunch or cut in small pieces and serve as finger food at a party :)

Bon Appétit! :)
**Gg**

Salmon and Avocado Burger

YA-HAM i have to say! :D
I love what the wonders of the internet can do and how they manage to pleasantly surprise you once in a while :) A Saturday night at home with my flatmate Julia, having a piece of Salmon and avocado ready to use for a recipe i wanted to try out, we didn't have all needed ingredients and actually wanting something faster to cook, i had a look on the internet to see what i could do with salmon and avocado and i found this recipe. Perfect for a quick dinner in front of a movie :D

Serves: 4 people ~ Preparation 15 minutes ~ Cook Time 6-10 minutes

What you need:

Salmon Burger Ingredients:

- 200g tinned salmon, drained and flaked
- 2 medium eggs, beaten
- 1 cups wholemeal bread crumbs
- 1 tsp of paprika
- 1 tsp of cumin
- ¼ of a cup onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp of lemon juice
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil

4 spelt or wholegrain bread rolls Rocket or lettuce to serve

Avocado and Yoghurt dip:
- 1 avocado, pip removed and mashed
- 100 grams of Greek yoghurt
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- ½ a lemon squeezed
- 1 tbsp of coriander, chopped finely

What to do:

• In a mixing bowl, combine all of the salmon ingredients apart from ¼ of the cup of bread crumbs. Keep the other 3/4 to cover the patties later before frying them.
  (i added some extra wholemeal flour to make the mixture stick more together and be able to make patties out of it... also I precooked the salmon a bit to flake it more easily and for it to stick better in the patty mixture)
  
• Make four patties out of the salmon ingredients and cover them with the remaining bread crumbs.
  (i made 6 patties out of it and they were big enough)
  
• In a hot frying pan, add olive oil and cook the patties for 3 minutes each side over a medium heat.
• Combine all the avocado and yoghurt ingredients in a mixing bowl. It's ok if this is a little chunky.
  (i would add the lemon juice little by little and taste in between. As i added it all at once and found the lemon taste to be overpowering and so ended up adding extra avocado on my bread ;) )
• Cut the bread rolls in half and toast to golden brown. Place the rolls on a plate. On one side of the roll, generously smear with avocados and yoghurt dip. Add a little lettuce or rocket and then place the patties in the roll. Serve and enjoy.
  (i added some sliced cherry tomatoes in it, combines very well with it :) )

There you go, you have a perfect burger for a movie night at home, delicious lunch or even a picnic in the park. Great change from the meat burgers! :)
Or if you made this for yourself and are bored of the salmon avocado burger option, I made a wrap with one of my salmon patty leftovers and added cream cheese and sweet chilli sauce instead of the avocado/yoghurt dip --> DE-LI-CIOUS! :d

And if you're an as big avocado fan as I am, you might want to check out this website, seems very interesting :)
http://www.avocado.org.au/

Bon Appétit mes amis!
see you at the next recipe :D
**Gg**

Ginger & Soy Glazed Salmon

You should definitely try this one! DELICIOUS! :d i have made it more than once already actually, but i did do it the first time in Australia ;)
just don't get discouraged by the long list of ingredients and extensive text! It is actually not that hard :)

Here it goes:

serves 4 ~ preparation 10min ~ cooking 30min

What you need:

for the Salmon:
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped (if not available, 2 tbsp crushed ginger will do)
- 1 small red chilli, seeded and finely chopped (if not, 1/2 tsp chilli paste)
- 1/4 cup orange juice, no added sugar (60ml)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce (60ml)
- 1/4 cup liquid honey (60 ml)
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4x200g salmon fillet (with skin)
- 2 bunches of buk choy, quartered
- coriander for garnish

For the coconut rice:
- 1 cup Basmati rice
- 1 chicken stock cube (= 1 1/4 cups or 300ml stock)
- 1 cup coconut milk (250ml)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- shredded coconut, lightly toasted for garnish (i didn't do this...)

To your aprons:
1. Heat the 1 tsp of oil in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic, 1 tbsp of ginger, and chilii and stir over low heat for 2 minutes. Add the orange juice and reduce by half. Add the soy sauce and honey and cook for 4-5min, or until the glaze thickens slightly. Add the coriander, lemon zest, and remaining tbsp of ginger and remove from heat.

2. Heat the 1 tbsp of oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Remove the skin from the salmon (easier to do if you quickly fry the salmon skin down for 15-30 sec, should then come off very easily :) ). Season the fillets with pepper. Cook for 1 min or until just golden brown, then flip with spatula and cook on the other side for 30sec. Remove the salmon to a foil lined oven tray. Preheat the grill.

3. Spoon a generous layer of the glaze over each salmon fillet and place under the grill for 2-3min or until the glaze is sticky and caramelised and the fish is cooked through. Reserve remaining glaze.

4. Steam the buk choy utnil tender, about 3min. Arrange 3 quarters of buk choy onto the centre of 4 serving plates. Place the salmon fillets over the top of the buk choy and spoon some of the remaining glaze over and around the salmon. Scatter over coriander and serve with coconut rice.

AHA! YES! Do not forget to prepare the coconut rice! ;)

Method for coconut rice:
1. Rinse the rice in a sieve under cold running water until the water runs clear. Drain.

2. Combine the stock, coconut milk, and salt in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low. Add the rice and stir constantely for 1 minute cover the pan and simmer over low heat, without stirring, for 15min or until the rice is almost tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.

3. Remove from the heat and let stand covered for 10min, or until the rice is tender and all of the liquid has been absorbed. Lightly fluff up the rice with a fork. Transfer the rice to bowls and garnisg with the toasted coconut and serve.

As you can see in the picture, I didn't place it exactly as the suggest, but that is all up to your own creativity really ;)
Hope you'll enjoy it as much as i do :) ~~ Bon Appétit! ~~
**Gg**

Gratin de poisson aux crevettes

Et une deuxième recette pour aujourd'hui... beaucoup plus simple celle-ci! Une petite invention light et facile!

Les proportions sont variables en fonction des envies, de la faim et de ce que l'on a sous la main.
A titre indicatif pour une personne j'ai utilisé :
100 gr de poisson blanc
50 gr de crevettes grises
1 blanc de poireau
1 chicon
3 grosses carottes
2-3 échalotes
2 càc d'huile d'olive
2 càs de farine environ
150 ml de lait (écrémé si vous voulez vraiment faire light!)
Sel, poivre et épices à poisson (ramenées du Maroc... tout le monde a ça dans son placard!)

Après rien de très compliqué...
Éventuellement, dégeler le poisson si comme moi on utilise du surgelé.
Couper le poisson en dès.
Émincer les échalotes et les carottes. Couper le chicon et le poireau en bandes d'un petit centimètre.
Faire cuire tous les légumes au micro-onde si, comme moi, vous avez un récipient magique qui fait cela parfaitement ou à la vapeur (les échalotes et les carottes un peu plus longtemps que le reste).
Faire une béchamel... à l'huile!!! Grande première pour moi, idée d'une collègue : grande idée!!! Donc verser l'huile dans une casserole, bien délayer avec la farine versée petit à petit, jusqu'à l'obtention d'un pâte lisse. Mettre sur le feu bien chaud et verser le lait. Tourner, tourner, tourner, tourner, ne pas s'arrêter... Normalement, lorsque ça commence à fumer, ça s'épaissit... Si la pâte de départ était bien lisse et que vous avez bien tourné, sans grumeaux... Et voilà une béchamel réussie! Retirer du feu et assaisonner (sel, poivre, épices).
Dans un plat à gratin mélanger les légumes pré-cuits, le poisson et les crevettes. Un peu de fromage si ça vous dit et hop au four jusqu'à ce que le poisson soit cuit!

Bon appétit! ;)

Virg*

Dinde farcie aux pruneaux et à l'armagnac

Hey! Bonne année à tous les amateurs de cuisine!!! (Il n'est jamais trop tard!)
Je suis désolée d'avoir délaissé notre petit blog aussi longtemps... Voilà de quoi me rattraper! J'imagine que Geraldine va être très contente de devoir cuisiner une dinde de Noël en plein été... Disons que ce sera une "recette pour plus tard"! ;)

J'ai fait cette recette pour la première fois à Noël dernier, je voulais un vrai repas traditionnel et je n'ai pas été déçue!!! Je me suis inspirée de plusieurs recettes et après avoir longuement hésité, j'ai abandonné l'idée de cuisiner une dinde entière et j'ai opté pour la roulade... Finalement une expérience très concluante!

I,2 kg de rôti de dinde (un gros morceau de blanc de dinde en fait... mmmmh!)
500 gr de mignonnettes de porc
100 gr de lard fumé
2 boudins blancs
1 oeuf
24 gros pruneaux dénoyautés
10 cl d'armagnac
Thym frais
Sel et poivre
50 gr de graisse d'oie
25 gr de beurre
50 gr de sucre

Faire macérer 12 pruneaux dans l'armagnac pendant une heure.
Préchauffer le four à 180°.
Hacher les mignonnettes et les boudins au hachoir électrique. Ajouter le lard coupé en lamelles, l'oeuf, puis le thym, le sel et le poivre. Bien mélanger.
Dérouler le rôti de dinde. Éventuellement inciser la partie charnue pour obtenir une base plus grande et d'épaisseur plus ou moins égale (si vous voyez ce que je veux dire!).
Étaler la farce sur le rôti et disposer régulièrement les pruneaux égouttés (attention : récupérer l'armagnac!).
Rouler le rôti pour le reconstituer et ficeler. Puis placer dans un plat allant au four et tartiner de graisse d'oie.

TAMTADAAAAAAMMM! Ma p'tite dinde :

Mettre la dinde au four. Cuire en arrosant régulièrement (toutes les 10-15 minutes) avec le jus de cuisson pendant 1h30.
Pendant ce temps, mélanger 2 càs d'armagnac avec 50 cl d'eau et le sucre. Porter à ébullition et y pochez les pruneaux restants pendant 5 minutes. Puis les laisser refroidir dans le sirop.

Lorsque le rôti est cuit (vérifier!), le placer sur une planche et déglacer le plat à rôtir avec le reste de l'armagnac (celui dans lequel les premiers pruneaux ont fait trempette!). Ajouter le beurre, fouetter et verser dans une saucière.

Servir une tranche de dinde avec quelques pruneaux et (j'ai fait la totale!) une purée de céleri maison, des haricots verts vapeur, une purée de marrons et quelques marrons grillés, une pomme à la confiture d'airelles!

Conclusions : un premier dîner de Noël by myself très réussi!!!
Et... la dinde n'était pas sèche! D'un point de vue personnel, je trouvais d'ailleurs la sauce complètement superflue et je ferai sans la prochaine fois. Par contre les petits pruneaux étaient délicieux, même s'ils n'étaient pas indispensables (si vous voulez faire quelque chose de plus simple). Et bien entendu, il y avait beaucoup!!! C'est vrai j'avais fait énormément de farce, mais il paraît que c'est le meilleur!!!!

Bon appétit et joyeux Noël!

Virg*

HA-PEA TIME :) -> Chilled pea, mint & yoghurt soup

I have realised lately that i really enjoy dishes with mint involved, it often adds just that extra little touch that makes the dish different from what you've tasted before and makes you go 'mmmmh :d'

i mean, have you ever had a pineaple-apple-mint juice? yammieieieie! and a pea&mint dip/paste? yahaaam! :) this receipe is simple but gooood, to be eaten both warm or chilled as the receipe suggests.

Serves 6 - preparation 5min - Cooking 20min

What you need:
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 potato, chopped
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 500g frozen minted peas (i just used normal frozen peas and added chopped mint leaves as i thought was enough...)
- 1 cup greek-style yoghurt
- mint leaves to serve

What you do:
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan on medium. Cook onion until softened. Add potato and stir to coat. Increase heat to high, add stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15mins, or until potatoes are tender. Add peas and simmer for 5 mins. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Using a stick blender (i did it in standing mixer, works fine ;)), blend soup until smooth. Strain, discarding solids. Refrigerate soup until cold (or eat warm, very nice as well :))
3. Stir through yoghurt and transfer to a container. Serve topped with mint leaves.

~~ Bon Appétit! :) ~~

This one was especially dedicated to you Jakob (it just tastes like the pea&mint dip from the Hunter Valley!!! :D )

*Gg*

Wok concombre et saumon

Le temps d'une nouvelle recette est venu!
C'est Magali qui l'a trouvée sur "Marmitons", donc rien de très original! Mais c'est bon et facile. Donc merci Mag pour cette trouvaille. ;)

180 gr. de riz
300 gr. de saumon
1 concombre
1 grosse tomate
1 gros oignon
1 petit verre de vin blanc
15 cl. de crème fraîche allégée
Aneth
Oyster Sauce
Sel et Poivre

Cuire le riz selon les instructions du paquet.
Peler et émincer l'oignon, puis le faire revenir dans le wok avec un peu d'huile.
Peler, épépiner et émincer la tomate.
Peler, épépiner et couper le concombre en petits dés.
Ajouter la tomate et le concombre à l'oignon. Cuire quelques minutes avant d'ajouter le saumon coupé en morceaux.
Dès que le poisson est cuit, ajouter le vin et la crème. Puis laisser mijoter.
Ajouter l'Oyster sauce et l'aneth, selon votre goût. Saler et poivrer.

Mag avait directement mélanger le riz dans le wok. J'ai fait la même chose. Mais cela dépend de l'aspect que vous voulez donner au plat. Marmiton propose également de le servir avec des nouilles asiatiques.

Et comme dirait l'autre "Bonne appétite"! Virg*

Coconut indulgence ;)

It all started with Halloween and celebrating it with pride :) when I think of Halloween, I think of costumes and candy, LOTS of candy! Good thing I got a very nice book about candy baking from cool friends for my Birthday! I love the book, it is beautiful! Candy can be rather difficult to bake though, but with Halloween at the door, I plunged my nose in the book and came out with a few recipes, not too difficult ;), to try out, posted them on facebook and got a vote on which ones I should try. Funnily enough, they were nearly all with coconut, YAM! :) The big winner was the one with the funniest name: Coconutty Shuku Shuku :-D but it being Halloween, I really wanted to try out the Coconut Marshmallow recipe :) so I did! and they were just DEVINE!!! and sooo easy to make! It is SO cool! :-D so Virginie, I know you said you weren't interested in the marshmallow recipe, but i still decided to post all my candy baking, as it is just way too much fun, not to try it out :) Here it goes:

Coconutty Shuku Shuku

What you need:
- 80g desicated coconut
- 60g caster sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 60g self-raising flour (for rolling)
- 1/4 cup icing sugar (for dusting, after cooled)
(makes approximately 30 shuku shuku balls)

What you do:

Turn the oven up to 175°C and line a baking tray with greasproof paper (baking paper).

In a large bowl, mix together sugar, coconut and egg yolks until the mixture forms a firm, dough-like consistency.

Pick up a little mixture with a teaspoon and begin to form marble-size balls. Roll them through flour and drop on to your baking tray.

Put tray in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden.

Cool the balls on a wire rack, roll in icing sugar and keep in airtight container.

I think i left mine a bit too long in the oven, so they ended up a bit too hard i think, they were just like small coconut cookies, nice, but not amazingly special, but i think they're supposed to stay soft... i'll have to try again...
but anyway, I don't know if you noticed, but the shuku shuku recipe only asks for egg yolks... so, you will be left over with 3 egg whites... :-/ what do you do with 3 egg whites...? throw them away??? NO WAY! NEVER EVER waste food! I have got just the right recipe to use these egg whites in and with which you will have all your friends loving you for quite a while ;) The egg whites will be transformed into:

~~~

Coconut Chocolate Macaroons

Now these are not the popular french macaroons, but the 'rochers au coco' as we know them in french... unfortunately it is not the amazing recipe i have for these in Brussels, but an easier version I found on Dawn and Eric’s culinary notes (taken from 'Room for Dessert' by David Lebovitz) and adapted to touches of my recipe in Brussels and ideas of the moment and 3 egg whites instead of 4...

What you need:
- 3 large egg whites
- 1 cup sugar (just a bit less)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 7/8 cups unsweetened coconut (between 1 3/4 and 2... ;))
- ¼ cup almond meal (just a bit less)
- 1 tablespoon plain flour
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 60g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

What you do:

In a large skillet, mix together the egg whites, sugar, salt, coconut, almond meal and flour.

Heat over low-to-moderate heat on the stovetop, stirring constantly, scraping the bottom as you stir.

When the mixture just begins to scorch at the bottom (starts to change colour from burning slightly), remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl to cool to room temperature.

(At this point, the mixture can be chilled for up to one week, or frozen for up to two months.)

When ready to bake, line a baking sheet with baking paper and preheat the oven to 175°C.

Form the dough into 3-4 cm wide little mountains with your fingers evenly spaced on the baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until deep golden brown (don't bake too long if you want them to remain soft inside!) Cool completely.

For my chocolate decoration, melt the chocolate your favourite way and, in case you don't have the adequate utensils like me, put the melted chocolate in a ziplock/keep fresh bag, cut the tip of a corner off and drizzle it over your macaroons. Refrigerate 5-10 minutes, until the chocolate is set.

Enjoy with your friends or alone... ;)

Which leaves us with one more recipe, the coolest of all to be honest! So cool to make, like a magic trick! :-D and soooo nice to eat, hard to keep your hands or the hands of your friends out of the marshmallow container!

~~~

Coconut Marshmallows


What you need:

- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon gelatine in powder
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon coconut or vanilla essence
- 1 cup desiccated coconut

What you do:

Line a 20cm cake tray with greaseproof paper and lightly oil. Place sugar, gelatine and water into a medium saucepan and stir until dissolved. Pop on low heat and boil for 10 minutes without stirring. Take pan off heat and let it settle for 10 minutes. Add your choice of essence (I chose vanilla) and beat with electric beater until it becomes creamy and delicious (about 10 minutes) (magic magiiic :)). Transfer marshmallows mixture to your tin and let it set for a couple of hours.

Meanwhile preheat oven to 160°C. Put coconut on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and allow to roast for a couple of minutes or until light golden brown. Keep an eye on your coconut because it can burn quickly.

Once set, cut your marshmallows into whatever shape you like and roll through toasted coconut. (run your knife under water before cutting, it will help stick less)

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

That's about it for this time, all up to your candy baking and let your taste buds indulge in coconut heaven! :d
just don't forget to add a running session to the week you bake these! ;)

*Gg*