How to make crystallized pineapple or candied pineapple, this recipe makes a nice and inexpensive homemade gift. CANDIED PINEAPPLE Looking for a homemade gift for Christmas? How about some candied pineapple or crystallized pineapple? A decadent sweet delight, this pineapple candy is sure to satisfy any sweet tooth out there. Christmas is approaching fast and I am still some gifts short. I bought lots of stuff for all the important people in my life, but there are still some extras that I would liketo make. First of all, every member of my family will receive a pair of thick woolen socks (added to the regular gifts), I have started knitting for these Christmas socks months ago. I am still two pairs short, but as they are children socks, I hope I will finish them in time. I must finish them in time! Otherwise, I am making cookies, wrapping them nicely and putting them under the Christmas tree, jams and other preserved things for friends and this homemade pineapple candy. This is actually a recipe I made with Harry Potter in mind, better said Professor Horace Slughorn. The professor is a lover of good things, loves...
This is the best lemon meringue pie recipe ever! Ever!!!! With instructions on how to make shortcrust pastry or pie crust. No kidding! I have never had a better one, this lemon meringue pie is just out of this world. Lemon pie, any kind of lemon pie, with or without the meringue, is my favorite kind of pie. So, you can imagine that, over the years, I have baked and eaten quite a few different versions of a lemon meringue pie. But now, that time of ever trying out new lemon meringue pie recipes is over, I don't think I will want to try another lemon meringue pie recipe ever again! No other recipe can beat this one! Although you should definitely try this completely different lemon cakes, which are amazing as well. For instance this Cake with Lemon Curd, Cream and Raspberry Fillling, this Layered Lemon Cake with Lemon Buttercream or this simple yet impressive tasting Carrot Cake with Coconut and Lemon Glaze. Easy Lemon Meringue Pie I baked this lemon meringue pie for the first time more than half a year ago. I had actually baked another lemon meringue pie shortly before and even...
Amazing Mexican tostada recipe with chorizo, kidney beans and cheese. With instructions on how to bake tostada shells. I liked or loved everything I cooked during this series dedicated to food from the countries participating to the FIFA World Cup. A few of my favorites were, for instance, the Okonomiyaki or the Choripan con Chimichurri. But this tostada recipe and the Korean Chicken Wings were my absolute favorites. TOSTADA RECIPE WITH CHORIZO What are Tostadas? Well, I didn't really know it myself until not long ago. Mexican food is great, everything I have ever tried was fantastic, but truth is, that I have never really tried many Mexican recipes. The reason is that Mexican food is not particularly known in Germany, maybe more in the big cities, but definitely not here where I live. There is not one Mexican restaurant in a range of 100 or 200 km around here, the only one I have ever entered was one in Frankfurt a couple of years ago. I had a burrito with chicken, I remember that, but I cannot say that I found it particularly good, it was OK but not more than that. So, the only good...
A traditional full English breakfast: a hearty way to begin the day with eggs, sausages, bacon, beans and tomatoes. Something for the weekend. Or something to cure a hangover. This traditional English breakfast, also known as a fry-up, is probably the heartiest, most copious way of starting the day. Full English Breakfast with Baked Beans I remember the first time we had a proper, typical English breakfast. It was on one of our first weeks in the UK, many years ago, and although I knew so much about Britain, I must admit that the breakfast came as a big surprise. Our typical breakfast would be some müsli with milk or bread with cheese or, when looking for something special, a toast with mushrooms and egg or tomatoes and egg. But beans? Sausages? That was never something I had imagine eating for breakfast. For some reason I have never really heard of a full English breakfast until the first time I ordered it and had it in front of me. It was on a sunny Sunday, in a very busy restaurant, near the river Thames and the London Eye. My husband was very keen on finally having...
The recipe for vinete - the traditional Romanian eggplant salad or dip made with roasted eggplants and mayonnaise or oil. ROASTED EGGPLANT SALAD Vinete or roasted eggplant salad or dip is probably the most common thing to eat in Romanian during summer. Here you have it: an updated post for the vinete recipe or eggplant salad describing in detail each method of grilling eggplants, roasting eggplants on the stovetop or baking eggplants in the oven. And using those wonderfully roasted eggplants or aubergines to make the most delicious Romanian roasted eggplant or aubergine salad, dressed with mayonnaise and garlic or with sunflower oil and onions. This eggplant salad is one of the most cooked and eaten Romanian appetizer recipes. It is absolutely great and I've been eating all my life, there is just one thing I cannot really understand. Why is this the only thing Romanians ever cook with eggplants? I mean, it is really delicious, it is cheap and easy to make, but still... eggplants are so great and so versatile... since having learned how to cook I've been eating eggplants cooked in about a hundred ways and a lot of these ways tasted at...
This is the easiest, most straightforward way of preserving apricots. Not to mention it is very low-sugar. PRESERVED APRICOTS And not only apricots, I preserve the cherries and the gooseberries growing in my garden the same way. I love this method because it is so simple, it involves the minimum amount of work and time and on top of that it uses just a little sugar. No sugar bombs in a jar, just a hint of sweetness, giving you the freedom of using the preserves in any way you like later on, not worrying if maybe they are already too sweet or anything. The fruit softens slightly but keeps its shape and structure, the fruit remains almost as “al dente” as fresh. So all you have to do actually, is to clean and sterilize your jars, wash and stone the fruit and boil the jars for about 20 minutes. I find this method especially suitable during the time when there are lots and lots of fruits growing in my garden, so many that I barely have the time to do more laborious work. For instance, we have this huge cherry tree, which bestows us with extremely large...
Soft and delicious rice pudding topped with a tangy and easy to make apricot sauce. Who doesn't like a nice, creamy, luscious rice pudding? I really can't think of one person who would refuse that... And then everything topped with this bright colored, tangy and sweet apricot sauce. Love it! I could have it every week. Well, I don't manage to make it quite every week, there are so many other things I like to cook all the time that even the classics get neglected sometimes, but I could say that we have rice pudding about once a month. Even if I forget about it for a bit longer sometimes, I can be sure that at some point or another one of my kids would ask about it: “Mama, when are you making rice pudding again? This evening? Tomorrow?” And I never say no, I might say no to pizza or a calorie-loaded pasta casserole from time to time, but I never manage to say no to rice pudding. It used to be one of my favorite sweet dishes as a kid as well and I remember asking my grandmother so often to make it again, but most times she...
Only three ingredients: apricots, sugar and lemon. The result: a simple, fruity and delicious apricot jam. APRICOT JAM RECIPE Another month and with it another theme on Where Is My Spoon, this time apricots. So get ready for two weeks full of recipes featuring some of the best summer fruits – the apricots. And today our favorite apricot jam. I say some of the best now, as a grown-up, because I remember I did not like apricots much as a child. Not sure why, I have always like fruit, but I used to enjoy the tangier sorts better and I suppose apricots lack the tanginess. Really ripe apricots like the ones we used to have in Romania are mild, aromatic, sweet and soft. An absolute delight nowadays, if I ever get my hands on really ripe, good apricots. Which is not an easy task here in Germany, buying apricots, nectarines or peaches in the supermarket is like playing the wheel of fortune. You really have to get lucky to get some good ones. And be ready to pay quite a few Euros more (and even that is no guarantee that the fruit is ripe and tasty). ...
Smooth and flavorful basic tomato sauce, easily made and extremely versatile. You might wonder why a recipe for a basic tomato sauce? Tomato sauce is readily available and from the processed sauces one can buy, tomato sauce is not the worst. Depending where you buy and how much you are ready to pay for it, you should be able to get a decent quality nowadays. Still, I never buy it. Why should I? Unless I am ready to pay 3-4 Euro for one small jar of it, I know it will not thrill me and to pay so much for only tomato sauce doesn't make any sense to me. Making your own tomato sauce is totally easy, cheap and delicious, nothing you can buy can come close to homemade tomato sauce. And the best of it, you can make a large batch of it and either freeze or can it. I used to can it, but lately I prefer to freeze the one or two extra jars, it means less work for me... Over the years I have made lots and lots of different tomato sauces mostly because there was a time when my son's favorite and one of the...
How to cook basic polenta or Romanian mamaliga, creamy or sturdy. I suppose most of you have at least heard of polenta, but to tell you the truth, I know lots of people who actually never tasted polenta. If you happen to have a Romanian or Italian friend, I am pretty sure you got to taste mamaliga or polenta at least at their house, if not, well, it is time you do. MAMALIGA OR POLENTA RECIPE What is polenta? Polenta is a dish made from coarsely ground cornmeal. Some water and some salt, a little bit of cooking and you're done. You have an excellent, healthy and delicious meal. You can have mamaliga or polenta as a side dish for other dishes with sauce or it can be a meal in itself with some cheese and yogurt/creme fraiche/ sour cream on the side. And the possibilities of making a main dish using polenta are endless. You can make casseroles, you can grill it, you can bake it, you can make cake, you can make polenta chips and so on. It goes well with any kind of meat, any kind of vegetable or dairy product. ...
