Pin It and Do It: Avocado Risotto

Here is another thing I made for the Pin it and Do it challenge that is hosted by Trish from Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity. Please go there if you want more information about the challenge :)

This time I made an avocado risotto from a website that I adore, Amuse your Bouche. I know that I make a lot of risottos from that website, but they are all so good!

When I mentioned to Zeronic, that I found a recipe for avocado risotto, he said: do it! So we did :) If you cook with avocado you have to be careful that it not becomes bitter. But because you add the avocado near the end, this doesn't happen. As for tweaking: we added some mascarpone because we had some that needed to be used. This recipe is very creamy and comforting. The only thing that we want to change is add some sundried tomatoes for some extra flavour. But this is yet another risotto recipe that I like to make more often. All though I have to admit that we keep trying new ones ;) To find the recipe, click on the link above :)

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Pin It and Do It - May 2013 - Zuppa Caprese

It is time for another round of Pin It And Do It. Trish from Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity hosts this challenge once every few months and it is always a lot of fun. Please click on the link if you want to participate.

For my first pin I made a soup from Jamie Oliver. As you might know, I am quite fond of his recipes because they are pure, non nonsense and often easy enough to prepare. The actual recipe was posted on the Dutch 2x2 community. And it made it from there, so here is a link to the original pin. I tried to find this recipe in English online so I don't have to translate it back to English once again, but so far I have no luck finding it.
So here is my translation back to English, haha.

Jamie's Zuppa Caprese (serves 4)
- 1 kg mixed tomatoes (we used roma and cherries)
- 1 whole garlic, sliced horizontal
- olive oil
- 4 sun dried tomatoes
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 50 gr fresh basil leaves
- 1.5 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 mozzarella cheese
- some good quality bread for serving.

Pre heat the oven on 200 degrees. Place all the tomatoes (whole) and the garlic in an oven dish. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil on top of the garlic. Place it in the oven for about 25 minutes until the tomatoes burst. Let it cool down a bit. Remove the garlic from their skins and blend this with all the tomatoes (including all juices in the oven dish), sun dried tomatoes, sugar, and vinegar. If it is too thick you can add some water.

Reheat the soup in a pan. Serve with some mozzarella and fresh basil in the soup, together with some good bread. Easy and tasty! Loved it!

I also made some ice cream from another pin already, but I have no decent picture of that yet, so I will save it for another time :)

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Recipe review: Couscous-date muffins

It has been a while since I made some muffins. I thought it was time to change that. Dates and couscous are two of my favorite ingredients, so when I saw a recipe for couscous-date muffins on cooking with Thas, I really wanted to try them. The reason why I call this a recipe review is because I am not going to share the recipe with you. It is in English already and I hardly changed anything about it. Do just follow the link above to find it.

But what did I think of the recipe? Well they are great! I love the part with the dates in :) But the next time I would use a cup of dates instead of 0.5 cup like I did now. I also didn't taste the rosewater that well. The taste is fairly neutral and it does need a little extra. The maple syrup topping does that :) But that is not very practical when on the road in a bento, because it is sticky stuff. So I would add more dates next time to give it some body. Also I want to make a note that I got 18 muffins out of the recipe instead of 12. Maybe I could add some grated coconut too :)

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Recipe: A Messy Dessert

Well I can hardly call this a recipe but still! I love desserts, but ever since I stopped eating as much processed food, I didn't eat dessert often anymore. I have pinned many recipes on my Pinterest in a dessert board but never actually made one of them. The reason? After I have made dinner, I have to energy left to make a dessert recipe, even if it only takes 15 minutes, it is just too much. However, on a Dutch community I often come to share fruit and veggie recipes and also look for inspiration, the mess madness had started! Meaning that someone posted a recipe for Easter Mess and then that almost everyone in the community made their own variations on it using different ingredients. So after I saw all that mess for almost a week, I just had to make it myself. Sadly I don't have pretty dessert glasses, so I just used a long drink glass. It doesn't make for the best picture, but please don't let that stop you, because it is tasty and quick!

A Messy Dessert: (serves 2)
- some meringues (I had hazelnut ones)
- 1 banana
- 1 kiwifruit
- whipped cream

Slice the banana and kiwifruit. Then crumble some meringue into the bottom of each glass. Lay slices of fruit on it and top off with whipped cream. Then repeat this once more so you have a nice layered dessert.

I used kiwifruit and banana this time, but I also made it with strawberries already, and I saw ones with apple, all kinds of berries, cherries etc.. So just use that whatever you have.

I told you, this is hardly worth the name recipe, but it is a case of no effort, tasty result ;)

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Recipe: Red Cabbage with Pear and Feta

I am not a great cabbage fan, but I quite started to like red cabbage. It is something we ate several times last winter and I thought I would share one of my favorite ways to prepare it before the cold days are totally over. The original recipe comes from 24 Kitchen.

Red Cabbage with Pear and Feta: (serves 4)
- 1 red cabbage
- 800 gr potatoes
- fresh chives
- 100 gr cream cheese
- 1 pear
- 125 gr feta
- some butter
- 100 ml water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 25 gr sugar
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp cornstarch

Start with the red cabbage. Cut the red cabbage in 4 pieces. Remove the core, and slice it up. Melt some butter in a pan and bake the red cabbage for about 2 minutes. Add water, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and sugar. Bring to a boil, cover and let it simmer on low heat for about 25 minutes.

Boil some water. Peel and cut the potatoes evenly. Cook them in about 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and let them steam them dry in the pan for a bit. Chop the chives and stir cream cheese and chives through the potatoes. Add some salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaf from the pan. Peel and cut the pear. Stir the cornstarch and some water in a small bowl and add it to the red cabbage together with the pear. Stir it through and let it warm for a bit.
Serve everything with the feta on top.

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Meatless Monday: Zeronic cooks Pumpkin lasagna

Heey all, it is time for Uniflame’s boyfriend, Zeronic, to write another recipe. Uniflame found this recipe in a book from the library called: Het Pompoenenboekje (The Little Pumpkin Book) by Sonja Edelaar. We both decided that making a Pumpkin Lasagna was a good idea. It is a great book by the way, giving you tips and information about pumpkins besides vegetarian recipes. The recipes themselves are writing into several paragraphs telling you what to do step by step. Unfortunately the book isn't translated to English.

For this Pumpkin / Tomato / Basil Lasagna you'll need these ingredients:
- 425 gr of Pumpkin
- 2 onions ( we used spring onions)
- 500 gr of tomatoes (we used canned crushed tomatoes in juice, to make it easier)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 3 tbsp of chopped basil
- Some Olive oil
- 325 gr Tofu crumbs (if you aren't a vegetarian you could use minced meat)
- 3 tbsp sweet soy saus (ketjap manis)
- 400 gr Lasagna sheets
- 2 tsp of herb salt
- 200 gr grated cheese

Preperation: Clean the 425 grams of Pumpkin, if done correctly you should have 300 gram of clean pumpkin. Cut them in pieces of about 1 cm each. Cut the onions and garlic. Wash the Basil and cut them into tiny pieces so you have about 3 spoons of freshly chopped basil.

Cooking: Cook the Pumpkin in about 100 ml water for around 15 min. In the meantime, put some olive oil in a pan and glace the onions until done. Remove them from the pan, put some new olive oil in there if needed and put in the Tofu or minced meat. Let it heat for a bit and then add 3 spoons of sweet soy sauce. Put some warm (not hot!) water in a bowl and add the lasagna sheets, wait until they are soft

Combining: Drain the water from the pumpkins and add the Tomatoes. Purée them, but be careful not to make it too smooth. Then stir in the tofu or minced meat and add the herb salt. If you think the sauce is too thin you can always add a bit of flour. Finally add the basil and garlic and stir well. Heat an oven to 200 degrees Celsius and grease the oven dish. Add some of the sauce, then the lasagna sheets, then some sauce etc. Make sure that the sheets are not on top, so finish with sauce. After that add some grated cheese. Put the dish in the oven. Since we have a microwave oven the dish needed around 1 hour. The book said it was only 20 minutes though, so I advise you to start with that.

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Weekend Cooking: D'Lish Deviled Eggs by Kathy Casey

I actually wanted to write another book review, that I have been planning for a while. But because it is almost Easter, this book fitted the theme perfectly. Also great for Ostara of course!

Title: D'Lish Deviled Eggs
Author: Kathy Casey
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Release date: February, 2013
I got this book: from the publisher for review through NetGalley

Summary:
From Goodreads:
Deviled eggs are not just for summer picnics, now you can enjoy America's beloved appetizer year round with Kathy Casey’s 50 fabulous recipes.Deviled eggs are always a party favorite, and the first thing to fly off the table. D’Lish Deviled Eggs both pays homage to the classic deviled egg and dishes up creative, modern takes on tradition. And this isn’t just a recipe book; its pages are packed full with everything from how to make superb hard-cooked eggs every time, to filling and garnishing picture-perfect stuffed eggs. Chock-full of fab tips, from the history of deviled eggs to collecting vintage plateware, this book will definitely “egg you on” to head to the kitchen and get crackin’! A classy little guide to a classy little dish, D’Lish Deviled Eggs will open up a whole new world of ways to jazz up these one-bite wonders!

Personal opinion:
I just love deviled eggs and finding a whole book on the subject certainly sparked my interest! I never thought there could be so much said on eggs. From how to cook the perfect eggs, to the differences between eggs, it can all be found here. The book also has beautiful pictures with each eggs recipe. The book isn't vegetarian, but certainly there are enough recipes that vegetarians can make. Of course a book about eggs is not suitable for vegans. The recipes are original and I certainly have a few recipes on my to try list from this book. For example the Green Goddess eggs with avocado and the California Roll eggs. The eggs I tried were the Boursin and garlic with herb salad deviled eggs, which I will share below. I thought it was a really fun book, and a nice addition to a cookbook collection.

Purchase links: The Book Depository
Challenges: Foodies Reading Challenge, E-book challenge
Other reviews: Beth Fish Reads, Bermuda Onion's Weblog, Cindy's Love of Books,
If you have reviewed this book and want your link here, please leave a comment with the link, and I will add it :)

Okay, so on to the recipe!

Boursin & Garlic Deviled Eggs with Herb Salad: (makes 24)
- 12 hard boiled eggs
- 1 package boursin herb & garlic cheese
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp fresh garlic
- a pinch of salt
- a selection of fresh herbs. I used chives, basil and parsley. Italian herbs is also an option.

Half the eggs lengthwise and transfer the yolks into a mixing bowl. Set the egg halves on a plate, cover and put in the fridge. I found this really helps with filing them later, such a nifty tip! Mash the yolks with a fork, add cheese, mayonnaise, salt and garlic and stir until smooth. I also added some of the chopped fresh herbs at this point.

Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag with a plain or large star tip. I used the star. Pipe the egg halves with the mixture and sprinkle some herbs on top.

The post is part of Weekend Cooking, hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Check out the rest of the participants. I am sure a lot of other Easter related things will be shared!

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