We recently moved to a new place and the last few weeks we’ve lived on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. This is one of the reasons why you haven’t heard from us for a while. However, for the not-so-long time we’ve been here, we’ve learned quite a few local recipes, products, and local names …
Have you ever happened to be staying in front of the olive oil section in the supermarket, reading labels and comparing prices, till you feel completely lost? Have you ever grabbed the first bottle of olive oil you see, just to avoid that feeling? Choosing a bottle of olive oil today seems to be a …
This is one kitchen gadget we’re glad we have. Flavor Shaker has been around for a few years now and it was invented by Jamie Oliver to substitute the mortar and pestle. We’ve had it for a couple of months and we’ve been using it quite often since then. In the same manner as the …
Jamie Oliver’s Flavor Shaker – Your Must-Have Item The Kitchen Read More »
Chicken drumsticks are always easily available effortless to cook and, let’s say it out loud, tastier than the breasts. We have them relatively often, especially during busy weekdays as they cook quickly and everybody loves them, even kids. There are lots of different recipes for oven-baked chicken legs, but this one is our favorite – …
Many Italian dishes are very popular throughout the world due to their simplicity and mouthwatering taste. Among them lasagne is queen. This dish is simply a crowd-pleaser! It is extremely versatile and could be easily changed to suit your taste. Popular Lasagne Bolognese Recipe Varieties By adding a few new spices and ingredients to the …
We really go crazy over Swedish meatballs and to be honest they are one of the main reasons we visit Ikea stores. Tender and delicious don’t even start to describe them. In short, we love Swedish meatballs! Is it hard to make Swedish Meatballs at home? Making Swedish meatballs aren’t really difficult, although rolling the …
I have always been really tempted to try beetroot risotto. Well, I didn’t manage in the beetroot season, although we still had lots of beetroots: in soups (as the Russian vegetarian borscht and the dense beet soup with thyme bread croutons), as an ingredient in various salads and I even baked my favorite chocolate beetroot …
This simple, no-elaborate-sauces pasta is actually one of the most popular summer recipes in Italy. It’s easy and quick to prepare, but, as with most Mediterranean dishes, incredibly delicious. There is no explanation of why it’s called “pasta della checca” (translated as “Queer’s pasta”). Still, this typical Rome cuisine dish is well known and loved …
For a novice baker like me entering the bakery, the world was a multilayered discovery. And I’m not talking about the satisfaction from the first golden pie or the aromatic homemade bread, or the terrible doubts around the type of yeast to be used. I mean the discovery of the whole new world of essential …
This simple and smooth side dish matches faultlessly with all kinds of barbecue or roast meat, especially beef. It is so delicious even your kids will love it! And it’s healthy too – cauliflower is low in fat and high in fibers. Cauliflower With Whole-Grain Mustard Side Dish Serves: 4 Preparation time: 30 minutes Ingredients: …
Clarified butter (also known as drawn butter) is butter from which milk solids and moisture have been removed, so the result is pure butterfat. Is Clarified Butter Hard To Make Making clarified butter is really easy – typically, regular (unsalted) butter is heated to boiling point (so components separate), after which the water and milk …
Maincrop potatoes are traditionally used for this Swedish invention, but it is spring now and we love new potatoes. If you’re using main crop potatoes, avoid those huge floury monsters; moderately proportioned potatoes would be just fine for the job. It is also not necessary to peel the potatoes, especially if you buy those shiny, …
The combination of watermelon and white (brine) cheese is one of those things that can’t leave you indifferent. Adored by many and disliked by some, it’s a traditional summer snack in many regions of Bulgaria. Watermelon and white cheese – Dinya Sas Sirene “Dinya sas sirene” (watermelon & cheese) is found in many shapes around …
This simple snack has an absolutely sinful look, and the taste is even more sinful, for sure. But it’s quite the contrary – these cute potato sticks are oven-baked, and there are no fats in the recipe (except for the cheese). The only problem with these cuties is the ones you try them, you can’t …
This salad takes a little bit more preparation than most other salads but the best part is that you can do all of it in advance and then just assemble. It wasn’t my first time making caramelized onions and was looking forward to seeing how they’ll match with the rocket. I read a recipe somewhere …
Although we are not huge meat eaters, we sometimes eat an occasional pork chop. We are Bulgarians, after all, and pork is by far the most popular meat in our country, especially during the winter months. It’s incredible how many different recipes for pork exist – quick and easy, slowly cooked and elaborate, and also …
I also wanted to use the occasion to bake my own cookies with lots of almonds (as Sergey loves them a lot). At the end I based my creations on a recipe I recently tried from Smitten Kitchen. We found the original blondies a bit gooey and chewy but after modifying the recipe and the …
Best Almond Banana Cookies Recipe For Valentine’s Day Read More »
You can stuff mushrooms with many different ingredients like cheese, ham, spinach, bread-herb filling, and many more. These tasty stuffed mushrooms are always our favorite party appetizer, and here why: they are completely vegetarian (thus suitable for all diets), easy to prepare (so you can concentrate on other kitchen tasks) and because stuffed mushrooms tend …
Easy Stuffed Mushrooms With Vegetables And Cream Read More »
Last month Epicurious published their annual Food Trend Predictions for 2011. And I don’t think Tanya Steel has to be Nostradamus, to predict this one right – the sweet potatoes are trendy – and this is a pretty obvious tendency. Thank God it’s not some kind of rare or exotic vegetable that’s worth its weight …
Delicious Sweet Potato and Celeriac Soup For Dinner Read More »
My relationship with oranges is somewhat complicated. It started when I was little, with the discovery that I suffered from an orange allergy. I would get rashes, hives, and itchy skin every time someone peeled an orange near me. So, it goes without saying, I hated them! My mother was trying to get me involved …
Tikvenik is a simple sweet pastry with a filling, made of only a few ingredients – pumpkin, crushed walnut kernels, sugar, some oil, and cinnamon. There are lots of variations of how these ingredients are mixed, depending on the region or the ingenuity of your host. When Do People Eat Tikvenik in Bulgaria Tikvenik is …
When the weather gets cold and the sunshine becomes a rare luxury, we suddenly begin to crave some homemade treats. Then, with Christmas around the corner, thousands of sweet temptations cross my mind (and I presume yours, too) and we roll up the sleeves and start baking all kinds of goods, ignoring the expanding waistlines …
When I was little my mom used to prepare for us some incredibly delicious fudge cake. I loved it so much, that still remember a few tricks which you need in order to gather all of the moist crumbs that it usually makes. I browsed the web and discovered yet thousands of varieties – with …
Got some fresh ginger at home? Here’s the most delicious fresh ginger cake you can make for tea parties and dinners! Is Fresh Ginger Cake Difficult To Make? It is relatively easy to make and has a bright, but simple presence. The cake is very moist, with a dense texture, soft and shiny, topped with …
I saw this recipe in a blog called themilkmanswife.wordpress.com, and I couldn’t stop thinking of them. In spite of getting more experienced in baking, I have to admit, I still have moments of pure fear, when it comes to measuring ingredients by cups (as was in this recipe). But Erin (aka – the milkman’s wife) …
Pumpkin is one of those products that could be used during most of autumn and winter because it last for many months. Also, chances are that the pumpkin you buy from your market is locally produced and the price you pay for it is modest compared to the other fruits and vegetables. Photo by: Antonya …
This recipe is not new, it’s almost on every food blog nowadays. It’s so simple, you don’t even need to look for it, it’s like you already have it in your head. I’ve made many times, especially when I was bored by the winter or in the early spring days, just to celebrate the sunshine …
This soup fully covers my understanding of good slow food – seasonal products, simple technique, all preserving the real taste and flavor. It also provides you with the perfect way to benefit from one of the most popular products – tomatoes, when they are in season. You can also freeze and keep it for many …
This is a salad to serve as a healthy appetizer before a meal, a quick lunch, or a late-night snack, whatever your soul desires. Like most salads, it’s simple, super easy to make, and in no time you have a healthy, nutrient-filled addition to your daily diet. The lemon caper sauce is a simple but …
Baby Spinach & Avocado Salad With Radishes And Lemon Caper Dressing Read More »
Fancy a Google cookie? Although it may seem obvious that people at Google would eat this kind of food, it’s not quite so. Have you wondered what some of the smartest people on Earth eat? Burgers or foie gras? Are they food-conscious or totally ignorant to what goes into their bellies? Perks Of Being An …
What Do The Smartest Employees Eat? Insights To Google’s Canteen Read More »
Lemon and Garlic Hummus Tortilla Rolls with Fresh Baby Spinach Recipe Serves: 4 Preparation time: 40 minutes Ingredients For the tortillas: 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour 1 ½ cups cornmeal 1 egg ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C) For the hummus: 200 g boiled chickpeas ( …
Lemon and Garlic Hummus Tortilla Rolls With Fresh Baby Spinach Read More »
Here is another pantry staple you can make on your own – the sun-dried tomatoes. Either in olive oil, seasoned, or plain, they add a distinctive touch and great flavor to many dishes and salads. Is Homemade Sun-Dried Tomato Difficult? Making your own sun-dried tomatoes is very simple and certainly is much less expensive than …
Where Does ‘Apple Tarte Tatin’ Name Originate From You probably know the Tarte Tatin story, describing how to famous pie was accidentally created and then made popular by the Tatin sisters. It was this upside-down cake really invented because of a mistake, as the officially accepted story states, we actually don’t know but once you …
I had a sudden craving for something flavorful, gooey and chocolaty. I found the recipe for these brownies at cookinglight.com (I’m serious!). Dense, moist, and chocolaty, and at just 147 calories apiece, it sounded all right. Since then I’ve prepared these brownies so many times, I already know the recipe by heart. By gentle, …
Banana Loaf Cake makes a really special breakfast – not too sweet, rich in taste and flavors, and the result is perfect every time I bake it, so I’m sure I’ll cook it many more times. There is nothing to be taken or added to the list of ingredients (well, at least I still haven’t …
Got some avocados but are short on other guacamole ingredients? This is the easiest avocado spread you can use for basically any bread, bun, tortilla, or chips! Make sure you save the recipe for later! Easy Avocado Spread Recipe Serves: 4 Preparation time: 10 minutes Ingredients: 2 large avocados ½ bunch of fresh dill, finely …
Cooking Whole Seam Bream This fish dish is really easy to make! It’s full of flavour and ideal for just about any type of cooking – barbequing, pan-frying or baking. You can really taste the flavors of basil and thyme coming through. Make sure you score the fish first as it can help you …
Whole Sea Bream With Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Basil & Thyme Read More »
This is one of my favorite types of savory tarts, and believe me, it’s really not easy for me to say that, since I just adore savory tarts. In this variation, the pastry crust plays host to blue and goat cheeses, sliced tomatoes, and fragrant basil – simple and irresistible. Full Recipe Of The …
Savory Tart with Basil & Tomato and Cheese Recipe Read More »
Tortilla española, tortilla de patatas or simply put, Spanish omelet, is perhaps one of the best-known Spanish dishes, and I just love it. It consists of an egg omelet with potatoes and onions fried in olive oil. Some will say that this is just one of the many variations and this will be true. Countless …
Stinging nettles might seem an intimidating source of food but they are a good one. Once gathered and processed they can be used much as spinach and are just as nutritious. The key to a successful stinging nettle collection (aside from thick gloves) is fussiness. You should, like herbivores in wildlife shows, only go for …
Mushroom Croquettes With Yogurt Sauce and Nettle Read More »
I cannot count how many times I have been frustrated with myself for mishaps and real disasters I produced in the kitchen. I would like to believe that cooking mistakes happen to those ‘other people’- the ones who don’t pay nearly as much attention to detail and precision as I do. But the sad reality …
Perfect with soup for lunch, these buns really are quick to make, and so worth the few minutes you’ll have to invest in making and baking them. What To Eat With Bread Buns? These buns are really universal as you can make them with many different kinds of green leaves such as spinach, nettle, cilantro, …
This is probably the easiest and quickest way to turn broccoli into an elegant and delicious dish. It goes well with all sorts of white wines. How To Make The Easiest Broccoli With Cheese Ingredients 450g broccoli 250ml milk 110g cheddar (or kashkaval) cheese 50g plain flour 50g butter ½ tsp mustard Salt and Pepper …
