Mozzarella with figs and prosciutto ham

U la la.. We made a exquisite starter. The sweetness of the figs, the saltiness of the prosciutto, the chewiness of the mozzarella and the quirky taste of balsamic reduced sauce- all soooo good! If you manage to get a hold on fresh figs, please, please make this dish- you'll love it! We PROMISE!

Type of dish: starter

Cost: expensive

Difficulty:  easy

Time:  15 min

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 15 min

What you need to make this dish:

Cutting board, 4 plates , sharp knife,  stainless steel frying pan, whisk, spoon

Ingredients:

• 4 mozzarella
• 4 fresh figs
• 1 1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar from Modena
• Pinch ofsugar
• 4 slices of prosciutto ham

How to prepare:
Heat up on high heat the frying pan,and turn on the fan. It's gonna get hot! Pour in the balsamic vinegar and add the sugar. Mix all the time with the whisk, until the vinegar has reduced by over a half, and thickened slightly. Leave to cool. Cut the figs in 4, and cut each mozzarella also in 4, but try not to cut through completly. On each plate, place on mozzarella, put on it the 4 fig pieces, and next to it swirl around 1 slice of prosciutto. Drizzle all over the plate a spoon of the reduced balsamic vinegar and serve!

Tortilla wraps snack bites

I needed some snack for my guests and I thought- why not some tortilla wraps? They're easy to make, delicious, and can be made ahead in time. Plus, they look lovely. Why not try this out?

Type of dish: starter

Cost: medium

Difficulty:  easy

Time:  15 min

Serves: 4-8

Preparation time: 15 min

What you need to make this dish:

Cutting board, 2 plates , sharp knife,  regular knife, cling film

Ingredients:

• 3 tortilla wraps
  
• 1 tomato
  
• 1 box of cream cheese of any kind
  
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 1/2 cucumber
• 3 slices of ham
• 6 lettuce leaves ( arrugula, lamb lettuce, crinkled lettuce or romain, any kind)

How to prepare:
Spread out some cling film, around 30 cm. Take a tortilla and bend it inside one way then the other. This way you'll see which way it's easier to fold so the tortilla doesn't break. Place it that foldable side up on the cling film. Take the cream cheese and spread it all over the tortilla, to the sides in a even layer. Cut the cucumber, pepper and tomato in slices. Remove the seeds from cucumber and tomato (if you don't your tortilla will get soggy.) Rip the lettuce leaves lengthwise and put them in the middle of the tortilla. On that, place the veggies , then fold a slice of ham on the veggies. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on top. Now start rolling the tortilla, so the stuff you just put on is tucked away in the tortilla blanket. Yum. Now fold the cling film over the tortilla so it doesn't unfold, and put in the fridge for 10- 15 min, or until you need to serve. Or just cut in 2-4 cm slices and serve straight away. Go for it!

Gambas with lychee!

If you ever don't know what to do with larger shrimps called Gambas- this is the recipe for you! 

Type of dish: main

Cost: expensive

Difficulty:  medium

Time: 30  min

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 15 min

Cooking time: 15 min

What you need to make this dish:

Skewers, large frying pan, tablespoon, blender

Ingredients:

• 12 Gambas
• 1 can of lychees
• 1 vanilla stick
• 20ml coconut milk
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 spring of flat fresh parsley
• 1 medium shallot
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 lime
• 2 springs of coriander fresh
• 2 tbsp honey
• Pinch salt
• Pinch white pepper

How to prepare:

Defrost, clean and devein the gambas. Put one gambas on a skewer, then one lychee, then another gambas until the skewer is filled. Put the parsley, garlic and shallot in blender and blend till well chopped, or you can chop it up yourself if you don’t trust your blender. Heat frying pan on medium heat, pour the oil in, fry the skewers until the gambas are pink in color. Add salt and pepper and add the vanilla pod cut in half, then cook for 3-4 min in medium heat. After that pour in the soy sauce, honey, chopped herbs and coconut milk. Cover with lid and leave to cook on low heat for 2-3 min. Then add the lime juice and roughly chopped coriander. Serve immediately with the sauce. You rock!

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Additional info:

Serve with ideas:

Jasmin rice or basmati.

Cauliflower Gratin

That’s what can happen when I go shopping with my husband, at some point he looks at something and he has an idea.

Yesterday it was a cauliflower, he saw this brain look vegetable and he told me, it’s beautiful I buy it.

You will think: So What???

Thing is - he hates cauliflower!!!

And guess what, he LOVED my recipe as well as the kids!

So now don’t hesitate and just do it!

Preparation time: 10 min

Cooking time: 20 min for the cauliflower

Baking time: 25 min for the gratin

Ingredients:

·         1 beautiful cauliflower

·         Cream cheese with herbs (or a regular one mixed with fresh herbs like chives, parsley, etc)

·         Fresh liquid cream 250ml

·         2 eggs whole

·         150 gr grated ementaler

·         Pinch of Salt and Pepper

Let’s do it!

First, separate the cauliflower into small pieces, rinse and boil your cauliflower in salted water until your knife can enter the cauliflower easily.

Preheat the oven 210 C.

While the cauliflower is cooking, mix the eggs with the cream cheese, the fresh liquid cream and add salt and pepper.

When the cauliflower is cooked, drained - put in an oven dish. Pour the eggs, cheese and cream mixture and sprinkle the grated cheese over it.

Now your oven is hot and turn in grill position, your Gratin can grill until he has a nice brown color (for about 25 minutes).

It’s ready! Bon appétit!!!  

Home made greek yoghurt

We like greek yoghurt. The kids even liked it, which was a suprise, but they do. Cool part is, you can make it yourself. All you need is a thick woven clean cloth, a collander and some time. You can make it overnight, or in 3 hours, then it's ready to eat. And absolutly delicious. You can add raisins, nuts, drizzle honey over it, or some jam, maybe add some fresh fruit. You can have it for breakfast, or as a dessert, like in Greece. The difference in greek yoghurt and regular yoghurt is that the greek kind has less whey in it. Whey is the liquid in yoghurt. If you ever opened a container of yogurt after a few days of buying, sometimes it has a thin layer of liquid on the surface- that's the whey.
Also, try out first your regular yoghurt, because depending on the thickness you can make greek yogurt. If you find yoghurt that isn't runny, like most, custard-y like when wobbled, but breaks up easily when touched with a spoon, you got great stuff to make greek yoghurt.
Anyway, you can make this with your kids, or by yourself- it's a great project to do:)

Type of dish: snack, breakfast, dessert

Cost: cheap

Difficulty:  easy

Time:  3 - 12h

Serves: 1-2

Preparation time: 10 min

What you need to make this dish:

Clean thick woven cloth, a colander, a bowl or pan to fit the collander, spoon, medium bowl

Ingredients:

• 1-2 0,5l container of plain yoghurt (I use the Zott kind)
• 1 tbsp honey ( or any other topping)
• 1 tbsp nuts of any kind
• 1 tbsp dried or fresh fruits

How to prepare:
Put the collander in the bowl or pan. Place the cloth on the collander.Put in the plain yoghurt inside the cloth, bring together the ends of the cloth and start squeezing the yoghurt at the bottom. The liquid will start to seep through the cloth, Squeeze out all you can, twisting the ends so the pressure also forces the whey to drip out. This takes roughly around 5-10 min. Put the cloth with the yogurt back into the collander and put in frigde for 3 to 12 h. After that, you can take out the cloth, and using a spoon, scrape out the remaining yoghurt. As you'll see, the size is reduced by half. Put the now greek yoghurt in the bowl, give it a good mix so it all blends together and you can serve it, topped with honey, nuts, or anything else you like. Store in fridge, covered with cling film.

Additional information:
This recipe makes 1-2 portions, so if you need more, just double the amount of yoghurt, but check to see if it will fit your cloth.