Farm to Table Dinner Event

End of Summer is on the horizon.  We try to celebrate the season in every way possible before the cold and snow hits the streets.

Campo Di Bella farm and winery hosted a wonderful vegetarian dinner event last night. We had the joy of attending it.  

What a fantastic way to support local farming community and artisans. 

29 guests, 7 courses, and a lot of joy…

Every course was light refreshing and made us taste the summer sunshine!

Zucchini tart or art?? 😍  

Get out there and celebrate the summer!!!

Catania Fish Market

We spent some time in the city of Catania while in Sicily.  Though short it was full of action and the kind we like: adventure and food!!

Private tour guide helped make most of our tour. Will tell you more about that next time 😉 

We love local markets, seeing the live local culture in action is just priceless…

A short walk from our hotel, the Catania fish market was waiting to welcome us. It was like heaven for us, the variety of days catch – all sorts of fish, shellfish, octopus,… lively stall keepers shouting for their goods…  

At the skirts of the fish market the vegetable and fruit stalls and accompanied by olive and cheese tables.  Making sure the shoppers will have a pick of the best for tonight’s dinner!

For more photos follow us on Instagram: surprisesaffron

Italy! Puglia! – Let’s Cook

Can you tell we are counting days and how excited we are for our next adventure!

We will report live from our cooking experience, but wanted to share our research with you.  Very important for any traveller to connect with their host chef and understand what they are signing up for. 

So here we go… 

                To find more Please visit 

cookingexperience.it.com

Weekend Cooking: Stuffed Stuff

Love weekends when we can fully relax and cook savory cozy meals that speak to the soul and heart.

This is a favorite dish especially for cold winter nights. Yet so easy to make, but sure to delight the senses.

Ingredients:
2 small yellow peppers
Couple medium sized zucchinis
4-5 medium sized firm tomatoes
1 lb Organic ground beef
1 cup of Organic jasmine rice
3 cloves of fresh pressed garlic
Salt
Olive oil
Black pepper
Red pepper
All spice
Crumbled feta for the top

Was the veggies and hollow them out. Careful not slice your hands open or cut through the veggies. You need both 😉 to enjoy this meal. Using a small melon baller might help, but I use a nice small sharp knife. Goal is to hollow the veggies without damaging the shell that will keep the stuffing.

Put hollowed veggies in a container of water and salt mixture (brine) while you mix up the stuffing.

Best beef for this is organic and semi fat. Don’t go lean – the dish with be way too dry and tasteless. For vegetarians; omit the beef and use a coarse chop of the hollowed out innards, add mushrooms and viola! Turn the oven on to 475 degrees and get your baking dish ready.

Mix up the beef with spices, rice, and pressed garlic. Use as much spices to your liking and diet. Drizzle olive oil as you are mixing the stuffing – again amount is up to you. We love bathing in it so we go wild!

Stuff each veggie somewhat loosely to allow for the rice expansion as it cooks. Place the veggies upright. Once done stuffing them all. Pour a lukewarm water at the bottom of baking dish – just enough to come up to quarter of the height. With a spoon carefully put some of the lukewarm water into each veggie as well – makes for more moist stuffing.

Cover up the baking dish with a parchment paper to help it steam while cooking and keep the moisture. Bake for 40 minutes. Then turn off the over, put crumbled feta on top of each veggie and broil till feta is pink and melty.

Pull out let it cool for 2 minutes and serve up!!
Sure to be a hit – enjoy it and let us know what you think after you tried it.

Live well. Eat well. Love well !

Cooking Class 2: Raspberry Mousse Cake anyone!

Today we took the raspberry mousse cake class. Wowwww… so this is quite something, we learned a lot about how elaborate and technical this is. Chef Pierre Ferland said “it’s 90% science 10% art – and that 10% is the hardest”. Think this was supposed to be a clue for what’s to come.

So this cake is done in 5 stages and things have to be in specific order, otherwise it does not work. Trust me all 8 students we tried and asked what if we do this or that first — Chef Pierre said “Ok, then you will end up with something else but not a raspberry mousse cake!”

Stage 1:
Make the simple syrup so it can take time to cool off. You will use it for the raspberry filling and later to brush the layers of the cake to give it moisture.

Stage 2:
You must do the raspberry mousse. This way it can take time for gelatin and the mousse to set to the right consistency to become the filling. Make sure to strain the raspberry purée so all the seeds are taken out.

Stage 3:
Make the genoise (cake). It is not hard but the key is to put it in already heated owen rightaway so it won’t collapse. Also do NOT tap to even out the cake in the pan, use your hand to smooth it out quickly, otherwise it will again collapse. Don’t you love all the tips and tricks — we would not have known any of this if Chef Pierre did not tell us and demonstrate.

Stage 5:
While the cake is baking, make the Le Creme Chantilly which is the frosting that will cover and decorate the cake. Tip here was to start with a cold mixer bowl!!

Assembly:
Are you stable handed?? Well this is the test!! Cut the cake into 3 straight even layers. With a brush brush first layer with simple syrup, then smooth over some of the mousse, do the same with the other two layer and build up your cake tower. Then use some of the mousse to cover the sides of the cake. Finally, use the Chantilly to frost and decorate the cake. You can also use toasted almonds to coat the sides for a more rustic look. Tip: put the cake in the fridge for hour or two before cutting it, helps it set and be easier to cut.

Remember… We did not say this was easy or simple. Apparently after 2 years of apprenticeship this became easy for Chef Pierre. I believe it.

Finally – cut and serve! Bon Appetite!!

Thankfully, Chef Pierre said we could make the cake the day before – so you can do this in 2 days if you need the time. In any case, if you are excited to try this delicious cake, let me know and I will provide you the full recipe.

Cooking Class 1: Let’s make Samosa!

When was the last time you took a cooking class?? Think my last cooking class was learning how to make truffles and other chocolates two years ago. So when my friend Jennifer saw the cooking class and asked if I would go – answer was a huge YES!

On our blog We write a lot about always learning and surprising yourself. So we believe in grabbing these opportunities. Listen – we don’t think we have to be good at it either. You don’t have to be half a chef to take a class.

Love eating the Samosa but never tried making them. Chef Huma S. showed us how to make them from scratch and two other dishes too. She was a great teacher, very easy going which made the class relaxing. Enjoyed her stories and cooking style; gadget free, almost all a single pot dish, … if you could only smell the cooking food mmmm

Class took 3 hours and yes we ate everything we made at the end. Delicious dinner with new people we met at the class…

Working on vegan potato stuffed samosa:

Chef Huma made these other dishes:

I was trying to make the Samosa too perfect, she said just pinch it shut and don’t worry so much. It will be delicious. I made quite a few of them and she was frying them on the side. We ate the Samosa with the raita sauce she made. They were the best ones I have had ;))

Can’t wait to make these myself these dishes during fall and winter.

🌟 Chef Huma’s website is whitejasmine.com where she shares the recipes and sells her own spice mixes on the website.

If the title did not give it away already… We are doing another class to learn making something sweet – it will be surprise!!

Bourak

For Sunday SURPRISE!

It’s great recipe for any time especially for tea time gatherings I can eat half of this yummm :)) and the only food I can’t resist anyway let’s make it!

500 gr. organic parsley, chard or spinach

6 yufka (special thin pastry for bourak)

200 gr. organic feta cheese

1 cup organic Greek yogurt

1 organic egg

1/2 cup organic extra virgin olive oil

1 cup mineral water

Optional ( salt, pepper and flaked red pepper)

Optional ( sesame seeds or black cumin)

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Wash and dice any green you choose.

Crumble the cheese with fork and mix it with greens.( If you will use the salt, peeper and flaked pepper add them and mix them as well)

In separate bowl mix yogurt, olive oil and egg well.

Grease the pan with oil take 1 yufka and spread it over the pan the pan should be smaller than yufka I used rectangle pan you can use round or and form you like just make sure it’s smaller than the yufka.

Spread over the yufka from yogurt mixture with help of brush.

Spread 2 more yufka’s  by wrinkling them and again for each one spread the yogurt mixture over.

Now spread all the feta and green filling all over the yufkas.

Repeat the yufka and yogurt spread by wrinkling the yufkas when you complete this take the corners of the bottom yufka and fold it over the top.

Cut the bourak in pieces if you still have yogurt mixture pour it all over the top.

Gradually pour the mineral water all over the top of the bourak.

Sprinkle cumin seeds or sesame seeds.

Bake it 30 min. or until golden brown on top.

ENJOY it warm or cold !

Trios sisters cookies

Cute cookies and different presentation!

Good thing about the dough of this cookies is you can chill it up to 2 days isn’t that great!

Also it’s very fun to make it with children they can roll the balls and make the indentations and fill each round with different jam.

If you are more than 3 sisters you can stick more rounds with each other it’s really fun or maybe less.

Anyway let’s have some FUN!!

2 -1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2 sticks butter (softened)

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tbs raspberry jam or cherry jam

2 tbs apricot preserve

2 tbs strawberry preserve

Whisk flour salt.

Beat butter and sugar with mixer about 4 min. add egg and vanilla mix at low speed.

Mix in flour mixture in 3 batches till dough forms.

Divide dough in half and form each into 6 inch disks wrap it in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven 175 c.

Roll 3 separate level tsp of dough into a ball then flatten each ball 1 inch wide and less than 1/2 inch thick.

Arrange them into triangle and make deep indentation in center of each round with help of 1/2 inch thick spoon handle.

Arrange them 1 inch apart on baking sheets.

Fill indentations with about 1/88 tsp jam avoiding any large pieces of fruit.

Bake 15- 20 min. till golden brown.

Cool on baking sheets 5 min.

Enjoy fun sisters or one size bite sister! just use your creativity and have so much delicious & fun!

Vegan Reddish bean & Avocado

    

Last week I realized for very long time I didn’t use my dried beans and that wasn’t good because always when I was thinking to make them but the long time to prepare them causes easily to giving up without even thinking further. One day while I was thinking how to solve this dried bean problem a great idea light up immediately to rescue! Yessss, Soaking! boiling! and freezing! dried beans.

While soaking the reddish beans to save energy and time I diced to soak all of the dried beans, chickpeas and green lentils I didn’t boil the chickpeas and green lentils ( but if you like you can) just drain them well and freeze them but I boiled the reddish beans and beans they are  super short-cut to your meal after long working/tired day. Just de-freeze how much you need and boil them with little water and salt about 5-10 min.

Enjoy  it over your salad, in mazza or main dishes.

Let’s start up to something quicker&healthier!

1 medium organic onion thinly sliced

1 cup cooked organic reddish beans

1 small organic avocado

1-2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp sumac

1 tbs pomegranate sour or lemon juice

2 tbs of finely diced organic parsley (optional)

Soak reddish beans in 4-5 cups boiled water over night

Rinse them well

Cook them 30-40 min. or more or less until you can taste to mash them with back of spoon on a plate easily this shows they are done.

Drain them if there is excess water.

Add half tsp of salt and mix the beans.

Mix half tsp of salt and sumac with diced onions.

Mix onions, beans and parsley add pomegranate sour and olive oil.

Put it into one side of serving plate.

With help of spoon remove the skin of avocado and cut into chunks.

Put it beside the beans.

Enjoy this delicious healthy dish over special dried bread called baqisma or tacos or favorite choice of your bread.

Feta-buns

My snack bunnies sometimes I eat them for breakfast with cup of tea or for a quick lunch at office or for take away or just any where they are like my life savers . As most of the times as I do you can make these buns and freeze them then when you are ready to serve them de-freeze as much as you need or if want to give them fresher taste put them in preheated oven for few min.  cool and fill them with feta actually they are looking pretty good at partys as well and please keep them at refrigerator after filling. Enjoy them as soon as possible! they have 3-4 days to survive :))) short shelve life.

This short shelve life reminds me something very important worth to share with our beloved readers&followers! Did you ever think when buying our food we are buying our (lives or death) our (health or illness). I want to share this great information with you about short&long shelve life what ever you buying is directly effecting  your life want to know how? 

Here is how

If you are buyer of long shelve-life products means unfortunately more likely gives you shorter&sick live.

Good news if you are buying shorter shelve-life means long&healthier live so please be aware of the shelve of your life & health.

Buy +more fresh -less or no more canned & only what you need because less is more!

Finally the recipe take the start!

3 -1/2 cups flour

1 tbs sugar

1/2 tbs sea salt

1 tbs instant yeast

1/2 cup lukewarm water

1/2 lukewarm milk

1 egg white for inside the dough and the yolk for top of buns

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Filling

100 gr organic feta cheese (creamed) if it’s too hard you can add 1 tbs milk or olive oil to make it spreadable.

Only parsley leaves diced finely.

Come on to make the lovely Feta-Bunnies!

Preheat oven 180 c.

Add flour, sugar and salt mix. make hole in center.

Add yeast, milk, water, oil and egg white and knead.

Cover the dough with cloth and leave it 30 min.

Make small chestnut sized balls or ovals from dough.

Line them on parchment papered pans spread egg yolk on top and leave 10 min.

Bake them until golden brown.

Cool them completely.

Cut one side of the buns fill it with feta cheese leave some feta outside to stick parsley easily then dip them in parsley.

I’m ready to give myself more fresh & shorter shelve life feta-bun party!