Cream of tomato soup

   Summer is over. However, our home is full of garden goodies. I was thinking what to do with tomatoes and discover tomato soup on internet. It was experiment for me. But I was totally happy with it. This soup is very delicious. Even my husband, who doesn't like soups, liked it! So for three plates of this yumminess you will need:

• 900 g. of sliced tomatoes;
• 1 head of garlic (divided in cloves) plus one clove of garlic;
• 30 g. of balsamic vinegar (I used thick balsamic vinegar sauce);
• few splashes of olive oil;
• salt;
• pepper;
• 1 tea spoon of sugar;
• 1 onion;
• 1 celery stalk;
• 1 tea spoon of dried basil;
• 0,5 l of vegetable or chicken stock;
• 3 spoons of cream;
• 3 slices of toasting bread;
• cheese of your choice (I used red cheddar).

   Sliced tomatoes, and crushed garlic cloves (from 1 head of garlic) put in baking dish. Sprinkle salt, pepper, sugar and splash olive oil and balsamic vinegar on tomatoes and garlic cloves. There will be some liquid from tomatoes, so make sure that your baking dish is with edges.

   Tomatoes with garlic bake in preheated oven to 200° C for 35 minutes.

   Chop onion, garlic clove and celery stalk. Bake onion with a bit of oil on stove in soup pot. When onion is tender, add garlic, celery and tea spoon of dried basil. Everything in the pot slightly roast. Then add baked tomatoes, garlic with all liquid to the pot. Add stock of your choice.

Wait till soup comes to a boil and turn off the stove. Then blend soup in a blender, till it is creamy.

    Stain soup through a sieve to make sure there is no chunks and tomatoes peels in this goodness. Then again come cream soup to a boil and make sure that you don't need more salt or pepper. That is it. Soup is ready.
 

While soup is coming to a boil, prepare cheese toasts. Toast bread in toaster and put some cheese between two breads. To melt cheese in bread, heat cheese toast for a few seconds in a microwave or in the oven.







 












   Serve cream of tomato soup with spoon of cream, a pinch of dried basil (fresh basil is even better) and cheese toast.

   Enjoy!

Fried rabbit with oven baked potato strips

   

I am so happy that I can share this recipe with you! Cause it is simply awesome. It is so delicious, so crispy, so beautiful... I am sure that your family or friends will be impressed. So lets start. For this gorgeous dish you will need:

• 1 rabbit, divided in pieces;
• 1 clove of garlic, divided in cloves;
• cup of stock (chicken, rabbit or vegetable stock);
• salt;
• pepper;
• splash of olive oil;
• 1 egg;
• cup of flour;
• handful of hard cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano is best option);
• 6 branches of rosemary;
• cup of panko crumbs;
• 4 potatoes;
• oil for frying (vegetable, sunflower oil etc.).

   So, first step is prepare rabbit meat for frying. Put rabbit, garlic, 4 branches of rosemary, stock, pinch of salt and pepper, splash of olive oil in the pot.

   Put the lid on the pot, and pot on the stove. When  it comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and let it simmer for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, till meat is  tender and almost falls from the bone.

   During this time, peel potatoes and cut in to strips. Wash all starch from potatoes and let it sit in cold water with salt (you can prepare this ahead of time).

   When meat is tender, take it of the stock and let to cold.

   Strain off potato strips and drain it. Then add splash of olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper and branch of rosemary divided in strips. Bake potatoes in one layer in preheated 200 °C oven till they are tender and golden.

   While potatoes are cooking, prepare beaten egg, flour and hard cheese mixed with panko crumbs and rosemary (from one branch) in different plates.

   Coat rabbit pieces in flour, then in egg and crumbs.

   Put meat aside to dry a bit, while oil is preheated. Fry rabbit pieces in hot oil till they are crispy and golden. Serve rabbit pieces with potatoes strips and slice of lemon.

Enjoy!

Chili oil

 Chili oil is used in asian cuisine. However we like it so much, that we use it almost every day. Chili oil is spicy and tasty and it is very easy to make. You will need:

• 15 small dried chili;
• 150 ml oil (I used extra virgin olive oil).

 Blend dried chili peppers in a blender till they are as small as sesame seeds.

 Then heat up oil till it starts to smoke and remove from heat. Drop all chili flakes in the oil and wait till oil colds.

 When oil is cold, strain all chili flakes and reserve chili oil in bottle.

 Thats it. Use it with rice, salads, pasta and all dishes when you want some spicy taste. Enjoy!

Granola

 Granola is something new in our home. It is first time we made it and we loved it! I have red a lot of granola recipes on the net and decided to use these proportions: 3 cups of oats (750 ml), 0,25 cup of nuts (60 ml) and 0,5 cup of dried fruits (125 ml). You can use any king of nuts and dried fruits. For the syrup I used coconut oil and maple syrup. However you can use honey or any kind of syrup and oil. For my version of granola you will need:

• 3 cups (750 ml) of oat flakes;
• 0,25 cup (60 ml) of hazelnuts;
• 0,5 cup (125 ml) of dried cranberries;
• 2 table spoons (30 ml) of brown sugar;
• 4 table spoons (60 ml) of maple syrup;
• 4 table spoons (60 ml) of coconut oil;
• 0,5 tea spoon of natural vanilla extract;
• pinch of salt;
• pinch of cinnamon.

 Combine oats with nuts.

 Than start making syrup - in saucepan mix maple syrup, sugar, coconut oil, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon and heat mixture till it looks syrupy.

 Combine oats, nuts with syrup and mix well. Than transfer that mixture on the baking tray lined with baking paper. Spread oats and nuts on the same layer.
 Bake for about 30 min in the oven, preheated to 150° C. Mix every 10 minutes. You can bake your granola more or less, depending on how dark you like it.
 When granola is baked mix it with dried cranberries.
 Wait till it is cold and enjoy it!
 This granola stills crunchy for a long time in a jar. We like our granola with natural yogurt but it is tasty and alone.

Enjoy!

Penne pasta with rabbit ragu

 Penne pasta with rabbit ragu is a wonderful dish. It's Jamie's Oliver's recipe, which I adapted to my kitchen. It is very rich and satisfying dish. Also I could say that is very easy recipe, because for ragu you just have to put all ingredients to the pot and wait for nine hours... I chose to make this sauce at night, so in the morning it was done. If you are serving this sauce with pasta, it is for ten big servings. If you won't eat all sauce at once, you could freeze it, as I did it.

 For rabbit ragu you will need:

• 1 rabbit;
• splash of olive oil;
• one handful of sliced bacon;
• 2 bay leafs;
• 2 branches of rosemary;
• 2 red onions;
• 2 leeks;
• 2 carrots;
• 2 celery sticks;
• 1 head of garlic, divided in pieces;
• 2 tins of tomatoes (best choice is these with composition just of tomatoes and water, also it could be salt in it);
• 0,5 liter of dark beer;
• 2 tablespoons of tomatoes puree;
• salt and pepper;
• half of nutmeg;
• 1 liter of water;
• 6 tablespoons of flour.

 Chop all vegetables and rabbit in big pieces.
 In a big pot splash an olive oil and roast bacon. When bacon is golden drop all vegetables and rabbit in the pot: bay leafs, branches of rosemary, rabbit pieces, red onions, leeks, carrots, celery sticks, garlic pieces, tomatoes, beer, tomatoes puree, grated half of nutmeg, water and be generous with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 110 °C.

 Wait till the pot content starts to boil on the stove and put the pot in the oven. That's it. Now you can rest for nine hours.

 After nine hours turn off your oven and wait till the ragu colds a bit.
 In the other pot strain all liquid of the sauce and bit by bit drop boned rabbit pieces in liquid (you could use rubber gloves for this job).
 I blended all remaining vegetables in a mash but you could chop it if you want and drop them in the sauce.  Then combine 6 tablespoons of flour with 6 tablespoons of water and mix it with the ragu.
 Heat the sauce till it boils on the stove, to make it thicker. That's it, the sauce is done. You could serve ragu with pasta or rice or you could preheat it later.

 Also you could freeze all leftover sauce for later. I did it in freezing bags.

 For two servings of penne pasta with ragu you will need:

• 250 g. pasta;
• hard cheese (I used Parmigiano Reggiano);
• green onions.

 I used penne pasta for this dish, because the sauce can easily fill this shape of pasta. Boil penne pasta and reserve some boiling water for later. If ragu is too thick thin if with pasta's boiling water, if it is too thin boil it down to thicken.

 Combine pasta with ragu, grate some hard cheese and sprinkle chopped green onions.

 Enjoy!

How to choose quality chocolate

 

  I'm so excited, this is my first blog post. And I am writing about chocolate. Of course chocolate! I love chocolate and all deserts with it. But how to choose something good when variety is so big? So, when choosing goods, I am reading all labels to make sure everything is good quality.
 The most important ingredients in chocolate is cocoa (cocoa mass, cocoa beans) and cocoa butter. In dark chocolate should be 55 - 99 percents cocoa. In white chocolate should be 30 - 40 percents cocoa. The lower percentage of cocoa, the more sugar is in chocolate.

 You don't want flavors, artificial flavors, oils (such as palm, vegetable, sunflower, safflower etc.) hydrogenated fats in your chocolate.

Good dark chocolate composition should be:

• Cocoa (cocoa mass, cocoa beans), sugar, cocoa butter, natural vanilla. There also may be lecithin.

Good milk chocolate composition should be:

• Sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa (cocoa mass, cocoa beans), emulsifier: soy lecithin, natural vanilla.

Good white chocolate composition should be:

• Sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, lecithin, natural vanilla.

 Enjoy your chocolate.