Healthy choice

Red pepper Dip

Hello-hello! If you have seen the previous post, I promised the recipe with roasted peppers, so for keeping you waiting for so long. Here it is. The dip is such a nice snack, especially for mums, when you are doing lots of thing at a time, it is easy to forget to feed yourself (of course not your child, haha). All you need for this lovely dip is to prepare roasted peppers ahead, and then just whizz peppers with nuts and oil in a blender until you have a rough paste. In fact, I actually prefer not to measure ingredients in such simple recipes, throw in as you feel – that’s all. Then scoop the dip into a beautiful bowl, put on a table with some sliced bread or crackers on the side, and dig in when you have a time. Red pepper dip goes nicely with roasted chicken or fried chicken breasts. Yum! Healthy, delicious and sooooo quick to prepare, sounds perfect. 😀

I’ve tried this dip with a store-bought almond meal and homemade roasted ground almonds, and surprisingly I love the option with almond meal. Honestly speaking, I thought I would like a note of roasted nuts in the dip but I didn’t. The choice is up to you, try both and let me know what do you like more.

Dip with roasted red peppers and almonds

Tips

If you like it spicy – add chili flakes or chili oil.

If you want to make the consistency thinner – add a splash of water.

No nuts? Not a problem, make it nut free – sub almonds with breadcrumbs.

Red pepper Dip

Servings: 2
Difficulty: easy
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What You’ll Need

1 roasted&marinated red pepper

1 garlic clove from the marinade

1 tbsp EV olive oil

2 tbsp almond meal

6-8 basil leaves (optional)

1-2 tbsp water, optional (to thin the dip, if desired)

Salt, pepper, to taste

How to Make it

Put all ingredients in a blender, blend until desired consistency.
To make it thinner, add water – spoon by spoon, but not much!
Serve with bread, crackers or even chicken.

Enjoy!

Marinated roasted peppers

Hello, dear friends and all foodies! I’ve been away for awhile. The life and time with my little pie fly by so fast that I haven’t realized that summer is already over and autumn almost too, and I haven’t posted a recipe or even a small note. Hope someone miss me, because I’m happy to come back with new ideas and recipes. 😀

When you think autumn what do you imagine in your mind, I bet not only beautiful yellow and reddish leaves and trees in the woods, also lots of pumpkins and probably carrots. That’s not bad at all, I love those vegetables too; its bright color and wonderful taste turn a dull and boring day into a cheerful one. But I decided to go another way and prepare bright, aromatic and tasty marinated roasted peppers. If you have never tried to make those at home, you have to! Really! It is one of the quickest dishes, and no need to buy those expensive jars from a store! Make your own! The final result is fabulous, you can use peppers in so many ways! One of the recipes will be in the next post, don’t miss it!

But first, you need to roast bell peppers. I usually cut them into halves, remove all seeds and stems, arrange on a tray (line it with a foil – less mess), then drizzle with some oil, and roast in the oven for 40-60 minutes. When they are done, pell off the skin, it comes off very easily. At this step you can stop and eat them, for example on a slice of sunflower seeds bread😀 or be patient, slice them, arrange into jars along with couple of garlic cloves, rosemary, and chili flakes, optionally – a good pinch of sea salt, plus a splash of white balsamic vinegar, and of course drizzle with some oil (I prefer extra virgin oil, but you can use any you like/have).

I keep peppers in this marinade for a week in the fridge (honestly, they rarely stay that long). And what an amazing smell when you open a jar!

If you want to store them longer, I suggest to heat the marinade and use sterilized jars.

About the recipe: I don’t have any exact ingredients, just add as much as you like/feel. Happy cooking!

Fish. Arabian red grouper

Hello-hello! Many of us know that fish is loaded with lots of important nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, plus it is a low-fat and high-protein food. But let’s speak honestly: do you consume it at least once a week? I bet you often stick to the same preferences, it sounds “easier” to cook “favourite” chicken thighs or simply grill sausages… Maybe because you don’t know how to cook fish properly? or don’t like its smell?

And for those of you who really like fish, what type do you prefer? Have you ever wonder how do you choose it: is it common salmon or tilapia, or do you buy whatever is sold on the market? Do you always stick to the same recipes or experimenting is your motto?

What are your thoughts, guys?

I like fish, most often I cook salmon, sea bream or sea bass. The easiest way to cook fish is Bake it. You need season fish, arrange it on a baking sheet/dish and bake until it’s done. Sounds easy, but if the cooked fish is too flakey that unfortunately means your overcooked it, and most probably it became dry and tastes not that nice as it should be. Well, it’s not a secret that I overcook fish quite often, especially fillets… I think I need to buy a special thermometer.. because how on earth I should check that fish color turns from translucent to opaque without flaking the fish? If it’s not right, I have to bake (cook) it longer and then flake it again..? So, finally, you will serve ruined-flakey fish instead of a whole piece of fillet. I prefer to cook it a bit longer that it has to be. I desperately need a fish thermometer! Red grouper with citrus slices and fresh herbs

Red grouper with citrus slices and fresh herbs

This beautiful fish called ‘grouper’, it was caught in the Arabian Gulf (i.e in the UAE; I like to try everything local and that’s s why I chose it). When I don’t have any new ideas how to cook fish, I stuff it with fresh herbs and beautifully aromatic citrus slices, sprinkle with some extra dried ones plus seasoning and bake; and it turns out always good. If the fish itself is fresh and good, you can’t spoil it, right?

Baked Arabian red grouper

Tip: I have read 140F/60C is a desired internal temperature.

What You’ll Need

2 red grouper fishes

fresh coriander

fresh fennel or dill

some chopped garlic

few lemon slices+juice

few lime slices+juice

1/2 tsp dried fennel

freshly ground pepper

sea salt

EV olive oil

How to Make It

Wash, pat dry fish. Arrange on a baking tray.
Drizzle with lemon or lime juice, and season inside and out.
Stuff with fresh herbs and citrus slices.
Sprinkle with dried fennel and extra seasoning.
Drizzle with a bit of olive oil.
Bake in preheated 360F/180C oven for 15-18 minutes or until it’s cooked.

Enjoy!

Arabian Red grouper

Russian Beetroot Caviar

This bright beetroot dip doesn’t contain salmon or any other fish raw. In my home-country vegetable spreads and dips that are mushed into a non-smooth consistency are often called caviar. In USSR fish caviar was an expensive product and most of the time was served over special occasions, but people have always wanted something tasty not only during holidays or weekend; and such vegetables as an eggplants, marrows and beetroots were cheap and available almost throughout the year, thus I guess economical version of the “caviar” was created.

The recipe I found in a book dated 1990, it calls to boil beetroot, fry onions and press through the meat-grinder machine along with other ingredients. Easy-peasy. It turned out so tasty, that i have already made it few times in a row! Moreover, it was a hit at the home-party, especially when I served this dip nicely decorated with little festive crackers; needless to say, guests asked for the recipe!

The original Russian recipe calls for the salted pickled cucumbers, which are usually watery and personally I don’t like its taste, so I used regular crunchy pickled cucumbers and the beetroot dip was absolutely amazing and delicious! I prefer slightly coarse a caviar-like texture, so I don’t blend ingredients too much, but if you wish – just blitz it more to get the smooth dip. Enjoy!

Russian Beetroot Caviar

Servings: 4
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

400g/2 medium-size beetroots

2 tps olive or sunflower oil, for frying

1/2 large brown onion

~100g pickled cucumbers

2 cloves of garlic

Salt&Pepper, to taste

Method

Boil beetroots until soft. Cool, clean and chop.
Chop the onion and fry in a oil until soft and golden, about 5 minutes.
Finely chop cucumbers. Also finely chop or mush garlic.
Blitz all ingredients in a food processor until desired consistency.
Check the seasoning. Serve with rye bread or crackers.

Enjoy!

Warm butternut squash salad

This delicious warm salad is perfect for cold months. Yes, it is simple but bursting with flavour, and of course it contains the main autumn ingredient – beautiful winter squash! Slightly sweet roasted butternut squash together with salted feta and fresh spinach leaves create nice and tasty salad, perfect in its simplicity.

And don’t forget to sprinkle the salad with raw pumpkin seeds (as I did.. haha)!

Warm butternut squash salad

Time: 40min
Difficulty: very easy
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Slightly adapted from here

Ingredients

1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1cm-thick slices

1 medium red onion, cut into wedges

1 orange

fresh spinach leaves, as much as you like

100-150g feta or white/Bulgarian cheese

handful of raw pumpkin seeds

Dressing*

juice of 1/2 orange

2-3 tsp white balsamic or champagne vinegar

1 tsp honey mustard

2-3 tbsp EV olive oil

freshly ground sea salt &white pepper, to taste

Method

Arrange butternut squash and onion on a baking tray, drizzle everything with olive oil, plus squash with juice of 1/2 orange. Roast in preheated 180C oven for 25 minutes or until squash is soft.
For the dressing, in a small jar combine all ingredients and shake well. *Adjust to your taste by adding more vinegar or oil.
Arrange spinach on a serving plate, top with warm squash and onion. Sprinkle with feta and pumpkin seeds. Drizzle with dressing.

Enjoy warm salad!

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