Tag Archives: food photo

Persimmon&Jamon Salad for Women’s Day

March 8, 2016
milkandbun
6 comments
appetizer, cooking, festive cooking, food, food photo, food photography, food styling, jamon, persimmon and jamon salad, photography, salad, starter, Women's Day

Today, March 8th, many people are celebrating International Women’s Day across the globe. Of course, each country have their own means of celebration, special traditions and demonstrations, gifts and food. In my home-country (Russia) this day even is a public holiday. It is also another good day/reason to call your mother, sister or a friend and say how much they mean to you, or celebrate a woman who has always inspired you. And why not to rise a glass for yourself? 😉

This elegant salad can be served as a tasty fare for the Women’s Day. You need only few minutes literally to assemble and serve the salad. Salty dry-cured meat and tender persimmon slices go perfect together here. Impress your guests or and simply enjoy it yourself.

Salad with persimmon&jamon

Servings: 2
Time: 15min
Difficulty: very easy
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Few shavings of parmesan or grana padano cheese make the salad only better.

Ingredients

4 thin slices jamon serrano (or prosciutto)

10-12 thin slices persimmon (from a quarter)

2-3 tbsp pomegranate seeds

200-300g small arugula leaves

2 tbsp pistachios, chopped

Dressing

2 tbsp EV olive oil

2 tsp pomegranate molasses

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

sea salt, to taste

Preparation method

Arrange 2 slices of jamon and 5-6 slices of persimmon on each plate. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds.
Top with arugula leaves. Mix ingredients for the dressing, drizzle the salad and sprinkle with nuts.

Enjoy!

recipe found here (in Russian)

Eat the World Dubai

Hello guys! How is your week going on? Today I’d love to share with you how I spent last weekend!

I visited “Eat the World Dubai” as a part of the Dubai Food Festival 2016. It was held on a green lawn (which is called Burj Park), right next to Burj Khalifa and the Dubai mall. It was all about street food. The most exciting thing was that 15 food trucks were brought from the UK, and as it was announced ‘the best ones’- winners and finalists of British Street Food Awards. Of course, some local street food there was as well.

I think nowadays street food means more than regular hamburgers and hot-dogs. There are lots of people/cooks who are passionate for food, who have a creativity for what they cook; people who desire to prepare something extravaganza in front of you. Plus, it should be affordable and don’t ruin your family budget.

One of the thing I wanted to try was “Crabbie Shack”. I imagine myself a huge, unreal ans super tasty patty made from crab meat. After a pretty long line of waiting, finally I got it. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. Crab was deep-fried (I rare eat such food) and seemed it was left in some skin.. plus the bun was too greasy and it was complicated to bite the huge burger. What I like – the combination of fennel seeds and almond flakes; definitely I will use it in the future cooking. Harissa (not spicy one) and smashed avocado was another delicious touch.

It’s worth mentioning the remarkable pizza preparation. Guys were made it in a truck! Can you imagine? Oven truck! 😀

Dark Sweet side was an ice cream! One of the UAE team trucks “from Miami to Dubai” sold gelato on a stick, that you could dip into various chocolate and cover in nuts, sprinkles or coconut flakes. I tried strawberry covered with white chocolate and walnuts. Yummy! 🙂

British crew “Milo&Hector’s” brought a cute little truck and made ice cream sandwiches. Never tasted before, it was soooo good! Especially after a sunny afternoon in the park. May be I’d reduce the sweetness of cookies..

And so much more..

I enjoyed every minute of this open-air festival. There were lots of amazing smells and flavours around. Music, cooking demos, smiling people who were eating&eating, siting on a grass, relaxing..

Hope you had a fabulous weekend too!

Black Forest Pancakes

When I decided to make chocolate pancakes, I didn’t expect them turn out so good and delicious: a pure indulgence! I wanted to serve them only with a black-cherry jam. But when I stumbled upon a pack of mascarpone in my fridge, that I wanted to use somewhere else, the decision came itself – use it as a topping! Mascarpone worked perfectly as a cream and cherry syrup (I mixed jam with some water to make it thinner) sucked into pancakes very well, like into a sponge cake. All ingredients worked more than good together, dark chocolate and fresh cherry on top added a nice and charming touch as well. Plus, the taste reminds the famous cake – “Black Forest”. It’s my husband’s favorite cake, so he was on a nine cloud! Honestly, these are highly recommended pancakes!

Black Forest Pancakes

Servings: 3
Time: 1hr
Difficulty: very easy
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Ingredients

200g sour cream

250ml full-fat milk

2 eggs

2 tbsp white sugar

a pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla

20g butter, melted

270-300g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

5-6 tsp unsweetened pure cocoa powder

40-50g dark chocolate (70%cocoa), chopped

sunflower or any veg oil for frying

For serving

200g mascarpone

2 tsp maple syrup or pure honey, optional

100g dark cherry jam

70ml warm water (or more to make it thinner)

1-2 tsp lemon juice, optional

Garnish

some chopped dark chocolate

fresh cherries, optional

Preparation method

In a large bowl, beat eggs with with sugar, salt and vanilla. Whisk in butter.
Pour in milk and sour cream, stir all together.
Sift flour along with baking powder, soda and cocoa into a batter. Whisk until combined. Fold in chopped chocolate.
Heat large frying pan on a high heat, pour in some oil. Using large spoon, pour in batter. Cook each pancake until bubbles appear on top, then flip and cook on another side.
For cheery syrup, in a small saucepan, bring jam and water to gentle simmer. Simmer on a medium-low heat for few minutes. If it’s too sweet, stir in lemon juice. Add more water to make it more thin, if desired.
In a serving bowl, stir together mascarpone and maple syrup or honey.
Serve pancakes with mascarpone and cherry syrup.

Enjoy!

Almond and ricotta cake

February 24, 2016
milkandbun
28 comments
almond ricotta cake, baking, Blogging, cake, food blogger, food photo, food photography, photo, ricotta cake, sweet

One of the great part of food blogging is that you can discover new and interesting recipes almost every time you open your browser; you can see what bloggers cook and enjoy in different parts of the world, and of course try to prepare those amazing international recipes at home. So, when I saw the ricotta-almond cake that Margherita shared at her blog, I immediately saved it and decided to make it the other day. The cake turned out really moist and very nutty. I even could say that you can feel more nuts than ricotta, but it’s not bad at all (especially if you love lots of nuts in baking). Moreover, orange zest gave a fantastic aroma to the cake. The only thing – it was a bit too sweet to my taste, so I will reduce the quantity of sugar next time.

And I didn’t wait for an hour before unmolding the cake, about 20 minutes was enough to get it cool and enjoy with a tea. 🙂

Almond and ricotta cake

Servings: 8-10
Time: 1hr30min
Difficulty: easy
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*Was a bit sweet to my taste, next time reduce sugar to 100g

For 20cm spring form tin

Ingredients

250g ricotta

180g ground almonds

3 egg whites

1/2 tsp lemon juice

a pinch of salt

90g butter, soft (at room temperature)

120g white sugar*

zest from 1 orange

3 egg yolks

some almond flakes

orange zest, for decor, optional

Preparation method

In a bowl, stir ricotta with ground almonds. Set aside.
Beat egg whites with lemon juice and salt until steady peaks. Set aside.
In a large bowl, blend butter with sugar and orange zest until creamy. Mix in egg yolks, one at a time.
Stir in ricotta mixture.
Carefully fold beaten egg whites into ricotta mixture.
Line the baking tin with greased parchment. Pour in batter. Sprinkle with almond flakes and orange zest.
Bake in preheated 170C oven for 50 minutes or until golden.
Let it cool in the tin for 20-30 minutes and then carefully transfer to a serving plate.

Enjoy!

Fish with spiced lentil ragout

Happy Valentines Day!!!

I’d like to represent a very delicious main course, that looks elegant and suits perfectly to this special day. A healthy and tasty fish is complemented here by aromatic lentil ragout and fresh fennel shavings. Another secret weapon in this sensational dish is aromatic spices: turmeric and ginger, that really burst the lentils with lots of flavour. And of course don’t forget the final touch – a drizzle of lime juice.

Simple! Healthy! Sensational!

Fish with spiced lentil ragout

Servings: 2
Time: 30mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

Fish

2 x 150-200g white fish fillet (I used sea bass)

2 tbsp lime juice

freshly ground sea salt and black pepper

some homemade breadcrumbs and flour, for coating

1 tbsp olive oil or other veg oil, for frying

Lentil ragout

100g dried green/brown or Puy lentils

1 rosemary sprig

water

1.5 tbsp olive oil

1 small red onion, chopped

1 small carrot, cut into fine cubes

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 medium tomato, chopped (without liquid and seeds)

1.5 tbsp tomato puree

zest from 1/2 lime

freshly ground sea salt and black pepper

Garnish

lime juice

lime wedges

fennel shavings

fennel or parsley

Preparation method

Rinse and drain lentils. Put in a saucepan with rosemary, cover with water (do not season) and bring to boil on a medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until lentils are tender. Add extra water if all absorbed, or drain some if there is any left.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a small frying pan, add onion and carrot and saute for 6-7 minutes until soft and golden. Add garlic, ginger, turmeric and saute for a minute more. Stir in chopped tomato and puree. Turn off the heat.
Discard rosemary form lentils. While lentils are still warm season with salt and pepper, then mix in lemon zest and vegetable mixture; give it a good stir.
Drizzle fish with lime juice, season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle skin side with breadcrumbs and flour. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry skin-side down for 2 minutes, then turn and fry for 1-3 minutes more (depends on fish thickness), until golden and cooked.
Arrange lentil ragout on a serving plate, top with fennel and fish fillet, drizzle with lime juice. Garnish with fennel (or parsley) and lime wedges.

Enjoy!