Tag Archives: recipes

Purple peppers and chickpeas!

This summer I’ve been making lots of salads.

It’s still extremely hot in Dubai and one more salad has been done:)

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    I found these beautiful capsicums at a store, grown by farmers in the Netherlands. They’re absolutely marvellous, aren’t they?

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Never seen such deep purple, blackish color of bell peppers. 🙂 They are green inside and have got the same taste as green ones.

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So, about the salad. One of the main ingredients are capsicums, as you could guess 😉

I promise, the salad won’t leave you hungry.  Chickpeas in it are high in protein! Usually I make it ahead (before fitness class, for example, after I’m so hungry!) so it has plenty of time to marinate.

We need:

  • 1 can chickpeas (drained)
  • 2 big capsicums
  • 100 g feta cheese
  • juice of  ½ lemon + zest of ¼ lemon
  • extra virgin olive oil (for frying and dressing)
  • 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme (or dried one is good as well)
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • fresh mint or/and parsley

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Heat the olive oil with thyme and cumin just for 1 minute, add shredded capsicums, toss and stir-fry until they become soft. My purple peppers turned into greenish color 😀

In a large bowl, combine chickpeas, capsicums, feta cheese and lemon zest. Toss to combine.  Pour 2 tbsp olive olive and lemon juice over the mixture.

Add some fresh mint and parsley; season to taste with grounded black pepper.

You can serve it immediately, but I heartily recommend to leave it  for 30-60 minutes to marinate.

Enjoy!

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Russian cold soup-Sveckolnik

    Sveckolnik [sve’koljnik] – Russian summer cold soup, which goes really well during the summer heat. The name comes from the word “sveckla”, which denotes beetroot.
   When AC and even hundreds of ice cream don’t help you against hot, this light soup refreshes and cools you. 
  The main ingredient is a raw beetroot, it’s high in vitamins, minerals and fiber that can effect the digestive system in a positive ways.
Raw beets are one of the top vegetables for nutritious raw eating, according to Bastyr University.
   You can include this light soup in your balanced diet and it takes only few minutes to prepare it.
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Ingredients:
beetroot – 2 small
cucumbers – 3-4
eggs – 1-2 per plate
a bunch of spring onion
a small bunch of dill
1 garlic clove
buttermilk 400 ml
water 200 ml
salt, sugar to taste
sour cream (optional)

Better to choose small young beets. And you can substitute raw beets with boiled, if you like.

Shred beets and cucumbers, put them in a deep plate.
Boil eggs for 10 minutes, let cool and cut them into chunks.
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Slice green onions, put it in a cup and add some salt. With teaspoon begin to grind the salt into onions.
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Add crushed garlic and mix.
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Combine together beets, cucumbers, eggs, onions and dill. Add a pinch of sugar.
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For the liquid part buttermilk is mixed with cold drinking water, the volume and thickness of it totally depends on your taste.
 If you can find “salted lassi”  (yougurt drink)-use it, no need to dilute with water; in Arabian countries it’s called “laban up”, in Russia – “tan”, “sivorotka” .

Pour the buttermilk over dry ingredients and mix well. Sprinkle some dill.

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  Enjoy! 🙂
You can serve it with a dollop of sour cream and rye bread.

Red spinach

  Hi guys! 🙂Have you ever tried red spinach? First time I tried it in Dubai. Unfortunately, I never seen it in Russia before. It has mild earthy and green flavor, very similar to green spinach. I use leaves in salads or garnish, adding nice color to any dish!

  Today for the lunch is baked crusted creme dory fillet and carrot-spinach salad.
фотография
 Ingredients (Serve 3)
3 medium-sized creme dory fillets
2 eggs
 For the crust:
1 cup breadcrumbs (homemade is better)
1 tsp crushed coriander seeds
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp crushed white pepper
some salt to taste
 For the salad:
3 carrots, shredded
1 stalk celery, sliced
1/2 bunch coriander 
1/2-1 bunch red spinach
sour cream
 
Preheat oven to 190C (370F). Pat the fillet dry with paper towel. 
In a bowl combine the crust ingredients. Dip the fish fillet in beaten eggs, then in crust. 
Bake for 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile mix salad ingredients together gently and coat with sour cream.
Serve the hot crusted fish and the carrot salad together.
Enjoy!
cremedory
 

Penne with basil and parmigiano

Hi guys
Long time didn’t post anything. I had short and unplanned trip to Russia, then had been moving into a new apartment (bigger, lighter, lucky me). But one Russian saying says “moving is worse than a fire”, and I can’t agree. It really drains me. Thank God, almost all stuff already in place.

Since my small basil has been grown I’m trying to use it, it gives wonderful aroma:)

The simplest dish- penne with basil and parmigiano. Serve 1-for yourself 😉

-You can use any ready basil pesto or do it the quickest version: basil, some parmesan and olive oil mix in a blender until smoothly combine or  fresh basil leaves with olive oil.

-Cook 100-200 g of the penne in plenty of boiling salted water around 9 minutes. Drain it, reserve few spoons of cooking water or use cream.

-Toss and stir the hot pasta with pesto, fresh basil leaves and reserving water or cream.

-Spinkle with pistachios and parmesan.

 

Serve and Enjoy:)

 

Have a lovely weekend!

Mila

 

Lip-smacking lamb ribs

Happy belated Easter, dear friends! Hope everyone had a wonderful family dinner! 🙂

Lamb ribs. You can find it across the world and gonna fall in love with! 😉

The wonderful combination of marinade ingredients and you end up with lip-smacking dish.

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My marinade recipe call for using brandy, but you can skip it or replace with lemon juice (or add a little vinegar).

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

0.5 kg lamb ribs

1 to 3 small red chillies, depends on your taste

1 garlic clove, chopped

2 tbsp brandy (or rum or 3 tbsp of lemon juice)

1 tbsp of lemon juice

1-1.5 tbsp mustard (Dijon or plain is ok too)

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp soy sauce (or Westchester sauce)

1/2 tbsp sugar

dash of black pepper

Let’s start!

Mix all ingredients together, stir to combine.

How to dice chillies you can have a look here, I do exactly the same.

Pour the marinate over lamb ribs, rub to coat and leave for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Fry on preheated pan for 4-5 minutes each side.

Serve with fresh lettuce and tomatoes and/or baked carrots.

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I should to mention how delicious baked carrots are and fast-cooking (what’s more healthy).

Cut 300 gr of carrots (cleaned and peeled) into sticks. Put them on a baking tray, pour over 2 tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp honey and season with white pepper, paprika and cumin. You can drizzle with 1-2 tsp of soy sauce (optionally). Bake until softy around 20 minutes (190C/400F).

Bon appetite! 🙂

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