Baked fig

Baked fig is the power of simplicity. No effort and what a perfect dessert

Ingredients (1 serving)

1 raw and ripe fig

1. Cut fig making a cross starting from the top and finish just above the bottom of the fig

2. Bake the fig at 180ºC for 10 – 20 minutes

3. Serve hot straight from the oven

Easy and Elegant fig

Finally fresh figs are in the season. I don’t know why but I find figs mysterious and refined. I simply love them. I could consume kilos of fresh figs every day without any additives or enhancements. Still however you can prepare wonderful, splendid and easy figs desserts like this as well. Fig with mascarpone cheese is not only a perfect option for elegant party but also for a romantic dinner with your loved one. Easy and delicious dessert that simply can’t go wrong.

Ingredients (1 serving)

1 fig

1 tbsp of mascarpone cheese

1 tsp of goud quality honey

few almond flakes for garnishing

1. Cut fig making a cross starting from the top and finish just above the bottom of the fig

2. Put mascarpone cheese in the cut

3. Glace with honey

4. Optionally roast almond flakes on the dry pan until crispy and golden

5. Sprinke with almond flakes

delicious and crispy bran cookies

Those cookies are real exception to the rule that all healthy cookies are not so good. Cookies are in fact healthy (if you consider anything containing sugar and margarine healthy) but they are also delicious and crispy. Many people believe that cookies from whole flour and bran are synonym of not so good sweets. And in this particular case they are so very wrong. The cookies are so good that anyone who doesn’t know that they are baked from bran and whole flour would have never guessed that.

I like to bake them small like a button for one bite only – then they are perfect for home parties - easy to consume and absolutely no crumbs around.

One thing to remember is to keep them in airtight container to protect cookies from getting damp.

This recipe comes from one of m favourite cookbooks about chocolate from the series „from the kitchen shelf” by Jacqueline Bellefontaine. Still however I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t changed proportions a bit.

Ingredients (50 small cookies):

85 g margarine

7 tbsp of sugar

1 egg

50 g bran

110 g whole wheat or rye flour

1,5 tsp of baking powder

50 g of all purpose flour .

1. Whisk margarine with sugar until smooth
2. Add edd and continue whisking
3. Add bran, baking powder and both types of flour
4. Mix thoroughly
5. In case the cookie dough is too loose or too runny add a little more bran or whole flour.
6. By means of your hands roll small balls of dough and place on the parchment paper at a distance.
7. Press the balls with fork to flatten them and to gve them a nice pattern on top.
8. Bake in the oven at 180ºC for app. 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Cool after baking and store in airtight container so that they remain crispy or eat at once

gazpacho - perfect summer chill

Another chilled soup perfect for extremely warm and sunny days. This spanish chilled gazpacho is more than simple to prepare and sooo delicious. As all simple dishes the perfect gazpacho is prepared with the best and most fresh ingredients you can get. As usual you can change the proportions of all ingredients. Be careful however when experimenting with white wine vinegar and lemon juice. If you added to much of those continue with adding more olive oil to bring back the crheamy consistency

Ingredients (3 servings):

4 ripe and fresh tomatoes – peeled

1 peeled cucumber

1 paprica

1 clove of fresh garlic (optionally)

lots of good quality olive oil - appr 0,5 cup or more.

0,5 tbsp white wine vinegar

0,5 tbsp lemon juice

salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Put tomatoes, cucumber, paprica and garlic into a blender and puree everything

2. While pureeing keep adding olive oil, white wine vinegar and lemon juice.

3. Continue pureeing until the soup is smooth and shiny

4. Season with salt and pepper

5. Chill in the refrigerator

6. Decorate with pieces of cucumber and paprica and serve with fresh baguette

Truly Italian risotto with green beans

Many people are afraid that risotto is too complicated for them and they don’t even try to approach it. In fact risotto is more than simple to prepare and it is only a bit time, effort and patience consuming since during the whole cooking process you have to watch the risotto carefully. The best ingredients and a little effort will pay off. Risotto I simply heaven on earth and it’s really worth giving it a try.

Risotto is originally prepared from special rice variety called arborio rice and please I beg of you do not try to prepare risotto with basmati, parboiled, jasmine or regular rice. This will be something but not risotto.

Ingredients (2 servings):

1 cup of Arborio rice

1 onion

200-300g green beans cut into 2 cm pieces

50g grated parmesan

olive oil

Salt

Pepper

1 tsp of butter

1 glass of good quality white wine

appr. 0,5L vegetable stock

1. Chop onion

2. Fry the onion on olive oil until translucent

3. Add rice and continue frying 2 more minutes on a low heat

4. Add all wine, stir and wait till it almost evaporates

5. Add approximately 100ml of stock, stir and wait till it almost evaporates. Continue with consecutive 100ml doses of stock remembering to add another portion only after almost all of the previous dose of stock is evaporated.

6. After approximately 5 minutes of cooking in between of stock doses add green beans

7. Continue cooking for approximately 10 – 15 minutes until the rice is done,

8. Add butter, grated parmesan, salt and pepper and serve immediately

Lithuanian chilled beetroot soup

During extremely hot days like today there is no Belter dinner option other than Lithuanian chilled beetroot soup. Easy to make, delicious and perfectly chilling. There are people that Clair that chilled soup is not a soup in fact but such argument is not convincing to me especially when it is so hot.

Taste of the chilled beetroot soup can be adjusted according to your liking. Feel free to experiment and to change proportions of the ingredients given below.

Ingredients (4 servings):
bunch of young chard
4-6 young and small beetroots
1 L of buttermilk or kefir
bunch of radishes
4 cucumbers (fresh or fermented)
dill
4 hard-boiled eggs
few drops of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash chard and beetroots thoroughly
2. Chop chard finely
3. Grate beetroots
4. Place chard and beetroots in the pot add few drops of lemon juice and add boiling water so that there is app. 1-2 cm of water in the pot. Cook no longer than 5 minutes.
5. Chill beetroots and chard

6. Add finely chopped dill, radishes and cucumbers cut into chunks. Pour in buttermilk or kefir.
7. Season with salt and pepper
8. Chill again in the fridge so that all tastes can combine well

9. Decorate with hard boiled eggs before serving

Carmelized peanuts and pear

Combination of soft and a bit sour pear and sweet crispy carmelized peanuts is realny great. This dessert is perfect for those who like to have a contracting tastes on one plate. It is more than extrememly simple to prepare and it looks so elegant served on a big white plates. Great way to impress your guests.

I was lucky to find carmelized peanuts in shop but if you can’t find any in your local store feel frez to prepare carmelized unsalted (!!!) peanuts on your own at home.

Ingredients (2 servings):
1 ripe pear
2 handfuls (or more) of carmelized peanuts

1. Cut pear in half and spoon out the pits
2. Cut the thicker parto f pear in thin slices in such a way that the thinner parto f pear is untouched by knife.
3. Press down the pear slightly in order to make a small fan out of it as on my photos
4. Sprinkle with carmelized peanuts and serve