Eva’s CHICKEN CORN CHOWDER

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How exciting that my lovely friend Eva Kosmas Flores wrote her first absolutely gorgeous cookbook!I am so thrilled!It’s packed with lots of cosy recipes and stunning photography!You will want to lick the pages when flicking through!

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Eva has been inspiring me for years!Her unique approach to food, passion for photography, modesty and hard work is something I truly admire and when we finally met few years back on a cold autumn morning to explore one of the most delicious street food markets in London, she was just the same person I’ve known from reading her blog: funny, kind and incredibly warm. I felt that I’ve known her for years.

And today I’m cooking from her beautiful cookbook and I feel so honoured because I know she put all of herself into it!Every page feels special.
So as a little teaser for you lovely people, I’ve made Eva’s chowder. It’s bursting with all the amazing flavours!So cosy,hearty, warming, it just disappears too quickly 🙂 Enjoy! xxx

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CHICKEN CORN CHOWDER

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups smoky chicken giblet stock
1 ¾ pounds large chicken breasts, bone in and skin on
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups fresh corn kernels
2 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes(I used other large potatoes as I couldn’t find them in the UK)
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 ½ tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves1 tsp soy sauce
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
kosher salt to taste

PREPARATION:

Bring the stock to boil over medium heat. Add the chicken breasts and reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer until just cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken and set aside, on a separate plate to cool, then peel the skin off the chicken and remove the meat from the bone by gently easing your fingers underneath the breast meat to peel it off the bone in one large piece.  Cut the meat into 1 inch pieces.

Remove the stockpot from the heat and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over a medium-low heat. Add the onion, shallots, and garlic and bring the heat up to medium. Cook, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes, until the onion is golden brown and caramelized , 30 to 45 minutes depending on the heat of your stovetop.

Add the flour and stir until incorporated. Toast in the pan, stirring to keep it from burning, for 2 minutes. Whisk in 1 cup of the stock until the flour mixture has integrated into the stock and a smooth, thick liquid forms. Add the remaining stock, the chicken breast meat, corn, potatoes, thyme, rosemary, soy sauce and pepper.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring every 10 minutes, until the chowder is thickened and the potatoes are cooked through, about 30 minutes. Add salt to taste and serve immediately.

SMOKY CHICKEN GIBLET STOCK

Ingredients:
3 quarters water
1 pound chicken giblets
1 smoked pork hock
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 large leek, white and light green parts only, washed well and sliced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
4 springs fresh thyme
1 spring fresh rosemary
8 black peppercorns
2 tsp kosher salt, plus more as needed

Preparation:

Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat and add remaining ingredients.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 1 hour 15 minutes, skimming the top to remove any foam that has collected every 15 minutes.

Strain the stock through colander or fine-mesh strainer to remove the solids. Discard the solids and reserve the stock. Taste and add salt if needed.

The stock can be used as a base for sauces and soups and will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week, or in a freezer-safe airtight container in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Bea’s favourite pasta with tons of green pesto!

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The past few weeks were like a whirlwind in my usually calm life.

Me and my husband went to London for two amazing events,Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year and UK Blog awards. Both the same week (!). We met fantastic people, made great memories, drank too much prosecco and danced on Trafalgar Square. OK. Only I danced as Darek watched my crazy moves and couldn’t stop laughing! No. it wasn’t my typical shy bop with moving from one leg to another, slowly swinging my arms on the sides. It was the kind of wild dance I do in the kitchen when no one is looking! Probably even wilder than I thought, because the police(!!!) went up to my husband asking him who I was!!! Can you really get arrested for expressing your happiness in public? Let’s just hope there is no video floating around the internet, otherwise I’ll have to leave the country!

But don’t you just love London? Trafalgar Square. Tuesday night. DJ and a dancing group of happy people. (Pretty obvious who the dancing queen was!) This city has a vibe!

It was brilliant and I’m over the moon that my photograph of Polish pierogi came second in Food Bloggers Category in Pin Lady Food Photographer of the Year and that Bea’s cookbook was Highly Commended at the UK BLOG AWARDS.

…..However the hangover wasn’t so exciting at all!!!…..

Talking about whirlwind…there is something else too….we’ve had a puppy!!!

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She is the sweetest and most charming thing in the whole world…..that turns into tornado within a split second.
She loves gardening. I dig the plants in, she digs them out and madly wags her tail like it it’s the best game ever.
She loves to play hide and seek. She hides socks everywhere abound the house (I found a few in the garden too!) and you have to look for them, which might not be so funny if you are in a rush and you end up leaving the house wearing not matching pair.
Ohhh and she is really into food too! Literally. Her mouth lands in the food, the second you leave the plate unattended. Not to mention that she drank all the beer from the slug traps!!! (Have you ever heard of those traps? Us neither! But we trying every internet hack to get rid of them before they eat the whole garden! Any tips welcome!)

And really, she makes us roll on the floor with laugher and I just love the way she expresses her happiness with the whole body. (Just like me when I was dancing on Trafalgar Square!)

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Right, let’s talk about food a little bit. It’s a food blog at the end of the day, not a blog about cute dogs nor about my dancing skills 😉

So here is my favourite comfort food recipe. Pasta with tons of green pesto! Hell yeah! I’m totally addicted to it!

When it comes to pesto I am a masochist. I get out the sharpest knife and chop…. Chop…. Chop. …Chop…. It’s like a therapy. Plus it’s much cheaper J Of course you can use food processor too. No judgment! I use it from time to time too 😉

I’ve tried all different ingredients in this dish, whatever I had in the fridge but I always go back to those few, simple ones I love here the most: courgettes, olives, macadamia and pine nuts and super juicy yellow tomatoes. It tastes A M A Z I N G !

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RECIPE:

Serves 4 big portions:

For basil pesto:

1 large bunch of basil
1 clove of garlic
40g pine nuts
30g Parmesan, finely grated
freshly ground black pepper
a small pinch of freshly grounded sea salt or any of your favourite salt
50-60ml of good quality extra virgin olive oil

Chop basil and pine nuts finely and place them in a medium bowl along with parmesan. Bash the garlic with the wide, blunt part of the knife and then chop it finely and add to the rest of the ingredients. Add black pepper, salt and olive oil. Mix with a spoon.

When I use a food processor I prefer the texture of the pesto much more when I place the basil, garlic, pine nuts and grated Parmesan in a bowl first. Whizz the ingredients until fine and then I add the rest of the ingredients : grated Parmesan, salt, pepper and olive oil and mix them all together with a spoon.

For the dish:

350g fresh pasta
4 courgettes
200g green olives
200g  yellow tomatoes
100g macadamia nuts
a handful or two of pine nuts
good quality olive oil
a handful of grated parmesan
fresh basil leaves

Boil the pasta in slightly salted water with a spoonful of olive oil. Drain, pour some cold water through it and place back in the pan. Add the pesto and mix it in well so it covers the whole pasta.

Pour some oil in a pan, heat it up and add sliced courgettes, cook until soft.( I like mine with a little bit of crunch). Add them to the pasta and heat it up slightly. Take it off the heat again and add the rest of the ingredient: olives, halved tomatoes, macadamia and pine nuts. Sprinkle with some grated Parmesan and fresh basil leaves and ENJOY!!!

Bea xxx

Cotswolds inspired APPLE TART

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Few weeks back I posted a photo of these apple tarts on my Instagram. It made everyone hungry…(So I assume :)) Since then, few people messaged me for the recipe and I thought I should share it with the world. So here it is!

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I bake this tart often because in the Lubases house we love the combination of buttery pastry and melting in the mouth apple filling spiced with our favourite vanilla. It’s our comfort food whenever we want to spoil ourselves a little.

The recipe came to life after one of our visits to the Cotswolds, one of my favourite places on the planet. Its local food always inspire me to prepare something….homely…cosy…and comforting. This time it also had to be sweet 🙂

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RECIPE:

Pastry:

  • 300 g plain flour
  • 210 g butter, cold
  • 2 tablespoons icing sugar
  • 4-6 tablespoons of cold water
    Sift the flour into a medium bowl, add the rest of ingredients, rub them together with your fingers and then knead to create a smooth pastry. Add some cold water and if the mixture feels too crumbly add a little bit more. Divide the pastry into two parts, one slightly bigger than the other (or 4 parts if you make two smaller tarts, again 2 parts slightly bigger),flatten the pastry into discs(it will roll better),wrap with cling film and put in the fridge for 30min -1 hour.

Apple filling:

  • 1.2 kg of apples, firm and hard
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • sugar to taste – around 6 tablespoons
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or seeds of 1 vanilla pod (you can add more)

Squeeze the lemon juice and pour it into a larger container. Peel the apples,remove seeds, chop and mix with lemon juice. Add sugar and vanilla seeds and cook for around 15 minutes until soft. Let it cool down.

Also:

  • 1 egg beaten for brushing

Method

Take the pastry out the fridge. Roll out the bigger part first(it’s the bottom of your pie) and line one 25cm tin or two smaller tins. Prick the pastry with a fork and fill it with apple pieces.
Now roll out a smaller part, cut into stripes(thick or thin) and arrange them on the top.

Coat with beaten egg. You can also sprinkle it with coarse brown sugar.

Bake at 190 degrees C for about 45 – 50 minutes. Remove, let it cool.

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I think I must’ve said it million times before…the world takes my breath away. I watch it every day and I cannot feel any different but be grateful to be alive. I haven’t been everywhere (it’s on my list though!) but there are places out there that I LOVE to go back to. Places I want to discover deeper. Places that make my heart beat faster. The Cotswolds is undoubtedly one of them.

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It hasn’t been called chocolate box region of England without a reason. Every village is filled with its own unique flavour, it surprises, inspires and leaves you craving for more.

It has everything I love. Calmness, serenity, warmth, relaxed atmosphere and the views so picturesque that you want to scream.

It’s so friendly and welcoming that it instantly makes you feel at home.

Not to mention how incredibly tasty it is! With all the amazing local products even the simplest dish seems to be an unforgettable experience.
I fall in love more and more with this place every time I visit it…..

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A SHORT LIST OF my FAVOURITE PLACES in the COTSWOLDS:

BROADWAY
BOURTON ON THE WATER
CASTLE COMBE
KINGHAM
CIRENCESTER
DAYLESFORD FARM

To eat:
THE WILD RABBIT
THE POTTING SHED
THE PORCH HOUSE

MY suggestion:

Get up early and see the true beauty of those places before it gets too busy 😉