Tag: spring

Bea’s favourite pasta with tons of green pesto!

Posted on by Bea

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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

Asparagus SPRING tart

Posted on by Bea

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Hey!I’ve made a tart!It’s almost as green as my garden in June and it tastes like Spring.Would you like a recipe?

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I’ve lost my common sense a little bit……ok maybe a little bit more……ok, A LOT!
I’ve been buying asparagus every time it’s near me.I can’t help it when it looks at me from a market stall.I swear.It stares at me and shouts “buy me”!How can I say no?I simply can’t 🙂

Somewhere at the back of my minds I know these green guys won’t be here forever so I hope I can eat as many as I can in advance so I don’t crave them later in the year(Yeah,I wish!). Asparagus is pretty cool and easy going so we hang out a lot together.I think you should too 😉 And when you get a fresh bunch of this amazing veg,don’t forget about pairing it up with some peas,onions,parma ham and feta cheese and making this tart.Trust me,you want to make it.It’s staring at you!

Enjoy  😉

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Recipe:

Ingredients:

for a baking tray of 30×20 cm in size

For the base:

125 g wholegrain flour
125g plain flour
150 g  salted cold butter
1 egg
3 tablespoons cold water

For the filling:

10 asparagus
5 slices of parma ham,cut in half along the length
couple of drops of your favourite oil(I use rapeseed oil)
2 medium red onions,sliced into thin wedges
2 shallots,sliced into thin wedges
160g peas
3 eggs
400g natural or greek style yogurt (room temperature)
4-5 tablespoons spelt flour
125g feta cheese
salt,pepper

Method:

1.To make the pastry:sift the flour into a medium bowl,add butter and egg.Rub the butter and egg into the flour with your fingertips.Add cold water and combine together using your hands.If the mixture feels too crumbly add some more water.Flatten the pastry into a disc(it will roll better),wrap with cling film and put in the fridge for 1 hour.

2.Preheat the oven to 190C.

3.Take the pastry out the fridge and roll out on a lightly floured surface to a size of a baking tray(30 x 20 cm).Place the pastry over the tray and run a rolling pin on the rims of each one to get a perfectly lined tart.Prick it with a fork,cover with baking paper and baking(or dry) beans.Bake for 20 minutes.

4.In the meantime steam or boil the asparagus until tender but not too soft.Wrap each individual asparagus with half of parma ham slice.Make sure your asparagus isn’t too long for your tray,if so trim the ends.Fry the onions with a little bit of oil until golden.Leave them to cool down.

5.Mix the yogurt with eggs,add flour, onions,most of the peas,leaving a handful to sprinkle on the top.Season with salt and pepper,leave on the side.

6.Take the tart from the oven,remove the beans and paper,put back in the oven for extra 10-15  minutes until the pastry turns golden.Remove from the oven.

7.Pour the filling over the pastry,arrange the asparagus wrapped in parma ham on the top,sprinkle with peas and crumble feta cheese on the top.Season with some more salt and pepper.

8.Place back in the oven and bake for around 45 minutes.

Serve with fresh rocket.