Equipment: December 2013

Melomakarona, the greek xmas cookies!

Every country has a recipe for xmas cookies, find today here the greek way :)
It's full of honey, cinnamon and walnuts! You will be surprised how tasty they are although quite sweet and heavy in calories... Despite this, when I make them for Xmas, we tend to finish them so fast that I have to redo for Xmas once again :)
Not many succeed to make them in Greece, so do not underestimate my recipe as it is a sure one for success... and I share it today with you together with the small secret that goes with it ;)

Ingredients (for about 40 cookies)

1 cup of good olive oil
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of good brandy
1/2 cup of fresh orange juice
the zest of an untreated orange
4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
some clove powder
1/2 cup of walnuts

For the syrop:
3/4 cup of good honey
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water

Procedure
In a big bowl, mix well with the mixer all the liquid ingredients with the sugar. Then add little by little the flour with the rest of the ingredients but not the walnuts and with your hands continue to mix them. Continue adding the flour, until the mixture starts to thicken but not stick to your fingers.

Then, make with your hands cookies in the shape that you see in the photos. Put them in an oven pan for cookies, using the special cooking paper or butter it if you prefer. Leave the space of a cookie among them.

Bake them in the oven in fan and 180 degrees of Celsius for about 30min or until they get a nice golden color.

In the meantime, and 5 minutes before the end of the baking, boil the ingredients for the syrup for about 5min but check it often as the big secret is to be quite liquid as with the honey inside, if it boils too much it will be too thick to be absorbed by the cookies.

When the cookies are done, take them out of the pan and put them in a smaller and deeper pan one next to each other. Pour the syrup little by little to all of them and leave them to absorb it as long as it needs to. The faster this happens, it means that you have done it correctly :)

Finish by decorating, putting them in a nice presentation tray, and pour on them the grated walnuts. Don't they look great? And they taste even better...

Eat with moderation :)

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Merry Xmas!

All the best to all of you!

A big thanks to all the people out there from America, Australia, Africa, Asia, and of course Europe, that keep coming back to my blog and like my recipes ...

Keep cooking! It makes quality of life much much better....

Vivian

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Chicken with exotic okra!

Oh my goodness, I will share with you today one of my favorite dishes! Chicken with okra :)
Do you know what okra is? It is a green vegetable that if you have never heard of, better try it once as it might drive you crazy, if it is cooked correctly of course :)
In France, I find it only in shops that sell oriental products, while in Greece you can easily find it in a supermarket. The one I use is frozen, unfortunately and not fresh, but there is an advantage after all, it is already peeled and ready to use... otherwise you have to peel the "head" of the okra and someone has to show you how. Ready? Here it goes...

Ingredients:

1 medium chicken
4-5 potatoes
500gr okra
3-4 tomatoes or 1 can of tomato
1 small onion
1 garlic
parsley
salt, pepper, olive oil

Procedure:
Prepare the chicken and put it in the middle of a big oven pan.

Peel of the potatoes, cut them in slices and put them in one side of the chicken.

Fill the other side with the okra. Pour on top of the okra, the smashed tomato sauce, the sliced onion, the chopped parsley and the smashed garlic.

Pour olive oil on top of everything, add salt and pepper.

Mix with the help of 2 spoons the okra and the ingredients added.

Add enough water to cover half of the okra and the potatoes.

Put in the oven and cook for about 1h30min in 180 degrees of Celsius and fan.

Home will smell delicious!!!! I really insist that you try this recipe. If you do, please send me some feedback... I am curious of you opinion :)

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Vivian's quiche

I live in France for years, and when I ask a french friend for an idea on what to cook for dinner, very often I get the same answer: a quiche! So, here's a quiche a la Vivianne (that's how they write my name in french :)

Ingredients:

1 package of puff paste (pate feuilletee in french)

1 tomato

4-5 big eggs

1 pepper

1-2 spoonfuls of milk

150 gr of grated cheese

salt, pepper

Procedure:

Open the paste in a pan for the oven that has a bit smaller diameter so that the edges create a nice protection all around. In a bowl, beat the eggs, add salt and pepper, the milk and the cheese and mix them with a fork.

Pour the mixture on the paste. Decorate with the pepper and the tomato cut in slices.

Cook in the oven for about 15min in 200 degrees of Celcius/fan or until the mixture gets quite solid.

Take it out and leave for 5min to cool down. Cut it like a pizza and serve with some fresh salad. your quiche is ready! Bon appetit :)