Raisin bread

An easy and light cake today without eggs, butter, milk and such!!! Still delicious, though. Sounds great, non? If I tell you that has raisins charmed by cinnamon, what would you say? It's greek name : "Stafidopsomo".
When I was a child, I did not like raisins, so despite that my mother was making often this "cake" I was spending my time trying to take out all the raisins before attacking to the cake :)))
But it was smelling sooo nice that I could not resist, I wanted still to taste it, although it was making my life difficult, kind of a torture.

I kept asking my mother whether she could make the recipe without the raisins and I remember that my question was always shocking her. I did not know anything about cooking at that time. Now that I see the recipe, years after, I can see why ... it does not have much this cake, so if you take out the raisins there is not much to be left there :))) So, here it is today, full of raisins, and in preference greek if you can find at your place (Corinthian raisins are among the best!). 
 Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of black raisins
1/2 cup of sunflower oil
500gr self raising flour for cakes
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
enough cinnamon to make the dough dark enough :)

Procedure

Put the raisins in one cup of boiling water, and let them for 5-10min to get soft.
Add in a bowl all the ingredients including the raisins with the their water and the rest of the water (1/2 cup)  and mix well. Empty the dough in a buttered rectangular oven dish like the one in the photo (20cm x 30cm approx.). You could also empty the dough in individual muffin molds, the result is also very good. 

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees of Celsius and fan for about 40min or until the "knife test" is ok (Deep a knife in the middle and if it comes out dry the cake is ready). For the muffins, leave them only 20min. Enjoy!

  

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Tomato-mozzarella-oregano cake

Summer is coming soon and I would like to urge all the fanatic ones with cakes like me to calm themselves down by doing salty cakes ! I start the sugar banning :) today by proposing to you a tomato-mozzarella cake that has my favorite oregano to boost it. Easy, fast and excellent starter for a nice dinner or a fancy aperitif.
I would add feta cheese instead of mozzarella to be honest, but I live far from Greece and feta is a precious cheese at home, especially for my daughter :)
As far as it concerns the sugar banning... it was a joke ! I am addicted to sugar, so it's not easy to ban it, for the time being, I can only lower my daily intake ...
Ready? Let's go for it then!


Ingredients
200gr flour
1 baking powder
3 eggs
100ml milk
100ml olive oil
salt, pepper and oregano
125gr mozzarella
several cherry tomatoes (as many as you like :)
you can improvise by adding e.g., olives, some grated yellow cheese ...

Procedure

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees of Celsius and fan.
Put in a bowl all the ingredients apart from the tomatoes and the mozzarella. Mix well with a mixer for a couple of minutes and then add the mozzarella and the tomatoes cut in small pieces. Be careful to take out the grains (or whatever is their name :) of the tomatoes before adding them to the dough.
Pour in a rectangular cake mold that you have well buttered before.
Bake for about 40min or until it gets a nice golden color (see for yourself in the photo).

Share with your guests and let me know for the result!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Bugs Bunny's cake or Carrot cake :)

If you want to change from the classic chocolate cake then this tasty carrot cake would do :)
It's simple to do, just mix the ingredients, bake and taste! Try it and you will be addicted as it tastes really nice.
The problem is, that I am not very concentrated these days and although I did 2 times this recipe I made a mistake with the ingredients :)
In the first version (as I call it in the photos :) I added one more cup of flour. Taste was amazing but texture was not very good I have to admit ... We ate all of it in a few hours though! No-one could resist to the smell of cinnamon and the sweet touch of the carrots.
In the second version, I forgot to add the sugar and I came up with the idea to add a light syrup (made by boiling for 5 min 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water) and add it once the cake has cooled a bit down after baking.

See photos of both versions and judge for yourself. Imagine still, that if I am persisting so much in doing this cake it has to be very good in taste :))) I am still working the looks though and once I have a better one I will keep you informed !   
Ingredients
1 cup of oil
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of self-raising flour
1 cup of orange juice and the zest
1 spoonful of brandy
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 baking powder
2 big carrots (ground)
1/2 cup of ground walnuts

Procedure

Mix the ingredients by hand or mixer by adding first the liquid ones, then the sugar, the cinnamon and the baking powder and then the flour and walnuts with carrots.
Pour in a round cake dish for the oven (28cm of diameter).
Bake at 170 degrees of Celsius and fan for about 50min. Let it cool and taste. If you can resist to one serving, it will be a miracle!
See below photos of the 2 versions, waiting for a better version :)))

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

The greek focaccia with feta ("tyroklouri")

Want to try a different focaccia, this time with feta? Actually it is a traditional greek recipe from my region Thessaly, that looks like focaccia but more to the crunchy side.
It is very tasty and for the ones that like focaccia style breads, you will love this one!
It takes time to make it, so choose a cold day that you will stay at home, as you will have to wait for the dough to rise.
The result will reward your patience :)



Ingredients
1Kg of flour
42g of yeast
1/2 teaspoon of salt
150gr of butter
olive oil
200gr of feta cheese

Procedure

Make a soft dough with the flour, the yeast, the salt and 2 cups of warm water. Knead well and let it to rise and double it's volume at a warm place (I usually cover it with a towel and then with a blanket). Let's say for about an hour.
Once it's done, knead it softly and split the dough to 5-6 small dough balls. Take one by one and let the rest covered with a towel. Use some flour and with a roll turn the dough ball to a thin round layer. Don't worry if it is not exactly round, it does not matter much.

Add evenly some butter and small pieces of the feta cheese here and there. Pour also some olive oil. Oil a big oven dish like in the photo and put it on it. Repeat the procedure with every dough ball adding it on top of the previous one.
When all the balls are over, start rolling this layered dough and start twisting it all over as much as you can. Eventually, start spreading the dough using your fingers all over the surface of the dish.

Add once again butter on top, some olive oil and according to your style, sesame or oregano and bake at 180 degrees of Celsius for about 30-40min. Add also in the oven an extra bowl with some water that will keep the dough softer.

Your "tyroklouri" is ready! Cover it once again with a towel for a few minutes if you can resist until it cools a bit.
And now you can try it :)
  

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Roast leg of lamb

I didn't like to eat lamb. I didn't like the smell of lamb... until... I invented my way to cook it and it became my favorite and the dish that my kids like and my friends are asking me to cook for them :)
It's a simple, very simple recipe that just needs a covered dish for the oven and one orange and one lemon!
The orange juice covers the smell of lamb and perfumes it in a delicate way. If you add also potatoes around the meat, they will be caramelized in a surprising way. And if you cannot resist and want to add some herb, just add oregano, the ultimate seasoning herb for the oven in my opinion.
Another tip, is to buy one week before cooking the meat, to put it in the freezer and unfreeze it the day before cooking. That way, the meat will be tender. Enough with secrets, let's pass to action!
Ingredients
1 leg of lamb
1 orange
1 lemon
salt, pepper, olive oil
3-4 potatoes

Procedure
Put the meat in the middle of a dish for the oven that has a cover.
Peel the potatoes, cut them in quarters and add them around the meat.
Add the salt, the pepper and add olive oil all over the ingredients.
Pour the juice of the lemon and the orange all over and add enough water to cover half the height of the potatoes.
Cover the dish and put it in the oven. Bake at 160 degrees of Celsius and fan for about 2 hours. Check for water after 1h30min to be sure that there is still enough.
Uncover and let a few minutes in grill to get a nice golden color if you like.

Enjoy!   

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Nefeli's breads

This is a very important recipe for me that I will share with you, today 2 of May. It is a recipe that my grand-mother used to make and I have so many sweet memories and makes lots of small breads that have a sweet topping. These breads are soooo delicious and fluffy that will touch directly your soul!
In Greece, those breads very often are made to commemorate someone dear that you have lost and we distribute them to people at the church.
As there is no name for this recipe (my grand-mother used to call them small breads) I decided to give my first daughter's name to this recipe...
For my amazing grand-mother and all the stories that was telling me when I was a child... she would be very proud for me seeing me making this recipe!
For my father, the best father ever, that is watching over me... and would be very surprised that his little girl is not only good in maths but has finally learned to cook :)  

Ingredients
1 Kg of flour (for bread) maybe some more to adjust the dough
4gr breast yeast
2 spoonfuls of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of warm water (be careful, slightly warm not hot! otherwise the yeast will not be activated)
1 cup of olive oil
For the syrop: 
1/2 cup of water
2 spoonfuls of sugar
2 spoonfuls of honey

Procedure

Prepare the dough by putting the flour in a big bowl (very big!). Make a hole in the middle, and add the 2 spoonfuls of the oil and the salt. Add the yeast crushed with your hands and start pouring little by little the water and mix with your hands all the ingredients.
Knead the dough enough using both your hands until you have a nice elastic result. If not, add either some flour or some water. Dough is good enough if it comes out of your hands and does not stick to the bowl.
Cover and leave the dough for about an hour in a warm place until it doubles in volume. In Greece, we cover with an old blanket to create a warm cocoon and that's what I did too.

 

When the dough is done, we mix it again slightly to take out the air and start making small "strings" of 4cm like in the photos.
Oil each string all over and start placing them tightly next to each other in a round oven deep pan of 28cm of diameter and cover all the pan like making a flower.
Leave the nice flower to double in volume for about 20min, covered the same way with before. 

When done, pin each bread using a fork.
In a cup, mix well the ingredients for the syrup and with a kitchen brush cover the top of the breads.
Bake at 200 degrees of Celsius and fan for about 30min or until they get a nice golden color. Take out of the oven and cover once again with a thick towel to keep the breads soft enough.
Start eating whenever you cannot resist any more to the smell :))))    

reade more... Résuméabuiyad