Salmon with Mediterranean Dressing and Crispy Potato Wedges

Olive oil, lemon juice and chopped parsley are used as 'dressing' for fish mostly in Dalmatia (Croatia), Italy and Greece, but also in other Mediterranean countries, along with some more spices.

Ingredients:
4 salmon fillets (1 per person), or fish of your choice
4 large potatoes
salt and freshly ground pepper
oil for frying
rocket or other salad leaves for serving
Mediterranean dressing-
small bunch of parsley leaves, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup olive oil, extra virgine
Method:
Peel, cut into wedges and boil potatoes for 10-12 minutes; take out of water and cool it slightly.
Heat some olive oil into a pan,season fillets and cook each side for few minutes (skin side first). Add more oil into pan, heat and fry seasoned potato wedges until golden and crispy.
Place fish and potatoes onto plate, add salad of your choice. Mix all ingredients for dressing, spoon over fish and salad. Enjoy!


Losos sa Mediteranskim Prelivom i Hrskavi Krompirici

Maslinovo ulje, limunov sok i persunovo lisce se kao preliv za ribu uglavnom koristi u Dalmaciji, Italiji i Grckoj, mada i druge Mediteranske zemlje slicno koriste uz dodatak vise zacina.

Potrebno:
4 fileta lososa (1 po osobi) ili riba vaseg izbora
4 veca krompira
so i biber
ulje za przenje
rokula ili slicna salata
Mediteranski preliv-
mali svezanj persinova lisca, sjeckan
2 cena bijelog luka, protisnutog
sok i korica 1/2 limuna
1/2 solje djevicanskog maslinovog ulja
Nacin:
Ogulite, izrezite krompir i kuhajte ga 10-12 minuta u zasoljenoj vodi. Izvadite i ostavite prohladiti.
Zagrijte malo ulja u tavi, zacinite ribu i przite dok ne porumeni (strana sa kozom prvo). Dodajte jos ulja pa przite i krompir, dok ne porumeni.
Stavite ribu i krompir na tanjir zajedno sa salatom. Pomijesajte sve sastojke za preliv, pa kasikom prelijte ribu i salatu. Uzivajte!

French Drumcticks with Zucchinis and Potatoes

Ingredients:
4 medium potatoes
4 zucchinis
Freshly ground black pepper
salt
oil for frying
8 large drumsticks (or 2 per person)
French spice blend-
1/4 cup flour
1 T dried mustard
1 T garlic powder
2 t paprika
1 t black pepper
1 t salt
Method:
Boil or microwave potatoes until cooked.
Cut off joint and skin of each drumstick, leaving bone exposed and with meat on upper part 'free'. Mix all dried spices with flour, dust meaty parts, shake off excess. Fry each side of drumstick for a few minutes, or until golden brown. Oil shouldn't be too hot, or drumstick will not be properly cooked. Take drumsticks out and wrap bones with al-foil. Discard excess oil, leaving only a tbs or so. Fry zucchinis (seazoned with salt and pepper) for a minute or two. Place meat, zucchinis and peeled boiled potatoes on plate and enjoy.


Francuski Bataci sa Tikvicama i Krompirom

Potrebno:
4 srednja krompira
4 tikvice
svjeze mljeven crni biber
so
ulje za przenje
8 vecih bataka (ili 2 po osobi)
Francuska mjesavina zacina-
1/4 solje brasna
1 K senfa u prahu
1 K bijelog luka u prahu
2 k crvene paprike
1 k crnog bibera
1 k soli
Nacin:
Skuhajte krompire u vodi (ili mikrovalnoj).
Odrezite zglobove i kozu sa bataka, ostavljajuci gornji mesnati dio slobodan.
Pomijesajte brasno sa zacinima u prahu, uvaljajte batake. Przite na srednje jakoj vatri sa svih strana dok ne postane zlatno braon.Izvadite batkove i vidljivi dio kostiju oblozite folijom. Istresite visak ulja iz tave (ostavite samo malo) i proprzite tikvice (zacinjene solju i biberom) par minuta. Postavite sve na tanjir, zajedno sa oguljenim skuhanim krompirom i uzivajte.

Baharat Spiced Lamb Cutlets

Craving something oriental? The easiest way to satisfy your cravings is to use typical spice blends of certain country along with your favorite food.
In next few posts I'll give recipes of spice blends from different parts of the World. Today it is Turkey. This spice blend can be used with any meat.

Ingredients:
2 lamb cutlets for each person
vegetables for grilling (your choice)
olive oil
Baharat Spice mix-
4 teas black pepper
3 teas coriander seeds
3 teas cinnamon
3 teas cloves
4 teas cumin seeds
1 teas cardamom pods
3 teas nutmeg
6 teas paprika
Method:
Grind all spices togheter. Rub lamb cutlets with this blend, salt it (optional). Brush cutlets with olive oil and grill on a very hot pan or bbq. Add some cut vegetables (zucchini, capsicum, eggplant, mushrooms) brushed with olive oil (and grilled), for complete meal. The rest of spice blen keep in a container with lid.

Jagnjeci kotleti sa Baharatom (Turskom mjesavinom zacina)

Najlaksi nacina za isprobati ukuse i mirise neke zemlje je da koristite njihove tipicne zacine. U nekoliko sljedecih postova cu dati recepte za zacine razlicitih zemalja. Danas je to Turska. Ovaj zacin se uglavnom koristi za utrljavanje u meso prije pecenja.

Potrebno:
2 jagnjeca kotleta po osobi
Povrce po izboru, izrezano
Maslinovo ulje
Baharat mjesavina-
4 k crnog bibera
3 k korijander sjemena
3 k cimeta
3 k karanfilica
4 k kima
1 k kardamoma
3 k muskatnog / djeviz oraha
6 k paprike crvene
Nacin:
Sameljite (ili zdrobite) sve zacine zajedno, utljajte u meso, pa ga posolite i premazite uljem.
Povrce (paprike, gljive, tikvice, patlidzani) takodje namazite uljem i posolite
Pecite meso na veoma jakoj vatri - gril ili specijalna tava, zatim i povrce na nesto blazoj.
Visak mjesavine zatvorite u teglicu i cuvajte za sljedecu priliku.

Lemon Curd

Ingredients:
- no eggs recipe
4 Lemons
450 g sugar
225 g butter
1 tbs corn flour

-with eggs recipe (you'll get 3 cups of lemon curd)
1 1/3 cup lemon juice
1 3/4 cup sugar
zest of 2 large lemons
180 g butter
2 eggs
4 yolks

Method:
Zest all lemons into a heatproof bowl, add juice of 3 lemons, sugar and butter.
Place the bowl over a pan with simmering water (bowl should not touch water)
Once the mixture has melted, you need another 35-40 minutes to cook until mixture becomes thick. Scrap and stir constantly.
When a spoonful of curd dropped onto a saucer sets like thick yogurt, carefuly pour mixture into clean jars and put lids on.
Unopened, curd with no eggs will last for whole year; opened, refrigerated lasts for a month. Ideal as a gift to another cook / baker.

Lemon curd with eggs - mix all ingredients, put in a heavy bottomed pan and gently cook for 10 minutes. Curd with eggs lasts for 3-4 weeks.


Gusti namaz od limuna

Potrebno:(verzija bez jaja)
4 limuna
450 gr secer
225 gr maslaca
1 K skrobnog brasna

(verzija sa jajima, dobicete 3 solje = 750 ml )
1 1/3 solje soka limuna
1 3/4 solje secera
strugana korica (zuti dio samo) od 2 veca limuna
180 gr maslaca
2 jaja
4 zumanca

Nacin:
Izrendajte koricu od svih limuna (pazite da samo zuti dio zahvatite) u manju serpu / lonac, dodajte iscijedjen sok  limuna, maslac i secer. Stavite tu posudu na neku vecu posudu sa vodom (voda ne smije dodirivati), stavite na ringlu. Kada se sve istopi, trebate jos oko 35-40 minuta da kuhate uz stalno mijesanje. Testirajte poslije 30 min kuhanja- kada malo ove mjesavine stavite na tanjiric, treba da izgleda gustine jogurta. Tada pretresite mjesavinu u ciste teglice i zatvorite.
Neotvoreno moze stajati do godinu dana; otvoreno drzati u frizideru do mjesec dana.
Idealno kao poklon za drugu domacicu.

Za verziju sa jajima, izmijesajte sve sastojke i u posudi sa teskim dnom kuhajte 10-ak minuta.  
Ovaj ce trajati 3-4 sedmice na hladnom mjestu.

Lemon Curd Filled Biscuits

It's raining today in my town. I love peaceful Fridays, when everyone is home, gathered around kitchen talking about highlights of the week and deciding on what to bake for weekend. Rhythmical patting of the rain adds it's charming part to this atmosphere. Idea came from my older son (17), who remembered these shortbreads I made once 10 years ago. (Edvin is diagnosed with mild autism; he has incredible memory. If I want to mark someones birthday, I tell him the date instead of writing into a calendar. Every now and then, when is someones birthday, we have an announcement "Today's .... (name) birthday.") The list in his memory is always expanding, and never disapoint.



Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour

1/3 cup icing sugar

1/4 cup rice flour

200 g soft butter

1 egg

a bit of lemon zest

Lemon Curd for filling

Method:

Preheat oven to 160-170*C. Prepare baking sheet; cover with silicon paper.

Make a smooth dough out of all the ingredients (use food processor or knead by hand).

Take 1/2 tbs of dough and make small balls (or 1 tbs if you like larger biscuits).

Place them onto baking sheet, then press each ball with any suitable device to form a hole (chopstick, wooden pencil...in my case skewer for Kebab).

Bake for 15 min, or until very lightly golden.

Let it cool, then place some lemon curd into a plastic bag, cut small corner and squeeze into the holes. Dust with icing sugar (optional).

NEXT POST how to make LEMON CURD











Prhki keksici filovani 'Zgusnutim' Limunom (Lemon Curd)



Danas pada kisa u mome gradicu i svojim romorom doprinosi atmosferi petka popodne.

Volim ta popodneva kada se svi okupimo u kuhinji, pricamo o dogadjajima protekle sedmice i predlazemo sta da pravimo za vikend. Ideja je dosla od mog starijeg sina

(17), koji se sjetio ovih kolacica koje sam pravila prije nekih 10 godina. Edvinu je dijagnosticiran blagi autizam; ima nevjerovatnu memoriju. Kada zelim da zapamtim neciji rodjendan, samo njemu kazem ime i datum, umjesto da zapisujem u kalendar. Svako malo, on izjavi "Danas je .... (ime) rodjendan". I tako svake godine, sa listom imena u njegovoj memoriji koja se uvijek siri i nikad ne zakaze.



Potrebno:

2 solje brasna

1/3 solje secera u prahu

1/4 solje rizinog brasna

200 gr putera, omekshalog

1 jaje

malo ribane korice limuna

'Zgusnuti' Limun za punjenje

Nacin:

Ukljucite rernu na 170-180*C, pripremite pleh za pecenje i oblozite ga papirom.

Umijesite tijesto od svih sastojaka, bilo rucno ili uz pomoc sjeckalice.

Uzimajte po 1/2 K od tijesta, oblikujte kuglice i stavljajte na pleh. (ukoliko volite vece kekse pravite kuglice od 1 K tijesta)

Svaku kuglicu nabodite sa necim prikladanim (drvena olovka, ili slicno)i stavite peci 15-ak minuta. Kada izvadite iz rerne, prohladite ih i onda punite zgusnutim limunom (koji stavite u manju kesu sa odsjecenim vrhom). Pozelji kekse mozete posuti secerom u prahu.

SLJEDECI POST kako napraviti ZGUSNUTI LIMUN (LEMON CURD)

German 'Kugelhopf' with Dried Fruit and Walnuts

Ingredients:
Dough-
1 package dry yeast
3/4 cup warm milk
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teas pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup citrus peel, candied
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 tbs Kirschwasser or Rum
Orange Glaze-
1 cup confectioner's (powdered) sugar
1 teas grated orange zest
1/4 teas pure orange extract
5 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice
Method:
Dough-
In a small mixing bowl, combine dry fruit and brandy. Set aside to let the fruit soak.
In another bowl, combine yeast and warm milk; stir and let rest until yeast is dissolved, about 10 minutes.
Combine the flour, salt, and cardamom; whisk together to mix. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add the butter and orange zest; with an electric mixer on medium speed beat the butter and orange zest about 1 minute until it is smooth and light in color. Add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla; mix thoroughly. Add the yeast mixture and mix thoroughly.
With the mixer on low speed, add about one half of the flour mixture, mix until the flour is completely blended. Scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula, and add the rest of the flour; mix until completely blended. The dough will be very soft.
Place dough in a well greased bowl. Cover bowl with a small kitchen towel and let dough rise in a warm place, until doubled in size; about 2 hours.
Stir the dough down, cover, and let rise again until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours. This second rise improves the texture and takes less time, however this rise is optional.
Prepare one Kugelhopf tin; generously grease with butter.
Stir the dough down. Stir the fruit and soaking brandy or liqueur, and broken walnuts into the dough. Spoon the dough into the prepared pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 170-180*C. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove tin from oven, and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove Kugelhopf from the tin and finish cooling on a wire cooling rack.
Orange Glaze-
In a small bowl, combine confectioner's sugar and orange zest. Add orange extract and orange juice and stir until smooth. Add additional teaspoon of orange juice if needed to make a good drizzling consistency. The glaze should be like a soft icing, but thin enough that it will run down over the sides of the cake.
Drizzle glaze over the cake, allowing the glaze to drip down the sides. Let the glaze set before serving.



Njemacki vocni kuglof sa orasima

Potrebno:
Tijesto-
1 suhi kvasac
3/4 solje toplog mlijeka
3 solje brasna
1/2 solje secera
3 jaja
1/2 k soli
1/2 solje maslaca, rastopljenog
1 K ribane korice narandze
1/2 k kardamoma u prahu
1/2 k vanila ekstrakta
3/4 solje oraha, krupnije rezanih
1/2 solje grozdjica
1/2 solje kandirane korice citrusa
1/4 solje brusnica, suhih
2 K ruma ili rakije od tresanja
Glazura sa narandzom-
1 solja secsera u prahu
1 k ribane korice narandze
1/4 k ekstrakta narandze (po zelji)
5 k iscjedjenog soka narandze
Nacin:
Tijesto-
Pomijesajte alkohol sa susenim vocem, ostavite po strani.
U drugoj posudi pomijesajte kvasac sa toplim mlijekom, neka se odmori 10 minuta.
Secer, jaja, vanilu i narandzinu koricu miksajte; dodajte mlijeko sa kvascem, te brasno sa ostalim sastojcima. Tijesto ce biti mekano. Pokrijte posudu sa tijestom i ostavite na toplom da nadodje. Promijesajte tijesto i ponovo ostavite odmarati. Ovo ce poboljsati krajnji rezultat kuglofa, mada nije neophodno.
Pripremite kalup za kuglof, namazite maslacem.
Istresite tijesto na radnu povrsinu, umijesajte voce i orahe. Prebacite tijesto u kalup, pokrijte i ostavite 1-2 sata da naraste.
Ukljucite rernu (170-180*C) i pecite 35-40 minuta, ili dok ne porumeni. Prebacite peceni kuglof na zicu i ostavite 10 min hladiti, zatim ga izvadite iz kalupa i ostavite na zici.
Glazura sa narandzinim sokom-
Pomijesajte sve sastojke dobro, prelijte kuglof. Neka se dobro ohladi i glazura malo stisne prije nego pocnete rezati.

Homemade Sauerkraut / Preserving Cruciferous

Any vegetable from cruciferous family (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower...) can be preserved in following way. You can even add some pieces of other vegetables (carrot, capsicum, onion, chillies...) to it, as long as cruciferous make more than 60% of total weight of vegetables.

Ingredients:
Vegetable
Water
salt, 40-60 g per L (2-3 tbs)
Glass containers, very clean
(large wooden or plastic containers for Sauerkraut)
Spices like coriander or cumin seeds, peppercorns (your choice)
a few wooden sticks
Method:
Wash vegetables and divide into small florets. Cabbage can be shredded or left whole - in that case hollow out the stem end of the cabbage.
Bring enough water to boil; add 40-60g salt per liter and mix until salt dissolved. Take off the heat.
Put vegetables into prepared containers, pressing slightly, add spices. Place wooden sticks on top of vegetables (cross them), securing well. Pour salty water over, making sure all vegetables and wooden sticks are underneath. (Sauerkraut should be emerged under salty water all the time; large river stone placed over clean wooden sticks will ensure this - see photo). Close lids, and place containers in a cool dark spot. In a few days liquid will become cloudy; that means that cruciferous are working (releasing lactic acid). It will also produce specific smell, that is not pleasant to many. That's why you should have all containers away from living room/ kitchen. Best place would be garage or laundry.
After 2 weeks your vegetable should be ready (Large cabbage heads need more time; 3-4 weeks), but you can keep them as long as winter last.

Kiseli Kupus / I ostalo povrce iz porodice kupusara

Potrebno:
voda
so, 40-60 gr po litri vode
tegle / galoni za sitnije povrce
(drveno ili plasticno bure za cijele glavice kupusa)
drveni prutici / dascice
zacini kao sto su biber, kim, korijander (sjeme) - vas izbor
Nacin:
Operite povrce i tegle. (Kupus ocistite od losih listova, izdubite mu korijen)
Prokljucajte vodu, dodajte so i promijesajte. Smaknite sa vatre.
Stavite isjeceno povrce u tegle (kupus u bure), pritiskajuci blago; ubacite odabrane zacine. Na povrsinu ukrstite par drvenih prutica (jace dascice za kupus, koje treba da su pritisnute opranim rijecnim kamenom). Nalijte slanu vodu, pazeci da povrce i prutici budu pod vodom. Zatvorite i ostavite na hladno i mracno mjesto.
Sitnije povce ce biti gotovo brze; kupusu treba 3-4 sedmice najmanje (u ovisnosti o temperaturi). Tecnost u teglama ce se zamagliti, a i osjeticete poznati miris.