Ep. 43 – winter salad with broccoli and lemon

When you cook with pinterest and instagram, something like today’s salad comes out. 😛 Surprisingly, it is really edible and eye-catching. 😉

Well, and what did you put in it? Some broccoli boiled and pan-fried with a little olive oil and garlic scraps. (It was spoiling in the fridge.) An avocado, sliced. Some carrots on the small grater. Pomegranate seeds. (It’s food, it’s not dessert, relax. 😛) Some almond flakes. Half a lemon squeezed with the alien. (Seriously, that’s the name of the citrus torture tool.)

The vegan lady who shared the recipe on pinterest, combined broccoli with cauliflower and kale… let’s not exaggerate though… :)) also with goat cheese.

It is said that if you eat this winter salad, you will get a healthy seasonal glow. 😉

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Ep. 42 – vegetable meatballs

From my mother’s successful experiments, today we have a vegetarian product. 🙂

Grate carrots, celery, parsnips, potatoes, drain them well of juice and mix them with chopped dill, salt, pepper, egg, flour, to bind the composition. Sprinkle with flour mixed with breadcrumbs and fry in an oil bath.

They are eaten hot, delivered at home. 😀

My mother says that she made us a variant earlier, with cabbage, they are also good. I’ve tried some vegan burgers at some point, but I know the mixture didn’t tie up much. :))

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disaster in the kitchen

Special ep. – salad for when you have a cold :)

I don’t know if the cold or her older and more beastly sister, the flu, has reached you, but our last weeks they have been with pills, mucus, fever, nausea and sitting at home horizontally. A slightly more horror experience than in other years. 🙂 Reason why, up to the prescription, if you start to feel bad, stay home until it passes + call your family doctor for treatment and avoid crowded spaces, because you risk getting others sick too!

Well, what do we put in the salad for the cold? Iceberg lettuce, green parsley, green coriander (if you accidentally find it at the supermarket), celery, cherry tomatoes, grated white cheese, tangerines, cranberries, plus a dressing of olive oil and lemon.

Whatever it is, combine green stuff with citrus and other things rich in vitamin C.

In case of viruses, hydrate yourself fully – water, herbal tea, soup – and be patient to get well. 🙂

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disaster in the kitchen

Ep. 41 – potato soup with tarragon

I went through a period when everything I cooked had tarragon. Don’t ask me why, I have no explanations for disastrous behaviors… :)))

Well, a classic soup from Transylvania. You would take a pork chop and boiled it super well, then combined it with vegetables and potatoes and seasoned with tomato juice and tarragon, plus some vinegar.

New-a-days is faster to buy ready-made pork chop (possibly slightly smoked), cut it into small pieces, and, if it is super salty, bring it to a boil and throw the first water. Then add more water and add carrots, celery, parsley root, onion, pepper, finely chopped or grated, salt/ vegeta, pepper. When they are almost cooked, add the potatoes cut into larger pieces. At the end, tomatoes, tarragon and some vinegar. Serve on a plate with chopped green parsley.

Now if you want a vegan version, take the pork chop out of the pot… but, well, are you sure you want to do this? 🙂

And did you burn the pots, the stove, the block, the vegetables? No, but I cheated a little. 🙂 The soup in the picture is made by Chef, which is why all the vegetables are cut identically. 😀 But, trust a disaster, mine comes out exactly the same. 😛

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cookingbookclubEN, disaster in the kitchen

Cookingbookclub 1

Well, this year I have a new challenge. For me and my friends. ❤ More precisely a cookingbookclub, which will combine, what else, reading and cooking with kitchen disasters. :))

In short, for a year we will read 6 books together and we will cook – I hope – interesting and appetizing things. In the most unfortunate case, we only look at the pictures, we have the exercise from instagram. :)) We will post the pictures of the tried recipes on this blog, as a memory. 🙂

I chose books in English, with many pictures, with various recipes from international cuisine; regardless of whether you are carnivorous, vegetarian, vegan, pegan (please no!), on a diet, etc. I think you will have a choice; if not, on this occasion you will learn to be creative and to adapt. 🙂 This is also true when you will not find – maybe – all the ingredients and you will want to change the recipe. Bonus: we have a Chef available, who helps us with answers to questions and dilemmas (does he know? No, but he’ll find out when he reads the article) ❤ We will have a month available to experience and take photos (is a must); pictures, recipe names and possible stories must reach me by the deadline. 🙂

The first book I propose to you is Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me About Life, Love & Baking Biscuits by Reese Witherspoon.

Reese’s book is actually the reason for starting the reading and cooking club. I liked how she talks about the region she comes from, about friendship, about family, about pets, about how to combine them with a successful career and about recipes that remind of all the beautiful moments in her life. And I thought that I also have many friends around the world and that we don’t have to see each other face to face – although it would be nice – but we can do it in another form, sharing the pleasure of destroying recipes in the kitchen. Plus the cover is pink.

The deadline for reading, choosing a recipe, trying, photographing and sending feedback is February 10. 🙂 Give me a message to tell you where to find the book. 🙂

We are already 5 and a half in the cookingbookclub, but I hope to be as many as possible. 🙂

Extra questions:

Can we try more recipes? Sure, but al least one is a must.

Is it mandatory to burn what we cook? Preferably not. 🙂

Can we call you to taste what we cook? Ooooo, yessss, especially if they’re cakes. 😛

Will we have cooking events together at this club? Hmm, we’ll talk.

Until the next book, have fun to kitchen disasters and tasty reading. ❤ 😛 😀

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disaster in the kitchen

Ep. 40 – quick puff pastry with apples

We celebrate the beginning of the new year with episode 40 from the series of personal kitchen disasters 🙂 Who would have thought I was such a… disaster? Well, not even me. :)))

Today, what else, a quick dessert with apples. 🙂

We buy frozen puff pastry from Kaufland – find their brand of pastry that has 6 portioned sheets; any dough can be used, only it must be portioned. Left to thaw and spread a little with the twister.

Put hardened apples on top (peeled apples, grated, hardened, with a little cinnamon; if you want them sweeter, add sugar; if you want them more fancy, add raisins or cranberries; they must be soft and no longer have juice).

Put 2-3 tablespoons of hardened apples on a piece of puff pastry, rolled, cut on top and put in the pan in the oven, on the medium heat, on a baking sheet sprinkled with a little water. About 15-20 minutes or more, as appropriate.

From two large sheets of dough (2 x 400g) and 11 grated apples came out 4 large pieces in the stove tray.

Of course you can prepare the apples in advance and freeze them, for when you want a quick dessert. 🙂

There is only one problem: it eats disastrously fast :)))

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Ep. 39 – the last one in 2018 :)

The end of this year is with stuffed cabbage, pickles, potatoes – the good ones made in a tray and cakes. 🙂 And with the realization that so, disastrously, the kitchen has been warm and good since last year and until now. What I wish you for next year. ❤

I am not gonna tell you how I was about to burn the pretzels – but I didn’t burn them, just browned them 😛 – or that the Greta Garbo cake (Zserbó szelet) didn’t turn out as good as my grandma’s, because next time will be perfect. 🙂

What I can tell you is that I had a lot of fun trying various recipes this year. 🙂 The process is sometimes much more interesting than the final product, but when you do one thing at a time, it’s like climbing Everest. :)) Plus it’s a way to eat healthy (a debatable concept nowadays), to control calories as much as possible and to reduce the amount of food thrown away.

My favorite books of 2018 as a source of inspiration were The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook and The Skinnytaste Cookbook, in addition to Jamie Oliver and Anthony Bourdain. Plus the family’s recipes. 🙂

And next year? 🙂 2019 recipes, of course, because I’m tired of politics. 🙂 And don’t forget, if you burn something it’s not a disaster, it’s an experience. ❤

disaster in the kitchen

Ep. 38 – quick winter salad

Boiled potatoes, finely chopped, after cooling (preferably red potatoes, because the white ones become powdery). Boiled chicken, finely chopped (chicken breast, thighs, it does not matter). Some chopped celery. Or chopped green parsley, depending on what you have around the house. Baked red peppers, also cut into small pieces. Salt and pepper. Mayonnaise and pickled tarragon sauce, plus some tarragon juice. Another option would be with fresh tarragon and some lemon juice. If you use baked peppers in vinegar, make sure it doesn’t come out too sour. Mixed. Ultra good. 🙂 Disaster !!!

The vegetarian variant would be without chicken, possibly with some smoked fish (smoked mackerel). Or with eggs. Or with nothing. :))

Instead of the classic beef salad.

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Special ep. – Christmas gingerbread

Gingerbread, turtă dulce, Lebkuchen. A variety of biscuits sweetened with honey or molasses and seasoned with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and especially cloves. It is said that in the beginning they were recommended for indigestion, to later be part of the traditional Christmas sweets. It is also true that the spices are perfect for the cold winter weather. 🙂

My usual recipe is actually a cake, but this year I said to try the decorated biscuit version as well. You know, the ones that are bought especially from the traditional fairs and where you sometimes break your teeth. :))

I combined – well, what do you expect ??? 😛 – a recipe from Jamie, which melts the wet ingredients on the fire, then mixes them with the dry ones, with the second option, the one that mixes the ingredients cold. The result was not a disaster. 🙂

125 g butter, 3 tablespoons honey (or molasses), 100 g brown sugar (or normal, what you have) are melted, over low heat, stirring constantly, then allowed to cool slightly. In this composition you add the dry ingredients: 300 g flour, baking powder, salt and spices (half a teaspoon of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ground and two teaspoons of ground ginger). I am not sure, but I think I missed the salt :))) And the nutmeg. Plus I used ginger powder, but you can also use fresh grated ginger. This was Jamie’s recipe. What I borrowed from the others was 1 egg, added at the end (the dough should be as cold as possible), plus another tablespoon of flour.

The result was a super sticky dough, put in the bag, somewhere cold, for at least an hour. In my case, for two days, because I did not have time for it :))) Then it is spread on a board lightly powdered with flour and cut into shapes. I tried several variants, of different sizes and thicknesses, but my biscuits came out quite thin. In the oven, in a baking tray, at 180 degrees (medium to low), about 10 minutes. Actually watch closely and move the tray, if you don’t want to burn the gingerbread, like me :)))

It is a rather pretentious dough compared to others, but, once a year, it is worth it. It can be a fun activity to do with kindergarteners or friends.

You can leave them like this or decorate them. With all kinds of dried fruits, candies or chocolate or coconut flakes. Or with royal icing.

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Ep. 37 – blueberry muffins

1 cup sugar, half a packet of butter (100-125 g), 2 large eggs, half a cup of milk, 2 cups flour, 1 cup frozen blueberries, salt, baking powder and vanilla sugar. (1 cup of 250 ml)

Ingredients at room temperature. It’s just that my butter was from the freezer, so I put it in the microwave to thaw. In the first phase with the paper on the package, at which point it started to make some suspicious noises :))) I took out the paper, but my butter melted faster than I assumed :)) Next time l’ll have to have more patience. 🙂

Well, how is it done? Mix the sugar with the butter, a pinch of salt and the vanilla sugar, add the eggs, then the baking powder and alternatively, the flour and milk. Frozen blueberries spread with half a tablespoon of flour are added to the dough, mixing gently with a spatula.

You will get 12 pieces, put them in the oven, medium temperature, about half an hour.

Miraculously I managed not to burn them. 🙂

They are disastrously good eaten when it snows outside with a hot cup of coffee or tea. 🙂

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