Fruit Salad

Easy, quick, and healthy ...

To do fruit salad all you need are a few different fruits cut into small pieces. I suggest you use the following as a minimum: apple (different varieties?), orange, banana, pineapple, and peach. Other options are: melon, watermelon, grapes, cherries, pear, etc. I would advise against strawberries since they tend to get too soft too quickly (unless you are eating the fruit salad right away). As a guide, you can try to use, at least, 1 piece of fruit per person.

One trick I always tend to use is to get at least one can of fruit (you can choose the peaches, the pineapple or a mixed fruit one) and pour some of its syrup in the salad (this is the only less healthy bit).

Leave it in the fridge for a while before serving; it will taste nicer :P But do bear in mind that the properties of some fruits deteriorate with time, so fruit salad should not be made too long before being served.

Enjoy!

Chicken Pie

Dough:
3 eggs
3/4 cup of oil
1 1/2 cup of milk
1 1/2 cup of plain flour
salt
1 table spoon of baking powder
mixed herbs (optional)

Filling: chicken or beef sauce (not so humid), cheese and ham...

Mix all the ingredients for the dough. Pour half of it in an oven-safe container, add the filling and then pour the rest of the dough.
Put in the oven for 35 minutes (180 degrees).

Three Tomato Salad

Serves 4-6





Ingredients
For the salad:
30ml capers (optional)
2 ripe beef tomatoes
3 ripe plum tomatoes
125g red or yellow cherry tomatoes
40g small Nicoise olives (I used black olives)

For the dressing:
60ml(4 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil
30ml (2 tbsp) lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp runny honey
salt and pepper

To serve:
fresh basil leaves
pecorino or parmesan cheese










Method
1. If using capers, soak them in cold water for 30mins, then drain and pat dry.
2. Remove any stalks from the tomatoes. Thinly slice the beef tomatoes and arrange them in overlapping slices on a large serving platter.
3. Slice the plum tomatoes lengthwise and arrange over the beef tomatoes. Halve the cherry tomatoes and place in the centre of the plate.
4. Stone the olives (if not already pitted), and scatter them and the capers (if using) over the tomatoes. (I cut the olives into quarters first, but that's just my preference)
5. To prepare the dressing, place all the ingredients in a screw-topped jar and shake well until amalgamated.
6. Drizzle a generous amount of dressing over the tomatoes. Cover and leave to stand for 30 minutes to infuse. Serve at once, scattered with basil leaves and topped with pecorini or parmesan shavings.

Chocolate Salami

Ingredients:

Rich Tea biscuits 150g

Sugar (icing sugar preferred) 200g

Cocoa or chocolate powder 50g

Butter 100g

Whole Eggs 1

(This is the original recipe. What I did was a double recipe, but I did not double the butter or the sugar.)

Mix everything (except for the biscuits) until you get a uniform dough. Then, add the rich tea biscuits in large pieces. Mix again. Wrap this tightly in a few layers of foil (squeeze it as much as possible; you can even hit it against a table or worktop) and make it into a 'salami' shape. Put in the fridge for a few hours. Serve cut in slices.

Hints:

1 - Take the foil out before cutting it into slices, so you don't get small bits of foil in it. This is particularly important if you are giving it to children who might not notice the foil.

2 - Though you can use any type of sugar, icing sugar will give it a smoother taste.

3 - If you use chocolate powder instead of cocoa make sure to cut quite a bit on the sugar quantity!

4 - If you are in a hurry, leave it in the freezer for some hours.

Marinated BBQ chicken

Ingredients:
750 g of Chicken Thighs/Legs/Wings (with the skin)
2 spoons of Vinegar
2 squeezed Limes
1 full spoon of Paprika
1 cup of chopped parsley
3 gloves garlic (chopped)
Sea salt (as much as you like – if you put too much the chicken only absorbs the right amount)

Preparation:
Mix all the ingredients with your hands and than marinate it for at least 2 hours.

Place the chicken on the BBQ not close to the fire and eventually turn the chicken. It’s meant to be slowly cooked.

Quiche au Maroilles

Serve with a basic salad and Le Biere Blanche de Wessant (a very good beer!!).

Ingredients (for 6 people)
1 roll of puff pastry
5 eggs
400g of Maroilles (a French soft cheese)
4 tbsps crème fraiche
2 slices of ham & 8 slices of chorizo (optional).
salt
pepper
Muscade (nutmeg)
butter

Preparation
1. Liberarlly grease an oven-proof dish with butter. Cover with the roll of pastry.

2. Cut the rind off the cheese and cut it into strips. Line the bottom of the pastry-covered dish with ham and chorizo (if using), then add the cheese.

3. Beat the crème fraiche, eggs, salt, pepper and muscade with a fork until it becomes a smooth liquid. Pour into the pastry-lined dish.

4. Cook in the oven for 30 mins at 200 degrees (180 for fan).

Alsacienne Tourte

Serve with salad and a Riesling white wine.

Ingredients (for 6 persons)
600-700g lean pork or beef mince
1 small ‘pain au lait’ (lighter than brioche but a similar taste)
2 rolls of flaky pastry (if you can’t find that then use puff pastry)
butter for greasing the baking dish
2 small onions
3 cloves of garlic
2 eggs (one for baking and one for brushing the pastry top)
3 tbsps milk
muscade (nutmeg)
salt
pepper


Preparation
1. Chop onion and garlic. Fry in butter to soften. Add the minced beef or pork. Cook on a medium heat, stirring frequently, until the meat starts to cook (around 10 mins).
2. Break the bread into pieces, add milk, add one egg, salt, pepper and muscade. Mix it all together.
3. Liberally grease an oven-proof dish with butter. Line with 1 roll of pasty. Lightly score the pastry 3 or 4 times. Combine the meat and bread mixtures and add them to the pie. Cover with the addition roll of pastry and turn the edges inwards to seal the pie. Score a design on the top layer of pastry (if you would like) and create a hole in the middle about 1 inch in diameter to allow the steam to escape. Brush the pastry with lightly beaten egg yolk.
4. Put in the oven for max 35 mins on 200 degees C (180 for fan oven).

Oreo Ice-cream

Ingredients:
- Oreos biscuits (2 packs: around 300g)
- Double cream (2 pots; around 400ml; get the 'less fat', version if possible)
- Sugar (a few soup spoons)

Whip the double cream until it gets fluffy, and add some sugar to your taste (suggest 2-3 soup spoons; don't put too much, remember the oeros are sweet). Add the oreos broken in small pieces (leave some bigger chunks) and put in the freezer for at least 2 hours. You can change these quantities depending on your personal preferences.

Remove from the freezer 10 min. before serving.

Enjoy :P

(PS - Again, I am afraid I lost the photos...)

Tuna Salad

This is a very easy and light Summer recipe but it does take a bit to do (30 min.) since you need to chop lots of things and boil a few others.

The basic ingredients are:
- tuna (I also recommend some of those canned tuna salads since they add a bit more taste and variety),
- boiled potato and eggs,
- beef tomato,
- Granny Smith apple, and
- pineapple.

Apart from this you can be creative and add lots of other things. I suggest corn, olives, some raw carrot (cut very thin), beetroot, peas. I have also tried watermelon :P
There are no fixed quantities, just use what you like most.

Start by boiling the potatoes and eggs since it takes some minutes, and let them cool down for a while before adding to the rest. Then just cut/chop everything else in medium squares and mix :)
Better served cold.

Note: this is not exactly a starter or a side dish but more of a main course salad.

(PS - I lost all the photos from that day but I'll try to add a photo later)

Coconut cakes ('coquinhos')

Here is a very simple recipe.

Ingredients:
250g of desiccated/grated coconut,
3 whole eggs,
200 sugar,
Baking cases (about 20).



Mix the eggs and the sugar, and then add the coconut. Put small portions in paper baking cases. If you wish, you may decorate the top with some fruit; the traditional option is pieces of dried/cristalyzed cherry.

Place them in a tray and leave them in a pre-heated oven to 180ºC for about 30 minutes.

Do not let the cakes get too brown, for they will also get too dry.

Enjoy! :)