Grilled Peaches, Halloumi and Mint "Caprese"

   It's summer, it's hot and you don't feel like eating a heavy meal. I totally get you! Oooor, you're like me, and you find a new recipe involving halloumi cheese and you decide you HAVE to try it! :D And you do. That's how you discover this amazing recipe that is also recommended as a side but which you can easily eat on its own on a hot summer day :) 

   It was my first time eating grilled peaches and I have to admit I had a "why didn't I try this in all the 29 years before?" face. Now I know. I will eat grilled peaches again! :D

Ingredients for 3 servings:
- 3 medium peaches
- 250g halloumi cheese
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- chopped mint (about 1 Tbsp)
- sunflower or olive oil as needed

Steps:

1. Cut the halloumi in half on its length. Grill it on both sides. Slice it after it's grilled.

2. Slice the peaches, then drizzle them with oil and sprinkle the brown sugar. 

3. Heat grill pan really well. Grill the peaches, pulp side down, until grill marks appear (about 10 minutes). 

4. Let the peaches cool a bit, arrange on plate with halloumi, and sprinkle with chopped mint. Enjoy!

Teo's Sweet and Spicy Meatballs and Rice

   One of my favorite Romanian home cooks is Teo Rogobete from Teo's Kitchen. She puts a lot of passion in cooking and you can tell. She recently cooked this mouth watering meatball recipe that I really wanted to try first because it looked so good and second because it's so healthy (baked instead of fried)! I really loved the delicious surprise of the sweet and spicy sauce on the meatballs! Try it too and see for yourself :)

Ingredients for 3 servings:
Meatballs:
- 600g of pork minced meat (Teo used beef)
- 1/2 cup of bread crumbs
- a large egg
- salt and pepper
- 1 tsp ginger, grated
- 1 tsp Tabasco sauce
- 1 onion, minced
- 2 cloves of garlic, grated

Sides:
- 300g rice
- 250g broccoli (my addition, you can replace it with something else), slightly boiled

Sweet and spicy sauce:
- 200g apricot jam
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp Tabasco sauce

Extra:
- some leaves of parsley or some green onion for decor on top

Steps:

1. Add the minced meat, the bread crumbs, the egg, salt, pepper, ginger, Tabasco sauce, onion and garlic in a bowl and mix well. 

2. Let the composition rest for 10-15 min.

3. Preheat the oven at 200ºC.

4. Form the meatballs and put them on a baking tray, over some baking paper.

5. Put the meatballs in the oven for about 20 min, making sure you turn them around at half time.

6. Cook the rice and the broccoli.

7. Make the sauce by mixing the apricot jam, the soy sauce and the Tabasco sauce. Heat the sauce for a minute and keep stirring.

8. When the meatballs are ready, put them in a bowl, then add the sweet and spicy sauce over them. Let them cool down.

9. Plate your dish: a bed of rice, some saucy meatballs and the broccoli on the side. At the end sprinkle some parsley leaves on top of the meatballs and enjoy! :)

P.S. Add some refreshing craft beer to go with your dish!

For Romanians, here's Teo's recipe video:

Waldorf Salad

   It's SO hot in Cluj these days that you can't eat anything else but salads. Today we made the Waldorf salad from the Looneyspoons book for the first time and we decided to add our twist: fresh telemea from the farmer's market and chicken thighs. Fresh and delicious! You should try it too! ;)

Ingredients for 3 servings:
Dressing:
- aprox 180ml yogurt
- 2 tsp honey mustard (you can make your own by adding the 2 ingredients together)
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp salt
- a pinch of pepper

Salad:
- 250g chicken thighs without bone, cut into strips, salt and pepper and fry
- 200g telemea cut into cubes (Telemea is a Romanian cheese, but if you don't live in Romania, you can replace it with Feta)
- 200g pasta
- 4 small or 2 big red apples, cut into cubes
- half a small celery root, cut into long strips
- 35g toasted chopped walnuts
- a small red onion, minced
- 2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley

Steps:

1. Make the dressing by combining yogurt, honey mustard, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Put in the fridge until ready to use.

2. Make the salad by adding the ingredients in a large bowl, add dressing and mix well. Chill for one hour before serving. Bon appetit! 

Oven BBQ Ribs

   Finger-licking good!!! Two nights in a row of first time tried recipes that took me to heaven. We bought these ribs from Lidl (of course, did you still expect something else? No, Lidl doesn't pay me to promote them, I just love it either way :))) ) and we played around with some BBQ marinade from American Week @ Lidl and some BBQ sauce from Auchan and... ta-ra! Deliciousness on a plate! I have to admit this is aproximately the third ribs recipe that we tried for me to love, but man, we hit jackpot this time! ;) Wanna hit jackpot too? This recipe is not necessarily about what marinade/sauce you use, but about slow cooking the dish :) Niiiiice and sloooow :)

Ingredients for 2-3 servings:
- 1 kg of pork ribs
- a pack of barbecue marinade from American Week @ Lidl (for 350g of meat)
- AND/OR a bottle of BBQ sauce (we used "Sos pentru gratar Steakhouse V6 BBQ" from Auchan)
- salt and pepper
- a big tomato cut into slices
- about 250g of broccoli, slightly boiled

*We used both the BBQ marinace and the BBQ sauce because the marinade alone wouldn't have been sufficient for 1 kg of meat, but if you can't find the exact ingredients I used you can just take a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce and it will do.

Reference photos:

Steps:
1. Put salt and pepper on each side of the meat.
2. "Brown" the meat (i.e. cook it) for a about 3 minutes on each side.
3. Put it in a baking tray and cover it with marinade.
4. Fill up about half-way the rest of the tray with a pool of BBQ marinade (marinade can be created by mixing your BBQ sauce of choice with water).
5. Cover the tray with aluminium foil.
6. Pre-heat the oven to about 120 degrees.
7. Place the tray in the oven at that temperature for about 2-3 hours.
8. Periodically check to make sure that the marinade pool has not evaporated (if need be add more water/marinade).
9. Serve with a side of tomatoes and broccoli or other favorite veggies. Bon appetit! ;)

Thai Beef and Pineapple Red Curry

   Oh my God, you guys! Tonight I reached culinary Nirvana once again. You know a recipe is good if it makes it on the blog. If I had tried it in a restaurant I would have totally wanted to make it at home! It's the best combo between Lidl, Auchan and a friend's pineapple :))) I know it might sound weird but bear with me. It all started from randomly finding a red curry marinated beef @ Asian week at Lidl, then receiving a fresh pineapple from a friend and looking up recipes that contain those two ingredients. That's how we found this amazing Martha Stewart recipe (who doesn't love Martha?) and then we ended up in Auchan to buy the rest of the ingredients: more red curry paste and coconut milk. Auchan has a great variety of International ingredients! You'd be surprised! (For foreigners, Auchan and Lidl are two supermarkets found in Romania.)

   I just LOVE how Oli and I find new absolutely mouthgasming recipes so randomly. Or maybe it's fate? Hmmm... Let me bring fate in your life by giving you this amazing, MUST TRY recipe:

Ingredients for 2 servings and a bit of leftovers:

- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup red curry paste (@Auchan)

- 1 pound sirloin steak, trimmed and cut against the grain into very thin strips

-  225g green/yellow beans, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
- 2 cups large diced fresh pineapple (fresh is always king, even though it might seem like a pain in the ass to peal it)
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (@Auchan)

- cooked jasmine rice, for serving
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn (dry basil is OK as well if you don't have fresh one)

Steps:

1. In a large skillet or wok, heat oil over medium-high. 

2. Add curry paste and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. 

3. Add steak and cook, stirring, until browned, 2 minutes. 

4. Add green beans and pineapple and cook, stirring, until pineapple starts to release juices, 1 minute. 

5. Add broth and coconut milk and bring to a boil. 

6. Reduce heat and cook at a rapid simmer until green beans are crisp-tender, 8 minutes. 

7. Serve over rice, topped with basil. Bon appetit! :)

Magical 3 ingredient chocolate mousse

   First off, the marshmellows are just for visual effect if you want your recipe to be super duper healthy ;) That being said, I never thought I would say this but IT WORKS! Chickpeas water makes a great mousse! Man, that still sounds super weird. I was possibly one of the most reluctant people ever when I saw THIS recipe since I absolutely love my mascarpone chocolate mousse recipe, but I like challenges, especially healthy ones, so I tried it and I can say it's really delicious! It tastes like a really airy veeery chocolatey mousse! And it's also vegan, gluten free and it only has 3 ingredients, so... here it goes!

Ingredients for 2 full cups/glasses:
- 140g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)
- 240ml chickpeas water (from 400g can of low-sodium chickpeas OR home cooked chickpeas)
- 20g/1 big Tbsp of sugar (OPTIONAL, it depends on your taste)

Steps: 

1. Break the chocolate into smaller chunks and melt it very slowly over a water bath. It’s important to do it slowly so that chocolate doesn’t overheat. Once the chocolate has melted, take the bowl off the water bath and place it on a kitchen towel to cool down a little.

2. Open your tin of chickpeas and drain the chickpea water into large glass bowl. The bowl and the utensils you’ll use to whip the chickpeas water need to be completely grease-free as even the tiniest grease residue can prevent aquafaba from reaching stiff peaks. One 400 g tin should give you 240 ml of chickpeas water. Reserve the chickpeas for another use, like a salad or burgers.

3. Using an electric egg whisk, whip the chickpea water into stiff peaks – this is super important. The best way to check if you have achieved stiff peaks is to invert the bowl with whipped chickpeas water. If it slides down even a tiny bit, you are not there yet – keep on whipping until it does not move at all. I used an old, hand-held whisk and it took me about 15 minutes to get stiff peaks. The good news is that (as opposed to egg whites) chickpeas water cannot be overwhipped.

4. OPTIONAL STEP: Once you reach stiff peaks, start adding sugar, bit by bit, whipping the whole time. If sugar has caused the stiff peaks to perish, whip the mixture until you get stiff peaks again.

5. Check that the chocolate has cooled down sufficiently – it should not be warm to the touch or else chocolate may seize and you will end up with grainy mousse. Gently fold melted chocolate into whipped chickpeas water using a silicone spatula. Do not worry if your fluffy mixture deflates once the chocolate has been added – that’s perfectly normal. By the time you’ve added all of your melted chocolate, the mousse MAY have more of a pourable consistency. Mix well. 

6. Divide the mixture between the cups/glasses. Gently stir the mixture between putting it into individual glasses as a bit of melted chocolate tends to drop to the bottom sometimes.

7. Put glasses into the fridge for minimum 3 hours for the mousse to set. I tend to chill mine overnight and it’s perfectly set and fluffy each time. Bon appetit!

Mediterranean Cajun Chicken Drumsticks

   I know, spring has passed and now summer is here and it looked like I abandoned you guys. Not true. I just had some pretty intense couple of months and no OMG recipes to share, but fear not, the day has come for yet another OMG recipe!
   My motto with this blog was that I would only share brilliant recipes people MUST try. Not OK, not pretty good, not average but absolutely delicious recipes. You'll probably say you can't always find OMG recipes and you're right. That's why, I prefer quality over quantity. I'd say it's a pretty good trade-off, right?

   Now let's get started! This recipe was inspired by a delicious one made by my wedding godmother consisting in baked chicken drumsticks and cherry tomatoes. I forgot all the rest, but thank God cooking means improvising because creativity is exactly what made this recipe come together into a mouth watering feast! I just finished eating it and I still have its aftertaste in my mouth! Such an amazing, rich sauce, tender meat, plump baked tomatoes, sweet pepper and onion and then... there's the fresh telemea. Oh My God! You really REALLY must try it!

Here are the ingredients for 2 servings:

- 600g of chicken drumsticks (5 pieces)

- a pack of Cajun Marinade from American Week @ LIDL (you can still find it in stores, so rush!) or a simple cajun rub with pepper, garlic powder and some oil

- a red pepper

- 2 medium red onions

- about 8 cherry tomatoes

- a big piece of  fresh "telemea de vaca in saramura" from Delaco (It MUST be this one! It's absolutely addictive!) - foreigner friends, sorry, you don't know what "telemea" is since it's a purely Romanian type of cheese, but you can replace it with Feta cheese with no problem

Reference photos:

 

Even if it says it's enough for 350g of meat, believe me, it will do just right with 600g as well.

        Delicious!

Steps:

1. Cover the chicken drumsticks in decadent marinade and leave them soaking overnight (if you have time), otherwise, just put the marinade on the chicken and let it sit for a few minutes.

2. Put a bit of oil in a cooking tray.

3. Cut the red pepper in long stripes, then Julienne the red onions.

4. Add the pepper, onions and cherry tomatoes in the tray. Just randomly sprinkle them around.

5. Add the marinated chicken on top of the veg. Casually sprinkle a bit more oil on top of everything. 

6. Cover the tray with aluminum foil then put the whole deliciousness in the oven for 45 min at 220ºC. 

7. Cut the fresh telemea while you're smelling the amazing flavour coming from the oven.

8. Plate your dish: chicken, veg, fresh telemea and plenty of that amazing brown sauce! Mmmmm! Bon appetit!

Pea Puree and Halloumi Toast

   If anyone was still wondering, it's now official: pesto and halloumi are my latest obsessions! :D So when I found this beautiful breakfast/brunch/lunch recipe on Teo's Kitchen's website I knew I had to try it :) I previously had some bad experience with pea puree but I am very happy I gave this recipe a chance. I'll just say this: garlic and mascarpone will ALWAYS make a recipe better! Long live Teo and her great recipes! Now go try it yourself! :D

Ingredients for 4 toasts (and leftovers):

- 200g frozen peas

- 40g olive or sunflower oil

- a clove of garlic

- 10ml honey

- 40g mascarpone

- salt and pepper to taste

- 200g halloumi cheese

Steps:

1. Boil the peas in salted water until they are soft.

2. Drain the water, then add the peas in a blender together with the garlic clove, oil, mascarpone,  honey, salt and pepper and blend everything until you form a nice looking green paste. You can add more salt and/or pepper if you feel like it.

3. Cut the halloumi in 2 on its length and put it in a grilling pan for a couple of minutes until it's nice and golden-brown on both sides. Then cut it into stripes after you take it out of the pan. 

4. Make some toast and then assemble your meal: toast, pea puree and halloumi on top. Bon appetit! It's deliiicious!

Umami Halloumi Salad

   Guys, you REALLY have to try this salad! It's sooooooo delicious that I barely just finished eating it and I knew I needed to share the recipe with you as soon as possible :)

   We found this absolutely amazing, mouth-watering salad in a Greek restaurant (makes sense, doesn't it?) in... Munich! Yep, Munich! Because why would you only try sausages and sauerkraut while in Germany? When I saw it on the menu and I noticed it contained halloumi cheese I knew that was my salad! I can't even find the right words to explain how it tasted... every bite was heavenly! 

   What is this halloumi cheese, you ask? Just the most umami and amazing cheese in the world (and that comes from an avid cheese lover!)! Wikipedia says: "Halloumi /həˈluːmi/ is a Cypriot semi-hard, unripened brined cheese made from a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk, and sometimes also cow's milk. It has a high melting point and so can easily be fried or grilled." I found out about it in Greek Week at Lidl (of course!) and I fell in love with it ever since! I even have a picture of it on the fridge :))) I know, wacko but so not sorry! :D

   Back to present times, I really wanted to reproduce the salad I tried in Munich back at home and today was the day! (I realized Metro has the halloumi cheese full time so I didn't have to wait for another Greek Week at Lidl.) It's so easy to make and sooo tasty! Mine turned out just as amazing as the one I ate at that Greek restaurant in Munich so why not try making it yourself? Ready to explode with pleasure? :D

Ingredients for 3 servings:
- 2 medium tomatoes, roughly sliced
- 2 medium cucumbers, roughly sliced
- 1/4 red pepper, sliced
- 1 small red onion, julienned
- around 10 seedless olives, cut in half
- 250g chicken thighs (or chicken breast)
- 400g halloumi cheese (you can do 300g too)
- salt, pepper, lemon pepper, chili flakes, to taste
- a bit of oil

Optional: garlic bread on the side and balsamic vinegar on top ;)

Steps:

1. Cut all the veggies very roughly (don't worry about an exact dimension, you want to feel that tomato when you taste it with the halloumi cheese). Add them all to a bowl, mix then add a bit of salt, pepper and oil to finish the veggie salad.

2. Cut your chicken into strips, add lemon pepper and grill until fully cooked.

3. Cut the halloumi cheese in half on its length (otherwise it's too thick to grill). Then grill it until it becomes brown on both sides. Take aside and cut into strips.

4. Plate your salad: veggie salad at the bottom, chicken strips and then halloumi cheese on top. Bon appetit!

P.S. Original salad from Munich:

Brazilian Chicken Stir Fry

   We found this recipe on a website that was recommended to us (www.tablespoon.com) for its amazing recipes and we curiously decided to try it out especially because of its wild combinations that we thought would never work in 1000 years :))) Like who in their right mind would mix soy sauce, coconut milk and tomato paste and expect that to taste good?! And then try adding some pineapple and some chicken to the mix! Crazy, right? Crazy delicious, I'll tell you what! You GOTTA try this Brazilian recipe! Oli modified it a bit, so here's what we used in the end:

Ingredients (for about 2 servings):
- 1 tsp cumin and 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 4 Tbsp sesame oil
- 250g chicken thighs or breast, diced
- 2 medium bell peppers, sliced
- 1 hot pepper, diced, seeds removed
- 1 cup pineapple, diced
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
- 1 cup black beans
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- about 130g egg noodles

*tsp = teaspoon, Tbsp = tablespoon

Steps:

1. Mix together the cumin, pepper and chili powder. Separately, mix together the soy sauce, coconut milk and tomato paste. Yes, it DOES work!

2. Toss the chicken with a drizzle of soy sauce (kind of like a quick marinade) and then leave it in a bowl.

3. Heat a wok with 2 Tbsp of sesame oil. When it's hot, throw the chicken in it, then remove it when it's cooked. 

4. Add another Tbsp of sesame oil to the wok, then add the bell peppers and the hot pepper. Stir fry for about 3-4 minutes, then add the pineapple, ginger and garlic. Cook until the pineapple starts to caramelize.

5. Sprinkle the spices over the veggies and cook for 1 more minute. Add the soy sauce mix and return the chicken in the wok. Continue cooking until the sauce has reduced and coats the chicken (for about 3 minutes). Add the black beans and remove from heat then add the cilantro.

6. Cook the egg noodles in boiling water. 

7. Serve the stir fry over the egg noodles. Bon appetit!

Creamy Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Pasta

   We tried this recipe once before from Tasty (thank God for pages like that, otherwise we'd be out of ideas frequently) and we loved it! It attracted me because it had sun-dried tomatoes in it and I just adore those! :D I'd eat them every day if I could :D But then again, too much is too much...

   The original Tasty recipe had asparagus in it but this time I decided to use zucchini instead as a cheaper option. Aaaand since I wanted to be creative and make it a bit more filling I also added some chicken and some mozarella bocancini. That's the beauty of cooking! You can start from a simple recipe and then tweak it and make it your own :D The tweaked version was sooooo yummy I already can't wait to try it out again! 

Ingredients (for about 3 servings):

- A shallot, diced

- A pesto jar (again, Barilla is strongly recommended)

- 6-7 sun-dried tomatoes, julienned

- A medium zucchini, peeled*

- 200g mozarella bocancini

- 250g chicken thighs, diced

- Grill seasoning to taste

- 100g cooking cream

- About 200g pasta (we used Fettuccine)

Steps:

1. Boil the pasta with a bit of salt.

2. Chop the chicken, then season it with some grill mix.

3. Cut your shallot and sun-dried tomatoes, then peel all the zucchini lenghtwise with a peeler until you obtain a lot of very thin zucchini slices.

4. Cook the shallot and the chicken together in a pan until the chicken is about 80% cooked then add the zucchini slices and keep cooking them until the zucchini reduces and the chicken is cooked through. 

5. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, the pesto and the mozarella and stir for a bit, then add the cooking cream (to make it creamier).

6. Add the cooked pasta and keep stirring to coat the pasta in sauce. Serve immediately with cracked pepper on top. Bon appetit! :)

In case you want to try out the original Tasty recipe, here's a video: 

Fluffy Pancakes with Fresh Fruit

   What can sound better than delicious pancakes for a Sunday breakfast? I found this recipe on Teo's Kitchen and I really wanted to try it out because the pancakes looked super fluffy! And they don't even contain eggs! I replaced the frozen berries with fresh fruit and I added the Saskatoon syrup we brought from Canada for extra zing :D You can use Maple syrup instead. Mmmm, delicious!

Ingredients for 2 servings:

– 250g flour

– a small bag of baking powder

– 1 tsp salt

– 1 tsp sugar

– 350ml milk

– 50g melted butter

– ½ vanilla bean

– your favorite fresh fruit (I used banana, apple, kiwi, orange and strawberry)

- Saskatoon syrup or Maple syrup

Steps:

1. Combine the milk, the melted butter, the sugar and the vanilla bean seeds in a bowl or in a blender. 

2. Add the flour, salt, baking powder and keep mixing until you form a dense batter.

3. Heat up a pancake pan, add a tiny bit of oil so that the batter doesn't stick, then keep adding half a ladle of batter forming round shaped pancakes. Cook the pancakes for about 1 minute on each side until they're nice and golden brown. 

4. Dice the fruit.

5. Stack some pancakes up, then add the syrup and the fruit on top. That's all! Bon appetit! :)

The most delicious Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse ever

   Today Facebook let me know it's been a year since I discovered this absolutely amazing chocolate mousse recipe that I used it SO MANY times in the last 12 months I just had to post on this blog as well! 

   A year ago, after making this recipe for the first time, I posted this on Facebook:
"Today I felt like making a new dessert, but not something with a lot of layers, something airy and somehow light. And I was lucky because I had a mascarpone packet that I needed to use soon so this is how I found the MOST DELICIOUS chocolate mascarpone mousse on Goodfood! So easy, yet so tasty! 

   I decided to go for a base of crumbled graham biscuits and a cocktail of fruit on top! Talking about graham... Graham Elliot was my inspiration in adding the fruit on top :D Masterchef FTW! 

   I can't begin to tell you how good it tastes! I will definitely use this mousse for cupcakes, birthday cakes and any other recipe involving chocolate cream! Mmmmmmm! To die for!"

And use it I did! :D So now you HAVE to try it out as well! ;)

Ingredients for about 4 servings:

- 100 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces, or dark chocolate drops

- 75 g caster sugar

- 2-3 Tbsp brandy

- 2 eggs

- 250g mascarpone

- about 200g of digestive biscuits

- whatever fruit you prefer or have handy (I used kiwi, pear, orange and an exotic fruit can)

Steps: 

1. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and allow to melt, then remove from the heat. 

2. Add the sugar, brandy and eggs and, using a hand-held electric beater, whisk for 5 minutes or until the outside of the bowl has cooled down to lukewarm. 

3. Whisk in the mascarpone for a few seconds, just until combined. (The mousse will thicken once the mascarpone has been mixed in.) 

4. Put the biscuits in a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs exactly like you would prepare a cheesecake base. If you want some texture with the mousse, you can leave the bites a bit bigger.

5. Dice all your fruit and set it aside.

6. Game time! Prepare the wine glasses, then layer your work: biscuit crumble, chocolate mascarpone mousse and fruit on top! Mmmm, you'll enjoy this so much you'll want to thank me later! :D 

Oliver's Pesto Pasta

   I showed you quite a few recipes until now but I somehow seemed to have forgotten a quintessencial recipe in our household: Oliver's Pesto Pasta! Another recipe that got me hooked from the first bite, one that I would eat every week and that made me love pesto forever (I actually hadn't tried pesto before this dish). So now you know that if you like pesto, you HAVE to try this dish! :D Just sayin'... ;)

Ingredients for 3 servings:
- a jar of Barilla pesto (it HAS to be Barilla, the other brands won't do the recipe justice - It's soooo good I would eat this pesto on its own! Oh wait, I actually did:P Other girls have chocolate, I have pesto ;) )
- a pack of mozarella bocancini (we used around 150g but the more, the cheesier!!!)
- 5 medium mushrooms
- 1/2 chicken breast
- a small white onion
- 250g Fettuccine pasta (or any other pasta you prefer)
- 2 Tbsp oil
- ground pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Boil the pasta in a pot with water and salt.

2. Dice the onion, slice the mushrooms, cut the chicken into small pieces.

3. Put the oil in a pan, then add the onion and cook it for about a minute, until it is starting to caramelize.

4. Add the chicken to the pan, then season it with ground pepper. Give it about 2-3 minutes until it's cooked on one side, then turn it over.

5. Then add the mushrooms. Cook them until they're nicely caramelized.

6. Add the pesto, the mozarella and the pasta. Stir it all together and let it simmer until the cheese is melted. Bon appetit!

Zucchini Lasagna

   If you always loved eating lasagna but you never had the courage to cook it yourself because it sounded way too complicated (like myself) or if you simply want to try out a new lasagna recipe, I'll give you an amazing one I found on TipHero and tweaked a bit. It's as easy as it is delicious! Simple ingredients and no complications at all! Are you ready?

Ingredients for 4 servings:
- 2 zucchinis
- salt, to taste
- 2 Tbsp oil
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- around 400g minced meat (we used a mix of pork and beef)
- ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/2 jar Bolognese sauce
- 1/2 pack of mascarpone
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup Parm cheese
- 1 1/2 cups shredded gouda, mozarella or whatever melty cheese you have in the fridge

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.

2. Using a mandoline slicer or sharp knife, slice the zucchini lengthwise into ¼-inch thick slices.

3. Place the zucchini slices in a bowl, sprinkle them with salt, and toss to coat the slices evenly. Set them aside for 10-15 minutes. (Salting removes a lot of the excess moisture in the zucchini).

4. While the zucchini is being salted, heat a large pan over medium heat. Add the oil and onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion is soft (about 3-5 minutes).

5. Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute.

6. Add the minced meat, season it with salt and pepper, and cook, breaking the meat into small pieces as it browns (about 4 to 5 minutes).

7. Add the Bolognese sauce. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10-15 minutes, or until sauce is very thick.

8. In a medium bowl, mix the mascarpone, egg, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and pepper. Stir well.

9. After the zucchini has been sitting for about 10-15 minutes, use paper towels to blot the excess moisture that the zucchini has released.

10. In a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish, spread about ⅓ of the sauce on the bottom and layer about ⅓ of zucchini slices in a criss-cross pattern to cover the sauce.

11. Spread ⅓ of the mascarpone and egg mixture over the zucchini, and then top that with half of the shredded gouda (or mozarella) cheese.

12. Repeat the layering process until all of your ingredients are used up.

13. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the zucchini is cooked through and the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

14. Let the lasagna stand for about 5-10 minutes before serving. Bon appetit!

Here's the original (non-tweaked) recipe, just in case you wanna see the steps:

Baked Honey Mustard Chicken Thighs and Coleslaw

   We tried another recipe from the amazing Looneyspoons recipe book by Janet and Greta Podleski and we LOVED it so we decided to share it with you! I love the chicken and honey mustard combination, so if you do too, you'll love it as well! :D

*Note: In the original recipe there were chicken drumsticks instead of thighs, you can choose those if you like them better.

Ingredients for 3 servings:
- 4 chicken thighs or 6 drumsticks
- 1/4 cup liquid honey
- 2 Tbsp grainy mustard
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp Herbes de Provence (basil, marjoram, rosemary, sage, thyme, savory and lavender)
- 1/4 tsp each salt and freshly ground black pepper

Coleslaw: (our choice of side, not in the book)
- 1/2 small cabbage or 1/4 of a big cabbage
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 large carrot

Coleslaw vinaigrette:
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- salt and pepper to taste
*Optional: to increase liquidity: add some water and a dash of vinegar

Steps:

Chicken:

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC. Spread some oil in a baking pan, pour some water, then arrange the thighs in a single layer.

2. Whisk together remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Spoon sauce evenly over chicken thighs. 

3. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and baste chicken with sauce (Tilting the pan to one side helps!) Return chicken to oven and bake an additional 30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink in the center. (For the drumsticks you only need about 40-45 min total cooking time.)

4. Arrange chicken on a serving platter and pour sauce from pan over chicken. 

Coleslaw:

1. Finely slice the cabbage and the red onion and grate the carrot.

2. Make the vinnaigrette by mixing all ingredients together and adjusting according to taste, then add the vinnaigrette over the veggies and mix well. 

Bon appetit!

Oliver's Chicken "Alfredo"

   This is the very first dish Oliver cooked for me. And I fell in love with it (and him) from the first bite! It's soooo creamy and delicious, a real comfort food for bad days and unhappy times, one of my favorite dishes ever!

   Oliver kind of played with the ingredients and put this recipe together in his own way without taking an already written recipe as inspiration. Because of this and because it's so creamy and reminds us of an Alfredo sauce (even though it's more of a ragu), we decided to call it Oli's chicken Alfredo dish :D It's really easy to make, so why not try to make it tonight? :)

Ingredients for 2-3 servings:

- 1/2 chicken breast, diced

- 4-5 white mushrooms, sliced

- 1 small white onion, finely diced

- 50ml cooking cream

- 2 Tbsp of your favourite Chicken Seasoning

- 1 Tbsp oil for cooking

- 150g rice

Sides: 

Broccoli 

- 250g broccoli

Caprese Salad

- 2 tomatoes

- 1 large mozarella ball

- fresh basil 

- balsamic reduction

Steps:

1. Bring some water to a boil and cook the rice.
2. Heat up a pan, add oil and the diced onion.

3. After the onion caramelizes a bit, add the chicken and half of the seasoning (1 Tbsp).

4. When the chicken is 75-80% cooked on both sides, add mushrooms and the remainder of the seasoning. 

5. Let the chicken cook completely and the mushrooms caramelize, then add the cooking cream and reduce it.

6. Make the side: chop the broccoli into small bites, then put it in some boiling water for about 5 min.

7. Slice the tomatoes and the mozarella, then alternatively place a slice of tomato and a slice of mozarella, add chopped basil on top and drizzle some balsamic reduction. 

8. Set the dish: bed of rice, chicken ragu and broccoli and the Caprese Salad on the side.

Bon appetit! Let me know what you think about it! :)

No-bake Lemon Curd Chocolate Cheesecake

   This recipe was born out of my longing for cheesecake and remembering one of my favorite chocolates ever: lemon pepper dark chocolate. I remember how 2 years ago while planning my wedding cake I really wanted to go for cheesecake. The thing is I tried so many cheesecakes around town in the search of that perfect one that I became sick of it and I had to switch the cake. Apparently there is such a thing as getting tired of something that is very delicious if you have a lot of it :) 

   But it's been a looooong time since I had cheesecake and today I made my own version! I love chocolate, I love lemon chocolate, so why not lemon chocolate cheesecake? :) I found a recipe (https://goo.gl/u19yVX) for inspiration and I switched the white chocolate with dark chocolate. I also added coconut flakes in the base cos Alexandra, my friend, taught me this little trick and I loved it ever since :D

   Proud moment: I made my first ever lemon curd today! Woo-hooo! I'll definitely try it out again! Another achievement unlocked! :)

   Enough talk, let's get to business. I love this recipe because it's easy, it requires few ingredients and it's done in a giffy. Ok, maybe a bit more :D 

Ingredients:

The base:

- 250g digestive biscuits

- 100g butter, melted

- a handful of coconut flakes

The cheesecake filling:

- 300ml heavy cream

- 560g cream cheese

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 50g caster sugar

- 200g dark chocolate, melted

The lemon curd glaze:

- 4 unwaxed lemons, rind and juice

- 200g caster sugar

- 100g butter

- 3 medium eggs and 1 egg yolk

Steps: 

*Check the original recipe if you want to see photos of the steps: https://goo.gl/u19yVX

1. Blitz the digestive biscuits to a fine crumb in the food processor.

2. Add the melted butter and blitz again briefly until combined. Then add the coconut flakes and mix well.

3. Tip the crumb into a greased 23cm cake tin. Press down firmly to create an even base, then place in the fridge to chill.

4. In a bowl, mix the cream cheese, cream and vanilla until thick using a mixer. Add the sugar and whisk again.

5. Melt the chocolate in Bain Marie/double boiler and let it cool down. Then add it on top of the cream cheese mixture and beat briefly to combine.

6. Tip the filling into the cake tin. Level off with a spatula and return the tin to the fridge.

7. Place the lemon juice, lemon rind, butter and sugar into a bowl and heat gently over a pan of simmering water until the butter has melted.

8. Mix the eggs like you would for scrambled eggs and then very slowly add the hot lemon syrup on top of the eggs (not all at once, otherwise the eggs will cook) and keep whisking until fully combined.

9. Return the whole composition on the double boiler, stirring occasionally until it has thickened enough to leave a trail if you run your finger over the back of the spoon. Sift the lemon curd when it's ready. You want it to be velvety :)

10. Leave it to cool completely, then pour it into the cake tin. Swirl the tin gently to level off and return to the fridge to firm up for a couple of hours or, ideally, overnight.

11. Garnish on top and enjoy with friends and family! :)

Garlic Cheese Bread

   Life is better when there's melty cheese involved, right? I found this recipe on Teo's Kitchen - https://goo.gl/n9Zax9 and I played around with my own ingredients. Oliver and I baked our own buns yesterday using a new type of whole wheat flour from Lidl and they turned out soooo tasty that I really wanted to use them in a delicious recipe. So here's what I used:

Ingredients:
Home made buns (4):
- 300g Belbake Farmhouse bread mix from LIDL (of course :D) or any type of whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp fresh or dried yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- a pinch of sugar
- warm water

Filling for each bun:
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp olive oil or sunflower oil
- a pinch of salt and pepper
- Kamis specialty spices: sundried tomatoes, garlic and basil
- 75g of Valley Spire Cheddar from LIDL or any type of good cheddar

Steps:

1. Make the buns: put the flour in a bowl, make a well in the centre and put the yeast, a bit of flour, around a Tbsp of warm water and the pinch of sugar. Mix everything well and let it rise for about 10 min near a source of heat. 

2. After 10 min or when you can tell it rose, start mixing the rest of the flour in the bowl with the yeast in the middle, adding the salt and some more warm water. Keep mixing and playing with it until you obtain a ball of dough that doesn't stick to your fingers. 

3. Divide that ball into 4 buns and put them in a tray covered with parchment paper near a source of heat. Let them rise until you can tell they became bigger (Time varies. It can be 10-15-20 min).

4. Brush some oil on the buns and add some sesame seeds on top (Optional). Bake the buns for about 14 min at 200ºC.

5. Let the buns cool down completely (preferably overnight) and then start preparing the filling. Grate the garlic cloves, then add the oil, salt, pepper and the Mediteranean spices altogether. Mix well.

6. Carefully cut the top of the bun, then scoop out the inside leaving around 1cm of bread around the edges. 

7. Brush the garlic mixture everywhere inside the bun then bake it for 8-10min at  200ºC.

8. Grate the cheddar, then when the time is up, take the bun out of the oven, stuff it with the grated cheddar and put it in the oven again for 8-10 min.

9. Enjoy the melty garlic bread hot! Dip the top of the bun in the cheese or simply cut the bun like a pizza and enjoy each mini slice :) Bon appetit! 

Yahoo Chickpeas Salad

   If you want a different option of protein in your dish, I recommend this chickpeas salad  we found in the Looneyspoons book I've been telling you about (it's called Red, White and Yahoo!). It's very delicious and filling. We usually pair it with grilled chicken for dinner, but it can be eaten as such as well.

Ingredients for 3 servings:

- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

- 1 cup grape tomatoes

- 1 cup fresh mozarella balls, halved

- 1/3 cup minced red onion

- 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves or dry basil

- 1 Tbsp olive oil

- 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

- 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Steps:

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. That's all! :) Bon appetit!

Chicken Wrap

   I don't know about you, but I really like home made wraps! I can put whatever I want in them and they're so easy to make they help me cover a dinner when I have no idea what to cook, not to mention there's a lot of healthy stuff going in a wrap: plenty of veg and some nice grilled chicken, pork or beef. Today we played with the wraps with chicken :)

Ingredients for about 5-6 wraps:

- a pack of tortilla wraps (they usually have 6 wraps)

- 1 chicken breast

- cajun seasoning or your preferred chicken seasoning

- a red bell pepper

- a small red onion

- a medium carrot

- 1/4 small cabbage

- optional: hot pepper

Dressing:

- 1/2 cup mayo

- 2 Tbsp white sugar

- 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

- 1/2 tsp black pepper

- 1/4 tsp salt

- optional: 3 cloves of garlic (if you want some extra garlic flavour)

Steps:

1. Cut the chicken into small stripes and then season it with cajun seasoning or your preffered chicken seasoning. 

2. Slice the pepper, onion and cabbage and grate the carrot to make the slaw. 

3. Make the dressing.

4. Grill the chicken.

5. Warm up your wrap and set it up: wrap, dressing, slaw and chicken. 

Bon appetit!

Baked Salmon and Vegetables

   Salmon is one of my favorite proteins! And since I want to eat healthy, I keep trying out new veggie pairings. Here's what I cooked today:

Ingredients for 3 servings:
- around 250g of fresh salmon fillet
- cooking cream
- Fish seasoning (we buy it in a pack that's labelled as such)
- around 250g of cauliflower or broccoli
- 3 medium potatoes
- a handful of frozen peas
- salt and pepper to taste
- optional: pesto

Steps:

1. Today I wanted to save space and I decided to boil all my veggies in one pot. If you want to be completely safe and avoid getting mushy potatoes (like mine ... oops!) boil all the veg separately OR chop your potatoes into big pieces so they don't get squeezed in the pot by the rest of the veg. If you choose my method put the chopped potatoes into salted boiling water until they're soft.

2. Chop the cauliflower into bite sized pieces and add it in the same pot with the potatoes (when the potatoes are almost ready) for about 5 minutes. Add the peas at the same time.

3. After your veg is ready coat it in some pesto (believe me, it's totally worth it!).

4. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the salmon and put it in the oven for about 10-15 min at 200ºC. Check to make sure it's cooked through (it has to be light pink inside). 

5. Make the sauce: add cooking cream and the fish seasoning and bring it to a quick boil while you keep whisking. Add on top of the salmon when you serve the dish. (Alternatively you can use a hollandaise sauce that you buy or make at home). 

Bon appetit!

Grilled Chicken and Viva Las Veggies!

   Today I want to present to you... a match made in heaven! You REALLY have to try this recipe! It's SO good you will love it as much as I do! I promise!

   "Viva las veggies" is a roasted veggie recipe from "Looneyspoons" book by Janet and Greta Podleski. If you're from/in Canada or have any connections with this country, you should definitely buy this book! It's full of healthy recipes that are written in such a funny way (hence the name of the recipe). Here's the cover of the book:

   So we tried this recipe before but we never paired it with a grilled chicken and Sawmill sauce (another sauce from Canada). I just died, went to heaven and came back on Earth. I LOVED this pairing so I really want to share it with you:

Ingredients for 3 servings:
Grilled chicken:
- a chicken breast, butterflied
- salt and pepper
- Sawmill sauce or any cooking cream based sauce you like on chicken

Roasted veggies:
- 2 medium tomatoes, cut into chunks
- 1 medium zucchini, chopped
- a large mushroom, chopped
- a medium red onion, chopped
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 Tbsp each olive oil and balsamic vinegar
- chopped mixed fresh or dry herbs (rosemary, basil, oregano or thyme - we used basil and oregano)
- 1/4 tsp salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh whole-grain bread crumbs (blend 2 slices of bread)
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Steps:

1. Start with the veggies. They take a while. Put a bit of oil in a baking dish. Add tomatoes, zucchini, the mushroom, onion and garlic. Mix well. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fresh/dry herbs, salt and pepper. Mix again to coat vegerables with dressing.

2. Roast, uncovered at 220ºC for 25 minutes. While vegetables are roasting, prepare topping. Combine bread crumbs and Parm cheese in a small bowl and mix well.

3. When the veggies have around 5 more minutes to go in the oven, start grilling the chicken on both sides until it's brown (aprox. 7-8 minutes). Check to make sure it's cooked through. Cover the grilling pan with a big bowl or a wok to keep the heat inside and help it cook evenly. 

4. After the 25 minutes, remove the vegetables from oven. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over the vegetables and then return to oven for 5 minutes, until cheese and crumbs turn a light golden brown. 

5. Pour the sauce generously on top of the grilled chicken and enjoy the decadence! Bon appetit!

Smoked Salmon Avocado Toast

   This recipe is for avocado and smoked salmon lovers! You can use it for breakfast (like us), as an appetizer (when you have guests over) or as a snack during the day. It's very filling and truly delicious!

Ingredients for 4 toasts:

- 4 toasted slices of your favorite bread (we used multi grain)

- 1 ripe avocado

- around 200g sour cream 

- 100g smoked salmon

- a small red onion

Steps:

1. Toast the bread.

2. Peel the avocado and cut it into slices.

3. Dice the onion finely.

4. Set your toast: bread, avocado slices, sour cream, red onion and smoked salmon (in the picture we put the onion on top for presentation).

Bon Appetit! :)

Tuna Salad

   After having some heavy winter dinners we felt like switching things up so tonight we prepared this tuna salad that we love so much (my parents are raving about it even though they don't really try out new dishes a lot). It's so easy, fresh and healthy you will want to go for seconds! :)

Ingredients for 2-3 servings:
2 cans of tuna chunks (I'd recommend chunks instead of shredded tuna because you can get a better taste of the fish this way)
1 can of red beans
4-5 cherry tomatoes
2 cucumbers
1 medium red onion
2 green onions
some olives
a small can of corn
Optional: lettuce

Dressing:
4 Tbsp oil (from the tuna can)
3 garlic cloves
2 tsp grainy mustard
2 Tbsp water
A pinch of salt

Steps:
1. Dice the veggies.
2. Strain the tuna chunks but keep the oil from the can.
3. Make the dressing using oil from the tuna can.
4. Put the veggies, the tuna, the beans and the dressing in a bowl and mix well.
5. Enjoy your healthy dinner! :)

Chicken casserole

   Do you want to cook something new, healthy and easy to make? Try this delicious recipe! I haven't cooked it in years and it surprised me by how much I still love it even after all this time!

Ingredients (3 servings):
- a chicken breast or some boneless chicken thighs
- 2 big potatoes
- around 250g of broccoli
- a medium white onion
- your preffered seasoning for the chicken
- salt and pepper
- a cup of cooking cream
- around a cup of milk
- water to fill the tray

Steps:

1. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and season it with your favorite chicken seasoning.

2. Roughly chop the broccoli, potatoes and onion.

3. Add all the ingredients in a pyrex dish, season with salt and pepper, then mix everything well.

4. Add cooking cream, milk and water over the veggies and chicken until you fill the tray/dish almost completely. Alternatively, you can use milk and sour cream. I used what I had at home.

5. Cook the dish for about 45 minutes at 180 degrees. Check to make sure everything is cooked properly.

6. Enjoy your healthy dinner! :) 

Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Salsa

   I don't know about you, but I just LOVE seafood! Every time I eat it I remember the amazing meals Oli and I had in Iceland where I had fresh seafood for the very first time:) Tonight we decided to go a bit more exotic and we used the hard shells we bought from Canada for some tacos, but I'd advise using soft tortillas instead. They're less crumbly :)

Ingredients:

Avocado salsa:

- 1 small onion

- 1/3 of a hot pepper

- 4 diced Roma tomatoes

- 1/2 avocado

- salt to taste

Shrimp:

- 20 shrimp

- 1 Tbsp sunflower or olive oil

- 1 Tbsp chipotle/chili powder

Steps:

1. Use a food processor for finely chopping all the ingredients for the avocado salsa or if you don't have one (like us), just chop everything into small pieces.

2. Peel and devein the shrimp, then marinate it in the oil and chili powder for about 30 min.

3. Grill the shrimp until translucent, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on each side.

4. Put the hard shells in the oven for the advised time or grill some tortillas.

5. Set the taco: add salsa, 2 or 3 shrimps and sprinkle fresh lime juice on top before serving.

Buen provecho! :D

Home made Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli with Butter Sage sauce

   Home made pasta... a cooking technique in a league of its own! 1000 times more difficult than buying a bag of pasta and boiling it. It takes a free day and a lot of patience. So if you find yourself on a cold winter day with nothing better to do and you feel playful, try this recipe and enjoy the amazing feeling of tasting fresh pasta made with your own two hands.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

Filling:

- 50g boiled or steamed spinach

- 1/2 cup ricotta

- 1 small onion

- 2 tbsp parm cheese (and some for grating at the end)

- salt and pepper

Dough (Jamie Oliver's recipe):

- 100g 000 flour (add extra for rolling out)

- 1 egg (+1 extra for egg wash)

Sauce:

- 4 tbsp butter

- 8 leaves of sage

- juice of half a lemon

Steps:

1. Preparing the filling

- Blend your boiled or steamed spinach until it's soft, then just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until they form a smooth paste. Keep tasting to make sure it is seasoned properly.

2. Making the dough (the most time consuming)

- Start by making sure you have plenty reserves of patience. Then place the flour on a board or in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and crack the egg into it. Beat the egg with a fork until smooth. Using the tips of your fingers, mix the egg with the flour, incorporating a little at a time, until everything is combined. Knead the pieces of dough together – with a bit of work and some love and attention they’ll all bind together to give you one big, smooth lump of dough! 

- Once you’ve made your dough you need to knead and work it with your hands to develop the gluten in the flour, otherwise your pasta will be flabby and soft when you cook it, instead of springy and al dente. 

- There’s no secret to kneading. You just have to bash the dough about a bit with your hands, squashing it into the table, reshaping it, pulling it, stretching it, squashing it again. It’s quite hard work, but don't give up! You’ll know when to stop – it’s when your pasta starts to feel smooth and silky instead of rough and floury. 

- Then all you need to do is wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour before you use it. Make sure the cling film covers it well or it will dry out and go crusty round the edges (this will give you crusty lumps through your pasta when you roll it out, and nobody likes crusty lumps!). It's very important to let the dough rest. Do not skip this step.

3. Rolling the dough: 

- It's easier if you have a pasta machine, but don't despair if you don't. The main problem you'll have (if you're using your rolling pin and not a pasta machine) is getting the pasta thin enough to work with. It's quite difficult to get a big lump of dough rolled out in one piece, and you need a very long rolling pin to do the job properly. The way around this is to roll lots of small pieces of pasta rather than a few big ones. 

4. Adding the filling:

- Once you rolled the pasta in a thin layer (around 1-2 mm), you need to add a full teaspoon of filling at a time (leave around 2 cm on each side of the filling to be able to fold the dough), put egg wash all around the filling and fold the dough over the filling. Gently press the air out around the filling, then start cutting squares or circles between the fillings. To make the ravioli even prettier, put a very small glass on top of the filling (try to find one that is as big as the filling "ball"), then press with your fingers on the dough around the filling to release all the air left. You'll end up with perfectly shaped circular ravioli filling sitting in a square dough.

5. Making the sauce (right before boiling the ravioli):

- Add the butter, sage and lemon juice together in a pan at medium heat until the butter melts and the sage infuses its flavour into the butter.

6, Boiling the pasta and adding the sauce:

- Put a small pot of water to boil adding a bit of salt. When it starts boiling, add your ravioli for 1:30 min, then take them out and coat them in the butter sage sauce. Plate around 5 ravioli per serving, making sure you leave the sage leaves in the pan.

7. Enjoy!

- Add some grated parm cheese on top and let yourself be delighted by the delicious taste of the spinach ricotta filling and the silky pasta combined with the tingy lemon-sage sauce. Bon appetit!