Food Bloggers Conference Winter Edition

One of the most expected days of the year is here!!!
Food Bloggers Conference is here!!!!

I loove the atmosphere, the stories, the food and the excitement of finding out new and interesting things.


The wine presentation with tips and tricks was very interesting, the next day I ordered a special cork opener I saw here.


And I discovered new wines with funny names, like Cramposie...


The chef's stories were interesting and engaging as always. It's always a treat to hear their stories.


Maybe next time they will invite Ciprian Muntele a d he can tell us stories about food and cats ;)

And not to forget to mention the Lidl wall, with donuts and tasty spoons. They charm and feed us every time, no wonder is my favourite supermarket!

Peg's pineapple carrot cake

Let's go to Australia for dessert

1 cup plain flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 cup raw sugar, 1 cup grated carrot, 1/2 x 440g can crushed pineapple in juice, well drained, 1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts, plus extra 2 tablespoons to decorate, 1/2 cup sultanas, 2 eggs, 5 tablespoons vegetable oil

Lemon cream cheese icing: 125g cream cheese, softened, 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind, 1 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture

Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan-forced. Grease a 6cm-deep, 20cm round cake pan. Line base and side with baking paper.
Sift flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in raw sugar, carrot, pineapple, walnuts and sultanas. Make a well. Whisk eggs and oil in a jug. Pour into well. Stir to combine. Pour mixture into prepared pan.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of cake comes out clean. Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Turn, top-side up, onto a baking paper-lined wire rack. Cool completely.
Make Lemon Cream Cheese Icing: Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and rind until smooth. Gradually add icing sugar, beating well after each addition.
Spread icing on top of cake. Decorate with extra walnuts. Serve.

Espresso Choco Fudge

200 g dark chocolate, 100 g milk chocolate, coffee flavour, 400 g sweetened condensed milk, raisins, nuts, candied orange

Line a square container (about 15 x 15 cm) with baking paper. 

Coarsely chop the bittersweet and milk chocolate. Put in a saucepan with condensed milk, melt it on a low heat. Mix it with chopped nuts, candied orange or raisins. Add good liquor if you want.

Put the chocolate mass approx. 2 cm high in the mold, smooth it out. Cover and allow to cool for at least 8 hours.

Carefully loosen the paper on the edge. Cut fudge into approx. 50 cubes (approx. 2 x 2 cm), put them into a tin. Store in a cool place. They last about 2 weeks.

Grandpa Beard's upside-down ginger cake

I don't know who Grandpa Beard is, but his cake is absolutely delicious...

125g plain flour, half tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1tsp ground cinnamon, 1tsp ground ginger, quarter tsp grated nutmeg, pinch of ground cloves, 1 egg, 125g light brown sugar, 90g black treacle, 125ml soured milk (to create soured milk, add a few drops of lemon juice to fresh milk), 50g melted butter, clotted cream, to serve
Topping: 50g unsalted butter, 100g light brown sugar, 400g pear halves, walnut halves, to decorate

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. To make the topping, gently melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the sugar and stir for 1-2 minutes. Smooth over the base of a 20cm cake tin with a removable base, 7cm deep. Arrange the pears on top, cut-side down, with a few walnuts around the outside, flat-side down.
To make the cake, sift the flour, bicarb and spices into a bowl, and add a quarter teaspoon of fine sea salt. Blend the egg, sugar, treacle, soured milk and butter in a separate large bowl, and fold in the flour mixture. Beat with a wooden spoon for 1 minute, and the pour the mixture over the fruit in the tin. Put on a baking tray and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean (try to skewer a patch with cake rather than a pear....like, doh!). Remove from the oven, run a knife around the edge and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.
To serve, remove the collar and invert the cake onto a plate or cake stand. Enjoy warm or at room temperature (but avoid chilling), with a dollop of clotted cream on the side if you wish.

Zucchini Baba Ganoush

It's summer, there are zucchini and courgettes everywhere.

If you had enough aubergine baba ganoush, you shoud try this one.

I tried it once, made another one one week later with some modifications

Here is where I found the recipe: http://www.manuskitchen.com/2015/02/ottolenghitamimi-inspired-zucchini-baba.html

So it goes like this:

3-4 zucchini or courgettes, 1 clove crushed garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper

For the chilli butter: 2 tablespoons butter, 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons pine nuts

For dressing: 1/4 greek yoghurt, handful of chopped fresh parsley, 1 tablespoon of za'atar

Start by putting the oven on grill mode. Place the whole zucchini on a baking tray and grill for 40-45 minutes until crisp and blackened out the outside, turning half way through cooking. 

While the zucchini is in the oven, make the chilli butter. Melt the butter in a pan, add the pine nuts and cook for 2-3 minutes. Do not let the pine nuts brown too much or they will become bitter. Add the chilli flakes and lemon juice and let sit until needed. 

Once the zucchini is cooked and cooled, remove their skins. (They should peel off very easily). Scoop out the insides of the zucchini into a colander to discard all of the excess liquid. 

Mash the garlic and zucchini together with a pinch of salt and pepper. 

Put the zucchini mixture on a plate and top with the greek yoghurt, the za'atar, the chilli pine nut butter and sprinkle with the parsley. 

Pan-Fried Honey Bananas

Found this recipe on the internet and I decided to give it a try.

It really takes 5 minutes and the result is sooo yummy.

2 ripe bananas, 1 tbsp oil or butter, 2 tbsp honey, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/8 tsp salt

Remove the peels from the bananas and slice them 1/2" inch thick.
Set a nonstick skillet over medium to medium high heat and add the oil or butter, honey, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine.
Add the banana slices, and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden and caramelized. Be sure to watch the heat and turn it down if it browns too quickly. You want enough heat to caramelize and brown the slices, but you don’t want them to burn.
The End.

Cappuccino de fenouil

A vegetarian dish, easy to make, from a French magazine

5 fennel bulbs with their green tips, 1.5 liters of vegetable broth, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, 350 ml of warm skimmed milk, celery salt

Wash, dry and cut the fennel bulbs into pieces. Keep some tips for the finish. Cook the pieces of fennel in a saucepan with the vegetable broth for 30 minutes. Salt with celery salt. Mix the fennel in the blender. Put the mixture back in a saucepan and add the fennel seeds. Hold on low heat. Decorate with the fennel tips.

Food Bloggers Conference Summer Edition

 Yey, yey the Food Bloggers Conference Day is here!
What did I like the most?


Dexter stories about food photography? His panel was so interesting and filled with useful information and loads of laughs...

D'Artagnan's stories about the life of a chef in Romania, with its challenges  and victories?

Or the girls adventures with the food blogs?
It's always a pleasure to hear Mazi's stories or Teo's adventures...

 Can't wait for the next edition :D

Beef cheek with red wine

I just bought a slow cooker and this is the first recipe I tried.

It's really easy to make and quite tasty.

2 beef cheeks (1 kg), 150 gr chopped onions, 75 gr chopped carrots, 75 gr chopped celery, 2 cloves of garlic, rosemary, thyme, 500 ml beef stock, 250 ml red wine dry, 30 gr honey, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 30 gr butter, salt & pepper

Grease the beef cheeks with olive oil, salt and pepper. Leave at the room temperature for 1 hour before cooking.

Fry the meat for 3-4 minutes on each side, in a tablespoon of olive oil. Put the meat in a slow cooker.

Fry the vegetables in the rest of olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the stock and wine and let it boil. Spice it up with the honey, salt and pepper.

Put everything in the slowcooker and cook it for 8 hours on low setting.

Take the meat out and keep it warm.

Strain the sauce and puree it with a little bit of butter. Add salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve the meat with the sauce and a potato puree.

Maple Chicken 'N' Ribs

This is a mixture of chicken & ribs Nigella style

12 pork spare ribs, 12 chicken thighs with skin and bone still on, 250 millilitres apple juice (as sharp as possible), 4 tablespoons maple syrup, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick (halved)

Put the ribs and chicken pieces in a couple of large freezer bags or into a dish.
Add the remaining ingredients, squelching everything together well, before sealing the bag or covering the dish.
Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or up to two days.
When the marinating time is up, take the dish out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/gas mark 6/400ºF.
Pour the contents of the freezer bag into one or two large roasting tins (making sure the chicken is skin-side up), place in the oven and cook for about an hour and a quarter, by which time everything should be sticky and glossed conker-brown.