egg bread buns

This kids recipe in very original and easy. To make it short, it’s the perfect recipe for kids who want to learn to cook. If you tell me otherwise, I simply won’t believe you. Unless you don’t know how to break eggs?

It’s really something fun to do with your kids. Put all your ingredients on the table and you will see your little darlings coming to see what’s happening. This time, eggs will not be cooked in boiling water but rather in the oven. Once the cooking finished, you will present your bread buns filled with egg, cream, tomato and parsley. Your kids will find them so good and pretty that they will be asking for all year long. A bun per person is more than enough. You can take two kinds of rolls (campaign and white). Take white bread as it tastes better for this recipe. The whole is satisfying, add a little dessert right after and I don’t think children will call you for something else today. Read also: How To Make Beautiful Baguettes Bread at Home Preparation time: 5 min Cooking time: 10 minutes, but you can easily put 20 Ingredients: Egg Bread Buns Serves 4 Small round buns (preferably white bread) 4 small eggs 4 tbsp. coffee cream 8 cherry tomatoes 4 tablespoons (50 g) grated cheese Chopped parsley Salt and pepper Preparation: Egg Bread Buns - Preheat oven to 360°F ( 180°c) and cover your plate with parchment paper so that your buns do not stick to it. - Head off the buns, reserving little hats for the future. - Remove much of the bread without breaking the back, press down with your fingers to make a well. - Cut the cherry tomatoes in quarters. - Pour 1 tsp. coffee cream into the bottom of your bread. - Break the egg over, add the halved cherry tomatoes, sprinkle with grated cheese and parsley. You’ll probably have a little egg that could run down. It does not matter. - Add salt, pepper and close with ”hats”. - Then put the bread on the plate and bake at least 10 min. You can go up to 20 mn without worrying, depending on your taste. Serve hot, with a green salad and your meal is ready. So what do you think of this easy kids recipe?

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Falafil

Preparation and cooking times
Preparation time 10 mins
Cooking time 6 mins
Vegetarian

Ingredients - Serves 4

400g can chickpeas , rinsed and drained
garlic clove , chopped
handful of flat-leaf parsley or curly parsley
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1⁄2 tsp harissa paste or chilli powder
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp sunflower oil
toasted pitta bread
200g tub tomato salsa , to serve
green salad , to serve
1 small red onion , roughly chopped

Preparation

1. Pat the chickpeas dry with kitchen paper. Tip into a food processor along with the onion, garlic, parsley, spices, flour and a little salt. Blend until fairly smooth, then shape into four patties with your hands.
2. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan, add the burgers, then quickly fry for 3 mins on each side until lightly golden. Serve with toasted pittas, tomato salsa and a green salad.

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Hummus

Ingredients:

• 1 can of Garbanzo Beans

• 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• 1 clove of Garlic

• Juice of 1 Lemon

• 2-3 tbsp Tahini Sauce

• Salt

Preparation:

Drain 1/3 the water from the can of garbanzo beans into a bowl and keep it aside first; it shall be used later on. Then, mix the Garbanzo beans with the other ingredients in a blender. Blend the ingredients for 1-2 minutes. If it looks smooth already, it’s good to go. In order to create more fluid consistency, you can add some water and blend it with the mixed ingredients. Once everything has been blended, Hummus is ready to serve.

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Beer-onion soup – take 1

This is an attempt in a variation of the traditional French onion soup which came out tasty, but with a few things which need improvement – so I’ll have to try it again later. I’ve been with a cold lately, and my doctor said that soups would be a good thing to have. Mostly I wanted to have something light for dinner after a heavy lunch, so an onion soup seemed like a good idea.

Getting home I realized that it wouldn’t be a smooth ride. I only had one (medium) onion, and I’d need at least two of them – next time I’ll definitely use more. I also didn’t have any wine leftovers, and since I’m taking some medication for the cold and can’t drink alcohol, I didn’t want to open a full bottle to use only 1/2 cup, so I decided to use beer instead (as I had already tried, and liked, a Guiness stout onion soup in one of my favorite pubs), so I used a local lager, with good results. I also tried to cut corners and use a simple toasted sliced bread, but it wasn’t dry enough and ended up quite soggy, but next time I’ll try to get some hard bread or day-old baguette. Finally, I only had some Colby-Jack cheese so that’s what I used, but some harder cheese will probably be better. In the end, the soup itself was good, but we ended up scooping the bread out of the bowl and discarding it.

Ingredients (for 2 people):

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced (the best amount would be 1 small / medium onion per person
• 2 tbsp. butter
• salt & pepper
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 12-oz. bottle of beer (I used a lager; a darker one would work too – lighter beers probably won’t work as well)
• 2 toasted slices of bread (as I mentioned, it didn’t work well – I’ll try it again with either store-bought croutons or a harder bread)
• 2 slices of Colby-jack cheese
• Parsley for decoration

Melt the butter in a medium pan and add the onion, salt and pepper, cooking for about 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly, until the onions are browned. Add the stock and the beer and scrape off the pan, and mix it well again, cooking for another 10 minutes over medium heat.

Transfer the soup to oven-safe bowls, top it with the bread, then the cheese, and add them to an oven pre-heated to 400ºF (200ºC). I find that placing the bowls in an oven tray helps getting them out easier. Bake it for 10 minutes until the cheese is melted; if you have a broiler you can also use it to speed up the baking (in ~3-5 minutes the cheese should be good).

Top with a small parsley sprig and enjoy!

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Beets/parsnip soup

In my daughter’s school the parents association often prepare something for the teachers, as a way to thank them for taking good care of our children. It’s a nice gesture, and whenever we can we try to participate. Last week they decided to prepare a “soup lunch”, where many parents would bring soups and we offered to prepare something. Since I imagined most people would bring “traditional” soups, I decided to try something different, and when I saw some beets on the supermarket, it looked like a good idea.

Having never prepared a beet soup before, I didn’t know whether the beets would stand on its own or it needed something to thicken the soup. Potatoes were an option, but since I was trying something new, I decided to go with parsnips, which I had tried in a soup a while back and gave a nice aroma to the dish.

It turned out to be quite good (and, indeed, very different). The bright burgundy color was really enticing, and offered a good contrast for the decoration. The only problem I had was that I think I used too much salt, to balance the sweetness of the beets; next time I’ll just less salt and embrace the “beetness” of the soup instead.

Ingredients (for 8-10 people):

• 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
• 5 beets (~2” diameter), peeled, chopped in small pieces
• 2 parsnips, peeled, chopped in small pieces
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• salt & pepper
• parsley and cream for decoration

In a large pan, heat the oil, then add the onions and season them with salt and pepper. Fry them until they’re golden brown. Add the beets then add the stock and water, and bring it to a boil. The beets take a long time to cook, so chopping them in small pieces helps making the process faster.

When the beets look almost fork-tender, add the parsnips and cook for another 10-20 minutes, until the parsnips themselves are fork-tender. Using a blender (or an immersion blender, which I did), purée the soup until it’s clear of any lumps. Adjust the salt (careful on this step), and serve with a sprig of parsley and a touch of cream. The soup can be prepared a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator, just reheat it (adding some water if necessary) prior to serving.

Enjoy!

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Green eggs and ham – take 1

Even though we don’t have any Irish heritage in our family (as far as I know), St. Patrick’s Day is kind of a big deal here in the US, so my daughter asked if we were going to do something to celebrate it. I actually find it quite fun – there’s a St. Patrick’s Day street race which I’ve been many times, there’s green everywhere, and there’s beer (sometimes green too). And since my kids still like Dr. Seuss’ books (including “Green Eggs and Ham”), I tried to mix those together as the dinner theme… And I’ll definitely need to improve my presentation skills for this one.

I imagined it would be quite easy to do that – while cooking the eggs, drop some food coloring on the yolk and that would be it. Well, not as easy. The drops started falling off the yolk into the whites, and trying to do “bring them back up” only caused one of the yolks to break… The ham steak wasn’t as hard, although the color wasn’t as uniform as I’d like. The kids actually liked it, though, so I’ll likely try it again next year, this time trying something different to make the picture as it is below (minus Sam-I-Am).

Ingredients (for 2 people):

• 1 large ham steak
• 2 eggs
• green food coloring
• 1/2 tbsp. butter

Prepare the eggs: in a large non-stick pan, melt the butter and add the eggs at least 1” apart (so they don’t mix). Cover with a lid and wait for about 30-60 seconds, until the yolk starts hardening. Carefully drop some green food coloring on the yolks, and, using a brush, very lightly bring the drops up as the gravity brings them toward the white. When they’re done enough, remove and reserve.

In the same pan, add the ham steak and drop some more food coloring on it, brushing it on its surface. Cook it for 3 minutes on one side, then turn it and add some more drops of the coloring.

Enjoy!

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(Not) Chicken tikka masala

Ever since moving to the US, I started trying (and liking) the many Indian restaurants which exist around here. One of my favorite dishes is the Chicken tikka masala, a dish made with chicken chunks in a creamy sauce. But I always thought that it would be hard to make, so when I found one recipe for that dish which was supposed to be easy (“Quick Chicken Tikka Masala”) I decided to give it a try. And… it definitely wasn’t the same thing as I had tried – it tasted good, but I don’t think I can call that by the original name.

The chicken was not cubed, but that wasn’t the main issue (I could easily have done that myself). The sauce, instead of the rich, creamy sauce I was used to, was a chunky, lighter version. Maybe using cream instead of yogurt, and possibly not blending the sauce caused that, so some later time I’ll have to try a different recipe to see if it will work out better. At the end it was tasty, as I mentioned before, and indeed quite quick, but it didn’t meet the expectations that I had for that dish.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

1 lb. chicken tenders

1/2 cup flour

4 tsp. garam masala (a blend of spices used in many Indian dishes; I found it in my local supermarket)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. turmeric

1 large onion, finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

4 tbsp. olive oil

4 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced

1/3 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup parsley for decoration

Stir the garam masala, salt and turmeric. Sprinkle the chicken with 1/2 of the mixture and reserve the rest. Dredge the chicken on the flour, then cook it on a large skillet with 2 tbsp. of the oil over medium heat, about 2 minutes per side until brown, then reserve.

Heat the remaining oil on the pan, then add the onions, garlic and ginger, cooking until they start to brown, stirring frequently. Add the remaining spice mix and stir. Add the tomatoes, and bring it to a simmer, stirring and breaking the tomatoes. Cook for another 5 minutes, until it thickens.

Stir in the cream and the chicken. Cook over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.

Garnish with the parsley, then serve with white rice.

Enjoy!

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Vietnamese Chicken-Noodle Salad

Ingredients 

3/4 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges, for serving
3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
8 ounces rice vermicelli
cooked chicken, shredded (about 3 cups)
2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
1 carrot, shredded
2 cups mixed herbs, such as cilantro, basil and mint


Directions 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread the sesame seeds on a rimmed baking sheet and toast for about 5 minutes, until golden. Transfer to a food processor. Add the oil, lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, ginger and 3 tablespoons of water. Puree until smooth and season the sauce with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, soak the rice noodles in boiling water until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and rinse the noodles under running cold water to cool; drain well.

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, celery, carrot, herbs and two-thirds of the sesame sauce. Season with salt and pepper and toss to evenly coat. Serve the noodles topped with the chicken salad, along with lime wedges and the remaining sauce on the side.

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Indian Spiced Chickpea Salad

Ingredients:

1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp peanut oil (or other high smokepoint oil)
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 cans chickpeas, drained and well-rinsed
3/4 cups plain yogurt
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 green onions thinly sliced
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint
salt to taste


Directions

Measure out cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes and combine, crushing slightly with mortar and pestle or heavy meat mallet if desired. 

Heat oil in large heavy frying pan until shimmering. Add mustard seeds, cover pan, and cook until popping stops, about 1 minute. Remove lid and add cumin seed/fennel seed/red pepper mixture and cook, stirring for 30 seconds. (Be careful not to burn these aromatic ingredients. Lower heat and add chickpeas, then cook 3-4 minutes, stirring a few times so the chickpeas are well-coated with oil. Turn off heat and let chickpeas cool about 15 minutes.

While chickpeas cool, slice scallions, and finely chop mint and cilantro. Stir together yogurt and lemon juice in a medium-sized glass (or other non-reactive) mixing bowl. When chickpeas are cooled nearly to room temperature, add them to yogurt mixture and stir to combine. Then gently fold in sliced scallions, chopped mint, and chopped cilantro. Season with salt, then let sit at least 15 minutes for flavors to combine. Serve salad at room temperature.

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Russian Salad

Russian Salad Recipe:

• 2 medium potatoes
• 1 cup of green beans
• 1 cup of carrots
• 1 16 oz can of pineapple tidbits
• 2 cups of grapes
• 1 green apple and 1 red apple
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 1 cup of mayonnaise
• a few teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• a few teaspoons of sugar

Cut the carrots and green beans into half inch strips and set aside. Peel and dice the potatoes into bite size pieces as well and set aside. Boil all three of these vegetables (separately since they have different cooking times) until they are cooked but still have a bite to them. You shouldn’t overcook them because they will become too mushy in the salad and that won’t be good!

Next cut the grapes in half, dice the apples into small pieces, and drain the pineapple tidbits and set aside.

Place all the vegetables and fruits into a large bowl. Whisk together the sour cream, mayo, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sugar until smooth. Then pour over the salad mixture and combine. Refrigerate overnight, it tastes best when it’s very very cold.

[the picture above is garnished on the part of my sister in law :-) with a tomato peel rose and mint leaves]

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