Monday, November 26, 2007

Step By Step Photo Recipe: Bolognese Tart

We were making Pasta alla Bolognese, but I decided to try something little different - Bolognese Tart. And the result was great!


Bolognese is so well known sauce that sometimes it's seams to me that we take it for granted. Well I encourage you to play with it because it is so simple sauce but and it can surprise you what wonderful combinations with Bolognese sauce are out there which just wait to be discovered!


For tart dough I used recipe from Lentils Patties.


Once you prepare Bolognese and dough , rest was quite simple and I believe the photo guide will be sufficient...















PS: I'll send this recipe for this months WTSIM... Topless Tart

Thursday, November 22, 2007

This is not a post about how to make egg-coated chicken with sweet and sour sauce!

I really like to eat egg-coated chicken with sweet and sour sauce!

Especially when I prepare the sauce and Stiv fries egg-coated chicken. I do not know what exactly he does, but he prepares definitely the best fried egg-coated chicken.


This is not a post about how to make egg-coated chicken with sweet and sour sauce!





One of the reasons that makes me soo happy to prepare egg-coated chicken with sweet and sour sauce are leftovers of egg- coating which we use for making little fry breads! They are delicious even the morning after!


Combine leftovers of egg-coating with breadcrumbs, add little of spices as you like it, and drop the mixture by tablespoons into hot oil. Fry until light brown, roll them so they cook evenly on both sides.

Do not fry them too long because thy can soak lots of oil, and we don't want that.


Once fried, put the breads on thick kitchen paper to soak excess oil. If I'm using them nex day, I keep them in the fridge.


Next morning, worm them just a bit, take fresh cheese, slice cherry tomatoes, and you have delicious breakfast!





I'll send this post to Nandita for her blogevent Weekend Breakfast Blogging


Monday, November 19, 2007

Inside the Town's Belly

just a few photos of the inside part of the Dolac market. Please look the photos of the outdoor part here.

As I said before this photos were taken with no intention to be published, all this photos are taken with mobile phone camera, so they are not too good and I promise to try to make some more appropriate with much more detail soon....







My own Shopping Mecca!



Let me introduce you Dolac - the belly of the Zagreb, one of the oldest and biggest (so they say, I wouldn't know for sure) European open air farmers market. It was open in 1930, it works 7 days a week, in the very center of the town and offers wide selection of fresh, local products, fruits, vegetables....

Outdoor part of the Dolac seams like big square but actually it is the roof of the indoor market where you can find dairy products like meat, milk, cheese, nuts...

These photos are taken during my several visits to Dolac. I did not take them with intention to publish them so they are not too good, some of them are taken with my mobile phone camera, but it will give you at least a bit of Dolac charm and beauty....

The outdoor part:



















Thursday, November 15, 2007

Ain't life beautiful!


This really was exacting week!
Firstly my recipe for Green Tomatoes and Aceto Balsamico Jam entered among six finalist of Green Tomato Contest at Apartment Therapy: the Kitchen!

I would like to thanks to all who voted for me. I didn't win, but it was fun anyway. And it seam that I'm going to get some kind of present packet from Apartment Therapy: the Kitchen! And I'm such a sucker for presents!
Thanks AT!

As this was not enough I earned my very first 0,03$ form Amazon Associates!

The true is that I didn't exactly sell any book from my lists, but somewhere, there in blogoshphere there is an blogger who entered Amazone site thru mine blog and purchased some book... and I goot 0,03$ from that order!
I would like to thank him/her too!

Ain't life beautiful!

Friday, November 9, 2007

I'm the fourth of six Finalist - Green Tomato Contest


I can't believe, my recipe for Green Tomatoes and Aceto Balsamico Jam entered among six finalist of Green Tomato Contest at Apartment Therapy: the Kitchen

Check it out here and vote for my recipe - off course only if you think it deserves it!

Than you all in advance!

Monday, November 5, 2007

Green Tomatoes and Aceto Balsmico Jam - Why not?!


I never ate green tomatoes. I only saw the movie. So I was surprised when I stumble upon bench with green tomatoes last Sunday on Dolac (the biggest open market in Zagreb). I remember reading about green tomatoes contest at Apartment Therapy, so I thought: "Why not?!"


The farmer who sold them told me that they are used for pickling, but I was feeling little more adventurous than that. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to play with my green tomatoes during the weekend so, once again, I had to improvise. I, literally, run trough Google search results for "green tomatoes" and end up with something completely new.


I decided to do some kind of jam, but I discovered that I do not have any lemon, and all of the green tomatoes jam recipes I found used lemon. Since it was Sunday, late at night, I decided to use Aceto Balsamico instead of lemon. And what a great combination Aceto Balsmico and green tomatoes turn out to be.


I have to admit I'm really very proud of this one because it was complete improvisation with something I've never not just cooked but not even tasted before.


Green Tomatoes and Aceto Balsmico Jam

5 green tomatoes

Aceto Balsamico

Brown Shugar

3 pieces of Clove

2,5 gr gelatin

cinnamon, pimenta, honey



In a stainless bowl, layer thin slices of green tomatoes and dark brown sugar, sprinkle with Aceto balsamico. let macerate overnight.



This is how it looked in the morning.



The next day, separate tomatoes from liquid. Put liquid into pan. Add amount of water equal to amount of liquid from tomatoes . Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes, cloves, cinnamon, piment and more sugar (the amount of sugar depends of your taste. I added less sugar but I did add more honey at the end to make it sweeter).

Cook jam for one hour, boiling briskly and stirring so it doesn’t burn.



Mix the gelatin with 3 spoons of cold water and leave it for 10 minutes to swell up.

Take the tomatoes mixture off the heath. Add one spoon of honey. Add gelatin and stir for additional 5 - 10 minutes until gelatin melt completely.


Transfer to a warmed sterile jars.