Vessy's day » Pizza & Pasta

Wild mushroom risotto with mascarpone

Vessy — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:33:50 +0000

This creamy, flavorful risotto is one of those perfect quick dinner recipes that my family and I love on a midweek night. It is ready in 30 minutes, healthy and delicious, plus, you know, nothing is better than a homemade warm meal, after a long day of work.
Recipe includes wild Chanterelle mushrooms and mascarpone cheese. Substitute the wild mushrooms with any other kind your have on hands or prefer! Mascarpone cheese makes risotto creamier and richer, but you can use cream cheese or a little bit of cooking cream instead, if you wish.
Add more or less cheese, mushrooms and adjust the seasoning according to your taste!

Ingredients:
250 grams (9 oz) Chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and patted dry
Fresh thyme
2 table spoons butter
3 table spoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
3 garlic cloves, minced
200 grams (7 oz) risotto rice (Arborio)
600 ml. hot vegetable broth
100 grams (3,5 oz) mascarpone cheese
Parmigiano reggiano optional

Salt and pepper

In a small saucepan heat the butter. Add mushrooms with thyme and cook until soft and golden brown. Set aside.
Prepare broth – you will need about two and a half times the quantity of the rice you are cooking, so if you have 200 grams of rice, you will need about 500 ml. of broth. You will have to adjust the quantity of the broth on the go, depending on the type of rice you cook. Keep the broth hot until needed.
In a large saucepan heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent and softer. Turn the heat down to medium and add the garlic. Cook for a minute, then add the rice and mix with the onion and garlic, just enough to heat it, not fry it (on low heat).
Turn the heat up a bit and gradually start adding the broth, part by part as you stir the rice repeatedly – stirring is important because it helps the rice to loose the starch, which creates nice creamy texture of the sauce. Make sure to stir your rice almost constantly but gently because you don’t want to smash it. Let the rice absorb almost all of the part broth you have added, before you add more broth. Keep adding broth until the rice is almost cooked – the rice should be al dente and moist – this means that risotto is usually served with it’s creamy sauce. If you let the broth evaporates completely while your rice is cooking, then you will not have the creamy sauce. If you see that risotto gets dry but it is almost cooked, then add just enough broth to moisten it.
Total time for cooking the rice is about 20-25 minutes, so about 2-3 minutes before the rice is ready add the mushrooms and stir.
Turn the heat off and add the mascarpone, stir gently to combine and season with salt and pepper.
Serve with grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Healthy pizza with mozzarella & cherry tomatoes

Vessy — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 12:51:04 +0000

Oh, dear delicious pizza! This pizza is not only super delicious but it’s also a bit healthier than any other regular pizza. The dough is made of black wheat organic flour and rolled into a thin layer, so we don’t feel guilty about having too much dough.
Usually when I make bread or dough out of whole wheat flour, or mix different healthy flours, like rice, nut, quinoa or buckwheat, I add an egg or two to keep the dough from crumbling and falling apart after baking. If you prefer to have an egg-less dough, feel free to skip it, but keep in mind that your pizza will be a bit delicate and will most probably brake easily.

For the dough (makes 2×30 cm. / 2x12inch pizzas):
470 grams (16,60 oz) organic black wheat flour
50 grams (2 oz) rice flour
10 grams (0,35 oz) easy blend yeast
Salt and pepper to taste
230 ml. warm water
1 tea spoon sugar
2-3 table spoons olive oil
1 egg (lightly beaten)

For the topping:
Tomato puree
Cherry tomatoes
Mozzarella cheese, sliced
Fresh or dry basil
Black olives, chopped
Slat & pepper
Olive oil
A handful of rocket

Prepare the dough:In a large bowl, add the black wheat flour, rice flour, easy blend yeast, salt and pepper. Mix to combine.
In a small bowl add water, sugar, olive oil and the egg.
Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and knead until you form a nice ball of dough, a bit hard to the touch. Push the dough with the tip of your finger, your finger will make a hole in dough. You will know the dough is ready if the dough brings back it’s round form, and your fingerprint hole disappears quickly.
Transfer the dough to another bowl, greased with olive oil. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and set aside to rise. Once the dough doubles it’s size, knead again and divide into two equal balls.
Preheat your oven to 180C fan-forced (350F).
Roll each ball into a circle and place on a greased pizza baking sheet. Brush the top of the rolled pizza dough with olive oil.
Spread a thin layer of the tomato pure over the pizza dough, sprinkle with cherry tomatoes, olives, season with salt, pepper and basil. Top with the mozzarella slices and bake for about 25 minutes.
Once ready, remove from the oven and sprinkle a little bit of olive oil on top. Serve hot from the oven with a side of rocket.

Risotto with scamorza and olives

Vessy — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 14:19:06 +0000

One of my favorite vegetarian recipes – creamy risotto with olives, scamorza and cherry tomatoes.
Risotto is very easy to prepare and super quick, so it is perfect for a mid week dinner at home.
I have written all steps, tips and tricks of making a good creamy risotto below.
Hope you will enjoy it!

Ingredients:
160 grams (5.6 oz) risotto rice
About 350 ml. hot vegetable broth
7-8 cherry tomatoes
50-60 grams (2 oz) of black olives
A couple of table spoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped finely
About 70 grams (2-3 oz) scamorza cheese, shredded
Basil
Thyme

Prepare the broth – you will need about two and a half times the quantity of the rice you are cooking, so if you have 160 grams of rice, you will need about 350-390 ml. of broth. You will have to adjust the quantity of the broth on the go, depending on the type of rice you cook.
Start by cooking the onions in the olive oil on low heat. Cook until translucent and soft. Add the rice and mix with the onions, just enough to heat it, not fry it ( on low heat).
Turn the heat up on medium and gradually start adding the hot broth, part by part as you stir the rice repeatedly – stirring is important because it helps the rice to loose the starch, which creates nice creamy texture of the sauce. Make sure to stir your rice almost constantly but gently because you don’t want to smash it. Let the rice absorb almost all of the part broth you have added, before you add more broth. Keep adding broth until the rice is almost cooked – the rice should be al dente and moist – this means that risotto is usually served with it’s creamy sauce. The creamy sauce comes from the broth and the starch that the rice looses. If you see that your risotto gets dry but it is almost cooked and you have to take it off the heat, then just add enough broth to moisten it and cook it for another minute.

Total time for cooking the rice is about 20-25 minutes, so usually about 3-5 minutes before the rice is ready add the olives, cherry tomatoes, thyme, basil and scamorza cheese. Stir to distribute the cheese evenly.

Pizza with salami, onions and mozzarella

Vessy — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 19:28:31 +0000

Because the lack of time for cooking, I noticed that lately, I more often consider eating junk food. I couldn’t believe I am in such phase, so I decided that if I am going to eat junk, at least I will make it myself – like this amazing home-made pizza, hot from the oven, with a lot of cheese and salami, a little spicy and the perfect size! All this is true about this pizza, because I made it myself, at home, in my own kitchen! When cooking, yourself, you have the power to control the taste of your meal – if you want it spicier, or milder, with many, many cheese, or no cheese – you make your own pizza!

It is crime to order pizza, if you can make it yourself for less than an hour, and make it just as you like ti! So, if you feel like staying in, then I recommend a big plate of pizza, board games or movie and a glass of your favorite drink – how does this sound?

It will be even healthier if you make your own pizza dough, use this healthy and low on calories recipe for dough.

Ingredients:
Ready-made pizza pastry (home made healthy dough)
1 onion – sliced
1 can tomato puree
1 large tomato, cut into small pieces
2 table spoons olive oil
300 grams of your favorite salami (cut into small pieces)
1 table spoon oregano
1 table spoon basil
250 grams shredded mozzarella cheese
Salt & pepper

Heat your oven to 180 C (350 F).
Line a pizza baking sheet/large shallow baking tray with baking paper.
Spray the baking paper with olive oil and spread the pizza dough.
Spread one layer of the tomato puree over the dough. then, sprinkle with the cut tomato, salami, onions, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Add evenly the mozzarella, as much as you prefer, more or less!
Bake 25 minutes.
Serve hot with this amazing lime-chilli mayo sauce.

Spinach pasta with bacon and cream

Vessy — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 18:15:48 +0000

Today I am sharing with you guys one of those quick and easy pasta recipes, which makes your weekdays much more enjoyable.

This pasta is just amazing – it is creamy, has pieces of crisp bacon and spinach to add a bit of freshness to the sauce.

Ingredients:
350 grams pasta (of your choice)
300 grams spinach (cleaned and cut into small pieces)
200 ml. heavy cooking cream
3-4 table spoons milk
5-6 garlic cloves minced
1 onion (chopped into small pieces)
2 table spoons olive oil
200 grams bacon, cut into small pieces (optional)
Salt and pepper
Chili flakes

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet/saucepan. Cook the onions, garlic and bacon until crisp and lightly brown.

Add the spinach and cook until it softens. Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes (optional).

Add the cream and mix well. If the sauce seems too thick, use a couple of table spoons milk to thin it a bit.

Add the pasta to the sauce and mix well.

Serve hot!

Steamed clams with white wine

Vessy — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 18:24:35 +0000

Imagine my face when I saw these little, delicious, fresh clams nicely placed on the fish counter.

I didn’t have to think even for a second whether to buy or not… well, I was actually wondering whether to buy scallops as well, as they were so pretty and finely arranged next to the clams. But of course I could not resist to buy the clams. May be it will sound weird, but clams are very rare to be found in Bulgaria. They are certainly a delicacy, since I have seen them in a restaurant menu only a few times, and therefore, you can’t purchase them everyday from every store around.

In Bulgaria we have mussels, mussel farms and special restaurants where all you can eat is mussels, including desserts with mussels.

But anyone who have tried both mussels and clams would agree that clams can not be compared with anything – the taste is amazing, lighter, the texture is more delicate and not to forget the fact that clams do not need so much of cleaning procedures than the mussels.

All in all – one of my favorite seafood treat!

Serve them with buttery pasta and melted butter on the side and everyone will fall in love with this meal instantly.

Ingredients:

800 grams clams, rinsed and cleaned

1 large onion, finely chopped

5-6 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup (250 ml.) white wine

5 table spoons olive oil

1 tea spoon chili powder

2 table spoons finely chopped parsley

1 tea spoon lime juice

Salt & Pepper

5 table spoons butter

For the pasta:
150 grams uncooked pasta (of your choice)
2-3 table spoons butter
Salt and Pepper

Clean the clams:

Place them in a large bowl and cover with water, let them sit for 20 minutes. While sitting the sand (if any) will come out of the clams and set in the bottom of the bow. Carefully transfer the clams into another bowl. Make sure to do that using a spatula, since you do not want the sand to come back into the clams. Cover with water again and let them sit for another 20 minutes.

Remove from the water and rinse.

Heat the olive oil on medium high in a large saucepan, cook the onions and garlic until lightly crisp and brown.

Add the chili, salt, pepper and the wine.

Cook the wine for 5-6 minutes until it starts to boil.

Add the the clams and cover with the lit until they open up. Stir a couple of times.

Discard all of the clams which did not open from the cooking.
Melt the butter in a small bowl and set aside.

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Once ready, strain, but do not rinse.

While it is still hot add the butter, salt and pepper and mix well.

Serve the clams over a couple of spoons of warm buttery pasta and the melted butter on side.

Dip each clam in the butter for stronger taste!

Sandwich pizzas

Vessy — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 15:37:08 +0000

If you often have leftover products in your fridge, like bacon, cheese or vegetables, here is a great recipe, which will help you use them all and enjoy a great and quick dinner meal.

I always buy more ingredients than I need for a recipe, and many times end up with a few leftovers from different products, which are often not enough to prepare a whole meal with. So I came up with this and few more recipes, which help me use all of the purchased cheese or meat, as I hate to throw food away!
In case you don’t have bread on hand, you could easily prepare a quiche with your leftovers.

Here is an idea for a quiche with mushrooms, bacon and mozzarella cheese. Of course you may substitute any of the ingredients with others, that you have on hand.

Ingredients:
Leftover bread slices
1 large red pepper, cut into small pieces
1 large onion, cut into small pieces
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 table spoons olive oil
200 grams bacon or other salami, cut into small pieces
Tomato puree
1 large fresh tomato, seedless, cut into small pieces
Any type of cheese you have, grated
Dry oregano
Dry basil
Dry chili flakes
Red pepper
Salt and pepper

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Cook the pepper, onion and garlic until soft and well done.

Add the bacon and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Arrange your bread slices on the baking sheet.
Spread one layer (thin to medium) of the tomato puree over the bread.

Spread one layer of the cooked bacon and onions, add a couple of pieces of the fresh tomato, sprinkle with oregano and basil and cover with the grated cheese.

Repeat the same steps with all of the bread slices.

Bake about 20 minutes on 180 C (350 F).

Serve warm with any pizza sauce you like, tomato salsa or ketchup and mayo.

Chicken empanadas

Vessy — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 12:47:33 +0000

Empanadas are little treats, which could be filled with pretty much anything you want or have in the fridge. Empanadas are perfect for a party or picnic and the best part is that they could be prepared ahead of time (up to a month), frozen, and on the day you need them, just be baked or fried.

My empanadas are filled with sweet chicken, mozzarella cheese and cherry tomatoes.

I find this combination perfect, as it is light, but still very rich in taste.
If you have followed most of my posts, you would know that I fry food very rarely, and again preparing these empanadas, I preferred to bake them, instead of fry. As a person who would bake “french fries”, I have to say that most of the time the result from a baked dish is much more successful than from a fried one. But of course, when baking, it is important to know the ingredients you bake and their texture. After all, we all prefer to eat healthy, but the meal needs to be delicious as well.
That is why when baking chicken meat, I make sure to use thigh fillet, I add more butter and spices so, the meat is not dry and tasteless. In today’s recipe I added juicy cherry tomatoes and soft mozzarella cheese, which I believe completed the dish perfectly.

Dough:
350 grams plain flour
200 ml water
10 grams dry yeast
2 tea spoons salt
60 ml vegetable oil
1 large egg (lightly beaten)

1 large egg yolk

Sift the flour into a big bowl and make a well in the middle.
In a small bowl, mix the water, salt and yeast.
Add the water and yeast to the flour, as you stir constantly with your fingers or a spoon. Add the egg and olive oil and continue to stir.
Flour your counter or large wooden cutting board and knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.

If you have a food processor, you may use it to knead the dough, with the dough attachment.

Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30-60 minutes at room temperature.

Ingredients for the stuffing – keep in mind that the ingredients in this recipe depend mostly on you – if you want to add more chicken or more mozzarella, so adjust them to your taste and the size and quantity of empanadas you are preparing:

Chicken (minced or cut into small pieces) – 400 grams
Cherry tomatoes (cut in half) – about 20 tomatoes

Mozzarella (shredded or cut into small pieces) – about 200 grams

1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

100 grams ketchup

1 tea spoon chili flakes
1 tea spoon dry basil

1 tea spoon dry marjoram

4 table spoons olive oil/butter

Salt and pepper

In a large skillet heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and onion and cook for a few minutes until lightly crisp. Add the meat and cook for a couple of minutes (it should turns white as it cooks).

Add the ketchup, basil, marjoram and chili. Cook another few minutes until the sauce starts to thicken. Add salt and pepper and turn off your stove.

To assemble the empanadas:

You have many choices at this point. You can make small calzone empanadas, small open empanadas or just one big. I decided to prepare small closed empanadas, and just for fun I left two of the empanadas open.

So, sprinkle a little bit of flour on your counter.

If you prepare the empanadas in one big pie dish, just take 2/3 of the dough for the base and save 1/3 of the dough to close the dish on top.

If you make small empanadas, just divide your dough in two, this way it will be easier to work with it.

Roll the first half of the dough as thin as you desire. I preferred to roll my dough as thinner as possible, because I want to have more of the filling instead of baked bread.

Cut circles or rectangles (depending on your dish shape) out of the rolled dough and spread them on the bottom of your dish/ramekins. Make sure to spray your dish/es with olive oil before you add the dough to avoid sticking. Other option is to place baking paper on the bottom of every dish.

On the base of dough, add one layer of the chicken filling, then add a couple of cherry tomatoes and finish with mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle some basil on top and you are ready to cover the filling with the top layer of the dough.

Roll the rest of the dough and cut small circles/rectangles to cover the empanadas.

Place the dough on top of the filling. Using your fingers, piece together the bottom and top layers of dough.

Using a fork, make a couple of small holes in the top layer of dough, so that while baking, all hot air exits.

Beat the egg yolk with a little bit of water in a small bowl and paint all tops of the empanadas.

Bake about 30 minutes for small empanadas (180 C/350 F) or 40 minutes for a bigger dish.

Shrimp with saffron sauce and butter pasta

Vessy — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 17:11:58 +0000

For quite some time I have a few pinches of saffron in my kitchen and could not find the right moment to use it. As we all know saffron is very interesting spice and I wanted to give it a special attention!

I saw this tutorial for a saffron creamy sauce and I decided that this would go perfectly with some garlic shrimp and buttery pasta.

It turned out to be a great combination of tastes and I am definitely preparing this recipe again.

This sauce is good for any kind of fish! I can’t imagine it in a combination of pork, but lamb I guess would be a good match.

Ingredients:

For the pasta:

200 grams (7 oz) pasta (any kind)

40 grams (7 oz) butter

Salt and pepper

For the shrimp:

500 grams (17 oz) shrimp (uncooked or frozen, peeled and clean)

20 (1 oz) grams of butter

4-5 garlic cloves (cut into small pieces)

salt, pepper and red chili flakes

Here you can find my recipe for saffron sauce.

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions.

Mix the hot pasta with the butter and season with salt and pepper. Heat the butter in a medium non-stick pan and add the garlic. Cook for a minute. Add the shrimp and cook on both sides about 1-2 minutes, or until pink.

Season with salt and pepper.Pour a little bit of the saffron sauce in your serving plate. Add some of the pasta over the sauce. Top with the shrimp.

Serve hot!

Pasta with cherry tomatoes and capers

Vessy — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 17:53:20 +0000

If you are looking for an easy and non-sophisticated pasta recipe – this is the one!

It is vegetarian, simple but still very delicious and aromatic.

This is s typical summer recipe, because it is light and quick, so you don’t have to run around the hot kitchen appliances for hours. Try it and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:

300 grams (10.5 oz) uncooked pasta (any type you prefer)

300 grams (10.5 oz) cherry tomatoes (cut in half)

4 table spoons olive oil

5-6 garlic cloves (minced)

3 table spoons capers

125 grams (4.5 oz) mozzarella cheese (shredded)

Salt & Pepper

1/2 tea spoon chili flakes

Optional: Shredded Parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions (save 1 coffee cup of the water).

Heat up the olive oil in a deep non-stick skillet.

Add the garlic and capers. Cook until the garlic gets light golden crispy look.

Add the cherry tomatoes and cook for 7-8 minutes. The cherry tomatoes should not be overcooked until soft and mushy – they should be still fresh, but warm. Add a bit of salt, pepper and chili flakes.

Place the pasta in a large bowl, together with the water. Add the shredded mozzarella cheese and stir until well combined. Add the cherry tomatoes and capers and mix well.

Serve with shredded Parmesan cheese or just plain.

Enjoy!