Ingredients:
1 kg. (35 oz) ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeds free (see notes below)
3 garlic cloves, cleaned, roughly chopped
A handful of fresh basil
5-6 table spoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 table spoon cayenne pepper
1 table spoon sugar (optional)

Important part of making a homemade tomato sauce is to have all tomatoes peeled and all seeds and extra water removed. This is an easy job, I promise.
Put a large saucepan with water on the stove on high heat. Let water boil.
Once water is boiling put all tomatoes in it for about 30-50 seconds. Remove from water and place on a large wooden board. Once blanched in the boiling water tomatoes will peel so easy. Peel them all, then chop up roughly, as in the process just remove seeds. Only the “meat” should be used in your tomato sauce, so discard all water, seeds and skin.
Throw the boiling water away and put a couple of table spoons olive oil in the same saucepan. Heat on high heat, then throw in the tomatoes, garlic and basil. Turn heat to medium high and cook for about 30 to 40 minutes as you stir once in a while to make sure your sauce will not burn. Stir more often at the end when almost all water is gone and tomatoes might burn easier.
Season with salt and pepper and cayenne. Add a table spoon of sugar in case your tomatoes are sour. If you are using sweet to taste tomatoes then you might not need the sugar – just go with your instincts and adjust to your taste.
Let the sauce cool off for a bit, then transfer to a large bowl/plastic box or other dish and keep covered in the fridge for up to 5-6 days.
See, it is super easy and I am sure that once you taste this recipe you will never buy a ready-made tomato sauce.

This is one of those classic spring salads, we prepare here in Bulgaria, after a long day of work mostly because it is quick, fresh and healthy. A quick stop to the market will provide you with fresh ingredients and you could always find a local seller, who produce these vegetables in their own garden, GMO and chemicals free.
As I prefer to stick to the fresh ingredients and try to take all that spring is offering us, a big bowl of fresh green salads, onions, cucumbers and tomatoes is almost a daily meal at Vessy’s Kitchen.

This time though, I would like to suggest a way to spice things up a little, adding a delicious tahini dressing to this salad!

You will not regret it!

Ingredients for the dressing:
5-6 table spoons yogurt
5-6 table spoons sour cream
1 tea spoon sesame tahini
1 tea spoon lime juice
1 tea spoon mayonnaise
Salt & pepper
Garlic powder

Ingredients for the salad:
Green salads
A couple of small red radishes (cut into small pieces)
1 cucumber
1 table spoon pumpkin nuts (or other favorite nuts)

Serve immediately!

One of my favorite dinners – it is quick, delicious and definitely more healthy than all those greasy chicken fingers you could order in a fast food restaurant or buy frozen.

If haven’t tried baked chicken bites, I suggest you to do it sooner – you will not regret it. The only advise I have for you, is to use boneless meat from chicken thigh – this is softer, moister and much more delicious than the chicken fillet (breast). If baked, the chicken breast will become very dry and it will definitely not be the meal you imagined. If deep fried, like regular chicken fingers, then you will not have a problem to use chicken breast. However in this case I want to show you how to minimize the fat as much as possible. So, it is important to use good quality red chicken meat.

Ingredients:
500 grams (18 oz) chicken meat, chopped into small bites (preferable to use boneless meat from thigh)
200 grams (7 oz) cornflakes
1 egg
100 ml. milk
3-4 table spoons olive oil
Salt, pepper and chilli flakes (by taste)
Preheat your oven to 170C.

Place the egg and milk in a large bowl. Add the chicken bites, season with salt, pepper and chili flakes.
Place the cornflakes in another bowl.
Take one bite from the chicken and dip it in the cornflakes.
Place on a large baking sheet, lined with baking paper.

Repеat the same with all of the chicken, then spray with a little bit of olive oil.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Serve with delicious chilli-mayo.

This sauce goes very good with all kinds of fish, calamari, squid or shrimp.

You may also serve it with grilled vegetables or grilled chicken.

I prepared it especially for a grilled cod fish dinner with roasted pecans, which turned out an amazing combination of flavors and tastes.

Ingredients:
200 grams light mayonnaise
Juice from 1 lime
2 table spoons fresh thyme
2 table spoons low fat Greek yogurt
1 tea spoon chili flakes
2 garlic cloves minced
Salt and Pepper

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.

Store in the fridge up to 4 days.

Check my grilled cod fish recipe here.

The purpose of this post is to share with you guys two of my most favorite and successful recipes for calamari. If you are like me and my boyfriend probably will need to use both of the recipes. I like the crispy fry calamari, and he loves them sautéed. So whenever I agree to cook calamari at home, I usually prepare both types

Here they are:

Sautéed Calamari

250 grams fresh calamari (cleaned and sliced into thin rings; ! make sure to remove the thin skin of the calamari, before you cut them into rings, it is eatable, but after cooked will be chewy)

5 garlic cloves

1 onion (chopped into small pieces)

1 tea spoon chili flakes

3 table spoons chives (optional)

Juice from 1 lemon

Fresh parsley

3-4 table spoons vegetable oil or butter

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Place the garlic, onions and chili in the oil. Fry until golden. Add the calamari and cook for a minute. Then add the lemon juice, chives and parsley and cook for another minute.  Remove from skillet and transfer to a nice serving plate.

You could serve with the Remoulade sauce.

Please note that when cooking calamari, there need to be only one layer in the skillet. So divide your ingredients into batches. If you have calamari meat for 3 batches, then divide your onions, garlic and greens into three batches and then cook each batch separately.

Crispy Fried Calamari

200 grams fresh calamari (cleaned and sliced into thin rings)

½ cup all-purpose flour/corn flour/chickpea flour (whatever you like)

Salt & Pepper

Hot chili flakes

The calamari should be pre-cut into rings, rinsed and patted dry with paper towels.

Mix the flour, salt, pepper and chili in a large bowl. Add the calamari rings and mix well.

Transfer the calamari into a sifter and shake off all the extra flour.

Heat vegetable oil in the deep fryer to 180 C° (350 degrees F). The actual temperature depends on the thickness of the calamari rings and the number of rings cooked at the same time; use hotter oil for more calamari.

Fry for 2-3 minutes maximum. Then transfer onto a paper towel to soak up the oil.

You could serve them with Remoulade sauce and lemon wedges.

Rémoulade Sauce:

1 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons ketchup

1 teaspoon hot chili sauce (or hot chili flakes)

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoons prepared horseradish

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley leaves

½ teaspoon capers, drained and rinsed

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard (Cajun mustard)

1 small clove garlic, coarsely chopped

Salt and pepper

Mix well all of the ingredients, transfer to a small sauce dish and serve. You may keep the sauce in the refrigerator up to 3 days.