Easy Pizza Rolls from Scratch

These pizza rolls are surprisingly easy to be prepared, but you need to start about 3 hours in advance as the dough need some time for rising. If you do not have time, skip the homemade pizza dough and try with a good quality store bough pizza dough.

The proposed filling is very simple, but you any other ingredients you like on pizzas.

• Servings: 24 pieces
• Time: 3h
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

Pizza Dough

• 500 g flour
• 300 ml water, lukewarm (about 30°C)
• 1 teaspoon dry active yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4-5 tablespoons olive oil (or as needed), this for the dough and for rolling

Filling

• 1 tin chopped tomatoes (pelati), drained
• 1 tablespoon tomatoes concentrate paste
• 1 tablespoon pesto
• ½ teaspoon oregano, dried (quantity to taste)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 250 g shredded mozzarella cheese (store bought)
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• Additional ingredients to taste: dried onions, olives, capers….

Preparation

1. Dissolve the yeast in about 100 ml water and 50 g of flour. Wait until yeast is active and foamy.
2. Now all the remaining flour, water and salt. Mix well and set aside for about 20-30 minutes.
3. In the meantime place drain the tomatoes over a sieve in order to eliminate excessive water.
4. Stretch and fold about 5 times or until dough becomes elastic and smooth. For this step I add about 1 tablespoon of oil on the sides of the bowl. Cover and set aside until doubled.
5. Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface to the size of about 40 X 60 cm.
6. Combine the drained tomatoes with the tomatoes paste, the pesto, the oregano and adjust to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Spread the tomatoes mixture over the dough letting about 3 cm of the long side free (you will need the border to close the roll). Sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan. Top the cheese with additional ingredients to taste.
8. Start rolling the dough from the long side to a tight log. Seal the end by pinching the dough free of filling.
9. Spread about 3 tablespoons of olive oil over the log and coat it well with your hands or a baker’s brush.
10. Using a super sharp knife slice the pizza dough log into equal rolls, placing them onto baking tray lined with parchment paper.  For this step I made 24 pieces for 4 x 6 rolls in my baking tray. We prefer to bake these on a tray quite near to each other so that while rising they will fill the tray completely; the oil will make the step of separating them super easy.
11. Brush the top rolls with little olive oil.
12. Let the rolls rise for about 1 hour or until you see the dough is filling the gaps of the tray between the single rolls before baking.
13. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
14. Important: just before baking splash about 1/2 cup of water into the oven (if not possible place a flat bowl with boiling water into the oven)  in order to increase the humidity. Place immediately the tray into the oven and bake for about 25 minutes or until the dough appears golden.
15. Remove from the oven and cool the rolls for 10 to 15 minutes before serving or let cool down partially, cover with parchment foil and serve when desired.  We love them lukewarm.
16. Store any leftovers in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days and kept frozen for up to three months.

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/  

Guacamole con Tomates

Guacamole is very popular Mexican dip with many variations.

This variation, which includes also the use of tomatoes, is the most appreciated in our family and every times is comes out a bit different as we do not measure the ingredients, we change it a little bit depending on what we have on hand.

This is great as appetizer with tortilla chips, but also with wraps or other dishes.

• Servings: 2
• Time: 15 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

• 50 g chopped onions
• 1 avocado, ripe
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 pinch of salt, to taste
• 1 medium tomato or about 10 cherry tomatoes, diced
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (optional)
• 1 dash chili powder or other little chili sauce or some paprika powder (optional)

Procedure

1. Place the chopped onions in a small bowl with cold water (this for about 10 minutes)
2. In a small bowl mash the avocado with the fork
3. Drain the onions and add them to the mashed avocado along with the other ingredients.
4. Combine very well and season to taste

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

Bread Pizza

Never throw your stale bread away! You can make breadcrumbs, bread pudding, meatballs, and French toasts, and, and, and! Did you know you could also prepare a wonderful pizza? Once again, this is great opportunity to make your family happy with this great meal and at the same time, your stale bread will be gone very quickly!  

• Servings: 2
• Time: 20 minutes preparation and 25 minutes cooking time
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

• 250 g stale bread, sliced into 1 cm thick slices (quantity may be changed upon your needs)
• 1- 1 1/2 cups béchamel sauce
• 1 cup tomatoes sauce (for example marinara sauce), not to liquid
• 1 tablespoon dried fried onions, optional
• Chopped basil, to taste and optional
• Oregano, to taste
• Topping to taste as capers, olives, anchovies, halved cherry tomatoes
• 150 g mozzarella sliced
• Olive oil
• Pepper to taste
• Fresh basil, oregano, marjoram or thyme leaves, optional

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C
2. Coat your baking dish (about 32 cm wide) with little olive oil and arrange bread slices in order to cover the bottom
3. Spread béchamel sauce over the bread
4. Combine your tomatoes sauce with dried onions, chopped basil and oregano. Spoon this mixture over the béchamel
5. Top the pizza with ingredients of your choice
6. Add mozzarella and drizzle with olive oil
7. Bake for about 25 minutes at 220°C until the mozzarella begins to take a golden brown color
8. Remove from the oven add some pepper and the fresh herbs
9. Serve immediately and enjoy

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

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Day 22 Stay at Home or In the Garden: Greek Chickpeas Soup

Missing Crete and missing Greece, we made a culinary excursion to Sifnos preparing and enjoying a super simple and delicous chickpeas soup called “revithia soupa” (ρεβύθια σούπα).

The ingredients for this soup are super simple: chickpeas, lemon, oilive oil, onion, water and salt. 

As traditionally these soup is prepared in the night from Saturday to Sunday with the remaining heat of the wooden oven and we really used the wooden oven the day before, this was just the right moment for this soup.

More about the history of this soup and the recipe: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/revithia-soupa-greek-chickpeas-soup/

 

 

 

Day 6: Stay at Home or In the Garden: Bowl of Spring

The weather feels really like spring or almost summer.  The garden is already rich of edible flowers and if you have the opportunity, then put spring into your salad with flowers you can eat.

The thought of eating flowers didn’t seem to be fair (they are to beautiful), but many of these little cute flowers have its own unique taste and they make your salad more attractive.

This greens salad had been enrichted with: leaf celery (Apium graveolens var. secalinum), primrose flowers (primula vulgaris), rosemary flowers (Rosmarinus officinalis) and cuckooflower (cardamine pratensis).

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Dried Figs stuffed with Almonds and Orange Zest

This year we had a very warm summer and the garden gave us a lot delicious figs, which we shared with friends.

However, it was only during our holidays on Crete after noticing that most of the figs fall on the floor and, as I hate food waste, I decided to try to dry some figs and prepare a great souvenir of the summer in a jar.

The good thing we had for this, beside the figs of course was the sun; the strong Greek sun is best to preserve these figs and for this reason, I searched in the internet how I should proceed.

To make them more special, I decided to modify an Italian recipe (from the *Puglie* region) and so I started to collect ripe but still firm green and black figs and to dry them in the sun!

Figs can be dried halved or cut in two pieces; I opted to cut them into two halves as the effect of the sun would be stronger drying the figs quickly and the rays would destroy all possible parasites.

The best way to dry them would be on a grid, but since I did not have this, I used my normal baking try with a black baking foil, which attracted the sun and kept the heat; in two days, the figs were dry enough, some of them almost to dry! J

If you don’t have the opportunity to collect and dry the figs, you should opt for the dry figs from the store and halve them with a scissor taking care to keep them partially attached.

These figs are an unusual addition to the holiday table and make a unique Christmas gift from the kitchen!

• Time: 1 hr
• Difficulty: easy
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You need

• 50 dried figs, butterflied
• 1 orange, peel only removed with a vegetable peeler and cut into small pieces
• 50 almonds
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 1 pinch o cinnamon
• 10-20 bay leaves

Procedure

1. Add a piece of orange peel on one side of the butterflied fig.
2. Add an almond on each it and cover with the other side. Press them well together.
3. Bake for 10 minutes at 180°C/350°F, Check on the color and temperature as cooking time may vary from oven to oven!
4. In the meantime, combine the powdered sugar with the cinnamon.
5. Switch off the oven, take out the figs out, dust with sugar and place them in the oven for other 5 minutes.
6. In order to store them for a long time, place the still warm figs into sterilized jars layered and with several bay leaves between the layers for added flavor. Store the jar in a cool dry place.

Tip1: After sun drying the figs, some of them resulted very dry, too dry for this preparation, for this reason I placed them in bowl, sprinkled them with water (about tablespoons for 5 cups of dried figs) covered them, and placed in the microwave for 2 two minutes. After resting for about 10 minutes they were ready for this preparation.

Tip2: Quartered walnuts and orange zest by lemon or tangerine zest may replace Almonds!

Author: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

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Jeera Rice – Indian Cumin Rice

This is a very popular Indian side dish, which can be prepared with raw rice, but it is also a way to upgrade white rice leftovers and give them a new dress.

Jeera means cumin, but in this recipe more spices are added and this version is very much appreciated in my family.

• Servings: 3-6
• Time: 40 min
• Difficulty: easy
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You need

• 1 1/2 cups basmati rice
• 2 tablespoons ghee or pure vegetal oil
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 2 -3 green cardamoms, lightly crushed
• 2 cloves
• 1 small piece cinnamon stick, about 1 cm
• 1 star anise (optional)
• 1 black cardamon (optional)
• 1tej patta (Indian bay leaf)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups water

Procedure

1. Rinse the rice until the water run out clear and soak the rice for 30 water in cold water. Drain
2. In a pot heat the ghee or oil over medium heat until hot.
3. Add cumin, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, star anise and black cardamom. Roast until the cumin begins to crackle. Add bay leaf and stir quickly.
4. Add the rice and cook stirring constantly for about 2 minutes.
5. Add water and salt increase the heat and bring to boil again.
6. Reduce the heat, cover and let cook until water is adsorbed.
7. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Note: If using rice leftovers, simply roast the spices in ghee/oil, add the cold cooked plain rice add 2-3 tablespoons water and stir well to combine. Cook stirring constantly until the rice is warm, remove from heat, cover and let rest a few minutes before serving.

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

Lemon and Lime Gugelhopf

Gugelhopf or Kugelhupf is a very popular kind of Bunt-Cake Austrian very appreciated for the afternoon break or for dessert. Sometimes this is served for Sunday breakfast as well.

I’ve seen many different kind of Gugelhopt in the south German speaking part of Europe (this includes sough Germany, German speaking part of Switzerland) and Alsace (a region in France where a German dialect is spoke combining this language with French), the spectrum is awesome, form the sweet to the savory, but all of them are really delicious and looks fabulous!

This is sweet, tangy version, aromatized with lemon and some limes (you can use only lemon if you prefer), no butter this time, but simply oil! Great result and I love the presentation!

• Servings: 8-12
• Time: 1 hr 30 min
• Difficulty: easy
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You need

Cake batter

• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 1 3/4 cups fine sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1cup sour cream (substitute: Greek yogurt)
• 1/2cup oil
• 4eggs
• 1-2tablespoon finely grated lemon zest  (reserve some only yellow part finely sliced for topping)
• 1 1/2 limes, finely grated grated zest (reserve some thinly sliced for topping)
• 1lime juice
• 1/2 lemon juice (reserve 1 tablespoons for glaze)
• Food coloring (optional)

Lemon syrup

• 1lime juice
• 1/2 lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Glaze and topping

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon sour cream (or Greek yogurt)
• 1 cup powdered sugar (to adjust)
• Sliced reserved lemon and lime zest.

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
2. Prepare your Kugelhopf form: grease with oil and dust with flour.
3. Combine all ingredient for the batter (except the juices and food coloring) and work with the food processor until very smooth.
4. Add juices, and divide the dough into two parts and color one of them.
5. Pour the two batter portions alternatively and bake at 180°C/350°F for about 45-50 minutes until done (toothpick test).
6. Remove from the oven and place on a dish to cool down partially.
7. In the meantime combine the ingredients for the syrup stirring until dissolved.
8. In vert the Kugelhopf on a plate, pinch with a toothpick and brush in the syrup.
9. Combine the juice for the topping, the yogurt and powdered sugar stirring and adding more and more powdered sugar until you get thick paste.
10. Drizzle on the cake and top with the thin lemon/lime slices.
11. Enjoy!

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

Pimientos de Padrón al Horno – Oven Baked Peppers from Tenerife

We tried these simply and delicious dish on Tenerife as we escaped the European winter for a few days.

Originally these peppers had been imported from America and now they are very much appreciated in Spain and all over the world. For this recipe you should use small green peppers (called pimientos de Padrón) each one just one bite!

Traditionally these peppers should be fried, after this some salt (with “sal Maldon“) is added and they are served immediately. In this version we will toss them with little olive oil and bake them in the oven.

These are usually served as appetizer, but as side dish works very well for us.

 

• Servings: 4-8
• Time: 30 min
• Difficulty: easy
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You need:

• 250 g small green peppers (pimientos de Padrón)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Pepper to taste
• coarsely salt (sal Maldon), to taste

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Wash peppers, pat dry and add oil and pepper.
3. Toss with your hands to coat them.
4. Transfer to baking mold (if possible in only one layer).
5. Sprinkle with salt (you can also add the salt after baking) and bake them until lightly roasted for about 15-20 minutes.
6. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

Lemon Marmalade

 

Recently I got a batch of fresh organic lemons from the garden of friends and I really could not resist trying the preparation of a refreshing marmalade.

I googled here and there to get enough knowledge in order to prepare something I knew everybody would love and something I could prepare as a gift for friends especially for my Christmas baskets.

My Greek lemons were quite huge, around 250-300 each, thick zest and not so many seeds. The smell was so intense and delicate at the same time that I had to try to preserve it in a jar for next months!

This recipe does not need additional pectin as the seed and the filaments are the source of the jelly. Well, as I supposed,  my lemons did not have a lot seeds, so I needed to cook the marmalade a bit longer (not 20 minutes as “usually”), but it worked and the result is amazing. With 4 lemons I got 4 small jars of about 200 ml.

The quantity is easy: same amount in weight of lemons, water and sugar. Be aware that the amount of water will be reduced while cooking and I did not add more water.

You don’t need to use exactly 1000 g lemons and so on, adjust the quantities of water and sugar according the weight of the lemons.

• Servings: about 10 of 200 ml per 1ooo g lemons
• Time: 1 1/2 hours
• Difficulty: medium
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You need

• 1000 g organic lemons
• 1000 ml water
• 1000 g sugar

Procedure

1. Wash well your lemons and scrub to remove the impurities if any.
2. Place some metal spoon into the freezer for the jelly test.
3. Measure the weight of the lemons and place them into a pot with the same amount of water. Bring to boil.
4. Boil until you feel that the zest is soft. This takes about 30-40 minutes.
5. Remove the lemons from the water to cool down for about 15 minutes or until they are not too hot for you. Don’t discard the water. If necessary sieve the water and clean up the borders of the pot.
6. Halve the lemons with a knife and with a spoon out the flesh with the seed and give this over a sieve placed over a bowl. Remove also the stem and filaments; place them into the sieve as well.
7. Cut the zest into strips and slice it. Put the sliced zest back into the water as well as liquid dropped from the sieve and the sugar.
8. Bring slowly to boil, in the meantime work the remaining into the sieve with the back of the spoon in order to press out as much as possible. Place the leftovers into a small cheese cloth and hang it into the pot. Note: I used a stainless steel tea ball.
9. While boiling you will see that the zest will turn translucent and the liquid clearer. When you feel that the jelly begins to form, drop a few drops into a frozen spoon and you will see if turn hard enough: push your finger through the drops and you will see the marmalade’s surface will wrinkle if it is set. My lemon did not have a lot of seeds which are the source of pectin so I had to boil for about 40 minutes!
10. Fill your sterilized jars if possible with a jar funnel close them immediately and place them upside down on a safe working place. After 10 minutes invert them again and let them cool down completely to set.

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/