Leek Artichoke Mozzarella Omelet

When writing the omelet recipe, I instantly thought of Turkey. Turkey locates at the heart between the Mediterranean sea and the Black sea. Because of the central location, the country has been famous for amazing cuisine which was heavily influenced by the Central Asian, the Middle Eastern and the Balkan cuisines. Moreover, because Turkey - Persia back in the days, located on the Silk Way, the caravans and traders from all over the world organized famous markets on its' territory. Food markets deserve separate place in the history of the country for richness and variety of products: unbelievable variety of spices, Turkish teas, hookah tobacco, exotic fruits, freshly delivered lamb and sweet delights such as lukum and baklava.
Coming back to the omelet theme, this dish was my favorite when I stayed in the southern part of Turkey. Every morning, a hotel cook prepared delicious omelet with different ingredients in front of you. All you do - decide which ingredients go well together:-) So here is the recipe of my summer variation of omelet:


Ingredients

2 large eggs
1/3 cup of almond milk (or any milk you like)
1 medium size leek (washed, trimmed and sliced in circles 1/2 inch in width)
1/2 cup of artichoke hearts (drained and cut in halves)
3 oz of fresh mozzarella (I got mine at the local Costco store. The chunk was huge and very fresh)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt, pepper and paprika according to your taste

Instructions

1. Slice mozzarella in circles and each circle in half.

2. Heat a medium pan over high heat until hot. Add olive oil, make sure it coats the bottom of the pan.

3. Add leek and saute until soft consistency.

4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk eggs well. Add salt and milk and continue whisking for 1 minute.

5. Gently poor in the egg mixture and spread it evenly tilting the pan. Lower heat to medium.

6. In 15 seconds, use spatula to gently direct the omlette from sides to the center. Tilt the pan so that the omlette is spread evenly.

7. While the omlette center is still runny, add artichokes and cover the pan with a lid. Cook the omlette for 3 more minutes.

8. Take off the lid, add mozzarella halves and cover for another 30 seconds. Remove from heat, sprinkle some black pepper and paprika.

*The omlette is very nutritious and has strong flavor because of artichokes. It goes well with fresh bread.
*I like to add mozzarella at the very end so that it doesn't melt completely.

Bon Appetit!

Swan Lake Pate a Choux with Creme Patissiere

Here I am sitting with a cup of cold green tea in the middle of southern afternoon. Never have I thought that cold drinks would become a must in my daily routine. The place where I come from, people love tea. Moreover, they prefer hot tea. Only lately, ice tea became popular. Tea is not just a drink, it is a reason for people to get together and spend some time on discussing life, love and news. I guess it is like going for a drink to a bar in America. The only difference - when drinking tea, there is an atmosphere of peaceful silence so that people can hear each other well :-) The tea "meeting" can go on and on while a host changes various teas and offers guests sweet delicates. In Moscow, my friend Liza is famous for great tea collection and warm hospitality:-)
Because I like to attend and host tea "meeting" as well, sometimes I prepare for them in advance. Sometimes I buy goodies in stores. However, I believe that nothing can be compared to home made goodies for two reasons: they are hand made and made with love:-)
The idea for swan lake came from my friend Milana. Once she mentioned that when she was little, her mother used to bake swan pastry and everyone loved it! Pate a choux is famous French dough which is wonderful for profiteroles, eclairs, churros and many other pastry. I used my mother's recipe for the dough and creme. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients

Dough "Pate a Choux"
1 cup of water
1 stick of butter
1 cup of unbleached sifted flour
4 large eggs
1 pinch of salt

Creme Patissiere 
1 cup of milk
1 egg
1 cup of sugar
1 stick of butter of room temperature
Valilla extract

Decoration
1 whipped cream (in a spray bottle)
1/2 cup of dark chocolate
1 table spoon of milk

Cooking gadgets

2 piping bags
A tip with plain tube
A tip with a star tube

Instructions 

Dough 

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. In a small pot, boil water, salt and butter. Remove from heat, instantly add flour and whisk well. Return to heat. The mixture must form a ball. Place the ball in a bowl and cool for 1 minute.

3. With mixer on medium speed, add 1 egg at a time until the mixture is smooth.

4. Place the dough into piping bags: #1-1/3 in a bag with a plain tube and #2-2/3 in a bag with a star tube.

5. Pipe immediately on a baking sheet (covered with baking paper) 2-3 inches apart from each other:
#1 Pipe swan neck: make a seven shape with a small bick.
#2 Swan body: make a golf-ball size shape.

6. Bake the dough for 10 minutes or until the dough grows twice in size and looks golden brown. Then set aside and cool completely.

Creme Patissiere

1. Heat milk, egg, vanilla, flour and sugar in a saucepan on a medium heat until thick. Set aside and cool completely.

2. Transfer the cream into a mixing bowl, add small pieces of butter at a time and beat with a mixer on medium speed.

3. Cover the cream with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Chocolate late 

1. In a saucepan warm chocolate and milk on a small heat. Mix gently until smooth. Set aside.

Assembling pastry 

1. Take a body of a swan (a ball piped by #2), cut in equal halves horizontally. Cut the upper part in two halves equally to create wings.

2. Spread creme on the bottom half of body, spray whipped cream and cover with wings. Stick the neck so it looks like a swan. Continue the same actions with other pastry pieces.

3. On a plate, pour a small amount of chocolate to create lake, place a swan pastry on top.

Now what's left is to invite friends, make some tea and turn on swan lake music:-)))

Bon Appetit!

Julia's Quinoa summer salad

Finally, I am able to get back to the blog. During the past days, my friend Julia and I went through some culinary adventures; we got quite busy with that:-) Interestingly, whenever we get together, instantly there is a cooking vibe in the air. I have heard that often people with similar interest attract each other. I could not agree more with that in our case. Even though we have some different looks on life and ideas sometimes, there is definitely a wonderful connection which is partly based on food cooperation:-) I am so lucky to have a friend who loves to eat as I :-)
Because it is summer and we are in Florida, we have a great opportunity to experiment with all kinds of products. One of the fine salad ingredients is quinoa. You can find precooked quinoa is stores or buy it dry in packages and cook it yourself according to instructions. I found some information about this product. It originally came from Andes and was considered very popular  among indigenous people. They called it "the mother of all crops" and valued quinoa for nutritional components such as calcium and protein. The protein content in this grain is much higher than in rice, potatoes and barley. For that reason, people who have vegetarian diets really like quinoa. So here is the recipe of savory quinoa salad:

Ingredients 

1 cup of cooked white quinoa (quinoa should be cooled after cooking)
1 pack of spring mix salad (you can experiment with salads but we found that spring mix with chard, arugula and mizuna goes the best)
1/2 of small package of feta cheese
4 campari tomatoes
1 cup of black olives
1 cup of artichoke of quarters (we used canned artichokes)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Dice feta cheese and cut tomatoes in quarters.

2. Drain artichokes and olives from juice.

3. In a large bowl, combine spring mix salad, quinoa, feta, olives and artichokes.

4. Drizzle olive oil, balsamic vinegar and add salt and pepper according to your taste. Mix the salad gently.

* The salad goes well with steamed asparagus on a side.

Bon Appetit!

Almond short bread fruit baskets

Dessert can be compared to a cherry on top of a pie. Without dessert - not a big deal. With dessert - life is so much better! Usually sweet treat goes after the main course or by itself. In Uzbekistan, there is an old wonderful tradition to welcome guests with sweet delights. A host prepares a variety of desserts for guests: pies, pastry, nuts, fresh and dry fruits. Hot green tea is an essential part of the Uzbek's sweet table. According to the tradition, in the beginning, a host offers guests to join the table and try all the delights while guests refuse to try them because they respect a host. Finally, everybody joins the table leaving a host very satisfied:-)
When it comes to my desserts, in spite of my HUGE sweet tooth, I like them not too sweet. Also, because I find nuts amazing, I try to incorporate them whenever I can. Sometimes nuts can make cakes heavy, but in this recipe, I used almond mill which is very very light. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients

For the dough
3 large eggs
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 stick of cold butter
1 cup of almond mill
1 cup of unbleached flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 pinch of salt

For the cream
1 package of cream cheese
1 package of whipping cream
1/2 cup of powder sugar

For the filling
1 package of fresh blackberries
2 pilled oranges
Blackberry jam

Instructions

1. Separate egg yolk from egg white.

2. In a bowl, beat together egg yolks and sugar with an electric mixer. Add vanilla extract.

3. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour and almond mill, add salt and baking soda.

4. In the bowl with the dry ingredients, grade cold butter and mix it by hands quickly so that butter does not melt.

5. Combine dry ingredients with the beaten egg yolks. Mix them with a paddle (or silicone paddle) until the mixture forms a ball. Refrigerate in a plastic wrap for 30 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

7. Smooth small tart forms with veggie oil or butter so the dough does not stick.

8. Take the dough out of the fridge. Divide into small parts and form balls. Press each ball into a tart form and spread it evenly.

9. Lay the tarts on a baking list and bake them for 20 minutes or until lightly brown. Set aside to cool.
Once the tarts are completely cooled, take them out gently.

10. Making the cream: Meanwhile, in a bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar powder with a mixer for 5 minutes. Slowly add whipping cream and continue to mix for another 5 minutes. Set it aside.

11. Cut oranges in small pieces.

12. Assembling a fruit tart: spread blackberry jam over each tart crust. Fill each tart with cream and decorate with fruits.

* You can also glaze fruit tarts with jello. That way you can store them in a refrigerator for some time without making them dry.
* Refrigerate tarts in a covered container.
* You can use any fruits you like instead of blackberries and oranges.

Bon Appetit! :-)

Bread crust with queso fresco

Who doesn't like cheese? I am a big cheese person. Especially, after living a couple years in Wisconsin - the American capital of cheese, my heart grew on it even more. People say cheese is healthy for its nutrients. It makes teeth and bones stronger.  Also this product tastes like no other. There is a huge variety of cheese. Each of them has unique amazing flavors. The product is awesome for hot sandwiches.
Today I decided to make something special for my friend who is visiting me in Florida. We both are huge foodies and love cheese. It was an easy choice what should I make:-) Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1 loaf of Italian bread (I bought mine already sliced)
1 package of Queso fresco cheese
2 fresh tomatoes
1 bunch of fresh parsley

Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 300 F. Prepare a clean baking sheet.

2. Cut cheese and tomatoes in thin slices. Chop parsley.

3. Take one bread slice, layer cheese on top of the bread, add a slice of tomato and garnish with parsley. Repeat with other bread slices.

4. Arrange bread slices over the baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until cheese melts.

You can use balsamic vinegar on top once they are ready! (Yulia's advice:-)

Bon Appetit!

Green Tea Lime Butter

Butter - what a wonderful product! Butter is highly valued and often used in many cultures for its smooth texture and wonderful creamy milky flavor. In Russia, there is an old morning tradition to spread butter over a piece of bread. On top of bread, people usually lay ham or sausage or cheese or all together :-) These sandwiches are especially delicious with sweet hot black tea. The breakfast tradition has experienced many changes ever since. However, there is something very warm and homy about it :-)
I like to experiment with butter. I often use it in cakes, pastry, creams, sauces or just by itself. I found this simple yet super delicious recipe on one of culinary websites. Originally, an author used orange tea, lemon and orange zest. I substituted mine with green tea and lime zest. The final product had amazing smell!!! So, here is the recipe.

Ingredients
1 stick of butter of room temperature
1 tea spoon of dry green tea (from a regular tea bag)
1 tea spoon of liquid green tea
1 lime
1 tea spoon of honey
A pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Place a tea bag in a mug and cover with hot water. Cover with a cap and set it aside.

2. Pour dry tea a bowl (If tea is not grinded already then grind it with spice grinder or blender).

4. Zest a lime and add to the dry tea.

3. Add butter, liquid green tea, honey and salt. Whip all the ingredients for 1 minute.

4. Place the butter in a dry container and cover with plastic wrap. Cool it in a refrigerator for an hour or longer.

It is good to spread the butter over bread or to add in cooking meat, fish or veggies. Also the ingredients can be modified.

Eggplant Sandwich

Sunday is always that special day when there is some extra time to spend on making breakfast. This morning, I woke up late and decided to create something good for summer weather, something easy to make and something beautiful for an eye;-) Luckily, there are all kinds of veggies all year round. In summer they are especially tasty. I personally love eggplant and tomatoes. Besides, these guys are very healthy:-)
Voila I made an eggplant sandwich layered with fresh tomato and feta on arugula pillow sprinkled with homemade honey mustard.

Ingredients 
1 eggplant
1 tomato
1 pack of fresh feta
Bunch of arugula salad (prewashed and dried)
1 table spoon of butter or olive oil (I used butter because it gives delicious aroma and taste)
Salt
Honey mustard sauce

Instructions
1.  Preheat a medium pan sprinkled with butter on medium heat.
2.  Cut eggpant and tomatoes in circles 1/3 of 1 inch in width. Also cut feta cheese about the same dimensions and width as eggplant and tomatoes.
3.  Place eggplant on a pan, fry them for 5 minutes on one side until they brown. Then flip them over on another side and fry for another five minutes.
4. Meanwhile place a small bunch of arugula on a plate. Sprinkle the top with honey mustard sauce.
5. Sprinkle each tomato circle with salt. Place a piece of tomato on arugula, add feta cube on top, add eggplant circle. Repeat one more time.

You can add some extra sauce and decorate the dish with fresh basil ororegano leaves.

Buenos Dias from sunny Miami!

Hello my dear friends! My name is Yaya. This is my new blog dedicated to cooking and baking and learning more about different cuisines together. This blog is for people who share my passion to creating delicious food. I like to play with flavors, try new and create my own recipes. I am open to all food which exist in the world. I am especially passionate about baking art. When it comes to cakes, pastry, cookies, creams, I believe I have some knowledge I can share:-)
I love to travel and I get to travel around quite often. Originally I am from Russia, so I am well familiar with authentic Russian cuisine. I lived in Switzerland for some time. There I learned more about Swiss and Italian cuisines. Besides I like Thai, Philippino, American, South American, French and I am open for new things.
This year was very rewarding and important for my future. I finally decided to fully dedicate myself to cooking career. Pretty soon I will start my classes at the culinary school. Then I will be able to share some professional techniques and some recipes with yall;-)
I am super excited about the opportunity to spend more time on cooking. I will do my best to keep this blog fun, informative and delicious:-)