Coconut milk chocolate panna cotta

"Never underestimate the power of chocolate!"

I call it quite a harmless dessert. There is no cream in it, it tastes quite rich and yet light. Besides a good chocolate dessert once in a while never hurt anyone. I served this to quite a few people already and everyone asked for more!

Wild mussels in spicy tomato sauce

"You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces. Just good food from fresh ingredients" ~Julia Child

There was a time when I thought cooking fish or any kind of seafood for that matter was some complicated business, unless it came in a form of frozen fish fingers. That was quite a while ago though. The more I cooked and the more I learned about food, the more comfortable I became with ingredients that came from water. As long as you keep it simple and limit yourself to a number of ingredients, it is nothing but easy and satisfying. With one remark here to make it sound a bit more complicated - as long as you don't overcook it! So a few very simple rules - find a reliable fishmonger and learn to trust your sense of smell and very few simple tricks. Mussels are very easy to prepare. They only need to swim in a bit of sauce, which in my case usually tends to involve a glass of wine and a few other simple ingredients, such as garlic, herbs, tomatoes, salt and pepper. 

Cream of carrot ginger soup

"Soup is just a way of screwing you out of a meal!" -Jay Leno

Potato pancakes with creme fraiche and caviar

"In a big family the first child is kind of like the first pancake. If it's not perfect, that's okay, there are a lot more coming along". Antonin Scalia, American Judge

When I was looking for a quote about pancakes, this one made me laugh, but then I thought - what if there was just one pancake (or child)? Everything must be perfect then! And I have been trying to perfect my pancakes in all kinds of shapes and forms, with a variety of ingredients. I can't say this recipe is perfect - I don't think such a thing exists in cooking. To me personally these turned out really delicious and I absolutely loved the texture.

Marinated mackerel

"If people concentrated on really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles."

There are no words to describe how much I love this dish! My Dad deserves all praises for it. When our family was preparing for last Christmas, my only request for the menu was his marinated mackerel. I know the photos don't do justice and I have not yet found the way how to portray the goodness of this food. I wish you could sense the smell of it through the screen. For today let's focus on the taste!

Beet, goat cheese and roasted pine nut tart

"Every guy thinks that every girl's dream is to find the perfect guy... Pleeeease! Every girl's dream is to eat without getting fat!"

I love love love beets! For quite a long time I had different associations with this root - haunted by memories of boiled beets from kindergarten. No kidding! Just remembering those meals give me shivers down my spine - meatballs with boiled beets and buckwheat. Yuck! At least the way the food was prepared... It took me a bit to recuperate from childhood traumas and just a bit more to completely fall in love with this amazing vegetable. I could it eat it with almost anything, but goat cheese beats it to the top of the list. 

Carrot cake

Large, naked raw carrots are acceptable as food only to those who lie in hutches eagerly awaiting Easter. ~Fran Lebowitz

For anyone, who is not too big of a fan of big, creamy, heavy and frosted cakes, this one is a perfect choice for the Christmas table. And there's always an option to add some frosting on the side to be served for the sweets lovers. I studied several carrot cake recipes and decided to go with a bit of everything, creating my own mix, yet not stepping too far from what the recipe books offer.

Spinach fettuccine with black olives, capers, tomatoes and goat cheese

"The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later, you are hungry again. " - George Miller

Once upon a time, a few months ago to be exact, I went on a business trip to Mykonos, Greece. Yeah, I know it sounds like business! Gorgeous island with beautiful beaches, friendly people and amazing food. Since I was there with a lot of other people, we had pre-booked dinners at different restaurants. Another upside to this short story - having a colleague, from Greece, who is proud to be Greek and is always going an extra mile to make other people fall in love with the country - well he was the one, who organized everything. He knows food and definitely knows how to showcase the best of what the country has to offer. Referring to him, Greeks treat food as love. 

Potato pancakes with runny eggs and truffle oil

"Sundays are meant for two things. One is pancakes. The other one is R rated". ~Me

Oh how much I love Sundays! When getting out of bed in the morning is optional. Coffee in bed. Relaxing, feeling lazy and treating yourself to food. Quite often my Sundays end up being all breakfast food all day long - no restrictions, no diets, no promises to stop with this last bite, when you really don't want to. Sundays are so many good things. They just tend to end very quickly, but oh well - so do so many other good things.

This morning I think I already knew what I'm having for breakfast before opening my eyes! But then again - I have some studying to do, so this Sunday has some procrastination on the list as well... In such cases, of course, coffee, food and everything else "more important" comes first.

Barley soup with dried mushrooms

It's not a diet! It's called eating healthy!

'Tis the season! Days are getting shorter and the air crispier. It is the beginning of November and I can't help but notice how commercial Christmas is becoming - lights and decorations are already out in some of the stores. I guess it is human nature to do the opposite from what you are pushed towards to. They wanna make me buy more stuff? Well I get in the mood of spending less on everything. How about that? My wallet tends to go on a "no spend" diet, while my body starts craving comfort food with the weather getting colder. Those dark long nights make you want to crawl under a blanket with something warm to eat and read a book, watch a movie or just cuddle with the loved one.

Egg noodles with forest mushrooms and soy

"Fast food is popular because it's convenient, it's cheap, and it tastes good. But the real cost of eating fast food never appears on the menu."

I think a lot of people over complicate things. In many aspects of life - and since food is one of the most important ones - in eating too. Lately mankind succumbs to the influence of fast paced days. Everyone is in a hurry, trying to accomplish too many things simultaneously. And although in the end of the day the result maybe is not what we aimed for, but we sure did feel busy. Rush to work in the morning, early meetings before lunch, a quick bite on the way somewhere paying less attention towards content versus time getting on your plate and down your throat or lunch with someone important when you don't even taste what's on your plate, because the "deal" is more important. The perception is wrong! We need to slow down - allow ourselves to sit, relax and actually enjoy every single bite of what we're eating.

Quiche with tomatoes, goat cheese and rosemary

"Why would anybody ever eat anything besides breakfast food?"

Precisely my point! My favorite meal is breakfast - midweek or weekend, doesn't matter. Weekends usually turn out to brunches, nevertheless, the first meal of the day is the best. Honestly - after having a good breakfast or brunch, I can skip the rest if necessary, but I can never ever skip breakfast! That said, I should have so many ideas and recipes up my sleeves, but sometimes I circle around all kinds of omelettes or simply - omelette with mushrooms and spinach. And then, when wanting to make something different, I'm stuck in my head.

Recently invited friends over for a Sunday brunch. I cannot even describe how much struggle I had at first trying to think of something. Maybe one reason is that I've had quite a few brunches with those friends and trying to think of something new was a challenge. My usual way out - get to the grocery store or farmers' market, go look at what is fresh and suddenly ideas are popping out like crazy! This time the trigger was farm grown tomatoes and goat cheese. So - quiche!

Fish soup over wood burning open fire

Even if you've been fishing for three hours and haven't gotten anything except poison ivy and sunburn, you're still better off than the worm! #FishingStory

One of my top favorite things to do in summer is cooking over open fire on warm nights. There is something so magical about it! Starry nights, nightingales, good company... Had quite a bit of those this year as well. Also finally managed to find a big pot for cooking over open fire. Turned out it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be in the beginning. With many summer nights spent around the fire, the aim to turn it into a more involving social culinary experience proved to be so worth it!
Fish soup - salmon, shrimp and other goodies with all mandatory traditions - a sup of vodka and immersion of roasting charcoal.

Curry crepes with mushrooms and veggies

“Love is like breakfast with Mildred. Who’s Mildred? How the heck should I know? I don’t eat breakfast.” Jarod Kintz

Spending a weekend over at friends' cabin with a huge and well equiped kitchen, it was beyond a pleasure to do all the cooking. Well, not all - my friend prepared the octopus (braised in Cava, with sun dried tomatoes, garlic and herbs - seriously, to die for and on my to do list for Raspberry-Flavor!) and eggplant lasagne with mushroom ragu (as good!). 

Roasted stuffed peppers

We are all dietetic sinners; only a small percent of what we eat nourishes us; the balance goes to waste and loss of energy. ~William Osler

I cleaned my fridge a few days ago. Decided it is time to use all of the frozen goodies since the new season is fast approaching. Kept up to my promise for 2 days... Stopped by a store to pick up one thing and saw some gorgeous tomatoes and red bell peppers. So... Having a bright yet very light red dinner tonight!

Barley risotto with porcini and fresh thyme

"Falling in love is like eating mushrooms. You never know if it's the real thing until it's too late!"

I'm back on track to empty my fridge! Last year was unbelievably generous with mushrooms. Facebook was loaded with everyone's photos of porcini. Those gorgeous mushrooms where growing even in places where usually you wouldn't find them. At some point it was even beyond a joke. One morning, when I was staying at my parent's cabin, we took dogs out for a walk with my Dad, while enjoying our morning coffee on the go. Found so many porcini on the side of the road, that we had to rush back for a huge basket! Needless to say, whatever we cooked included mushrooms!

Asparagus with smoked salmon and sunny side up egg

"Probably one of the most private things in the world is an egg until it is broken."

M.F.K. Fisher

'Tis the season - fresh and crunchy asparagus! It is one of the vegetables that I wish grew and we had fresh all the time. And I mean fresh - grown somewhere close, not brought in from a different part of the world. I guess vegetables get jet lagged too - they don't taste as good if they travel far!

Smoked mackerel in lettuce cups with home made mayo and capers

"In the hands of an able cook, fish can become an inexhaustible source of perpetual delight." Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826)

Ok, so even "back then" people knew how amazing fish is! I wouldn't call myself an "able cook" - this mackerel has already been in the hands of some other cook, who smoked it to perfection. Smoked mackerel by itself is absolutely gorgeous. It takes so little so tune it up.

When I started getting more serious with cooking, I was always in search of something fancier if that is the right way to describe it. Now looking back retrospectively, the simpler the ingredients, the fancier the dish (most of the times I would say). 

Baby squid braised in Cava with garlic, sun dried tomatoes and smoked paprika

"I'm on a seafood diet. I see food and I eat it!"

Seafood in general is the easiest to tamper with! When it comes to fish, one advise may be given - don't f*** with it (excuse my French)! The simpler you handle it, the more rewarding the result. Now I have found myself that some of the other seafood may be a bit intimidating at first if one hasn't mastered the idea of handling it. Truth be told - there are a few very simple rules. If you go by them, you can enjoy home cooked seafood dishes!

Tuna tartar with sweet potato, sun dried tomatoes, toasted sesame seeds, orange infused olive oil and arugula

WTF!!! (where's the food!!!)

I could probably try different versions of fish or seafood tartars every time I lay my hands on a piece of fresh seafood. This tartare is among my top favorites - I know a place that makes it perfectly! But then - once you see a piece of perfect fresh tuna at fishmonger's and if the only thing you can think of is this dish - you simply can't think of anything else for dinner and you gotta try making it yourself.