Valencian Buñuelos. Sales' Grandma recipe

Hello everybody! long time has past since the last recipe... but, as it is usual, now there are some new recipes waiting to be published!

The first one it is a recipe that my friend Sales gave me after being in Fallas last year. Pumpkin Buñuelos! I fell in love with them and I wanted the recipe...
It is very common to eat them during Fallas. (For the ones that does not know, Fallas is a traditional and very famous party in Valencia I will attached a couple of videos at the end of the post)

Difficulty: Easy

Preparation time: 55 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 pumpkin
200 gr flour
1 tablet of leavening or 50 gr leavening
Juice of half a lemon

Preparation:

1. Boil the pumpkin until it gets soft. Remove the pepitas and filaments. Smash it until you form a paste. Add the juice of half a lemon

2. In a bowl apart, mix the flour and leavening. Then, mix it with the pumpkin paste and add (if necessary) a bit of the water from the cooking.

3. Knead until you get an homogeneous and thick dough. If it is very liquid add a bit more flour

4. Once we have the dough, cover the recipient with a cloth or dish towel and let it rest for 20 minutes until the dough grows.

5. In a pan, add some olive oil and fried the buñuelos.

To give them shape:
1. Take a handful of dough and squeeze it until a ball comes out.

2. With the other hand take the ball by the center with the ring finger and the thumb making a hole while you throw it into the pan.


A tip you can follow. Every time you make a buñuelo wet your hands so, put a bowl with water close to you

The Buñuelos are served hot in a dish acompanied with sugar so you can put some on them. In Valencia it is common to eat them with hot chocolate too.

Enjoy it!



And this is a good video for a summary about Fallas!

Wok 3. Pasta with mushrooms and Nori seaweed

Happy New Year everyone! Todays' recipe it is a really nice one I found on the Internet. 

The seaweed gives to the dish a great taste. Hope you like it.

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredientes:

250 grames of 3 colours pasta
1 onions
1 tomato (or 2 if the tomatoes are small)
1 garlic cloves
25 grames de Parmesan cheese
A nori seaweed
150 grames mushrooms or oyster mushrooms
Olive oil
Sage
Oregano
Salt
Pepper 

 Preparation:

1. Cut the tomatoes base and place them in hot water for 30 seconds. Peel the tomatoes, remove the pips and cut the tomatoes into little squares.

2.  Clean and cut the mushrooms into pieces. Cut the garlic and the onion into slices.

3. Add a splash of olive oil in a wok, cook the onion for a minute (middle heat). Add the garlic, the tomato, then add the mushrooms, a bit of oregano and sage. Cook it until the mushrooms loose all its water. Add salt and pepper.

4. Boil the pasta in a pot with water, salt and a bit of olive oil. Once the pasta is ready, strain it and put it in the wok.

5. Cut the nori seaweed into squares and add it to the wok, cook it. Once it is ready serve it and add some grated parmesan cheese over it.

Enjoy it :)

Cheesecake

Today I am going to explain how to prepare one of my favourite desserts, the cheesecake! There are different recipes, you can prepare a cheesecake using your oven or your fridge, I chose the oven recipe, it is the easiest cheesecake recipe.

Difficulty: Easy
Preparation time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

250 grames Philadelphia cheese

3 natural yogurts (125 grames each one) 
3 eggs 
50 grames flour
150 grames sugar 
Butter for the mold

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat the oven at 175ºC.

2. Grease the cake tin with butter, sprinkle some flour and sugar around the cake tin and remove what does not stick to the butter. Keep the cake tin apart.

3. Mix in a bowl all the ingredients: cheese, yogurts (you can use a lemon or other flavour yougurt if you want), eggs, flour, sugar and beat it all with a hand-mixer until you get a homogeneus cream.

4. Pour the cream in the mold and put it in the oven. Let it cook for 30-45 minutes (it will depend on the thickness of the cake). If you see that it is getting brown, cover it with aluminium foil.

5. The cake will be ready when once you introduce a toothpick and it gets out clean.

6. When you take the cheesecake out of the oven, let it get cold and then put it in the fridge, there it is going to get the right texture.

And that's it! I like the cheesecake this way but, if you prefere it, you can serve it with some marmalade over it.

Enjoy it!

Vegetarian Moussaka

The moussaka is a tipical Greek dish with an intense flavour.
I have always like Moussaka but when I tried the vegetarian version I liked it even more! The way I explain here it's not the traditional one. It is prepared without bechamel, what makes it lighter but delicious!

Preparation time: 1 hour and a half

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients: 

(For 4 persons)

1 Aubergine

1 Courgette

1 Onion

1 can 100 gr fried tomato

250 grames soft unripened cheese / Burgos cheese / or cottage cheese

50 grames grated Parmesan cheese

50 grames walnuts
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon oregano

A pinch of ground nutmeg
Olive oil
Salt

Pepper

Preparation:

1. Cut the aubergine and the courgette in 1 centimeter slices. Put some salt over them and keep them this way for an hour so they give off the water.

2. Meanwhile, cut the onion. Put some olive oil in a pan and cook the onion until it gets ready.

3. Put the soft unripened cheese in a bowl with the oregano, cinnamon, a pinch of ground nutmeg, salt, pepper and a splash of oilve oil. Stir it until you get a homogeneous cream.

4. Crush the walnuts and add it to the mixture. Taste the mixture and if necessary, add salt and pepper. Keep it in the fridge.

5. Dry the aubergine and the courgette with kitchen towels. Fry it in a pan plenty of olive oil (or sunflower oil if you prefere it). When they are cooked dry the excess of oil with some kitchen towels. Add them some salt and pepper.

6. On a baking sheet put a coat of aubergine, another of fried tomato, then the onion, the cheese cream, the courgette and on top add some grated Parmesan cheese.

7. Before serve it, put it in the oven to gratiné the cheese.

Enjoy it! :)

Kefta

Kefta or Kofte (depending on the country) is a very popular meatball in the Middle East. Its name means "hand" due to the elaboration process, which is very easy to prepare, as you will see.

Preparation time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy

 Ingredients: (for 3 persons)

500 grames ground beef
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
20 grames pine nuts (peeled, obviously)
Cayenne pepper
Paprika
Ground black pepper
Ground cumin
A pinch of ground cinnamon
2 tomatoes
Parsley
Olive oil
Salt

Preparation:

1. Cut 1/4 of the onion, the garlic cloves and the pine nuts in very little pieces (or even grated). You can use a mixer.

2. Put me mixture in a bowl with the ground beef and all the spices: Salt, 25 ml of olive oil, a pinch of cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon paprika, a pinch of ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, a pinch of ground cinnamon and parsley.

3. Mix it all with the hands until you get a homogeneus mixture.  Let it settle for 20 minutes.

4. Make little meatballs. If you want to make it more traditional, you can give it a long shape (like a sausage) and skewer them in a brochette. If you have enought time let them settle in the fridge for an hour, if not, don't worry, the kefta will be great anyway.

5. While the meatballs are in the fridge, put some olive oil in a pan, cut the rest of the onion and add it to the pan once the oil is hot.

6. When the onion is starting to get ready add the tomatoes (first, cut them in small squares) and a bit of water (the amount of water depends on how much sauce you want to do). Add some salt, a teaspoon of ground black pepper, a teaspoon of ground cumin, a teaspoon of paprika, stir it all and let it cook until the tomatoes are mushy.

7. Once the sauce is ready, add the meatballs and cook them until they get ready.

*As it is a dish from the Middle East I have prepared it with beef as it is usual there, but you can try it with other meats.

Enjoy it! يتمتع بها!

Stuffed Piquillo Peppers

I know this recipe thanks to a friends´ blog. It is a very easy and really tasty recipe. The best is that contrary to other recipes, in this case preparing the filling will take you just 15 minutes! I am sure you will like it!

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Very easy

Ingredients:

1 jar (260 grames) of whole Extra Piquillo peppers

For the filling: 

120 grames tuna, drained

250 grames Philadelphia Light

A pinch of black pepper

For the sauce:

200ml cooking cream

2-3 piquillo peppers

Grated emmental cheese

Salt 

Pepper

Preparation:

1. In a bowl, mix the draines tuna with the Philadelphia cheese and stir it until you get a homogeneous mixture. Add a pinch of black pepper to the mixture and stir it again.

2. Fill the Piquillo peppers with the mixture and place them on an baking sheet

3. For the sauce: Put in a mixer 2-3 piquillo peppers, the cooking cream and some salt and pepper. Mix it all until you get the sauce.

4. Pour the sauce over the peppers and sprinkle them with the grated emmental cheese.

5. Pre-heat the oven and cook the peppers to 200ºC for 10 minutes and then 5 minutes more turning the oven to “grill function” to gratiné the cheese.

Et voilà! Enjoy it!

Stuffed Aubergines

Today's recipe is easy to prepare and very tasty! 

I am going to prepare the stuffed aubergines without bechamel adding instead some mushrooms to the filling.

Preparation time: 1 hour

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients for 4 persons:

400 grames mince meat (pork and lamb)
2 aubergines
1 onion
1 green pepper
100gr mushrooms
1 can 100 gr fried tomato
100 gr grated cheese
Salt
Olive Oil
Black Pepper

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven 180 ºC

2. Wash the aubergines and cut them in half vertically. Make some deep cuts in the pulp without cutting the skin of the aubergine. Add a bit of salt and olive oil to each part.

3. Put some oven paper over the oven tray and place there the aubergines with the pulp down and cook them for 30 minutes.

4. Wash the mushrooms and cut them into pieces. Keep them back.

5. Cut the onion into little pieces. Put the onion in a pan with olive oil and add some salt. Cook it for 5 minutes.

6. Wash and cut the green pepper in little pieces. Add it to the pan with the onion and let it cook for another 5 minutes

7. Add the mushrooms to the pan and let it cook for 10 minutes more.

8. Once the vegetables are ready, take the mince meat, cut it a bit and add it to the pan. Add a bit of salt and move it all with a spatula until the meat gets nearly ready

9. When the aubergines are cooked take them out of the oven. Be careful not to burn your hand and remove all the pulp without breaking the skin of the aubergine.

10. Cut the pulp and add it to the pan.

11. Add the fried tomato sauce to the pan, add some black pepper and stir it all. Let it cook for 5 minutes. After a while taste it just in case you need to add more salt or pepper.

12. Once it’s ready we are going to put the aubergine’s skins over the oven tray and we are going to stuff them with the mixture.

13. Put the grated cheese over the aubergines and let them in the oven for 10 minutes to 180ºC (if the oven it is still hot you can turn down the temperature to 120ºC) During the last 4 minutes you can turn the oven to “grill function” to gratiné the cheese.

And they are ready! Enjoy the meal!

PS. This way of preparing the aubergines in the oven let their skin a bit dry. I recommend you not to eat the skin and use it just as a recipient.