Flora

Photos

Lately I have developed an increasing interest for photography... while I am still learning - there is a lot to improve! - I would like to share here with you my pictures... if you like any of them you can order!!

Let me know what you think about them!!

See you around!

Roast beef

This is a recipe that is increadibly easy, but looks really fancy - perfect for those dinners when you really have to do WELL.

Of course the key to the recipe is the meat. Make sure you buy a good piece of quality meat, don't be cheap on this one. What I normally use is stiffle of beef (a piece that is just below the hip, but the hip meat does good as well). You don't need to marinate it, herb it, spice it or savour it by any means, PLEASE.  :-)

The other key ingredient is olive oil, but that, we knew ;-)

So the ingredients are as follows:

- Stiffle of beef in one piece (200-250gr per person)
- Olive oil
- White wine 1/2 cup (not in the pic!).
- 3-4  shallots per person
- Salt

Step one: Preheat the oven to 180ºC. I normally use the functionality where the heat comes from top and bottom + fan.

Step two: Put some olive oil in an oven tray. It needs to cover the bottom of the tray and then some, but doesn't need to be really deep.

Step three: Put the piece of meat in the oven tray, and put some more olive oil on top.

Step four: When the oven is warm, put the tray with the meat in.

The total time the meat has to be in the oven is around 35-40 minutes for such a piece of meat. But it also depends on how raw you'd like the meat. However the roast beef is at its best when the meat is pink, so bear it in mind.

If you would like to cook a piece of around 1kg (for 4-6 people), cook the meat 50-60 mins.

It also depends on how thick is the piece. If it's long and thin, perhaps 40-45 minutes would do. If it's shorter and thicker, you might want to leave it a bit longer.

In any case, the roast beef is better raw than overcooked, so, if you're in doubt... take it out of the oven sooner than later!

Step five: Peel the shallots and fry them in a pan, with a tiny bit of oil, till they get some colour.

Step six: After 25 minutes, open the oven, and turn the piece of meat around. Pour 1/2 glass of white wine on top of it.

Step 7: After another 10-15 minutes, take the meat out of the oven, put it on a wooden cutting board. Cover it in salt, don't be afraid to put too much. See the picture to understand how it looks...

Step 8: Put the shallots in the tray, where the sauce is - which is still in the oven - and spring some salt. Beware, the oil might be very hot and jumpy, be careful when adding the salt!

Step 9: When the shallots have softened, after 10 minutes or so, you can take out the tray out of the oven. There you go the sauce! :)

Step 10: Wait till the meat is cold, and cut it in thin slices.

...And the meat is ready to serve.

Notice the meat of the roast beef can be served cold, whereas the sauce needs to be hot. So, you can actually cook the dish in the morning to be served to your guests in the evening. If you plan to do so, you can keep the meat in one piece up to the moment it's going to be served. It's easier to cut the meat when it's really cold. Heat up the sauce and the shallots and there you go!

You can accompany the dish with different sides, such as a boiled white rice. I normally serve it with mashed potatoes. It's my favourite combination!!


Doesn't it look delicious?

You can try the recipe yourself, then let me know how it went!


:)

Thai Chicken

We've been craving for some Thai food for the last couple of days, but we didn't find the time to go and fetch it, and we don't know any good in house delivery restaurant in the surroundings.

So, what to do, then? Well, easy, cook it yourself!

This is a veeeery easy recipe and it's obviously not mine, found it in the Internet, tested it and it's an instant success. Full preparation time under 30 minutes and it's for absolute beginners.

So, here we go!

What you will need, for 2 people:

- 1/2 chicken breast
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 1/2 cup of basmati rice (or rice noodles, your taste)
- 1 lime
- 1 fresh chili
- Fresh ginger
- Fresh coriander
- Salt

Step 1: Put the coconut milk to boil in a casserole, with a pinch of salt

Step 2: Chop the chili, some coriander, and the ginger.
Tip: use a teaspoon to peel the ginger, it's really easy and efficient!

Step 3: When the coconut milk is boiling, add the chopped ingredients to it. Put them aside, out of the fire, to infuse.

Step 4: In a different casserole, put water to boil with some salt - this water will be for the basmati rice.

Step 5: Cut the chicken in pieces (if it wasn't cut from before). Add the chicken to the coconut milk infusion. Put it back on the fire for the chicken to cook.

Step 6: When the water in the second casserole is boiling, add the basmati rice. It will take 8-10 minutes to cook.

Step 7: Grate the skin of the lime, afterwards cut it in two pieces. Chop some more coriander.

Step 8: When the rice is cooked, drain the excess of water with a colander. Put the basmati rice in bowls.

Step 9: When the chicken is well cooked (is there anything worse that undercooked chicken?? Argh!!) divide the amount of "coconut soup" between the two bowls.


Step 10: Sprinkle with lime skin and fresh lime juice, and chopped coriander.

This recipe is so tasty! Now, it can turn out to be a little bit too spicy. You may want to use less chili - or none - depending on your taste.

Likewise, you may want to switch the basmati for rice noodles. Which in my view, is much better, to be honest.

Another tip is to add one or two tablespoons of sugar to the coconut milk at the beginning for a little bit of sweetness if that is what you like.

And there you go! 

Please let me know if you tried and how did you like it! :)

Cooking

Well, first of all, I am no Jamie Oliver nor Anthony Bourdain (nor Ferrán Adriá - for that matter :) )

So, the intention here is not giving "cooking lessons", but share with you some recipes that are nice, fast, easy and make you look good - in my opinion ;)

Also, my camera skills are not the best, and I am pretty messy, so don't expect state of the art presentations :)

If you find this section useful, awesome! If not for you, feel free to pass!

I hope you will enjoy!!


Welcome to my kitchen...

Hello!

I have been thinking on writing a blog for a long, long time. But I never did it.
There were plenty of excuses not to do it.

I don't really have time. 
What am I going to write about?
Am I going to have readers?
Who does really care about what I say?
What is really the purpose? 

Now I find myself with some "unwanted" free time, and suddenly all the reasons above have vanished.

I do have time. I will write whatever - and whenever - I feel like. Some people might be interested, some not. I do care about what I say, and that is a start. I want to express myself, and share with everybody some experiences, thoughts, or whatever comes to my mind.

So I am getting a commitment here to write - at least - once per week. If by any chance you're reading this, and I am not sticking to my promise, please do send me a gentle reminder.

Now I have to think on something smart/interesting/fun to say for the coming weeks...

See you around! :)