A perfect light lunch

It is an exciting experience to go shopping for nice fresh food
at the local fish market and farm stall!
This is what I did yesterday! I came back home with a freshly caught
red snapper, organic lemons, a head of crispy frisee salad, grapefruit,
bloody orange and red sweet strawberries!
These are the perfect ingredients for a light Sunday lunch!

RED SNAPPER IN PAPILLOTE


Ingredients:

a big piece of red snapper fillet serving 4 people
1 organic lemon
black pepper
salt
1 inch fresh ginger
2 sprigs of fennel green top
1TBS parsley leaves
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic or 2 scallions

Put fish fillet on a big piece of parchment paper.
Season with salt, pepper and oil, then cover with lemon rounds,
ginger and garlic slices, fennel green sprigs and parsley.
Close the parchment paper forming a parcel and bake in oven at 375 F
(180 C) for about 25 minutes.
Open parchment and leave in oven for few minutes.

Serve with a salad.

FRISEE AND CITRUS SALAD


Ingredients:

Half head of frisee salad
1 bloody orange
half grapefruit
half fennel bulb
1/2 cup peeled almonds

Wash salad and slice leaves in halves.
Peel orange and grapefruit with a knife to eliminate also the white skin.
Slice them in small pieces.
Wash fennel and cut in small cubes.
In a pan toast almonds for few minutes and cool them down.

Prepare a vinaigrette.

In a bowl mix together juice of half lemon and half grapefruit,
1/4 cup of olive oil,1 tsp honey, 1 pinch of salt, pepper,
1 TBS finely chopped parsely.
Whisk mixture well till creamy.

Mix all salad ingredients and toss them with vinaigrette.

End lunch with fresh strawberries dipped in sugar (only for this special occasion!).

Orange, almond and chocolate biscotti

Biscotti are one of my favorite treats!
I love them with a foamy cappuccino in the morning,
a hot green tea in the afternoon or whenever I need
something sweet.
I have tried many different recepes but the following is
the one I prefer the most.

ORANGE, ALMOND AND CHOCOLATE BISCOTTI


Ingredients for about 40 biscotti:

3 cups (375 g) flour
2/3 cup (100 g) sugar
1 stick (110 g) butter
3 beaten eggs
1 TBS orange peel
1 TBS orange juice
1 TBS liquor (Amaretto or Martini)
1 tsp vanilla essence
half tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 cup almond slivers
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Heat oven at 350 F/ 180 C.

In a bowl combine soft butter with sugar, orange zest, vanilla,
orange juice and liquor; beat until creamy. Add eggs and mix well.
Mix flour with salt and baking powder and add it to the liquid mixture.
Blend ingredients and add toasted almonds and chocolate chips.
Form mixture into two rolls and place them on a baking shit.
Cook for about 25 minutes until lightly golden.
When ready, remove them and put on a rack or a wooden board to cool a little.
When you can handle them, cut them with a serrated knife on the diagonal into
1 cm slices.
Place slices flat on two baking shits and bake again for about 15 minutes.

Cool them and store in an airtight container.

ENJOY IT!

Mushrooms soups

Mushrooms are a star ingredient during winter.
Now that winter is nearly at its end I want to celebrate them by making a nice
mushrooms soup.
Mushrooms have no fats, no cholesterol, very low carbohydrates, high proteins,
vitamins and minerals, a lot of water and fiber.
Shiitake mushrooms, in particular, contain the compound lentinan that,
not only helps boost your immune system, but can also help prevent cancer.

Is this enough to make you try this delicious soup?

MUSHROOMS SOUP


Ingredients for 4 people:

300g (1 package) of portobella or cremini mushrooms
100g (1 package) of shiitake mushrooms
1 small potato
1 bunch of scallions + 1 clove of garlic
1 TBS parsely
2 stalks of celery
Himalaian pink salt (or normal sea salt)
Olive oil

Coat the base of a deep pot with olive oil (2/3 TBS)and warm it up.
Add chopped scallions, garlic and celery.
Clean mushrooms with a papertowel and slice them.
Add them in with a peeled and cubed potato.
Stir the ingredients for few seconds.
Add enough water to cover them (about 4 cups).
Add parsely and a teaspoon of salt and bring to boil.
Let it simmer at low heat for 30 minutes.
Use a blender to transform mixture in a creamy soup.

Serve with a sprinkle of parsely.

Healthy chocolate truffles

Lots of studies have verified that cocoa has lots of benefits.
Besides helping to stabilize blood pressure, blood vessel health,
insulin sensitivity and HDL Cholesterol formation, cocoa is also
good to relieve stress and anxiety.

Cashew nuts are a very rich source of essential minerals like:
manganese, potassium, copper, iron, magnesium, zinc and selenium.
Cashews are also rich in many essential vitamins
such as pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine (vitamin B-6),
riboflavin, and thiamin (vitamin B-1),
responsible of easing stress, anxiety and depression.

Conclusion:
The combination of cocoa powder and cashew nuts is an explotion of
goodness for your health and your taste buds.

Here is a recepe that combines the two ingredients creating
magic chocolate truffles.
Thank you Stephanie Filardi for sharing it with me!

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES


Ingredients for about 50 balls:

1 cup cashew nuts
1 cup good quality cocoa powder (I use Ghirardelli or Trader Joe)
half cup maple syrup
2 TBS water

Coatings:

cinnamon powder
curry powder
paprika
pumpkin spice mix
ginger powder
coconut flour

Grind pecans in a mixer then add cacoa.
Pulse them, then add maple syrup and water (just enough to make mixture soft but not liquid).

Let it rest in the fridge for 3/5 minutes.

Meanwhile, put coatings of your choice in small bowls.

Take half teaspoon of mixture and make a small ball using your hands.
Transfer ball in the bowl and cover it with chosen coating.

Put truffles in a tin or a glass container with lid and store in the fridge up to a week.

Chia seeds and cocoa mousse

Chia seed is a super food.
The chia seed was once a staple food of the Aztecs, loved for its ability
to sustain and to give endurance.
Actually, you could live off chia almost entirely, because it has
19 amino acids, with all of the essential amino acids except taurine.
Chia is gluten free.
It is super high in dietary fibre, making it great for digestion and healing
digestion issues.
It contains 20% Omega 3 ALA, making it a super food for the brain and heart.
(Chia has eight times more Omega 3 than salmon!)
It boasts 20% protein.
It is high in antioxidants.
Chia contains five times more calcium than milk.
Chia contains seven times more vitamin C than oranges.
It contains three times more iron than spinach.
It contains twice the potassium content of banana.
It is food for healthy skin, hair and nails.
It has a positive impact balancing blood glucose levels.
Chia makes a great egg replacement. Just combine with water to form a gel,
and add it to recipes that call for egg.

Here for you a delicious recepe to use chia seeds.

CHIA SEEDS AND COCOA MOUSSE


Ingredients for 4 ramekins:

1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 TBS chia seeds
2 TBS maple syrup (or more if you want it sweeter)
1 TBS peanut or almond butter (smooth)
Half tsp cinnamon

Add all ingredients in a blender,then transfer liquid in 4 ramekins.
Cover with cling paper and chill in fridge for at least one hour.

Serve cold with a sprinkle of cinnamon or grated white chocolate.

A special butternut risotto!

I know, I have already published another butternut risotto recepe,
but this one is even better than the other one!

I love risotto!!!

BUTTERNUT RISOTTO


Ingredients for 4 people:

for broth:

1,5 lt of water
2 celery sticks
2 carrots
1 fennel
2 butternut slices
salt to taste good


for risotto:

5 handful of arborio rice
1 small onion, diced
3 TBS olive oil
half butternut,diced
1TBS sour cream
1 handful grated parmesan
pepper

Cut in half a butternut, peel it and put aside 2 slices for broth.
Dice it and roast in oven at 400 F for 20 min or till soft.

Put water and all ingredients in a pot to prepare a vegetable broth.
Let it boil for 30 minutes.
Drain broth and keep butternut aside. Squash it to obtain a puree.

When broth is ready, put oil and onion in another pot and let onion cook
till translucent.
Add rice and toast it for few minutes, then add the pureed butternut and mix.
Add 2 ladles of broth and stir well.
When rice gets dry add another ladle of broth and stir.
Keep repeating this process for about 15 minutes.
Taste rice to check if cooked and stop adding broth.
Add roasted butternut and mix well.
When all liquid has evaporated, add sour cream and stir well.
Switch off stove, add parmesan and pepper.

Let risotto rest for at least 5 minutes before serving it.

BRUSSEL SPROUTS, BACON and JAM

Brussel sprouts have recently become part of my diet.
They are very good for our health, rich in protein, dietary fiber, vitamins,
minerals, and antioxidants, which work wonders to get rid of many health troubles.

Brussel sprouts are an excellent source of vitamin C.
Together with other antioxidant vitamins such as vitamin A and E,
it helps protect the body by trapping harmful free radicals.
It is one of the excellent vegetable sources for vitamin-K,
good for bone health and prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
They are also rich source of minerals like copper, calcium, potassium,
iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

I suggest you to try this recepe where the healthy vegetable pairs with the
superdelicious bacon.

BRUSSEL SPROUTS, BACON and JAM

Ingredients:

1 pound (450 g) brussel sprouts
5 slices (200 g) bacon
1 TBS apricot jam
3 TBS balsamic vinegar
salt

Blanch brussel sprouts, drain and slice them in halves or quarters.

Slice bacon in thin stripes and cook in a hot frying pan.


Add brussel sprouts and let them cook for 5 minutes.

Dilute jam in 1/3 cup water and add to vegetables.


Cook for few minutes then add balsamic vinegar and salt.


Serve them on a toast or as a side dish.

LEMON PANCAKES

Since I live in New York I have tried to make pancakes many times without success!
Finally I have found the right recepe that allows me to make pancakes soft
as a cloud.
This is Melanie Ferreira's recepe from the Academy of Healing and Nutrition
and, of course, is also a very healthy one!
In this recepe flour is soaked overnight to make it more digestible.
I use yogurt to add some probiotic that helps build up healthy bacteria and
flora throughout the intestine, promoting digestion.

LEMON PANCAKES


Ingredients for 10/12 pancakes:

1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups Greek or plain yougurt
half lemon juice and grated peel
2 eggs
half tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 TBS melted butter

Maple syrup and sour cream to serve.

Soak flour in yogurt and lemon juice overnight.
Add eggs, salt, baking soda, lemon peel, butter and stir well.
I suggest to use an electric grill but if not available you can use a cast iron
skillet to cook them.
Warm up grill at 350 F, brush with a little butter and add a spoonful of mixture
(on electric grill you can cook 6 pancakes at the time).
When small bubbles start forming turn pancakes upside down.
Cook them till golden and puffy.
Cover with maple syrup, add few drops of lemon and a dollop of sour cream and serve!

Buon appetito!!!