Easy dinner: Sole in potato jackets and Choco spread muffins
In the past two weeks I have been pre-occupied with many interesting things, and I must admit, the last thing on my mind was writing a blog.
I am still exhausted from colouring Ukrainian easter eggs (pysanky). After my daughter did that in school, I found all the necessary tools at Granville Island Market, so that my youngest one and I could do the same creative work for ourselves, family and friends. It took some time, even with all the previous volunteering at school, to gain a steady hand and realize the importance of the details during writing process. But, the final product is a real pleasure.
If you do the colouring on the Easter Friday, you will still have time to prepare Easter meals and enjoy all the festivities of Easter.
If you are like me and cook too much for the holidays, leftovers can be a burden, unless you get creative. So with some leftover meat, the next day I made something similar to a Timpano, but instead of making a dough, I just did layering with cooked penne and added cooked Easter eggs, some tomato, fresh basil, cheese, béchamel sauce and topped it off with chopped portabelo mushrooms.
The week continued with a surprising Chocolate coffee cake, made from scratch for my birthday, by my thirteen year old daughter. The youngest one made the event and surprise more euphoric, with her personality, creativity and the help of her dad. On top of that, the cake decorating details, like added fresh mango and lemon pieces and only eighteen candles used, because of the limited cake space, created the best birthday ever!
The small things and people around us make this life great and beside all these events, I always give credit to a good movie or a book. These days I'm occupied with the book "Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova. The last book of hers that I read, "The Historian", was only available in audio-book format in the library and I enjoyed it so much, that I decided to take this book in audio as well. I guess, growing up with great radio-dramas, there is a certain part of me that still misses it.
So after Easter celebrations and other feasting, and between audio chapters, it's time to go back to some light and tasty meals. I hope you'll enjoy this recipe:
Sole in potato jackets
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 freshly ground black pepper
Peel the potatoes and slice them (use mandoline for 1mm thick slices) lengthewise. Place 3-4 potato slices (to be approximately equal to fillet size when they overlap), following with fish, salt and pepper and than another layer of overlaping potato slices. They can be tightly wrapped in a plastic foil and left in the fridge for a couple of hours. Imediate cooking is preferable, because of discolouration of potato.
350 gr chocolate spread (Nutella, Eurocream..)
2 eggs
60 gr unbleached flour
40 gr unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup chopped roasted almonds or hazelnuts
Preheat the oven at 180C (350 F), and grease the muffin paper holders.
I am still exhausted from colouring Ukrainian easter eggs (pysanky). After my daughter did that in school, I found all the necessary tools at Granville Island Market, so that my youngest one and I could do the same creative work for ourselves, family and friends. It took some time, even with all the previous volunteering at school, to gain a steady hand and realize the importance of the details during writing process. But, the final product is a real pleasure.
If you do the colouring on the Easter Friday, you will still have time to prepare Easter meals and enjoy all the festivities of Easter.
If you are like me and cook too much for the holidays, leftovers can be a burden, unless you get creative. So with some leftover meat, the next day I made something similar to a Timpano, but instead of making a dough, I just did layering with cooked penne and added cooked Easter eggs, some tomato, fresh basil, cheese, béchamel sauce and topped it off with chopped portabelo mushrooms.
The week continued with a surprising Chocolate coffee cake, made from scratch for my birthday, by my thirteen year old daughter. The youngest one made the event and surprise more euphoric, with her personality, creativity and the help of her dad. On top of that, the cake decorating details, like added fresh mango and lemon pieces and only eighteen candles used, because of the limited cake space, created the best birthday ever!
The small things and people around us make this life great and beside all these events, I always give credit to a good movie or a book. These days I'm occupied with the book "Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova. The last book of hers that I read, "The Historian", was only available in audio-book format in the library and I enjoyed it so much, that I decided to take this book in audio as well. I guess, growing up with great radio-dramas, there is a certain part of me that still misses it.
So after Easter celebrations and other feasting, and between audio chapters, it's time to go back to some light and tasty meals. I hope you'll enjoy this recipe:
Sole in potato jackets
2 large potatoes
4 fish fillets (sole, snapper, sea bass..)1/4 tsp salt
1/8 freshly ground black pepper
Peel the potatoes and slice them (use mandoline for 1mm thick slices) lengthewise. Place 3-4 potato slices (to be approximately equal to fillet size when they overlap), following with fish, salt and pepper and than another layer of overlaping potato slices. They can be tightly wrapped in a plastic foil and left in the fridge for a couple of hours. Imediate cooking is preferable, because of discolouration of potato.
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| Slice potatoes and set them to overlap. Than put a fillet of sole over to fit the potato slices. |
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| Season fish and cover with the next layer of potatoes |
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| Cook in a deep pan with a little bit of oil until golden brown on each side |
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| Serve with aioli and sauteed garlic spinach or chard |
Choco-spread muffins
350 gr chocolate spread (Nutella, Eurocream..)
2 eggs
60 gr unbleached flour
40 gr unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup chopped roasted almonds or hazelnuts
 |
| Mix eggs and chocolate spread (Nutella, Eurocream..) until smooth |
Preheat the oven at 180C (350 F), and grease the muffin paper holders.
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| Add dry ingredients and mix well |
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| Bake them on a low heat for about 15 minutes |
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| They should crack on the top when done |
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