Mushroom Quinoa Salad

I haven't disappeared! I have just been quite busy...

We had a fab time with our friends who arrived to visit us for a couple of days and got stranded in the UK for almost one more week due to the volcano ash and flight ban. However, two weeks have passed, and I haven't done much. Apartment needs to be cleaned, huge piles of clothes are waiting to be washed. And I'm not talking about you and my blog, that I neglected completely. And my RSS reader shows number 247. It's catch up time! Phew!

P. was in the office yesterday, so I did not have to worry about lunch. I wanted to cook something quick and easy for myself, because cleaning and washing drained most of my energy. The only requirement was to use leftover mushrooms. I bought them the day before at a market and used them to make stuffed baked mushrooms with goat cheese and spinach for dinner.

I was deciding between pasta and quinoa. Quinoa won because P. is not very familiar yet with this still quite new to us grain and I usually make it only for myself. In fact, quinoa is not a true grain, it is a pseudocereal which basically means that it is a broadleaf plant not a grass. True cereals like wheat, rye or barley are grasses. Another examples of pseudocereals are amaranth and buckwheat. I've quite recently discovered quinoa and I really like it.

I had to photograph very quickly, because my stomach was growling...

And I can't forget to thank Bethany who chose my blog to be "Blog of The Month" on her lovely blog Dirty Kitchen Secrets. I was truly pleased and honoured when I found out. Go and check her new blog facelift and mouthwatering recipes!

Mushroom quinoa salad

Serve 1

1/2 cup / 85g quinoa

200ml vegetable stock

1tbsp vegetable or olive oil

1 shallot, finally chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

6 mushrooms, sliced

1-2 springs of fresh thyme

3 sun dried tomatoes, chopped

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper

fresh parsley

1. Rinse the quinoa in plenty of cold water and place in a medium saucepan. Add boiling vegetable stock and bring back to the boil. Simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes until the stock is absorbed and the quinoa is tender.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan and saute onion for 2-3 minutes, add the garlic a fry for another minute. Add sliced mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Finally, add the thyme leaves. Stir fry the mushrooms for about 5 minutes, or until soft.

3. In a small bowl, mix the cooked quinoa with olive oil, add mushrooms and tomatoes, mix well. Check the seasoning and add more salt or pepper if you like. Scatter fresh parsley on top and serve.

Italian Malfatti with Tomato Sauce

Any recipe containing spinach always gets my attention. I love spinach! And of course, I prefer using fresh leaf spinach when available. There are only few recipes, mostly Czech recipes, where frozen chopped spinach works well. So when I saw Italian malfatti in a Czech food magazine, and found out that the green pieces were spinach leaves, I knew instantly I had to try to make them.

I have never eaten malfatti nor heard of them before. I learned that best malfatti are home prepared and their name, translated from Italian, means "bad made". Such name doesn't do them justice, does it? But don't be fooled by their name. They are sometimes referred to as "naked ravioli". That sounds much better, kinda sexy, I would say.

Malfatti is a traditional Tuscan dish and it's basically ravioli filling without dough. They mostly contain ricotta and only a small amount of flour which make them very light and airy, especially when you compare them to traditional gnocchi. On top of that, they are very easy to make! And they contain plenty of greens! I think someone should officially change their name! What's bad about them?

I served malfatti with spicy tomato sauce, but you can also just drizzle it with melted butter and scatter some extra parmesan on top. Doesn't it look like a perfect spring dish?

And look, spring has finally arrived to London too! I mean real spring with sunny days, blooming trees and baby ducks! :)

Note: I didn't put the exact quantity of flour/semolina, you need to add enough to make soft dough, still a little sticky. I started with 50g and added more gradually until I got the consistency I wanted.

Italian malfatti with spicy tomato sauce

Serves 4

1 tbsp butter

1 shallot, finely chopped

100g fresh spinach leaves, washed, hard stems removed

salt and freshly ground pepper

pinch of grated nutmeg

250g ricotta cheese

50g grated parmesan

1 egg

1 egg yolk

50-100g semolina (plain flour works too)

For the sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

salt

1/2 of dried chilli pepper

400g canned tomatoes

1 tbsp fresh basil leaves

extra parmesan, to serve

1. Melt the butter in a frying pan and saute shallot for about 4 minutes. Add spinach leaves, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and cook for 3-5 minutes until wilted.

2. Drain in a sieve placed over a medium bowl, pressing to squeeze out excess liquid. Save the squeezed liquid. Chop the spinach.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine drained ricotta, parmesan, egg, egg yolk, chopped spinach and spinach liquid. Season with salt if needed. Start adding flour/semolina, mixing well between each addition, to get a soft mixture but not very sticky. If you make too thick mixture, the malfatti will get heavy and chewy.

4. Sprinkle some flour on a plate. Form the mixture into a small egg-shaped pieces using two spoons dipped into hot water. Place them carefully on a plate, sprinkle some more flour over and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

5. Prepare the tomato sauce. Heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic and chilli and fry for a minute. Stir in the chopped tomatoes, season with salt a pepper and cook, stirring occasionally for 15-20 minutes.

6. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the maflatti in batches so that they have enough space and water to cook. When they come out at the surface continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon, drain and keep warm until all the malfatti are done.

7. Divide the malfatti between plates, pour tomato sauce over and sprinkle with parmesan and basil leaves.

Gluten Free Chocolate and Nut Cookies

I originally wanted to write about a traditional Czech Easter sweet bread. I did bake the bread, and I took pictures of it. But then, I changed my mind. Not only a special flour is needed for the bread, which I think you can not find easily everywhere, but I also wanted to enjoy some leisure time with P. during Easter, and I didn't feel like writing a blog post. I'm truly terribly lazy some days.

But don't worry, I have something better for you today. My first gluten free cookies! These cookies represent my very first experience with gluten-free baking. It wasn't difficult at all, in the end. I have been wanting to bake gluten free something for a while, but I couldn't find any gluten free flour anywhere in our local supermarkets.

Most of gluten free recipes call for amaranth or quinoa flour which I still can't find. What I used for my cookies is a gluten and wheat free plain white flour blend. This flour blend is milled from rice, potato, tapioca, maize and buckwheat.

We spent a couple of nice days with our friends and ate a lot of food during the long weekend. I mean really a lot! I felt like a hot air balloon. Then P. cooked lamb chops with sage and rosemary for lunch on Sunday. I was still craving something sweet, but I wanted to make a light dessert after such a feast. And that was when these cookies came to my mind.

I was very happy with the result. I used all different kinds of nuts I found in my cupboard, and added a quality dark chocolate. The taste was amazing and they were nicely tender in texture. I wouldn't recognise they are made with a gluten free flour. I can honestly say I look forward to trying more gluten free recipes.

Gluten free chocolate and nut cookies

320g gluten free flour blend

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp salt

190g unsalted butter, room temperature

155g golden cane sugar

75g dark brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

100g chocolate, chopped

40g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

60g pistachios, roughly chopped

60g almonds, roughly chopped

1. Sift all the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light. Scrape the bowl to make sure the butter and sugar are well combined, and add the eggs one at a time. Then add the vanilla.

2. Slowly add your dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until it comes together.

3. Finally add in all the nuts and chocolate and mix well to combine.

4. Cover the bowl with foil and chill the dough for a few hours.

5. Preheat oven to 175C. Scoop a tablespoon of dough and place it on baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes.