Summer salad with gambas and avocado

No story needed. Simple and ideal for those hot summer days when you don't feel like cooking.. Straight from the beach, this fresh and crispy summer salad is made within a couple of minutes; leaving you with plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the summer eve, and your healthy but delicious gamba salad!




Ingredients:
* 100 gr. of rocket salad
* 4 tomatoes
* 2 avocados
* 200 gr. of pasta
* olive oil (extra vergine)
* balsamico vinagre
* 500 gr. of peeled gambas

Spice it up with:
* 2 red chili pepers (remove the seeds)
* 4 cloves of garlic
* salt and pepper

Preparation and cooking instructions:
1) Cook the pasta for about 8 minutes in boiling water

2) Mix the rocket salad, chopped tomatoes, chopped avocados in a bowl

3) Chop the red chili's and the garlic and bake them in a pan with some olive oil. Add the prawns and steer well. Bake the peeled gambas for about 2 minutes, until they show a nice pink colour

4) Make a dressing of Olive oil (extra vergine), balsamico vinagre, salt and pepper.

5) Add the pasta, the dressing and the prawns (including the baking oil with chili's and garlic) to the salad bowl and mix all the ingredients.


Ready to be enjoyed during a sweet sunset with your friends! Music: Bakermat - Zomer

6 Reasons why you should always have Greeks around your dining table

1) Plenty of food
Never again will you have to be afraid of starving. As a rule, Greeks prefer to ensure they have enough food to feed the whole village, rather than risking empty bowls on the table and hungry guests.

2) The pleasure of sharing
"Mezedes", Greek tapas, are always shared with everyone around the table. A joyful experience, which is very convenient at the same time. Do you know the feeling of wanting to taste sardine, but don't want to decline freshly cooked melanzanes with roasted lamb either? Greeks don't like eating just one dish, they rather order the whole menu to share :) So just find some Greeks to gather around the table with and challenge your taste pupils!

3) No washing of the dishes
Greeks love simple living. If you are done with your dinner, why bother cleaning the dishes? Just throw them on the floor, do a little Sirtaki dance, and you're done for today. Much easier, no?

4) Unlimited garlic
Have you ever encountered a great smelling dish, of which you are sure there must be at least 3 cloves of garlic inside? Next, you find yourself in a huge dilemma whether you should dig in, or resist temptation in order not to kill the next ten people you are going to meet with your "garlic-perfume". Well, if you are dining with Greeks you don't face these kind of difficult life problems. Greeks eat garlic as normal human beings eat bread. So don't worry, be happy, and smell as much as you like; everyone at the table does anyway!

5) Healthy
Mediterranean cuisine is known to be very healthy. The Greeks owe it to their pure olive oil, which is not to be missed in any of the Greek dishes. Olive oil contributes to a healthy heart and veins.. Suddenly a Pita Souvlaki doesn't sound so bad anymore..

6) Fun
Dining with Greeks is never dull. They are loud, fun and they don't do "etiquette-rules". Instead, they dance, sing, and talk while chewing. So if you don't want to be bothered with 'which cutlery you should use for which dish' or any other polite dining rules, then eat with Greeks. You are allowed to wipe the leftover sauce of your plate with a piece of fresh bread and no one will look at you with a strange face. Food is to be enjoyed to the fullest!

Kali orexi!

Cucumber soup with a touch of Spain

The story:
No worries, I hear you thinking: Cucumber soup? Soup of cucumbers? You call that a culinary dish, you've got to be kidding me?! Yes, these were the exact same thoughts I had when I heard my friend expressing this culinary idea.
It was a cozy evening in Seville, some friends and I were hanging around the kitchen table, thinking of how to fill our stomachs before planning our road trip through Andalucia. Cucumber soup was the last thing I would have thought about.. But, luckily, in life, people think differently and Stephanie had this dish ranked as one of her favourites. Convinced of her culinairy inspiration she suggested this brilliant dish. Unfortunately Maaike, Violet and I were not so convinced of its brilliance, as could be seen by our not-so-charming faces and a big question mark rising above our heads screaming "CUCUMBER SOUP?! What the..". But before we could make up any excuses to politely turn down our friend's idea, we found ourselves cutting onions and steering in the soup pan.... filled with.. cucumbers. Yes, we were weak.. we swayed... But now I am glad we did. I am so happy Stephanie had this moment of brilliance that night in Seville and that she dragged us on the adventure called 'Cucumber soup with a touch of Spain', cause I wouldn't have wanted to miss it for a thing! I must even admit, it is one of my favourite soups nowadays.. Especially for hot summer eve's, like those back in Seville..

Ingredients (for 4 persons)
* 2 onions
* 8 cucumbers
* 1 tablet chicken or vegetable stock
* 125 ml creme fraiche

Spice it up with:
* 20 gr. of fresh coriander
* salt and pepper
* Jamon Serrano (Spanish raw ham, as the 'touch of Spain')


Preparation and cooking instructions
1) Peel the cucumbers and cut them in half (in their length). Remove the inside of the cucumbers, so that only the 'solid' outside parts are left, and chop these in small pieces
2) Chop the onions and fry them in a pan with a little bit of olive oil. After 2 minutes add the cucumbers and fry for another 5-7 minutes, to soften the cucumbers
3) Add about 1 liter of boiled water to the mixture (the exact quantity depends on the amount of stock you use) together with 1 tablet of chicken or vegetable stock. Season the mixture with plenty of salt and pepper. Let the soup boil for about 15 minutes until the cucumbers have become extremely soft.
4) Take the soup from the stove and mix it with a hand-mixer until the soup is completely smooth
5) Add the creme fraiche, chopped pieces of Serrano ham (this is the delicious Spanish touch!) and chopped, fresh coriander to the mixture, steer it well, and serve it in soup bowls, with a piece of fresh, crispy bread

Delicious on warm summer evenings, enjoyed with lovely friends. Music: Jose de Rico - Rayos de Sol

Who says breakfast is boring?

Wouldn't it be lovely to start your morning..

 

                        in this setting..                                            with banana pancakes and sirup..

freshly squeezed juice..                                                eggs in this shape..                                    



                                                                  served in this china..?

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

 

wishing you an inspired start of the day!

The meaning of Tiramisu

This year I was celebrating my 24th birthday in a restaurant with family and friends. Not only was I surrounded with great people, I also got treated on a special dessert, including fireworks and harmonious singing. After the spectacular concert by our favourite waiter "Caspâh" and the orchestra made up by own family and friends, it was time to start the attack on the dessert. One little problem: 1 bowl of tiramisu and 8 hungry people surrounding the dining table.. As only shared joy is real joy, we collectively dived into the precious Tiramisu to enjoy its taste. However, the moment that the Tiramisu reached the taste pupils of my brother, something must have snapped in his brain.. He magically turned into a philosophical scientist, raising the fundamental question that surprised us all:
"Guys, what does Tiramisu actually mean?" 

We all stared at him.................silence........... What?!................That's what you think of when eating Tiramisu, after having had plenty of wines and beers? Who cares what it means, it just tastes freaking good!!! But after the question got time to sank in, my brother's curiosity started to become contagious and we found ourselves captivated by his striking question. Millions of people around the world eat this legendary Italian dessert every day, but does anyone know what it symbolizes, what its true meaning is? After a confusing Google research on the spot, we asked "Caspâh" the waiter, to raise the question to his Italian chef. Unfortunately, he couldn't help us out.. Maybe he wasn't that "Italian" after all... This inspired me to do a little research about the mystery of Tiramisu. Below you will find my simple, but striking discovery.

Tiramisu comes from the Italian phrase: Tirami sù, which means: lift me up or pick me up

Interpretations of this meaning may vary, but it is clear that it refers to the raising of an emotional state, rather than the physical act of lifting/picking up. I believe the "lifting up" reflects the boost of cacao, Amaretto liquor and coffee, that one gets when eating the dessert. It has been proven that these three fundamental ingredients of Tiramisu are great energy lifters. Moreover, cacao may even temporarily affect your happiness level and lighten up your spirit. Is there any better reason to eat Tiramisu? Goodbye guilt, hellooooooo happiness!

Whether this information will alter your taste experience the next time you order Tiramisu (perhaps it works as a placebo effect), or whether it has achieved the status of most invaluable knowledge; at least you can pretend you are the smart ass, next time you see someone eating Tiramisu. "Do you know what Tiramisu means?"... "No?"....."Well, I do! I do! I do!"

Yia yia's Keftedes me Patates

The story
Yia yia's Keftedes is a recipe that is holy in our family. Whenever one screams the K-word, you will find all of us running to the kitchen like small children. Even my dad, who is normally not so keen on getting out of his fancy chair. However, it must be noted that these are not "normal meatballs", these are yia yia's keftedes; the meatballs of my Greek grandmother. What makes them so miraculously special is the combination of love and garlic (ever thought these two things would go hand in hand?). Yia yia was always caring and cooking for everyone, whether it would be the family, the vegetable man or a stranger, I bet she would share her food with all of them. Unless they wouldn't be a fan of garlic... Then they would have a big problem.
My grandmother died 6 years ago, but her meatballs are one of her precious legacies she left behind. Luckily, she taught my mom the craft of Greek meatball-making with love (and my mom passed it on to me). And so I am the third generation with this delicious family recipe in my hands.


Ingedients (for 3-4 persons)
* 400 gr. mince meat
* 2 cloves of garlic
* 1 onion
* 3 crumbled toasts/ biscuit rusks
* 1 egg
* 600 gr. potatoes

Spice it up with:
* fresh thyme
* 20 gr. of fresh parsly
* fresh rosemary
* oregano
* salt and pepper
* 1 lemon


Preparation and cooking
1) Peel the potatoes and cut them in pieces. Put them in an oven tray and sprinkle them with rosemary, olive oil (make sure all potatoes are covered), salt and lemon juice. Bake the potatoes in a pre-heated oven of 210 degrees, for about 50 minutes.
2) Chop the garlic, onions, parsly and thyme and mixe them in a bowl, together with 1 egg and the crumbled toasts. Season the mixture with oregano, salt and pepper.
2) Add the minced meat to the mixture and mix all the ingredients thouroughly with your hands.
3) Make small balls of the mixture by rolling them between your hand palms. Coat them with a layer of flower and fry the meetballs for about 10-15 minutes, until they are fully cooked on the inside.
4) Serve the meatballs and the potatoes on a plate and sprankle the meatballs with lemon juice.

Delicious with a salad en tzatziki on the side!

Welcome!

Dear visitors,

I am happy to welcome you on my blog "Spice up! - Culinary adventures". If you aim to step out of the standard way of cooking and discover new territory which will spice up your cooking for more enjoyment, you are exactly where you need to be!

Thanks to my Mom's passion for food, culinary experiments have always been dominating our dining table (in fact, I am the worst Dutchie when it comes to Stampot and other typical Dutch "cuisines"; I have never eaten most of them!). Unavoidably, I took over this magic gene and used my international family roots and the travels I have made, to discover the large variation of flavours, creativity and cultural experiences in the world.. And I came to see that cooking is an universal art: blending in flavours, discovering new combinations, using fresh ingredients and letting your creativity flow result in a unique dish, with a hidden signature of the Picasso that made it. It ain't gotta be perfect, it ain't gotta be well-thought, it just got to be personal and peformed with conviction and joy: That's the work of a true artist.

On this blog I share food-related anekdotes, dining cultures and adventurous recipes, which find their roots in countries all around the world. Hereby I hope to share with you my passion for cooking and inspire you to make dining a simple, enjoyable moment of daily-life; which can be shared with family and friends, but can also be secretly adored by yourself.

'Cause, the way I see it, life is too short to be eating plain food..

Bon appetit!

Melanie