Fried Dover Soles with Capers, Olives and Sun-dried Tomatoes / Solha frita, com molho de Alcaparras, Azeitonas e Tomates Secos.

Helen is doing a fabulous job on promoting this gorgeous historic town where we live. Linlithgow!

This week is all about food and drink and promoting all our lovely shops, cafes, restaurants, etc.

To celebrate Linlithgow food and drink week, I decided to be part of it and after meeting with lovely Helen in one of our most gorgeous cafes in linlithgow, the Granary Cafe, we agreed that I'd be posting a recipe promoting our local shops.

When I saw these Dover soles in our local fish shop, I couldn't resist them.

Shallow fried and topped with Mediterranean flavours, these soles are a great delicatessen and a delightful treat.

The recipe is from Bart Van Olphen, Bart's Fish Tales book and was marked down to be tried for a long time now. It's absolutely as I thought it would be: Exquisite!

The sun-dried tomatoes and capers were bought at our local healthy shop, Complete Health. A shop that I truly adore and where you can find everything healthy and organic. The owner, Gail, is so kind, adorable and thoughtful. Honestly, is one of my favourite shops in town and it's always a pleasure to go there.

Now for the recipe...

Lemon Coconut Panna Cotta with Blood Orange / Panna Cotta de Limão e Coco, com Laranja Sanguínea.

Here it is, another absolute stunner recipe, from Rita Serano FABULOUS, FABULOUS book "Vegan in 7", from which I've already shared this soup and this salad and a book from! honestly? I can't stop cooking. I might be turning vegan and not assuming it yet (lol)...

I love lemon as you all know and coconut is another ingredient that I totally adore so, this panna cotta couldn't go unnoticed!

And!!!

Let me tell you...

This Panna Cotta is Masterchef worthy!

It has just the perfect wobble and its texture and flavours are amazing!!

I added a few grinds of vanilla powder to my panna cotta just because, as you know, "vanilla" is my first surname and, as blood oranges are now in season, I've topped my panna cotta with segmented blood orange but, feel free to top it with any oranges variety you like or even with any other seasonal fruit.

As oranges are Marta's "ingredient of the month", this is my last post for Marta and her January table.

Georgian Chicken Soup / Sopa de Galinha da Geórgia.

Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan.

Georgian cuisine often marries western techniques with eastern flavours and to find out more about its uniqueness, you should read this amazing and very interesting article.

To create this chicken soup, Christopher Kimball was inspired by a traditional Georgian recipe called "Chikhirtma".

As we love (specially the kids) chicken soup here at home, this recipe was one of the first ones I've marked down to try from Christopher Kimball's "Milk Street - The New Home Cooking". The book of the month for the online #rainydaybitescookbookclub!

As soon as I started reading the recipe, a similar soup came up to my mind. The Greek Avgolemono soup. A soup that we loved a lot and that is also finished with eggs and lemon juice.

This Georgian soup I'm posting today is rich, full of flavour, creamy and so comforting for these cold days that, if you try it, I can assure you'll be making it over and over again.

Focaccia with Burrata, Prosciutto and Rocket / Focaccia com queijo Burrata, Presunto e Rúcula.

Beautiful and absolutely delicious Focaccia for Deborah's and her Rainydaybites Cook Book Club.

The chosen book for September is, as I wrote here, Brian Hart Hoffman "Bake from Scratch" and apart from the monthly recipe challenges, I honestly can't decide what to bake because everything looks so good, that I just want to cook my way throughout the book...

One thing is for sure, this Focaccia was the first recipe I marked down to try as soon as I had a flick through the book and my instinct was right because it's the most delicious Focaccia I made until today.

Easy peasy to make, crispy on the outside, fluffy and perfectly structured on the inside and a superb array of ingredients on top...

Just Perfect!!

Spatchcocked Poussin with Romesco Sauce / Franguinho grelhado com molho Romesco.

Romesco is a nut and red pepper based sauce that originated from Tarragona, Catalonia, in Northeastern Spain. The fishermen in this area made this sauce to eat with fish but it also can be served with meat.

The original recipe - another one from Omar Allibhoy book "Spanish Made Simple" - calls for quail but I decided to make it with spatchcocked poussin.

As soon as I saw this recipe, it caught my attention straightaway because I'm still dreaming about the marvelous romesco sauce that I add with Manuela last month in Lisbon, when we had lunch at the Watt, the new restaurant by the Portuguese Chef Kiko Martins.

This is the last suggestion of the month and it's going straight to Marta's table and her "ingredient of the month", the peppers.

Classic Apple Pie / Pie clássica de Maçã.

This month, the Sweet World has gone to America and invited us to make a "Fruit Pie".

A pie is nothing more than a baked dish of fruit, meat and/or vegetables, typically with a top and base of pastry.

Searching about the pie origins and its history, I found this amazing article that I think, is worth a good reading because it's very well written and also very interesting.

I truly adore savoury pies but, this is Sweet World and the challenge was to make a sweet pie...

Although I love all kinds of fruit pies, my kids are very picky "fruit pie wise".

I really, really wanted to make a cherry pie but, I didn't risk having to eat it all by myself (which wouldn't have been a problem by the way...) and so I decided to make a simple, classic but very delicious apple pie because it's a favourite here at home and I knew it would go down really happily and quick (which in fact did).

The recipe is from Hannah Miles "Sweetie Pie" gorgeous book.

Saying that, here it is, an Apple Pie for the 19th edition of the Sweet World challenge.

Samphire and Prawns with butter and mace / Salicornia e camarão, com manteiga e macis.

The first time I came across Chef Gill Meller was on the River Cottage TV programs (a program that I have to say, I truly adore), alongside and in collaboration with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall .

I confess that I always loved Gill Meller way of talking about food, his innovative ideas about what and how to cook different and sometimes strange ingredients and, above all, the love and care he was always putting into every dish he created or the way he was taking about the ingredients. Always with lots of love, care and respect.

Actually, is that love, care and respect for produce, seasonality, foraging, local ingredients and cooking, that Chef Gill Meller share in his book and you can feel it in every page you flick through.

The whole book is a delight and you can breathe the love, care and attention to detail that went into every single page of that book.

From caption to recipe, to photos, every single page is a joy to read and to look at.

Gill Meller "Gather" is the book! A book that I truly adore and treasure and that is, in my honest opinion, the book of the year 2017!

The first recipe I cooked from this marvelous book is this one.

Samphire and prawns perfumed with fragrant mace and I'm not going to rave about how much we loved this meal because, truly?!! It was licking fingers delicious and... just wait until I post the Focaccia I made a few days ago and, you'll be amazed. Just by thinking of it, my mouth is watering already...

Pomegranate glazed Pork Skewers with Burhan’s Onion and Parsley Salad / Espetadas de Porco marinadas em Melaço de Romã e Salada de Cebola Roxa e Salsa.

This is the recipe Deborah chose as the second recipe challenge of the month for the Rainydaybites Cookbook Club.

Shame that I had no time to participate in the first recipe challenge of the month, which was a super gorgeous walnut roll cake but, for this second one, I made sure I wouldn't miss it.

As I told you here, this month we're cooking from Paula Wolfert books.

This recipe is from a book that I don't have, "Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert’s Renegade Life" but Deborah told me that I could find the recipe here at the Food and Wine website and I'm very glad I made it because it's truly delicious and the contrasting flavours are absolutely incredible.

Spiced Apple Cake with thick Vanilla Custard / Bolo de Maçã com Especiarias e Custard de Baunilha.

This cake, that is named a "cake" but for me, is more a cross between a tart and a pie, is one of the most beautifully delicious "cakes" we had later.

Everybody raved about how delicious it was and, certainly, it's a keeper and a recipe to make more often.

Darren Purchese (and pardon my ignorance), is a Chef that I truly admire but only came across, throughout my must beloved TV program, Masterchef Australia.

Chef Darren is one of the "bad guys", the one setting up the dreadful and very scary challenges for eliminations but the thing is...

OH LORD!!! His creations are pure pieces of art!!! and, who cares being eliminated from a competition over such gorgeous creations? I certainly wouldn't!

I didn't know anything about this gorgeous book until..., "this devilish (cook book addicted) girl" showed me the cover of "Lamingtons & Lemon Tart" on the Instagram "private messages". It was love at the first sight and I couldn't help but buy the book and I love it! Thank you so much Inês!!!

I told you already! Australia is my "dream Country" and everything that comes from there, I can't resist it. Specially if it's a book that is all about "Aussie" desserts and puddings but notched up by a great Chef - meaning - Chef Darren Purchese...

NO more talking...

Just a great and super delicious cake, filled with (for me), the best apples in the world: the Pink Lady Apples!

Harissa Chicken with Leeks, Potatoes and Yogurt / Frango assado com Harissa, Alho francês, Batatas e Iogurte.

Second and last recipe challenge of the month and also a "Cook the Cover" challenge for May's Rainydaybites Cook Book Club.

Deborah asked us to cook this fabulous one sheet meal and I'm glad she did because, not just I love all the ingredients in this recipe, I also love the fact that there's almost no washing up after.

The combination of ingredients, as you might guessed by the title, is absolutely incredible and the textures and flavour are, both, absolutely fabulous.

Another great hit from Melissa Clark "Dinner: Changing the Game" book which, by all means, I'm loving to bits!

Spiced Carrot Purée (Dip) with Dukkah / Puré (Dip) picante de Cenouras com Dukkah.

Last recipe for Marta, May and Carrot as the ingredient of the month!
This recipe, another one from Chef Maria Elia "Full of Flavour" book is absolutely divine to serve at a dinner party as a canapé or as part of a mezze.
Everybody can help themselves and dip the chosen bread in the carrot dip, while enjoying their drinks or cocktails.ingredients (serves 8):

for the dukkah:

100g almonds, blanched

50g coriader seeds

20g cumin seeds

75g sesame seeds

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

method:

Toast the almonds in a medium pan over a medium heat until golden.

Transfer the almond to a work surface to cool a little, then finely chop them.

Transfer to a bowl.

Add the coriander and cumin seeds to the pan and toast for 2 minutes, or until fragrant. Transfer to a pestle and mortal, leave to cool completely, then coarsely grind and mix with the almonds.

Toast the sesame seeds until golden. Leave to cool, then grind, together with 2 tsp of sea salt.

Add to the almond mixture and season with black pepper.

Smoky Paprika Chicken with Crispy Chickpeas, Roasted Lemon and Kale / Frango com Paprika Fumada, Grão de Bico Crocante, Limão assado e Kale.

By the amount of chicken recipes that I publish, you might well already guessed that we love chicken here at home. Well, it's true!

This recipe, from Melissa Clark "Dinner: Changing the Game" cook book is a stunner!

The chicken is moist inside, with a perfectly crisp skin outside. The combination of the lemon, kale and crispy chickpeas is totally genius and the whole dish is absolutely delicious and full of textures and contrasts.

As you Know, this month we are cooking from Melissa's book for the Rainydaybites Cook Book Club and of course, this recipe had to be shared because you'll be in love with it if you get to try it and, it's also super easy to put together.

The Violet Bakery Lemon Drizzle Loaf / Bolo Drizzle de Limão da Violet Bakery.

For Marta and her "ingredient of the month" which is the lemon, I couldn't not make my favourite cake. The Lemon Drizzle!

There's another recipe for a Lemon drizzle cake here on the blog. A Raymond Blanc recipe which for me was the best until now. Until now because after trying this Violet's one, I changed my mind.

This cake is moist, delicious, lemony and everything you want a lemon drizzle cake to be so, you better try it because you'll fall in love with it!

The recipe is from Claire Ptak, The Violet Bakery Cookbook. A stunning book that I truly adore and if you ever have the opportunity, don't miss a visit to her beautiful Cake Shop and Café in Hackney, east London. I went there last October and had the best Coconut layer cake ever and you can trust me because I love my coconut cake so, I'm very demanding on that matter...

Melted Cheese Pizza / Pizza com Queijo derretido.

Another recipe for the super fantastic Deborah - Rainydaybites Cook Book Club.

A recipe from the book of the month, which is the fabulous Yvette van Boven "Home Baked" book (I told you about it in this post).

This time it's a savoury recipe. Pizza!

Who doesn't like pizza? I don't know anyone that don't like it!

Although this pizza is slightly different from the conventional pizza, it is, in all ways, as good as..., I mean...

BETTER!!

Lemon Butter Cookies / Cookies de Limão e Manteiga.

This month and for Our Great Bake Off, Ana challenged us to make decorated biscuits. 

As I wrote here, I'm veryyyyyy bad decorating biscuits but, of course, I had to give it another try and I think these are acceptable. The decoration might not be great or hugely sophisticated but the flavour is delicious though!! 

Although I don't like to mix challenges, these biscuits are so good that I also invite Marta to take and present them at her March table and her "ingredient of the month", which is, the lemon. 

The recipe is from Annie Rigg "The Great British Bake Off - Bake it Better - Biscuits" book. 

Hope both of you, Ana and Marta, like them!

Note: The suggested decoration is the original and the one described in the recipe.
For obvious reasons (meaning, lack of artistic skills), I didn't follow it and went, let's say...,"free style"!

Roast Chicken and Quinoa Salad with Tangerines and Pomegranate / Salada de Frango assado e Quinoa, com Tangerinas e Romã.

Another fabulous recipe for Marta and her "ingredient of the month" - January, the month of Tangerines!!

This recipe is slightly adapted from a book that I adore to bits! Eva Kosmas Flores "Adentures in Chicken" cook book!

A book from which I already cooked lots of recipes but, unfortunately, I can't share them with you straight away as all the photos are in the PC that broke and therefore, lost...

Of course, I'll make them again to share with you, because they're all so delicious that it will be a real pleasure to taste all those flavour combinations again but, until then, I'm sharing this one. A salad, that I slightly adapted by using quinoa instead of bulgur wheat but that was, at the same, absolutely delicious!

About the book, I'll give you more details in another post because there's some fabulous things to say about it and I want to talk about it with you, but in a different post. For now, here is the recipe for this amazing salad that I really think should have a place on Marta's January table.

Passionfruit curd Pavlova with Elderflower cream / Pavlova com curd de Maracujá e Natas com Xarope de Flor de Sabugueiro.

Traditions are traditions because we keep on doing the same over and over again right?

I have this tradition (my own, that I created and maintain) that the last and first desserts of the year have to be white!

They have to be white, usually pavlovas and usually from a Donna Hay magazine.

This year is no exception and here it is:

My white dessert...

A Pavlova...

From a Donna Hay magazine!

The topping this time is passionfruit.

Ideal for every special moment and a fruit that, in a curd form and in its natural form, makes this pavlova even more special and much more delightful.

Last year, I baked this gorgeous smashed pavlova that had the honour to be featured in one of the Donna Hay magazines and this year I decided that this one, with passionfruit and elderflower cream, would be the chosen one.

Once again, Happy 2017 to all of you!

Blueberry, Tarragon and Vodka Punch and Happy 2017 / Ponche de Vodka com Mirtilos e Estragão e um muito, muito Feliz 2017.

Last day of 2016 and here we are again, thinking about the year we had and making resolutions for the year that will start tomorrow. 2017!

I'm not the kind of person that thinks a lot about how was the year that is finishing or that makes new year resolutions.

For me, if the overall year was good, I call it a good or even fantastic year. If it was bad, I think about what spoiled it and try to not make or allow the same bad things to happen the following year and those are my only resolutions.

Worldwide, 2016 was a very strange year and brexit and the Trump election were just a few of the most concerning and strange things that happened this year, although the consequences from both decisions are still to come...

Personally, it was a very good year and I'm finishing it with a very big smile on my face.

It was a calm and relaxed year.

I retook control of myself and of whom I really are.

Apart from my truthful and real friends and my family, I socialized with very interesting and wise people on social media (blog and Instagram) and I can even say that I have new and fabulous virtual friends and Kimberly, Aimee and Emilie, are just a few names that are worth mention because they are, all of them, absolutely fabulous people and some of my virtual friends and food heroes!

This year, I got to really know people to whom I didn't give much attention in the past and I even changed my opinion - aka "preconceived" idea - about them and how fabulous people they are.

I also came to the conclusion that not everything that looks precious or true, turns out to be and this apply to people, places and all sorts of things that promise to be more than they really are.

The "All that glitters is not gold" well known old saying has never been so important in my life and that's the one I'm treasuring the most now that 2016 came to an end.

Saying that, I just hope for my 2017, if not better, to be as pleasant and good as 2016.

To all of you, I wish a VERY HAPPY 2017!

May all your dreams and wishes come true and may the World be a Peaceful and Better place to live, despite all the 2016 bizarre decisions.

As this is the last post of the year and just as I did last year, I'm leaving you a delicious cocktail to say goodbye to 2016 and to welcome 2017.

Last year, I left you with this delicious Sangria and this year I'm leaving you this fabulous Punch.

Donna Hay magazine is becoming a tradition for the last and first posts of the year and this year will be no exception as this cocktail is from a Donna Hay magazine.

Lemon Drizzle Cake / Bolo drizzle de limão.

There's only two, high quality, cooking shows on TV to which I am totally addicted to:

Masterchef Australia and the Great British Bake Off and since their first season that I don't miss one single episode of both of them.

Great British Bake Off is on its 7th season and not just I never missed one single episode of the 7 seasons but I also have all the Bake Off books available.

Ana had this great idea of challenging us to recreate the Bake Off technical challenges at home.

Being myself a big Bake Off addicted, I couldn't resist the opportunity to take part in this fabulous challenge.

Like Ana (great minds think alike, right?), I always thought of challenging myself at home and try to recreate the technical challenges myself and now is the time to do it.

Ana calls this challenge "Our Great Bake Off" and for October, she challenged us to bake a drizzle cake.

As you all know, I'm a big citrus lover and lemons are on top of my citrus preferences. With that in mind, I couldn't make any other drizzle cake but the only and delicious lemon drizzle cake.

This Raymond Blanc recipe was marked to be baked for years but was forgotten and this is the one I baked for Ana and for "Our Great Bake Off"!

Perfect to eat alongside a cup of tea or coffee, according to Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, a perfect drizzle cake should have a dome and a crack on top and mine has both of them so, I think I baked a perfect drizzle cake...

Samphire, mushrooms and duck egg on toast / Tosta com salicornia, cogumelos e ovo de pato(a).

Whenever possible, I always try to publish a vegetarian suggestion on Mondays.

As you all know by now, none of us are vegetarians here at home but we like vegetarian meals whenever we fancy them.

Now that the samphire is back in season and I'm a truly assumed mushroom lover, when I saw this Rosie Birkett suggestion in the July issue of BBC Good Food magazine, I couldn't resist it and I can tell you that is truly divine.

I guess you can use good organic hen eggs if you don't want to use or don't like duck eggs but the creaminess that you get from the duck egg yolk is second to none and it really ties together the all combination.

ingredients (serves 2):

50g samphire, washed and trimmed of woody stalks

2 tbsp butter

150g mixed mushrooms, cleaned (I used a mix of Portobello, Oyster and Shiitake)

2 tbsp rapeseed oil (I used olive oil)

2 duck eggs

2 large slices sourdough (I used rye bread)

1 garlic clove, crushed

squeeze of lemon

method:

Blanch the samphire in boiling water for about 30 seconds, then drain.

Melt 1 tbsp of the butter in a frying pan.

Add the mushrooms and season.

Fry for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden crusted and reduced in size.

Heat the oil in another frying pan and fry the eggs gently for a couple of minutes.

Toast the bread until golden.

Transfer the bread to plates and keep warm.

Add the rest of the butter to the mushroom pan along with the garlic and cook for a further minute.

Toss in the samphire to warm through briefly. Season and add the lemon juice.

Top the bread with the eggs and scatter over the mushroom and samphire mixture.

Spoon over any butter from the pan and season the egg yolks.

Serve immediately.

__________________

Como já vos disse várias vezes, não somos vegetarianos, mas gostamos de refeições vegetarianas sempre que, a mim me apetece cozinhá-las e à família, apetece comê-las.

Sempre que possível e, especialmente à segunda-feira, gosto de publicar sugestões vegetarianas e hoje não é excepção.

Estando a salicornia de volta e no seu melhor e sendo eu uma amante, tanto da salicornia (podem encontrar várias sugestões com este ingrediente nos arquivos do blogue), como de cogumelos, claro que não consegui resistir a esta deliciosa sugestão da Rosie Birkett que vem na revista de Julho da revista BBC Good Food.

Costumo dizer que tudo o que seja servido em cima, ou entre fatias de pão, é comida dos Deuses e a corroborar esta minha teoria, fica esta sugestão que, mais uma vez, não decepcionou em nada.

A sugestão é feita com ovos de pato(a) mas caso não gostem ou não encontrem, acredito que com uns bons ovos de galinha caseiros, poderão obter bons resultados.

Contudo, e caso encontrem os ovos de pato, aconselho-vos a experimentar com estes ovos, pois a cremosidade das gemas de ovos de pato é extraordinária. Absolutamente fenomenal. Acreditem!

ingredientes (para 2 pessoas):

50g salicornia, lavada e talos mais grossos descartados

2 colheres sopa de manteiga

150g mistura de cogumelos, limpos (eu usei Portobello, Oyster e Shiitake)

2 colheres sopa de azeite ou óleo de canola

2 ovos de pato(a)

2 fatias grandes de sourdough ou pão tipo alentejano (eu usei um bom pão de centeio)

1 dente de alho, esmagado

umas gotas de limão

preparação:

Escaldar a salicornia em água a ferver por 30 segundos. Escorrer e reservar.

Numa frigideira larga, derreter 1 colher de sopa da manteiga.

Adicioanr os cogumelos e temperar com sal e pimenta preta a gosto.

Fritar os cogumelos por 8 a 10 minutos, ou até estes estarem caramelizados e terem reduzido de tamanho.

Numa frigideira à parte, aquecer o azeite e estrelar os ovos.

Entretanto, torrar as fatias de pão e colocá-las em pratos, mantendo-as quentes.

Adicionar o resto da manteiga aos cogumelos, juntamente com o alho e fritar por mais 1 minuto.

Adicionar a salicornia e envolver tudo muito bem, por forma a aquecer ligeiramente a salicornia, juntamente com os cogumelos.

Rectificar de sal e pimenta e adicionar umas gotas de sumo de limão.

Para servir, colocar os ovos em cima das fatias de pão e polvilhar com a mistura dos cogumelos e salicornia.

Regar com a manteiga que tenha ficado no fundo da frigideira e polvilhar as gemas de ovo com flor de sal.

Servir imediatamente.

Recipe / Receita: BBC Good Food magazine - July 2016.