"Ovis Mollis" (Soft Eggs) and Tangerine Cookies / Biscoitos de Tangerina e "Ovos Moles".

Who would have thought of making cookies with hard boiled egg yolks?

I never heard of such a ting, until I bought Melissa Forti fabulous book, The Italian Baker!

This book is to die for! Italian classics with a twist and everything looks so amazing and delicious that I just want to bake everything from it and I love when a book makes me feel like that because, that means that is was worthy the money I spent on buying it!

This recipe is slightly adapted from the book, because I wanted to incorporate the tangerine in it.

Of course I wanted this recipe to be part of Marta's January table and part of her "ingredient of the month", which is precisely, the tangerine!

Saying that, I'm leaving you the original recipe, with my adaptations highlighted in between ().

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.

Tangerine shortbread / Shortbread de tangerina.

For January and her "ingredient of the month", Marta chose Tangerines.

Last month I couldn't prepare a recipe for Marta and I felt very sad about it because you know, I love #martaingredientofthemonth :)).

This month, I hope I can compensate Marta and, hopefully, I'll post 3 recipes being this shortbread the first one.

Super easy and quick to prepare, I don't have to tell you how delicious this shortbread is but, if you want to try it yourselves, please don't be shy as you're in for a huge treat.

Beetroot and Fontina cheese risotto / Risotto de beterraba e queijo Fontina.

Never in my entire life I cooked so much with beetroot like this year and I'm so glad that I did it because we all here at home had so many delicious beetroot based meals and this risotto was just another delightful and fabulous one.

ingredients (serves 4):

for the stock:

1 medium red beetroot, peeled

5 pink peppercorns

1 tangerine, finely sliced

salt

1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds

1 1/2 litres water

for the risotto:

1 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tbsp olive oil

200g arborio rice

80ml créme de cassis

150g Fontina cheese

method:

To make the stock, put all the ingredients in a large pan with a little salt and simmer until the beetroot is cooked.

Drain the stock into a clean pan and keep warm.

Blend the beetroot in a food processor until smooth, adding 2 or 3 tbsp of water if needed. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion, half of the beetroot purée and the garlic until softened.

Add the rice and fry for a further minute.

Add the créme de cassis and cook until the volume of the liquid has reduced to almost nothing.

Add the warm stock a ladleful at the time, stirring between each addition to allow the liquid to be completely absorbed, until the rice is cooked, adding the remaining beetroot purée half the way through.

Add half of the cheese and stir until well combined. Cover with a lid and set aside for 1 to 2 minutes.

Serve the risotto topped with the remaining cheese and some thyme leaves.

__________________

Acho que nunca na minha vida cozinhei tanto com beterraba como este ano e, sinceramente, ainda bem que o fiz, pois é um ingrediente fabuloso e tivemos refeições magníficas.

Este risotto, foi mais uma dessas fantásticas refeições e quando o vi no blogue da Marmita, não só pela cor vibrante, mas também por toda a combinação de ingredientes, não resisti a reproduzi-lo, mas com o delicioso queijo italiano Fontina.

Experimentem esta deliciosa receita da Marmita e digam de vossa justiça, mas garanto que vão amar!!!

Recipe / Receita: Marmita blog.

Tangerine crème brûlée / Crème brûlée de tangerina.

Isabel asked us to prepare the best puddings for her blog 1st anniversary.

As crème brûlée is my favourite pudding, I had to make my favourite pudding for Isabel's anniversary party so, here it is, a fantastically delicious tangerine crème brûlée.

ingredients (serves 8 to 10):

600ml double cream

zest of 6 medium tangerines (finely grated)

3 eggs

5 egg yolks

165g brown sugar (I used light brown)

120ml tangerine juice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

method:

Preheat the oven to 175ºC.

Put 8 to 10 (around 125ml capacity) ramekins inside a roasting tin and set aside.

Heat the cream and tangerine zest in a pan over a medium heat until scalding point, stirring occasionally.

In a bowl, lightly whisk together the eggs and egg yolks.

Whisk in 110g of the sugar and the tangerine juice.

Stir the egg mixture into the cream stirring constantly.

Mix in the salt and vanilla extract. Strain the custard trough a sieve and divide the mixture between the ramekins and pour enough boiling water into the roasting tin to come 1/3 of the way up their sides.

Transfer the roasting tin to the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the mixture has almost set, but still has a little wobble in the centre.

Remove the ramekins from the oven and from the roasting tin and allow them to cool completely.

Once cool, cover them with clingfilm and refrigerate until completely chilled.

Preheat the oven to 150ºC.

Line a baking sheet with baking paper and spread the remaining sugar into an even layer.

Bake until the sugar starts to dry out (around 5 minutes) and then, remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Roll the sugar with a rolling pin to break it up into granules again and reserve in an airtight container until needed.

When ready to serve, sprinkle the brûlées with the sugar granules and caramelize with a blowtorch.

__________________

O Emoção às Colheradas está de parabéns e a Isabel pediu os melhores doces de colher para a festa do seu primeiro aniversário.

Ora, se crème brûlée é o meu doce de colher preferido, tinha de levar crème brûlée à festa da Isabel, certo?

Assim sendo, aqui fica a minha proposta, crème brûlée de tangerina, para a festa da querida Isabel.

ingredientes (para 8 a 10 pessoas):

600ml natas para culinária

raspa de 6 tangerinas médias

3 ovos inteiros

5 gemas

165g açúcar amarelo

120ml sumo de tangerina

1/2 colher chá de sal

1 colher chá de extracto de baunilha

preparação:

Aquecer o forno a 175ºC.

Colocar 8 a 10 recipientes refractários com cerca de 125ml de capacidade, dentro de uma assadeira de ir ao forno.

Colocar as natas e a raspa das tangerinas num tacho e aquecer até ao ponto de fervura, mexendo de vez em quando.

Numa taça, bater ligeiramente os ovos inteiros com as gemas. Adicionar-lhe 110g do açúcar e o sumo das tangerinas e misturar tudo muito bem.

Misturar as natas com a mistura dos ovos, mexendo sempre. Adicionar-lhes o sal e a baunilha e mexer.

Coar a mistura e dividi-la pelos recipientes.

Colocar água a ferver no tabuleiro, de forma a que a água suba até 1/3 da altura dos recipientes.

Colocar o tabuleiro no forno e cozer os crème brûlées por cerca de 25 a 30 minutos, ou até que estes estejam firmes, mas o centro ainda esteja ligeiramente mole.

Retirar os recipientes do forno e do tabuleiro e deixar arrefecer completamente.

Quando frios, cobrir com película aderente e refrigerar até estarem bem gelados.

Entretanto, aquecer o forno a 150ºC e forrar um tabuleiro com papel vegetal.

Espalhar o resto do açúcar em cima do papel vegetal e levar ao forno por cerca de 5 minutos, ou até o açúcar começar a secar.

Retirar do forno e arrefecer.

Bater o açúcar com o rolo da massa, para desfazê-lo em grânulos. Reservar num recipiente hermético.

Na altura de servir, cobrir os brûlées com o açúcar reservado e queimar com a ajuda de um maçarico de cozinha.

Recipe / Receita: