Braised Red Cabbage Confit

Some days ago we went to a fancy new restaurant and there was a very tasty side-dish - a red cabbage confit. So I decided to find the recipe and to make it at home. This recipe is from here.

Autumn Salad

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 small head white cabbage
• 1 small head red beet
• 3 carrots
• 100 g coarsely grated fresh pistachios
• olive oil
• red wine vinegar
• salt

Preparation:

Slice the cabbage into ribbons and put in a large bowl. Add the salt and vinegar and squeeze the cabbage for a while to make it softer. Peel the beet and grate it on the large holes of the grater and add to the cabbage.

Grate the carrots and add them to the mixture. Season with the olive oil and sprinkle with the pistachios.

Tomato soup

Violet is on a diet.

Teen-age girls often go on absolutely inpredictable diets, which make you wonder what (the hell) to cook for them. Some of the requirements: it should be low in calories and it should be enough nourishing. Well, it's good to be hot and satisfying. Tomato soup is always welcome. It is a spoon-licking pleasure which makes you forget about the heaviness of being on a diet and does not make you guilty when taking a second cup. I always make tomato soup with canned tomatoes, even in summer. Canned tomatoes are very ripe and sweet and they do not need any additional sugar. Instead of sugar there are lots of carrots in my tomato soup. Celery and garlic make what they can, and they can a lot - they lend the homey taste of the dish and let you crave for more.
So Violeta is grateful, slim and satiated. Which makes me happy.

Onion and goat cheese Tart

This is one of the favourite dishes which is always welcome in my family. 

It is rich in aroma and should be served hot, right from the oven.

The onion becomes sweet and juicy by the caramelization, the goat cheese brings all the milky salty tasty flavours and the vergine olive oil  makes the crust crunchy and rich.

Tiramisu

The name of the famous layered Italian dessert "Tiramisu" means "pull me up" in Italian and this effect is probably because of the two ingredients - strong espresso and cocoa powder. It does not have a very long history - according to different sources it was invented in the second half of the twentieth century.  In spite of being so "young", it has become a classics and could be ordered in many restaurants outside Italy. 

The original recipe includes raw egg yolks and whites, but there are some variations  concerning the amount of eggs or substituting the eggs with Zabaion or cream.

The type of added alcohol also varies - it could be the Sicilian Marsala wine, different types of brandy of liquor. I use Cointreau because I love its sweet orange flavor.

Farewell to Summer

Yesterday was the last day of summer.

Every year autumn decides to come at a different time in my country and it is never follows strictly the autumnal equinox. September and October here are usually months with uncertain weather and many rainy days. And in spite of the fact that the beginning of winter lies two months ahead, people take the jackets out of the wardrobe at the middle of September and put them back in May.

This year was a sweet exception – September was warm and sunny and so was the first week of October. Temperatures varied around 25-28 degrees Celsius and people were thankful for every single day of the prolonged summer.

In my opinion, autumn exists only as a more acceptable transition from the carefree summer days to the dark cold winter, kind of an adaptation to what is going to come.