Quinoa Stuffed Tomatoes with Feta Cheese and Kalamata Olives

The theory: Quinoa is named 'superfood', one of the staple foods of the Incas civilization. It has nine essential amino acids, is gluten-freeI and contains lots of magnesium and iron. So, it is good for your health.

The practice: Quinoa has fluffy crunchy texture and nutty taste. It is really very tasty, no matter as a part of a sweet or savoury dish.  

The ingredients: young zucchini, salty kalamata olives, Feta cheese and quinoa. And, of course, do not forget the hot peppers. This stuffing is also excellent as a dish on its own - in that case you can add some lemon juice to increase the acid taste.

Cheese sticks

These cheese sticks are irresistible. Their salty taste is welcome on the table with a bowl of soup, with a glas of beer or inbetween two spoons of sweet dessert. Recently I hosted a ladies' party with lots of sweet treats and I was looking for something which will act as the coffee beans in the perfume shops, something which cleans the previous tastes and gives vent to another ones. I made these sticks. 

One portion at first. 

Second portion after I ate the whole first batch still hot. 

Believe it or not, these sticks became the stars of the party. 

The recipe is from one of my very favorite blogs - Alexandra cooks. 

Usually the first time I prepare somebody else's recipe, I follow the amounts of ingredients strictly and next time I adjust them to my taste. This time there is no need of such adjustments - these sticks are perfect, so I recommend you to follow the exact amounts of the ingredients, as follows:

Eggplant Parmesan (Melanzane alla Parmigiana)

Melanzane alla Parmigiana is a rich dish from Northern Italy, composed of alternating layers of fried eggplant, tomato sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella.  

Trout and blue cheese spaghetti

I had some trouts on hand recently. Well, I don't really like trout, in my opinion it hasn't own taste and it needs something with stronger aroma. So I started searching for the perfect ingredient which would meet trout in such a perfect way that it will change my whole opinion to this fish. Blue cheese as an idea found here seemed to be a good candidate. Its crumbly texture and stronger flavor meets perfectly the plain taste and soft texture of the trout. What else? Spaghetti, fresh lemon juice, some canned tomatoes and, of course, hot peppers. I had whole fishes with the skin on, next time I will try it with skin fillets and I suppose, it would be even better. But even so it had unique unbeatable taste. Fresh, flavorful and surprising blend. 

Asparagus with Feta cheese: green for my eyes and soul

I love asparagus. It fills my eyes with green and makes me feel spring with all my senses. And this is one of my favorite asparagus dishes, proper for the light diet-intended evenings. With a glas of white wine. Or two. Or... it's up to you.

Scrambled Eggs with Pepper, Feta and Tomatoes (Mishmush)

I used to think, scrambled eggs with peppers, Feta cheese and tomatoes is strictly Bulgarian dish. Called Mish-mush in Bulgaria, which means 'mixture', it is an easy to prepare dish, which is good for a light lunch or a quick dinner. As with many other dishes I tried to google a description of the ingredients only to be sure that this is a Bulgarian national cuisine dish. And that is what I found:
Menemen is a Turkish dish, served for breakfast. It is a fresh tasting combination of vegetables - peppers, onion and tomatoes and simple spices (salt and pepper) with scrambled eggs. 

Shakshouka is a beloved part of the Israeli cuisine, which came from the Lybian and Tuinisian cuisines.
Different names, nearly same ingredients and taste. Obviously, this is a dish, which traces back its roots to ancient Ottoman empire centuries ago. Anyway, I still accept it as a Bulgarian national cuisine dish. Prepared in a cast iron pan, it is served with lots of fluffy bread to mop up the sauce. My Granny prepared it with roasted and peeled peppers, I prefer it with fresh ones, most of them hot peppers. To bold the spiciness I even serve it with some red hot peppers flakes sprinkled above. You can omit the onion and the hot peppers if you don't like it to be too spicy or if you serve it for breakfast. 

Grilled Portobello mushrooms with ricotta and garlic

Do you like the taste of Portobello mushrooms? I do. But most of all I like the name. Portobello. 
Sounds like something interesting, trendy, exclusive, not for everyone. It reminds me on the vibrant Portobello road in London with its cosmopolitan atmosphere and colorful houses. The antiquity market held every Saturday and the Portobello film festival every August, Notting hill with its high quality housing and private parks. Fashionable place, fashionable name. 

Now the naked truth. Name portobello is a marketing trick. Portobello is a mature form of crimini or white button mushrooms - plain unexpensive mushrooms with a trivial name. If a crimini has a diameter of cap more then 10 cm (4-6 inches), cap becomes a flatter appearance and mushroom is too big to be packaged as a crimini. That is the time Portobello arises - good tasting mushroom with a dense meaty texture. What a difference a name makes. 
The power of marketing has always make me wonder how little things change the whole perception. One of the gourmet items born on the desks of the marketing specialists, hired to raise the sales of a product. Anyway, it is a really tasty mushroom. The taste is earthy and rich and vegetarians like it as a good meat substitute.
Served with ricotta cheese and buttery garlic, it is a good company for a glas of white wine. 

Tiro salata (Spicy feta cheese spread)

The Greek word 'τύρι' means cheese. Tiro salata is a mixture of Feta and Myzithra (similar to ricotta) cheeses, olive oil and hot peppers. Sounds good and tastes good. This traditional spicy appetizer is served in nearly every restaurant in Northern Greece where we spend our summer holidays. It is a good meze for ouzo, beer or retsina and it is quick and easy to make at home. The hot banana peppers could be roasted or fresh. If you use roasted peppers, which are easier to incorporate into the cheese mixture, you should roast them on the grill until charred on the outside, then place in a plastic or bag and allow them to sweat until cool enough to handle. After that the skins could be easily removed and you'll be left with  succulent roasted hot peppers. I use fresh peppers. The tiro salata does not look so homogenous, but it is fresh and tasty and I can feel better the spicyness.

Nettles soup

Stinging nettles. 

The name suggests why many people do not prepare nettles at home - who will dare to clean nettles with bare hands? Many otherwise brave men and women won't. I remeber the wild swans fairy tale Granny read me when I was little. I still remeber how I sympathised with the little girl who had to spin and weave eleven coats with long sleeves to break the spell made to her brothers. The pain caused by the stinging nettles was described as a burning fire. Pure little girl, I thought, only a great love and the desire to safe somebody's life can make me handle nettles. But time changed, I grew up and my unsatiable appetite makes me brave enough to prepare stinging nettles soup many times a year. 

For me nettles is a symbol of spring, I really wonder who and where has found nettles in this cold February - everything around is covered with snow, but anyway, I saw some packages of fresh nettles in the greengrocer's store and I took them. 

Nettle is rich in minerals and very, very rich in Vitamin K, it also boosts the immune functions of the body and is accepted as a remedy for rheumatism. I really like foods, which are tasty and healthy, they do not make me guilty when I pour myself a second serving. 

Warm goat cheese salad

Yes, goat cheese has a really strong flavor and many people hate it because of that. But we like it, so I prepare it often. This recipe is something between salad and appetizer.
Goat cheese pairs perfectly with the jam. Tangy meets buttery, sweet meets sour. And that is enough for a light dinner with a glas of wine.

Baked Brie with jam and walnuts

Brie has the reputation of one of the best French cheeses. I don't know whether this is true, but it is at least one of the best known. I like its nutty, truffle-like taste and this recipe lets this taste celebrate. Baking makes the soft texture of the cheese get creamy and runny when pressed with the knife. The flavours of the cheese develop. The jam provides sweetness, which makes the salty taste of brie even more obvious.
I saw the original recipe here and I made only few changes replacing the puff pastry with a phyllo dough and it was absolutely delicious.

Broccoli cream soup with blue cheese

This soup is nutritious, rich in fiber and easy to prepare. But before putting the broccoli heads in the pot, I decided to give them a five minutes of glory. Aren't they beautiful? 

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.