Zucchini with Tomatoes and Hot Peppers

With the beginning of the first warm days here, we've started preparing one of the family's favorite summer dishes - zucchini with tomatoes and hot peppers, prepared in a saute pan. The dish is really simple and easy to prepare and is filled with the flavours of the fresh vegetables. It is so low in calories, that no matter how much you eat, you will weight less on the next day. 

Hot Chicken Stew with Bacon

I like braising chicken breast because this is the way they get soft and full of flavour. 

Why I love this dish? It is very spicy. It is low in fat, but very tasty - the taste is so hot, that it bursts your digestion. 

The hot taste comes from the banana peppers, which are moderately spicy and very flavorful type of pepper with much softer skin than the one of the other hot peppers-family members. 

Lamb Soup

Offering sacrifices of animals has been provided by people all around the world since ancient times and although there are different events and local traditions in line with the different religions, lambs and birds were killed as a symbol of gratitude to God, forgiveness of sins and prayer for health. In Bulgaria if somebody's life has been in danger at any moment of his life, his relatives prepare kourban lamb soup to thank God for the successful outcome. But even if everything is OK,  lamb soup is tasty and worth it. 

Here is one recipe with lots of meat and few vegetables - delicious and easy to prepare.

Hot Pepper Honey

This is again an infusion. Spicy hot peppers providing their taste to a jar of sweet honey - perfect spoon of surprising tastes which could be spread over a Gorgonzola sandwich, a toast of bread with butter or as a salad dressing to tomato peppermint salad. 
This is the source for this fiery recipe.

Roasted Hot Peppers

How hot should a hot pepper be? According to me - very, very hot. 

There is the so called Scoville scale method, measuring the amount of the capsaicin - the chemical compound, which irritates our mucous membranes and wakes our pain receptors. 

It is said, the burning sensation, provided by capsaicin is addictive. According to the theory, the pain induced by eating chilies makes our brain produce endorphins, which create a temporary feeling of euphoria. Heart rate increases, metabolism increases, salvation increases - the whole body is involved.

This mild addiction makes me want to have hot peppers with every meal (even with the breakfast sandwich, I admit).

There are many hot peppers varieties in Bulgaria - a real treasure for the lovers of the hot taste. Roasted chilies are served in nearly every restaurant as an appetizer or a spicy addition to the main course. 

The taste of roasted hot peppers is softer than the fresh ones. Peppers for roasting should be fresh and crisp and for this recipe chilies should have soft skins, bearing in mind they are not peeled after roasting.

Baked Goat Cheese with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Fall came out of a sudden this year. 
We were at the sea at the beginning of September and yesterday, less than a month after the vacation, I took the winter jackets out of the wardrobe. 
I hate the all day long rain outside, the freezing temperatures and the cold wind.

There is so much time until next summer... 
On the other hand, I know, final countdowns do not make sense, but next October my Violet will not be with us. 

My beloved first-born child will take her way to the post-parents life and all her suitcases will be transferred to another destination, long way from home.  

Children will never know how tough are some of the decisions their parents make. Parents will never be sure, their children are all right without them. And that is the way it should be. 

But, anyway, I would like to stop time, to take the most of every minute, to open some pictures holding memories of emotions and fun. 

And to post one of Violet's favorite recipes - baked goat cheese with spicy tomato sauce, a healthy, tasty and spicy appetizer, perfect for the long fall evenings.

Green Beans Stew

Gold of Bacau is my favorite bean. This pale yellow variety has juicy, slightly sweet taste and long flattened pods. No strings, no starchy flavor. Fresh and tasty - perfect for the summer.

Spicy shrimp chowder (Chupe de camarones)

Chupe de camarones is a spicy chowder with vegetables and shrimps served widely along South America's Pacific coast from Chile to Peru. But when I decided to prepare a thick soup including shrimps I didn't know these details. Shrimps are on our table at least 2-3 times a month in many variations -  saganaki, fried with Chorizo, on a pizza or with pasta. But I've never tryed  to prepare shrimp soup or chowder before. Before starting my search on the Internet I tried to imagine my expectations from this soup. I want it to be spicy, so hot peppers as an ingredient are a must. Garlic is a good partner of shrimps, so I put it in the list. Cream to thicken the soup and provide a buttery aroma. Cheese which will add saltiness and will enhance the whole taste of the chowder. What else? Had no idea. So I spent more than an hour searching here and there on the Internet for my inspirational source and I saw many recipes. Then I saw this recipe and I immediately knew, this was what I was looking for. 

Sweet and spicy salmon

It is hot. But also sweet. You can feel the garlic. And the roasted sunflowers seeds. But the fish retains its sea taste. Every single ingredient has its place in this recipe. You do not need to add any butter or oil - salmon is fatty enough. And the spread above the fillet seals it during baking and keeps the meat inside juicy and full of flavor. Baked salmon with Sriracha hot sauce and plum preserves is a dish which requires little effort and little time. And the end result is amazing. I took the sweet part of the recipe from here - the spicy Sriracha sauce was what I needed to contradict the sweetness of the plum preserve.

Chorizo with potatoes

This is a quick and easy Spanish dish which has the taste of Pimentón which blends so well with the garlic aroma and the potatoes. For more spicyness I usually sprinkle some hot fresh pepper slices above. Other tasty dishes with Chorizo I prepare often are Fried prawns with Chorizo and Pizza with Chorizo, prawns and Mozarella. 

Garlic and hot pepper prawns (Gambas Al Ajillo)

Summer arrived officially. Along with the swimming and diving this means to me a lot of seafood on the table. Shrimps are common guests home, but this is one of my favorite recipes - the taste of fried garlic and hot pepper makes me feel like I am on the Mediterranean coast.

I love to visist the fish markets abroad- I love the smell of the fresh caught fish, the colors and shapes of the different species, all the inviting voices of the vendors. And when they allow me to make a picture of them, I am even happier. 

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. 

Salmon carpaccio with cold-infused hot pepper oil

Fresh salmon. Really fresh. It doesn't need freezing, which enables the thinely cutting - you can feel the taste of the fish far better if it is cut in 1/8 inch (0.3 cm) slices. Just an hour in a fridge, some cold-infused hot pepper oil, some capers for a salty-bitter taste and some fresh lemon juice. And a slice of bread. Enough for a healthy breakfast, lunch or dinner. That is the way I like it.

Dock and quinoa soup

Diet times again. The forthcoming summer has a lot of requirements, one of them to look good. This is a light and tasty soup which makes you satiated with small amount of calories. Tasty and healthy. You can substitute spinach or Swiss chard for the dock. 

Roasted chicken with lemon, peppers and spices

One of the best ways to prepare chicken.  The tangy lemon, the sweet roasted onion and the exotic taste of the cumin and red hot pepper provide chicken with huge amount of aroma. I found the idea here.

Mussels saganaki (μύδια σαγανάκι)

Everytime I want to feel the taste of the sea, I buy blue mussels. I love to scrub and clean their dark blue shells, to check for broken ones, to put the good ones into the pot. I like the smell of my kitchen in the short 10-20 minutes of preparation and long hours after that. And I always enjoy sipping their juices from the shells and feel their salty broth as a juicy message from the sea. I know, female mussels are orange, male mussels are light yellow. Their colors match perfectly the red of tomato sauce and the white of Feta cheese. But this is not the main reason I prepare often mussels saganaki. The taste of this dish is unforgettable. Along with garides saganaki, this is a very popular dish in the fish restaurants of Northern Greece. And also in my home. As with many other dishes, I increase the spicyness by adding lots of hot peppers and chili flakes, but you can adjust it according to your taste. 

Panzanella - Italian bread salad

Do you know what cucina povera means? It is an Italian term for the poor man's food. 
But nothing offensive. Peasant cooking means take the best from the ingredients you have on hand. Fresh ripe vegetables. Cheap cuts of meat and offals. Stale bread. The meaning is  cheap ingredients or ingredients you anyway have at home, simple recipe, rich taste.
In fact, bread and olive oil are two of the fundamental ingredients of Tuscan cookery and stale bread should not be wasted. So, Panzanella is a way to use a day-old bread. Roast or pan-fry the bread. Chop some ripe, but firm tomatoes. Add dressing and some more ingredients and you've got the summer taste in your plate, even if it is late spring outside. Bread soaks up all the juices from the vegetables and dressing and melts in mouth. Most of the recipes call for fresh basil as an ingredient, but I prefer to skip it in my version. I also substitute hot green peppers for the sweet ones used in the original. 

Garlic Knots: green for my eyes and soul

Kissing is important part of life. So is garlic. But they both are not compatible. Along with onion and cigarettes, I find garlic one of the worst kiss-enemies. That is why it is a good idea to decide what is more important on a certain day. I usually prefer kissing, that is why despite loving the pungent taste of garlic I serve it rarely on my table. But there are some days and some recipes I could not resist. On such days I prepare my favorite garlic knots. Since the day I saw the recipe here, I was sure they were worth it. And they did not disappoint me a bit. Of course you can omit the garlic part of the coating and pour only hot butter and parsley. I tried it, but it is not the same. 

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.