Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms Caps

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms Caps

Ingredients
6 Portabello Mushrooms
1/4 cup of Toasted Pinenuts
Package of Baby Spinach, finely chopped
1/2 cup of Red Bell Pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup of Sundried Tomatoes, finelychopped
1/4 cup of Kalamata Olive, finely chopped
1 cup Feta Cheese, crumbled
4 garlics gloves, minced
1 cup Sweet Onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup of panko or breadcrumbs
Herbs (Thyme, Rosemary, Sage, basil ...)
Extra Vigin Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper


Preparation
Clean the mushrooms with soft mushroom brush or with a dry paper towel. Do not wet/wash the mushrooms.
Twist the stems of each mushrooms to remove and reserve the stems. Do not discharge the stems.
Season the caps with salt and pepper. Brush mushrooms caps with extra virgen olive oil.
Pre heat the oven on 400F.
Cut the tip of the mushrooms stems. Chop all the mushrooms stems finely.
Saute Onion and garlic until translucent. Add chopped mushrooms stems, red bell pepper, and sundried tomatoes for about 5 minutes. Add spinach and cook until wilted, about 1 minute.
Place all the sauted veggies in a bowl and let it cool down. Add panko, toasted pinenuts, fetacheese, and Kalamata Oilves.
Drizle the veggy mixtures with Aceto Balsamico (Balsamic Vinegar), crak fresh black pepper, and salt to taste. Be easy with the salt.
Fill each cap with the mixtures
Bake for 12 minutes!


You are going to love it!!
Share the recipe on Facebook with your friends if you like it....
As always from my heart....


Sarabelle Sylva

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese

S(strawberry) S(Spinach) S(salad)

by

S(Sarabelle) S(Sylva)

;D

With Goat Cheese, Walnuts,

Balsamic Vinegar, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Ingredients

3 cups of baby spinach

2-3 cups of strawberries sliced in half lengthwise

1 cup of caramelized walnuts

1 cup of crumbled goat cheese

Balsamic Vinegar

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Preparation

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl, drizzle with balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.

THAT IS IT!!

Sarabelle Sylva

How to caramelized the walnuts??

In a small saute pan, heat up 1 cup of brow sugar and 1 tablespoon of water. Heat on medium heat mixing constantly for about 5 minutes. Add walnuts and mix until they get caramelized and all liquid is absorbed. Lay the walnuts on wax paper (parchment paper) to cool down.

Eggplant's Salad with Goat Cheese

Warm Eggplants Salad with Goat Cheese 

fused with Olive Oil and Aceto Balsamico!!

Ingredients


·   1 large eggplants, washed and ends trimmed
·   2 garlic cloves
·   Extra-virgin olive oil
·   1/2 cup pine nuts
·   Goat cheese, crumbled
·   8-10 basil leaves thinly sliced
·   8-10 mint leaves chopped
·   Aceto Balsamico Balsamic vinegar
·   Salt and fresh cracked black pepper




Preparation









Cut the eggplants into circles of
about 1/2-inch.
Sprinkle the eggplant slices
with salt and place them in a colander to drain for 20 minutes.
Wash the eggplant slices with
water and pat the slices with paper towel until thoroughly dry.
Using a garlic presser squeeze the
garlic cloves and mix with 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt
and fresh cracked pepper. Brush one side of the eggplant slices with the
mixture. 
Turn on the grill on high. You can
also use a grilling pan and do it in your stove. I used a gas barbecue grill.
The ideal will be to use a charcoal grill. 
Place the eggplant slices brushed
with olive oil down on a hot grill and brush the other side with the olive oil
mixture.
Grill the eggplant slices until
tender and grill marks appear, around 5 minutes per side. Set aside on a
serving dish.
Toast the pine nuts. How? It's
easiest to do in a dry skillet over medium-low heat. Shake the skillet
frequently. The pine nuts are small and full of rich oil, and will burn quickly
if you don't watch carefully. When the nuts are fragrant and browned, take the
pan off the heat. Transfer the pine nuts to a plate to cool.
Sprinkle the eggplants with
the goat cheese, pine nuts, mint, and basil. Drizzle with olive
oil, and your best aged balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper. 






Now get ready to
impress yourself and your guests with another great recipe!!











Sarabelle Sylva

Lamb Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Stuffed Cabbages

Cabbage Rolls

Golubtsi

Golubtsy
Kåldolmar

Stuffed cabbages is a very comforting dish and very popular in Easter Europe, Middle East, Sweden, and Balkans countries. There are so many variations and recipes of stuffed cabbages. I will be making them with ground lamb and without carb this time. Usually their filling contains any type of ground meat or combination of two meats. Also the filling is mixed with a type of grain like rice, barley, kasha, farro, etc.

It looks like a very difficult dish but one you make it for the first time and learn your own way to wrap the cabbages leaves it wont  be as hard as it looks.

I love making them when I am alone in the kitchen. It really relaxes me.....

They are very tasty and a very nice family meal. They can be frozen or keep it in the refrigerator for a week. They taste better after next day of being prepared!

I am sure you are going to enjoy them!!

Ingredients

• 1 large head of green cabbage
• water
• A splash of white vinegar
• 2 lbs ground lamb
• 1 large onion
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 small carrot cut in 2-3 pieces
• 1/2 red bell pepper cut quarters
• 1 celery stick
• 1/2 bunch of parsley
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 1 cup of White wine
• Another small onion thinly chopped
• 1 small shredded carrot
• 4 more garlic cloves
• 2 spoons of tomato paste
• 1-2 cups of Organic Chicken or Vegetable stock
• Sour cream or Greek plain yogurt
• Salt and Pepper
• Panko or bread crumbs (for ground meat leftovers)

Preparation

1. First prepare a big stock pot with water, salt, and a splash of white vinegar. Fill the pot with water half way only. I like to use my big pot to cook pasta with a colander insert. It makes it easier to take the cabbage from the boiling water. Bring the water to boil. Cut as much as you can of the cabbage core. Place the whole cabbage in the inner colander of the pasta pot. Cook the cabbage head until leaves get soft, about 10 minutes.

2. To prepare the filling, place the onion cut in quarters, garlic, carrot, red bell pepper, celery, and parsley in the food processor. Pulse the food processor several time until you chopped all the ingredients. Place the ground lamb in a bowl, egg, chopped veggies, salt, and pepper. You can add rice at this point too or any other grain like farro or quinoa. I made them this time low carb.

3. Remove the strainer from the pot carefully and let the cabbage head cool down a little bit. Start removing the inner soft leaves carefully. You can place the cabbage head in the water again if you feel the inner leaves of the cabbages are too hard too get. You should get around 15 leaves. Reserve the first leave you removed from the cabbage and all the broken ones to use at the bottom of your cooking pot or dutch oven. Cut away the thick center stem from each leaf, without cutting all the way through.

4. Now it time to fill the leaves with the ground lamb mixture. Place about a spoon of the mixture in the middle of the cabbage leave. Wrap the leave like a envelop. Look at the picture bellow. Roll away to enclose the filling, then flip the sides to the middle, and roll again until close. Start placing them inside your cooking pot already prepared with leaves at the bottom of it. Continue doing the same until you run out of filling or run out of leaves. If you have some ground meat left after done filling all your leaves add some panko or bread crumbs to the ground lamb mixture and make some meat balls. Place them on top of your stuffed cabbages.

5. In a small skillet heat olive oil and saute your extra chopped onion, carrots, and fresh pressed garlics. Whisk the tomato paste, salt, pepper, and white wine. Let it boil and reduce to simmer. Add 1 cup of chicken or vegetable stock.

6. Poor all the tomato sauteed liquid to the cooking pot. Add more stock if necessary. Bring it to boil. Reduce heat to low and cook covered with the lid for 1 hour until cabbage leave are tender and all the top meat balls are cooked through.

7. Serve with sour cream or plain Greek yogurt. I ate mine with home made tzatziki sauce! I will be posting that recipe too....

Happy New Year 2012!!

Start your New Year Cooking Healthy!!

Buen Provecho!

Sarabelle Sylva

Crunchy Roasted Beets with Feta Cheese

Crazy Crunchy Roasted Beets with Feta Cheese and Balsamic dressing!!!

 

Ingredients

• 5-6 beets (purple or yellow), greens removed, washed, peeled, and chopped
• 2 celery's sticks thinly chopped
• 2 bunches of watercress sprouts or baby arugula or any nice green mix
• 1/2 cup of dried sweetened cranberries
• 1 large red onion cut into slices with a mandolin
• 10 Basil's leaves chopped
• 1 cup feta cheese crumbled
• 1/2 cup Walnuts toasted
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I used my Nuovo fav)
• Good Balsamic Vinegar....
• Salt and Pepper

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, on a baking sheet place a piece of foil, drizzle some olive oil on it, spread the beets in the foil, drizzle the beet with more olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place the beets in middle rack oven and roast the beets for about 45 minutes or until crunchy and soft. Remove from the oven and set aside until cool down.

Slice the red onions very thin (I used my mandolin). Toast the walnuts in a saute pan. How? Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add walnuts to the hot, dry pan and cook, watching constantly and stirring frequently, until walnuts starts to brown and they smell toasted, about 5 minutes. Slice the celery's sticks very thin. Once you have all the ingredients place them in a bowl, season with salt and pepper ,and add the balsamic and olive oil, and basil and toss. This salad is amazing!! Leftover tasted even better next day....

This is my new addition!!

Next time I will make it with farro!! :P

Fresh is my mantra, and cooking my meditation time!

Sarabelle Sylva

Pasta Fagioli Soup

Pasta Fagioli

Pasta and Beans

Pasta Fazool

"Don't be a fool, eat pasta fazool."(*)
(from the 1927 novelty song by Van and Schenck)

I love beans! They are healthy, cheap, filling, and tasty! Beans are high in soluble fiber, low in fat, and has no cholesterol! Beans are an excellent source of protein, complex carbohydrates, and have only about 225 calories per cup. There is evidence that most beans contain protease inhibitors that inhibit the growth of cancer cells.

Cannellini Beans are large white beans, about 1/2" long, with a firm texture and skin and a nut-like flavor. Very popular in Italy. Cannellini beans are mild in flavor and hold their shape well.

I love cooking them from scratch! Homemade beans from scratch are much healthier than the canned ones. Beans from cans are usually full of sodium, metal flavor, and preservatives like disodium EDTA, calcium chloride, and sodium sulfate. Beans from cans are not fresh, they have been storage in the cans for long periods, and sometime they fermented inside the metal cans!! Don’t cheat to yourself eating beans from can!! Beans from made scratch are healthier and taste better too!! Canned beans taste like Canned beans!!

Also you save money making them from scratch. You can get 4 cups of cooked beans from a bag of dried beans from under 60 cents each cup, and you get one can of cooked beans from 90 cents to $1.50! You can make big batch and freeze them. Also you help the planet not wasting metal!! ;)

Some people have the misconception than making beans is a lot of work and they are hard to cook. But it is not true. One you make them one time your will realize how extremely easy it is to cook them from scratch.

Don’t cheat yourself eating beans because they are healthy if you are going to eat then from cans!!

I use 4 different methods to cook dried beans from scratch.

Method 1: Soak overnight and cook.

Cover beans with water (3 cups of water for every 1 cup of dry beans) and let them soak for 8+ hours or overnight. Discharge water using a colander. Now your beans are ready to cook. Easy!

Method 2: Boil beans, let them rest for about 1 hour, and cook.

Cover beans with water (4 cups of water for every 1 cup of dry beans), bring them to boil for about 10 minutes, turn them off, and leave them soaking in the water for 1 hour. Discharge water using a colander. Now your beans are ready to cook. Easy!

Method 3: Cook beans in a pressure cooker (no soaking involved)

Super Easy! I will use this method in future recipes.

Method 4: Cook beans overnight in a slow cooker.

Very Very Easy! I will use this method in future recipes.

Ingredients

 

1 bag of 1 pound dried cannellini beans (soaked overnight)

1-2 cartons of Organic Chicken stock or enough water to cover the beans.
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil for cooking

1 white onion, peeled and chopped

4 garlic cloves, peeled

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

1 celery stalk, trimmed and chopped

8 sage leaves

2 branches of rosemary

2-3 branches of thyme

3 bay leaf
2 spoons of tomato paste (optional) or 2-3 fresh tomatoes peeled and cut in cubes. (Ups! I think I used more than 2 spoons of tomato paste this time)
1/2 cup of ditalini or elbow pasta

Salt and pepper 

Parmesan and Olio Nuovo for serving

Preparation

This time I used method 1.

The day before you cook the beans or early in the morning cover the beans with an inch of water or more (about 3 cups of water for every 1 cup of dry beans) and let them soak for 6+ hours. Discharge water using a colander. Now your beans are ready to cook.

Add olive oil in a large saucepan until medium hot. Saute onions until translucent, add pressed garlic, celery, and carrots. Add tomato paste or fresh tomatoes if you desire.  Add beans previously drained, and saute beans for 1 minute with the sauteed veggies. Add salt, and pepper to taste, chicken stock (or water), and herbs. Let it boil uncovered for 10 minutes, then reduced the temperature to low and cook covered for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until beans are soft. One in a while stir the beans and check if there is enough liquid. Add water or chicken stock if necessary.

Add the pasta ditalini or elbow and cook for extra 10-12 minutes. Make sure there is plenty of liquid because the pasta will reduce and absorb a lot of the liquid.

Serve with Parmesan cheese and drizzled with Olio Nuovo or best extra virgin olive oil you have.

Now that's amore!! "When the stars make you drool, joos-ta like pasta fazool, that's amore". (From the Dean Martin song)

Buon appetito!!

Sarabelle Sylva

(*)(The Italian adjective fasullo/fasulla/fasulli/fasulle, meaning "fake" or "bogus", has a very similar pronunciation; but has no connection to "fazool".)

Poor Man's Caviar - Eggplant Spread

Poor Man's Caviar:
Eggplant Spread

Feeding my cells with Eggplants

and Nuovo Olive Oil!!

Eggplants are one of my favorite vegetables!!

There is so many ways to enjoy them: grilled, baked, fried, sautéed roasted or steamed.

Eggplants have so many health benefits.

They are excellent source of fiber, Vitamin B6, B1, potassium, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, niacin, and folic acid.

Eggplants are full of antioxidants!!  

The most important phytonutrient in eggplant is nasunin.

Nasunin protects cell membranes from free radical damage.

Also eggplants contain a compound called terpenes, which are known to lower cholesterol.

Eggplants are 100% fat free and a cup of egg plants is only 27 calories!!

Beside all the health benefits I don't think there is a better combination than eggplant and olive oil!!

Are you convinced yet??

If you are not maybe trying this recipe
may change your mind about eggplants!!

I will be posting more recipes of eggplants in the near future!! :)

Ingredients:

3 medium eggplants

4 tbsp. of Olio Nuovo EVOO or best EVOO you got

1 medium red or white sweet onion cut in big pieces

5 cloves garlic

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 lemon, juice only

Parsley

Salt

Pepper

Preparation:

Stab the eggplants with a fork or a sharp knife all over their skin. Cover a cookie sheet tray with foil paper or paper parchment. Preheat the oven in roast option on 450F. Place the eggplants in the oven and roast them for 45-60 minutes. Rotate the eggplants once or two while they are in the oven. They will look almost black and wrinkled. Take them out of the oven and let them rest for 10-15 minutes untill they cool down. Peel the eggplant and cut the flesh in pieces. Dischange the skin. If the eggplants are very soft, scoop out the fresh. Add the cooked fresh and its juice in a food processor. If you don't have a food processor you may use a blender or chop everything by hand. Add onion, garlic, red pepper, lemon juice, salt, and pepper to the food processor. Pulse the food processor several times until you grind all the ingredients. Transfer the mixture to a serving dish and drizzle it with olive oil. Taste for salt and peppers. You may spread the eggplant caviar on toasted bread or eat it by itself as a side dish!!

The seeds of the eggplant will make

the spread resemble caviar eggs,

hence the name Poor Man's Caviar.
:):):)

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Sarabelle <3