Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic

I don't know about you, but we loveee garlic. I don't ever cooking dinner without it. I especially like it roasted in the oven, and tucked in a jar with olive oil and Herbs Provencal.
For the chicken with 40 cloves of garlic you have to be a garlic lover, because its really a lot of it. It's a scary amount of garlic when you hear it for the first time, but please don't be discouraged. The garlic gets caramelized, sweet, and it melts with the sauce. Its a deliciously rich, comforting meal, for cold weekend nights. Temperatures dropped really low this morning in Chicago, it was just 12ºF  so, we really needed some comfort food to keep us warm and cozy.

For this recipe, you will need:

3 whole heads of garlic, around 40 cloves (save yourself some time, and buy it already peeled)
1 whole chicken cut into peaces (or you can by 10-12 peaces of drumsticks and thighs)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon dry thyme
4 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon parsley
salt and paper to taste


Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large pot, and brown it skin side down first. Remove chicken to the plate, turn down the heat, and add all of the garlic to the pot. Saute it for 5-10 min, turning it often, until evenly browned. Add wine, return to boil, and scrape all the bits from the bottom. Return the chicken to the pot with all the juices, and sprinkle with thyme. Cover and simmer for about 45 min until chicken is done. Add heavy cream, raise the heat, and let it boil for 2-3 min. Taste it, ajust the seasoning if needed, and sprinkle with parsley. Serve it hot, and enjoy with mashed potatoes, or fresh dinner rolls that you can dip into the sauce.

Pumpkin dinner rolls

We love dinner rolls. And these are the best, fluffiest, cloud like dinner rolls that you can make. They are great any day, but perfect for Thanksgiving, and they are made with pumpkin. You don't need to roast your own, store bought pumpkin puree is just fine, and I prefer the one from Trader Joe's.

For this recipe you will need:

3 cups flour
1/2 cup of milk

3/4 cup of pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 stick of butter 113 gr (2/3 for the dough, 1/3 to brush the rolls)

1 teaspoon of yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

First, mix sugar, yeast and 1 tablespoon of flour with warmed milk. Stir and let it sit for about 10 min, until it gets foamy. Put 3 cups of flour with salt in your mixer bowl, add yeast mixture, 1 lightly beaten room temperature egg, pumpkin puree, and 2/3 of a stick of melted butter. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated, and mixture is wet but not sticky. If it's sticky, add tablespoon by tablespoon of flour at the time. Dough should form the ball and it will be very elastic after 5-8 min of kneading with mixer. Cover it with damp tablecloth and let it rise until it doubles.

Transfer it to a lightly floured work surface. It should be very supple and slightly sticky.

Flatten it with your hand and using a sharp knife divide the dough into 9 pieces. Gently fold the ends underneath and shape them in your hand. Transfer them to the lightly buttered baking tray, cover them with a towel and let them rise until they doubled in size.
Melt leftover 1/3 of a stick of butter, and brush them generously. Bake them in 360F for about 20-25 min.
Enjoy them warm with butter or for your thanksgiving dinner.

If you want to save some time, make them night before.
After you shape them cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The buns fill rise slowly through the night.
In the morning, let the buns sit at the room temperature for one hour, or until the are fully risen. Brush them with melted butter, and bake them as usual.

Caramel Panna Cotta

There are people that can't eat gelatin. Usually, its because they are vegetarians. Gelatin is made out of boiled cows or pigs skins, ligaments, and bones. I think that something like that does not belong into a dessert.

Sounds bad, right?
Although I don't have any food, spiritual or religious restrictions, I don't like the smell of gelatin. And even more, I don't like how people use it. Sometimes they overdose their recipes with it, so you end up with a gummy bear, instead of cloud like dessert.
That's why I knew I will have to try out this panna cotta recipe. Its made without gelatin. Preparation is unusual for panna cotta, its baked, not cooked, but its really sophisticated, creamy, and luscious.

 It  is the best panna cotta I ever tasted. It takes only few minutes to mix, and hour and a half to bake, but its worth the wait. 

Good old panna cotta is very bland. If you dont serve it with berries, which is predictable, you will end up with dessert that's kind of boring.

This one is made with caramel, and served with melted milk chocolate.
It does not get better than that.
Recipe comes from Baker's corner, which has some beautiful recipes, so I will ask you to check them out. Diana makes best breads, ice creams and desserts. I am sure you will find something you will like.
Enjoy :)

Spinach salad

This is my favorite way of eating spinach, although I love every dish that contains it. Especially a spinach smoothie. Combined with beets, cheese and walnuts, it becomes healthy perfection on the plate.
You can use baby beets from the jar that are already pickled, or you can roast your own if you have some extra time on hand.
If you decide to do it on your own, wrap them in aluminum foil, and roast them for 45 min to 1 hours at 400F/200C, depending on how big your beets are.When you pierce them with fork they should be tender and silky. Let the beets cool enough to handle. You may want to use gloves for peeling, because they will probably stain your hands. Hold one of the beets in a paper towel and rub the skin away. The skin should peel away easily, if it doesnt, the beets need to cook for a little longer.
Once roasted, beets will keep refrigerated for up to a week, so you can use them for your other recipes

For this recipe, you will need:
 2 roasted beets,
4 cups of baby spinach (try to buy organic)
1/2 cup pecans coarsely chopped  (you can use sunflower seeds, pepitas, walnuts,whatever you have on hand)
1 tablespoon of cranberries
1/3 cup. goat cheese, or you can use good feta (Greek or French)
And for the dressing, 3 tablespoons olive oil, mixed with 2 tablespoons of vinegar, salt and peper.

Whisk olive oil with vinegar, salt and paper. Add chopped beets, toss to coat, and let it stand on room temperature for 30 min. to absorb flavors. This can be prepared day ahead.
In a serving bowl, put spinach, add beets, cranberries, walnuts and sprinkle crumbled cheese.
Taste it and adjust seasoning.

Angel Food Cupcakes

Its been a really long time since I posted my last recipe. Few years now. During that time, many things happened, many things changed, and it influenced the way I cook. Mostly, I was concentrating on desserts, but from now on, I will also share with you savory recipes that i like. I hope you will enjoy your visit, and find something good to bake. Thanks for stopping by :)

Angel Food Cupcakes

Ingredients

6 egg whites

150 gr. caster sugar

50 gr. flour

1 tablespoon shredded coconut

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

Sift together flour, salt, and half of the sugar.

In a mixing bowl, mix together egg whites and vanilla extract. Start whipping it with the mixer, and when a soft peeks form, start adding sugar slowly. When medium peeks form, sprinkle flour with the sugar over the egg whites, and fold it very gently with the spatula. If you mix vigorously, you will deflate the egg whites.

Divide batter among paper lined muffin cups, and bake for 20 min. Cool completely. 

For cream cheese topping you will need:
226 gr. Philadelphia cream cheese (1 block)

250 ml. heavy whipping cream
50 gr. powder sugar 

1 tablespoon of vanilla

fresh berries for topping

In a mixing bowl, mix softened cream cheese with powder sugar until light and fluffy. Start slowly adding heavy cream, and mix until you get stiff peaks form.
Spread it on cooled cupcakes, and top with berries of your choice. 

Mango mousse cake

Please scroll down for english :)

Do pre neki dan sam mislila da volim zimu. I jesam volela, ono sto uz nju ide. Sneg, praznike, okicenu jelku, peceno kestenje, kuvano vino...
Posle svih zima provedenih po ledenom Cikaskom vremenu, kosave, snega koji nikako da se otopi, minusa koji ne popusti do aprila, ove godine po prvi put ne mogu da docekam prolece. Valjda je i ova torta zato ovako veselo zuta, vocna i sve oko nje pastelno.

Jako je lagana i fina, a umesto manga mozete da koristite i neko drugo voce, umesto rolata, piskote. Zbog duzine recepta izgleda malo komplikovano, ali se u sustini jako brzo napravi. Nas je odusevila.

Potrebno vam je za rolat:
4 velika jaja, 3 kasike secera, 4 kasike brasna, malo vanile, malo naribane limunove korice.
Umutite belanca sa secerom u cvrst sneg. Dodajte zumanca, vanilu, limunovu koricu i lagano izmesajte pa dodajte brasno. Kada se smesa ujednaci, pecite u plehu 28x38 cm.na 180C 10-15 min. ili dok se korica blago ne zarumeni. Topao rolat uvijte u vlazni salvet i sacekajte da se ohladi. Ohladjeno premazite sa par kasika dzema od kajsije ili narandze.

Lagano savijajte koricu, ali motajte cvrsto i napravite male rolatice od trecine kore. Presecite, motajte novi rolatic, presecite koru i zatim namotajte poslednji rolat. Trebalo bi da dobijete tri rolatica precnika oko 2 cm. Stavite na pleh i ohladite 20-ak minuta u frizeru da bi se lakse sekao rolat.
Ohladjeno secite na snitice debljine oko 5 mm.
Na tanjir na kome cete sluziti tortu stavite obruc kalupa precnika 22 cm. i prvo redjajte parcice rolatica u krug a zatim po dnu tanjira.

Sirupom napravljenim od 2 kasike secera, 1 kasike vode, 1 kasike limunovog soka, 1 kasike ruma i 1 kasicice vanile premazite dobijene stranice i dno kolaca.

Za kremu vam je potrebno:
450 gr. manga (kajsije, breskve) 75 gr. secera, 2 kasike limunovog soka, 3 1/2 kasicice zelatina (kasicica je zapremine 5 ml) i 500 ml. slatke pavlake.
Ispasirajte mango ili neko drugo voce stapnim mikserom. Procedite kroz cedku da ostranite zaostale sitne komadice. U trecinu vocnog pirea dodajte zelatin i ostavite 5 minuta da malo nabubri.
U preostali pire dodajte secer i limunov sok. Pire sa zelatinom ugrejte na tihoj vatri dok se ne otopi pa pomesajte sa preostalim pireom. Stavite u frizider da se hladi a vi za to vreme umutite slatku pavlaku u cvrst sneg. Umucenu je pomesajte sa vocem i izlijte u kalup preko poredjanih rolatica.
Stavite u frizider da se stegne a za to vreme napravite glazuru.

Za glazuru vam je potrebno:
3/4 kasicice zelatina (4 ml) 7 kasika soka od manga (kajsija, breskva, narandza), 40 gr. secera.
Preko polovine soka sipajte zelatin, pustite da malo nabubri, ugrejte lagano dok se otopi, sjedinite sa preostalim sokom kome ste dodali secer i sipajte preko kolaca.


Vazno je da vam torta bude na ravnoj povrsini dok se glazura hladi. Ja sam moju gurnula u frizider a nisam ni primetila da resetka ne stoji ravno, pa je glazure bilo vise na jednom kraju torte nego na drugom.

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Mango mousse cake

for the rolls:

4 eggs, 4 tablespoons flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, ½ teaspoon lemon zest.
Beat egg whites with sugar until stiff. Add egg yolks, vanilla, lemon zest, mix gently, add flour. Bake in 28x38 cm. pan with parchment paper 10-15 min. While still warm, roll it with wet kitchen towel. Let it cool. Unroll, spared few tablespoons of apricot preserve. Roll into a small roulade, 2 cm thick. Cut, and continue rolling and cutting until you get 3 rolls. Freeze the rolls so you will be able to slice them evenly.
Instead of rolls you can use ladyfingers, for quick and easy preparation:)

Cut marmalade rolls each about 5 mm thick. Line the sides and the bottom of the 9 inch cake pan with slices.
Brush them with syrup made with 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon water, 1lemon juice, 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Make the mousse:

450 gr. mango, 75 gr. sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 3 1/2 teaspoons gelatin, 500 ml. heavy cream.
Puree the mango flesh with the sugar and lemon juice. Strain to remove fiber from mango.
Put one third of the mango puree into the pot and stir in the gelatin. Let the gelatin soften, and warm over low heat, stirring until dissolves. Remove and add remaining mango puree, and allow to cool. While cooling, whip the cream. Stir in mango into the whipped cream, and scoop the mango mousse into the cake pan and spread it evenly.
Chill, and prepare glaze mixture:
For the glaze, you will need,

¾ teaspoon gelatin, 7 tablespoons mango or orange juice, 40 grams sugar.
Stir the gelatin into half of the juice and let it soften. Heat the rest of the juice with sugar until sugar dissolves. Add softened gelatin and stir until it dissolves. Cool it a little bit, and pour over the cake. Let it set before serving.

Kuvarijacije-Danish pastry

Obozavam Brankine recepte a posebno njen danish pastry. Kada je za ovomesecnu igru Kuvarijacija odabran njen recept, vec sam imala spremne fotke, posto Brankine kroasane pravim jako cesto. Obicno zamesim duplu dozu, jednu ispecem odmah, drugu zamrznem. Kada mi zatreba, najcesce vikendom, preko noci odmrznem testo u frizideru, ujutru samo uvijem kroasane, pustim da narastu i ispecem.
Uz kafu i namaze, savrsen dorucak.

Iako sam odusevljena ovim receptom, isprobam i po koji novi kada naletim na njega, mada, moram da priznam, do sada ni jedan nije bio bolji. Nedavno sam napravila danish po receptu iz knjige The secrets of baking ali nije bio ni blizu Brankinom. Testo nije bilo tako pahuljasto kao ovo. Brankin recept najvise podseca na laminated brioche, prekrasno je mekano i bogato i to je ono sto me je odusevilo.

U knjizi sam procitala nesto jako zanimljivo sto do sada nisam znala. U danish pastry se gotovo uvek dodaje kardamom. Dodala sam ga jednom Brankinom receptu uz naribanu narandzinu koricu i vanilu i svidelo mi se, bilo je jako mirisljavo. Bude jako fino u slatkoj varijanti promene radi.
Jedino sto sam jos dodavala svaki put je po kasicica soli, jer mi testo tako bude ukusnije i bolje pase uz slanu verziju.

Branka, hvala za jos jedan savrsen recept :)

For the recipe, please visit Branka's blog.

Rolat od kakaa i ruma

Please scroll down for english :)

Ovaj rolat je zapravo trebao da bude torta. Krenula sam bila sa nekim izmenama i na kraju odustala od torte i za probu napravila rolat. Ispao je odlicno i pravi se brzo. Nisam bas cekala da se dobro ohladi pa je presek zato malo razmrljan.
Kada sam po njemu poredjala maline, svi smo se po kuci uzmuvali, jedva se sacekalo da par puta okinem i radile su viljuske :)
Ako hocete tortu, samo uvecajte mere.

Potrebno vam je:
6 jaja, 6 kasika secera, 3 kasike brasna, 3 kasike kakaa, 1 kasika ruma, 1 kasika ulja.
Belanca ulupajte sa secerom, dodajte zumanca pomesana sa kasikom ruma i uljem, lagano promesajte, pa dodajte brasno posejano sa kakaom. Pecite i jos vruc rolat urolajte u vlaznu krpu. Dok se hladi napravite krem.

Za kremu vam je potrebno:
112 gr. putera, 100 gr. prah secera, 5 kasika prosejanog kakaa, 2 kasike ruma, kasicica vanile, 125gr. slatke pavlake, 1 slag fix.

Omekasli puter penasto umutite sa rumom i vanilom, dodajte prosejani prah secer i kakao i umestajte polako varjacom da ne bi zavrsili u slatkom oblaku ukoliko ukljucite mikser. Kada se malo ujednaci nastavite da mutite miskerom dok smesa ne postane kremasta. Sjedinite sa ulupanom slatkom pavlakom i slag fiksom i nafilujte rolat.
Urolajte i prelijte glazurom od 125 gr. pavlake i 125 gr. cokolade.

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Cocoa rum roulade


6 eggs, 6 tablespoons sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, 3 tablespoons cocoa, 1 tablespoon dark rum, 1 tablespoon oil.
Line baking sheet with parchment; coat with cooking spray. Dust with flour; tap out excess, and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350F.
Beat egg whites with sugar until medium peek. Add egg yolks mixed with rum and oil and using a large rubber spatula, carefully fold in sifted flour with cocoa powder.
Spread batter evenly into prepared sheet. Bake until springy to the touch. While still hot, roll into the wet kitchen towel.



For the filling;

112 gr. butter, 100 gr. confectioner sugar, 5 tablespoons cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons dark rum, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 125 gr. heavy cream, 1 envelope whip it.

Cream the softened butter with vanilla and rum. Add sifted confectioners sugar with cocoa powder. Mix with spatula at first, and continue creaming with mixer.

Whip heavy cream with one envelope of whip it until stiff and stir it into the butter mixture. Unroll the roulade, spared cream on it, and roll again.
Coat it with chocolate ganache made with 125gr. of heavy cream and 125 gr. of chocolate.

Pistacio praline

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Odusevile su me ove praline. Mogu da se naprave i odokativno, umesto pistacija mozete da upotrebite i druge samlevene orasaste plodove. Gotove su za trenutak a ukus je mmmmm :))

Umesite 250gr. marcipana, 1 solju od 250ml. mlevenih pistacia, 2 kasike konjaka  ili soka od narandze. Poravnajte na radnoj povrsini oklagijom, isecite zeljene oblike i prelivajte svaku glazurom od 100 gr. cokolade i 3 kasike ulja.

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Pistachio almond praline

250 gr. almond paste, 1 cup ground pistachios, 2 tablespoons cognac or orange juice. Work the ingredient into a paste. Roll to 1/2 inch thick, cut into cubes and dip in chocolate glaze made with 100 gr.  melted chocolate and 3 tablespoons oil.

Dry on wire rack.

Pavlova sa citrusnim vocem - Ajme koliko nas je

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U ovomesecnoj igri Ajme koliko nas je, koju je pokrenula Monsoon, nasa domacica je Mignonne sa bloga La cuisine creative, a ovomesecni sastojak su agrumi. Sada je sezona citrusnog voca a kuca nam je trenutno preplavljena grepfrutom, mandarinama, limunom. Volimo ih sveze a moja slaba tacka je kombinacija sa cokoladom. Vec imam par recepata koji kombinuju cokoladu i narandzu, pa sam se sada odlucila za nesto drugacije, pavlovu, kojoj takodje fino pasu kiselkasti tonovi agruma.
Ima dosta slicnih recepata na internetu, i za ovaj recept mozete kombinovati ono sto imate pri ruci, samo pustite masti na volju :)

Potrebno vam je:
4 belanca, 150 gr. secera, 1 kasika gustina, naribana korica mandarine i limuna, kasika soka od limuna.
Rernu ugrejte na 105C.
Umutite belanca sa limunovim sokom. Na pola mucenja, pocnite da dodajte kasiku po kasiku secera neprestano muteci. Mutite dok se secer ne istopi i dok ne dobijete cvrst sneg. Dodajte naribanu koricu mandarine i limuna i gustin. Lagano promesajte.
Gomilice ulupanog snega stavljajte na pek papir i oblikujte mala "gnezda" Od ove kolicine bi trebalo da dobijete 6 vecih puslica. Susite u rerni oko sat i po.
Dobro ohladite, odvojite od papira i prelijte svaku kremom od limuna i dekorisite komadicima voca (grejpfrut, naradnza mandarina)

Za kremu od limuna:
4 zumanca, 1 celo jaje, 100 gr. secera, naribana korica limuna, naribana korica mandarine ili narandze, 50 ml. limunovog soka, 125gr. putera.
Jaja umutite sa secerom i fino naribanim koricama i kuvajte na pari dok se smesa ne zgusne. Dodajte naseckane komadice hladnog putera, mesajte dok se ne istopi i odmah sklonite sa vatre. Ostavite da se dobro ohladi pa prelijte preko puslica.

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Citrus Pavlova

4 egg whites, 150 gr. sugar, 1 tablespoon corn starch, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, finely grated mandarin zest.


Preheat the oven to 105C/220F.
Place the egg whites with lemon juice in the bowl of an electric mixer. Whip until peaks start forming. Slowly sprinkle in the sugar. Whip until shiny and stiff.
Add the zest and corn starch and mix gently.
Make six mounts of meringue on a sheet pan lined with parchment. Bake for about 1 hour and 30 min.

For the lemon curd:
4 egg yolks, 1 whole egg, 100 gr. sugar, 50 ml. lemon juice, zest of lemon and mandarin, 125 gr. cold butter.
Whisk the eggs, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a medium bowl. Place this over a water bath and cook until it thickens. Add cold butter, mix until incorporated and cool.