2018 new trend!

The first moment I saw I told to myself I had to make it! It’s the new sable cake with a mascarpone cream and lots and lots of decoration... you already know what am I talking about, right?

Well, since we’ve just moved in it’s the best excuse to start inviting people for dinners, housewarmings or parties. And so I got my first chance to make the new cake hehe (every occasion is good to celebrate it with a cake)
Our first guests were no others than my old colleagues from Punto, I’ve spent a lot of time with those crazy guys and I gotta admit that I do miss them a lot, every single one of them gave me plenty of moments I’ll never forget, plenty of Dutch slang, plenty of pintjes, and plenty, pleeeenty of coffees. After two years and a half I decided it was about time to start my career as chef, and so I put and end with my career as barista. It was really difficult to leave that family but I knew it was my moment to move on, and so I did it, leaving all those awesome people behind, but hey don’t forget we leave just 20min away! That’s a remark, if you didn’t notice it ;p

So when I invited them over I thought to myself, hey let’s try out that cool cake you’ve seen on the internet running around! The rest of the menu was well thought through and with Dario’s help we ended up with the winning menu. Everything went great and I was really waiting to see their faces when the get to see the dessert. I gotta admit, it was good for being the first one but it could’ve been better, don’t get me wrong, I really liked it but like always you get better the more you practice.

It’s a very simple cake where the fun part starts when you free up your imagination and the decoration just flows, prepare your table with tons of sprinkles, merengues, flowers, buttercream, glitters, chocolates,...whatever you have in mind that can top up this beauty.



Ingredients


For the cake

-300gr flour
-200gr cold butter
-50gr coaster sugar
-25gr fine sugar
-1 egg
-1ts vanilla

For the mascarpone cream
-500gr mascarpone
-500gr heavy cream
-200gr coaster sugar
-vanilla

Method

We’ll start by making the cake, in your bowl start by adding the flour, sugars and the butter cut in
dices and let your mixer run till it’s well combined and a bit sandy.
At that point we add the egg and start mixing again.
If you’re gonna use your hands it’ll be just a bit more work but at the end you’ll get a smooth dough as if it was made with the stand mixer.

Once your dough is ready, let it rest for about 30min to 1hour in the fridge.

Meanwhile let’s make the mascarpone cream, which is as easy as to combine all your ingredients and mix well. It looks in the beginning that it won’t get that thick but keep on mixing for about 5min and you’ll get the right consistency. Introduce it in your piping bag, I used a 16mm round nozzle to pipe out the cream on top of the biscuits.

Time to heat on the oven at 180 degrees centigrade and when it’s ready set your cakes, that you previously rolled out to 1mm thick and cut it with the shape you wanted in this case I made two “P’s” and two “T’s”. And put them in the oven for about 20min, always check them before cause you don’t want too-tanned cookies 😜

After that it’s just time to let your creativity flow with as many sprinkles and flowers as you have at home.

After all this I would like to thank you guys for coming, it was really nice for us and I hope you really enjoyed the night. You’re always welcome and I wish you all the best. Special mention to my boss and friend Kris, as I’ve always said, it was an honour working with you.

Lots of birthdays

And we start the new year in a new apartment!

Dario and I we’ve just moved in together in what we called “the best apartment ever”, he is so happy he even runs around the house. We have so much light (if we’re lucky and get a sunny day...), big rooms and awesome kitchen (I’m definitely in love with the kitchen cause it has its own wine rack), with two small balconies and plenty of room for our guests, that means now you don’t have an excuse to come visit us!

Back to the cakes, the first one I’m making is for Lucia and I was wondering why shouldn’t I try some good old flavors like peanut butter and jelly, let’s do a bit crazy. Since Dario hung up the US flag on the kitchen wall, all those memories come back to me. And Pjb is definitely one of the most common things in America so I decided to give it a try and make a three layer cake, vanilla, chocolate, vanilla and spice it up with some homemade peanut butter and some berries jam.  

For the cake:

- 4 eggs 

- 200gr flour

- 200gr sugar

- 6gr baking powder    

- 40gr water

- 20gr oil 

(-20gr cocoa powder; 180gr flour)      

For the Italian merengue:

- 4large eggs 

- 350gr sugar

- 75ml water 

- 1 pinch salt 

- 450gr unsalted butter 

- 1tsp vanilla extract 

Method:

I made two vanilla cakes and a third chocolate one. We separate the egg whites from  the egg yolk and beat the whites with half of the sugar till it's stiff, then set them aside in the fridge while mixing the rest of the ingredients. 

First put in your mixing bowl the egg yolks, sugar, water, oil and vanilla extract, mix until well combined and then sift in the dry ingredients, flour and baking powder, and the cocoa when making  the chocolate cake. 

Once everything is ready add the whites we previously whisked and do this slowly cause you don’t want to break them, so grab an spatula and carefully integrate them in your batter. 

Your cake moulds are already buttered and floured and your oven preheated at 180 degrees, fill up your moulds and introduce them in the oven for at least 50min. Always check your cakes after 45min, maybe you’ll need to add some time up or maybe your cakes will be ready, every oven is a different world but more or less at the temperature should take you around the 50min.

For the Italian merengue (since I discovered preppy kitchen’s recipe I always make it, soooo good) #preppykitchen it’s really simple and everybody loves it. 

We beat the egg whites with 75gr of sugar till you get those peaks of it.

 

In a saucepan we make the sirup by melting the rest of the sugar with the water let it melt and reach around 115 degrees centigrade.

Then while the mixer is running slowly drizzle the syrup into the egg whites and let it turn till your mixture’s temperature has lowered up to around the 37 degrees centigrade.

Now cut your room temperatured butter into small cubes and add them one by one until your merengue has a smooth texture. Adding color is up to you ;)

 

I’m coming back

I’m back!!!

After a long pause here I am posting back. It was just a matter of finding time to write, even though I didn’t have to translate much, it does take time so I ended up writing everything in English. I know some followers won’t agree with it but if there’s anything you guys don’t understand I promise I’ll answer all your questions right away. 

Two years ago I stopped posting due to one of those moments in your life when everything starts getting a bit complicated and I know I shouldn’t have stopped but hey we all make mistakes ;) 

After that it was always a matter of time and I know now it’ll be much harder since I’ve started working as a chef in one of the best Brasserie in Belgium. Everyday is a constant rush but I get to do what I do love which is cooking, so even though I spend most of my day there I keep learning, get to try out new techniques, new flavors,... 

Back to posting, when I stopped  I was about to release Pablo’s bday cake. I gotta say he got really mad at me cause I never posted it so I’ll start again where I left it which is two years later and a few cakes later hahaha. Even though I’ll post the other cakes too I now would like to show you this year's bday cake, which is a new version of my previous Oreo cake.

Pablo what can I say to you that hasn’t been said yet. Sorry for coming so late to your bday party but I didn’t have time before to finish the cake hahaha! No,seriously, what would I do without you here. All those memories, going to other cities, going to different museums, restaurants, bars, ...all those long talks about our life and about others life’s, all those ups and downs that always end up well. You make my life way easier cause that’s what family does and you, my friend, you’re family to me. 

This year the weather caught us by surprise cause even though it wasn’t the best summer ever, the cold wind came up sooner than expected and Brussels was covered with all those hats, scarfs and gloves. Even though I’m not a huge fan of cold, the city gets covered with a never ending brown and yellow carpet which gives it a great landscape. 

                 

For this recipe I’ve used my usual sponge cake recipe a bit modified by adding some cocoa and  

chocolate chips. And while making the frosting I crushed some Oreos and added to a silky  Italian buttercream (I took the idea from a great baker preppykitchen.com, thanks) after that it’s just a matter of making a nice and straight column cause nobody wants the Leaning Tower of Pisa as a cake hehehe. 

Ingredients:

For the cakes (all this twice)

-5 eggs

-250 gr sugar (I normally do half brown sugar and half white sugar)

-250 gr flour 

-50 ml water

-25ml oil

-8 gr baking powder

-pinch of salt

-1 tsp vanilla 

 For the Italian buttercream 

-4 eggs 

-450 gr unsalted butter 

-pinch of salt 

-260 gr of sugar 

-1 tsp vanilla extract 

-1/4 tsp cream of tartar 

Instructions 

 Cakes 

1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, baking powder and salt).

2. Beat the egg whites  with a pinch of salt and when they start to become white add half of the sugar and mix until the are firm.

3. Then combine the egg yolks, water, oil, the rest of the sugar and the vanilla extract. Sift in the dry ingredients till you obtain a thick dough. 

4. Slowly combine the meringue with the dough, one spoon at a time! 

5. When your mixture is ready put in your baking pan (previously buttered and floured) and inside the preheated oven at 175 degrees for at least 50min.

Italian buttercream 

1. Beat the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar. Add in 50 gr of sugar and continue beating until you see soft peaks. 

2. Heat up the remaining sugar in a saucepan and add 80ml of water then turn the fire into medium-low heat. Stir until sugar is completely melted and clear. The perfect temperature is around the 115 degrees. 

3. When this temperature is reached pour the sugar into the mixer and let it run until cool.

4. Its time to add the butter room temperature cut into pieces, slowly one by one. Add your salt and vanilla and mix till combined.

5. At this point I already had my crushed Oreos and I just add them to the nice and smooth buttercream. 

Well this was it for today I hope you like it! And you know if you guys have any doubts just write my and I’ll solve it right away 

Keep you guys posted!

Pon un aleman en tu vida

Y ya estamos por aqui otro dia mas, he de reconocer que cada vez lo cojo con mas ganas. Me siento delante del ordenador y sonrio pensando la de sonrisas que conseguire cuando la gente lo lea, porque para eso es esto, que la gente pueda disfrutar con las nuevas recetas que preparo como he disfrutado yo cuando las he hecho.

El viernes en el tren de camino a casa, si vivo en Belgica y cojo el tren para ir a trabajar, total en 20min estoy en otra ciudad cuando en Madrid puedes llegar a tardar mas de una hora y solo cogiendo el metro, la gente no lo llega a comprender y admito que a veces da algo de pereza coger el tren pero como cualquier otro medio de transporte. Lovaina es una ciudad que me encanta y el ir a trabajar alli todos los dias me gusta, tuve la oportunidad de irme alli a vivir pero creo que es una ciudad demasiado pequena para mi, sin animo de ofender porque vuelvo a repetir que es una ciudad que considero muy importante para mi por todo lo que le ha dado, todo el mundo que alli he conocido, y todos los rincones y recuerdos que que llevo de esa bonita ciudad #MijnLeuvenRock. Pues bien de camino decidi llamar a Lenny, ese gran aleman al que conoci hace ya cuatro anios y que siempre esta ahi con una sonrisa de oreja a oreja. desde luego que cuando voy a su lado parezco Pulgarcito, no soy alto (lo vamos a dejar ahi, me niego a decir que soy bajito) pero es que Lenny es muy alto. Se vino a Bruselas cuando yo estaba de erasmus y junto con otros tres personajes formamos el grupo de los 5 mosqueteros de la Rue de la Poudriere 66. Vaya anio, vaya grupo y cuantisimos grandes momentos, hoy en dia las cosas han cambiado un poco y aunque cada uno tengamos nuestras vidas sabemos que ahi estamos los unos para los otros "Uno para todos y todos para uno". Total que le llame para ver si le apetecia venirse a cenar a casa que tenia ganas de cena, vino y charla, por el tono de su voz se que le parecio una idea genial y hasta aqui que vino, al final en tram que eso de ir en bici le iba a costar mucho jejeje. En efecto fue una noche de lujo, con el contratiempo que estaba tan bien que me recoste en el sofa y empece a quedarme dormido, lo siento Lenny!!! ( he de decir que el estaba hablando por telefono, no le deje ahi hablando solo como los locos) Pues como se que a el le gusta probar cosas de otros paises, decidi probar con unos tallarines Thai. Coged boli y papel y apuntaros la receta, estaban muy buenos =D

And here we are once again, I have to admit that I am starting to enjoy a lot writing here. I sit in front of my laptop and smile just my imagining all the smiles I'm gonna put on your faces when you read it. That's why I do it, so people can enjoy with the new recipies as much as I did when I prepared them.

Friday night I was on the train, yes I live in Belgium and I take the train to go to work, it's no big deal cause in 20min I'm in another city, when I was in Madrid you can spend more than an hour and just in the metro. Some people here don't get it and I admit that it's sometimes a bit tiring but it's like any other type of public transport. Leuven, a city which I love and I enjoy working there a lot, I had the opportunity to live there but I think it's too small for me, no offense, cause as I said before it's a city that means so much to me for all the things it has given to me, all the people I've met there, and all the beautiful spots and memories that I'll always take with me #MijnkLeuvenRock. So, on my way home I decided to call Lenny, that big German who I met 4 years ago already and he's always there with a huge smile, and whenever I walk next to him I look like Tom Thumb, I'm not tall (let's leave it like that, I refuse to say that I'm small) but Lenny is just too tall. Well, he came to Brussels when I was on erasmus and together with three more guys made the gruop of the 5 musketeers at la Rue de la Poudriere 66. What a year, what a group and sooo many memories, nowadays everything has change, and even though everyone has their own life we all know we are there for each one "All for One and One for All". Anyway, so I called him to invite him for dinner cause I felt like having a nice dinner, some wine and one of our talks, by the tone in his voice I knew it was a really nice idea for him too and so he came here by tram cause by bike he thought it was too much hehehe. In fact it was a really nice night with a little setback that was me falling asleep, I'm soooo sorry Lenny!!! ( I must say he was on the phone, so I didn't let him talking alone). Because I know he likes trying food from different countries, I tried somo Thai noodles. Get some paper and a pen and write down the recipe, they were really good ;)

Fideos Thai

Vermicilli Longkou.

Pechugas de pollo / chicken breasts.

Puerro / leak.

Zanahorias / carrots.

Pi,ientos de colores / bell peppers from different colors.

Calabacin / zucchini.

Brotes de soja / soy sprouts.

Maiz baby / baby corn.

Brotes de bambu / bamboo.

Salsa de soja / soy sauce.

Pasta Padthai / Padthai paste. 

° Empezamos por cortar el pollo en dados y dejarlo marinar en salsa de soja.

° Lo siguiente es preparar todas las verduras, aqui debo decir que tras varias semanas de curso le dedico mas tiempo a cortar las verduras, es bastante importante y sobre todo a la hora de montar el plato quedan mucho mejor, mis dedos han sufrido ya las hojas de mis nuevos cuchillos, gajes del oficio.

° Primero haremos el pollo en el wok con aceite de sesamo a ser posible, si no tenemos podemos utilizar aceite de oliva, pero el de sesamo le va mejor a esta receta. Una vez hecho, lo sacamos de la sarten y salteamos las verduras todas juntas y le anadimos la pasta padthai. Queremos que haya un poco de caldo para despues anadir los fideos asi que en un vaso con agua ponemos mas padthai y al wok. Las verduras no se tienen que hacer mucho asi que no tardaremos mucho en poner los fideos, que tardan cinco segundos en hacerse y despues volvemos a poner el pollo para darle un punto de calor.

° Estamos listo, a montar el plato!!

° We dice the chicken and let it marinate in soy sauce.

° Next step is to prepare all the veggies, I would like to say that after a few weeks of cooking school I am more delicate when it turns to cutting, I think it's really important and for sure whenever we are going to plate it. My fingers have already suffered the sharp blades of my new set of knives, but hey perks of the job.

° We'll start by frying the chicken in the wok with sesame oil if possible, if we don't have we can always use olive oil, but for this recipe the sesame one goes better. Once done, we put it aside and start with all the veggies at the same time in the wok, adding some padthai paste. We want some stock for the vermicelli so we disolve some padthai paste in a glass of water and add it to the veggies. we won't let the veggies cook too much and the vermicelli are done in like five seconds. We add the chicken to warm it up.

° It's done, let's dress it up!

Tous pour un, un pour tous.

Por una casa llena de visitas

Nueva semana nuevo post, mas o menos asi funciona la cosa. Pues bien esta semana hemos recibido la visita de Arantxa... y quien es Arantxa preguntareis, pues es una de esas personas que se conocen via via, pero que desde el primer momento conectais y se convierte en un no parar de risas. Arantxa decidio dejarnos el febrero pasado, para volver a tierras vascas (#aibalahostiapatxi), pero Bruselas le tira tanto que siempre que tiene un huequito coge un vuelo y se planta aqui. Nunca me olvidare de esa sorpresa que me dio y justo era cuando mas lo necesitaba, porque si, porque hay momentos en los que simplemente un abrazo de personas que no tienes tan cerca es lo que necesitas para seguir adelante y asi lo hizo ella, me dio ese empujon acompanado de una colleja que le gusta dar de vez en cuando.

Domingo por la noche, son ya las 9 y media y Arantxa todavia no ha aparecido pero yo ya tengo la cena casi lista (hoy la colleja se la lleva ella) y como es su ultima noche y le apetecia sushi pues aqui ando liado modo japones on.


New week new post, or that's how it should work. So this week we recieved a visit from Arantxa...and who is she? Well, she is one of those person you meet via via but since the very beginning we connected so well making both of our lives into laughing as a way of living. She decided to left us in February and head back to her home town in Donosti, but since Brussels is her second home everytime she has a few days free she comes visit. I will never forget that occasion when she appear out of nothing on the moment I've most needed her, and it's like that, sometimes just a hug from those people you don't have that close is what you need to keep on going and so did she, she gave me that boost together with a slap because so is she.

Sunday evening, it's already half past nine, Arantxa is not home yet but dinner is almost ready (tonight she'll be the lucky one who gets the slap) and because it's her last night and she felt like having sushi, here I am Japanese mode on.

Sushi 

400gr de arroz para sushi / sushi rice.

Salmon fresco / fresh salmon.

1 aguacate / avocado.

2 zanahorias / carrots.

1/2 pepino / cucumber.

Surimi.

Vinagre de arroz / rice vinegar.

Alga Nori / Nori seaweed.

Wasabi.

Jengibre / ginger.

° Hay que lavar bien el arroz antes de empezar a cocinarlo, una vez listo lo ponemos en una olla con algo mas de medio litro de agua fria, tapamos, dejamos a fuego lento hasta que empiece a hervir y diez minutos mas tarde esta listo. Lo retiramos del fuego y lo dejamos reposar con la tapa 15 min.

° Mientras vamos cortando la verduras y el pescado en juliana o tiras finas.

° Una vez transcurrido los 15min, le ponemos un buen chorro de vinagre de arroz y removemos bien.Yo le suelo poner un poco de wasabi para darle un toque al arroz, pero eso es a gusto del consumidor.

° Tenemos todo listo, ahora nos toca enrollar. Para ello ponemos la esterilla, el alga encima con la cara mate hacia arriba, un poco de wasabi, capa de arroz (siempre dejando los extremos vacios porque a la hora de enrollar el arroz se esparcira un poco), pescado y verduras. Empezamos a enrollar y ejercemos algo de presion para que quede compacto, pero el arroz al ser especial, se pega bastante. 

TRUCO: Ponte un bol con agua al lado, para cuando vaya a extender el arroz con las manos porque se pega mucho. Y a la hora de cortarlo, la hoja del cuchillo debe estar humeda.

° We have to wash very well the rice before start cooking it, once it's ready we put it in a pot with a bit more than half a litre of cold water, we cover it and let it start boiling on a low fire. after that it'll be ready in 10min. Let it rest covered for 15min.

° In the meantime we cut the vegetables and the fish in julienne strips.

° Once the 15min. are over, we put some rice vinegar and we stir it well. I personally put some wasabi paste in the rice, but that's up to you.

° Everything is ready now, so let's start rolling up. On the rolling mat we lay the Nori with the mate side up, a little bit of wasabi, a layer of rice (not fully covered because once we start rolling the rice will expand and take more space), the fish and the vegetables. We have to make some pressure while rolling but not too much because the rice is really sticky.

TIP: have a bowl with water next to you in order to make your hands humid because it sticks a lot. When cutting the sushi, the knife's blade has to be wet.

Vasos de nata con cucharas de chocolate

100gr de chocolate.

25gr de mantequilla / butter.

250ml de nata 35% / heavy cream.

50gr de azucar / sugar.

Colorante / coloring.

Frutos del bosque / berry mix.

° Derretimos el chocolate con la mantequilla a fuego muy suave, lo ponemos en los moldes y al congelador directo. Las cucharas estaran listas en un par de horas, asi que tienes tiempo ahora de cocinar todo lo que se te venga a la cabeza. 

° Montamos la nata con el azucar y dividimos, una la dejaremos blanca y la otra del color que mas le vaya. 

° Una vez las cucharas esten listas podemos montar nuestro sencillo pero muy vistoso postre.

° Start by melting together the chocolate and the butter on a really low fire, set it in the moulds and put the in the freezer. The chocolate spoons will be ready in a couple of hours so start thinking what you are gonna make as main dish cause you have plenty of time. 

° Whisk the cream and the sugar together till you get a nice wipped cream, divide it in two, one will let it white and the other one we'll color it depending on the dish.

° Once the spoons are ready we can start assembling our simple but pretty attractive dessert.

Ya sabeis que las puertas de casa siempre estan abiertas y que un plato rico rico os estara esperando. Gracias por leer y hasta el proximo.

You all know that our doors are always open and there will be something yummy waiting for you. Thanks for supporting and see you in the next one.

Lo echaba de menos

Un martes cualquiera por la noche, tras un dia intenso de trabajo, asi sin ton ni son, porque muchas veces me viene asi la inspiracion, porque tengo muy buenos recuerdos de noches cocinando para amigos, de risas, de caras de felicidad, de momentos que guardare siempre para mi que son los que cuentan. Pues me encontraba solo en casa y pense, por que no preparar algun dulce? coger una receta basica y tunearla un poquillo, darle un toque que seguro que la mejorara o eso tenia en mente. Y asi sin mas me vino a la mente que nunca me habia atrevido a meterle speculoos a nada, y que desde que los descubri habia tenido muchas ganas de incluirlo en algo, imagino que como es algo tipico de aqui pues a lo mejor no me atrevia a meterle mano por el hecho de fracasar, un miedo absurdo porque si no lo intentas nunca sabes que puede pasar, hay que ser valiente. Hay tantas cosas que nos perdemos por el miedo al que diran, al que pensaran, a fracasar, coge la vida por los cuernos y tira palante! el no ya lo tienes, por que no probar?


Pues bien, aqui lo tenemos, un simple bizcocho de mantequilla se puede tunear, o por lo menos darle un toque mas de gracia, con que? Con lo que querais! Yo decidi que ya era momento de probar con los speculoos y que casualidad que tenia crema de speculoos en casa. Creo que todos estamos de acuerdo en que un bizcocho seco no suele agradar demasiado, puede tener muy buen sabor pero que te tengas que tomar dos litros de leche para que pase...como que no. Truco? Claras por un lado, a punto de nieve, eso hara que tu bizcocho este mas esponjoso.


Just a random Tuesday night, after working the whole day, without any reason, because a lot of times I get my inspiration like that, because I have lots of memories of late nights cooking for friends, laughing really hard, happiness on their faces, moments I'll save for me cause those are the ones which really matters. Well, I was home alone and suddenly I thought, hey why not bake something sweet? Just changing some ingredients from a basic recipe, give it a turn to make better, that's what I had on my mind. And just like that, for no reason it bcame to my mind that I had never tried to put speculoos into one of my desserts, and since I discovered them I have been looking for the occasion to give it a try. I guess because this cookies are so traditional here I never wanted to try it out, having fear to fail, a fear which I now see really stupid because you never know what can happen if you never try it, it's time to be brave and go for it. We miss so many things just foor the fear of what will they say, what are they gonna think, to fail,... It's time to wake up and live your life! No it's a possible answer but why not give it a try?

So like I was saying, just a simple butter sponge can be pimped, or at least try to make it less boring, with what? with whatever you want!! I decided it was about time to use the speculoos, and yes, I had speculoos paste home. I think we all agree that a dry sponge is not likely to be so tasty, it can have a really nice flavour but you don't wanna drink two liters of milk with it. TIP? egg whites, whisk them apart till they form pick, that will give extra fluff to your sponges.

Bizcocho de speculoos con chocolate

5 huevos / eggs.
1 cucharada de cafe de levadura en polvo / cs of baking powder.
Una taza de azúcar (mitad blanquilla, mitad moreno)  / cup of sugar (half white, half brown).
200 gr de harina / flour. 

1 cuchara de cafe de esencia de vainilla / cs of vanilla essence.
4 cucharadas de mantequilla / tbs of butter.
1/2 taza de leche / cup of milk.

5 cucharadas de pasta de speculoos / tbs of speculoos paste.

200gr de chocolate negro / dark chocolate.

Mermelada de fresas / strawberry jam.

°Lo primero que debemos hacer es batir cinco claras de huevo junto con media taza de azucar, hasta que esten a punto de nieve, debes poder volcar el bol y que las claras no se muevan, si nunca lo has hecho animate asi tus bizcochos quedaran mas esponjosos. Reservamos. 

°Aparte, batimos cuatro yemas con el resto del azucar, y despues añadimos la mantequilla, la leche y la pasta de speculoos. Volvemos a mezclar todo y agregamos la harina y la levadura tamizadas. A continuacion incorporamos las claras poco a poco y sin dejar de mezclar con una espatula.

°Ponemos a precalentar el horno a 175º C, con calor por arriba y por abajo, y mientras se calienta vertemos la mezcla que hemos conseguido en un molde engrasado. Despues, lo metemos al horno y dejamos que se haga durante unos 45 minutos. Sacamos y dejamos enfriar antes de desmoldar.

°Derretimos el chocolate para ponerle una base de chocolate a nuestro bizcocho y terminaremos con una capa de mermelada por encima.

°First of all is to whisk the egg whites separately, beat to form peaks with half of the sugar, to know if they are ready you should be abel to turn the bowl and the mix has to remain in the bowl not on your head = D like this you will obtain a fluffly sponge.

°We beat the yolks with the rest of the sugar, and we add rhe butter, the milk and the speculoos paste. After we will add the flour and the baking powder sifted. last but not least we add the previos mix little by little and with a spatula.

°Preheat the oven at 175° up and down, in the meantime pour the mix in a greased mould. It has to be in the oven for about 45 min, after we will let it cool before removing it from its' mould.

°Melt the chocolate to create a fine layer on the bottom of our sponge, finish it with some jam on top of it.

Esta semana toca doble post, para hacer homenaje a ese martes de cocina nocturna y viendo que Nico no se terminaria el bizcocho el solo, ayer domingo invite a cenar a una personilla que se ha hecho un hueco en mi vida con mucha facilidad, pero admito que es una niña que te transmite su energia y su felicidad solo con verle esa sonrisilla que pone, ya sea poniendo un cafe, tomandose un gin o simplemente cortando cebolla (ahi va ese guino)

Cual fue la receta? Pasta fresca!!!! Y como me compre un molde de raviolis, pues es lo que cayo. Raviolis de espinaca con salmon y brocoli


Well this week is a double post, in honor of that Tuesday cooking at night and seeing that the whole sponge with kind of too much just for Nico, yesterday I decided to invite for dinner a really special person which has introduced herself in my life without any effort. I gotta admit that this girl transmits you her energy and happiness just by looking her smile, it might be while serving a coffee, having a gin or just chopping onions

So what was the recipe? Fresh pasta!! Y bought a sheet to make raviolis, so you can imagine which pasta I made.

Sonrie que la vida se ve de otra manera.
Smile, life looks completely different.

Raviolis de espinacas con salmon y brocoli

-Para la pasta / For the dough:

500gr de harina / flour.

5 huevos / eggs.

150gr de hojas de espinacas frescas / fresh spinach leaves.

Sal, pimienta y oregano / salt, pepper and oregano.

-Para el relleno / For the filling:

Salmon fresco / fresh salmon.

Brocoli / broccoli.

-Para la salsa / For the sauce:

250ml de nata / cream.

Queso rallado / grated cheese

(El queso no es obligatorio y podeis utilizar que prefirais, para darle un punto distinto a la nata y porque mis recetas necesitan queso ;) / Cheese is optional, and you can choose it yourself, it's just to give the cream a new taste and because i love cheese YES)

° Cocemos las hojas de espiacas 1 min aproximadamente y las metemos directamente en agua fria con hielo, asi las hojas se quedaran mas tersas y despues las batimos para conseguir una pasta que añadiremos a los huevos batidos. Hacemos un volcan con la harina y vamos añadiendo la mezcla de huevos y espinacas a la vez que vamos amasando. salpimentamos y le damos un toque de oregano. Cuando la masa este lista la dejamos reposar en un bol tapada. 

° Cocemos el brocoli al dente y reservamos. Picamos el salmon y reservamos.

° La pasta nos tocara pasarla por la maquina unas cuantas veces antes de que este lista para preparar los raviolis. 

° Una vez lista, rellenamos los raviolis y cerramos. La pasta ya esta lista para cocerse y tened en cuenta que es pasta fresca, luego debera estar en el agua unos 3min, se hace rapidisimo.

° Mientras habremos puesto en un cazo la nata a calentar con sal y pimienta y le añadiremos el queso que hayamos elegido. Decorala a tu gusto y a mover el hocico como hace mi ahijada (padrino orgulloso).

°

 ° Boil the spinach for about 1min and immediately put them in cold water with ice cubes, like this your spinach will be smoother, after mix them with the mixer to obtain a paste which will be added to the eggs already beaten. Make a volcano with the flour and add the previous mix while kneading your dough, season it with salt and pepper and a bit of oregano. when the dough is ready we will let it rest covered in a bowl.

° Boil the broccoli al dente and put it aside. mince the salmon and put it aside.

° We will have to process the dough through the machine several times before it's ready to make the raviolis.

° Once the pasta is ready, we fill in the raviolis and close it with ,ore pasta. The raviolis are ready to be cooked but pay attention because we are making fresh pasta so it'll be ready in around 3min, it's really fast.

° In the meantime, put the cream with some salt an pepper in a pot and add the cheese you have chosen. Decorate the paste as you like and time to move your snout like my goddaughter (proud godfather).

En esta casa se come sano

Ya es domingo y toca publicar. Después de un dia de trabajo no hay mejor manera para acabar la semana que el llegar a casa, charlar un rato con Nico mientras os tomais un vinito y dejais los deberes hechos para comenzar bien la semana.

El miercoles para demostrar que en esta casa se come de categoria decidi salir a comprar para preparar unas hamburguesas, ese manjar que a todo el mundo le gusta, Pero como siempre pues hay que darle toques distintos, probar nuevas carnes, especiarlas de distintas maneras, jugar a mezclarle otros ingredientes. Pues bien, dicho miercoles me levante y sali a correr por eso de que somos mu sanotes aqui, y tras ducharme, tomarme un cafelito y ordenar un poco el cuarto (esto tambien lo lee mi madre) sali a hacer unos recados y ya que estaba a hacer la compra. No habia tenido la oportunidad de conocer bien los supermercados que tengo cerca de casa, lo que implica que pase demasiado tiempo investigando los productos que podia encontrar y como se me hacia tarde cogi cosas basicas que al final siempre con algo de imaginacion se puede sacar adelante un plato bastante aparente y sabroso.




Already Sunday so it's time to post. After working today there's no better way to end up the week than getting home , have a nice chat with Nico while drinking a glass of wine and get ready to start the week in a good way.

On Wednesday, to show that I live in a house where food is always of high quality I decided to go do the groceries and make some hamburguers, a delicacy everybody loves. It is so simple and yet it can be so complex, combining different ingredients, different types of meat, different spices,... Well, so I woke up, went for a run, because we are really healthy, and after having a coffee and tidying up a bit (my mum also reads this) I went out to do some errands and ended up in the supermarket. I didn't have the chance yet to go and check all the supermarkets around in the area, so I ended up spending too much time there just checking all the products, and because I had to hurry I just grabbed some basics cause with a bit of imagination you can always take out a tasty and good-looking plate.

Hamburguesas con queso feta

-Para la hamburguesa / For the patty:
500gr de carne picada / minced meat.
1 huevo / egg.
200gr de queso feta / feta cheese.
Oregano, cebollino, tomillo, pelin de pimenton picante, sal y pimienta / Oregano, chives thyme, a bit of paprika, salt and pepper.
Pan rallado / breadcrums.
-Sofrito / for the sauté:
3 tomates / tomatoes.
1 1/2 cebollas / onions.
250gr champinones / mushrooms.
Lechuga / lettuce.
Sal y pimienta / salt and pepper.


° Mezclamos todos los ingredientes de las hamburguesas en un bol, lo cubrimos y dejamos reposar.

° Cortamos las cebollas, los tomates y los champinones en brunoise y los sofreimos a fuego lengo, primero la cebolla y mas tarde el tomate y los champis.

° Una vez las verduras esten listas, es hora de preparar las hamburguesas, les damos forma y a la sarten. Rapido, sencillo y delicioso.

 ° We start by mixing all the ingredients for the patties in a bowl, we cover it and let it rest.

° Cut the onions, tomatoes and mushrooms in brunoise and slowly cook it in the pan, first the onions, then the tomatoes and the mushrooms.

° When the vegetables are ready it's time to go ahead with the burguers. Give them a round shape, for example, and in the pan. Fast, simple and delicious.