Last Sunday was a Brunch day. My friend @vicky.todorova and I gathered a few of our hungry friends, asked them to come with an empty stomach and an empty mind with lost thoughts from the previous night and gave them an absolute feast to feed their soul and cure their hangover regrets. The theme was the Middle East, and so many dishes were part of the big feast. But a few stood out, one being a random creation that popped in my head in the middle of the night while thinking about what should be on the menu. To celebrate one of my favourite autumn/winter ingredients - the pumpkin, I decided to mess around with its naturally sweet flavour and complement it with some tang, smoke and saltiness. What I made was a roasted pumpkin with a tahini yoghurt sauce, pomegranate molasses, smoked almonds, spring onions and green chillies for that extra dose of spiciness. I wanted to keep this recipe a secret, but I care way too much about all of you impressing your guests that I couldn’t resist sharing it.
Once again, this girl has been away from this account for way too long. Life has been as hectic and emotional as ever, which affected my creative and inspirational aspects. For a while, cooking had lost the value it had for me, and the time I usually would spend in the kitchen was taken over by me staying and bed and trying to force myself to get out and do stuff. I can’t lie that the past month has been difficult, but the truth is we all have those moments of self-doubt and demotivation. The solution is to accept them, take this time for yourself, and prepare yourself to get back on track. That’s exactly what I did, and now slowly, I am recovering, and the creative ideas are flowing back into my routine. To celebrate this and the current holiday season, I am sharing a favourite recipe for a dish I make on Christmas Eve. It’s effortless, but the flavour combination gets you into a comfy festive mood.
Autumn at its finest - roasted quince filled with nuts. The house is full filled with the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg and rum all coming from the kitchen. This is such a simple dessert to make but it is definitely the best way to celebrate the seasonal ingredients. This recipe can be made with every single fall staple ingredient - apple, pumpkin, etc. To make it even more irresistible balance the tangy flavour of the quince and the crunch from the nuts with a smooth topping, which in my case was just homemade sheep yoghurt. This yogurt, in particular, has such an intense flavor, so nothing else is needed. If you don’t have that in hand, don’t worry, a scoop of quality vanilla ice cream or some whipped mascarpone cream will also do the trick.
Yes, 3 days and 3 new recipe ideas. It’s crazy, I can’t believe the person I’ve turned into. Mainly living between the kitchen and my laptop I finally have the time to spend with my one and only true love - food. Today on the menu we have a creation inspired by the random stuff I had in the kitchen - avocado, sweet potato, orange, cilantro. Just by looking at all the ingredients it gave a hint of Mexico and that’s how a came up with this tangy orange salsa. Of course, I didn’t have any nacho crisps hanging around, so I decided to sweet potato patties instead. They turned out to be the perfect match because of their sweetness, which balanced out the tangy, spicy taste of the salsa and the sourness of the lime avocado mousse. A combination to die for. But enough with the rambling let me share with you how it’s done:
Continuing with the fall mood and the nostalgia for home, I am scrolling on my phone and going through pictures from last year. I don’t know if its just me, but one thing I really like doing is looking at pictures from last year and analysing how my life has changed for one year. It’s a bit early in the morning, so I am not going to start my day with deep existential thoughts. I much prefer to begin it with something tasty and mouthwatering. I stumbled upon this photo from a food photoshoot we did with @teodora.has.a.story, and o I could taste this fall dish even by just peeking at the screen. I don’t know why I hadn’t uploaded it back then, but I guess it was due the lack of time and organizational skills I had back then. Things have changed now, so here I am, a year later, sharing with you this delicious pumpkin white bean dip. Make it for a dinner party or snack at work, whatever the reason is; I can guarantee it will be good.
After the taste 