BBQ side dish

Summer is the perfect season for a bbq, finding a side dish is not always easy though.

Here's my latest ideas: a couscous salad with 

• fried cubes of vegetables (eggplants and zucchini) and 
• fresh cherry tomatoes
• some good olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme 

or a pasta salad with

• fresh pasta trofie (soft thin twisted pasta from northern Italy)
• tuna in olive oil
• fresh cherry tomatoes
• mozzarela buffalo cheese
• freshly cut and chopped chives (ciboulette in french)
• some good olive oil, salt and white pepper 

will lift it. If you add a greek tzatziki to add some moisture to the whole menu, then you have the perfect combination! No, I forgot the most important ingredient: good company to share all this :) 

Reminder recipe: Mascarone nutella cake!

 

When negative vibes arise, some chocolate and nutella can set them aside and make life look good again. Check one of the two versions of my mascarpone nutella cake, both wonderful:

• less calories, less looks: https://vivianiscooking.blogspot.com/2016/10/chocolate-cake-with-mascarpone-nutella.html
• more calories, more looks : https://vivianiscooking.blogspot.com/2023/11/mascarpone-nutella-cake.html 

Enjoy as always!

Alternatives for the Greek spanakotyropita!

Lazy for the full version of the greek spanakotyropita (spinach-feta pie) but still craving for it? I have some alternatives for you. Make the same filling as the original recipe and 

• either make snails using fyllo pastry that you fold in half, oil a bit, add some filling and roll and twist like a snail (see photos)
• or use 2 rectangular sheets of puff pastry that you insert the filling in between and cut in pieces 

Bake as usual until golden colored.

Enjoy!

Summer menu idea

 

When temperatures rise, here's a fresh idea for a light menu:

Grilled salmon, cantonese rice and a nice slice of fresh pineapple! 

Roast Beef with potatoes in the oven

 Classic Sunday cooking: some good piece of meat and potatoes in the oven. Easy, classy and pleases the majority of people. Here's the french way of cooking it.

Mpougatsa, the greek custard pie!

Went to Greece for vacations and got addicted to mpougatsa for breakfast? Here's how to make it back home and extend your vacations a bit through food :)

Made with crusty fyllo and filled in with a custard cream made out of semolina is served dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon. It makes the perfect breakfast or anytime snack and why not as a dessert.

Want more authentic Greek recipes? 📘 Discover my CookBook here!

Schnitzel, the unforgettable :) [2024 UPDATED]

A classic recipe today but again with a personal touch, this time my mother's in law. We are talking for the bread crumbed fried escalopes. These ones have some extra taste as I use cheese also. But not any cheese, my personal touch again here is the reggiano parmiggiano that I just looove :) So, here it goes...

[Original recipe 13/05/2013 10:40PM]

[2024 UPDATE] Hubby invented a faster version  where you mix the cheese with the eggs and save one dish and 1/3 of the time of the preparation!

Vivian's banana bread

Vivian's banana bread

🌟 Difficulty	⏱️ Time	🍽️ Serves	🔪 Skill level
★ Easy	1 hr	8–10 slices	Beginner

 I am excited to experiment with banana breads lately and after my Vegan Banana Bread-ilicious!  and the Coco-choco Banana Bread, here's my own inspiration that I consider very succesful. Consider this as an elevated version of a banana bread :)

An elevated banana bread packed with flavor and texture—moist from yogurt, rich from butter, and filled with nuts and juicy blueberries. A perfect balance between comfort and indulgence! 

Cooking with a twist!

 

Being inspired everyday is not easy, especially on repetitive tasks like cooking and baking :)

Check my cooking with a twist of today: 

• Focaccia with cherry tomatoes instead of my usual recipe with feta and oregano : just replace feta with cherry tomatos cut in half
• Chocolate cake a la sacher torte (mixing strawberry jam) instead of my usual Chocolate cake recipe : just add spoonfuls of jam on top and twist a fork to mix the jam with the dough
• My usual french brioche bread : this is so perfect that there is no need for twists ;)

Enjoy!

Yummy focaccia (with greek feta and oregano)

My favorite 3 ingredients (dough, feta and oregano) all in one recipe! And who can resist in a good focaccia in any case? If you share the same values ;) go for it! Of course, we are open minded here, feel free to adapt to your own favorites! 

French chocolate king cake (Galette des rois au chocolat)

You know those days that you have the crave to bake a cake but not enough of an ingredient? 

This is one of those days that I wanted to bake a french king cake (my original recipe) but missing some almond powder. So, the idea to try for once a chocolate version seemed very inspiring and one deeeply appreciated from the youngsters here :) 

I had 100gr of almond powder instead of 140gr, so I replaced the 40gr missing with cocoa powder.

I encourage you to try it!

*Not knowing how it will turn out, I did not use the egg yolk on top, which was not bad either although it was missing some sparkle, so better not to skip :)