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Carrot cake

This is not your typical American style carrot cake with cream cheese filling and frosting. But just as delicious and easy to make and a healthy choice with lots of carrots.

prep time 10 min     cook time 50 min
ingredients
  • 4 eggs
  • 175 g sugar
  • 100 ml/g vegetable oil
  • 100 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 300 g flour
  • 16 g baking powder
  • 200 g peeled and grated carrots
  • powdered sugar to garnish

1.  Preheat oven at 180 C. Line the bottom of a 24cm (9″) springform pan with parchment paper.

2. Squeeze the orange. Measure the flour and mix it with the baking powder.

3. Beat the eggs and sugar, add the oil and orange juice. Add the flour in 3 batches continuing to beat. Add the carrots and mix with a spoon.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place in the oven for 45-50 min until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

5. Let cool in the pan. Once cooled, transfer onto a serving plate and decorate with powdered sugar and some flowers, preferably the edible kinds. I used flowers from my garden. 🙂

BUON APPETITO!

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Red pepper sauce with pasta

This pepper sauce is as easy as it gets and is delicious. There’s no need to use any kind of dairy cream to make it creamy. Just add a little bit of the starchy boiling pasta water and voilà.

prep time 10 min     cook time 25 min
ingredients for 3
  • 300g pasta of your liking, I used rigatoni
  • 1 big red pepper, sliced
  • 1/2 onion
  • 5-6  cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
  • handful of pinoli
  • extravirgin olive oil
  • salt
  • fresh basil
  • grated Parmigiano

1. Wash and cut the pepper into thin slices. Slice the onion thinly, place it in a large pan with a little bit of oil  and cook on medium heat for a few minutes. Add the pepper slices, tomatoes, some salt and a little bit of water (half a glass) and let simmer about 20 min.

2. In the meantime cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package.

3. Take a few slices of pepper for garnish. Blend the rest of the sauce with an immersion blende adding the pinoli and some oil. Pour the blended sauce back into the pan. Add some pasta water.

4. Drain the pasta, pour it into the pan with the sauce and mantecare (toss with grated cheese for a few minutes while the pan is still hot).

5. Serve adding basil leaves, some more grated Parmigiano and a few pepper slices onto your plate.

tip: you can roast the pinoli in a hot pan without oil for a few minutes and add them on your pasta instead of blending them with the sauce.

tip: you can substitute the red pepper with a yellow one.

BUON APPETITO!

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Lentil salad

Delicious and super healthy Greek style lentil salad with feta cheese and yummy vegetables. This could be eaten as a side dish or a light vegetarian meal. The lentils are simmered until cooked and then coated with an oil and red wine vinegar dressing. So good. Lentils are a wonderful source of protein.

prep time 15 min     cook time 20 min (lentil cook time)
ingredients for 4
  • 400 lentils, picked and rinsed
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2-3 red and yellow peppers, roasted and sliced
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 200 g cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • half a cucumber, sliced or chopped
  • handful fresh parsley or dill, chopped
  • optional: handful of fresh mint, chopped
  • 10 kalamata or other olives, pitted and sliced
  • salt and pepper
  • 200 g feta cheese, crumbled
  • for the dressing:
  • 6 tables extra virgin olive oil
  • 6 tables red wine vinegar
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • salt and pepper

1. Rinse the lentils and cook them in a pot with water, add a bay leaf and salt. Cooking time varies for different varieties of lentils.

2. Cut the peppers into strips or slices, place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, sprinkle some oil on them and bake them in preheated oven to 200C for about 20 minutes until softened.

3. Whisk the oil, vinegar, minced garlic, salt and pepper for the dressing.

4. When the lentils are cooked, drain them in a colander and let cool for a few minutes. Once cooled, place them in a large serving bowl and toss with dressing. Add chopped onions, roasted peppers, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, olives and crumbled feta andmix . Add the herbs right before serving.

BUON APPETITO!