Cooking Ideas & Recipes by Joana Reis

May 12, 2013
by Joana
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Nutella Muffins Recipe

This weekend the weather has been rainy and I have felt a little poorly (I think I’m getting the flu). So to cheer me up I made these delicious Nutella Muffins. They are an amazing treat for a rainy day like today.

Nutella Muffins

Ingredients for the Nutella Muffins:

  • 300g cornflour, sifted
  • 145g caster sugar
  • 250ml of milk
  • 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tbsp of baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp of salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 85g of unsalted butter, melted
  • 210 g of nutella
  • 3 tbsp of chopped hazelnuts
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method for the Nutella Muffins:

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Line a 12 hole deep muffin tin with muffin cases.
  2. In a large bowl, sift together the cornflour, the bicarbonate of soda, the baking powder, salt and 115g of caster sugar.

    The dry ingredients

  3. Pour the milk, vanilla essence into a jug, break in the 2 eggs and whisk together by hand.
  4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour the milk and eggs mixture. Mix well on a low speed, using either a hand held or a freestanding electric whisk. Occasionally scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix until the mixture is nice a smooth.
  5. Add the melted butter and mix for a few more minutes.
  6. Add 150g of nutella to the mixture and mix well. To the mixture add 3 tbsp of the chopped hazelnuts and mix well.

    Add the nutella and the chopped hazelnuts

  7. Spoon the batter into the muffin cases, filling them about half way full. Spoon 1tsp of nutella into the middle of each muffin case, then add the remaining batter.

    Add 1 tsp of nutella when the muffin cases are half way full

  8. Sprinkle over the remaining chopped hazelnuts and the caster sugar. (It will look like a generous amount of sugar but it will create a lovely crust when the muffins are baked).
  9. Place in the oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes or until the muffins are well risen and bounce back when lightly pressed.
  10. Allow the muffins to cool a little in the tin before moving them to a wire rack.

    Nutella Muffins

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April 14, 2013
by Joana
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Double Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

I made these cookies when I went to see my family for Easter Sunday. Everyone loved them so much that at one point I had to hide them or they would have been gone before dinner.

It was a strange Easter, being Portuguese from the region of Alentejo, the tradition is to go for a picnic Easter Sunday. This was the first year that we couldn’t go because of the weather, there was still snow in the ground and it was very cold. So we stayed at home and played monopoly for 4 hours with 10 people, it felt more like Christmas than Easter because the family tradition on boxing day is to stay at home, eat leftovers and play monopoly.

These cookies are perfect to make with children for birthday parties or even as a delicious treat.

Double Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients for the chocolate cookies:

  • 125g of butter, softened
  • 100g light brown soft sugar
  • 185g caster sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of golden syrup
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 175g self-raising flour
  • 50g chocolate powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 100g of white chocolate chips
  • 100g of milk chocolate chunks

Method for the chocolate cookies recipe:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
  2. Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl, once creamy, add in the egg and vanilla.

    Add the vanilla and egg to the creamed butter and sugar mixture

  3. Sift in the flour and salt.
  4. Add the golden syrup and mix well
  5. Add the chocolate chip chunks and make sure the mixture is well combined.

    Add the chocolate chips/chunks

  6. Place baking paper on top of a baking tray.
  7. Roll the mixture into walnut size balls for a homemade look, or roll into a long sausage shape and slice to make neater looking cookies.

    Roll the mixture into walnut size balls

  8. Bake for 8 minutes.
  9. Take out of the oven and leave to cool for 1 minute before moving to the cooling rack.

    Double Chocolate Cookies

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March 25, 2013
by Joana
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My Rome (Roma) Food Guide

I have just came back from a weekend break to Rome, I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys history and good food. I spent 4 days in Rome, eating amazing local dishes, gelato and sightseeing. If you are considering visiting this beautiful city i have a few tips, make sure you visit the Vatican City in the morning as the queues are smaller, wear trainers such as converse as you will be walking in cobbled streets most of the time. Adventure out of the touristy parts, and use the metro and tram, they are cheap and easy to use.

Here are some of the restaurants and foods that I had in Rome.

Our first night in Rome we went to Piazza Navona, its beautiful at night because they light all the monuments and fountains. One tip do not eat at the restaurants at the piazza, they are very expensive. We went to a restaurant in Piazza Madalena near the Pantheon. I had linguine di Mare, seafood linguine in other words. The dish was delicious, it had prawns, muscles, clams and tomatoes in a herby sauce.

Linguine di Mare (seafood Linguine)

The next day for lunch we went to Trastevere, we had lunch at Papa Re restaurant, this is a little tradtional italian restaurant. Its located in Via della Lungaretta, 149, if you dont mind eating in cosy spaces and being ver close to other tables is worth the while. We had the tradional Roman dishes of pasta cacio and pepe, its pasta with cheese and black pepper. We also had saltimbocca, this is veal topped with bacon, marinated in wine. If you had the time visit this area, as you walk around the cobbled streets it feels like you are in a small Italian village rather than Rome.

Pasta Cacio and Pepe

Saltimbocca

We were walking from Trastevere to Campo di Fore when we found the I Dolci de Nonna Vinceza bakery, this traditional bakery with lots of mouth watering cakes is located at Via dell’Arco del Monte, 98 – to see some of their cakes visit www.dolcinonnavincenza.it. We had the Cannolis, also known as Cannulicchi in Italian. We had the little tasting ones, the  flavours were; brown = chocolate, white = ricotta, green = pistachio, yellow = lemon and the other cream. My favourite was the cream one.

Cannoli or Cannulicchi

That evening we got a metro to Piramide and went to the traditional Italian restaurant De Bucatino, the restaurant is located in Via Luca della Robbia, 84. We had Roasted Veal with potatoes, Rabbit Cacciatore and for dessert Tiramisu. If you have the time I really recommend this restaurant, its small but full of locals and with amazing food, what more do you need?

Roasted Veal with Potatoes

Rabbit a la cacciatore

Tiramisu

The next night we went to the new trendy restaurant in Rome called Porto Fluviale, the restaurant is located in Via del Portofluviale, 22, 00154 Roma. Take the metro to Piramide and walk from there, its about 5 minutes. I would advise that you ask your hotel (if you cant speak Italian) to book you a table as they are fully booked every night. This is a tapas style Italian restaurants, every dish can be order in portions of 1/4, 1/2 or full portions. We decided to have a few dishes, we had the meatballs in tomato sauce, carbonara with the most delicious fried crispy bacon, beef, pan fried cod in tomato sauce with olives (my favourite dish of the night) and we had a side of stir fry vegetables.

Meatballs in tomato sauce

Carbonara

Beef

Pan Fried Cod

For dessert I had a mille-feuille, translated in English is a thousand sheets. Its a pastry dessert made of filo pastry and cream.

Mille-feuille

On our last day in Rome, we had pizza for lunch, all pizzas are stonebaked, and la bucatini pasta, a traditional Roman pasta of bacon and spaghetti in tomato sauce.

la bucatini pasta

Everywhere you go in Rome you will find a gelataria, which is ice-cream shop with delicious home made gelato. One of my favourites was a little shop near the pantheon. Some of the flavours we tried were nutella, cappucino and kinder bueno.

GelatoGelato

Overall, I would really recommend Rome as the perfect short break, as not only will you find great food, but also a lovely culture.

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February 9, 2013
by Joana
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How to make Pancakes

Pancake day is approaching so why not make these basic but delicious pancakes.

Pancakes

Ingredients for the Pancake recipe:

  • 110g of plain flour
  • 2 eggs
  • pinch of salt
  • 200ml of milk
  • 75 ml of water
  • 25g of butter

Method for the Pancakes:

  1. Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
  2. Make a well in the middle and break the eggs into it.

    Make a well and break the eggs

  3. Then whisk the eggs incorporating any bits of flour from the edges.
  4. Put the milk and water in a jug, then gradually add small amounts to the mixture. Wisk after each addition.
  5. Melt the butter in the frying pan you are going to use to make the pancakes. Add the melted butter to the bowl.
  6. Whisk very well.
  7. Get the pan really hot, the turn the heat down to medium low and start with a test pancake.
  8. To make it easier use a ladle to scoop up the batter and pour it in.

    Pancakes

  9. If you are making more than one pancake, put the oven on a low heat and put in a plate, as you are making your pancakes put them in the warm plate in the oven. This way your pancakes will keep warm until you use all the batter.

Toppings for the Pancakes:

  1. Sugar and Lemon- squeeze half a lemon and add a few spoons of sugar

    Lemon and Sugar Pancakes

  2. Nuttela and bananas – melt the nutella and slice a banana, then just add a few spoon fulls and some banana slices

    Nutella and Banana Pancakes

  3. Golden syrup – just squeeze some golden syrup on top of the pancakes

    Golden Syrup Pancakes

  4. If sweet pancakes are not your thing, try some ham and cheese. Add a few slices of ham and grated cheese to the pancake

    Ham and Cheese Pancakes

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January 20, 2013
by Joana
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Mulled Cider Recipe

Englad has been hot with snow this week, its too cold to be out for to long. So what best than to spend the evening by the fire (if you have one) and drink hot cider?

Hot/Mulled Cider

Ingredients for the Mulled Cider Recipe;

  • 1 Litre of Apple Cider
  • 1 Orange
  • 2 Cinnamon Sticks
  • 4 Whole Cloves
  • 2 Tbsp of Brown Sugar
  • 4 Bay Leaves

Method for the Mulled Cider Recipe;

  1. Peel the Orange and add the orange peals to a medium size saucepan.
  2. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves and bay leaves to the saucepan.

    Add the spices and sugar into a saucepan

  3. Add the apple cider,  let this simmer until the sugar has dissolved into the cider and bring to the boil.
  4. Gently heat the cider for around 5-10 minutes.

    Hot / Mulled Cider

  5. When its warm and delicious, ladle it into glasses (or mugs) and serve it.
  6. For presentation add a bay leave to each glass (or mug).

    Delicious Mulled Cider

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