butterfly sandwich

easy, healthy and quick vegetarian sandwich that always works well.

i want to write stories, endless words, but i cannot focus because there is still one exam soon, the most difficult one, and i cannot focus properly on anything much -  i am so hating the thing hanging over my head. sorry.

butterfly sandwich

one favourite bun

cream cheese

smoked fish (i has trout)

greens (any kind of salad you like, i add watercress too)

fresh herbs & seasoning (for me pepper and rosemary)

cut the bun in half, spread some cream cheese and sprinkle with herbs

assemble using your favourite ingredients

cut in half, turn one half around and be happy with your butterfly sandwich

summer cream cakes

we're celebarting here in poland one of the most popular name-days. my grandfather's name is jan, and we are having a family meeting like millions of other people. jan used to be one of the most popular names here for decades, and even if now it is superseded by jakub, filip, kacper, it is still one of the more popular ones. and although there are more than 30 name-days for jan, july 24th is the most important and popular one as a fest of st john the baptist.

you can find the
recipe here (just the decoration changes)

chanterelle side dish

yesterday we celebrated father’s day in poland. my father doesn’t care too much for gifts, so we just got him a nice bottle of apple cider (nearly impossible to buy here) and prepared a rustic supper with lots of foods that he likes. 

there were: a cheese & cold cuts board (with selection of mostly italian products, including my beloved pecorino toscano and prosciutto), grilled asparagus, chanterelle, olives, tomatoes, grapes and some bread and butter. 

simplest side dish of chanterelle recipe

a portion of chanterelle (c. 200 g)
a few springs of thyme
1 lemon
olive oil
mustard
salt, pepper

clean and rinse the chanterelle, then cook with half of the thyme until soft (about 15 minutes)
add the rest of thyme (just leaves) to cooked and cooled chanterelle
prepare sauce: mix 1 tsp mustard with juice of half lemon and 3-4 tbsp olive oil thoroughly, until homogeneous
combine chanterelle with sauce until they are covered with emulsion
season with salt & pepper to taste

summer milkshake

i have been eating strawberries in all possible versions at least five times a day.

this milkshake has a bit of near east flavour to it and i was happy to remember my few hours spent in mostar, some of the best of my holidays ever. and rose lokum. i don't know if it i will ever be back there, but it would be like a dream.

summer milkshake recipe
1 big handful of strawberries
1 small banana (can be frozen for thicker texture and coolness)
½ cup plain yogurt
pinch of cinnamon
¼ tbsp rose water

blend all ingredients and enjoy!

seven layer cookies

i made these so-called seven layer cookies for my last italian class this year, as a kind of parting gift for my friends. they were a big success and i was happy to see everyone indulging. the other time for my presentation about typical italian sweets i made a few types of cookies and fried milk, also loved by everyone. 

those cookies (although it quite pains me to call them so, i would really insist to just call it cake or petites fours) are excellent, the recipes never fail. i have also been keeping a few pieces to see how long one can keep them – it has been nearly two weeks, stores in a container, and they are just as tasty as at the beginning, even if a tiny bit drier, but the change is not very noticeable. 

find the recipe here, at smittenkitchen

the only changes i made:
substitutes canned almond paste with homemade one, a simple blend of 2 portions of almonds to 1 portion of sugar ration + 1 egg white to make it hold, it turned out excellent
used homemade peach jam

botwinka

botwinka recipe
1 bunch of beetroot leaves
1 liter of water
borscht essence (hard to come by) or replace half of the water with clear borscht
salt, pepper
a small bunch of dill
hard boiled eggs
sour cream

rinse and cut into small pieces beetroot leaves and stems
cook in water / water with borscht until soft and tender, about 15 minutes
add salt and pepper to taste, then toss in chopped dill
serve hot or cold with a teaspoon of cream and an egg cut into cubes
for a very polish version: serve with potato puree eaten with a spoon : )

rhubarb crumble

rhubarb crumble recipe
1 lb rhubarb
30 g sugar
20 g flour

130 g whole wheat flour
100 g sugar
100 g soft butter / margarine

peel, wash and cut the rhubarb in small pieces, mix with sugar and flour, put into a baking dish / ramekins
make crumble, mixing the remaining flour, sugar and butter with your fingers in a bowl until it creates a crumbly structure, sprinkle over the rhubarb
bake for 35-45 min in 200 (depending if in small ramekins or a big one) until you can see rhubarb juice bubbling under the crumble

lembas bread

gi suilon, mellyn! 

 i have been reading lord of the rings – again. this time it was a completely new experience though, since i switched language to italian. it was quite challenging, as i have been learning that language for about sixteen months, yet easier that i thought it would be. the thing that annoyed me most was their constant changing of proper names into ones that make little sense (i shouldn’t be surprised, i have known for ages that they even changed snape’s surname), like turning rivendell into gran burrone (‘great ravine’) or shire into contea (what does mean shire, but i would have expected the translators to leave such an important name in its original state for it becomes unrecognizable for someone who doesn’t care to check and suddenly stumbles upon the original version, or watches movies in english.)

moreover, i didn’t quite like translations of songs and poems, of which only a handful was done neatly and rhymed. ‘all that is gold is not glitter’, for example, which is short, brilliant and important to the plot, was left in rather rough state. maybe it is only a matter of the particular translation, but unfortunately i don’t have the possibility to consult any others. 

i couldn't help myself - a piece of one of my favorite fanfiction authors:

'Aragorn was standing about ten feet away, his back to Gimli. He was looking up at a narrow pillar of a side passage that had crumbled into disrepair. Perched perhaps twenty feet up the pillar was Legolas. The Elf had evidently climbed the chipped masonry to the top of the small archway and clung there, his hands and feet braced on some slight imperfection in the stone, his body leaning back and his eyes fixed on the shaft from which the light came.
Aragorn seemed half amused, half exasperated as he called up to the Elf. "Legolas, come down. The Company breakfasts down here."
Legolas twisted almost upside down to look at the Man. "I can smell the green from here, Aragorn! It is better than food or sleep."
Aragorn snorted. "First you wouldn't eat because of the dark. Now you won't eat because of the light."
Legolas laughed, clear and bright as bells ringing. "You can toss the food up here. Or," his bright gaze fell on Gimli, "send it with the Dwarf. He is good at climbing stone."
Gimli glowered at him, but the Elf only laughed again. Aragorn sighed. "The longer you stay up there, the longer it will take for us to leave Moria."
Legolas let go of the pillar. Aragorn started in shock, but the Elf somersaulted smoothly in mid air and landed lightly beside him. Gimli wondered how he kept his arrows from falling out of his quiver.
"We can go now," Legolas said simply. He took the dried fruit that Aragorn held and laughed again. Then he caught up his bow and leaped away, racing across the hall to come to a complete stop at the eastern archway, his head thrown back and his eyes half closed as he looked up at the shaft of light.
Aragorn turned and gave Gimli a sympathetic look. He walked over to the Dwarf, one corner of his mouth drawn up in wry amusement.
"That, Master Dwarf, is a typical Wood-elven reaction. We've been in these caves too long, and the light is very welcome."'

(in the deep places by lamiel, ch. 7)

in the end i had to create something related to lord of the rings and the choice was rather obvious. “lembas is the sindarin name, and comes from the older form lenn-mbass 'journey-bread'; in quenya it was most often named coimas which is 'life-bread'”

master tolkien writes:
eat a little at a time, and only at need. for these things are given to serve you when all else fails. the cakes will keep sweet for many many days, if they are unbroken and left in their leaf wrappings, as we have brought them. one will keep a traveller on his feet for a day of long labour, even if it be one of the tall man of minas tirith.

no veren!

lembas bread recipe

¼ cup sour cream
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
½ cup honey (mallorn tree preferably)
2 cups flour (i used whole wheat for healthier version)
zest of 2 lemons
1 tsp baking powder
110 g cold butter

whisk flour, zest and baking powder
add diced butter and mix quickly until it becomes crumbly
mix cream, juice and honey (it doesn’t have to be runny)
add wet ingredients and mix with hand until it forms a ball – do not overwork (use more flour if needed, it should feel a bit less thick than shortbread)
refrigerate for at least an hour
roll out 1 cm thick and cut square pieces – i made 12 7x7 cm cookies
bake 15-17 min in 200C until edges are golden brown
optional: decorate with thin citrusy icing
wrap with mallorn leaves and save for your travel