I’m not very much into dancing and sometimes I prefer staying at home to cook or write, rather than going to a club… Yet, the harsh life of a single woman would require an attendance, if not constant at least assiduous, of socializing sites to get this label off. Despite this behaviour, I am good company and I like parties, those parties crammed with friends, where you have the chance to talk, to laugh to tears and, obviously, to eat. If at the disco my eyes start to close at the stroke of midnight (what an anachronistic person I am… will it be the influence of Cinderella’s tale?), at a party with friends I can stay up till late chatting over a set table, losing track of time and enjoying the atmosphere.

I’ve always had the dream of throwing large parties, like in the movies, with music, colours and set tables in my garden. I live in the countryside, this is one of the many benefits I have: no time constraints, no grumpy neighbours, open spaces to fill with joyful hands, feet and smiles. But until a few years ago there was a problem, to fill that garden, until…

Three years ago, a summer afternoon chatting with a friend.
“I would love to throw a garden party, but how can I do? do not know enough people to make it memorable!”
“Do you have a garden? are you sure you want to offer your garden for a party?”
“Of course I am”
“OK, you deal with the food, I deal with the people “.

From that moment on, everything changed. I became a couchsurfer, I met many special people who are now among my best friends and I have no more problems to fill up the garden when I want to throw a party… just think of that night, a concert under the stars with 101 friends who made memorable ​​that summer night. I made ​​peace with my social being, and I realized that I am a social person, but I have to find myself in contexts where I feel at ease and possibly with a pair of comfortable shoes on!

One of the most successful parties was the Hawaiian Luau: bright colours, flower garlands, lanterns, and the right music in the background, Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz, liquid and engaging notes that made a Tuscan evening into a night under the stars on the Honolulu beach.

Very little is needed to make a memorable party. You definitely need the right people, but the right choice of the right food helps: fresh, appetizing and easy to make food is a winning point in a memorable party. When we threw the Hawaiian Luau at my uncle’s house, we made a rapid research on what was the more suitable food for a Hawaiian party. Checked the ingredients and slightly adapted to our taste, this is one of the most appreciated result. It’s summer, be ready to add a magic touch to your Hawaiian party!

HAWAIIAN RICE NOODLES WITH BACON AND CRAB MEAT

Ingredients (serve 4):

• 200 g rice noodles
• 200 g bacon, diced
• 200 g crab meat
• 100 g salted peanuts
• 1 tablespoon of ​​fresh onion, green part only, thinly sliced
• 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced ​
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Greek yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon nigella seeds or sesame seeds
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Cook the rice noodles according to package instructions, drain and cool them under cold running water. Cut them with scissors 3 to 4 times, to help you seasoning them.
2. In a large non-stick pan stir fry the bacon and let it cook until it turns pink. Now add the crab meat thinly sliced ​​and stir for a few minutes with a wooden spoon until the bacon is golden and crisp.
3. Put the rice noodles in a large bowl, then season them with the bacon and crab meat, the salted peanuts, the sliced celery and the sliced green  ​​onion. Add the Greek yoghurt and the mayonnaise. Mix the noodles with your hands to season them evenly.
4. Just before serving, sprinkle the rice noodles with the nigella seeds or the sesame seeds, preferably the black ones for a nice colour contrast.

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Hawaiian rice noodles with bacon and crab meat

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My friends and I love picnics: genuine food, open air lunches and the sun playing among the tree branches, that’s our perfect day. Every time we organize a picnic, we try to be as much eco-friendly as possible, that is, we try to reduce the impact on the environment. No plastic dishes or cups, each one of us carries his own dishes, glass and cutlery and we share the food from our lunch boxes. At the end of the day everyone just collects his own dishes to leave completely clean the lawn or the shrubbery. As I said, zero impact.

Then a few weeks ago I saw this article posted on Facebook by Alex, a volcano of interesting ideas: I immediately saw those little jars with chalkboard paint lids as perfect lunch boxes for a picnic. Just imagine: a red checkered blanket, a large straw bag, your favorite book, the play of light through the trees branches and many small glass jars with coloured chalk writings on the black lids. A scene that is a cross between Le déjeuner sur l’herbe by Manet and the Mad Hatter tea time banquet in Alice in Wonderland. More or less playful writings and explanations, each one free to choose the jar he fancies the most. At the end of the day, just wash the jars and clean the lids with a damp cloth and they are ready for the next picnic. Zero impact, greatest fun.

Simple and easy to carry recipes. Practical glass jars that can be customized every time with colourful chalk and ribbons to match. A picnic in the shade of the trees on a lazy Sunday afternoon. That’s our theme, today!

I made four recipes that have one thing in common: they can be eaten with a spoon or a fork without the need of a knife, you need just one hand, then you can lazily lay on a blanket with the other hand holding a book, or sit on a log watching your friends playing football in the clearing of pine trees. Quantities are all intended for 2 to 3 people.

… And what to drink? A floral Bancha green tea made with cold infusion: two tablespoons of tea leaves in 2 litres of water with a sprig of mint kept in infusion in the refrigerator overnight and filtered the morning before the picnic.

Corn and rice couscous is my favourite one, because it is very tasty even without any seasoning and has a beautiful natural golden-yellow hue. I used the corn flour also to coat the aubergine nuggets, which are therefore golden and crunchy outside and juicy inside.

CORN AND RICE COUSCOUS WITH AUBERGINE NUGGETS

Ingredients:

• 175 g (1/2 cup) precoooked couscous
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• 1/2 large aubergine, diced
• 1 tablespoon of fresh mint, chopped
• 1 tablespoon desiccated oregano
• 2 tablespoons of corn flour
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 mozzarella (125 g), diced

Directions

1. Cook the couscous according to the package directions. Fluff the couscous with a fork and place it in a large bowl.
2. Mix the corn flour with the oregano and the chopped mint in a large bowl and then add the chopped aubergine: toss the bowl to coat each aubergine cube with flour.
3. Heat in a large pan a generous dash of extra virgin olive oil with a clove of garlic and stir fry the aubergine over medium heat for about 20 minutes, until they are golden brown and crispy outside, yet soft inside. Remove the aubergines from the pan and leave them to cool on a dish lined with paper towels. Season with salt.
4. Season the cold couscous with the aubergines and the mozzarella. Season with salt if necessary and spoon into individual jars.

Let’s shuffle the cards. The panzanella, the classic Tuscan salad made with stale bread, tomatoes and cucumbers, is proposed here with the bulgur instead, reminding a Middle Eastern and Lebanese tabbouleh.

BULGUR PANZANELLA

Ingredients:

• 175 g (1/2 cup) bulgur
• 1 large ripe tomato, chopped
• 1 medium cucumber, sliced and quartered
• basil leaves
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• white wine vinegar

Directions

1. Cook the bulgur according to the package directions, drain and let cool.
2. Season the bulgur with the chopped tomato, the sliced cucumber, plenty of basil, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a splash of white wine vinegar. Season with salt and divide into individual jars.

To define the following one a recipe is an exaggeration, let’s say it is a small list of ingredients that get along well and are good for you, your heart and your soul.

GOOD FOR YOU YOGHURT

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon flax-seed
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
• 1 tablespoon dark chocolate chips
• 125 g (1/2 cup) Greek yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon of wild flower and lavender honey
• fresh strawberries

Directions

1. Combine all the seeds and the chocolate and put them on the bottom of the glass jars.
2. Stir the Greek yoghurt with the honey using a with a spoon, until you have a smooth cream. Spoon the yoghurt on top of the seeds and chocolate.
3. Top the yoghurt with the strawberries.

I have already told you how much I love sweet and fruity couscous salads. Well, I love them so much that I decided to try another recipe, changing slightly the ingredients and the mood. Maybe I like this one even more than the first attempt! It has a Middle-Eastern fairy-tale appeal, thanks to the presence of two of my favorite spices – cinnamon and cardamom – and the sweet dried figs from Turkey. The final touch is given by a tablespoon of dried rose petals: soaked in vinsanto (Tuscan sweet dessert wine) they get fleshy and intense and bring you on a flying carpet in the starry nights of Baghdad (how many times have I seen Disney‘s Aladdin? I do not count them anymore…)

ORIENT NIGHT SWEET COUSCOUS SALAD

Ingredients:

• 175 g (1/2 cup) precooked couscous
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 dried figs
• 5 cardamom pods, crushed
• 1 tablespoon dried rose petals
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) of vinsanto
• 1 tablespoon almonds, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Make the couscous according to this recipe.
2. Chop the dried figs and soak them in vinsanto along with the crushed cardamom pods and the rose petals, for at least 30 minutes.
3. Squeeze the figs and the rose petals and stir them gently into the couscous, along with the chopped almonds. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon. Taste the couscous and if it’s not sweet enough add 1 up to 2 tablespoons of sugar. Divide the couscous into individual jars.

WHERE TO SHOP

1. I bought the chalkboard paint in my local hardware store. The half kilo paint pot was not cheap, I paid it 18 €, but I think I’ll paint with it all the lids of all my spice jars. Well, it was definitely worth of my 18€! To paint the lids I followed this tutorial suggested by Alex.
2. The jars are the beautiful Quattro Stagioni by Bormioli, a great classic, they have a vintage appeal I love so much!
3. The colourful ribbons are form CupcakeConfessional on Etsy.
4. The wooden cutlery are from Etsy as well, from my favourite FromSoul shop.

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

An eco-friendly picnic

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I saw her. She was running after a lonely firefly, wandering in a field of wheat in the point of turning from green to golden-yellow. She was smelling the wet earth after a sudden thundery shower. She was lying on the white table, back in the garden from now till October. She was playing hide and seek in the silent hedgerows along my country road.

I saw her, Summer has arrived a month ahead of schedule! As soon as summer arrives, I give new birth to all the rituals I’ve kept dormant for many months in a drawer. At the first sunny days that drawer begins to quiver, my summer habits push to gain life and freedom, to stretch their legs and enjoy the season, as lazy lizards on a stone wall.

These are my rituals to welcome the summer season, I’d be curious to know if you have some rituals as well!

1. Swap on my night table: no more wintry body cream, the nutrient, rich, full-bodied one, the one that resembles parquet glue. Welcome back light, fresh and fruity body lotion, the one that soothes my sunburned skin, relaxes my legs after a day outdoors and scents my nights with mint.
2. Let’s change the music! I update my mp3 player with a new hit list. Goodbye great winter storytellers, such as John Legend, who warm you more than a pashmina blanket with their voices: my summer adventures will be put in music by Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson.
3. No more make up: during the summer season my office becomes a glass house, so my mascara gets running and blends with my blush, making my face the modern edition of Munch’s Scream. As soon as I begin to sunbathe and the suntan colours my skin with a warmer and golden appeal, I allow myself just a touch of fruity lip gloss during the evening.

And so now, spread with a fresh mint body lotion, listening All summer long without a trace of makeup, I’ll tell you about a fresh and fruity salad that will be the sweet moment of my summer.

I really love fresh cereal salads during summer: usually barley, spelt and quinoa are the protagonists along with rice. Trying to find a way to realize a sweet salad, I spotted a half-opened couscous bag leaning on a cup full of strawberries, and I had a sudden flash of inspiration: a sweet and fruity couscous salad, with something crunchy and citrus inside and some stewed fruit to top it.

SWEET & FRUITY COUSCOUS SALAD

Ingredients to make the sweet couscous:

• 200 g of precooked couscous
• 2 tablespoons of caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil

Ingredients to season the couscous salad:

• about 20 medium ripe strawberries
• 4 tablespoons of caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons of Marsala (sweet Sicilian wine) to stew strawberries + Marsala to soak cranberries
• 50 g of dried cranberries
• 50 g of peeled almond, chopped
• 5 cocoa beans, chopped
• about 20 mint leaves

Directions

1. Cook the couscous according to the package directions. Instead of adding a teaspoon of salt to the water, sweeten the water with 2 tablespoons of caster sugar and stir in one tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil. Fluff the couscous with a fork and place it in a large bowl.
2. Rinse the strawberries and cut them into pieces. Put them in a pan with sugar and stew them over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. In the last 5 minutes add the Marsala and let it reduce.
3. Meanwhile, soak the dried cranberries with Marsala.
4. Chop the peeled almonds and the cocoa beans, then stir them gently to the couscous along with dried cranberries, the grated zest of one lemon and the chopped mint: use your hands or toss the bowl to evenly distribute the ingredients into the couscous. Taste the couscous and if it’s not sweet enough add 1 up to 2 tablespoons of sugar.
5. Spoon the seasoned couscous into individual serving bowls and serve with a heaping tablespoon of Marsala strawberries, sweet and deliciously glazed. You can serve it warm or cold, I prefer it fresh, so that the flavours are well blended with the couscous but stand up individually in every spoonful.

As always, if you do not have the cocoa beans you can use chopped dark chocolate, to be added only when the couscous is cold. Instead of strawberries, choose any summer fruit you fancy, especially cherries. You can also add plenty of nuts, raisins, dates, figs, or exchange the Marsala with Vin Santo or maraschino … In short, I have given you the background, you can play with you imagination, summer is here just for you!

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Sweet and fruity couscous salad

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This is the second issue of my cooperation with Mettiamocilatesta.it, in search of lunch boxes and snack, paying attention to ingredients’ quality and cooking process simplicity. This is our saying: EAT QUALITY FOOD, EAT WITH CREATIVITY, as previously stated in the other recipe, rice with vegetables. Mettiamocilatesta.it is having a great success so it’s time to give quality food to our guys, they deserve it!

If you don’t have time to sit down and have a proper meal and the only thing you can do is drive your teeth into a snack, don’t be pleased with a snack full of preservatives, artificial food dyes, sugar and fats. Our quest is to find something healthy, a snack of good quality and amazing taste: we’re going to make our own granola bars, a way better than the snacks you can buy in most of the shops.

Last week I found on Meeta’s blog, Whatsforluchhoney, a recipe for granola bars, love at first sight again, and after a stormy raid  in our local organic shop, I finally made my granola bars with cranberries and cherries, making a few changes on the original recipe.

Ingredients:

• oat flakes, 100 gr
• rice flakes, 50 gr
• wheat germ, 50 gr
• sunflower seeds, 100 gr
• sesame seed, 50 gr
• hazelnuts, 60 gr
• dried fruit, 120 gr (cherries+ cranberries + raisins)
• cane sugar, 100 gr
• honey*, 3 tablespoons
• butter, 100 gr
• vanilla salt, 1 teaspoon

(*) I used linden and blackberry bush honey.

Preheat oven to 160°C and toast cereals and seeds together with hazelnuts for about 10 minutes. In the meanwhile, melt butter with sugar and honey, stirring frequently: you’ll obtain a thick, with a shade of dark amber and a yummy smell hard to resist (but, believe me, resisit! If you dip a finger into this syrup you’ll burn yourself, Juls’ word!)

Remove cereals and seeds from the oven, chop roughly hazelnuts and add dried fruits and a teaspoon of vanilla salt to the syrup: stir well.

Line a baking tin with baking paper (I crumpled up a paper sheet and put it under runing water, then I wringed it out and lined the baking tin with it), tip the mixture into it and press down. Help yourself with a wet baking paper and press it till a 1 cm thickness.

Bake for about 30 minutes. Let it cool down completely before removing it from the baking tin since it will be still quite soft just removed from the oven. Slice and cut into bars.

Wrap each bar into baking paper and store into an airtight container. Grab a bar in the morning and face with energy your working day. The bar is crunchy thanks to cereals and honey, while dried fruit makes it  chewy and sweet: a perfect mix. I’ll try other versions for sure: with dark or with chocolate, dried apricots, poppy seeds, candied lemon…

They give their best the day after – ask to my father – so try to save a few of them!

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Granola Bars: lunch a porter

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I’m proud to present you the first episode of the cooperation between Juls’ Kitchen – that’s me! – and Mettiamocilatesta.it, a project that will offer you from now on until February some good ideas for your lunch box, something that can feed and satisfy you, paying attention to ingredients’ quality and cooking process simplicity. This is our saying:

EAT QUALITY FOOD, EAT WITH CREATIVITY

Mettiamocilatesta.it – that means more or less use your brain – is a project that stress the mistake in cutting communication budget in this period of general crisis. We decided to cooperate to offer you lunch box of quality, creativity and healthy food! Let’s hit the first recipe!

::::: RICE WITH VEGETABLES :::::

Ingredients:

• Carnaroli rice, 80 – 100 gr
• zucchini, 1 medium
• carrot, 1 medium
• Parmigiano cheese
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• mint or lemon peel

Put a large pot of salted water to boil and add diced zucchini and carrot. When water boils add – after 10 minutes – rice and cook according to packaging instructions. Drain rice and vegetalbe and season with extra virgin olive oil and mint – fresh or dried – or grated lemon peel.

If you have a microwave oven in the office, you can add parmesan cheese and warm your rice at lunch time, bringing your lunch in a colourful Tupperware! If don’t have a microwave, let the rice cool in your lunch box and add parmesan when the rice is cold, then mix again! Your lunch is ready!

All you need now is a colourful tablecloth to cover your desk. You’ll have a balanced lunch: proteins from extra virgin olive oil and Parmesan cheese, vitamins and fibres form vegetables. Beside that, carrots and zucchini will flavour the rice without adding anything else. This is the proof that you can eat quality food if you just use your brain: less time, more quality!

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Lunch box

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Here the second episode of my office lunch box. This time, have a look outside my windows, since you already know my computer.
This is one of the most classic omelette, a potato omelette, slightly varied to be more lighter but more satisfying.
As usual, it is made the day before and warmed up in the microwave, and you get a just made omelette! Eat it with a side salad of lattuce and carrots and you’ll have a complete but light meal.

Ingredients:

• medium potatoes, 2
• zucchini, 1
• leek, 1/2
• milk, 50 ml
• extravirgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons
• vinegard, 2 tablespoons
• salt & pepper

Peel and dice potatoes. Dice zucchini too.
Boil them in salted water with 2 tablespoons of vinegard until the vegetables are soft and tender.
Drain and sauté them in a non stick pan with some leek, thinly sliced.
Whisk 2 eggs with salt&pepper and some milk and pour the mixture into the pan to cover the vegetables.
Make the eggs set, then turn upside down the omlette (with the help of a dish if you’re clumsy as am I) and let it set for a minute more. Now it’s ready!

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Lunch box, episode 2

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This is my today’s lunch in the office. My mum makes my pocket lunch every evening but yesterday I was feeling like having some sesame chicken and so I made my lunch myself, using the nicest tupperwares I had (pink, obviously!).
We have a microwave in the office, so at 1 o’ clock, after a rapid jump into the magic oven, my lunch is steaming and delicious as just made!

::::: CHICKEN PIECES WITH SESAME :::::

Ingredients:

• chicken breast, 100 gr
• extravirgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon
• garlic, 1 clove
• salt, 1 pinch
• sesame seeds, 3 full tablespoons

The making of this dish is so simple! First of all, cut the chicken breast in small pieces.
Tip the sesame seeds in a shallow dish and add a pinch of salt.
Press the chicken pieces into the sesame seeds, so that they can stick to the chicken.
In the meanwhile, heat a tablespoon of extravirgin olive oil in a non-stick pan with a garlic clove. When the garlic is golden, remove it and cook the chicken pieces until they are golden on both sides.
Serve with a fresh green salad or with boiled vegetables (today I had boiled carrots and zucchini, dressed with some extravirgin olive oil).

This recipe is for Babs & Viz, Ricette da schiscètta.

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

My office lunch

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