Paguette

I found this recipe from a Finnish bread blog called Viva Ciabatta! The original recipe is from Richard Bertinet´s book "Dough".

500 g flour

3,5 dl water (hand temperature)

10 g yeast

10 g salt

- Mix all the ingredients well, nead the dough, and let rise for about an hour.

- Make the baguettes and let rise under a kitchen towel for another hour.

- Sieve some flour on top and bake at 220-250 degrees for about 20 minutes or until they have a bit colour.

If you want the baguettes to rise only upwards, you can let them rise with help of a towel. If you do this, move them to the baking tray very carefully in order to avoid knocking the air out.

Spinach, Tomato and Pesto Pasta

This is a simple and quick pasta that serves two.

olive oil

4 cloves garlic (crushed)

half a courgette (sliced)

2 tomatoes

a couple of handfuls of spinach (frozen or fresh)

salt

pepper

(lemon juice)

ready pesto sauce

parmesan/feta to garnish

pasta

- Boil the water in a large pot and start cooking the pasta.

- Fry the garlic for one minute, add the courgette and fry with the lid on, stirring occasionally, until cooked but firm to the bite.

- Add the tomatoes and spinach and simmer until just cooked, then season to taste.

- Sieve the pasta and mix in a couple of spoonfuls of pesto sauce. Serve into bowls and spoon over the sauce.

- Garnish with parmesan or feta.

Jamie's Chickpea Salad

I highly recommend another Jamie Oliver salad; easy to make, healthy, affordable and obviously very tasty! This salad makes a good starter, side or main course depending on your needs.

Carrot Cake

Even my boyfriend, who usually is not a huge fan of sweet desserts, likes this moist cake. This recipe is big enough for an oven sized baking tray.

4 eggs
3 dl sugar
4 dl flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1-2 tsp vanilla sugar 1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 dl vegetable oil
6 dl grated carrot (maybe 3-5 carrots depending on their size)

topping:

200 g cream cheese
100 g butter
300 g icing sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla sugar

crushed almonds for decoration

- Mix the dry ingredients (flour, soda, vanilla sugar and cinnamon) in a bowl, peel and grate the carrot and mix it with the oil.
- Beat the eggs and sugar until foamy and add the dry ingredients, oil and carrot to the mixture.
- Spread on a big baking tray lined with baking paper.
- Bake at 225 degrees for about 15 minutes and let cool.
- Mix room temperature butter and soft cheese together and then sieve in the vanilla sugar and icing sugar and mix with a spoon.
- Spread on top of the sponge and sprinkle with crushed almonds.