My birthday seasoned with European flavors

Yesterday it was my birthday and I spent with a small group of  friends and obviously with my two men of life, 3 if you count the little one to be born :)

Food-wise, yesterday everything came down to the European flavors.  In the morning, we explored this biological market which I had been to only once and very briefly. There´s a strong Amsterdam or Barcelona feel to it created by a combination of old bricks, dark colors and long wooden tables everywhere. This is a type of ambiance I love, not to mention the delicious and diverse food and products I was able to find there: a great Dutch coffee shop (I even allowed myself 3 sips of their delicious hot chocolate), French crepes & bakery, Spanish paella & tapas, biological noodles or fruits. Everything looked so appetizing and I need to go back there again for a meal, as my birthday lunch took place at another restaurant.

Here are some photos of the market.

For lunch, we went to a Greek restaurant called Blu Kouzina that I´d been wanting to try for quite some time.

There are many resemblances between the Greek and the Portuguese cuisine and I wanted to taste an octopus dish they prepare that is very similar to a Portuguese one called "polvo à lagareiro". Apparently I wasn´t the only one craving it, because that´s all everybody had: the grilled octopus served with roasted potatoes and a very flavorful green salad. This type of food is extremely hard to find in Singapore, so it made my day!

The only downside of the octopus was that it was a bit too hard, so I have to say I still prefer the Portuguese way. We cook the octopus first in a pressure cooker precisely to make it softer and only then we grill it. Besides that, we serve the octopus with tons of fried garlic in an equally large quantity of olive oil. It´s super delicious!

I´m definitely going back to Blu Kouzina to taste some other tempting dishes, like the meat and the sardines - did you know sardines are very prominent in the Portuguese cuisine in summertime?

No cake for me but I got to end my day with this amazing view from the Singapore Flyer... I´m a very lucky girl!

Apple Crumble (without sugar!)

About 2 weeks ago I promised to post the apple crumble recipe and here is, but with no sugar! I had to change my diet quite drastically, as I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes last week. It will go away after the pregnancy, but until then only the food without sugar will work for me. The good thing about this limitation is that I get to try new ways of preparing desserts, being the apple crumble one of them. I actually think this dessert is one of the healthiest one can have, and now it´s even more!

The recipe is super simple and it goes very well with yogurt instead of ice cream or on its own. I take just a bit longer to prepare the apple crumble because I like to cook the apple first and make a puree of it instead of just shredding and cook it directly once in the oven.  

Ingredients:

For the apple puree

- 8 to 10 red small apples (if you prefer more, not a problem)
- 1 cinnamon stick 
- few drops of lemon juice

For the crumble

- 100 gr of flour
- 50gr of soft butter
- about 60 gr of macadamia nuts to replace the sugar (if you can´t resist it, then it´s 50 gr of sugar)

First peel and cut the apples. As you do it put them in water with a few drops of lemon so that they don´t turn black. Drain the water, put the apples in a pan with the cinnamon stick and let them cook at a low heat for about 20 to 25 minutes until they get soft.

While the apple is cooking, prepare the crumble by mixing all the ingredients in a blender. Put the crumble aside and once the apples are cooked blend them too.

Pre-heat the oven at 180º. Pour the apple puree into a tray and the crumble on top, without pressing it! Pop the tray into the oven and let it stay there for about 15 to 20 minutes until the crumble gets golden.

Hope you like the alternative option to the sugar! I loved it and with yogurt even more!

Homemade pizza

Every now and then hubby and I like to prepare a homemade pizza, especially when we have visits. (there no such thing as a small pizza for 2!)
Lucky us that we have Thermomix, because now preparing the dough only takes about 1 min :)
The great thing about preparing your own pizza is that you can choose everything: the ingredients, how thin or fluffy you want the dough to be, how cheesy, how green... 

Ingredients (these are the quantities for 1 large pizza)


For the dough:

- 200 gr of water - tepid water (37º)
- 50 gr of olive oil
- 1 tea spoon of salt
- 400 gr of flour
- 5 gr of yeast

For the sauce (I normally prepare tomato sauce)

- 1 large onion
- 2 - 3 cloves of garlic
- olive oil
- basil or coriander
- 4 to 5 tinned peeled tomatoes
- 1 pinch of sugar

To the water add the olive oil and salt. Give a gentle stir. Then add the flour and the yeast and knead the dough for 3-4 minutes. Put it aside until it doubles the size.

In the meantime you can prepare the sauce. Satay the chopped onion and garlic in the olive oil until they get soft. Chop the tomatoes and put it in the pan, along with some of the water that comes inside the can, the herb you like the most and the sugar. Cook for about 8 minutes at medium heat.

When the dough is ready, spread some flour on the counter, grab your rolling pin and start rolling out the dough from the centre out. Then all you have to do is to place the dough on a tray and top it with your favourite ingredients, starting with the tomato sauce. I personally like the classic way: chouriço, bacon, mushrooms and mozzarela, tons of it :)

Doesn´t it look good?

Sugary weekend

This weekend was a very rainy weekend in Singapore, it seemed the raining season had come earlier. But make no mistake, temperatures are always around 30 degrees despite the rain.

With the time spent at home, we dedicated part of it to preparing some desserts and sweets, among them a delicious strawberry ice cream!

The recipe couldn´t be simpler:
- 500 gr of frozen strawberries (previously washed and without the leaves)
- half of a can of condensed milk

Blend these 2 ingredients very well and voilá, you got yourself a creamy and super delicious homemade ice cream. You can eat right away if you want or put it in the freezer.

Besides the ice cream, I´ve prepared a condensed milk pudding to bring to some friend´s house, who invited us over for dinner on Friday night, and Apple Crumble, which is one of my favourite desserts and snacks. Love its textures and sweetness, yet it can be such a healthy dessert. Pity I didn´t take pictures of this one, but will make it again soon and share the recipe along with the photo.

A great week to everyone!