Cooking Saturday - ep.1

Here I am, as I promised yesterday, showing you what I cooked!

First of all, it was delicious! The main dish was all miam! miam! and the dessert was (and I quote) 'the best cupcake I ever made'!...and I do make some good cupcakes, believe me. Actually, they usually are the only thinks I know hoe to cook. In the future I'll show you more recipes on this subject.

So, here we go! This is what we eat yesterday evening:

Beef meatballs cooked Moroccan style, with couscous:

Ingredients:
500g minced beef
4 cloves of garlic
2 table spoons of grated ginger
1 table spoon of grounded cumin
1 table spoon of grounded cinnamon
1 table spoon of minced dry chilly peppers
8 dates
500 ml tomato juice
200 ml beef stock (you can use a cube)
200 g sliced almonds
250 g couscous
1 table spoon of butter
salt, pepper, parsley

How to make them:
1. First of all, put the minced beef meat in a bowl. And half the quantities of garlic, ginger and cumin, plus salt and pepper. Now mic it all with your hands! I love using my hand when cooking, so don't get squeamish! just do it! After that, again using your hands, form small meatballs! Let them rest for 5-10 minutes.
2. In a frying pan ad a small amount of olive oil. When sizzling hot, start frying the meatballs until brown. Remember to fry them in bashes, because the meat will eliminate water and if you put too many, you'll end up simply boiling them. You wouldn't want that. So, after frying them, leave them to a side.
3. Now, in the same frying pan (without cleaning it), add the rest of the condiments and fry them a little. After aprox. 2 minutes, add the tomato juice and the beef stock. When it starts boiling, and the meatballs with the juices from the dish you had them resting in and the dates sliced.
Let it boil on small heat, to reduce. It has to reduce it's quantity to half, until the sauce gets to be all creamy and delicious! Don't forget to taste it all the time and add salt and pepper. As far as they go, I think it all depends on what you like.
4. In a separate pan, add the almonds and fry them until golden. Add them to the meatballs and sauce, when they are ready.
5. For the couscous, put the butter in a pan. Add the couscous and fry them a little in the butter. Then add hot water and let them boil away. When it's done, you can add some grated cheese to make it creamy.

Hot and comforting, perfect for a cold day!


Forget-Adout-Your-Diet Chocolate Cupcakes

This is a 3-step cupcakes. So, prepere. It takes a little longer, but believe me, the end result is divine!!!

Ingredients:
a. For the cupcakes:
175g flour
115g sugar
150g brown sugar
110g unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 tea spoon vanilla extract
55g single cream
150ml milk
2 table spoons of coco powder
1 pack of instant hot chocolate
1 tea spoon of baking powder
1/2 tea spoon of bicarbonate of soda

How to make them:
1. Before you do anything, preheat the oven! At about 180C will be perfect! Now, place the soft butter and sugar in a bowl and mix them hard! This will be a perfect work-out for your arms! After you mix them until light and creamy, add the eggs. One by one, beating them well. Then add the vanilla extract.
2. Now, simply stir in the rest of the ingredients. Remember to keep the mixture smooth and even.
3. Spoon the mixture into the cupcake tray (1/2 full) and place them in the center of the oven for 20min. Aprox. Remember to check then with a toothpick (if the mixture doesn't stick to the toothpick, they are ready). When ready, thake them out of the oven and let them cool.

b. The Filling:
110g of your favorite chocolate (I used Milka Noisette)
55g grown sugar
225ml whipping cream
1 tea spoon of vanilla extract
1 pack of instant hot chocolate

How to make it:
1. Break the chocolate and place it into a bowl, on a saucepan filled with boiling hot water. Let it gently melt! When ready, remove and let it chill a little. Not too much!!!
2. In another bowl, place the sugar and cream and mix them well using a hand-mixer. After the cream thickens, add the remaining ingredients and mix on high. Once mixed stir in the melted chocolate and chill in the refrigerator.
3. Using a knife, remove a circle from the top-center of each cupcake and spoon the filling in. Then, put the top back.

c. The Topping:
3 bars of Mars chocolate
50ml single cream

How to make:
1. Cut the Mars bars into small pieces and place them in a bowl. Put the bowl on a saucepan filled with boiling water. Add the single cream and let it slowly melt. Mix them from time to time.
2. When ready, spoon the delicious hot mixture on each cupcake and let them cool for an hour or so.

The end: eat as many as you can, y=so you'll have a reason to cry on Monday because your clothes won't it you properly any more!
Enjoy!

*Recipes inspired from: Goodfood.ro and the 'Cupcakes-bite size treats' book.