These recipes from David Lebovitz can be served as an appetizer or as a light dinner, with some French or Italian bread, in a salad, or even with pasta.

This is Mediterranean gastronomy at its best!

Ingredients for the confit of tomatoes (preserved tomatoes):

- 1 kg / 2 pound tomatoes

- abundant olive oil

- black pepper

- salt

- 3 or 4 garlic cloves, peeled

- a few bay leaves

- the herbs you prefer: I added some dried rosemary and oregano

Cooking instructions for the confit of tomatoes:

Wash and cut the tomatoes in two.

Put them in a baking tin, season with salt, pepper and herbs. Tuck in the garlic and the bay leaves as well.

Pour about 1 cm/ half an inch of olive oil on the tomatoes. Don’t worry about the quantity, if you cannot finish it afterwards it can be recuperated and used to season a salad, pasta, or it can be even drizzled on a slice of (toasted) bread.

Put in the oven at 180°C / 350°F until the tomatoes are soft. Serve at room temperature.

Ingredients for the tuna spread:

- 280 g / 10 ounces of tuna canned in olive oil, drained

- 70g / 5 tbsp butter (I used unsalted), at room temperature

- 1 tbsp light soy sauce

- 1 tbsp lemon juice

- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

- a pinch of chili powder (I used Spanish hot paprika powder)

- 2 tbsp heavy cream (which I did not have, unfortunately as it would have contributed to the “spreadability”)

Instructions for the tuna spread:

Mix the soy sauce, the balsamic vinegar, the chili powder, the heavy cream and the lemon juice together.

In a food processor, mix the tuna flakes with the liquid mixture.

Add butter little by little, until incorporated.

And there you have it! Your fabulous tuna spread is ready, enjoy!!

What can I say, I have a weakness for Asian cuisine…This, combined with my Spanish penchant for tapas explains why I absolutely adore dumplings, sushi, and all bit-size delicacies from the Far East.

This recipe derives from David Lebovitz’s…In his Parisian blog he explains about food and French cultural habits (which more often than not clash with the American’s), quite hilarious at times…

Ingredients for the dumplings:

- 1 pound (500g) minced pork meat

- 1 pound (500g) raw, peeled, clean shrimp

- a handful of chopped cilantro

- 2 tbsp fish sauce

- 3 tbsp cornstarch

- 1 egg

- 1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil

- 2 tbsp grated ginger

- won ton wrappers

Ingredients for the dipping sauce:

- 1 tbsp grated ginger

- 1 tbsp grated garlic

- 2 tbsp fish sauce

- 1 tbsp rice vinegar

- 1 tbsp brown sugar

- 1 tbsp sesame oil

Cooking instructions:

Mix all ingredients except the wrappers. Put a teaspoon of mixture in each wrapper, gather the ends up, press firmly together and turn them to ‘close’ the dumpling.

The recipe said to use a bamboo steamer to cook the dumplings, but mine is really tiny and I was too impatient, so I stir-fried the dumplings instead of steaming them.

Serve with some greens, white rice, the dipping sauce and sweet chili sauce.

Enjoy!!

So far, my all-time favourite Thai dish. Sweet, sour, spicy and salty at the same time. Shrimps, noodles, egg, vegetables and sauce in perfect harmony. Impossible not to love it!!

I base myself on a recipe from Chez Pim. Yum, yum, yum.

Ingredients:

- 1 pound peeled, clean shrimp (500g)

- 13 ounces rice stick (375g)

- 3.5 ounces beansprouts (100g)

- 2 handful peanuts, grilled and roughly ground on a mortar

- 2 eggs

- 3 garlic cloves, chopped

- 2 tsp dried shrimp paste (how can an ingredient stink so much and still give such an amazing flavour?)

- 1/2 cup lime juice (I’m not so fond of tamarind) (125ml)

- 1/2 cup sugar (125g)

- 1/2 cup fish sauce (125ml)

- (dried) chili to taste, chopped

- vegetable oil

- coriander, chopped

Cooking instructions:

Fill in a cooking pan with water, when it boils add the noodles and a bit of salt. Let cook during 3-4 minutes, drain. It should not be too soft or else it will turn all mushy when mixed with the other ingredients in the wok.

While the noodle are cooking, prepare the sauce by mixing the fish sauce, the lime juice, the chili and the sugar.

Heat a large wok over high heat, when it becomes smokey add a splash of vegetable oil.

Add the garlic and the shrimp paste, let the oil infuse with these flavours for one or two minutes.

Now add the noodles and toss. Then push the noddles to one side of the wok and crack the eggs open on the open space. Let the egg set for 15 seconds and then toss everything all together.

Add the shrimp, the peanuts, the beansprouts and the sauce. Toss everything together again, leave for 5 minutes, remove from the heat. Sprinkle with a bit of coriander, and ta daaaaaaa! There you have it, a dish of pure glory.

Enjoy!!

Introducing…the easiest, most delicious recipe for fish!!

Once upon a time I was the kind of girl who would only buy frozen fish fillets, perfectly clean, skinned, no bones…

Until I discovered this recipe -quite popular in Spain by the way-, and from then on I was able to enjoy a fresh, tender, moist, fish meat, that only took 5 minutes to prepare and a minimum of mess and zero stress…heaven!!

Ingredients:

- one gilthead bream per person (or any other white fish you like), whole, rinsed in water

- 2 pounds of coarse salt (1kg) per fish, slightly moist, to help form a crust (I didn’t have coarse salt handy, so I used plain salt, it also works however you will have to be more careful when you remove it)

That is it.  Really.

Cooking instructions:

Preheat the oven. Spread salt on a baking sheet, in a layer of approximately 1cm thick.

Put the fish next to each other on top of the salt. ‘Bury’ the fish completely with the remaining salt.

Put the fish in the oven for about 20-30 minutes. Then break the crust of salt, dig up the fish and remove the fillets carefully. Serve.

Isn’t it beautiful? A fabulous recipe for fish in only 3 lines!

Enjoy!!

This is my second favourite salad all time…An incredibly surprising combination of flavours, and some lettuce and tomato to justify it.

There are 1001 variations of the Caesar salad, but I adore this one, a variation of Barefoot Contessa’s…What about you? Do you have a favourite salad? Do you know any tasty variations of the Caesar salad? I’d love to hear about it…

Ingredients:

- Romaine lettuce, washed and sliced

- tomatoes, peeled and sliced in chunks

- some olive oil, salt and ground black pepper

- bacon, in small cubes

- 1 yolk

- 2 tsp Dijon mustard

- 15 canned anchovy fillets

- 2 garlic cloves, chopped

- 125ml lemon juice

- 2 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

- 180 ml olive oil

- 125g grated Parmesan

- optional: some extra Parmesan to serve

Cooking instructions:

Preheat the oven at 400°C. Put the tomatoes in a baking tin, toss with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes, until soft.

Cook the bacon in a skillet on medium-low heat, for 15 minutes.

Mix in a food processor the yolk, the mustard, the garlic, the anchovy fillets, the lemon juice, the salt and the pepper.  While still blending, pour down the feed tube the olive oil, slowly, and finally add the Parmesan and pulse 3 times. There you have it, your own delicious dressing!

On each plate, put some lettuce, some tomatoes, bacon, add the dressing and if desired, toss some extra Parmesan.

Enjoy!!

Let’s say you are at home, starving. Let’s say that you only have 10 minutes to prepare yourself a (preferably yummy) meal. Well, do not despair, this recipe will save you!!

Inspired by a recipe from Nigella, I gave it my twist and you may too! I would recommend searching your refrigerator for any fresh veggies you may have,  and throw them in the wrap. Feel free to explore different combinations of veggies too.

Ingredients:

- some mayonnaise

- a tiny bit of wasabi paste

- a couple of drops of sesame oil

- 2 soft flour tortilla wraps per person

- veggies cut into matchsticks: lettuce, cucumber, carrot, avocado…

- canned crab (crab sticks will do too)

- canned tuna

Cooking instructions:

If you keep the tortillas in the refrigerator, soften them a bit by heating them in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

Mix the mayonnaise, the wasabi paste and the sesame oil. Paint each tortilla on one side with this mixture.

Arrange a vertical row of veggies on each tortilla. Add on top the different layers of veggies. Top with crab or tuna.

Roll up the wraps beginning from the bottom. Fix with toothpicks if needed. Serve.

Enjoy!!

This, my darlings, could also be named “omega-3 delicacy à la anti-oxidant vitamined nectar”, but I thought that title could put some of you off…unnecessarily, as you will see.

But first things first, let’s give the credit where it belongs: The Blog Chef. This guy posts some seriously yummy stuff. I’ll be referring to him more than once in this blog, because I loved practically everything I tried from him. I have adapted his recipe while managing to keep it equally delicious, but you can check out his blog if you are interested in the original thing.

And now back to the alternative title I proposed at the beginning of this post: as you know, salmon is extremely rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which in turn have all sorts of health benefits. And the sauce that goes with this contains honey, brown sugar, lemon juice and garlic.

Meaning, that besides being a grandiose recipe, it manages to be healthy! People, seriously, you must give this a try.

So here we go…

Ingredients (serves 2):

- 1 tbsp honey

- 1 tbsp brown sugar

- 1 tbsp distilled vinegar

- 2 tbsp thin soy sauce

- 1/2 tsp paprika

- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, crushed

- 1/2 tsp black pepper, crushed

- 1 garlic clove, finely grated

- 2 salmon fillets

- salt

- vegetable oil

Cooking instructions:

Rub the salmon with a bit of vegetable oil and salt (careful with the salt because the sauce contains soy sauce). Grill on both sides until fully cooked.

Mix all the other ingredients in a sauce pan over medium heat. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the salmon, cover with the sauce. Serve.

Really, this is it.

I loved it with potato puree, which mingled smoothly with the gravy (mmmmmmm) and some greens.

A surprising combination isn’t it?

I was skeptic at first, but I’ve made it 3 or 4 times already, which is a record for me.

Ingredients:

- white fish fillets

- grated Parmesan cheese (I used Grana Padano as well, with good results)

- bread crumbs

- cayenne pepper (or any other pepper you like, I like the heat!)

- 2 eggs

- white flour

- salt

Cooking instructions:

Amazingly simple.

On a pie plate combine bread crumbs and the grated cheese. The original recipe said 1/3 cheese for 1 portion bread crumbs, but I personally like to increase the proportion of cheese to 50-50 or more even. Mix well.

On a separate plate pour the flour.

Beat eggs, a pinch of salt and pepper in a third dish.

Take a fillet, coat with flour, then dip in the egg mixture and then coat with the bread crumb mixture. Repeat for each fillet.

Deep fry two fillet a a time. Drain on paper towels.

And voilà, your fish is ready, tender and moist inside, and with a slightly crunchy crust outside.

Fabulous with tomatoes sprinkled with olive oil and salt. Any other salad will do as well…

Enjoy!