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!!

Here goes my gratitute to the Greeks, for the invention of the feta cheese.  It goes well with so many vegetables, and the humble spinach is not an exception.

Today’s recipe is based on David Lebovitz’s and it is lovely!

Ingredients:

- the recipe called for filo dough, which I didn’t find, so I ended up using 2 packs of brick dough

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 1 small onion, chopped

- 400g/14 ounces frozen spinach, thawed

- ground black pepper

- 400g/14 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

- pinch of nutmeg

- 1 egg

- optional: some fresh chopped mint

- melted butter

Cooking instructions:

Heat the oil in a skillet, at medium heat,  add the onions and stir until they become translucent.

Add the spinach, and some pepper, stir. Cook until the liquid in the skillet has dried up.

In a bowl, mix the spinach, the feta cheese, the nutmeg, and the egg together.

Lay one filo sheet (mine were round) on the counter, double in half, brush the surface with melted butter. Then, set 1tsp of feta-spinach filling on one corner of the dough. Take the sharp corner and fold diagonally over the filling to encase it in a triangle. Continue folding the dough together with the filling towards the opposite corner. Repeat with the rest of the filling.

Preheat the oven to 180°C-350°F. Put the triangles on a baking sheet, bake for 10 minutes, until the bottom is golden, then turn and bake for another 10 minutes.

There you have it! Crispy, golden triangles with a deliciously salty filling, best served warm.

Enjoy!!

As it turns out, hubby’s favorite dessert ever is lemon pie. Being the devoted wife I am (sometimes), I’m searching for the ultimate lemon pie recipe.

A couple of weeks ago I tried Fanny’s recipe, it tasted really nice, however the texture of the lemon curd turned quite runny and neither hubby or I were really fond of the meringue. That is why that version never made it to the blog

Today I made my second attempt. I used Fanny’s pâte sucrée, as I had frozen what was left over, and the lemon curd recipe from StoneSoup, which is extremely easy and extremely fast to prepare.  Finally, I decided to omit the meringue.

The result was absolutely delicious! And the curd has a really nice, firm texture.

Ingredients for the pâte sucrée:

- 300g – 10.5 ounces butter

- 190g – 1.5 cup icing sugar

- 60g – 1/2 cup ground almonds

- seeds from 1 vanilla bean

- 2 eggs

- 500g – 4 cups flour

- 1tsp fleur de sel

Ingredients for the lemon curd:

- 1 400g – 9.4 fl oz. can of sweet condensed milk (Nestlé’s)

- 1/2 cup – 125ml lemon juice

- 3 egg yolks

Cooking instructions:

Cream the butter until soft. Then mix in the icing sugar, ground almonds and vanilla seeds. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the flour and salt, to obtain a crumbly texture.

Form 3 balls with the dough, each weighting approx. 365g (13 oz.), press them down, wrap with cling film and either freeze or refrigerate them overnight (or do what I did: use one ball and freeze the other two).  Line the baking tin with the dough, prick the bottom with a fork to avoid irregular swelling while in the oven.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 175°C – 345°F.

Mix all the ingredients for the lemon curd together.

Top the tart crust with the lemon curd, bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy!

Brownies…these little sinful squares, warm from the oven, with tiny bits of creamy chocolate oozing from inside are absolutely GREAT. The credit goes to the Gastronomers Guide.

Come on, let’s sin together…

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup  flour (85g)

- 1 tbsp cocoa powder

- 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (150g)

- 1 stick butter, plus some to grease the pan (115 g)

- 1 tsp instant coffee (I used regular ground coffee and it was fine – coffee intensifies the aroma of the chocolate)

- 2/3 cup granulated sugar (150g)

- 1/4 cup brown sugar (55g)

- pinch of salt

- 3 large eggs

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate (90g), chopped, or chocolate chips (I think the chips will work out better)

Cooking instructions:

Preheat the oven. Butter a pan.

Sift the flour and the cocoa powder.

Melt the butter “au bain Marie”, then add the chocolate and the coffee powder. Once the chocolate has melted, remove from heat, add the vanilla extract and let cool.

Mix in a bowl (or in the kitchen aid) the eggs, the sugars and the salt until frothy. Add the butter-chocolate mixture, the flour-cocoa mixture and the chocolate chips.

Spread batter in the buttered baking pan.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs (if toothpick comes out clean the batter is overcooked).  The recipe said to let cool completely before cutting the brownies, but I didn’t (too impatient) and they were gorgeous, with the chocolate chips melted until soft and creamy…

Enjoy!!