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!!

I’m not a very carnivorous person, but when it comes to spareribs I know when I start to eat but I do not know when I will stop

This time I tried a recipe (with some small modifications) from Curiously Ravenous, who in turn, replicated a recipe from her Chinese grandfather.

I would encourage you to try it, it is literally and figuratively to lick your fingers!!

Ingredients:

- pork spare ribs (I used 2 regular racks, the ones you find in any supermarket)

- 1 inch/ 2.5 cm ginger, grated

- 1 cup / 235 ml water

- some freshly ground black pepper

- 2 whole star anise

- 1/2 Maggi cube (chicken stock cube)

- 2 tbsp black Chinese vinegar

- 3 tbsp soy sauce

- 1/4 cup Shaoxing cooking wine

- 1/4 cup sugar

- 3 garlic cloves, minced

Cooking instructions:

Cut the meat strips in individual ribs. Put them in a large pot, fill with water, boil for 1 hour.

Drain the ribs and dry them with some kitchen towels. The original recipe recommended to then fry the ribs in a wok with a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil, but I found that this step can be skipped without any major sacrifice of the taste, while it is a little healthier.

Alternatively, if you are short of time or starving to death, you could omit the boiling and just fry the ribs, but they won’t be as tender…

Now mix the rest of the ingredients to make the sauce (feel free to double the quantities if you are making lots of ribs or if you like them with lots of sauce), pour it in a wok together with the ribs and mix. Leave for a couple of minutes until the ribs are well coated in hot sauce.

Serve with plenty of kitchen towels

Enjoy!!

At some point, you’ll notice that chicken is my favourite type of meat. How couldn’t? It is healthy, pleases everybody, tender, versatile…mmmmmmm

Here is another adaptation of a recipe of The Blog Chef . Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Ingredients:

- 2 chicken breasts, diced

- 125g flour

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 2 eggs

- salt

- pepper

- oil (for frying)

- 250ml chicken broth (which I faked with half Maggi cube + water)

- 2 tbsp oyster sauce

- 1 tbsp sugar

- 2 tbsp soy sauce

- 2 tsp cornstarch

- 1 large yellow pepper, in slices

- 100 g cashew nuts, roasted in a non-stick pan and crushed in the mortar

Cooking instructions:

In a bowl, mix flour and baking soda. In another bowl, beat the eggs with some salt and pepper.

Dip the chicken pieces first in the egg, then in the flour. Fry in batches. Drain on paper towels.

Heat a tiny bit of oil in a wok and stir-fry the pepper for a couple of minutes. Remove from the wok and set aside.

Mix the ingredients for the sauce: cornstarch, soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, chicken broth. Pour in the wok, heat up and stir until it thickens.

Serve the chicken with the sauce, the pepper and the cashew nuts on top. Enjoy with some white rice!

Doesn’t this look pretty? This deep green and deep red together, mixed with the cute seeds, makes this salad irresistible!

Ingredients:

- red pepper (I used a big one, to serve two)

- green beans (about 100 g, to serve two)

- 1 tbsp sesame seeds

- 1 tbsp soy sauce

- 1 tbsp mirin (a Japanese sauce which is relatively easy to find)

- 1 tsp brown sugar

- 1 garlic clove, grated

- 1 tsp ginger, grated

- 1/2 tsp sesame oil

- 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Cooking instructions:

Bring water to boil, add the green beans, cook for 3-5 minutes (depending on how crunchy you like them). The remove from the heat and cool with ice cold water. Drain, cut in smaller pieces, mix with the pepper also cut in julienne.

Roast the sesame seeds in a non-stick pan (no oil needed). Pour over the salad.

Mix the ingredients for the sauce: the soy sauce, mirin, sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, vegetable oil.  Pour over the salad and serve.

Enjoy!!