81 dishes
Crunchy sandwich with vegetables. My ideal dinner, simple and quick to prepare. Knead flour with water and a pinch of salt by hand or in a mixer. Once it has rested, roll out into a large rectangular pancake the size of a baking sheet, one millimeter thick. Put in a preheated oven until the dough is no longer raw but is pliable. Turn over halfway through baking. Remove from the oven, place fresh tomatoes, some lettuce, onion on one half, pour your favorite sauce over it - I always have cooked tomatoes fried with onion and garlic in the fridge, and something spicy - I use Sriracha chili sauce - available at Lidl. Fold in half and put in the oven until the dough is well browned.
Duck breast with beetroot and mashed potatoes. If I could take one dinner to a desert island, this would be it. Place the duck breast on a cold frying pan, fat side down, at room temperature. Fry until the fat has melted and it is well browned, then turn over and fry the other side. Place in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 12 minutes. It will come out perfectly pink. If you want it brown, cook for 15 minutes, or if rare, for 9 minutes. Boil the potatoes with garlic and onion. Press through a press, add butter, milk and something green. Fry the beetroot in oil with a tablespoon of potato flour, a little lemon, salt and pepper.
Pasta with tomatoes. The best thing that Italians have given the world. Cut red and white onions into strips. Add garlic and fry in olive oil until soft. Add a few cans of whole tomatoes. Cook for 3 hours on low heat. At the end, add oregano and basil. Put on your favorite pasta.
Chinese chicken. It is difficult to achieve the stir-fry effect without a wok and on an electric stove, but with a little creativity there will be no shame. Fry separately, briefly, on maximum heat, constantly stirring the next ingredients: chicken, onion, pepper, and finally broccoli. Use the same fat. Constantly pour a small amount of soy sauce and sweet white wine, but so as not to boil and not allow the temperature to drop. Combine all the ingredients. Heat and add half a glass of water mixed with a spoon of cornflour. After a minute, when it thickens, remove from the heat.
Tagliatelle ai funghi. You can't help but love this dish, especially with homemade pasta. Knead the flour, egg yolks, and salt well. Let rest for an hour. Roll out and cut into thick strips. Cook for a minute, until it floats. In a pan, fry the onion and noble mushrooms in butter. Add pepper and salt. Add the pasta. Pour in the water from the cooked pasta.
Chicken schnitzel with vegetables. This was my mother's signature dish. She would fry it until crispy, and at the end she would add water, thanks to which the breading would gain a heavenly consistency and taste. Lightly beat the chicken breast at room temperature. Salt and pepper. Coat in flour, then in egg, and then in breadcrumbs. Fry briefly, so that the meat reaches the plate only. At the end of frying, add water.
Risotto. This is yet another proof that Italian cuisine is second to none. Sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil. Add the risotto rice. Pour in beef, chicken or vegetable stock and good white wine. The stock and wine should be hot. Add small amounts and wait for the rice to absorb them. Stir constantly. The dish must still have the consistency of a thick sauce, it cannot be too thin or too thick. When the rice is soft, remove from the heat and add grated parmesan.
Fried salmon. I like salmon best when it's undercooked. Place a salmon fillet with skin, at room temperature, skin side down in a heated pan with oil. After two or three minutes, add a piece of butter, a clove of garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Baste the salmon with melted butter for a few minutes. Remove when it's still raw in the middle.
Braised duck. Duck leg is an exceptionally versatile product. If braised, then in one of three ways: in wine, in cream, in tomatoes. Fry the duck legs in oil until well browned on all sides. Set the legs aside. Put the onion and garlic in the pan and fry until soft. Add the carrots. Pour in the white wine. Add the duck. It should be half covered. Stew covered for an hour and a half, flipping occasionally.
Homemade sushi. In my house, sushi is made by children, and my participation in the work is limited to preparing a tamago omelette. Beat five eggs well with soy sauce. Pour a thin layer of the mixture onto a hot pan greased with oil. When the egg has set, wrap a five-centimeter strip and move the entire omelette to the edge of the pan, so as to cover the free space created by the wrap. Cover the newly created space with a layer of egg, and when it has set, wrap another strip and repeat the steps until you have used up all the beaten egg.
Potato pancakes with mushrooms. They taste best in a roadside restaurant, somewhere in Poland, far from the city, prepared fresh, as evidenced by the sounds of grating coming from the kitchen. Grate large potatoes on a fine-toothed grater. Add flour, egg, salt and pepper. Fry in hot fat. Serve with thinly sliced mushrooms fried in butter or with sugar.
Sandwich with pulled meat. Fatty, unhealthy, but the taste is inimitable. Bake a large piece of fatty meat - for example pork neck or entrecote from a cow for three hours in a pot, covered, with whole onions, Californian plums, carrots, raisins. The meat must be generously seasoned with salt, pepper, rosemary, marjoram, juniper, bay leaf. After baking, crush the meat with a fork, and the remaining ingredients and mix to obtain a thick sauce. Spread butter on the ciabatta and fry in a pan. Put the meat, sauce, tartar sauce, ketchup or Sriracha sauce.
My curry. If I ever compete in Masterchef, this dish will definitely get me to the finals. Cut tofu into strips and marinate in soy sauce and honey. Coat in flour, then in crushed cornflakes and fry. In a saucepan, fry onion, garlic and ginger. Add spices: turmeric, garam masala, tikka masala, paprika, cane sugar, salt and pepper and fry. Add cauliflower and zucchini. Pour coconut milk. Cook until vegetables are soft, but not overcooked. Add tofu. Serve with rice.
A duck leg with a Suwi. I once got a present from a friend. This is a device, often used in restaurants to prepare dishes at precisely controlled temperatures. This thing has a heater, a rotor and a temperature gauge. The product to be cooked is placed in a plastic bag without air, and then placed in a pot of water, in which the Suwi controls the temperature. Put the duck leg in a plastic bag with a clove of garlic, a bay leaf and rosemary. Cook in the Suwi for 12 hours at 72 degrees. Then fry in a pan in oil with butter. Reduce the sauce resulting from cooking in a pan. Serve with mashed potatoes and beetroot.
British pie. The English can't cook. However, they have one dish that I would kill for. Fry diced bacon. Add onion and fry. Add diced carrots, celery and leek. Add a small amount of vegetable stock. Cook until vegetables are soft. Add chopped roasted chicken and frozen or fresh peas. Season with spices and salt. Cook for a few minutes. Make shortcrust pastry. Line a baking sheet with it, including the edges, and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Transfer the mixture to the baking sheet. Cover with pastry. Bake until the pastry is well browned. Serve with your favourite sauce and mashed potatoes.
Grilled chicken with naan bread. For the taste of this dish and the smell that spreads throughout the house, I even light the grill in winter. Divide the chicken into pieces. Make a marinade of kefir, oil, garlic, turmeric, tika masala, garam masala, paprika, salt and pepper. Massage well into the chicken and leave overnight. Knead the flour with yogurt and salt. Let it rest. Shape into patties and place on the grill or bake in the oven. Melt the butter with parsley and garlic. Spread this over the patties. Grill the chicken briefly. Serve with baked eggplant measured with garlic, salt and pepper.
Cauliflower cutlets. These are my discovery of recent months. Juicy, crispy and tasty. Grind the whole cauliflower with a blender or chop it very finely. Add finely chopped onions fried in oil, parsley, two eggs, some breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Mix well. Form flat cutlets. Coat in breadcrumbs and fry until crispy.
Ravioli. Once, while skiing in the Dolomites, for a few euros, in a small kitchen equipment shop I bought a ravioli maker. That day changed my life. Knead flour with egg yolks and salt. Let rest. Roll out a thin strip, on which mark two rows of squares. In the bottom row, place the filling in each square. I add ricotta with spinach or baked pumpkin. Cover with a second row of squares. Squeeze the ravioli with the maker. Cook until they float.
Salmon tartare. Two kilometres from my house there is a drying room where they serve amazing salmon tartare, which I tried to imitate at home. Finely chop fresh salmon. Add finely chopped leek or onion – different flavours, I think I prefer with leek. Add honey, soy sauce, olive oil, Sriracha sauce, pepper. Mix well. Serve on lettuce.
Pizza without cheese. This dish was inspired by Sylvia Coppola – an Italian who makes cooking shows. She once showed a pizza on a thick crust from Naples. I definitely prefer thin crust under pizza, but thick, crispy edges also have their charm. Take three parts zero flour and one part whole wheat flour. Add water and yeast, a little sugar and salt. Knead for a long time. Leave in a warm place for a whole day, until it ferments. Then overnight in the fridge. Fry in a wide pan until the bottom is crispy. Put tomatoes crushed by hand, olives and onion. You can also add mozzarella and anchovies if you can't imagine pizza without cheese. Put in an oven preheated to 240 degrees, until it is very well baked.
Kopytka with pesto. Simple tastes best. Press cooked potatoes through a ricer. Add flour, eggs and salt. Mix. Form long rolls, then cut into pieces. Cook until they float to the surface. Serve with a sauce of basil, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.