Shakshuka & feta

Last summer I had to be in the UK where we had Shakshuka & feta.

The dish is pretty basic but awesome. It is warm tomato sauce (passata),  to which are added poached eggs with some feta crumbled over it and some toasted bread.

For presentation the plate was sprinkled with some flat leaf parsley which made the plate a combo of red, white, yellow and green.

It was rainy but that breakfast at the Serpentine Bar in Hyde Park was the breakfast fix we needed.

Ipanema Cocktail

Last time I was in Germany we went for a drink. I wasn't feeling like having alcohol so I went for a non-alcoholic cocktail called Ipanema.

It was a mix of ginger ale, passion fruit juice, sugar cane. I didn't have the recipe but with a bit of rince-and-repeat you will find the measurements you like.

1. Crush the ice
2. Add the passion fruit juice
3. Add the ginger ale
4. Balance out the acidity with some sugar cane syrup.

I've added white rum to the mix when I was experimenting at home and it works pretty well.

Pickling peppers

This year I started growing peppers at home and it was a success. I grew seedlings from seed and gave them a lot of time. I started last year and grew them basically for a year.

When the time came to pluck the fruits of my effort I had to decide what to do with them and I decided to pickle them since I like them pickled.

This is what I used:

• 2 cloves of garlic
• a teaspoon of peppercorns
• a mixture of 50-50 vinegar-water
• a mixture of 2:1 salt:sugar

Basically it is an easy thing to do. You cut up your peppers, you make the mixture and boil it. Then you put your peppers in a jar and poor the mixture over it.

Make sure you sterilize the jar and the lid. When you fill it up do not give any space for airpockets so before filling it completely you can tap the jar on the counter and the bubbles rise to the surface. Finally fill completely and screw the lid onto the jar.

Turn the jar upside down and store in the dark. According to the research I did you have to wait at least 2 days before you can eat the peppers so I did and I must say they tasted amazing.

I did it with green and red peppers and it worked file twice. New plants are growing for next year but they just have sprouted. It is a different kind and I will probably use them differently.