Orange Carpaccio, recipe, my insights for you!

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Orange Carpaccio with fresh basil and mozzarella, ready in 15 minutes to serve, vegetarian ! 

One of my favorite recipes for this time of the year, a great, easy to make and healthy appetizer.

Hey guys,

its that time of the year again, Christmas is about to come and finally time to spend some time with your loved ones. And what is better then to have dinner with family and friends?

I got this recipe from a friend of mine, which visited Stockholm recently for travel and got this dish in a restaurant while exploring the city. 

This home made recipe is just easy to prepare and you also get extra credit points as normally no one ever tried it before. Beside that recipe is easy to make and needs only really good and fresh ingredients theres nothing more really to have in mind.  Thanks to the oranges, it gives you an extra vitamin fill up for the cold winter times. 

Carpaccio - an Italian dish- was invented at "Harrys Bar" in Venice back in 1950. Normally Carpaccio is a dish of raw meat or fish, thinly sliced or pounded thin and served mainly as an appetizer. This recipe is the vegetarian alternative for you, even if you are not a veggie (I totally love Carpaccio also with beef) it is just a great option to check out. 

For the ingredients please only buy and use really the best you can get, as this dish taste is living threw the high quality of the ingredients I would recommend you to only buy bio orange, basil and only - really ONLY - buffalo mozzarella. Once again its all about the taste. 

Ingredients Orange Carpaccio (2 persons)

1 tea spoon salt

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoon olive oil 

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

1/2 bunch fresh basil, leaves only

250 g of buffalo mozzarella

2 big oranges 

Directions

1. cut of both ends of the oranges, start removing the orange peel running your knife along the sides, turn the orange upside down and remove any white membrane that is still attached to the orange. Then slice the orange into very thin slices. Prepare the slices on a large serving platter.

2. cut the buffalo mozzarella into small pieces.

3. place mozzarella slices on the orange carpaccio.

4. combine oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper in a jar with a tight-fitted lid, shake well. Drizzle over oranges and mozzarella; sprinkle with the fresh basil leaves.

5. Depending on your taste you can also add some more freshly grounded black pepper over the orange carpaccio.

6. Enjoy your appetizer. I serve along Italian bread, ciabatta, and a great match is rose wine.  

Cheers,

Melaines-Insights

www.melaines-insights.com

Bruschetta, recipe - my insights for you!

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Bruschetta, the very best Antipasti recipe!

If you guys are into Italian food, check this out - easy to make and ready in only 15 minutes! Say ciao Italia!

Hey guys,

just came back from a wonderful trip to Italy and Im fully inspired by all the great ingredients they use for making such great dishes.

Most of the dishes the Italians serve are really fresh, healthy and with simple but high quality ingredients.

This one is for me the perfect starter or goes perfectly along with a glass of wine on hot summer days. Its really easy to make and you only need 15 minutes of your time to get it done. 

The food is called in Italy "Bruschetta" (pronounced bru-sketta) and is vegetarian, pure veggie recipe. Think of it as the Italian version of the perfect summer toast :-) 

Things you should have around in your kitchen before starting - a contact grill, I use the CaterPro available on Amazon. Of course you can also use your grill to prepare the bread, or your oven. 

Ingredients for Bruschetta (2 Persons):

2-4 fresh tomatoes (suggestions is to use tomatoes with more flesh as they are not that juicy - depends on the size if you have 2 really big ones thats enough, if you have just only middle ones better be on the safe side and buy 4)

Basil (a full hand of Basil leaves)

2 shallots 

2 ciabatta rolls (French or Italian bread)

5-6 spoons of olive oil 

Salt & Pepper

How to make Bruschetta? 

For me its all about the tomatoes you use. As written before I suggest you to use tomatoes with less juice and less seeds and thick flesh. 

1. Preheat the contact grill or grill for the bread.

2. Peel the tomatoes and quarter them, put away the seeds and chop the tomatoes into thinly slices. There are many ways to prepare Bruschetta, but I only use the thick flesh of the tomatoes without the seeds and the skin. 

3. Peel and chop the shallots into small slices. 

4. Thinly slice the basil leaves as well.

5. Put it all together and add the olive oil, pepper and salt. Be aware that tomatoes do need more salt then you would expect normally. 

6. Mix it all together and let it rest for some minutes, as the  flavor will need to develop some minutes.

7. Use a bread knife to slice the bread into two pieces. Then place the bread on your contact oven or grill, depending on the heat the bread needs about 5 minutes (if the contact grill was pre-heated) to get a fine toasted tan. 

8. You can now take the warm bread and place it on a large plate, put the topping on top and if you would like you can add some basil leaves for decoration. Make sure you serve it right away when finished. 

If you would like to bring the topping to a party or event, no problem - you can bring it along and the people just can use it as a dip.

BOUN APPETITO (BOUN APPETIT!) !

Cheers,

Melaines-Insights

www.melaines-insights.com

Barcelona, foodies - where to go? My insights for you! Part 1

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Barcelona, foodies - my insights for you!

Part 1 I Brunch & Cake, Barcelona - Spain

Hey guys,

as mentioned in my last posting already Barcelona is a place for foodies. There is really everything you need and wish for in this wonderful city. 

So I decided to start my series for foodies in Barcelona with a wonderful place- called "Brunch & Cake".

As the name is already telling you, the perfect place for spending a nice long morning with brunch and cake and your loved ones! 

As I love superfoods and love healthy breakfast I felt totally in love with this place. The philosophy is that they use wherever possible organic or locally sourced ingredients for their dishes. You can definitely feel this passion behind the concept in every detail of your stay. Keep the great work up Manex & Team! 

The idea behind the concept, which they describe as "in grandmother we trust". Which means explained : make absolutely everything by hand and slowly, with care. Be

honest and use the best possible ingredients. And this you can taste for sure in their high quality dishes they serve.

I loved how they present and decorated the dishes, this is what I would call "foodporn". Totally insane, make sure you also check one of the smoothies they offer. Mine was looking like a sparkling unicorn was falling into it :-) I posted a video of it on my fb page. 

They don't do reservations, so better be an early bird as it is really popular. We got there at 10.00 and luckily caught the last free table. 

They run a few stores in Barcelona, to check it out please click on Brunch & Cake for more information where the stores are located.

Cheers,

Melaines-Insights

www.melaines-insights.com

Avocado Salad - 30 min ready, my insights for you!

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Avocado veggie salad recipe, quick and healthy in only 30 min ready to be served! Vegetarian! 

Hey guys,

I just love Avocados, for me they are always on the list when it comes to a healthy dish.

Beside the fact that this is definitely something for Avocado lovers - Spring is already here and as everybody knows summer will follow, this is a great quick recipe that will make you look good in your beach outfit.

Its ready to be served in 30 min and really easy to make. Please click on the link to my facebook page and instagram feed for the making of video.

As this dish is only existing out of a few ingredients, please make sure you buy high quality and use only high quality products. 

Ingredients (2 persons)

Avocados (2, I always buy 3 to have one in spare if one is after cutting not the right quality)

Red bell peppers (2)

Buffalo mozzarella (2, if you haven't eaten buffalo mozzarella before, try this one instead of the "normal" one - its really delicious)

Pine nuts (50 g)

Recipe (2 persons)

1. Preheat your oven to at least 200 celsius.
2. Put the pine nuts in a dry skillet and cook over medium
    low heat, stirring frequently, until golden in spots, about
    2 minutes. Make sure the skillet is not to hot, as the pine
    nuts are getting quick burned - also they burn after, so
    after roasting take them on a plate for cooling down. 
3. Cut the red bell peppers into squares.
4. Place the red bell pepper squares cut side down on a
    rimmed baking sheet, use parchment paper, in the oven
    - about 25 minutes. Check to make sure peppers have
    fully roasted.
    The skin should be charred and soft, and the peppers
    should look slightly collapsed. If they don't look ready, let
    them roast for a few more minutes. 
5. While your peppers are roasting you can take care 
    cutting the avocados. Start by cutting the avocado in two
    pieces. Make long one cut into the seed, all around the
    avocado. Use the knife to make a grid in the avocado 
    meat, make sure you only cut the meat not into the peel 
    or shell. Use a tablespoon to scrape along the inner steel
    of the avocado, the diced avocado pieces will easily fall 
    out. Place the pieces of avocado into a bowl.
6. After that you can cut the mozzarella in eatable pieces.
7. Now mix the mozzarella pieces, avocado pieces and pine
    nutes in a bowl.
8. Take the bell peppers out of the oven. Im always using a 
    wet kitchen towel, place this wet towel right after you 
    took them out of the oven and squeeze it on them for a
    bit. Make sure your fingers don't get burned, as they are 
    still hot. After taking away the wet towel you can start
    peeling of the skin of the peppers with a knife, which 
    should be now really easy because of the wet towel 
    technique. After peeling the skin away you can start 
    cutting the peppers into small slides.
9. Mix the slides of the peppers into the bowl with the 
    avocados, pine nuts and buffalo mozzarella. 
10. For the dressing I always use 2 spoons of native high 
     quality olive oil, some pepper & salt and the juice of
     a half lemon (which has a nice effect on the avocados,
     as the avocado doesn't get any ugly dark spots) or 
     balsamico if you like. 
11. Now its ready to be served - if you like you can serve 
     baguette with spices along. 

ENJOY!!!!!!

Cheers,

Melaines-Insights

www.melaines-insights.com

5 min tea that fights flu and colds the "natural" way, easy and effective - diy !

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Fight the nasty flu bug (and others) with this homemade tea, ready in 5 min!

Hey guys,

its flu and cold season, so make sure you boost your immun system to stay healthy and energetic.

The easiest way for me is to make my "special" tea, which I discovered some years ago.

One thing that is important, don't wait to long to make this tea - right in the beginning when you feel the first symptoms of a flu/cold make sure you take 5 minutes to treat yourself with this tea.

When I feel sick I normally make this tea 3 times a day, before or while having breakfast / lunch / dinner. 

I avoid alcohol, fast food and sadly also my weekly sports routine during this time, as the immun system needs to recover.

What you need is as simple as the recipe itself:

- handful of ginger 
- 1 tea spoon of honey
- juice of one lemon
- hot water

1. squeeze out a bio lemon (1), add this fresh lemon juice to
    the cup.
2. peel and chop the ginger in a handful portion. Make sure
    you use a good kitchen knife, to get rid of the though skin
   of the ginger, add this juice to the cup. I don't eat the
   chopped ginger, its only in the tea to give his healthy boost
   into the hot water. 
3. add the hot water in the cup.
4. add one tea spoon of honey in the hot cup.
5. mix everything with a tea spoon and enjoy the delicious
    outcome of tea you just made. 

Thats it, enjoy and stay healthy ! 

Cheers,
Melanie

#www.melaines-insights.com 
#melaines-insights 

PASTA / 15 minutes / Ginger/Parmesan/Tomatoes/Mint

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PASTA / quick, fresh, healthy and yummy!

Recipe of good fresh Pasta in 15 minutes, Im sure you never have eaten before ! 

Ciao Tutti,

Hey guys - no I don't switch into Italian now. 

Im not even sure if this recipe is from origin Italian, it was a recipe a neighbor (non Italian, pretty German) gave me some time ago and I really kept it everywhere with me because it is so simple, healthy and EASY to make. 

So no excuses, you better take the risk or lose the chance! Lets go !

This recipe has not many ingredients, so the ingredients you shop should be a high quality standard to make the pasta sauce as good as you wish the taste to be.

Of course you can also make fresh pasta, but when it has to be a fast then I would recommend you to buy some Pasta (Linguine) from your favorite brand.

Ingredients for 2 persones:

- One portion of ginger, should be around the size of your thumb. 

- Olive Oil (no cheap one, please!).

- Pasta (Linguine) 250g. 

- Cherry Tomatoes (500g cherry tomatoes).

- 1 teaspoon freshly grounded pepper.

- 1 teaspoon of salt.

- A cup of Mint, if you don't need all of the Mint keep some for later for decorating your

   pasta. 

- 50 g freshly grated Parmesan (depends on how much you like) for the sauce, keep some
  grated Parmesan also for serving. 

Preperation:

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente; drain and transfer to a large bowl.

1. Meanwhile, heat oil in a wide heavy saucepan over medium-high. Add ginger (thinly sliced), then tomatoes (quartered), pepper and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes burst and release their juices to form a sauce, 6–8 minutes. Add then the grated parmesan underneath and keep stirring it all together. When the parmesan is melting together with the tomato ginger sauce you can add the thinly sliced mint and mix everything together.

1. Toss pasta with tomato ginger mint parmesan sauce. Top with grated Parmesan, some fresh mint and some freshly grounded pepper.

Enjoy your dinner !!! 

Cheers Melaine,
#Melaines-Insights
www.melaines-insights.com