For those who believe that love and happinessοΏ½is food!

Stuffed Artichokes

What to buy (for 6 persons)
6 artichokes (frozen not canned)
2-3 cups of chicken stock
Some soft butter
6 table spoons of rusk
For the stuffing
About 100 grams of Gruyere cheese (3 cheese cubes for each artichoke)
Some camembert cheese
1-2 very thin slices of ham

For the cream
1 cup of milk
3 spoons of flour
3 spoons of butter
Salt, pepper, some nutmeg
1 egg, slightly bitten
For the garnish
6 slices of prochiuto
1 large tomato cut in cubes (without the spores)
Some olive oil

And how do we do it?
Begin with the cream: Pour the milk and the flour into a small pot and mix them well making sure that the flour is not lumped. Stir the sauce (low temperature) until it is smooth and thick. Take it out of the fire and add the butter, salt, pepper and very little nutmeg. Leave it on the side to get cold and add the egg. Cover the sauce with a plastic cover and leave it to rest.
Boil the artichokes in the stock adding some salt and pepper until they are soft. Drain them and leave them to get cold. Take a pyrex, butter it and put in it the artichokes. Put a spoon of rusk at the center of each artichoke. Then add three cubes of Gruyere cheese, a thin slice of Camembert cheese and some ham on each artichoke and cover it with a spoon of cream. Bake the artichokes at 175C until their surface is nice and brown. Take the artichokes out of the oven and garnish them with a rose made of prochiuto. Put on each plate some cubes of fresh tomato and some drops of olive oil. Serve immediately.

Salad with Spinach, Avocado and Sesame Sauce

What we need (for 4-6 persons)
1 fresh salad (Lollo bianco)
Tender small leaves of fresh spinach (take out the stems)
1-2 avocados cut in cubes
1 pomegranate
Sesame Sauce
12 table spoons of olive oil
6 table spoons of sesame
12 table spoons of lemon juice
6 table spoons of spicy mustard

And how do we do this?
Wash well the spinach and the fresh salad and let them drain. Take the leaves of the fresh salad and place them at a circle on a large plate. At the center of the plate place the spinach leaves (as a rose). Sprinkle some salt on the vegetables. Pour the sauce on the salad (at the last moment) when you are ready to serve. Sprinkle everywhere on the plate the avocado cubes and the spores of the pomegranate.
Sesame Sauce: In a frying pan warm some olive oil to sauté the sesame stirring it until it is gold. Take it out of the fire and add the lemon juice and the mustard. Mix until it is nice and smooth.

Note: You can prepare the sauce ahead of time and keep them in a jar in the fridge until you use it.

Cherry Tomatoes and Bocconcinos (Mini Mozzarella) with Pesto Sauce

What to buy (for 4-6 persons)
10-12 cherry tomatoes
10-12 bocconcino (mini mozzarella)
3-4 table spoons of pesto sauce
Some olive oil
Pesto Sauce
50 grams of pine nuts
1 clove of garlic (smashed)
50 grams of fresh basil leaves
75 grams of parmesan cheese (grated)
The juice of οΏ½ a lemon and 125 ml of olive oil

And how do we do this?
Wash and dry the cherry tomatoes. Cut them in quarters and strain them. Dry the bocconcino. About 10 minutes before you serve the salad add some spoons of olive oil into 3-4 spoons from the pesto sauce and spread it on the cherry tomatoes and the bocconcino. Mix them well and serve on a platter.
Pesto Sauce: Put in the blender the pine nuts with the garlic until they are mashed. Continue at a medium speed adding the chopped basil until you reach a thick green sauce. Finally add slowly the olive oil until you have a solid, thick sauce.

Stuffed Baby Lamb

What we need (for 4-6 persons)
οΏ½ baby lamb or goat from the neck to the saddle (about 2 kilograms)
3 kilos of potatoes
Salt, pepper
2-3 lemons
Some toothpicks

For the stuffing
Olive oil
1 lamb haslets cut in cubes
1 large onion, chopped
¾ cups of Carolina rice
1 cup of hot water to dissolve 1 tin of tomato paste
300 grams of roasted chestnuts cut in pieces
1 οΏ½ cup of fresh parsley (chopped)
 
And how do we do this?
Wash the meat thoroughly. With your hands and a pair of scissors create a large pocket between the fat and the muscles that are above the ribs. Begin form the side of the saddle moving upwards reaching the area around the shoulder. Make sure not to rip the animalοΏ½s skin. Sprinkle salt and pepper inside and out and leave it aside.
Prepare the stuffing: Make a cross on each of the chestnuts and put them in a pan. Grill them and peel them while they are still hot and cut them into small pieces.
Wash and cut (not in very small pieces) the haslets. Put in a deep frying pan the chopped onion, add a little water and stir until the water is absorbed. Pour in οΏ½ cup of olive oil, sauté the onion and add the haslets. Sauté all ingredients for a few minutes, add the rice and finally put in the water with the tomato paste, some salt and pepper. Wait until the rice is almost done and take it off the fire. Finally add the roasted chestnuts and the chopped parsley. By the end your mixture should not be try so if think it is necessary just add some oil.
Put the meat in a large baking pan and put the staffing you have prepared into the large pocket of the meat. Carefully close the pocket with the toothpicks. Spread the potatoes around the meat and add salt and pepper. Pour olive oil, the lemon juice and hot water (make sure to cover at least ¼ to οΏ½ of the pan). Cover the meat with tin foil and bake at 150-160C. During baking make sure you regularly pour over the meat the liquids from the pan. When you feel it is almost ready increase the temperature to 200C and remove the tin foil until it is brown and crispy and the only liquid in the pan is the olive oil. Serve immediately without cutting it on a platter surrounded by the potatoes.

And some history (to impress your guests!): This Greek recipe comes from Lesvos and is usually done for Christmas. As we were informed by Vasiliki Ioakim, she was taught the specific recipe by her father who comes from Plomari, Lesvos.

PANNA COTTA with Quince Sauce

What we need (for 6-8 persons)
For the cream
300 grams of milk
300 grams of milk cream
125 grams of sugar
3 οΏ½-4 leaves of gelatin
2 grams of Chios Gum Mastic (in a powder form) or some vanilla

For the Sauce
2 quinces (approximate weight 400 grams)
Juice from 1 lemon
120 ml grenadine
Syrup: 188 grams of sugar
            163ml water
              23 grams of glucose

And how do we do it?
Dampen the gelatin leaves in cold water. Warm the milk with the sugar. When the sugar has melted, add the milk cream and leave it on the fire until it begins to boil (but be careful because it should not boil!). Take the cream out of the fire and add the gelatin leaves and the Gum Mastic or the vanilla and mix them well until you have a nice and smooth cream. Strain the cream and put it in individual moulds or a large one. Leave it to get cold in room temperature. Then put it in the fridge for 6-8 hours.
Quince Sauce
In a small pan put all ingredients for the syrup and leave it to shimmer for 3οΏ½.
In the meantime wash the quinces, peel them and put them in the lemon juice. Put them in the pan with the syrup and shimmer for 15-30οΏ½ until they soften. A few minutes before you take the pan off the fire add the grenadine. Leave the quinces to get cold into the syrup at room temperature. When they are cold enough cut each quince into 10 slices and then into small cubes. Put the cubes into the syrup and keep the sauce into the fridge.
When you are ready to serve take a knife and carefully take the cream out of the moulds and onto a platter. Pour the sauce over the cream and serve.