Fried zucchini flowers(REAL recipe)

I’ve Google “fried zucchini flowers recipe”…JESUS! For cooking “love” is not the only necessary thing, turns out you actually need the right ingredients.

I won’t provide you quantities, just follow what your instinct says.

Let me start with the batter: you need water, flour, OLIVE OIL, a sip of BEER and little bit of salt. You can also use some brewer’s yeast to make the batter more pompous. No, water and flour won’t give you an excellent batter. And no, adding eggs, spicies and anything else you can think of won’t make it any better.

Well, you also need zucchini flowers(if you have zucchini plants, pick the flowers in the morning when they are open, make sure there is not a possible zucchini growing from the flower).

How we actually do it:

In a large pot, heat about 2″ oil over medium heat, drop some batter and check if it actually fries. Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl, then whisk in a little bit of beer and olive oil until almost smooth . One by one, dredge the blossoms in batter, shaking off the excess; gently lay them in the oil, without crowding the pan. Cook, flipping once with a slotted spoon, until golden brown, 2-3 minutes total. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Sprinkle with sea salt and devour while hot.

Sure my grandma would be proud of this blog post. 

 

Raw food diet is bad for you!

I’ve been eating raw food for the last 5 days. I don’t really believe in those hipsters’ diets, but I decided to try it out to check if it is actually GREAT for the body and the mind. It is NOT.
The rule is simple: eat what you want as long as it is raw or cooked under a temperature of 42 degrees. This means you can’t have things such as potatoes; well, you can have them but you need to put them in the oven for at least 8 hours before they can be eaten. No, this is not doable if you have a job.

What have I been eating? Mostly green vegetables, I felt like a cow, feeding myself all they long, unable to work out as usual. I had to eat once every hour to survive.
I refused to make things such as zucchini’s lasagna or raw vegetarian hamburger; goddammit if you have to make those stuff then you are definitely not happy with your choice of having just raw food!!
The good things are that I’ve discovered some nice recipes(zucchinis with pesto sauce at bottom)and that I’ve lost 1kg in 4 days, so this diet is actually great if you want to loose weight, but it is bad for everything else!
Having a balanced diet is still the best choice you can take, please allow yourself to eat everything in the right doses.

Raw food people says the human body is not made for cooked food, this is bullshit: the human body is not made for industrial products or colourants or hormones used for feeding the animals we then eat, but it is absolutely made for consuming any kind of food.

Zucchini with pesto sauce(for 1):

• 1 small zucchini, ends trimmed
• 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 cloves garlic
• extra-virgin olive oil

What to do:

• Use a julienne peeler(if you don’t have it a potato peeler is fine)to slice the zucchini into noodles.
• Combine the basil and garlic in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Season with salt.
• Combine the zucchini noodles and pesto. Toss until zucchini noodles are well coated.

Hvordan lager vi italiensk pizza.

Ok, first I’ll write this in English since my Norwegian is pretty crap, but if you want the Norwegian version just ask(sooner or later I’ll write this in Norwegian as well).

Let’s be honest pizza in Oslo is super expensive and most of the time is pretty bad, I’ve found 1 and half places serving a quite authentic Italian pizza(no, it’s not the place you’re thinking of, one it’s in the city centre and the other one is in Skøyen). Baking pizza it’s easy and cheap.
Here’s what you need:

• white/Manitoba flour = 1kg
• yeast(the one sold in 50gr cube next to the butter) = circa 25 gr
• water = no more than 500 ml *olive oil(if you don’t have it, don’t use anything else)
• sugar= half tea spoon.

Put the yeast and the sugar in some(200ml) tepid water and wait for it to become liquidish, use the spoon if needed. Pour the flour in a pot and then, in the middle, pour the 200ml of water with yeast. Add salt(let’s say 1 tea spoon, but this really depends on tastes, you can add the salt later).

Start massaging the dough. Add 100 ml of water. Keep massaging. The dough has to be compact and not wet. At this point you can add some more water, but don’t make it soak! (I honestly never use more than 400ml of water). Add 2 spoons of olive oil, if you have it. Keep massaging for other 15 minutes.

Now the dough is a compact, regular ball, take it, put it in a pot and “store” it under your duvet or your wool pile. Keep it there for at least 4 hours. After this time the dough should have doubled its size. Now you can use it for making your pizza!! (From 1Kg flour you should get 4 regular pizzas).

Cut the giant dough in 4, and massage again each mini dough. Roll out the dough shaping it as an Italian pizza,thickness should be between 4mm(if you like it thin) and 7mm(if you like it tall).

Topping: Just use “polpa mutti”,600gr are enough. Add some olive oil, salt and origan. Remember you can taste while cooking!! Now, put 3/4/5 spoons of this tomato sauce on your regular round pizza. Meanwhile the oven should have been switched on to the top temperature (pizza has to cook faster than possible). Chop down some mozzarella(no other cheeses allowed) and add it to your pizza. When the oven is ready put in your pizza(on a tray) and let it cook for 5/6/7 minutes. Your result should be something like this!