Let me start by saying that the picture doesn’t do the recipe justice. At all, like… Hubby started making this recipe last summer in Thessaloniki. With fresh from the open market, to-die-for prawns. He would have made it at the weekend, when he had the time. Cause, you see, he is Greek and Greeks don’t mess up with food! Food is as important as family to them and it gets as much attention in detail and preparation! It takes him hours to make it because the sauce involves a lot of simmering and adding of delicious ingredients. I finally coaxed it out of him this morning, so here goes: – A dash of olive oil, add a finely chopped onion and fry until translucent(not brown, never brown, folks!). – A knob of butter then your tomatoes. Half fresh, about 3-4, half canned, a can. Add them to the onion. – Simmer the sauce with bahari(a Greek spice mentioned in Politiki Kouzina), cinnamon and a drop of honey for 45 minutes. Add a drop of water …

I know, I know, my recipes have been all regional in the past few weeks, I suppose it’s because I am pregnant at the moment and have missed the comforting feel of home, on some level… Today I made stuffed vine leaves, following my mum’s tested and tried recipe. I usually make stuffed peppers as they are less hassle but the leaves give the dish a particular taste I was craving. In Romania they usually make sarmale (stuffed leaves) with either sauerkraut (cabbage leaves left whole and marinated in salty water) or vine leaves. There are variations of sarmale in Greece (they are called dolmades there) Bulgaria and Turkey but the difference is that the Romanian LOVE their meat and always have to have minced meat in theirs whereas the Greeks have them stuffed with rice and plenty of herbs. Anyway, for my mum’s recipe you will need: 500 grams of turkey mince one medium-sized carrot one medium-sized onion one egg half a cup of rice salt and pepper to taste a dash of olive …

Well, I am on my last hundred meters in this race, as they say in Romania. Baby is nearly here, I am bigger than I have even been and most days in no mood for cooking nor baking. But my lovelies still need fed ( I could survive on mince pies and baked potatoes, if it was up to me!) so I am cooking the easiest things I can think of. Last night it was chicken curry, cumin rice and bought in naan bread. The sauce from a jar, oh the shame… They still ate it and said it was nice so many thanks to Home Bargains for their choice of sauces :-). Tonight I remembered the Just-Rol puff pastry I bought the other day and decided to make some sort of home pizza. Here are my ingredients ( I had chicken cooking in the pan while I was getting my puff pastry ready and added some grated Cheddar cheese at the end): I rolled out my pastry onto a buttered lining sheet, added a …